Cassie was feeling content with not only herself but her life as a whole. Not only was it the month of February, which was when Valentine's Day was, it was also a good month since she'd received that revealing letter from her sister that had changed her life. In a way it was for the better, but in some aspects she'd never return. Her parents and her own relationship would be more distanced, less friendly, less jovial. However, her bubbly and optimistic attitude could never leave, neither could her clumsiness nor her ability to talk for hours on end without stopping. Those were just natural life characteristics that happened to accompany for her the majority of her life.

However, Cassie had been taking the correct potion that restored her energy. It had made her relieved when she was able to chow down into scrambled eggs and cheese before devouring a plate of candy. Brooke would have laughed at her antics, but would have also been happy that Cassie was eating again. Now Cassie was just about returned to full health. There was color in her cheeks, meat on her bones, bagless eyes, and a smile on her face. Her outgoing nature was also returned. So to celebrate, a singular one, one that was more like awarding herself for good behavior she decided to pick a place, enjoy the product she would purchase, and sit in the place, absorbing the moment.

With her brain always on high energy, Cassie rarely just sat in the moment. Going to Rosa Lee Teabag would be a good break, she'd buy more tea for her dorms, and people watch. She'd even let herself daydream, so happy was she. Pulling on grey thigh-high socks that only showed a sliver of tan skin between her black skirt and socks as well as a white sweater and black scarf paired with grey two inch heeled boots. Using a charm from a glamor magazine to make sure her skirt would never leave her backside or frontside, she left the dorms for her happy tea time.

As she walked around the pretty shop she noticed another person hovering by her favorite tea section.

"Hello," she greeted brightly grinning and thrusting her hand forward to the male, "Cassana Rose, and I couldn't help but notice that you've also got the same tastes in tea as me! I love English Breakfast as well as the Single Estate Ceylon, have you drunk it before? It's got quite the rich flavor."

Cassana was not a people reader. She could see things in plain view and interpret them appropriately as so (as she'd done with Parker who clearly hadn't been eating enough or with Tess who wasn't as outgoing as she, but not necessarily shy), but she wasn't used to immediately being snuffed. In all conceited vanity, she was often labeled as charming. Despite her absolute hippogriff shite way with words, her parents had found her charming (and perhaps those were the only people who did too). Maybe not so much others, but she had yet to be shooed off as if she was a pigeon pooping.

So this was new.

When eyes met hers, she gulped a little bit, just a tad intimidated (but she wouldn't even admit that to her dog, Max) by him. For a brief moment she was a little surprised by the handsome details of his face that stared back at her. However, at his raised eyebrow before his complete ignoring of her question, she locked her jaw, teeth clenched and eyes narrowed at him. There were several ways to go about this. She could walk off, head high in the air, pride still with her. She could confront him clearly about the snuffing with all the hurt her ego had suffered. Or she could continue on speaking to him.

Ha, as if there was any real other way she'd go besides the third option.

"Well, I suppose black tea may not be your favorite," she commented as she stood a smidgen closer to him to show her adamant nature in making friends, "there are fruity teas such as lychee oolong or pineapple sencha, yuzu's dream is recommended but the best, by my opinion is the Queen of Berries. I've come to Rosa's quite a few times and there's such a variety of tea at my place, not because I work here or anything. Are you from here? Do you have a favorite tea? Is there a type of tea you prefer?"

Although Cassana wasn't a master Legilimens, she could see small hints, small details and make conclusions based off of those details and hints. However, for the most part those conclusions tended to be correct. Except, this guy was like a freaking rock; there was no friendliness nor hostility in his actions, no acceptance of her rambles, no real reaction for her to work with. He may as well been a wall because that's what she was talking to. Irritation was starting to blossom within her, but so was determination. She would get some sort of word out of him or she'd die trying. It was a dangerous sort of determination she had, admittedly, but it was determination none the less and she was always goal-focus orientated so this determination was a driving force. She wanted to make friends with this silent stranger (maybe he was mute, her brain thought amusedly) whether or not he wanted to despite all odds!

Then he smiled at her, and it was riddled with the sort of feel that made her feel like a child badgering their parent for a candy.

With that the irritation within her outgrew the determination.

"You know, it's not terribly polite to treat another human like they're a yipping dog which I can definitely assure you I am not, all I am trying to do is help you," Cassie huffed out angrily, trying to put a leash on some of her anger, but it was impossible for her to stop talking once she started. "I'm ever so sorry that even a simple name is distracting you terribly from you extremely busy tea shopping." She snapped, not realizing she had subconsciously been upping her pace to meet his.

Now, no one had ever explicitly told the witch that the world would always be kind to her. However, for the majority of her lifetime, that was how her life went; she gave kindness and she received kindness. Her blunt attitude tended to work in favor of her honesty and her courage was only overshadowed by her kindness. Cassana liked to make friends wherever she went, and this would be no exception. Sometimes she had to analyze the situation, find a nice hole to dig herself into and stick there until they were ready to face her dedication to being their friend head on. Then they'd braid each other's hair and tell jokes and have a grand old time. She enjoyed hardwork, glorified the victory that accompanied it...

But did he have to make it so bloody hard?

The thought of just giving up on making friends with this guy, who looked at her with such wide eyes at her speaking that (admittedly) wounded her ego, was so difficult. She could make friends with any of the clerks, but when she found that they all were willing to bend over back to serve him, she immediately lost taste in sitting down and drinking at Rosa's. However, distaste didn't tend to linger in her mouth and Cassie would probably be back in a month or so. She couldn't bear the thought that she wouldn't even get his name.

For a moment, she had felt mollified at her behavior. Brooke would be thunderstruck to hear Cassie so full of irritation. When she got angry, she would eventually get over it, she'd apologize immediately full of remorse and the would forgive her, turn away but not before having quite a memory of Cassana. She tended to leave an imprint on people, most of time it was positive! In other words, Cassana was unused to rejection. She was about to open her mouth, apologize to him for what she'd said and then he replied.

Cassie's anger was boiling at his acceptance of her mock-apology.

And so her verbal vomit was put at a standstill as only rude things came to mind. Every rational sense within her was telling her: "DO NOT open your mouth, Cassana, do not say anything, stay silent, walk away. You are more than this."

Except she wasn't.

"Well, I'm so glad, Your Highness you could accept my apology, I'm quite sure I've never been so graced to be snuffed with such an eloquent phrase by royalty like yourself" Cassie said sarcasm within every word, dripping like honey, and was pissed that her height didn't allow her to walk quite as fast as he did, her pride too hurt to realize she'd sort of given into pursing him, "because you have to be some sort of old money inbred to ignore a perfectly good proposal for conversation."

As Cassie was speaking, ranting, venting (? oh whatever), she hadn't realized his stare at it's perpetrating lasting effect. His eyes were very green and immediately, Cassie wished nothing more than to harm the pretty features he had. What kind of person was this? He wasn't replying to any of her clear kind attempts at conversation nor her rude provocations. Was he robot? Did wizards have robots? No, come on Cashew you're smarter than this; okay well he's from money so probably a pureblood because if he was poor then those workers wouldn't have been bending over back just in the event that a single sweat drop leave his forehead that they couldn't catch, so he wasn't a muggle nor a half-blood. If he were, then they were clearly a high up there family from his fashion. Did he think she was below him? Maybe he was a popular pureblood here and just assumed she would know who he was immediately and when he did realize she wasn't from here, he had just assumed she was poor? To avoid befuddlement, her brain supplied her with what she was truly thinking: that this man clearly didn't like her because he was (probably) a pureblood and he thought (probably) that she was a muggle.

She bit her lip, worried now that if she opened her mouth she might state how offensive she found pureblood views despite the fact that she too was a pureblood (even though she didn't share those views exactly).

Immediately, Cassie felt guilty when he stated this. And she was ready to open her mouth and apologize but he turned on his heel. She took a moment of just standing there to try and regain her composure.

I will not use magic for bad, magic is for the good of heart and welcomes all; I will not use magic for bad... The Tituba's Academy mantra was replayed multiple times in Cassie's head as he walked away. She wanted to desperately hex him, sting him, hurt him in some way for the prattling on comment. However, common sense flooded into her like a dam gate had broken open and she came to the startling realization: maybe he was a jerk, maybe he was an ass, but he didn't have a lot of friends if he didn't have a lot of conversations.

Thus, Cassie was met with a conundrum: how do you make friends with someone who doesn't like talking?

Simple, you write to them, her brain supplied goofily and so she marched back in and approached the clerk, she held out her purse full of money.

"I'd like to pick up that gentleman's tab, please, and if you could leave a note, that says, and listen closely please because I haven't much time," she lied about that last part but only because she was burning with embarrassment and wished to leave, "from the girl who rattled on a lot, Cassana Rose. Ensure that the note says that please."

So Cassie left Rosa's, spent most of her parent's money (which they just blatantly allowed her to have after her sister's letter) on a rude stranger, with a cup of nothing in her stomach but the strange excitement of an adventure.