109/Rooftop Lunch -- Curry and Pork Pie

Rooftop Lunch -- Curry and Pork Pie
Date of Scene:	18 July 2023
Location:	Radiant Heart Academy
Synopsis:	Molly finds Rashmi lunching on the top of the school. Nerdery and cultural food exchanges happen!
Cast of Characters:	Rashmi Terios, Molly Skyline

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Rashmi Terios has posed:
Radiant Heart Academy is, despite its size, run like a typical Japanese school. Your homeroom is the classroom you usually occupy all day, teachers move classrooms between periods instead of the students, and come lunchtime, students get run of the grounds.

Which leads to another tradition of Japanese schools; for those kids who aren't quite so social, those kids who *are* philosophical, or who just like to enjoy the view atop the absolutely *titanic* classroom building, spending lunch on the roof.

Even though it's a tad windy this high up, Rashmi is engrossed enough in her book she doesn't seem to notice it much at all. With one hand, she picks a bundle of pickled mushrooms and onion out of her bento box, and with her other, turns the page of her latest fantasy novel.

It *must* be a good book, given how deeply the redhead seems to be engrossed.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly continues to stick out like a sore thumb in her British school uniform -- from which she has, once again, doffed the jacket and is carrying it under her arms. It's way too hot!! But the allure of eating on the roof is just too good, so here she is, standing around and generally looking about as lost as she's felt ever since arriving in Tokyo.

She kind of looks a bit weighed down, somehow; backpack slung over her shoulder, jacket carried with one hand, and a bagged lunch with the other. She basically just stands at the top of the stairs, positioned so as not to block anyone, looking kind of bewildered.

Oh, but there's someone she knows! By some sheer stroke of luck, there is literally the one person she knows in the entire country, outside of her Moms.

"Ra-err," she ahems, turning absolutely beet red as she approaches, and just sort of hopes that her verbal fumbling went unheard. She waits for a moment, seeing as how she's still picking her way up to where Rashmi is sitting. "Terios-san," she addresses, trying not to be quite so... loud, and awkward this time around. "May I join you?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
By the sounds of it, the fumbling did indeed go unnoticed. But the moment Molly says the exact syllables of her name, the bookworm's head snaps up, and for a moment the smile on her face is nearly as dazzling as the noonday sun. "Skyline-san, hi! Yes hang on, one second," she says, closing up the book and stuffing it into her satchel.

Once that's done, she waves the poor British girl over, beaming. "Cmon over!"

Molly Skyline has posed:
The relief felt by the beleaguered British girl is palpable, as she drops her lunch bag on the floor, plops her backpack on the floor, deposits her jacket on top of it, and finally sits down beside Rashmi.

"Thank you," she replies, imparting the words with the deepest of gratitude. "I had no idea where I was going to sit, and outside of my Moms you are literally the only person I know on this side of the planet." She pauses, thinking that through for a moment. "Well, actually anywhere on the planet outside a couple places in England and that's really far away. We could be in Ireland and it would still count."

Molly unwraps her lunch, which consists of very non-local looking food; a pork pie, and a bag of crisps, the first of which she's careful not to drop on the floor. But the crisps are in a bag, they'll be safe.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Oh your mom makes you lunch too?" Rashmi chuckles, holding up her bento to reveal its half-eaten contents. A black-and-pink mass covered in sesame seeds, a lettuce cup holding what looks to be an extremely *thick* curry of some sort, and assorted raw vegetables. With her other hand free, she lifts off the top half of the box, to reveal mostly-devoured rice and strips of herbed naan. If you want to try anything let me know, I have another thing of chopsticks in case the first one disappears."

By the sidewise glance she gives the fencing around the rooftop, and the quiet blush in her cheeks, chopsticks disappearing is not an uncommon phenomenon.

Molly Skyline has posed:
"I'm still trying to get used to chopsticks," Molly bashfully admits. "I'm uhh... not very good... at using them." She blushes, and leans a little closer so she can drop her voice, "Don't tell anyone I said, but like, the first time my Mom ever made sushi for me? She kinda let me have it as finger food because she was worried I was going to starve to death otherwise." She pauses, "But I have to ask, what's the black and pink stuff? I don't think I've seen that before."

Molly takes a moment, working on carefully breaking the pork pie into more than one piece. "And uhm, I'm not sure if... we've ever covered your feelings about meat, but if you'd *like* to try anything British, I have pork pie. My other Mom made it for me, 'cause she figured something familiar for lunch would help."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"That's sweet of her!" Rashmi says, smiling brightly. "I guess it's nice to have anything that reminds you of home this far away... um. Oh that's, um... Pickled mushroom and onion salad. It's... I mean it's a *lot* better than it sounds, honestly." Putting the box back together, she sets it to one side and digs out a packet of restaurant-style chopsticks, breaking them apart. "Just in case," she says, scooping up some of the curry and smearing it onto a naan strip, then just folding the whole thing into her mouth.

Once the bite is taken care of, Rashmi bobs her head. "If you don't mind, sure! Papi makes food from all over, but it's kind of his specialty to adapt it all for Japanese food, I've never had just English before! Here..." And as if in trade, she mades another curry-naan rolled-up confection, somehow managing to not get a single smear on her fingers. The skill of long practice...

Molly Skyline has posed:
"Pickled onions are a thing in England. So are... well actually we pickle lots of things, but I don't think I've ever tried pickled mushrooms." She picks a generous piece of her now discombobulated pork pie, offering it to Rashmi in return for the rolled up naan. "Careful, it'll be a bit crumbly," she points out, "Definitely do not try to eat it with chopsticks, it's... you basically just want to use fingers. It's not uncivilized in England, I promise."

Molly accepts the naan bread, waiting for Rashmi to have her bit of traded food before giving it a try -- and of course, finding it to be delicious, and mmming appropriately.

"Both my Moms are wonderful," she affirms. "I just... hadda wait a few years for them to find me. Worth the wait, though." She pauses, and nods towards Rashmi's book. "Whatcha reading?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Oh, um," Rashmi says, glancing at her satchel and flushing. "'Rune Sky Rhapsody: Princess of the Sea of Stars.' ... .....Volume 5. It's an older book, but I just found this one at the used bookstore I like to go to, and I'm kind of hoping one day I'll have collected all forty volumes. It's... I mean *I* like it, but I'm kind of a nerd like that. ANYWAY. Um. What about you, what've you been doing besides homework?"

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly blushes softly herself, and after finishing the naan, she opens her backpack and pulls out a very worn looking paperback, featuring a warrior in armor and a wizard on the cover, entitled DRAGONLANCE: War of the Twins. "Uhm, reading that," she replies. "Because I'm also a massive nerd. I play video games with my friends from back home. We're trying to coordinate to play Dungeons and Dragons once a month, and just... do it online." She pauses, "I still have my charactersheet for Judith Starheart, my level 20 sorceress. ...Don't... don't judge me on the name, please."

Molly ahems softly. "How'd you like the pork pie?" she asks, stuffing a bit in her own face.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
From the intake of air and the look in Rashmi's eyes, Molly has identified herself as *one of her people.* And what's more, a senpai of fantasy nerdery, because *she plays Dungeons and Dragons,* and probably throws fireballs around like that awesome commercial in her *spare time!*

Look just because someone is a magical girl, it doesn't mean they're ever going to be bored by fantasy nonsense.

"I've seen that book! But only in English, and I hadn't gotten far enough in my language studies to read it, and it said it was the second book and I never was able to find the first before that got resold!" And she *will* continue her excited chatter about the book, the game that she's never played but often thought about, and more, if she's not stopped.

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly is certainly not about to stop Rashmi. Never stop one of your people from talking about the things that they love. (Well, never stop anyone, but never stop one of your people especially.)

"Third of the trilogy actually," she grins, "Raistlin is totally my favorite character, he's... like he's... Okay you know what I'm going to shut up so I don't spoil it."

But not shut up completely.

"Uhm, I just have them in English, but you're welcome to borrow them any time. If you like them I can probably get my friends to send some more, they're... basically everywhere in England, I brought fourteen Dragonlance books with me and they only cost me four pounds from a library sale."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Doesn't it cost a *lot* to send books that far, though?" Rashmi asks, eyes wide. "D'you have the first one? Only, um... I could trade? I have 'Lord of the Rings' in Japanese, it could help you understand the language?"

And likely expose a *great deal* of translation wonkiness, but a native who had never read the English would ever know that...

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly shrugs her shoulders, "I... I don't know actually, I'd never looked into that. If we were gonna do it, we'd send them all at once, probably for Christmas or something. I dunno, sometimes I just assume things will work and worry about the details later."

The British girl bobs her head enthusiastically. "I'd love to try reading Lord of the Rings in Japanese," she confirms, "So that trade sounds great. It might take me a long time though, I'm still... Well I'm still figuring it out, like you are with English. But I feel like that's fine." She pauses. "I brought my D & D books too, if you ever wanna look at those."

Never... never hurts to see if there might be possibilities for anyone local who wants to roll some math rocks and tell stories of high fantasy. You never know!

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"That would be *wonderful,* Rashmi says, then pauses, blinking and pulling back a bit. "...Hm. Actually maybe that's something better for over the break? Only... I kind of know me, and I know what would happen to my homework, so I'd probably be best off getting that out of the way when I don't have, like... stuff that needs doing."

Which is when she looks down at the chunk of pie in her hand, eyes widen, and she hurriedly stuffs it into her mouth. It would be *rude* to forget food shared with you, and Rashmi is never rude! ...On purpose!

The food immediately gives her pause, and she chews slowly, clearly savoring exotic and herby flavors. Finally, she gulps the mouthful down, and looses a gusty sigh. "Oh wow... *That's* what you're used to? I can understand why it feels like home, that was *incredible!*"

Molly Skyline has posed:
"Hey, the food you've already introduced me to is amazing," Molly points out, blushing softly, "But... yeah, that's what I'm used to. I hate it when people say British food sucks, they've clearly never tried it and don't know what they're talking about." She grins, "I'll get Mom to make roast beef and yorkshire pudding sometime, you'll want to try that, I promise. We Brits regard a good yorkie pud as the pinacle of food. I mean we're wrong, but still."

Molly bobs her head once, "Totally understand about getting school out of the way before burrying yoruself into a D & D book. The rules are... a lot. But it's *fun*, I promise."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"...Roast beef and... ... ...pudding...?" If Molly could read minds, she'd see a confused mental image of a big wobbly custard sitting atop a chunk of beef, both drizzled in chocolate sauce. "Um... well I'm probably wrong about what it is, so I'd definitely try it!"

Regarding the game, Rashmi nods confidently. "I bet it is fun! And-- oh! I know there's a club for that here, I'm *pretty sure* they're taking in new members!"

Molly Skyline has posed:
"You're picturing it wrong," Molly affirms. "British food is weird. Pudding is not a dessert, it's part of the main course. Custard is what most people would call pudding, and you'd put it on dessert." She pauses, "Or like, you can have mince, which is made of meat, or you can have mincemeat, which isn't made of meat and is actually fruit." She shrugs, "Don't... don't think too hard about it."

And now, it's Molly's turn to go completely wide-eyed. "There's... there's a Dungeons and Dragons club?!!" She looks for a moment like she's going to jump up and cheer. "Oh my god that's the best thing ever."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Oh. Huh!" Rashmi's confusion is banished, but not without a strange touch of sadness. Dessert meat would be something *weird* to try...

At Molly's reaction, Rashmi grins. "Yeah there was this girl turning in her paperwork for it when I handed mine in for Debate Club, so it's *definitely* a thing!"

Molly Skyline has posed:
"I'd be willing to try debate club," Molly muses. "There was one at school back home but I was never brave enough to try it, I should... I should really fix that. And I definitely need to get in on this D & D club." She polishes off the last of her pork pie, and ohs! "Is there a chess club?"

Molly rips into the bag of crisps -- Cheese and Onion flavor -- but offers them to Rashmi before taking any herself. "Crisps?" she offers. "We didn't ship these over. There's a British import store, Mom found it."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Rashmi Terios leans over for an experimental sniff -- clearly she has had bad experiences with crisps, given the breathtaking variety of crunchy snacks on offer here -- and picks one out, cronching appreciatively. "Thank you!" she says, and chuckles. "Well I mean, it *sounded* interesting, but I think it met at the same time as Debate Club, so, one or the other really... And if there's not a Chess Club in this insanely huge place, I'd be *startled.*"

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly looks definitely bummed at the idea of having to choose between D&D Club and Debate Club. One is something she loves, the other is with the only person in Japan that she knows.

But at least there'll be a chess club, so she can come and see how many people don't know the En Passant rule, because that's invariably fun when you swipe someone's pawn without actually landing on it and their jaw hits the floor.

"I--"

And right at that moment, whatever Molly was about to say gets cut off by the bell, signalling the end of the lunchbreak.

"Oh goodness." Molly stuffs a bunch of crisps in her mouth in a hurry, offers some more to Rashmi, then polishes off most of the bag and offers Rashmi a few more, wether or not she accepted the first time. "Break's over already! That felt so *fast*. Do you eat up here often? See you tomorrow if you do!"