You stay quiet for a while until you reach for your copassengers beard. He lets you touch it and you start braiding it skillfully. You have practiced a thousand times doing this with pastry, but you never thought you could do this for real. The bus fills up with people and everyone who sees you two gives you a solid stare. His face is that of complete relaxation as he closes his eyes and lets you do your thing while you have the most concentrated look on your face you've ever had. \n\nYou continue braiding his beard for the rest of the trip. You both miss your stops and in the last stop you both get thrown out. In six months you two are a happily married couple, his beard longer than ever before and always full of elaborate braidings and waxed shapes. \n\nAs you move in together in a house you find your life perfect. Your husband is the most loving man you have ever met and your love is strong. The only thing is that recently another man moved next door with his wife. He has a longer and fuller beard than your husband.\n\nA triangle of love and hate begins.

The young man says something under his breath and shifts in his seat in discomfort of your sudden attack on his privacy.\n\n[[You take that he answered to your greeting: "What a weather! It's like a blizzard out there."]]\n[[You see that you have said enough to justify your seat next to this young man. You keep silent.|DiscomfortEnding]]

You miss your bus stop but don't mind since you didn't want to do anything productive today anyway.\n\n"After we ate the dried ink we had to be careful not to puke. If the teacher caught us puking then he would scold us for eating rotten things out of the carbage and if you would tell him it was the ink... you were in real trouble"\n\n[["How are you still alive?"|Monoloque5]]\n[["I just missed my stop :("|Monoloque5]]\n

You step into the bus. Warm air surrounds you as you walk up to the bus driver and put your card in the center of the paying console. You say hello to the [[driver]]. Your reply is a grunt.\n\n[[Take a look at the available seats.|BusCorridor]]

The young man shuffles a little bit closer to the window and looks at you with a look of confusion and annoyment\n\n[["Good morning!"]]\n[[Stay quiet|DiscomfortEnding]]\n

Your bus halts in front of a busy stop. People pour inside bus in an inorganized manner filling up every place they can find. First go the window seats and then only after all of them are gone do the other fill up too. \n\nA foreign student approaches you. He gives you direct eye contact and walks confidently in your direction. As if there are any other directions. You feel nervous and anticipate the inevitable: he sits on the empty seat next to you and greets you with energy and pep you have not felt from another person in what feels like forever.\n\n[[Answer: "Good morning!"|GoodEnding]]\n[[Plug in a pair of earplugs and ignore him]]\n

You reveal your beard. It shines like gold and flows like a river down your chest. His beard is like a 16-year old boys whiskers compared to your amazing forest of a beard. But it turns out the word is not enough. That's why you call it a bear. Which it is. And it kills you both

[[You take a seat next to the window|Take a seat besides the window]]

"When I was young the winters were always like this. Snow everywhere up to your neck. In my days there were no buses to take kids to school and we had to ski to school every day in our best clothes"\n\n[["Why the best clothes?"|Bothwaysuphill]]\n[["Mmhm"|Monoloque2]]\n[[Nod|Monoloque2]]

"Oh we had to look our best when we went to school. If someone saw us in ragged clothes then the whole village would have thought we were poor or something. And you know how people gossip..."\n\n[["Oh.."|Monoloque2]]\n

The bus ride was nearing it's end but the lady is not stopping her monologue. "I had my fingers sore for days! Boy did I learn not to be late from school. The only problem was that I couldn't really write anymore and then the teacher whipped me on my bottom for being a slow writer. He said I was not giving my best and that I was being difficult and naughty. I sure learned how to write with my left hand too!"\n\n[["That is terrible!"|Moloque4]]\n[["That is terrible!" press the stop button|Gettingout]]\n[[Nod and see your stop is coming so you press the stop button|Gettingout]]

Great view, the holy grail of privacy until someone sits next to you. Great for deep thoughts, very relaxing.\n\n<<display BusCorridor>>

[[He keeps quiet|DiscomfortEnding]]\n\n

The woman sits besides you. You feel anxious.\n\n[[You experience a panic attack|BadEnding]]

The man has a heavy brow over his eyes, shaved hair and a full barbarian beard. Over him a black leather jacket and a hoodie underneath it. You assume he is a viking time traveler with a mjölnir trinket hanging on his neck. His look pierces your soul.\n\n<<display BusCorridor>>

He slaps your hand away. "Relax man I was just joking. Don't you ever touch a man's beard without asking"\n\n[["But you asked..."]]\n[[Punch him in the face]]\n

You step out of the bus, moving on with your life.

"Don't worry I was just joking. But why, you don't seem to have a beard of your own. Don't you ever get the need to touch a man's beard?"\n\n[["What? No I don't want to." Move seats |Discomfort2Ending]]\n[["Well, to be honest I have had this dream of touching beards for a long time. When you don't have a beard of your own the only thing you see in the mirror is a bald spot that is your face. Do you know what I mean?" |wtf]]\n[["But I DO have a beard!" Reveal your magnificent beard"|Beardbros]]

"It was a joke, will you leave it already?" The man says, bunching up his arms on his chest and exhales sharply from his nose. \n\nYou spend the rest of the trip quiet and awkward, but you don't feel like changing seats anymore so you stay where you are. The rest of the trip feels longer than usual but you get to your destination safe and sound. All thanks to Tampereen Joukkoliikenne.

Untitled Story

Young looking guy with dreadlocks and large beats headphones on his head. A scruffy colourful pancho lies on his shoulders and a faint herby smell eminates from the wool.\n\n<<display BusCorridor>>\n

The man is bewildered at first but quickly beats you up until you ask for mercy. The bus driver and the bearded monster throw you out of the bus on the side of the road as the rest of the passengers (two of them) cheer. They also take all your clothing and belongings, leaving you stranded in the freezing cold. \n\nYou can't believe this just happened as you try to get a lift from passing cars, but none take you on. You feel desperate and start sobbing and shivering in the snow. You can't feel your feet anymore. Soon your shivering stops and you actually start feeling warm. Your consciousness fades as you lie down in the snow, bleeding and ashamed. \n\n

You have a nice chat and you get to your destination safely\n

Middle aged overweight man in a bus drivers uniform. Stern look on his face. \n\n<<display Start>>

You get taken into hospice. Too bad

"The teacher used to scold us too if we were even a minute late! He made me put my hand on the table and whipped it with a stick!"\n\n[["That's brutal"|Monoloque3]]\n[["Oh wow"|Monoloque3]]\n[[Stay quiet|Monoloque3]]\n

[["Yup, true that" The man says in a deep voice.|DiscomfortEnding]]

You shift yourself towards the edge of your seat and prepare to get up while the lady is still yammering about her childhood school trauma. "Then we had to eat our own pen ink if it dried... Hey where are you going?", "I'm sorry I need to go now" you reply. "But we had such a nice chat going on!"\n\n[[Don't get up and stay|Moloque4]]\n[[Get off the bus "Bye!"|Gotoyourstuff]]

"I'm surprised myself! I did the mistake once and he almost stabbed me with a pen but luckily I managed to run away and he was taken in by the police after that because he got into some fights with people. Then we got a nice teacher after that. He was much softer with the stick!" A gleeful smile appears on the woman's face as she is thinking about her years as a schoolgirl. You think you can take a walk from the next stop to your place to be and you press the button. The woman still goes on about her past and manages to teach you the name of her 4 kids and 2 dead husbands and three family dogs. You didn't know there were people who actually called their dog Musti and wasn't Mansikki supposed to be a cow's name?\n\nYour bus arrives at it's destination and you get out of the bus. You say farewell to this old woman who taught you to appreciate your own life that is not full of beatings and ink eating.

Clutching her small leather bag, looking straight into the distance. Wears a felt jacket, dons a pink hat with a knitted freen flower on it. Gives you a slight look of despice.\n\n<<display BusCorridor>>

You sit next to the bearded man\n\n[["Good morning!"|BeardDialogue]]\n[[Stay quiet|DiscomfortEnding]]

You sit besides the window. You feel calm and like nothing can harm you. You take a look around the bus and see the bearded man and the old lady in front of you. This suits you well because they can't look you in the eyes without turning their heads too much. And the younger guy behind you has even less of a chance of taking any contact with you. \n\nYou are in your bubble. Everything is well.\n\n[[(Reinforce your solitude) place your bag on the seat next to you|BagOnSeat]]\n[[Sink into deep thoughts]]

You feel a bit uncomfortable and awkward sitting next to a person in an almost empty bus and briefly regret taking the seat but at the same time realize that it would seem very weird if you moved again. So you stay and try to enjoy your trip to your destination to the end but can't help but feel a bit weird.

The woman starts berating you and publicly complains about your bag. A man behind you decides to do the same and calls you a butthole. This rapid exposure to blame and loud noices makes you extremely anxious.\n\n[[You experience a panic attack |BadEnding]]

"Well, I was going to say that I'm joking but now that you're asking I'm not so sure." The man pauses and looks at you and seems to be considering it. \n\n[[Reach for his beard |wtf]]\n[["Haha, that's weird" Move away|Discomfort2Ending]]\n

You feel anxious of both the student next to you and the way you have just acted. [[You experience a panic attack |BadEnding]]\n\n

You sit next to the old lady\n\n[["Good morning!|OldDialogue]]\n[[Stay quiet|DiscomfortEnding]]

A good morning comes out from somewhere in between his bush of a beard. You try to but you never actually manage to locate the exact position of his mouth as it's so completely covered by hair. \n\n[["Nice beard"]]\n[["Cold weather we're having"]]

Fortunately you have placed your bag on your seat so you think you don't have to worry about somebody sitting next to you for a while. Unofrtunately the stop is just too busy and the whole bus fills up to the brim and a woman, about 30 years old, asks you if you could move your bag for her\n\n[[Refuse to move your bag]]\n[[Take your bag from the seat and move it on your lap]]

"Thank you, it is my pride. Do you want to braid it?" He asks with a playful smile. You are not sure if he's joking or not\n\n[["No thanks"|Haha]]\n[["Really? Will you let me?"|NoHaha]]\n[[Reach your hands to his beard|SlapHAHA]]

Anonymous

The Lady replies: "Good morning!" you both fall quiet for a second, in which your copassenger inhales as if to prepare to speak only to let her air go as if she lost grasp of what she was to say. Another second passes in which you shift yourself into an appropriate position. You shift your gaze around looking at the almost empty bus as you prepare for your usual, unspoken ride.\n\n"The weather doesn't really get like this these days anymore", says the woman "It really reminds me of my childhood in the countryside". \n\n[[Nod in approval|Monoloque1]]\n[[Stay quiet|Monoloque1]]]\n[["Really?"|Monoloque1]]]\n[["What?"|Monoloque1]]]

There are several free seats and ooh [[window spots]] too! There are only 3 people on the bus with you. An old [[lady]] in the front, a young adolescent [[man]] in the back and a [[bearded man]] in the middle.\n\n[[Take a seat besides the window]]\n[[Sit next to the bearded man]]\n[[Sit next to the old lady]]\n[[Sit next to the young man]]