1023/Studybees

Studybees
Date of Scene:	19 January 2024
Location:	School Library
Synopsis:	Norie Okana and Ami Mizuno meet. A new friendship is formed over studying. Ami unknowingly names the Angry Corn for her. Capsicorn.
Cast of Characters:	Norie Okana, Ami Mizuno

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Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana has taken over an entire table in the School's library. She has a laptop open. She has a messenger bag hung on the chair she's using and she has books all over. Biology books. Lots and lots of biology books, with a mix of botanical books. Right now she seems to be reading one of the botanical ones, reading up.

On Corn.

Seriously, the book is labeled something like 'All About Corn!: A Farmer's Reference' and she's drawing diagrams, labeling them, busily switching books and writing down matching information...

She sighs and puts the book down to an open page and makes a straight face as she says to no one in specific. In her neutral monotone...

"I didn't know corn could be so difficult." she says as she slides down a little in the chair, slacking.

"My brain needs a break." she says, before sitting back up and squaring up the papers she's been writing on thus far.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami Mizuno steps out of the stacks with an armload of books tucked in her grasp already. It was just topics that she was either interested in, or wanted to brush up on with the upcoming school semester about to be back in session. Such interesting topics as 'The Evolution of Languages' was at the top of the pile showing her current area of apparent interest.

Usually she would just walk by another obviously studying student, but the way Norie pauses to bemoan the difficulty of the topic causes her to pause with a tilt of her head. Curious, and trying to be a bit helpful, she takes a step toward the table to inquire, "Are you having some difficulty? I might be able to help depending on the subject."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana sneaks into her messenger bag and is about to sneak a donut, when Ami walks by her mess of a table. She looks down at the table. her mess of books she's going to need to put back and suddenly she hates herself and makes a face at the table, before sighing and letting her expression relax.

Monotone, the girl says. "I'm studying corn for..."

"..." she trails off. Can't say 'because I have angry, carnivorous corn from the Dusk Zone in a lab... So instead she says. "School Project."

Yeah, that works. Believable!

"I am just. Doing a study. Reading. Less. Problem solving and more information absorbing." she pauses, and looks at her books.

"Studying languages? Which one has your interest?" she wonders.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami Mizuno smiles at the response even if 'school project' was vague. It was always nice to run across someone else who enjoyed studying as much as she did, even if it was just for the sake of studying. Or for school as the case seemed to be. "Oh, are you interested in agriculture? It's not a topic I've covered much but it is very interesting."

When Norie questions about languages she glances down to the books in her arms with a smile. "Oh I speak several languages already. It just occured to me recently that how languages evolve in one area versus another can be rather similar, and I was curious how that came to be. There's *so* many regional versions of Spanish for instance, and numerous versions of Chinese. It's not a singular one, persay, so much as a curiosity on the evolution of languages on Earth in general."

Was that too much? She rambles sometimes she knew, especially when it was a topic she was excited about. It wasn't as if she could outright say 'I'm curious to know why we can speak the same languages that several space-faring aliens I know can also speak'.

"I'm mostly 'reading to absorb' like you in that regard."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana ohs a little. She doesn't smile back, because she literarily can't. She has to say rather than show in that case, to show interest. "Less... agriculture at the moment and more just about Corn." she says. "I'm also studying animals.." she motions to her biology text books. "I'm trying to. Learn as much as I can. I kind am. Kind of an environmental conservator." she says.

She then huhs and taps her bottom lip. "Yes. I know about...Spanish..." she says. "...and a little bit of a smattering of other European languages but not enough to... really speak fluently."

"But. I am an expert in 'archaic' versions of Spanish. It's. uh. Former passion of mine." she lies at the end. More magic nonsense she needs to lie about.

"Reading is fun." she finally says as she reaches into her backpack to produce a box of donuts. "Want a donut?" she asks. "I always like donuts when I study." she says as she closes her books.

"O--Oh..." she says, as she points to herself.

"I am. Norie Okana." she says, followed by a short bow.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"That's an excellent pursuit," Ami admits with a smile at the mention of being an environmental conservator. "It's a very important and often overlooked faucet of society. If we don't preserve our environment we'll all be paying for it soon enough."

The box of donuts is produced and her eyes twinkle a bit. Typically she might say no eating in the library. Usually. She was *trying* to relax her usual stick-in-the-mud persona to be a bit more forgiving. In this case it could easily be forgiven since it's obvious that Norie was just as studious as she was.

Dipping into a bow in turn she responds, "I'm Ami Mizuno, a pleasure to meet you, Okana-chan. I usually prefer sandwiches while studying... But a donut would be very nice, thank you."

Gesturing to one of the chairs at the table she asks, "Would you mind if I joined you for a bit?"

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana feels slighty bad not to mention it's the Dusk Zone she's worried about. But it's true she does care for Earth, too. It's why she wanted to keep the two SEPERATE. Nephrite. Stupid Midnight Jokio Project or whatever it was called. She's glad the project is over. IT WAS A BAD IDEA.

She tilts the box of donuts to Ami as she says. "Be careful. The librarian lets me sneak snacks in. But nothing book damaging and if she finds crumbs in the books, Imma have to answer for it." she says.

"Mizuno-chan, then." she says, neutral monotone. "I'm sorry I am not very expressive. I have. As many would say, probably, behind closed doors, 'something wrong with me'." she says tersely. "Behavioral... disorder." she admits. Not a lie. Just not a mundane source of the lie,

She motions. "Please, join me." she says softly. "I'm interested. In what your studying. Have you ever. Met some people who speak German recently? But not really German, they say?" she asks curiously. "I'm wondering why that's so bizzare." she says.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"Oh, of course! I wouldn't dream of damaging the books. The Librarian here is very nice to those of us who are regulars," Ami has to admit with a little chuckle. The seat is pulled out to sink down into, and she carefully rests her stack of books on the tabletop taking care not to infringe on Norie's own carefully curated mess.

When the box of donuts are offered she does reach for one, trying to pick the least messy out of the box. Nothing powdered or with sticky glaze. Maybe a frosted if there is one. It's taken out and she actually pulls out a handkercheif from a pocket to lay down so that it has a nice spot that is going to help keep things clean as well.

"It's all right," she assures Norie with a soft smile at mention of having the disorder. "I know it can be difficult being different. You seem very nice to me, though."

The question of meeting someone who is German and speaks not-German causes her to pause. "Mm, I can't really say so. My roommate speaks German though, so I've had a chance to practice my own lately. Maybe that's why I've gotten a bit interested in languages again." Looking curious she asks, "What about you? Do you know someone like that?"

Norie Okana has posed:
It's a variety pack. There's chocolate, and iced and glazed and a few boring cake donuts and spronkle covered. "Donuts. Are my safe place. So. I like them a lot." she says with a sigh as she starts to nom her donut. Nomnomnom, nibble nibble and then she says. "O-oh. I'm sure you understand. I just. Need to explain. I can only answer....'how come you don't smile' so many times." she admits sheepishly a little.

Before she sighs a little. "Two people I know. I wouldn't call either friends. But they speak 'German'." she says, with Air Quotes. "But one insists it's a different language and that's the proper term for it." she says with a sigh.

"If you haven't discovered anyone like that, that's fine. I was just curious." she asks. She pauses a moment, before sharing a few of her diagrams she's been scribbling. Just simple diagrams of different species of corn. With color labels. "If you had to name a species of corn that was...spicy.... tasting...." she trails off again. "What would you name it?" she ask curiously. "I've been going with just calling it Angry Corn so far..." she says, curiously.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"I can understand that. You'd be surprised how often 'being smart' gets odd questions as well. Though I think most of the questions the kids at my old school asked me were just to be mean." Questions like: Do you always read? Can't you just tell me the answers? Maybe not as annoying as 'why don't you smile' but just as irritating to constantly have to answer. Ami takes a dainty bite of the donut she chose as well only to carefully wipe her fingertips on the handkercheif so there's no bits or crumbs to mess up anything.

"That's very interesting. I wonder if it's a regional thing?" Or it could be very much like her roommate Hannah though she was doing her best not to 'out' her friend. Even if the language thing had made her curious.

It's curiosity that also draws her to lean closer to regard the daigram that Norie shows off looking it over with a soft 'hum' of thought. "Spicy? Oh, is it a hybrid? Maybe it grew up near some pepper plants. A similar mix of words could work. Capsicorn?"

The suggestion is explained almost immediately, "Capsicums are peppers in most of the worlds languages, and Capsaicin is the chemical that causes the 'spice' reaction to begin with. And corn is ... corn."

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana sighs a little wistly. "I wish I was smarter... then I'd be able to..." help Taka-senpai more. She trails off again as she thinks. "I mean. I'd probably handle some of this stuff better." she says, quietly. Norie is just eating a chocolate cake donut. She isn't worried about crumbs in books right now. She's... well. Should she just say it?

She chooses to. "Well, they said they we're Belkans. But that doesn't make much sense. I doubt the small town in Australia speaks a regional dialect of German and it's highly, unlikely, in my expert opinion, that they're from a country in a flight-combat simulation game." she says.

"Oh, it's just.. just a hypothetical question. But that... that's a great name." she says in that neutral monotone as she writes it down at the top of a piece of paper.

"Capiscorn. And it even sounds like the zodiac symbol too." she says. "That's clever. Thank you." she says.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"You're quite welcome!" Ami flashes another smile as she's rather pleased with her little play on words as well. It wasn't exactly a scientific name, but it was playing in with the whole 'roots of words' she'd become interested in.

The talk of Belkan though? That does cause her to pause in consideration. That was Hannah all right. Perhaps others as well though? "Hmm, I can't say on that. Perhaps there is a small territory with that name? I'd question if it were near the Balkan mountains perhaps but that's in an entirely different country. Unless that's where some Germans settled perhaps..." She trails off quietly after a moment. Lying wasn't her strong suit. Perhapses though. Theories. Those she could come up with easily.

"I agree though it is a bit odd, and confusing." It seems she may say more except she blinks as her gaze drifts up to the clock on the library wall. "Oh! I'm so sorry, I didn't realize the time. I agreed to meet with a friend to help them with some homwork before classes start again." The books she'd piled up are taken again, as well as the donut wrapped in her handkercheif.

"Thank you so much for the donut. It was nice speaking with you, Okana-chan!"