Life at Tokyo University

Cassie shook her head slowly. "...Papa used to tell me I was beautiful too... that I was his beautiful little bird, that he'd never let go..." She shivered slightly. "Fly away... wanna fly away..." Her voice became a bit strained. "F-fly away..." She tensed more, pulling her clothes more firmly around herself, withdrawing more. "Fly away... where they can't get you anymore..."

Talbaza inclined his head a bit, then nodded. "I understand. However, I think there's something more to it then just embarrassment to have such a strong reaction. It's just my opinion they be taken down for now, until she calms down at least."

Jun's eyes were stinging and her cheeks felt wet. "Oh sweety it's okay." She wrapped her arms around Cassie. Her vision blurred and she tried to wipe her eyes on her shoulder. She didn't know all the details of what happened to her and she didn't care. Her new friend was hurt and that hurt Jun. "N-none of that matters now." She sniffled. "You're with real friends now."

The manager nodded "Yes that would be acceptable. Yuki go get the ladder from the back." He said and the girl nodded and ran off. Moments later she came back with a step ladder. He set it and took down both posters. "Go put these in my office." he said as he handed Yuki the rolled up paper.

Cassie was trembling in Jun's arms, clutching at her headphones. "Fly away.... fly away little bird..." She whimpered softly, and said something so softly that a normal human would not have been able to hear it. "Please, Papa, just leave me alone..."

Talbaza was grateful for that and said as much. "Thank you. I hope one day these types of things don't bother her anymore, for now though there's nothing for it. There's a deeper problem there."

He was starting to think there was more underlining issues besides just self esteem..and he wasn't sure how to handle them.

But maybe Loraine would.

Talbaza thanked them once more, then decided to go by where Jun and Cassie were to wait on them. Obviously, he couldn't go into the dressing rooms but he could be a bit closer.

Jun by a lot of people was considered very empathetic. While she couldn't actively feel others emotions they did influence her own and right now her heart was breaking. Something went terribly wrong in Cassie's life she knew this. She recognized the signs. Jun heard Cassie whimper something. She couldn't quite make it out only something about leaving her alone.

"Cassandra, at the risk of sounding like a bad anime, it's going to be okay. We'll help you through this." She tried to help Cassie up. "Come on let's go home."

Cassie didn't respond at first, but after a long moment, she seemed to take a deep breath, her body relaxing just a bit. "O-okay.... okay..." She was clinging to Jun though at this point. It had been so long since she had anyone that she could actually count on, depend on. Ever since her mother had died, she had been on her own in a sense; she'd had nobody that she could really rely on. THe closest she'd had was her grandmother, but she couldn't take care of herself, let alone Cassie. Cassie took care of her more than the other way around.

Talbaza was waiting for Jun and Cassie to get out, his face of concern lesseningly only slightly when they came out. He went over to them, Cassie was clinging to Jun he had noted. "I talked to the manager, they took down the posters after I explained things to them. ..Is she okay?"

Jun shook her head. "We're going back to my place to relax. Would you mind getting us a cab?" She walked by her bags and picked them up.

The store clerk had just returned from putting the ladder back. "Can I help you?" She reached for the bags that had store merchandise in them.

Jun nodded. "Yes put these on hold and I'll come back tomorrow to pick them up." She said and went to the front of the store.

Cassie was actually pretty upset with herself at the moment. 'It was going so well... I was starting to... they won't want to be around me after this, I'm ruining their fun...' Still, she didn't let go of Jun. She felt like if she did, they'd leave her. '...I'm pathetic...'

Talbaza wordlessly complied with what Jun said, getting a cab around here in Tokyo was getting another T-shirt, it was everywhere. "Don't worry about anything Cassie. We'll have fun at Jun's place." While he liked to study and learn things about different cultures and meet other people, one thing that had remained the same. He liked the peace and quite when he could take it as well. That probably was never going to change.

Jun nodded "I think it would be best if we just chilled someplace more comfortable." She eased Cassie into the cab never letting go of her. "Todai Dormitory please." She said. As soon as Talbaza was in the cab it took off towards home.

Some time later a cab pulled up to the Todai dorms and Jun got out. She was still holding on to Cassandra and wouldn't let go until she did. She paid for the cab with her free hand and walked Cassie up to her place on the top floor.

Once inside she kicked off her shoes and bent to take Cassandra's off. Jun then moved to the couch and sat down guiding her friend over. "There is that better? No noise, no people, just friends."

Cassie nodded softly, her grip relaxing just a bit. "I'm sorry... we were having fun, and I messed it up..."

Talbaza shook his head. "Don't be. You'll find I'm very easy going. Something like this isn't going to ruin my day. If weren't comfortable, you weren't comfortable, what's important is that you are. It's what a real friend does."

Jun nodded "The way I see it, you didn't ruin our fun. Because if you aren't having fun then neither am I." She looked to Talbaza "I didn't want to speak for you." She said with an apologetic smile. Looking back to Cassandra. "I'm going to go make some tea. I'll be right back."

Cassie nodded, letting go of Jun so she could leave. She fidgeted with the hem of her sweater, glancing around the room from time to time, but mostly looking at the ground.

It was easy to tell Cassie was still jumpy, and likely still feeling bad because of what happened. So Talbaza tried to keep her mind off that, just some small talk here and there. "If you think you have the time for it, you think you could teach me how to play the guitar?"

Jun went into her kitchen, and started to make some tea. At first she thought about fixing up a traditional tea ceremony then decided it wasn't a good time. Besides she would have to go through a lot of boxes to find her mother's Kimono.

She came back with a tray and set it down on the table. Jun poured three cups and handed one over to Cassandra. "Well it's not much but it's home."

Cassie nodded a bit. "Thank you... and it's already better than any home I've known, so..." She shrugged slightly, sipping her tea.

Talbaza noticed Cassie didn't even answer him or give any sign she had heard him, he decided to take that as a cue to drop it. Which he did. It wasn't that important.

He never tried tea before, so he had unbiased opinion of the stuff. He was surprised on how good it was when he tasted it. "..If tea is normally this good or its a recipe, you'll have to teach me. Count myself addicted."

Jun smiled "Thank you Talbaza, It's my father's recipe." She said and looked to Cassandra "It's two bedrooms and I could use a roommate. Just saying. OH!" She clapped slightly and looked to Tal. "I have a videogame system here. It's a little dated but it still works." She moved over to her entertainment system. Jun pulled out a controller and turned it on. "It's a Playstation 3" She handed Tal the controller. "The game is Soul Caliber five. Try it. It's set to easy, I'm not very good at it." She said and moved to sit next to Cassandra. She poured herself another cup.

Cassandra had been frozen since Jun had essentially offered to let her live with her. She just stared at Jun in utter shock, eyes wide. When Jun sat back down, she swallowed a bit. "You... you really mean...?"

"Thank you..I'll give it a try."

Talbaza was still wondering what Loraine was doing around here, apparently appearing enough and long enough to have a local legend about her. This was the first time the 'Golden Dragon' had even popped up. Taking a glance at a newspaper, it showed reports of a giant sea creature that washed up on the shore dead and damaged.

Kori. Those only live in the Zeleth seas..

That was a bit unsettling. Those creatures were Apex Predators, there was virtually nothing(anymore) that lived in the earth oceans native that posed any kind of threat to them. That he knew of.

He heard about Jun asking Cassie, but he left it alone. That was her choice. He wouldn't be surprised if Cassie said yes, despite her shy and skittish nature. For one, Jun, whether she realized it or not had a gift. She was good with people, get them to open up. It was easy to say if you spent even a little bit of time with her. While Talbaza liked meeting new races and cultures, back when he was younger he always felt awkward socially and out of place. It wasn't until later he started to come into his own. People skills and the ease some others had naturally it was something he both admired and almost envied.

Talbaza still had come a long way, and was still growing. If you kept moving forward and didn't let your doubts, insecurities hold you as you were, you'd continue to evolve into a better person you were before. At least, that was his personal philosophy.

Now though, there was a video game to be had.

Jun nodded "Yeah I do, the room is just being used for... well... nothing. It's got a bed and a dresser in there." She watched Talbaza with the game. She pointed to some buttons. "This one's vertical slash and this one's horizontal. This one's block and this one is kick." Leaning back she looked to Cassie "That is you know IF you want to move in." She glanced back at Talbaza "When you're done would you mind telling us a bit more about the Golden Dragon?"

Cassie was silent for a long moment, then nodded. "I... I would... I just... need to figure out something for my grandmother. Without me, there's nobody to take care of her..."