Due to having to come along with her parents as they visit Floor’s old friend, Ceily was unsurprisingly, a nervous wreck.
Most of it was her overthinking and making up scenarios where everything goes wrong during their visit, but it was also partially due to the looming fact that she’d be forced to talk to complete strangers. One of which was apparently a kid her age, which didn’t fill her with much confidence.
…But despite the butterflies in her stomach as their parents introduced them to each other, Ceily would find herself warming up to her new (and probably first) friend Ichi.

He was a little younger than her and was clearly a bit of an extrovert.
She knew this because the first thing he did was walk right up to her and ask if she wanted to play.
Considering her lack of social skills and general disconnect with her peers, Ceily found herself having a hard time figuring out how the whole ‘play’ thing works though.
Ichi would notice this early on and would decide to sit with her and simply… talk instead.
It was awkward at first, especially since Ceily kept drawing blanks due to her nervousness, but eventually she settled down and they were able to start listing off little tidbits about themselves.
Ichi would learn that Ceily liked old cartoons and enjoyed collecting odd knickknacks and baubles like the little dreamcatcher she had in her skirt pocket.
After a bit of back and forth, Ichi would randomly boast that he ‘knew how scrunchies worked’, which didn’t make much sense to Ceily, who would tentatively ask what he meant.
…She didn’t expect a demonstration, but now wearing a side ponytail that looked a lot like Ichi’s mom’s, she was now well aware of what a scrunchie was.
And as Ichi flashes her a braces filled grin, content with his work, she found herself smiling right along with him.