2024-03-03: You're Welcome To Use The Pots And Pans
- Log: You're Welcome To Use The Pans And Pots
- Cast: Cascade Vermilion, Shari Loom
- Where: An Apartment In Fujinomiya City
- OOC - IC Date: March 03, 2024 (September 0098)
- Summary: Cascade Vermilion and Shari Loom meet for the first(?) time as new roommates! The third housemate will be along later. In the meantime, they get a chance to introduce themselves and talk about a lot of things!
<Pose Tracker> Cascade Vermilion has posed.
Moving day!
...is easy when you don't have a whole lot to move.
Cascade's experience in short-term jobs has sent her travelling around a couple cities in Japan. She hadn't really *intended* to come to Fujinomiya, but Fujinomiya is where she's ended up, more by chance than anywhere else.
It's fine. She just has to stay away from the Photon Power Labs... which she doesn't think will be very hard. Millions of people, billions even, *don't* go to the Labs every day. She can surely be one of them.
Home-hunting in Japan can be challenging, especially when you don't have the money to buy (Cascade technically does, but some of it's in savings, and some of it's in items she would have to sell). Apartments are available for rent, buuuut sometimes you have to take what you can get, and what she got was a Western-style two-bedroom that is too big for one person. And too expensive, unless she wants to dip into savings again, which she doesn't.
Hence, roommate. Well, roommates. She wasn't expecting two, but by the standards of the small dorm room she shared at Ashford, there's plenty of room for everybody. ...right?
Cascade only has a limited number of items to move in. Clothes are a fair number of it. Bedding material - she has a Western-style futon, which goes on a slatted frame, rather than the floor. Kitchen equipment, of which she owns a surprising amount. And... not much else, aside from some personal equipment she hid in her closet well before any roommates were involved (a small machine for repair of her synthetic skin). She doesn't have any other furniture, nor any real decorations, yet.
At the moment, she is carrying clothes in. She has about two suitcases' worth for her entire wardrobe. She must have been living light.
Cascade is also, though she will not admit it and is doing well at not showing it, anxious. She's only had one roommate before in her entire life.
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
Shari Loom is also living light. ...Mostly because she left behind the majority of her belongings at Ashford Academy when she fled to the North Pole and then, later, fled the North Pole for the AEU, and then, even later than that, bounced around all sorts of places--
She hasn't had a stable residence in a while other than her room at the PPL office, is the point. So she has a couple of suitcases and is planning to buy furniture when she gets here. Plus there's whatever Gerardo brings...
But that's for later. Shari Loom shows up after Cascade, putting away her phonne and picking up her suitcases to walk down thhe way. She also has a backpack, and a purse.
"Oh, hi!"
Shari sets down her suitcases and watche Cascade moving stuff in. She's a short girl by Britannian standards, and her accent is definitely a little Britannian. She's in black, with gothy dark makeup and black lipstick, but a bright smile despite that being apparently out of step with her style.
"I'm Shari," she says. "Shari Loom. New roommate, right?"
"You already heard about us, yeah?" She has to be sure, of course. Though there is no 'us' at the moment...
She at least isn't having much trouble carrying her stuff.
<Pose Tracker> Cascade Vermilion has posed.
Between the two of them, they might be able to fill up one apartment. If one smaller than this.
Cascade hears Shari before she speaks, but doesn't turn until then, placing the suitcases she's carrying gently down on the ground.
Cascade is very much on the tall side - she must be nearly five foot ten and she's not in heels - so the height difference, while pronounced, is something she's used to. Like Shari, she looks and sounds Britannian - there's not exactly a lot of freckled redheads from around here. (Not none, given the state of the world, but fewer.)
She also addresses Shari in English because she can guess. "Hello," she says, polite if a little reserved, but she does turn it into a smile a moment later. "Yes. I'm Cascade Vermilion. Cascade's fine... but please not Cassie."
(She used Cassie at the maid cafe. She would use Cassie at another maid cafe if that's where she got a job, and there's a non-zero chance of that. Nowhere else.)
"I did, though I haven't met him yet. There's two bedrooms and I took the smaller of the two," she confirms. Which doesn't bother Cascade at all, but she assumes that a pair need more room, since... well, it just makes sense. "The other one has a Western-style bed. I hope you don't mind that I didn't ask about the bedrooms first."
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
Shari smiles, even if she does have to look up some. She's used to taller people than she is, anyway. 5'3", or about 160cm. Pink-hair, and it's even natural!
English! That's easier. Shari switches cheerfully, "Cascade, then. That's a nice name. Very pretty."
Shari did not happen to see her at that maid cafe. She does not go to a lot of them unless she's meeting friends, usually. Still--
"Oh, did you?" Shari asks. "It would've been OK if you took the bigger one.... but I appreciate that you didn't. We are cramming two people in there." A beat, "Ooh, a bed! I was thinking I'd have to get a futon or something..." 'One' bed apparently suits her intentions, anyway.
"I don't mind, anyway. And yeah--his plane is coming in tomorrow night, so I'm getting everything ready for us today."
"Oh, and Shari's fine for me, too."
"Are you new to the area too?" she wonders.
<Pose Tracker> Cascade Vermilion has posed.
Cascade never worried much about 'natural' hair colour, because depending on how you think about it, hers is either natural (it's the only colour she's ever had) or artificial (because she's constructed and presumably someone picked that, once, even if it wasn't her).
Since she hasn't worked at a maid cafe in over a year, Cascade would be surprised if anyone recognized her except for the other people she worked there with. It doesn't occur to her that Shari might. (She doesn't recognize Shari, certainly.)
"Mine has a futon, but the raised one, on the frame," Cascade says. "I assumed with two people you would prefer the bed. I don't think there's enough room on the futon." She picks up the suitcases again: "Come in and I can show you. There aren't many rooms in here, so it won't be a very long tour." There's enough, anyway; a kitchen half-split off from a dining area by a long counter, a living room. The bedrooms are through a short hall, which also contains a nook with the tiniest washer/drier Cascade had ever seen. "I brought some kitchen equipment... pans and pots. You're welcome to use them."
"I've been to Fujinomiya a few times before, but I was living in Nouvelle Tokyo," Cascade says. "I thought it was time to change, though, when I had to move... the job market is better here." Slightly.
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
Funny how 'natural' works. Shari doesn't dwell on that kind of thing too much.
She doesn't recognize Cascade, either. So it's new! "Ooh, I see." She nods. "That's right, yeah. It's gonna take some getting used to, though. I've never like, lived with a guy like that, you know?"
She smiles when Cascade offers the tour (such as it is) and picks up her own suitcases, too. "Thanks!"
The kitchen... the living room. "Oh, cool. Gerardo likes cooking, so he'll probably use it more than I do. I've always lived in dorms and stuff so I'm not entirely used to it..."
Laundry! In the apartment!
"Ohhh, I see," Shari answers, nodding along. "That makes sense. I'm taking a gap year before I go to university--some things got complicated in my life, and I didn't quite graduate high school."
A beat, "I've been doing some interning lately, and that's been nice. I like engineering and stuff."
<Pose Tracker> Cascade Vermilion has posed.
"Neither have I," Cascade says, completely honestly. "Only roommates at a boarding school, and that was another girl." Which was Ashford. "Having a guy anywhere *near* the room was not encouraged, and that is one rule neither my roommate or I ever broke."
Cascade considers the kitchen for a moment. "I like cooking," she eventually says. "I didn't know I did until I moved out, by myself; I never had the opportunity. My sister disliked me doing it, but she doesn't approve of most of the things I do... we aren't in contact."
This may be the most bland way anyone has ever described 'also, she tried to assassinate me once'.
"But, if I'm being honest, I like eating just as much," she says, with a slight shrug. "There's so many flavours once you experiment a little. And no, I am not one of those cooks that throw just anything in to see what it tastes like... I have *books*."
'I didn't quite graduate high school'...
"With Japan the way it is, I think that's common. I didn't either," Cascade admits. "So I'm working this year while I decide what else to do. I suppose I should warn you now; I keep late hours, because right now I'm working as, ah, pizza delivery. I have a bicycle. So I may come in late."
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
"Oh, you too?" Shari says, and smiles. That's a commonality! "Same. I've lived with a lot of girls, but never a guy. I've stayed with him when I was visiting and stuff, but it's different, living together all the time, I think."
The rules, "That's fair. I avoided it, too. I didn't want the wrong kind of rumors going around."
She likes cooking. "Heheh, cool." She may be thinking of how to extract food from two roommates, now. But, "Oh, is it like that?" Shari makes a face. "I get you. I have a brother, but I don't get along with him at all. We don't talk."
Shari is psychic, but not the kind of psychic that is going to get that one.
"Eating's great," Shari agrees. Then she looks thoughtful. "Books, huh? I guess that makes sense. There's ways of doing things, it's not just vibes." So cooking is sciency! SHe nver thought of it that way.
"Oh," Shari answers, and looks sympathetic. "You're right. I've still got it better than a lot of people." A pause. "Oh! That's just fine."
"I don't mind if you come in late or whatever. Pizza delivery is noble and important work." She nods. ...Then, she smiles a little more lopsidedly, "As long as you don't mind me and Gerardo figuring outselves out a little too. I'll um. Try to be polite."
<Pose Tracker> Cascade Vermilion has posed.
And Cascade, who isn't psychic at all, certainly isn't going to get more than Shari says. She doesn't want to pry about her family, because that means Shari might pry about *hers*. Don't rock the boat, experience tells her.
"I wasn't worried about the rumours," Cascade admits. "There were already plenty." She doesn't go into detail about *that* either.
"But yes, books. Since I never learned to cook at all, and didn't have practice, I thought I'd read about it so I did it right. Instructions help. And once you have gotten used to them, then you can branch out." Cascade is always a little worried about doing things wrong. Having something to look it up in helps... a lot.
Pizza delivery is noble and important work... "I think a few people would be scandalized if they knew that is what I was doing," Cascade says, with a slight smile, as she heads to her bedroom. Not to dodge Shari, but just to put her suitcases down in more or less the right place.
She briefly debates saying 'I can hear through walls', but decides that's exactly the wrong sense of humour to have in this situation. "I appreciate it," is what she says instead. "In exchange I'll remember to put a top on when I head for the shower."
She's joking about not doing that otherwise. ...Probably. Cascade's sense of humour has a lot of straight-faced delivery in it.
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
Shari feels much the same, really. The mutual awkwardness of not wanting to pry so as not to be pried!
"Oh," Shari says. "That sucks," and seems sympathetic, though she notably doesn't ask what those rumors are. Instead, "Books. Totally, I guess tht's how i'd do it, too. I probably should... But I'm thinking I'll just learn from people who did that themselves," she jokes. Jokes?
But, "Heheh. I think people could use a little more scandal in their lives." Shari waits for Cascade, since they're talking, and as it happens--
She might die of embarrassment entirely if Cascade made that joke.
Instead, Cascade makes that one, and Shari laughs outright. "Ahahahah. Me, too," she says.
She's assuming it's a joke anyway.
"...You really do have great hair though," she comments, "It must take a lot of upkeep." A beat, "Sec."
She heads to the other bedroom, to set her things down, and before she comes back, "Whoa! Nice bed!"
<Pose Tracker> Cascade Vermilion has posed.
Cascade is starting to get a feel for Shari - not details about her past, obviously, but how she acts. It's easier now, and harder; easier because she's better at allowing herself to feel emotions, harder because she doesn't have the detached view she had before.
But she was pretty sure Shari wouldn't pry about the rumours, and so she hasn't. So, success! Cascade is learning.
Cascade grins, suddenly - because it was a joke, and she wasn't going to keep acting like she was serious the whole time. "Well, I wouldn't care," she says, about Shari remembering to do it too. "As for scandal, I wasn't brave enough for that before I moved out. But I think there's plenty of years to do it in, if that's what you want to do. Or what I want to do."
But: "My hair? Oh - yes, it takes time. There's a lot of it and I'm afraid you're going to find a lot of shampoo and conditioner in the shower." Which is actually something Cascade will have to buy for her cover, because it doesn't actually take all that much upkeep. "At least mine's straight and fairly fine. If it was curly I would be stuck taking so much longer!"
Having dropped off her own suitcases, Cascade follows Shari to the other bedroom. "You see why I thought that was the better room for two," she says. "Honestly, it is a nice bed, but I actually like futons. I got used to them at my last apartment."
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
Shari doesn't have quite the same feel for Cascade yet--but when she suddenly grins, then Shari thinks she might be getting there. She's never had too much trouble dealing with people--not until they got to know her quirks, or saw her on a bad day, anyway. But until then...!
"Oh, yeah?" Shari asks. "That's cool. I used to do a lot of sports so I'm pretty used to being around other girls like that. Gerardo says Britannians are weird about nudity but even if he didn't mind I think I'd mind a little..."
She smiles about scandal. "I'm getting braver," she says. "It's important... not to be held back by the people who'll be disappointed in you anyway. That's what I think."
"Haha, that's fine. That's what the shower's for! I think I'm gonna get one of those cute little baskets like I used to have in the dorms for mine. Of course, Gerardo has the fancy stuff too..."
Shari's hair is fairly straight, but thicker. And it's still long, just not nearly as long as Cascade's. So she will have to take some time.
But, "I do!" she says. "Thanks again for that. And oh, yeah? I've gotten used to futons too. But it'll be nice to have a Bed. Especially since it's definitely big enough to share."
"I've been staying in this little dorm at the office. It'll be nice to have more of a room."
Cascade Vermilion tosses a coin: Tails
<Pose Tracker> Cascade Vermilion has posed.
Cascade didn't do sports. In fact Cascade *very deliberately* didn't do sports, because of her accidental 'doing too well' on the first day of gym class, which led to the rumours of her being a Coordinator. Except one sport.
"I was on the fencing team. I do miss it, but I don't have any equipment for it any more." Cascade was right in the middle of the rankings on the fencing team... on purpose, because she can beat pretty much any Natural at a combat sport, and so for her the real sport was not losing but also not standing out especially much.
Shame about her competitive nature, which came perilously close to dynamiting it more than once!
"So, I do remember the gym. As for Britannians..." Cascade shrugs, an expressive gesture. "I try not to be. I suppose it matters a bit where you grew up...? Does Gerardo have long hair also?" They might really be fighting over all the spots for hair care products. And brushes. Cascade is a little picky about nobody else touching hers.
As for being braver... "When I was young, I wasn't brave at all," Cascade admits. "It took me living away from my family to be strong enough to decide what I wanted, instead of what they wanted. And I'm sure I disappointed them. So... I do understand that." This seems, actually, heartfelt instead of just something to say, though Cascade doesn't like showing so much vulnerability in front of someone else.
So she immediately changes the topic. "You stay at your office? I thought that was frowned on, unless you were a salaryman, and you certainly aren't. You said you were an intern...?" She was told that much.
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
Shari's strange and unsettling powers have nothing to do with sports, so she's in the clear!
"Aw, yeah?" Shari says. "I guess the stuff for that is specialized. You need the... sword, and the... mask, and.." Well, something, probably.
But, "Yeah. On the mainland I definitely get what he means, though." Then she laughs. "Only long for a guy," she says. "Shorter than mine." She mimes a little under her chin, to demonstrate. But Shari has seen this possibility coming, and so plans for that little basket idea she has, so she doesn't have to leave everything to take up space in the way.
"Yeah... me either," Shari says. She smiles, when she hears that heartfelt statement. "Yeah!" She says. Cascade being willing to show a little vulnerability to her helps her feel comfortable, too. But since Cascade changes the topic, she doesn't elaborate on it. Instead--
"It kind of is, but there's dorms at the office so it's not so bad? It's not like I'm sleeping at a desk or something. But I've been meaning to get a proper apartment for a while, and then I wanted to get one with my boyfriend, so we've been hunting for a place like this for a while and--well, now we finally have it!"
"But yeah! I work for the Photon Power League. They're really nice people. ...They fight and all, but they don't ask me to do any of that. I just... get to work on the stuff I like."
"Oh, speaking of--do you do any crafty stuff?" she asks. "I like to make jewelry. But I don't need a ton of space for that."
<Pose Tracker> Cascade Vermilion has posed.
"Weapon, mask, jacket, glove, plastron, chest protector, and breeches." Cascade goes down the list, and gestures to explain the location of the probably-unfamiliar term of plastron; some kind of cover over one side, presumably the forward sword side, to cover the upper arm and underarm. "Reinforced shoes, so you don't damage the side and heel when lunging. Some kinds of fencing need some other equipment."
"It's quite a bit of gear, and a lot of it needs to be custom-fit, especially for someone like me. So I'm afraid I can't do it right now." Cascade is, of course, well above the average for women's height and thus well outside the easily findable over-the-counter sizes for things like jackets and shoes, not to mention the other ways she is outside the average.
Cascade smiles. "I'm glad you found it. This was the only place I could find that was close to work and had a bike lockup that could be accessed after hours, but... two bedrooms would be a little big for me, and it is more expensive than I'd like to pay on my own." Splitting the rent makes a place like this *much* more affordable.
But then Shari says where she's actually interning at.
Cascade's first instinct is to tell her to *not* mention her, but that would make Shari ask why and she has no idea what her answer to that would be without giving everything away. So she hesitates a moment. It's visible, at least for an instant, as startlement.
"I didn't know they took interns," she says, picking something that could cover for her surprise. "I understand they're very good at what they do, so I hope you do well there." And she's surprised to find she means it; just because she doesn't want to talk to Koji and Sayaka right now, though she's less aggressive about it than she would have been six months ago, doesn't mean she's entirely opposed to the League.
And LiSA does still have her number, after all.
"Jewelry? No, that shouldn't be a problem. I don't really create anything, unless cooking counts." Half-truth; she got the unit she 'acquired' working again. But she didn't do that *here*, and there's no sign of it. "I've wanted to learn how to sew...? Jewelry sounds like it would be quite difficult, it's all small parts placed very precisely."
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
"Oh!" Shari answers, surprised to get the explanation but not unhappy about it. "I see. That is a lot." She's never tried fencing. "I did tennis," she explains. "You don't really need as much stuff for that." Pause. "Hope you can do it again sometime, though."
Shari just assumes it's a size thing. Right now, she has no reason to assume otherwise.
But she smiles back again. "Yeah! It was kind of hard to get what we wanted in anything much smaller," she says. "And some of the landlords were a little... snooty, when I mentioned 'boyfriend' instead of 'husband' or something. You know the type, maybe."
"I wouldn't like to pay a lot more than this either."
But, Cascade is startled--and again, Shari is good at not interrogating things, by habit. So she assumes at first that it's the same thing she's seen otherwise--that the PPL is kind of a Big Deal.
"They don't take a lot," Shari says, "But I'm... Um, pretty good. At engineering stuff." A pause. "Thanks! So far, so good. Like I said, they've been really nice. They let me stay with them while I didn't really have anywhere else to go but crashing on a friend's ship."
But, "Great," Shari says. "Hey, cooking counts. You just get to eat what you make. If you try that with jewelry you run into problems."
A laugh. "But, sewing is cool! If you get good at it I wanna see." Jewelry, though, "Yeah. It's pretty tricky. But that's part of the reward; when you finish, you've got something that can last a while." She gestures to her ears; the unusual green crystals there in a golden setting are, "I made these!"
"But I like the challenge of precision stuff. Machinery's the same way, so..."
<Pose Tracker> Cascade Vermilion has posed.
If it's not a size thing, Cascade isn't shedding any light on the subject.
"Yes I do," Cascade says, with a sigh. "It isn't something I have had to deal with," because she hasn't dated, "but there are some places still like that, I know. Even though I don't think marriage at our age is very common."
The PPL is a big deal, and Cascade is happy to leave that as the explanation. "You must be a good engineer," Cascade says then, thinking. Hmm... Well, best to leave it at that for now; she can find out more later. "Though crashing on a friend's ship... I think you know more people in high places than I do."
She laughs. "No, I wouldn't like to eat jewelry. I like yours, but they belong in ears, not mouths." What about a tongue piercing? No, that doesn't even occur to Cascade. "I don't expect to ever be very practiced at it, but we'll see."
A pause. "Once you've put all your things in, do you want to get some food? I know of a nearby takeout place, if you don't mind Indian, and I'd like to try some of their curries."
<Pose Tracker> Shari Loom has posed.
"Right?" Shari says. "I'm way too young for that. Living together is already a big step!" She smiles, because even though that part sucks, Cascade gets it, and that's good enough for her. "I didn't think about it until I started running into that stuff."
"Heh. High places... I get it." A pause. "Yeah. I've got a friend who lives on that big ship that docks in Magallanica? And they let me stay there for a few days."
A laugh back. "Not tasty," she agrees. Shari would think of tongue piercings... But she's not that brave yet.
"Oh!" Shari says, and beams, turning back to Cascade where she'd started to turn to look around again. "Yeah," she says, "I'd like that a lot."