Study Buddies (Savvy)

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So Hammel wasn't bad. He'd gotten situated pretty quickly. He'd met a couple of really dashing looking guys.... A couple of nice girls. And a couple of people who he clicked with instantly. Like Savannah Bishop. She was really really nice. On his first day, she had been assigned to show him around the school - which hadn't helped much because he still got lost the next day - but even if he was directionally challenged, Savannah, or Savvy as she was called, was a delight to be around.

They'd conversed quite a bit. Well, she talked, Nao mostly listened. He spoke sometimes, but really it was enjoyable just listening to her, Savvy was very pleasant. She even coaxed a real smile from him and a couple of laughs that were actually tiny giggles.

Anyway, as it turns out, they had a couple of classes together too, so that made it easy to come up with excuses to hang out together. For "studying". So they were lounging around the room(with the door open because boys dorm and proper) with their books splayed across the floor. Nao had his laptop open, shifted off to the side, with his head laid across his history textbook, while he watched the youtube video dancing on the bright screen. When it finally ended, he picked up his head, resting his chin on the backs of his hands. "What's next?" he asked the pretty blonde.

[Savvy Bishop]

Savvy liked Nao. He was nice, and he wasn't pushy, and he would listen when she talked about the awesome song she just found, or this super cool video, or when she complained about how tired she was.

And she was tired. Several of her people were preparing for hibernation, and she was getting the bug too; snacking often, starting a little stash of pre-wrapped goodness in her desk drawer at home, and commandeering the blankets of the Bishop household for her own snuggly burrow of a bed.

Taking another Twizzler from the bag in her backpack, Savvy leaned across her own text books to type a new video into the search bar on Youtube. "This is so adorable, you have to see it-" she cut off her own words with a bite of the cherry licorice and watched alongside Nao, letting out a little squeal as soon as the ducklings showed up, her hands in delighted fists up by her mouth, absolutely charmed by the story. She too, would love to nurture any small, warm, furry creature. As long as they were as cute as the ducks and the kittens.

She sighed, "You know what they should have? A hot water bottle shaped like a cat that's all soft and squishy but doesn't scratch you." In no way was that a reference to Meow Mix, Kailin's not-so-Savvy-friendly cat. Not that Meow Mix was mean, per say, she just wasn't willing to let Savvy cuddle her for warmth. And had made that fact known several times. Sort of like Kailin.

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Naozumi nodded as she typed in the search for the next video, eyes focused more on the licorice that she was eating than where the video was going. But once the video started he gave it his full attention. Nao may have issues focusing, but he did his best to give his attention to what people were doing, or trying to show him, or what they were saying. He was perfectly happy hanging around someone who could carry the weight of a conversation all by themselves.

Once Nao started watching the video, he was quickly enraptured by the adorableness of the kitties and the ducklings. They all looked like one big cuddly cute happy family. "That's so cute…" he mumbled.

He nodded at her suggestion, able to imagine it perfectly in his mind. Nao would probably shamelessly use it everyday if he had one. His eyes looked down to the licorice again. "I want a cat someday," he admitted. "But my little sister's allergic, so we can't." He would have to wait until he finally save up enough money to move out. "Do you have any pets?" he asked of Savvy, curious to know more about her home life. He knew that her family was just as big, bigger even, than his own. Nao wondered if that affected whether or not she could have a pet of her own.

[Savvy Bishop]

If Savvy had noticed Nao's eyes on her Twizzlers she would've offered to sh- actually, no. She would've immediately read into the situation that he wanted to kiss her, cause guys look at your mouth when they want to kiss you, and would've gotten all red and flustered and happy and - well, it was probably better that she didn't notice.

"That's so cute…"

"I knooowww," Savvy's swoon over the cuteness was audible. Adorable things frequently had that effect on her. Swooning or squealing, really.

"I want a cat someday."

Now Savvy noticed his looking at her family pack of licorice, and silently offered him a piece as she listened, rolling onto her back and stretching the Twizzler in her teeth until it ripped.

"But my little sister's allergic, so we can't."

Savvy scrunched up her face, reminded of how many people suffered through Claudia's power, immediately glad she wasn't deathly allergic to bees like some people she knew.

"Do you have any pets?"

She nodded, with a bit of a pout. "Yeah. Sometimes I bring him to school, too, but he's being a buttface." She was very eloquent about Eri's grumpy sleepiness. At least she recognized that that comment wasn't entirely fair, and rolled her eyes before conceding, "His name is Eri, he's a chipmunk. He's busy sleeping all day and pigging out." Glancing at the piece of licorice in her hand, her lips quirked up and she giggled a little. "I'm only doing one of those things."

Rolling back onto her belly again, she looked to Nao and tilted her head inquiringly. "Wait, did I ever ask you about your family?" It couldn't have been the first time the subject came up, could it?

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There would be no reason for Nao to ever want to kiss Savvy. Maybe if she asked him to, he might, but he was already well aware that he wasn't interested in girls that way. Admitting it out loud was another story. Telling other people, definitely so.

That wasn't to say that he didn't enjoy the company of the so-called fairer sex(Nao was pretty fair himself), which was why he had a tendency to connect and make friends with them more often. Savvy especially was pleasant to be around, especially when she was fawning over kittens.

His eyes brightened as she offered him one of the Twizzlers and he took it with a smile as he continued to speak. Nao wasn't sure if she would offer another so he vowed to savor this one.

"A chipmunk? That's cute," he said with a face of slight awe. Nao didn't know anyone else who had such a unique type of pet. He smiled when she compared her pigging out to what her chipmunk Eri would do. "I do that too," he agreed, taking a bite of his Twizzler. Nao did that often, in fact. There were few times when he wasn't thinking about food.

Nao shook his head. "I don't think so." Naozumi wasn't a particularly talkative person so it was unlikely. Then again, Nao also didn't have the best of memories, so he could have forgotten. But if she was asking, then she probably didn't know. "Do you want to know?" he asked. He didn't want to assume that her question was an invitation to start offering that information when it might not have been.

[Savvy Bishop]

"A chipmunk? That's cute."

Savvy shrugged. Actually, yes, he was, she didn't always think about it like that. He was cute, though. And she loved him. She was just pouting that he was being grumpy.

She let out a sort of 'huh' noise when Nao mentioned that he'd never talked about his family. "Yeah, sure," she nodded when he offered to share, and pulled the laptop over to queue up a video to watch once he was done. ...Her attention span was a bit short. Also, she didn't know what to expect from Nao, in terms of how many people he'd talk about or how much he'd elaborate, and she loved Maymo and wanted to watch all the videos. She didn't mean to appear dismissive in the least, she was actually quite curious about Nao's family, which became clear once she'd found the video and paused it, and turned back to Nao with a look of interest.

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Nao wasn't offended by Savvy's apparent dismissal of his offer to describe his family. He didn't intend on going into much detail either, but there was indeed quite a bit to go through, so he used the moments where Savvy was preparing another video to collect his thoughts and figure out how best to explain it.

"Well, my family is originally from Okinawa, Japan. That's where my parents were born and where my grandparents live along with my aunts, uncles, and cousins. My parents moved us out to California when I was six. My father works in computers and my mother in a cafeteria. I have 5 younger siblings; Yuriko is thirteen, Tomoe is eight, Suichi and Kenichi are twins and they're six, and Mariko is the youngest. She'll be five soon." Should he say more? That was the bare minimum that he could think to say about his family.

Without much more to think of and assuming that Savvy would ask questions if she wanted to know more, Nao directed his attention to the video that Savvy had pulled up, waiting for her to play it. He liked the stuff she showed him. "Ah…" He sat up a little. "That's cute. Are those dog-shoes?" He'd heard of that sort of thing before but had never seen them.

[Savvy Bishop]

Savvy had known he was from California (typical meeting questions when being an official or unofficial tour guide), but beyond that it was news to her. "Wow, so you're the oldest?" For some reason she frequently assumed other people her age were also the youngest, or at least the middle or only child, some weird block in her head prevented her from thinking anyone her age could be the oldest sibling, even though it obviously happened. After all, all of her older siblings had been her age, once. Anyone over her age had been her age once. She was just weird like that. "What's that like? Do you trick your siblings into doing stupid stuff?" (Something her older siblings had done.) "Or do you get the biggest bedroom?" (Also something her older siblings had.)

"Oh wait just a sec, you should see this-" She played the video, unable to keep herself from laughing at the funny little skips and hops.

"That's cute. Are those dog-shoes?"

Savvy nodded, though she really had no idea. No one in their family had ever dressed up their pets (beyond a santa hat maybe), so she had absolutely no clue if those were shoes for dogs or dolls. But she pretended she did. "If you thought that was cute, you should see this, it's adorable-" Immediately the next video was playing and Savvy had to squeal at the cuteness.

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He nodded. Yes, Nao was the oldest. And so he was the one that all of the other siblings looked up to. Even among his cousins he was the oldest, though just barely. Though he tilted his head at her next series of questions. "No." He didn't trick his younger brothers and sisters. He was the one who had to take care of them. His little sister, Yuri, on the other hand. "My little sister, Yuri, she does though. All the time. And I share a room with my brother Tomoe. The twins also share. And Yuri and Mariko share. We don't have enough rooms at home for anyone to have their own." Though now that he wasn't living at home anymore, it was likely that Yuri managed to talk her way into taking Nao's room and making Tomoe and Mariko share. It was just like her to do that.

Savvy seemed to be just as entranced as Nao was at the dog trying to jump around in his little sneakers. Some might say it was cruel, but it seemed fine to him.

The new video was of the same dog, but even more adorable. It had Nao giggling, watching the puppy battle intensely with an orange. He took another bite of the Twizzler.

[Savvy Bishop]

It was funny to hear about Nao's family - it was so different from hers. Or, actually... "Yuri sounds like my sister Claudia," she managed a wry smile. As much as she hated some of the things Claudia did, she still loved her adoptive sister - it was just hard to remember when she was making Savvy so mad she thought her head might explode. "Or maybe JJ - they're like the troublemakers of the house."

"We don't have enough rooms at home for anyone to have their own."

"Oh right, cause you're the oldest." Devlin had had his own room for a while at their house, but they'd moved from a smaller place where he'd had to share. "Once you've moved out, though, everyone will sort of shuffle up. Or that's how it is in my family, anyway." She shrugged. "I have my own room, but that's only cause my room used to be an office." She was left with the smallest single room, though some of her siblings argued that it was bigger than sharing a room. Savvy liked it well enough.

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"Claudia? What is she like?" he asked, genuinely interested in hearing more about Savvy's siblings. And how they were alike to his own sister. "And JJ?" She said something about Nao playing pranks as an older sibling and wondered if they were why. "What kind of pranks do they play?" Now he was a little worried that she might be being bullied by her own family.

Nao nodded at Savvy's assessment. "I think Yuri might have her own room now." She had been wanting that for a long time. But until he moved out, everyone had to share a room. He wondered how the sleeping arrangements would be when he went home. Nao wasn't going home for the holidays, they couldn't afford the plane ticket, but he was definitely going over the summer break so they could take their annual vacation back to Okinawa. And he thought it would be fun if he could bring Savvy or another friend with him this year.

Nao's thoughts had become distracted as he thought of home and the family vacation so he ended missing some of what Savvy was saying. Mostly about how her room used to be an office. Out of the blue Nao asked, "Do you like the ocean?"