LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT (English)

Chapter 5

"So where are we going now? Sitara said you wanted to show me something?" Max asked.

"That's a surprise. It's not that far," he said. "The others should already be there."

"Well, okay..." Max was convinced and took off the ugly colorful hat form the café, that in her opinion looked even worse combined with her hair color. "At some point I'll burn this stuff," she complained as she began to change.

For a moment Wrench glanced in her direction in confusion until he saw that she was wearing most of her normal clothing underneath. "I see you are prepared," he commented.

"Of course, I'm not wearing this a minute longer than necessary...and do you think I want the rest of you to tease me, too? Forget it," she laughed as she took her vest out of her backpack and put it on. They drove a few more minutes before they stopped at a park.

"Picnic date in the park?" She teased him back.

"Not quite...unless of course you want to," he joked back as they crossed the street and a wink appeared on his mask.

"Nah...I'm okay," she laughed. "So ... Gary's Games and Glory?"

"You'll be surprised. I hope you like it...it's...well...kind of our home," Wrench explained as they went inside.

He greeted the guy who apparently worked there and led her into a some kind of storage area in the back of the shop, where they stood in front of a door that was locked with a code. He pressed a few buttons and the door slowly slid aside. Behind it she found a long staircase, the walls were painted with graffiti and brightly lit. Soft music echoed in their direction from below. With a gesture, Wrench indicated that she should follow him.

"Thiiis...is our hackerspace," he proudly announced, when they got downstairs. A huge room opened up to the right; it had to be the entire basement of the building. Overall, it had a super cool, but at the same time very cozy atmosphere. There were a few corners with very comfortable looking sofas and armchairs, a large meeting table in the middle, workbenches, printers and of course loads of computers and hardware.

"Finally! There you are," Sitara, who had just been sitting at the big table, came up to them.

"It's pretty cool here, really," Max said impressed. "So this is kind of your headquarter?"

"OUR headquarters", Sitara corrected and Max grinned a bit shy but proud. At that moment Josh joined them from his workspace in the back. "Mae govannem," he greeted Max with a bow and smiled sheepishly.

"Hannon le, mellon nîn," Max answered with the same gesture and a grin.

"Oooh two happy nerds," Wrench commented on the way to the fridge.

"...says the guy who lives under the D&D shop," said Max with a laugh.

"Touché," he replied. "Anyone else some soda?"

"Soda? What's wrong with you?", Sitara asked while he handed Max a can.

"I still need to drive today, and it's only half past three, I can at least try to pretend to have my life under control in front of our new members, right?" he replied.

"Well, you don't need to try for me though. I don't even own a fridge," Max laughed.

"That's true," Sitara commented. "And I'm seriously worried about you. You probably live a lot worse than any of us. What do you actually eat?"

"I don't really want to talk about it...", Max explained a little ashamed. Except for the leftover donuts this morning, she had no memory of the last time she had eaten.