"No problem." He signed back, letting the car run for a minute and warm up as he buckled in and warmed up, "Anywhere else you want to go? Or just to my place?" Soren watched for her response, both because it gave time for the car to warm up and because he wanted to be polite.
Rowan thought for a moment. She rubbed her gloved hands together to try and get them warmer since they were probably the coldest part of her body. She finally smiled and signed to him, "We can just go to your place. If that's fine with you."
He nodded, turning the heat up a little higher in the car and pulling onto the road again. His apartment wasn't terribly far from where they were, and this time there wasn't as much traffic, meaning they finally reached the building he lived in a considerably quicker time. "Here we are," He said with a smile, parking in one of the spots next to the building and letting the car run still incase she wanted to warm herself up anymore before stepping outside again.
Rowan waited a moment before stepping out of the car. She was a little surprised as to the speed at which they had arrived but it made sense. She had a smile on as she looked to Soren, "Which floor is your apartment on?"
He stepped out of the car as well, shutting it off and making sure it was locked before heading to the door, "Seven." Soren said, then signed it as well after thinking how to sign it again. He headed into the building and went straight to the elevators, waiting for Rowan before hitting one of the buttons and waiting for the elevator to arrive.
Rowan stood next to Soren once inside the building. She rolled up onto her tippy toes before falling back onto their heels. She grinned and looked over to him before slipping off her gloves and then shedding the jacket handing it back to Soren, "Here. I don't need it anymore."
As he took the jacket back, the door to the elevator opened and he stepped in, pressing the correct floor number and leaning against the wall. "I would introduce you to my roommate, but he's not here tonight, he's out at a friends." He said, shrugging and laughing lightly, "Probably a good thing, he would most likely be asking you questions nonstop."
Rowan smiled and stood next to Soren though didn't lean against the wall. She gave a nod and signed, "Probably. I might not have been able to keep up with him since I'm guessing I would have to write down my answers. I'm fast, but not that fast."
(sry it's short)
"Yeah, he doesn't know sign language, plus he talks really fast when he gets excited." He chuckled and thought back to the last time he had brought someone over to meet Eril, and how fast he had talked the entire time.
"I would have died," Rowan signed back teasingly. She had a big grin on and honestly was enjoying herself, "Course I have run into people like that before. So I might have been fine."
Soren nodded and smiled, hearing the elevator ding and the doors open on his floor, "Here we are." He stepped away from the wall and headed out of the elevator towards his apartment, pulling out his keys and trying to find the key for the apartment.
Rowan smiled as she followed him. She waited next to him for him to open the door. She rolled onto her toes before falling back on her heels once more, "Your apartment building is really nice."
"Thanks." He signed proudly once he got the door open, stepping into the apartment and motioning for her to come in as well. The apartment layout was quite simple, the kitchen immediately to the left of the door, open into the main 'living room' of sorts. Soren's room was off of the left side of the main room, while Eril's was to the right, and the shared bathroom was to the right of the door.
Rowan looked around spinning in a slight circle. She took in most of the apartment as she normally did when introduced to a new area. She smiled and looked to Soren and pointed to the two doors, "Which room is yours? No need to answer, I'm just curious?"
He pointed to his door as he slipped off his shoes, tossing them in the slightly messy pile already by the door. "Well, what do you want to do now? Other than having me give you a grand tour of the place?" He asked, smiling since he knew the tour could really be conducted just by standing in the main room and spinning in a circle to get a look of everything.
Rowan paused for a moment to do the same taking off her boots letting her feet run across the bare floor. She felt calm in this place it was as familiar to her as the bookstore or her room, "A tour would be nice, but I'm guessing it wouldn't be long. Just talking would always be nice to do, or you can show me some of your favorite belongings. But that last ones just a suggestion! No pressure."
He thought for a moment and shrugged, smiling as he motioned for her to follow him as he walked into the house, "I'll think about it while I give you a tour. Welcome to the best apartment on this side of the hallway." Soren pointed to Eril's room and walked towards it, though didn't go inside, then pointed to the bathroom, "This is my roommate's room, and right here next to it, is the bathroom."
Rowan followed him along looking wherever he pointed. She was genuinely paying attention to what he said, especially where the bathroom was. She didn't mind that he had to think about it. It was a difficult and personal question, "Okay! Sort of good to know where the bathroom is."
"Yeah, I figured you would want to know that." He said, laughing slightly and continuing his tour, "There is the door, as you already know, and the kitchen." The kitchen wasn't anything impressive, just a wall with counters running alongside it and cupboards up above, as well as a decently sized fridge, a stove, and microwave.
Rowan smiled and nodded along as he pointed around. She looked back at him still smiling, "Is that everything?"
Soren nodded, "Besides my room, and right here where we are, yes." He didn't mind at all showing her some of his favorite belongings, motioning for her to follow as he walked to his room and opened the door, forgetting how messy it was until he saw it and his cheeks flushed in embarrassment, "I'm so sorry, I forgot to clean up." It wasn't terrible by any means, just his clothes scattered over the floor and a falling stack of books taking up almost all the space on his small desk that wasn't being taken by his computer or light. The only other thing was his unmade bed and the half-folded laundry taking up the one side of his bed that was made.
Rowan looked around the room the room and saw his messy room. She noticed the stacks of books and clothes strewn across the room. She gave him a smile and waved him off before signing, "It's fine! I did come over unannounced in a sense."
Her response reassured him slightly but even with it, he tried to pick up some of the mess as he walked into the room. "Do you still want to see some of my favorite belongings?" He asked, turning to look at her once he had picked up some of the clothes that were strewn on the floor.
Rowan nodded rapidly as she watched him. She walked over and sat on the bed figuring that was a safe movement. Her eyes were on the stacks of books trying to read the different titles. She signed to him, "If you wouldn't mind, yes! I still do."
Soren nodded, smiling gently and holding up a finger to motion 'one moment'. He crouched down at the end of his bed and dug under it for a minute, pulling out a shoebox and dusting off the top. Normally he would have all of his favorite things out and displayed in his room, but he didn't have a shelf at the moment, so they had taken up residence under his bed. He stood up and brought the box with him as he sat down near her, opening it and glancing at her to see her first reactions.
Rowan looked down into his box her eyes lighting up as she saw the objects. She felt kind of special being able to see them, even if they came from a shoebox under his bed. In her eyes, she just took it as being well cared for and important. You never show your most precious items out on display, at least she didn't in her own room.
"Well, pick anything in here, and I'll explain the story behind it," He offered, motioning to the collection and smiling. There was a wide variety of things, from a few cards, trip mementos, and pictures to other random objects, something that would make the choice more difficult he guessed. Most of the things did have good stories behind them, and he was happy to share the stories since most of them were funny.
Rowan paused for a moment her hand hovering over the different objects. She bit her cheek thinking which one she should choose. Her hand eventually landed on one of the pictures of a random object. It was just so strange, all of them were. She pulled it out of the box and held it out toward Soren, "How about this one?"
Besides the pictures in the box, there were regular objects too, old medals and little trinkets and even a baseball covered in writing. The picture that she had chosen though was of a fluffy dog, paused in mid-jump towards him. "That's Charlie, my parent's German Sheppard." He explained with a smile, "He's the best, super sweet and full of energy."
"He's so cute!" Rowan smiled her hands moving quickly. She couldn't help it since the dog was quite adorable. The next thing she pulled out about the baseball probably with signature on its. She studied it for a moment and then signed at him holding it out for him, "What about this? Besides your dog was nice."