Roommate Wanted!

Cassie plunked down next to Ash and grinned. "Good to meet you Ash, I'm Cassie!" She ignored Ash's hand entirely and wrapped her up in a big hug.

"No matches, though, eh? You sound like someone who knows what she wants to do, but doesn't necessarily know how to do it. Ya know, to a moving target that fights back. Not everyone will stand in front of you and let you hit them in the face!" Cassie held her hands up in front of her like a boxer covering up and bobbed a little back and forth. She laughed.

"This is great! Really. I'm glad you showed up! Ya know because I'm looking for a roommate and all and I think you'd be perfect! It'd be so much fun. And we work in the same place, so we can totally train together and stuff and once we start winning more matches we can start getting some furniture and stuff. So awesome! So, um..." Cassie started to realize that Ash hadn't really given any indication that she was still interested after seeing her empty apartment. "D-do you still want to move in?" She asked, with a puppy dog look that was entirely genuine. She really hoped Ash wanted to stay. It'd be so awesome.

Ash did not reciprocate the hug. She merely rode it like a tidal wave. "Eyah... L... Likewise."

Ash pursed her lips at Cassie's insinuation. Am I really getting lectured by this little kid? Seriously? How far have I fallen? "Yeah, and not everyone will sit there and let you wrap around their arm and snap it in two." She winked, "That one bastard DID come close though." She took a couple of slow, exaggerated swings over Cassie's head for her to duck under.

The latest flurry of activity from Cassie elicited not really a scowl from Ash, but more the telltale squint of someone still looking for a way out of this and finding none. "Uh... f... f..." Ash winced. The words were even difficult to speak. Every DAY with this kid? Hell, she'd probably be up before NOON! Just chattering away! All day! This was an awful idea! "F... S... Sssss... Suuuuurrreeee. Yeees..." Ash let out an exhausted release of breath, "Fine. Yeah. This place is a damn sight better than my usual dives." Well, it was. Could not really argue with that.

A high pitched, excited noise emitted from Cassie as she hugged Ash again. "AWESOME! I mean, I mean, um, we'll just split the rent and stuff, I dunno. Whatever people do when they're roommates, I dunno."

Cassie exploded off the floor and was back on her feet. "What should we DO? Have you eaten? Do you eat? Is this all your stuff is there more? We should go eat somewhere all Japanese and crazy and awesome! I can help you move more stuff if you have stuff. It's okay, I don't have a lot of stuff either. LET'S GO EAT! I have money from my first match and maybe we can go find something that makes sound for playing music and stuff that's bigger than this." She poked at her mp3 player.

"C'mon c'mon c'mon c'mon!" Cassie urged, grabbing Ash by the wrist and tugging her to get her to her feet. "I don't really know anyone in Japan so you're like the first person I've met that I haven't been fighting or talking about fighting or something so you're the first one and I'm glad it's you! You're so nice and you're so pretty and this is really great. Is Ash short for Ashley?" Cassie was reaching terminal velocity. She needed to settle down.

Ash shuddered in the hug, "Yes, uh..." Cassie seemed to rev up into high gear, a flurry of words exploded from her. "Well, we... eugh..." Ash just gave up and massaged her temples as she was yanked to her feet. "No... this is... all my stuff..." She muttered.

Ashley. Ash's hair stood on end at the mere utterance. She grabbed Cassie by the shoulders to hold her still. "No." She growled icily, "NOT Ashley."

"Eep!" Cassie was frozen by Ash's glare. "Oh, okay. Just Ash. That's cool."

She broke free of Ash's grip and went sailing down the short hallway to the bedroom at the end. There were small piles of clothes sorted out on the floor. "Just a sec!" She emerged moments later in a pair of jeans that were tight from hip to knee and a faded little red flannel shirt that fit snugly and was notched up on the sides high enough that any bending would show the skin of her hips. A quick trip to the mirror for a quick check up, she stuck a couple clips in her hair to tame the effects of her workout, and she was back in the living room. She grabbed a little zippered leatherette bag from the kitchen counter, scarcely bigger than a checkbook, and stuffed it in her back pocket.

"Ready! Do you know anywhere good to go because I really don't. I haven't done a lot of exploring yet except in that direction." She pointed in the general direction of the AFW building. Getting there from the apartment was a straight shot down the road. "C'mon, you pick, I'm buying. Isn't this exciting? Aren't you excited?" Cassie gushed while shaking Ash back and forth by the shoulders.

"And we're off!" She got halfway out the door. "Keys!" She called and scurried back into the kitchen to grab her keys off the counter. Then she was out the door. "Comin'?"

Cassie just seemed to slide free from Ash's grasp. Catching her was almost like catching water. Her hands hung in the air for a few seconds as Cassie walked down the hall, coming together in a pleasant pantomime of wringing Cassie's neck until all the kewpie doll stuffing came out. Taking a deep breath, Ash would calm herself and let her hands fall to the side just as Cassie emerged once more. Hopefully, the kid would be a bit calmer with a few seconds away.

Not even close.

Ash remained quiet, letting out a resigned groan as Cassie shook her, "Eh... kinda?" She muttered. "Let's... just go someplace where there is no sugar or caffeine." The only places Ash had hit up in this town were the bars, and there was no way she was going to take Cassie to a bar, even if the age in this stupid country was fourteen or whatever it was. What a lousy country. Still better than Canada.

Canada. "Fine, fine, fine. I'm coming." Ash shrugged, making her way to the door. As Ash shut the door, she asked, "Just a quick question, if I were to give you a specific time to come talk to me while I'm sleeping... could you do that?" Cassie would be a LOT cheaper than an alarm clock... Of course, no snooze button though. No seven minute shutting up a crazy little MMA girl... at least not while half asleep.

"Why, what time do you get up? I usually get up at seven, though sometimes I sleep in to eight or eight-thirty. But mostly I get up at seven, eat, go for a run, eat a little more, do drills at home and then it's off to the gym till lunch time. This is the first time I've ever not had a teacher around, it's weird, I'm afraid that I won't get any better but then I've been trying to get better with pro wrestling stuff so I'm not just the jujitsu girl. What time do you get up?"

A quick jaunt down a hallway and through a door and they were out on the crowded sidewalk. It was sunny, Cassie had particularly enjoyed her run that morning. Even the obnoxiousness of the traffic seemed to bother her less. Really, nothing could bother her in the state she was in. She couldn't have wiped the smile off her face if she tried.

After a moment's deliberation, Cassie turned and started off down the street with Ash in tow. For the first time she headed away from the AFW building. She stopped at a street corner and looked around. "Which way should we...hmm.... oh, what about street vendor food! I've never had street vendor food, have you?" She said, pointing off down the street to the right and looking back at Ash. "Eh?"

Cassie squinted at Ash for a moment while she looked her over again. "You look like you need to eat better. I'll help! I eat really healthy and you can too and then you'll have more energy and feel better and everything!"

Cassie was annoying under normal circumstances, but, in an astounding feat, she had somehow managed to string together a series of sentences whose every word stung Ash, like nails fired into her brain in rapid succession.

Sleep... IN to eight? Ash's eyes widened just a bit with each new nail fired by Cassie. First time without a teacher?! "Oh... you know... whenever, usually noonish if I got in early." Ash mumbled, almost forcing it out.

Ash blinked in the sunlight while she fished in her pockets for her sunglasses, sliding them on. As she did so, glancing down at the chipper girl's frenetic pace, a particularly chilling realization overcame Ash. Sure, Cassie was a trained martial artist and Ash was mostly a rocker turned brawler but hearing about Cassie's regimen really drove the point home. C... can she ... TAKE me?! "Oh... whatever's fine." She muttered almost absent-mindedly, regarding Cassie with a mixture of revulsion and fear. "My workout routine is usually carrying kit for the band and setting up the stage..." She interjected, trying to protect what she could of her ego.

Ash snarled at Cassie's dietary advice. She raised an accusatory finger at her, "Hey! Metal is a very demanding genre of music to play. It requires a strict diet of beer, pizza, and beer! I eat just fine!" She folded her arms and gave a bit of a pout... as much a pout as a metalhead could give, of course.

Cassie looked over at Ash "Noon. That's okay! I'll just wake you up at lunchtime!" A beaming smile crept over her face that grew until a giggle rolled out. Then another. Like a pot of water coming to a boil her giggling turned into uncontrollable, lilting, girlish laughter. She continued, not totally sure of what was so funny though she had a suspicion that her and Ash were two very different people, until she heard Ash say something else that she didn't quite catch.

"What? Oh. Well if you're a fighter now too, not training right and not eating right will just end up with you getting beat up and losing fights. The not eating right part will make you get tired faster, then get beat up more, then you'll stay sore longer and it's no good. I can help with all of that!"

Cassie emitted a high pitched 'Ee' sound and fluttered over to a food cart. She bought one of what the man was selling, it was a stick with... something on it. She held it in front of herself, staring at it, her grin not fading.

"Um. What is it?"

On any other day, from any other person, a giggle fit like the one Cassie exploded into would shock Ash. Here, it just illustrated one example of the concentrated crazy Ash's new roommate was capable of. Ash rubbed her temples softly as they walked, What did I get myself into? Is this some sort of penance for something I've done?... You know, this would make a good song... Augh, she's turning me to emo music! No, no, BAD! NO EMO MUSIC!

Ash shook her head, catching up to Cassie at the food cart, "Hey, hey, don't knock the beer and pizza diet until you tried it, short-stuff."

The mystery food item on a stick puzzled Ash just as much as it did Cassie. Leaning in, she took a nervous whiff of it, "Eh... Something the Japanese seem to think food is, apparently." She beckoned the cart vendor for one herself and picked it up, "I've had worse." Ash said with a shrug, "Probably." She still eyed the item pensively, trying to convince herself to take the plunge and sample it.