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 Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 11:45 pm
Lunchtime was less than cherry at Liberty Center, or at least it was for one semishy siren shielding herself with a Beatles lunchbox as she went to sit down. When she wasn't meeting friends to plan something, Casia Greystone tended to drift into her own little corner, a habit she had gotten into in her first awkward days in school and stuck to ever since. Occasionally she would know where to put herself, but the grody feeling in the pit of her stomach as she scanned the lunch room usually left her wanting nothing more than a quiet seat to eat her food as quickly as possible and leave.
It had to be a law of nature, she thought as she scooted into a vacant seat near enough to some quiet group to suggest she wasn't alone, that looking for a place to sit would always make anyone feel ten times more awkward than they would normally feel. It was something about the way people seemed to be looking without using their eyes, counting the seconds it took her to find friends, and if she didn't move quickly enough, assuming that she was some kind of dork. All the socially inept kids sat alone, right? It was a Thing of theirs, and though Casia was not quite ready to consider herself a misfit, sitting in her corner at the lunch table, she definitely felt herself teetering. It was a trial she would prefer not to deal with, and she tried to sit up straight as she took out her white bread sandwich with the crusts cut off, acting like she was part of the group of strangers next to her and not quite as eager to flee the scene as she really felt.
Sandwich halfway to her mouth, two events occurred which gave the siren pause. First of all, the group noticed her and began to try to figure out who she was, and second of all, Carlisle Mephisto's glowing head flashed into the edge of her vision as he bent studiously over some kind of work at another table. Plastering an awkward smile onto her face and waving hestiantly at the denizens of the table she had placed herself at, she collected her things and hurried over to sit in what was hopefully a more Casia-friendly area. "Carlisle," she called out hurriedly, "Can I sit here?"
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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 12:09 am
For his part, Carlisle considered lunchtime Purgatory, shortly followed by its partner, Recess, which was also known as Hell. It was a period of time during which he was to sit and study and then go to seek extra help from whichever teachers were willing to give it. He never got to actually play, which was why it sucked. It was like giving someone a choice between all of the Chance cards in Monopoly, but all the cards had been rigged to say Go to jail, go directly to jail, do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars--
But it was for the best, and who was he to argue with that?
So he sat at lunch, a brown bag with his name written on it in his own loopy, effeminate hand sitting open but barely touched in the space off to his right. He was rolling some kind of thermos under his hand while he stared at a page full of basic mathematics, trying to decipher the vagaries of decimal multiplication before he started to eat. It wasn't going too well, and it went worse when Casia approached; he startled, sitting up straighter (his posture was always perfect) and turning around in an action that probably gave him terrible whiplash to check who it was.
"Oh, Casia, hi," he said, hurriedly closing the hardcover book with a snap! - exposing the level one math textbook - and shoving it in his bag, then picking up his thermos like that had been what he was doing the entire time, opening a thermos. "Yeah, sure, sit down, it's okay with me! Why would I have a problem with that?" It wasn't like he was studying a subject that ought to be below his grade level, or like he was in remedial maths. Not at all! Why would he do that?
He laughed nervously and unearthed a spoon from his lunch bag.
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Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 10:10 pm
Casia smiled the half-unsure smile of a friend who didn't really know where she stood. She and Carlisle had been waltzing for weeks now, but he was still unfamiliar, especially around other people. She didn't feel comfortable around him a new environment, she didn't even feel that comfortable with him in waltzing lessons with his hands lightly touching her, making a million paranoid delusions flutter around her brain and set her nerves on fire.
She would like to think of him as a friend. Since Anna had beat feet, she hadn't really been able to open up to her old friends, and had trouble even trying to get along with new ones. And just Merroth, if he even counted, she had no idea what he considered her, or if he even considered her at all, would be a sad, sad party of one on her tentative shortlist of people who she could talk to.
At least she could waltz with him. She fumbled with her lunchbox to distract herself from these thoughts, something to keep her hands busy and thus her mind, because if she stopped to think about it, she was only going to feel bummed. She bit her lip, conversation would keep her busy! Searching desperately for something to talk about, she alighted on the first subject that came to mind. "I totally aced that math test today, you know? Easy stuff, I love it!"
Casia Greystone jumped to conclusions and was not exactly observant. Assuming Carlisle was in the same level as her, she barely had time to notice the book and paused. Oops. "...Or, you know, not, I mean, not that easy at all, it was pretty hard, math is hard! So it's okay if some people don't get it, it can be grody and stuff. And, you know, all... not easy... There's no problem if people aren't so hot at it!"
"...Hi Carlisle." Bright red, she trailed off, taking a bite of her sandwich.
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Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 10:25 pm
He was pouring something into the lid of his thermos when she mentioned mathematics, and his hand jerked, sending some kind of soup spilling across the table. Luckily he rectified the situation quickly - very little of his lunch actually spilled, and he stopped the spread of the rest of it with a slapdash application of what was probably the entire stack of napkins he'd had in his lunch bag. "Oh, uh, congratulations," he said, with a genuine smile that was more than tempered by the embarrassed red shade of his face. "I'm glad you found it so easy!"
For a minute, he was quiet while he finished setting out his lunch; probably if he had had laser vision, the entire table would have gone up, so fierce was his concentration on his food. "Hello, Casia," he said politely. He kicked his backpack further under the table.
Of course she would have found out, he told himself, after all if she was in classes with the other kids their age then she would know Merroth and as far as he knew, Merroth announced at every opportunity that he, Carlisle, was retarded. But he was getting close, he hoped, to Level Two language arts, even if he was still hopelessly mired in mathematics, and he had always been in the proper history courses, even though his grades weren't astonishing by any stretch of the imagination...
"How was your day," he asked, managing to pull off a decently sunny tone rather at odds with the lingering embarrassed blush.
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Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 10:50 pm
"...Good. It was good." the siren muttered nearly inaudibly.
"Waltzing is hard!" she announced suddenly, stabbing at redeeming herself and clapping a fist into her palm. "It's gnarly, I think it must be much harder than math since so many people can do at least some math and not as many people can even waltz at all!" She gave him a desperate sort of look, pressing on before he could get a word in edgewise and thus foil her plan for making up for the huge, hairy mess she had just made of the conversation. It had been going so well before she had started saying anything! "If I was gonna be impressed by waltzing or a good math test, I'd be impressed by waltzing probably. It's pretty boss, too, you know? Most of the time, I mean, maybe the people who waltz might do it wrong or maybe it's a really boss math problem, sometimes algorithms look cool, I know because I had to look them up, but usually waltzing looks even better! I admire waltzing a lot since I'm not even very good at it at all and it looks hard to teach, just like math because it's hard to learn, real hairy stuff. Only not like math since it's more groovy looking! Usually!"
Casia bit her lip, stopping herself. The plan was not working, and she was running out of breath, so she let her mind catch up with her tongue and decided to pretend it had never ever happened, which, at this point in the rapidly imploding one-sided conversation, sounded like a good idea to her. "Anyway, yeah. How was your day? Groovy stuff, I hope?" Discreetly, she made a self-destruct sound into her thermos, drinking the cheap grocery store brand fruit punch as she did so. Her list of people she could talk to didn't seem like it was going to grow anytime soon, and she bummer of it was that she had the nagging feeling that it was definitely all her fault.
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Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 6:26 am
The thwack of Casia slapping her hands together startled him from his in-depth examination of the cup of soup he'd been staring at as if it somehow offended him, and he looked up with a concerned quirk to one eyebrow. He smiled once he caught up to what she was saying, uncertain as to whether she was saying it to be patronizing or because she was trying to make him feel better or something.
"It's been okay," he said, and he definitely looked like he had been cheered up by her words - rant - whatever that had been. "You're good at waltzing, Casia, it just takes time to learn. I'm still learning, too." He had been going over a rather stately quadrille that probably Casia would like, since it only required the palms of their hands to touch as opposed to, well, normal two-step waltzing.
With a shrug, he set back to eating his soup, but now his attention was divided. "I normally don't see you during lunch," he said, "I was wondering if you ate outside, I know a bunch of people do on nice days." Of course, he never did - besides the fact that he didn't tan, it was hard to read out in the sun and he didn't like bugs, so sitting under a tree was about out of the question. He paused, then said, "Your lunchbox looks cool; it's the Beatles, right?"
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Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:02 pm
Trying to accomplish something over time was a fairly new concept to Casia. Though the siren was good at gritting her teeth and enduring, the only thing she showed any sort of talent for was singing, and it came naturally to her. Even flying took effort, effort she hadn't had the heart to put in recently. Anything that seemed to be difficult or painful to learn usually sent the siren running, and thus waltzing was a frustrating process for her. She enjoyed it, but she hated being bad at things, especially in front of other people. But having Carlisle around helped, and she doubted she could motivate herself to keep him around were he not teaching her, so she nodded solemnly. It was an exercise in persistence, and the prize would be cherry dancing skills and perhaps someone to talk to. "Thanks, Carlisle." she said, somewhat embarrassed. "I'm sure we'll be a regular Fred and Ginger, yeah?"
She chewed her sandwich some more as he talked, kicking her feet back and forth under the table idly as she did so. "Oh, sometimes." she said casually. "I like getting some sunlight, you know? But actually, usually I sit with friends." Sort of, anyway.
"Bingo!" The siren perked up as he recognized the faces, not many people pointed it out, and her lunchbox was one of the possessions the siren was desperately proud of. "Can you name them?" She held out the lunchbox for Carlisle to see, covering up the names with her fingers.
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Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2009 10:49 pm
"Yeah," he agreed, with a smile on his face. Carlisle wasn't quite sure who Fred and Ginger were, but he knew that Sade had mentioned them and so he'd look them up in the encyclopedia in Sugita-san's office when he got home toward. "Of course we will!"
He slid back a bit, carefully picking up his math book again. Even though Casia had clearly seen the cover, he was careful to put it down quick enough that he didn't think she'd see exactly how 'remedial' he was. It wasn't that he was stupid, he just... sucked. At math. And all other things involving numbers. At least he could remember his own address and phone number, right? Right?...
Leaning over the math book, he peered at the lunchbox; he had such a good memory for faces, but honestly he'd not paid too much attention to who each Beatle was. He made a face about how long he was taking, but finally he pointed to the first face and said "That one's Ringo, and then this way it's John, Paul, and George. Right?"
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Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2009 8:33 am
Casia's face was carefully blank as he pulled out the book again, and she focused on her sandwich like she suspected it of murder. If she acted like she didn't know, everything could be copacetic. She could pretend the whole conversation from before had never happened, she could have a normal conversation with him, and she could suppress the urge to tell him the answer to Practice Question Five.
Trying to shoot for that normal conversation she wanted, she nodded. "RIght on, Carlisle! There's Ringo, and John, and Paul, and George, the four of them!" She flashed him a quick grin. There weren't many people she knew who knew about the Beatles like she did, so she might as well teach one herself, right?
Either way, talking about her lunchbox seemed to do the trick, and something in the siren that was keeping her coiled up like a spring relaxed slightly, and she leaned back idly in her chair. Suddenly though, her brown eyes widened and she scooched herself up a bit. "Anyway, I forgot to tell you, please don't tell anyone where I live or how I live or who I live with." she said quickly. Carlisle had found out by accident, and only one other student in the school knew, and they only knew about Jane. The little house and the sad birthday party were a totally different story. "It's sort of a secret, yeah? If that's confusing to you, imagine some blue meanie will come kidnap me or something if someone finds out, but just don't fink me out." He didn't seem like the type, but as Casia examined him suspiciously, her eyes fell on the math book. He didn't seem like THAT type either, and though remedial math wasn't like finding out he was a midnight taxidermist, the more she was surprised by him, the less secure she was in what she thought she knew already. Not to mention, he was always so nice,which was pleasant but suspicious in and of itself.
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Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2009 10:49 am
He pretended he hadn't seen Casia staring at her sandwich like she was trying to extract its deepest secrets with her mind and finished his soup. With a nod, Carlisle smiled again to hear that he was correct; he had thought so, but being uncertain, he'd rather have double-checked...
But Casia's odd request distracted him from his math book, and he forced a light-hearted laugh. Quietly, he added, "Don't worry. I have enough problems remembering where I live, so I can't rat you out. Promise." It wasn't exactly a lie, but he was no good at numbers and so while he could probably find her street and, from there, her house from memory, he definitely could not tell someone else where to find her. Well, it could, but it would make about as much sense as... well. It just would not make sense at all.
Carlisle looked back down to his book and sighed. "I can't imagine anyone kidnapping you. You're too nice, they'd let you go just right away, you know?" He knew he had an idealistic view of the world, but he didn't think that anyone who really knew Casia could hurt her at all, it would just be... A violation of the natural order! Completely, horribly wrong.
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Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2009 7:12 pm
Casia was caught by surprise, bursting out into laughter at the comment. "And I suppose if they didn't, some magical hero would appear out of thin air to save me or something?" She wiggled her fingers at Carlisle and thought of Josh, the princely figure she had met most recently, trying to rescue her, causing a fresh round of giggles. Taking a shaky sip from her juice, she said "Thanks, though. I'm trusting you."
The statement made her very slightly uncomfortable once it left her mouth, and she reached for her juice again nonchalantly, trying not to let it show. "I'm sure if I got kidnapped, I would tell them you said that, though." she assured him gravely. "Gotta make sure they know they're doing it wrong, yeah?" Neatly, she polished off her sandwich and opened the napkin she had wrapped dessert in, fresh strawberries. Holding one out to Carlisle, she offered him a faintly amused smile and asked "Until then, want a strawberry?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2009 10:43 pm
"He'd probably throw over a table, too," said Carlisle, happy to play along now that she was laughing. He did fall silent, looking a bit confused, when she said she was trusting him. Plenty of people at home trusted him with things that weren't any fun, like babysitting baby Sara or helping pick up the dinner table, but being trusted by Casia for anything did not seem very onerous.
For some reason, he felt like those words weren't something she said often. "Good, you should," he said with a solemn look. "It'd stop them, easy. Kidnappers don't like to do much wrong." He was rummaging around in his bag for something or other when she offered the strawberry and he took it with a smile.
"Trade you a cookie for it," he said, carefully setting the fruit on the wrapper of the bag he'd pulled out, "they're chocolate chip. My neighbor gets pretty bored sometimes, and when she does she makes pastries..." He paused for a moment, and then said, "Promise, my aunt didn't have anything to do with them."
Carlisle still remembered that Casia didn't seem to quite like the idea of someone who disliked music. It made sense to him, he supposed, since she was a siren. They were pretty musical.
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Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2009 11:43 pm
Casia's eyebrows furrowed, but a faint smile tugged at her lips. "A table? That's weird. Kinda unnecessary, yeah?" However, she let it go. Carlisle probably knew more about magical heroes than she did, she hated to admit it. He seemed like that type of person.
She eyed the cookie, slightly suspicious despite what she had said earlier, but she flapped her wings decisively and grabbed it before she could change her mind, taking a bite. It was okay, she didn't even owe him anything for it because she had given him something. Brown eyes glancing over at him as she tasted it and was assured that the Blue Meanie aunt had no part in its creation, she relaxed. It was hard to be suspicious of warm, delicious desserts for long. "Thanks." the siren said again, conscious of how many thanks she had given them over the course of the hurried conversation and still feeling like she owed him something regardless.
Her eyes darted to the math book and then back at him. The lunchroom was no place for math, it was a place to relax, or in Casia's case, worry about finding a place to sit. Did he always spend his spare time studying?
Kind of a dull way to spend the few minutes of freedom they got during the day. Keeping this and her vague guilt in mind, she said "You can hang out with me during recess, too. If you want, that is, I mean it's up to you." It wasn't much of a return favour, but at the moment it was the best she had to offer.
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Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2009 11:56 pm
He quite agreeably was eating his cookies after the traded strawberry. Sugita-san made the absolute best cookies ever, all things considered, but he still looked forward to learning how to cook himself. It kind of sucked that he had to be older before he could make anything more complicated than salad and box mac-and-cheese, especially since it seemed like she was measuring by physical age. Carlisle didn't know when he would grow!...
But that was besides the point. With his cookies finished, he really should get back to -
Carlisle really did want to hang out with Casia. It would be so nice to actually spend time with someone who was a friend-not-a-neighbor and who didn't seem to mind that mathematics took his brain and twisted it all in on itself so he didn't even know what he was doing. But at the same time, he was progressing to Level Two classes in all the other parts of the curriculum. He didn't want to stay stuck in remedial maths...
"I really have to study," he said apologetically. "I mean-"
What did he mean? He could always study more at home to make up for it and anyway, who would know? No one, not if he didn't tell them, and he was sure no one would miss him in the library. "I guess I could," he said, closing the maths book. "I can just study harder later, after all."
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Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2009 8:56 pm
A fearful note quivered in Casia's cranium for a moment as Carlisle hesitated. Was he going to turn her down? Hanging out was important in the complicated social web of elementary school, and hanging out at recess was practically in public. Spend a recess with the wrong person and your whole social life could change! The fact that he might not want to after she had offered, then, was very serious indeed. Did he not think she was boss? Was she not boss? She was shy, yeah, but-
Oh. She relaxed and flashed him a grin as he relented, her thoughts quieting down somewhat. "Groovy!" she exclaimed, getting up and grabbing her lunchbox. "I just need to put this away, I'll be right back."
She rushed to put it in her locker, after all, she wasn't sure where she'd find another Beatles lunchbox now she lived with Jane so she had to be careful with this one. Hurrying back to the lunchroom as quickly as she could, she sat down and caught her breath for a moment, half hoping that he hadn't changed his mind in the time it took for her to clean up. "Come on, then!" she said, "What do you wanna do?" They couldn't very well waltz on the playground. Casia didn't know much about school politics, but she was at least aware that that wasn't exactly a recipe for cool.
But what else would she do with Carlisle? She hadn't ever hung out with him just for the sake of it before, besides Maying and the poor excuse for a birthday party he had accidentally walked in on. Recess was just a bit different.
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