Hanging Out

[Cassandra Reeding]

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Cassandra makes her way over to the mural across the street from the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium, her cello case strapped to her back as well as her satchel hanging over her shoulder. Books of music can be seen peeping out from her bag. She is dressed casually in a red pleated skirt, black long sleeved shirt, and tights. Her nearly hip length, scarlet hair is worn down and pin-straight as usual.

She leans up against the mural, gazing down at her cellphone as she waits for Yamiyo Lillich.

[Yamiyo Lillich]

Coming in a half jog to the mural, it was not a place she had been to before and the walk were a bit longer than expected with all the small ways left and right that were needed. Dressed more for the month than the season but then again better take advantage of the month whilst you can and it was more for herself than others anyway as they didn't necessarily see the same clothes.

Catching her breath for a second as she pulls out a bottle of aloe vera water, quickly taking a big gulp.
"Sorry it took a bit, did you wait long?"

[Cassandra Reeding]

Cassandra smiles as Yamiyo approaches and gives a little wave, "Hey! Oh, you're fine. Only been a couple of minutes, but it's a nice chilly day, so I don't mind." She gives her outfit a look over and nods, "Very gothy. Nice."

"My place is set up for tea if you want or we could go get boba. There is a place within walking distance," she says, running her fingers through her hair as she has already begun walking north down J. She figured if anyone was going to see her apartment, she might as well make them walk there. Happens when you live in the middle of the city anyway where parking is kind of a terror.

[Yamiyo Lillich]

Meeting the smile with a warm kind smile in return.
"Ohh puhh thats good, it was a bit of a walk to get around and find the right place." Spinning around a bit to show of her clothing "Thanks it's part of my school clothing for the October month, I usually add a hoodie or mask to keep my lets call it strange appearance from being viewed to much in school. You can never be to careful you know." Eyes going over Cassandra for a bit, trying to find the right words to say "That's a lovely necklace you're wearing what symbol is there on it?" That was innocent enough right?

Waving her hands a bit.
"Ohh umm whichever you prefer, we can get Boba if it feels wrong to have visitors if you like or you're place if you prefer I don't wanna intrude." Walking alongside her, long standing habits making her eyes look towards Cassandra's lips. "No worries though I tend to walk to most places I am going to whenever I can even if I had to surrender and buy an electric bike here now recently and have used Uber more than once, walking is good for the figure though."

[Cassandra Reeding]

Cassandra continues walking and nods as she listens to Yamiyo. "Going for themes is always fun. School spirit was a huge thing when I was growing up, though I wasn't much for it. Had too much to worry about with my instrument and getting into college," She smiles a little, gazing up at what she can see of her cello case over her shoulder, "I can imagine it gets kind of weird. Lately, I've noticed you look like one of my little sisters. Does it change often? I feel like the first time I saw you your hair was black? Or was it light brown?" She realizes she doesn't even entirely remember. Kind of spooky.

She then gazes down her her two necklaces. The longer one is a wooden talisman with the Tree of Life etched into it and the shorter one is a delicate rose pendant, carved from opal. "Oh, these?" she picks up the longer one to show Yamiyo, "This is Yggdrasil. The Tree of Life. and this," she points to the other one, "is just a simple rose made of opal." She doesn't really thing about it, but moments after saying that, she rather grips onto the rose a little. Oh... you gave me this one. Her heart pains just a hint. It was a happy memory though. Most of them were happy memories which is probably why it still bothered her so much.

Even with her mind going through those thoughts, she doesn't let it show on her face, the constantly changing hues continuing to shift upon her skin.

They continue walking around a few corners, "Oh, it's fine. My place isn't too far from here." Before long they are already in front of a nondescript apartment complex, "Here we are." With the way Cassandra had been walking, unless Yamiyo had really been paying attention to the many streets they walked through, she won't entirely know where they are.

Cassandra leads them through a door, up a flight of stairs, and through a hallway to a door labeled "308". The door opens up to a pretty neat two bedroom apartment. Directly inside is the living room and open kitchen, separated by an island counter. There is a distinct aroma of lavender inside. Cassandra walks in, setting her cello case by the door, and then stretches a little as she walks into the living room. There is a simple, comfy blue suede couch and a matching chair, a black coffee table, and two large bookshelves filled with various books and sheet music. She has a television, but it is on the older side and much thicker than many of the TVs nowadays.

Her kitchen is incredibly organized, though chaotic looking at the same time. She has various herbs all about, some growing, but mostly just dried ones. On the counter is a large, thick book with what seems to be laminated pages. Maybe a photo album from the looks of it.

"Make yourself at home," she says, setting her satchel down on the island counter and going into the kitchen to begin boiling up some water for tea, "What would you like to drink? I have some soda, probably most any kind of tea you can think of - I kind of stocked up on my herbs and spices before I came, uh juice, water? Any of that interesting you?"

[Yamiyo Lillich]

"The advantage with finally being rooted in one place or well one city at least." Did living at the sorority count as having two homes? "So much easier to build a large wardrobe." A light chuckle "I know the feeling though, my earlier school days were mostly to stay away and try to be alone. College was something that I doubted to have money for so gave up on that early on, what was it that drew you to the musical path in life?" Looking over her own arms a bit whilst softly shaking her head. "Honestly I do not know any details however as that is a secret project so would it be best to keep that kind of talk away from potential spies around us." Eyes looking around at the people nearby you could never be to careful about this.

Looking over the two necklaces a bit with interested eyes.
"So one gives life to the other, both of them nourishing and strengthening the other. It's a beautiful combination and look really good on you." Simple, nothing that had any form of deeper emotional meaning were simple. Giving her time to go through her shifts and think as she needs it without interfering just calmly walking along.

Paying much attention she really hadn't, looking more at the people and after all kinds of stores they could pass than the streets. Eyes looking up at the place and around them.
"Looks like a charming area, do you enjoy living here? The first time in a new city can be quite rough and hard to deal with." Silent steps walking after Cassandra waiting to get to the right place and walking in after her, eyes wandering over the place whilst trying to not laugh, trying to keep a serious face not that she was the best at hiding her feelings. Quickly making her way over to the books, admiring them with sparkling eyes. "It's a really delightful little place you have made for yourself here. May I ask which book is your favorite?"

Looking over to Cassandra, one eye drawn to the large thick bock. "Ohh umm well if you're gonna have tea so can I gladly take a cup of tea as well if you have any fruit or berry ones with no caffeine in them, my body really doesn't respond right to caffeine, I can order some wine if you like as well." Her eyes going back to the bookshelves inspecting book by book, a hand walking across them but never really touching them, yes books were what she loved most in this life. "However as we now are alone feel free to ask whatever you like, I have very few secrets."

[Cassandra Reeding]

"What drew me to music? I mean... I suppose it was instantaneous. I picked up the cello and playing it," she shrugs a little, "Somehow it just felt correct. It's all I ever wanted to do - not necessarily playing for people, but just, playing music. Listening to music is one thing, but there is an entirely different kind of experience involved in playing it. A kind of zen you can reach nowhere else."

She raises a bit of an eyebrow to Yami as she says 'secret project' and sighs a little bit. She will need to teach her how to speak in code in public without worry one of these days. Though, as any good Winter would say, 'Better safe than sorry.' Lead by example. You'll be in a private space eventually in a minute anyway.

"I suppose you could say that on the necklaces. I'd never really thought of it that way."

Cassandra looks out to her apartment as Yamiyo talks, gazing over her things and she nods, "It's a quiet enough place. I don't like it too quiet though. If I can't hear sirens at night then I don't quite feel at home. One of the things I miss about Baltimore." The briefest memory, gazing out over the skyline of Baltimore as she packs up their home, goes through her mind. I do miss that view.

She begins working on putting together some herbs into a tea bag. There is the slightest hint of a fruity aroma that comes from it as she does so. "My favorite book? Hmm... probably Asimov's Caves of Steel. I'm a real sucker for science fiction, particularly the classics. Asimov, some Philip K. Dick." By the looks of her collection, she had many books by those authors as well as just the general classics. Some of them very old and some on the newer end. Of course, technically, the book collection wasn't all entirely hers. There were many dark thrillers and horror novels by Steven King, Lovecraft, Shirley Jackson, Richard Matheson and the like.

"Well, you got anything you feel like sharing in particular at the moment?" Cassandra finishes packaging up the tea bag and sets it in a black onyx tea cup that she has taken out. The more she goes through these things, the more she recognizes just how many of her things are blended with Phillip's. She tries not to pay much mind to it though. Once the water has come to a boil, Cassandra takes it off the heat and then pours it into the cup. She lets it sit for a moment before waving her hand over it and allowing her mantle to affect it. The slightest chill seems to roll across the room.

She walks over to Yamiyo and hands her the cup of tea before walking back to work on her own, starting the process again. She had a particular system when it came to making her tea. Every herb was a little different and you didn't want to overboil any of them. "Oh, I made you a blend of raspberry and ginger with a few other complementary herbs. The ginger is very slight though. I have honey and sugar over here if you need some." She says, gesturing to her little sweetening station by the edge of the island with a smile as she begins putting together the spices for a chai for herself.

[Yamiyo Lillich]

"Then if you do not mind kindly allow me to alter the question a bit, how did you find music? How did you find your choice of instrument, what drove you to just that one and to even initially try?" Eyes wandering a bit over the apartment. "Sadly music is a big enigma for me and my relation with it extremely weak as I was cut of from so much of it for far to long."

Looking to the necklaces once more.
"I like how things go together, how everything around us has a life and as such I do tend to enjoy giving things connections and a story it just makes the world a bit more magical." A chuckle at the silence "There we are really different, it can never be to quiet absolute silence is a warm and comforting bliss." Taking down her hood and playing a bit with her hair. "Although this is a large city I am sure that there are plenty of noises around here as well if one just listens for them. There is a melody to each place after all."

Taking in the pleasant scent, finally getting over the laughter of the initial one that struck her even if most would probably miss the joke in it for her.
"Never heard of that one, what is it about?" Looking over the books some more "Sadly it seems that the kind of books we read are rather different so talking about most of these with you would be quite hard, it is wonderful how they all come to life though and it's always nice to see how people have actual books and not just digital ones." Lightly touching some random book with the edge of her finger ever so softly "They really are a true treasure in this world."

The question taking her by surprise.
"Not that I can think of no, there is nothing in particular to keep a secret as long as it doesn't involve someone else but nothing that comes directly to mind that needs to be shared." Pondering for a moment "True I could elaborate my appearance a bit but not much and that is mostly just that sadly I do not truly know. It affects everyone differently, few if any see the same thing and as I am limited to see from my own perspective so do I not know how my appearance works in others eyes making it really hard to know any details to this cursed blessing. If there is anything you wonder about do not hesitate to ask though." Taking the cup, letting the aroma fill her "It smells wonderful thank you, do you have a little bit of milk to add?"

[Cassandra Reeding]

Cassandra leans up against the counter, considering her questions, "How did I find music? I... Honestly, I'm not entirely sure it was ever anything intentional sought out. Learning an instrument was rather expected of most people where I grew up or singing. I'm not very good at singing. I have the presence for it, but my voice would be better suited for a night out at the Karaoke bar or something. So, I started with piano and then I got to try out a few stringed instruments in middle school." she shrugs a little, "It's just always been my thing. It's always been something that made me happy," Well... mostly. I made you happy for a little while.

As the water for her own cup comes to a boil, she takes the kettle off of the heat, setting her cup up with its own tea bag. She gently pours the boiling water into the cup and waits. She's made this cup of tea so many times that it is practically instinctual for exactly how long it needs to steep and when she needs to cool it.

"Oh, well, I haven't read all of those ones either. I never was into the straight gore," She says almost absently, not really considering the fact that Yamiyo wouldn't know that not all of the books were hers, "But Caves of Steel is a murder mystery with a human detective and his android partner. Asimov was the original creator for the laws of robotics. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. It's really cool reading about it, honestly."

Cassandra nods, walking over to her refrigerator and taking out a half gallon of 2% milk, "Here you go," she says, placing it on the edge of the island while she finishes putting together her own tea. "I suppose good to know in regards to that on your appearance." she takes a sip of her tea.

[Yamiyo Lillich]

Listening intently towards the story.
"Hmm so we need to get out to a karaoke bar some evening then and just sing until we get hoarse." Frowning for a second "It's a shame that they do not have those nice karaoke places around here at least not that I know of. You know the ones whom you can see in Japanese shows where you all have private rooms and you can order stuff in to the room." Then again she was far from an expert there "You're quite skilled at it and anything that makes us happy is worth pursuing thank you for sharing your story of it."

Looking to her and over the books for a second.
"I think I have heard of those laws, aren't there three laws whom pretty much were all adapted into various tellings afterward and are considered the three laws of robotics which to follow? Think I read some book with them in once or twice, don't remember the last one of them though." Slowly making her way over to a table to put down the cup, not really wanting to get away from the books. "Fairly unsurprising so do I mostly read romance based ones. Currently reading the books of Sarah J Maas, not truly romantic ones but they do are captivating and the main character is quite cute. Even if they play up her beauty a tad bit to often to the extent that nearly no one else seems to be beautiful in the world."

Taking the milk, pouring a little in her cup just enough to give it a nice new color.
"Thank you." Putting it back where she had placed it before, not wanting to go snoop in the fridge "Sorry that I cannot tell you more about it, the appearance does come in handy for flirting or winning the attention of people quite easily though as I tend to have an appearance people do enjoy, not always of course bad memories can come at times as well or people just don't like it or who knows it's always hard to know when you neither know what people see nor their story."