[color=orange][b]Kassandra[/b][/color]
Location: [b]Lounge[/b] and then [b]Training Gym[/b]
Interactions: Casper and Coal

[i] Congratulations, Kass, you’re an idiot. [/i]

Kassandra wanted to sink through the floor. Her stomach twisted. Just one little stupid comment and now they all thought she was a fool. All she had meant was that she’d respond if someone addressed her, even if they couldn’t quite remember her name. She wasn’t sure why she bothered to come down, and just wanted to leave. Immediately if at all possible. Alisa and Casper were both teasing her. Even the new guy Victor thought she was a weirdo, certainly. 

But then Coal asked a question and she couldn’t quite leave.[color=orange] “Circus? Um. It’s fine, I guess. Things are going to be a lot more exciting around here, that’s for sure.”[/color] She tried to force a smile, but probably looked even more stupid doing that. [color=orange]“I just hope we can all get along.”[/color]

Fine words from someone fully expecting to be the outsider. This was home all over again…

Then Zachary burst in, fuming to Victor about some perceived or real slight. In a theatrical - that is to say – usual – display of showy magic, he made lunch for everyone with a few backward words and what seemed like a great deal of energy. She wasn’t sure of the point of that besides just to show off. Then again, it was Zachary, so that probably was the entire point.

[color=orange]“I’m. Um. Not hungry.”[/color] Kassandra lied.

And then she left.

Her whole body felt tense as she padded barefoot through the corridors. Her eyes were on the ground. Before she could really think about it, she was outside the training gym.

Here was something she could actually do. She entered, going to the set of lockers near the door. Here she kept some simple clothes, ones that were easy to move in. She changed in the bathroom, then grabbed her preferred weapon from the many stationed on the wall. It was a thick wooden staff, weighted on one end to match the precise measurements of her golden octopus staff.

She approached the dummy, exhaling slow through her nose. After a moment’s pause, she twisted the staff and struck hard, the vibration coursing through the dummy. She followed that with a knee to the midsection, and brought the back end of the staff up for a head blow. Kassandra was not particularly fast, but she did hit like a whale through a school of plankton. She was never going to be a slender, pretty Atlantean, but at the very least she knew how to put her thick build to use. 

[i]Why do you bother, Kassandra? You’re always going to be the one outside. Just watch. They’ll all make friends, and you’re going to be watching from the windows as usual. Just like home. Why are you even here? Aunt Kristy was right. You’re [b]nothing[/b].[/i]

Each blow came heavier, the dummy taking the silent punishment as she tried to burn off her embarrassment. The sounds of her solo battle could be heard outside the door, as Kassandra did the one thing she felt she was any good at.