Imaginary Friends [Open]

Pham Thi Anh Sang

Oh! Light and lightning abilities weren't that uncommon at the Academy but it was always nice to see somebody who could do those things. And really, the only person like that whom Anh Sang had ever spoken to was Malik. The word holographic went completely over the girl's head but she got the general of gist of it from the other stuff. "I've made clothes out of light before," she said, "but it doesn't come out really nice and it's still a bit see through so I have to wear it over what I already have on."

Did Cytus say that she used hard light for hers? That was weird; Anh Sang only ever used soft light for her own. Maybe that was the problem, then. The idea of changing her appearance with light was a new one but it sounded like a lot of work. Not that Anh Sang disliked work or anything when it was fun but with the way her magic was acting out, it seemed like it would be some time before she had enough control to try something big like that.

"So, everybody can do this where you're from?" Anh Sang answered, somewhat jealously. It was just so cool! "Where are you from, anyways? Is it really far away? What's it like there? I'm only from Vietnam and I think that's pretty far but people tell me that there's farther."

Pham Thi Anh Sang

"What's a light year?" Anh Sang asked in confusion. It was probably something really hard and science-y, and science didn't like her at all. The mention of living on a moon definitely got through to her, though, so she knew that whatever it was that Cytus had came from, it was probably much, much further than Vietnam.

Still, she just didn't know for sure. That didn't usually bother her but since it was obviously about light and Anh Sang obviously liked light, she felt like she should know about it. Normally she would have just waited to ask Ha Jung about it later, but. That was kind of was a bad idea right now.

"Oh, Vietnam is a place in Asia. South east. It's really green and has hills and mountains and it's nice!" Anh Sang said. "My family is from Ho Chi Minh and it's really big and it's kind of like Manta Carlos so far because it's warm all the time. I haven't been here for too long, though, so I don't know what it's like in winter. Only Daddy's family is from there, though. Mommy's from Osaka in Japan and we go back and forth a lot."

Pham Thi Anh Sang

So it had to do with distance, not time? That was weird, Anh Sang thought, but it also seemed pretty cool! "When I'm not sick, I can send light butterflies home instantly. Is that light year thing why they go so fast, then?" It was always nice getting explanations that didn't make her head hurt. This one kind of did but not too much.

She giggled, feeling really pleased with herself because she learned something and it wasn't bad. In both senses of the word. Lately it seemed like only bad things were happening. "Oooh, someday I need to try and te-le- um, getting myself over there. Then I can see Mommy and Daddy everyday, and maybe 祖父 and 祖母 because I don't see them a lot and they're really nice to everybody."

Speaking about her family, though, Anh Sang had to pause and frown. She hadn't really told them what had been happening at the Academy lately, just that some things had happened some of her friends had gotten hurt. But she was okay, though. She had been really sure to make that part clear because she didn't want them to worry about her.

And she didn't want to leave the Academy either! Her mommy and daddy were always telling her that if something seemed unsafe, she should leave as soon as possible. But she liked the Academy, and she liked the people at the Academy. Anh Sang didn't want to leave, even though Mommy and Daddy would probably tell her that she should.

"The food's good there," she told Cytus, going right back to not thinking that much about it. When he got better, she'd just talk to Ha Jung about it. That was his job, right? "I really like phở! It's just broth with rice noodles and meat and other things but it's really good. Japan has good food, too, and it's really close to Vietnam."

"Like these!" She held up the plate of wagashi she had gotten, five small white and pink cakes. "This is daifuku! It's a rice cake with red beans inside. You can try one if you'd like!"

Pham Thi Anh Sang

Cytus was really smart. And actually really pretty. And nice! Anh Sang really liked her but then again, Anh Sang liked almost everybody. Even though she felt kind of funny being around people after that whole other thing, she couldn't help but feel like she had to make up for it by liking everybody even more. It was just -it was just better that way, right? Sometimes people couldn't help being people. So it was just not good to keep feeling weird around them.

Anh Sang wasn't sure if she even understood that way her own mind worked but she did think that it was a very mature and reasonable conclusion. About something. She'd probably worry about what that something was later; it was giving her a headache thinking about it.

"Oh, I'm going to make lots of pretty art someday!" she told Cytus in childish certainty. "Mommy and Daddy said that I could do anything I want so I'm going to be an artist! I kind of want to keep doing light things, too, but I guess I can only do in it magic places. So I guess I'll stay here for a while?"

Honestly, she hadn't given it too much thought. Anh Sang assumed that people would tell her one way or other how to get to where she wanted to be. Eventually. It seemed like such a long time off.

"What are you going to do, Cytus?"

Pham Thi Anh Sang

Architecture? That sounded like a familiar word, something she had heard in math or science class before. It was something kind of like drawing, right? But with lots of straight sided shapes and a lot less curves. "I don't know," Anh Sang said. "I didn't think too much about it but it might be nice?" She wasn't sure if she wanted to give up using curvy lines for just straight ones, after all. Curvy lines were just more fun to work with, and it was harder to tell if she messed up.

She had to blink in surprise as a change suddenly came over Cytus. "What do you mean?" the girl asked uncertainly. "Did something happen?"It was only after she said that when she remembered her daddy telling her that sometimes it was rude to ask people things, like why they were ugly or why they couldn't do certain things. Sometimes it was just not nice asking people about things that happened, too.

Mortified, she tried to change the subject. "You're really useful! I mean, you seem really smart and all so I bet you're really useful."