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Roshan was startled when other freshling sat beside them. While they had been paying attention initially, somewhere along the line they had ended up in their own head. Roshan offered up a smile anyways when their classmate introduced herself. Their eyes quickly darted to the interesting supplies Rosline had brought over with her. She was definitely prepared. "Yeah, my name is Roshan. It's nice to meet you, Rosline."

Ah, yes, the question of the class. This was why Roshan had been busy thinking. It seemed a bit much for a freshling to already be thinking about a career path but it was also probably good to start early. Roshan's initial response was to shrug. Then they remembered something.

"I like math. I'm good at it too... I could teach math." Roshan thought on that while they grabbed their own paper and crayons from beneath their desk. "What things do you like? Maybe I can help you pick one for now at least." Roshan smiled at Rosline again to show their interest.

Roshan gave thought to Rosline's question. They were used to most of their classmates disliking math but for Roshan, it was always enjoyable. The numbers and answers made sense. There was no worry about something being wrong if seen from a different perspective. No matter what, math was always math.

Rosline's reaction made Roshan think that maybe they could give another option a shot. Roshan listened to the choices Rosline offered but none seemed to fit right. It was their turn to make a face by crinkling their nose at every word. "I'm not good at sports. Familiars are nice but I don't want to be responsible for too many."

Roshan smiled shyly. "I'm not sure it's what I'll really be when I grow up. I might find things I like more... but for now, math makes sense."

"There probably is," Roshan confirmed. They shrugged in admittance to not knowing any. "I could probably find out about some." Roshan wondered if they would be give time to research a career option. Probably not. This was an in-class project. Maybe "maths" would be enough.

Rosline had a long list of things she liked. Roshan could see why she had a hard time picking one thing to focus on. "You seem to like stories." Roshan wanted to attempt to help their partner so they decided to try tossing out an idea. "Would you maybe want to write stories? Or maybe draw pictures for them?"

Roshan watched quietly as Rosline worked and contemplated her options. As if suddenly realizing they should be doing something too, Roshan picked up a random crayon to start writing options down on a piece of paper. They listed math teacher, math thinker-er, and building things with math. Roshan added a question mark to the last option as they weren't even sure that was a real thing. It would make sense if it was, though.

Now that they had some ideas written down Roshan could turn back to their partner who had expressed concern she wouldn't be good enough. "Hmm, maybe," Roshan said with another shrug. (Sometimes they could be cold with their matter-of-fact ways.) "But we're also still kids. You could practice and get better enough to be whatever you want. Others have to practice... right? That's why there's classes for all sorts of things in the upper grades and colleges." Roshan smiled at Rosline with confidence. "I think if you want to do something, you should be allowed to at least try."

Roshan nodded. They didn't see any reason why someone couldn't be anything they wanted. It's not like it would hurt anyone. Roshan felt kind of bad that Rosline didn't think she could do what she liked just because she didn't see herself as good at it.

"I love picture books," Roshan stated. "Most kids do. Some older people would too. I know my grandma likes this one book with almost no words, just pictures." They weren't going to say that the pictures were intense because that didn't really matter. Their grandma was really protective of that book too. She never allowed Roshan to look at it without her. Turning their thoughts back to Rosline, Roshan continued. "I think so long as you put your happiness in it, people will feel happy looking at the pictures and the words."

With sudden inspiration, Roshan crossed off math thinker-er. They decided it would be more fun if they made use of the math, not just thought on it. "Maybe I could make stuff with math? So I could make people happy with houses and buildings that look happy." Roshan scrunched up their nose in thought while their tendrils turned a dark purple. It was hard deciding a future when you were only a freshling.

"That sounds right," Roshan said. They weren't completely sure but it could be the way the word on the front of their books was pronounced. "Um.... There's more than one 'L'." That was all Roshan could say for sure.

"Math makes me happy so I would be putting happy math in." Roshan stated matter-of-factly. "I think math helps make sure the buildings stay up and that there's enough space... I might need some drawing help too, though." They pondered what all they would need to learn to be able to help build houses.

Roshan was embarrassed when Rosline mentioned their tendrils which caused the spectral curls to lighten into a pink hue. "Oh, yeah, they change with my mood..." Roshan didn't exactly hate the tendrils, but they weren't Roshan's favorite part of themselves.

"I think I'll put down 'builder' on my part," Roshan said as a way to change the subject. Thankfully it was a word Roshan knew how to spell which made it a great choice. With a plan in mind for themselves, Roshan got to work writing out letters to cut out. It took some time as they were meticulous about the letters being the same size. The colors were bright and the stick people Roshan drew beside the perfect looking houses were all smiling. Roshan hoped they really could make people happy just like Rosline would.

Roshan's tendrils tinted a darker pink because of Rosline's compliment. "Thank you," Roshan said quietly.

It was fun working on this project with Rosline. While she was opinionated and talkative, she wasn't mean so Roshan liked her. They hoped the two could play together at the playground or something. Roshan thought to themselves about asking Rosline to play later while they continued to work. There came a point where they were pretty sure they had run out of room to decorate or write. Taking that as a sign Roshan was done, they sat back and turned to Rosline.

"Hey, Rosline," Roshan started, "Do you wanna play together later maybe?"