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 Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2009 9:34 pm
He wedged the book back into his backpack for the second time that lunch period and tucked his lunch back right back on top, right where it belonged. It was good when things went where they belonged. Luka had said that Carlisle didn't belong on Gaia. Was Luka right?--
The dark-haired boy shook his head sharply. Anyone belonged on Gaia, even him. Luka just didn't get Gaia yet, anyone could tell that he was new since he dressed so weird and acted so scary strange. Casia wouldn't much like his, Carlisle's, language tutor, and he decided that this was a good thing, since he did not want her to like Luka. Or even to know him. He zipped his backpack as a way to put an exclamation point on that statement. As they went, it was a good divide between thoughts.
When Casia came back, he hauled the strap of the messenger bag over his head and meandered outside. He looked around - the area was pretty clear of kids, since they'd eaten so fast. "I do not," he said, watching a group of boys, "play ball." Carlisle had many bad experiences that involved baseballs, rubber balls, basketballs and dodgeballs. Some of them involved black eyes. He did not long to recall the exact ache of getting hit in the face with a ball.
"Should we try the swings? If you don't want to, that's okay," he said, tacking on the if you don't want to amendment. The swings were safe and there was space between them. So it wouldn't be like the tire swing where you had to sit close to other people, so maybe Casia would not be quite so uncomfortable, and also he would be able to keep an eye on his bookbag. "I've watched them some," he continued, "and they usually get pretty crowded when the other kids start coming out of lunch, so..."
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Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2009 10:43 pm
Swings were occasionally tricky with wings sticking out of one's back, but Casia was willing to give it a shot. She hardly had any better ideas, and it was better than just standing there. Plus she had never spent much time on the swings before, what with them being in high demand, and her with her physical disadvantage when it came to using them easily. She sort of liked the idea of having an excuse to nab them before anyone else.
Sitting down carefully on the swing furthest to the left, she folded up her wings and pushed herself back and forth gingerly. As long as Carlisle wasn't the type who viewed swinging as some kind of altitude-gaining competition, it would be fine.
More alarming than the swings though, was another matter she had been putting off thinking about. Was Carlisle a dipstick? It wasn't like she had much of a reputation that she knew of to begin with, but would hanging out with him ruin what little she had? She bit her lip and studied him carefully for a moment, but she couldn't see anything stupid in his face. She supposed that appearances, like Blue Meanies and girls in the sky with diamonds, could be deceiving, but Carlisle? He was so nice!
Stupidly nice, maybe, the nasty little thoughts at the bottom of her mind whispered seditiously. You remember your chat with Merroth, people suck.
She kicked her feet a little harder, biting her lip worriedly. If Carlisle was a dork, just, just on the slightest, smallest off chance that he really was, at least he seemed like an okay one. She had told him she trusted him, hadn't she? Right here, right now, he was one of the closest people to her that was her own age. And, like she had said before, if he wasn't that quick with math and stuff, he was real boss at other things. Waltzing and all that. There were different ways to be cool, and her way was almost fifty years out of date, so who was she to talk? Expression clearing as she quieted her less-than-noble worries, she turned to her friend. "So how was your weekend?"
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Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2009 11:10 pm
He was quietly grateful that she didn't say she wanted to play wall ball. Playing that sort of game with Shigeo was like a punishment, one he scarcely liked to endure, and playing with Casia would have been doubly terrible. So far he'd managed to avoid showing that, though he could waltz, he couldn't play any other sport with any reliable accuracy.
Well, he did okay in track and field type sports. But that was more from unintentional practice than anything.
Carlisle's swing creaked when he sat down; he dropped his bag just off the black mat and kicked it so it leaned mostly onto the mulch. Despite preparing like he was going to actually swing, he barely ever moved more than twelve inches from the place where one of his feet touched the ground. He regarded a cloud with a solemnity that probably would suit someone looking at a religious icon, then turned his attention back to his friend with a smile.
With a shrug, he said, "It was all right. My teacher is showing me how to do a singles' quadrille. It's a kind of court dance from the eighteen hundreds, I think you'd like it." He kept most of Sade's advice to himself, especially the parts that embarrassed even him, so he didn't add that it didn't require more touching than palms. "How was yours?"
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Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 12:16 am
"Singles' quadrille..." Casia said, rolling the term around on her tongue. "I like the name, so that's a start!" Dancing, she found, was the easiest way to spend time with Carlisle. They could feel like friends without actually having to talk, and besides the initial embarrassment that accompanied each dance like clockwork, it wasn't too awkward.
"My weekend? Pretty cherry, I guess. I practiced singing, but I don't know... I sort of want to take singing lessons outside of school, too, but I don't know how to ask Jane about it." Her singing was what Casia was best at, but recently she wanted more. At school she could just be a student in a class, one face out of dozens. Even if she was good, she couldn't get enough attention from a teacher. She was starting to feel discontent, but asking Jane meant either a 'no', or worse, a 'yes' and Jane picking one without giving her a say in it at all. "I think I should find one first. Then maybe I'll ask, you know?"
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Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 12:29 am
He smiled. "It's a good dance." He didn't add that he felt that she'd like it because she didn't have to do anything other than touch fingertips - that might be offensive.
Carlisle kicked back and forth, never moving too much. "Sade knows a good singer... she does opera and stuff, though, is that all right? I can get her name and give it to you next time."
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Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 9:53 am
Looking up, Casia kicked her feet thoughtfully. Opera was a long and winding road away from the Beatles, but if Sade thought she was good, and Carlisle thought she was good...
It wasn't like she was signing a contract just by getting her name. "Sure, yeah! Make my life easier," she said cheerfully. "Thanks, Carlisle." She should have figured he'd know someone, Carlisle seemed to know everything about that sort of thing. "Have you ever heard her? Does she teach you?" She had never heard Carlisle sing, but maybe he was taking lessons too. Half-hopefully, Casia remembered her duet with Darsh, how utterly zenlike her mind became when singing in harmony with someone else. Could Carlisle sing with her too? The only other person she had sung a duet with besides Darsh was Josh, and that had gone less than famously. Infamously, even.
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Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 4:57 pm
"Sade didn't seem to like her much, he never does like anyone much, but he said she was good at singing," he said with a shrug. He dropped his hands into his lap; since he was barely moving, there wasn't really much of a point in holding onto the chains. Really he did want to meet the lady, since Casia did, and he wanted to be important to his friend. But that would be wrong - if she invited him along, then he would go. That was how a gentleman acted, and he was certainly a gentleman, or he tried to be.
Carlisle shook his head. "No," he said, a little embarrassed. "I haven't heard her except for a little bit on a commercial for Phantom. I don't remember the role she was in, though." Then he paused, and added, "I don't think me singing is a good idea, I'm sort of tone deaf." It wasn't exactly true, but he didn't want Casia to think he was a braggart or something like that. He didn't want to come across as arrogant. So it would be better for him to be self-effacing...
He shifted to loop his fingers through each other around the chains of the swing. "I was wondering if, next time you come over -" for waltzing, of course, they never visited each other otherwise really "- would you like to stay for tea? You've always left just a little bit before..."
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Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2009 7:51 pm
"Phantom?" she asked hopefully. With little to do at Jane's house and little motivation to do it the first few months she had stayed there, she had spent her time watching the guardian's musical collection back to back. Though the surmise of Phantom seemed a little dodgy to the siren, the singing was beautiful. If this shadowy teacher sang in that, then she had to be good, right?
As for Carlisle's singing ability, she deflated at his response. "Oh. Sorry for asking." It wasn't like she didn't like people who couldn't sing well, that would be ridiculous. But tone-deaf people? He had to be a little musical to waltz and play piano, so of course, of course he had a good ear for music. He liked her singing, after all. Her mind seized on this. He had to be exaggerating, but just to be sure, she said "Come see her with me, then! Maybe she can check your singing and give you tips or something? I'm sure you're not tone deaf, you're probably just being tough on yourself." Her tone was emphatic, but she wasn't sure who she was trying to convince, him or herself.
Casia blinked when he mentioned tea. Staying? After they were done waltzing lessons? For a moment, her impulse was to say no. After all, hadn't this lunch proved just how awkward they were when doing something that wasn't waltzing? Looking for an excuse, she didn't know quite what to say. She could say that she was busy at home if he didn't know that her home life was boring and filled with things that reflected this, like Jane.
In fact, hanging around Carlisle's house for a little longer, Blue Meanie aunt aside, would at least be more entertaining than being at home. She actually liked Carlisle, awkwardness aside, and though Jane had her good moments, Casia still preferred to stay afterschool rather than go home. And maybe she would get used to the awkwardness like she had with waltzing. Maybe it was something she just had to work at. "Yes! Sounds cool," she said finally, flashing him a smile, "Thanks." Anyway, it wasn't like anything bad had happened at Carlisle's house yet, and if it was a drag, she could always make excuses if he asked again.
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Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 10:30 am
He nodded. Though he'd never been to a musical, he did know the plot of Phantom - it was a story Sugita had read to him, very wordy and complex and he still did not quite get it. It was, according to her, The Premiere Love Story Of All Time And All Men Should Follow It And Get The Girl. Carlisle wasn't sure that kidnapping someone and locking them in a basement was nice, no matter how well-appropriated the basement house was. Not even if it was a mansion with its own lake like in the book. Especially not if there was an attached torture-chamber.
Carlisle felt bad for lying - but, he amended to himself, it wasn't really lying. He wasn't good at singing. Piano and waltz were easy, but singing? Not so much. "Maybe not tone deaf," he admitted. "But I'm certainly not very good at it. Not as good as you are." The compliment was a last-ditch attempt to drop the subject; he had very quickly gone to desperation, but he did not like to sing.
"Great!" He grinned at her and then added, "Sometimes my aunt asks people to bring stuff, but... Tea isn't that big a deal, so don't bring anything you wouldn't normally, you know? It's just like, snacks and stuff..."
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Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 2:59 pm
The compliment stroked Casia's ego, and her worries were put to rest. It was natural someone would feel like they were bad at singing compared to a siren like her, she supposed. Carlisle wasn't tone deaf, and thus her respect for him did not drop so substantially.
As she had never been to tea, and had only the vaguest idea what it entailed, Carlisle's explaining helped. In fact she had never even tried tea before. Jane drank it, but she preferred fruit juice or just plain water. However, she didn't want to seem ignorant, so she nodded like she had heard it all before. "Okay, right. I can bring something, it's no big deal." She was sure they had goldfish or something lying around. Snacks weren't that hard to find, after all. "I'll look forward to it!"
As she talked, more children filtered onto the playground, and she began to feel conscious of being watched. People were waiting for the swings, and she and Carlisle were barely using them. Getting off of hers automatically, she leaned on the bar supporting the swing structure idly. "So what do you usually do at recess?" she asked her friend.
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Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2009 9:16 pm
He let out a breath he hadn't been aware of holding, and started to explain that that had not been what he was saying, he was saying not to bring anything because he didn't want her to get there and be... disappointed, or something. It was just sort of a pride thing, maybe?
The other implications he could think about later. Maybe. When she stood up, he grabbed his bag - probably, he thought, he had somehow offended her. Straightening up, he shouldered the book bag and said, in a passably incurious tone, "I study, of course." Carlisle did not particularly like studying, as should be obvious, but... It was what he had to do, right?
"We should do something else, though," he said, "Basic maths is not any fun at all." And he didn't want Casia to feel awkward about his inability to do the most basic of numbers-related work.
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Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 7:00 pm
"Grody." Casia said, pulling a face. She didn't mind math, even liked it. But it was one of those things that got an automatic response from her, even if Carlisle had said he was studying the Beatles. Studying at recess was just unnatural.
The thing to do, then, would be whatever she did during recess, but she actually didn't do a lot. Sometimes she hung out with friends, but she doubted any of her friends knew Carlisle, and part of her still wasn't too keen on letting on the fact that she danced with a boy regularly in her free time. Stuff like that was how people started making up embarrassing rhymes and singing them at you. Other times she read or laid on the grass or even just ran around to burn off some energy. None of these things sounded very Carlisely.
Nevertheless, she sat herself primly down on the ground, and laid on her back, looking at the sky with the air of someone determined to have fun doing so no matter what. "There's always cloudwatching if studying gets you down." she stated firmly.
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Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2009 6:43 pm
He smiled a little. "Yeah, grody," agreed Carlisle, feeling at bit better and hoping the comment was not directed at the fact that he needed studying as opposed to the fact that it was maths. Maybe he could ask her later, it was not like they weren't friends and it would be okay to ask a friend such a thing. Wouldn't it? He rarely, if ever, saw people as much as he did Casia. So if he had friends, she'd certainly be around the top five.
"I guess," he said, but just then the bell announcing the end of recess sounded. Out of habit, he covered the ear nearest the noise and looked around before offering Casia his hands to help her up. "Guess it'll have to wait until next time," if there is a next time. "But if so, then for sure." And he smiled at her, before heading off to his next class.
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