Friendship comes in small packages (Cassi)

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

The student lounge was a lot more busy when classes were in session, but still enough students utilized the space. Two younger students were arguing over what to watch on the television and there were a few other people scattered about. AJ could lie and say she was here to use the pinball machine or sit down and mindlessly watch the t.v., but she'd come here to people watch, an activity she enjoyed, because well...she really couldn't interact with people without thinking something would go wrong, but sometimes a comfortable distance was okay. Besides, people were interesting and they proved to be interesting to write about, and so that's what she was here to do.

She slipped her book bag off of her shoulder and put it on the table, before sitting down in one of the chairs, leaning forward with her elbows on the table and putting her head in her chin.

[Cassiopeia Meian]

Cassi walked through Hammel grounds, it was around lunch, so everyone was heading to the cafeteria. But she was tired of that room, it was too noisy, and most of the older students were rude. Still, no one there really wanted to talk to her, so most of the time she was left to eat alone. And she figured if she was going to eat alone she might as well do it in a place where she could watch T.V too.

All in all, she was now skipping over to the student lounge. She guess she could have stayed home, but she had stayed home yesterday… Today she wanted to be at Hammel, who knew, maybe someone else wanted to watch T.V while eating too!

Cassi stepped into the lounge and smiled when she saw that there were still people in here! It got her excited, because now she could make at least one new friend. Her eyes drifted to the T.V and saw two people already fighting over it, it made the smile on her face turn into a frown. But as she looked around, she saw a girl, sitting by herself, and the girl looked bored, then again Cassi always thought anyone who was by themselves were bored. So she walked over to her, with a smile on her face she bowed to the girl at the table. “Hello! I’m Cassi Meian, can I sit with you?” She said as she stood up from her bow.

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

AJ's eyes moved from the two fighting over the television to a young girl at her side who was bowing. She raised an eyebrow at her curiously and then the girl properly introduced herself with a big grin. She was adorable, AJ had to acknowledge that. She looked to be a middle school student, apparently one who was not afraid to strike up a conversation.

While younger children sort of made her nervous, she was intrigued by them at the same time. She liked how they saw things and how carefree they were. It was refreshing and maybe she could learn something from that. "Of course you can," she managed. "I'm AJ Lane." She offered a warm smile in her direction.

When she was fifteen, she used to babysit for her neighbors. Maybe she liked it so much because she felt younger kids wouldn't judge her as harshly.

[Cassiopeia Meian]

Cassi bowed once more to the girl who had accepted her invite to sit with her. “Thank you.” Her parents had taught her how to be polite, well it was more because of her Asian background than anything, at least that’s what others said. Grownups were always saying how she was only polite and good because she was Asian, and that if she had grown up in America she would be the complete opposite. She really wasn’t sure what they meant by that…. She never got around to asking her parents about it

“It’s nice to meet you AJ.” She said as she sat down. “Is AJ short for something? Or is it your actual name? Mine is short for Cassiopeia.” She didn’t mind the name Cassiopeia, but it was very long, and she tended to talk a lot, so introducing herself as Cassi was much easier for her. “Aren’t you hungry?” She asked, because it was lunch time, and the girl didn’t seem to have any food.

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

AJ smiled at the young girl who bowed at her again. She had a lot of manners for somebody her age and AJ found her sweetness endearing as she sat down. "Nice to meet you too. And yeah, it's short for Amanda Joy. Abbreviating it is just a bit more convenient." Cassiopeia was a beautiful name. AJ had always found others of different ethnicity to be interesting, especially their names. She'd never particularly felt like an Amanda and besides it was just easier to go by AJ when people would ask her if she was Amanda or Amanda Joy or if Joy was just her middle name. It was sort of both, so she didn't really know how to answer. She eyed the bag Cassi had. She hadn't even noticed the time or that she was indeed a little hungry. "A little. Guess I didn't realize it was lunch time! My schedule gets all messed up when school's out."

[Cassiopeia Meian]

Cassi grew up in Japan, all these things were natural to her. Just like please and thank you came naturally to most people. It was just how she was taught to do things. “Oh, I know that feeling, my name is long too, which is why I always go by Cassi.” She had nothing against her name, she liked it, though it wasn’t an Asian name, it was actually from one of Shakespeare’s books, a constellation, and is also from Greek mythology about a queen. But she found American culture to be interesting, and confusing in it’s own right. It was very different from Japan’s culture.

Cassi put her backpack on her lap, she opened it up and took out an oval shaped box, “You can share my lunch! I don’t mind!” And four rice balls individually wrapped. She took out her chopsticks, and an extra pair chopsticks for AJ. She then took out two capri suns, she always had extra of everything. She placed her bag on the floor next to her chair. “this is a bento box, it’s pretty much what we call a lunch box.” She handed AJ the chopsticks and juice, before opening the bento box.

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

"Cassiopeia? Isn't that...Shakespeare? That's awesome," AJ said, beaming. She was very appreciative of the literature reference. Unfortunately, her name was just Amanda and the Joy came from her grandmother.

She watched as Cassi took out her backpack and then produced a box. She looked over, quite interested as that wasn't usually how she carried her lunch. "I wouldn't want to take your lunch, Cassi. Really." She'd just met the girl, but she was so polite, a trait that was hard to find in the young now. AJ found it endearing.

As she removed everything from the box and explained what it was, AJ nodded in fascination before accepting the chopsticks and juice from the young girl. What an offering. People her age weren't even usually this friendly.

[Cassiopeia Meian]

Cassi nodded “Yes it is. My sister is name Appoline, which is also from Shakespeare. My parents like Shakespeare apparently.” But she liked the name Amanda too, she liked simple names and the girl did look like an Amanda.


“You wouldn’t be taking it… We’re sharing! There’s a difference. I really don’t mind.” AJ was nice herself, very nice, and polite too. Not many teenage girls were as nice as she was, at least Cassi hasn’t met a lot of nice girls here at Hammel.


“Do you know how to use chopsticks?” Very few American’s knew how to use them, which was understandable, considering it wasn’t what they used to eat food with. If the girl didn’t, then Cassi would show her how to use them.

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

"Wow. Your parents must really like Shakespeare!" AJ said, which was really cool in her opinion. She didn't hate her name, but Shakespeare was a literary genius and she would love to have been named after something in his literature. "I want to be an English teacher in the future so sorry I'm sort of a Shakespeare nerd." She felt a light blush raise to her cheeks.

"Well, if you're sharing, I guess it's alright." Why did Cassi have two of everything anyway? She stared at the chopsticks in her hands, feeling inadequate. "Uhm, no..." she said softly with a slight nervous laugh. "I'm used to a fork."

[Cassiopeia Meian]

Cassi giggled a little “Yeah, they do.” Cassi herself has yet to read Shakespeare’s books, granted she was just trying to get interested in book in general. She was just kind of more interested in dancing than anything else right now. “Oh that’s so cool! Are you going to work at Hammel?” Cassi giggled again, “I want to be a professional dancer.”

The younger girl tended to misplace this, and sometimes would leave this places and forget about them. Like, one time she had taken her juice out to find something in her backpack, and then forgot to put it back in, so that one time she didn’t have anything to drink for lunch. That’s why she had two of everything, and other reason would be she never knew when she was going to need/want to share. “Oh, sorry.. I don’t have a fork..” She should probably start carrying one… “Here, you hold them like this.” She showed the girl with her own chopsticks. “You rest the bottom chopstick against her ring finger and thumb.” She showed the girl by placing the chopstick like she had said, “Then you place the top chopstick between your forefinger and middle finger.” She did the same with the top chopstick. “Now you only move the chopstick that’s between your forefinger and middle finger. Like so.” She started to show the girl. “The bottom one doesn’t move, it just there for support.”

“Don’t be sad if you can’t get it right away. It takes practice.” She smiled at the girl, but it wasn’t that hard once you got the hang of it. “When eating rice, you just kind of scoop it up.”

(ooc: Video, for reference.)

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

AJ thought about what Cassi said. Teaching at Hammel? Now that would be interesting, but that was hoping for her future to be bright, which meant her power would be under control and she could teach students to appreciate the written word like she did. And who knew if she'd ever get to that point? It was her dream after all though and she had to hold onto it. Talking to a young girl like Cassi reminded her of what she truly wanted in life.

She smiled softly at her. "A dancer, huh? I'm not very good at that. Maybe you can show me a thing or to." She wasn't the most graceful when it came to that sort of thing and she was sure she had no rhythm.

The chopsticks proved to be difficult, although she would try. She carefully listened to the girl's instructions and did as she said, even if they kept slipping out of her hands every so often. She only smiled bashfully. "Yeah, I'll probably need a lot more practice," she said, as she tried to pick up some rice with the chopsticks, almost laughing instead of getting frustrated.

[Cassiopeia Meian]

“I would love to show you some stuff! I’ve been dancing since I was little, I really love it.” She wished she could show the girl some dance covers she’d been working on, but there were still teens watching tv.


Cassi nodded, “Yeah, I learned to use chopsticks when I was little. So now it comes naturally to me. But it will one day become natural to you too!” She felt bad for the girl, she wished she had a fork or something for her to use. Cassi ate some rice too, putting her free hand under the chopsticks so if rice fell it won’t make a mess.

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

"I would love that," AJ told the young girl with a smile. Cassi reminded her of the carefreeness of being young, something that AJ missed very much. She didn't have her power then and everything was about her imagination and what she loved.

"Guess I'll have to keep trying to eat with chopsticks then and one day I'll be as good as you," she told her, still managing to get some rice with the chopsticks, while spilling some on her hand and the table. She smiled sheepishly.

[Cassiopeia Meian]

Cassi nodded, “Alright!” She leaned in over the table to whisper, “Once they leave, if they leave I’ll show you.” She motioned with her head to the two teens on the couch watching tv.

“You can keep those!” They were reusable, because they were made out of a different wood then disposable ones that you get at Chinese places. They were a spare of hers, so she didn’t mind giving them to the girl. Granted Cassi might have to use her allowance to buy a new spare, but that was alright with her. “I would suggest practicing picking up like popcorn, or corn ships from one bowl and put them in another bowl using chopsticks. It’s an easy way to practice.”

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

AJ laughed slightly. "I'd love to see, but I'm not sure when they'll leave either." The two of them seemed very engrossed in the television.

She looked from the chopsticks to Cassi's smiling face. "That's so nice of you." Although she wasn't so sure she'd need to use chopsticks so often, it was a sweet gesture from the young girl. She was so giving and kindhearted that it made AJ just relax and listen to the girl. "I'll definitely practice and hopefully get better at it, because this is embarrassing," she said as she picked up another piece of rice and again dropped it. "I think I'm wasting your food."