Sticky Pudding

Charlotte loved the rooftop. There was so much space to move, and on windy days, as it was that day, she could stand on the railing and pretend she was flying. And boy was it nice to feel the wind blowing all the way through her hair.

Having long hair was great. Being human was great.

She jumped slightly as she heard someone behind her, spinning round to look and holding on to the railing, letting out a small squeek. Moving that fast wasn't a good plan. She hopped down, before glancing up at where the person was again. They'd just gotten to the roof top. Did she recognise them?

"Hi," Charlotte greeted happily, eager to begin interacting with the other students in the school.

Jessamine only knew one thing. She knew that she had absolutely no idea where she was. Or where she was heading. She had been on her way to look for a library. A school as big as this one had to have a library, and she hadn't found it yet. And like she had noticed the school was big, and therefor it wasn't hard for the nymph (who was disgustingly easily distracted by shiny things… like how the sun had reflected on the stairs and just begged her to walk them) to get lost.

She came to a halt in front of a metal colored door, it didn't look like a library door but she figured it wouldn't be too terrible if she opened it - unless it led to a room filled with wolves, that wouldn't be pleasant at all.

But as soon as Jessamine had opened the door she was greeted by a sudden bright light, that she later came to recognize as the sun and the blazing blue sky. She seemed to have wandered to the roof.

She jumped backwards, stumbling against the door hard so it closed behind her, when there was a sudden noise. With wide eyes Jessamine stared at the other girl, who she wasn't sure if she should recognize or not. "Hi…" she finally managed to mutter out. "I… I was looking for the library..."

Was the girl...lost? She was certainly shocked that Charlotte was there, that was for sure. She'd looked a little out of place when she stepped onto the roof however, so maybe she was.

Looking for the library. And wound up on the roof. Yeah, that was lost.

Charlotte giggled slightly, waving it off. "Oh, no worries! This place is huuuge!" she did a good job of missing the fact the girl was staring at her with wide eyes. "But you know, getting lost is just really an adventure in disguse! Come on, let's go see if we can find the library," she beckoned the girl over, looking back over the railing again.

There were a few buildings. She wasn't sure if the library was in the one they were in, or in a different one, or what. "Is it in this building? What's on the different floors?" she lent over to see if she could see the building windows.

Jessamine nervously played with the chain around her neck. The stranger girl was right, the school was huge so maybe it wasn't that awful that she had gotten lost but Jessie felt a bit embarrassed over it still.

She couldn't really think of getting lost as an adventure, though, but she said nothing. "I," she started, fingers wrapping tightly around the chain. "Heights… Heights aren't really my.. thing." she stared at the railing and wanted nothing more than to close her eyes or perhaps turn around and run back the way she had arrived. But looking at the girl again Jessamine knew she had to suck it up.

She couldn't hide a gasp though, when the blonde lent over the railing and for a second Jessamine was most certain she was going to flip over it and fall to her death. How wasn't she scared? "I-I've no idea where it is." Jessamine replied, taking small hesitating steps towards the other girl. "Do you see anything? I'm s-s-sure there is a library somewhere but I don't know where anything is, just that the-the dining hall is on the first floor." it wasn't like her to be so shy but the combination of her fear of heights and the fact that she'd gotten herself lost was making her stutter.

Charlotte glanced at the other girl as she said heights weren't really her thing. She guessed some people probably wouldn't like heights. It made sense, if you fell then it probably wouldn't be too good. If she fell would she suffer the same fate in her human form?

It was a bit of an unsettling question. Not enough to make her care.

She hummed as she was asked if she could see anything. "Not really. It's kind of a bad angle to see things with. Maybe we should go look inside the building?" Charlotte suggested. It would definitely make it easier to see things.

"I knew the dining hall was on the first floor! And I know where the dorms are!" she gave the other girl a large grin. "Food and sleep are two very important things after all!"

Inside the building sounded good, it sounded so much better than on top of the building. Where you could trip and fall down endlessly until you reached the bottom and became one big splatter of blood and flesh and-

"Inside sounds like a reasonable place for a library," Jessamine smiled. "You don't have to come with me though, if you don't want to." she couldn't hide the disappointment in her words, she did despise spending time on her own, but she couldn't really expect someone she barely knew to want to spend time with her, could she?"

Jessamine found herself grinning back at the girl. "I love sleeping," she admitted. "Almost as much as I love food and swimming. Do you think they've got a pool here? I know they've got a lake, have you seen it yet? I'm sure you have it's a bit obvious, it's really magnificent I think! I haven't tried to swim in it yet though, but I really want to!" she gave a little nervous giggle when she realized how she'd been blabbing on for a while. "I'm sorry I've got a serious case of diarrhea of the mouth - that's what Jem calls it anyway."

Charlotte waved her hand, holding her head high. "Nonsense! Of course I'll come with you! It'd be handy to know where the library is anyway, probably, besides, I can't not help!" she planted her hands on her hips, puffing out her chest. "Can't leave a pretty girl in need!"

"Ooh, swimming?" she wasn't overly big on swimming herself, but she could definitely see the appeal. "They have a sports pitch, and it's a pretty well off school from what I gathered, so they should do!"

Charlotte began to bounce up and down at the idea of swimming in the lake though. There was definitely appeal in that. "Yesss! Everyone has to swim in a lake! Lake's are beautiful! I probably have seen it. Oh! Yeah, I have! The Crystal Lake, right?" she let out a sigh of happiness. "It was magnificent."

"Diarrhea mouth, I like that one," she admitted with a giggle, before holding out her hand. "I'm Lottie, by the way! If we're going to be looking for the library together it might help to know who you are."

Jessamine found her smile spreading as the girl insisted on coming with her. "Do you like reading then?" he felt a familiar rush of heat to her cheeks at the girls' second sentence. Jessie had, of course, noticed that the blond was really pretty but she hadn't expected the… compliment.

Recovering, Jessamine smiled again. "Swimming is like, everything I've ever wanted to do. I used to be able to spend hours just swimming back home." While the other nymphs would dance around the forrest. "I hope they have a pool, I'll have to look for it later and hope I don't end up on the roof again." she giggled a little at that.

She looked amused at the girl as she started bouncing, clearly excited about lakes. "Have you tried to swim in it? I've heard it's quite cold, but that doesn't really scare me off, I can handle the cold." Just not heights.

"I'm Jessamine, but you can call me Jessie or Jess or Minnie or whatever you want really." she accepted Lottie's hand, smiling sheepishly. "You're also allowed to tell me to stop talking when I get in a craze, otherwise I'm likely to never shut up."

Did Charlotte like reading? Reading kind of required...being inside. And Charlotte wasn't overly big on being inside. "I...don't mind reading?" she bit her lip as she tried to formulate her words. "Some stories can be great- like adventure stories! But I like reading more if I get to be outside. And I'm not very good at sitting still for long periods of time. I like it more when someone reads to me!"

"Hopefully you won't get lost finding the pool. At least once you've found it you know where it is!" unless your very forgetful and then you might not remember the next time. Hearing the girl talk about swimming was kind of nice, though. "You really enjoy it, huh? Where is your home?"

"I haven't tried to swim in it! I can't believe I haven't thought of it before now! I'd need goggles too though, so I could see underwater! That'd be really cool. Though cold sounds a bit off putting, but I'm sure I can handle it!"

Charlotte nearly cooed at the nicknames. "Minnie, that's so cute! Really, it's fine, I'm fairly certain I can talk a fair bit too. It's nice to not be the only one talking," she kept hold of the hand, pulling the other girl towards the door. "Let's go on an adventure to find the library!"

"Wouldn't someone reading to you require you sitting still?" Jessamine furrowed her eyebrows. She could related though, she wasn't good at staying still, unless she was doing something that fascinated her enough.

Jessamine bit her lip at the question about her home. First off it made her realize how much she missed it and second off she wasn't sure if she could spill. What if the girl was human? "I live in a small village." was what she decided to say. "We have a lake and a forrest, it's lovely."

"Goggles?" she hadn't heard about those yet. But apparently it was something that let you see underwater, which sounded simply amazing. "I'd love to be able to see underwater." she sighed a little dreamily, imagining it. "I hate getting salt water in my eyes."

Jessamine blushed again. "I'm not often called Minnie," she admitted. "But yeah, I quite like it. Fits my name." she was glad though, that the other girl was talkative as well not like her roommate Winry, who Jessamine had really started to like but the poor girl was really quiet and therefor Jessie did most of the talking. "I'm up for an adventure!" she said quickly, aching to get inside and away from the roof, it really was a long way down from here.

Charlotte frowned, thinking hard about whether or not she'd have to sit still. "Well, so long as I stayed in the hearing range of the person reading, and didn't do anything that took up too much concentration, right?"

A small village, huh? That certainly sounded cute, and suited her. "It sounds like it must be very beautiful. Do you go back often? Or miss it while you're at school?" was she asking too many questions?

"Yeah, goggles! They sound really cool, right?" Charlotte was pleased she found someone who knew about them less than her. She enjoyed telling people about things she'd learnt. "Getting water in your eyes is such a pain right? So they made goggles, to stop the water! And they help you see clearer! They're like glasses for swimming."

"Well, I'll call you Minnie then. Because I like it," she grinned as Minnie agreed on the adventure part. "Yeah! Let's get going," she pushed open the door, heading back into the building. "Should we start at the top and work our way down?"

"I miss it yes. And my family." Jessamine smiled a little, though she felt a bit sad to think about it. And homesick. "Do you miss your family?"

"Goggles sound amazing." the red head replied, trying to imagine the object other girl described, but all her mind could come up with were glasses like her mother had, only ones that would work underwater. "I'd love to try them some time. Also stuff that lets you breathe underwater, then I'd stay underwater for forever."

Jessamine smiled brightly. "Okay." she said. "You're the first one to call me that, then." she nodded again, following Lottie back into the building, feeling much better once she was inside. "I think that's a good idea." she agreed. "It's such a large place though, it's insane how little I've gotten lost. I'm not really good with direction unless I know exactly where I'm going and know the route. But I'm horrible at finding new places."

Charlotte wasn't sure if asking whether or not people missed their families was okay, if it made them sad when they thought of missing people. That's what missing people made you feel though, wasn't it? She'd never really gotten close enough to any one to find out.

She hesitated at the mention of her family though. She didn't have one as far as she was aware. It had always just been her. "Yeah, course," Charlotte gave a bright smile, hoping it would cover any uncertainty. "Most people do, right?"

"Something that let's you breathe underwater," Charlotte mused, gonig slightly dreamy eyed at the thought. "That would be amazing. There must be some kind of thing that does it, people are very inovative."

"Everyone needs to learn routes to stop themselves getting lost," Charlotte said, hoping to make Minnie feel a bit better about it. "Especially in such a big place. I've never really focused on which way I go. Usually I just pick a direction and start walking."

Jessamine fiddled awkwardly with the hem of her shirt, feeling a bit embarrassed from her mood changes, at first she'd been nervous, then happy and now she was feeling weird and a bit sad. She had to shake it off.

"I do think so…" Jessamine replied, though thinking of her roommate the girl didn't really seem to miss her family much, for she didn't get on too well with them. "If you get on with your family, you're bound to miss them."

"If there is I need to find it! I could spend hours under water and maybe even reach the bottom of the lake. There must be stuff there, on the bottom, something to collect. Don't you think?"

Jessie smiled, carefully threading her way back down the stairs. "Do you ever get lost, then?" she asked. "You just walk in a random direction? That sounds like fun, how do you find your way back?"

Charlotte decided that, hypothetically, she would get on with her family. She really needed to make herself a hypothetical family, so that she had something to fall back on if it came up in conversation again. Or just avoid bringing it up in conversation.

“Yeah, that makes sense. I’ve seen-met people who didn’t get on with their family,” humans could be bloody. “I got on with mine though. Do you have any siblings?” was it normal to have siblings? Maybe she should make herself a hypothetical sibling too?

“Oh, definitely! All the treasure that could be lost at the bottom of the lake!” she started walking down the stairs backwards, a bounce in her step. “I bet we could find something in the library! We have to find it now! It’d tell-!” she grasped the banister, swinging herself round to a forward position as she stumbled and missed a step. “…Oops.”

“Well, usually I don’t find my way back,” she really needed to think more before answering. “I mean, I do, of course, but I like to explore, so often when I find a new place I go on to find the next place, but so long as you know which direction you’re going in you can usually find your way back, right?” since when was talking to people so hard?

"I have a brother!" Jessamine's face lightened up. "His name is James, but I call him Jem most of the time. He's my only sibling, though. But I love lots of cousins and stuff." she grinned. "So my childhood was filled with people."

Jessamine stared amusedly at the girl when she started bouncing backwards down the stairs. She was definitely hyper active, and friendly. And friendly was very good. "Careful-" Jessamine gasped, before cracking a smile. "Right, treasures in the lake. We must find the Library first, though, don't we?"

Jessamine felt slightly confused, but she kept a smile on her face. "Right, so you're goodish with directions? And you like exploring. Have you explored a lot? I've seen so little of the school, it seems. I can't even find the Library on my own!" she grinned.

Jessamine decided she liked Lottie, wither her large personality and hyperness. It was kind of like Lottie was the exact opposite to Winry, though Jessamine liked Winry as well. But it was a nice change.

“So you’re Jess and Jem then?” Charlotte asked. “That’s kind of awesome. It must be nice having a real big family? And siblings?” maybe making up a sibling would be too much. Though Minnie had a big family, so maybe she needed lots of cousins or something. She wished there was a good way to ask. “People are so much fun to be around.”

“I’m super careful!” total lie, but that could be overlooked for the moment. “We must, yes. Library, library, library. Where are yooou?” she’d been a bit reluctant to ask people for directions after the awkward encounter with the girl who nearly bit her head off.

“Yeah, I have. Though not the inside of the school enough, obviously. I’ve explored enough to find the roof, and I’ve been making a map in my head of the places. It’s good to have a vantage point where I can look at everything at once. Like a treasure map. Because they’re fun and pirate-y. What about you? Have you explored much so far?”

Jessamine giggled as she nodded. "Yeah, and we're the only children of our parents too, so you could say they had a thing for names starting with jay." she smiled brightly. "Mom used to call us Jessie and Jemmie, but Jem absolutely hated it." she giggled at the memory. "He only liked Jem, he didn't even like James that much. Said it was fancy. Do you like your name?"

Jess wasn't sure if she was believing the fact that Lottie claimed to be 'super careful', but she wasn't going to say anything. She just hoped the blonde didn't end up tripping and falling to her death, now that would be a shame.

"I haven't really," she replied. "I didn't even mean to find the roof, I didn't even mean to go up. I just… kind of did. But maybe that counts as exploring." she shrugged shortly. "Treasure sounds real cool," she admitted. "You should draw something up, are you good at drawing?"