I believe I can fly! (open tag)

[Thad Cotton]

Thad had escaped to the beach. His step-mother was still upset over last night, and so he was not looking forward to going home and facing her reaction when she saw that he had managed somehow to get made up even after she had thrown out all his cosmetics. The beach was a great place to hide out, avoiding evil step-harlots and homework. He kind of hoped that maybe Roxy or Ezzy would show up, since they were always having to escape their parents, too. He could have texted them and asked them to come, but it was so much more cool when they managed to just appear at the same places. And anyway, he could find someone interesting to annoy in the meantime.

He bought some balloons from a funny white-haired old man, and clapped with delight when the vendor showed off his balloon animal skills. Really, though, he just wanted a cluster of balloons to run down the beach with, which was what he happened to be doing right that moment. He liked to pretend that maybe, just maybe with all those balloons he would be able to fly, fly away. Back to Georgia, back in time to when his family life was perfect.

The foam lapped around bare feet, not fierce enough to slap it's way up to his knees, where he had rolled up his jeans to prevent them from getting wet while he played. "I believe I can fly, I believe I can touch the.....aaaaagh." He tripped over a body-board, falling flat on his face.

The brunette pushed himself up with his elbows, looking around for the board's owner, clothes and face now covered in wet sand and seaweed. "Eyyyy, sorry, I din' step on ya, did I?" He asked, spitting out sand, then he realized something horrible and he jerked his gaze to the sky.

"Awwww, dammit!" He frowned at his balloons, which were now drifting lazily up into the clouds.

(tags?)

[fryn]

Takumi had finished his chores around the house - namely folding the laudry he'd brought in from the back garden and taken out the bags of refuse ready for collection. He reached for his jacket and pulled it on to ward off the cool afternoon air and headed for the door. His older brother could be heard upstairs, his god-awful music blaring out at full volume. Taki ruffled his little sister's hair as he passed her by.

"How about you and me explore the beach this weekend? What do you think?"

Her head bobbed up and down in excitement, making Taki laugh.

"No homework, Takumi?" queried his mother.

"No, ka-chan," he called back. "I won't be long... Just want to take a look at the beach."

"Supper in 2 hours, Takumi," she reminded him and he waved as he stepped out of the house...

* * *

Taki watched as the youth tripped over something... a board for surfing it looked like. He tilted his head backwards to watch the balloons he'd been holding drift skywards, turning back to look at the seaweed-coated boy who was frowning at the rapidly vanishing blobs of colour.

He walked over to the boy.

"It is better they finish their lives up there," he stated, looking back up at the heavens. "The alternative is to wither and wrinkle before dying from a lack of air." He shrugged. "At least they have a great view of the beach, huh?" He grinned down at the boy. "I am Taki... What's your name?"

[Thad Cotton]

Thad scrambled to his feet, feebly attempting to brush stubbornly clinging seaweed off himself. Maybe next time he decided to escape to the beach he would bring something more practical to change into, rather than running the risk of ruining his normal clothing. Ah, well. He could wash his current outfit out. Maybe.

He gave one last look at his vanishing balloons and sighed whistfully. He would eventually get bored with the balloons, or they would deflate and be of no use to him. It was still disappointing to lose them before he was finished with them, though. "S'ppose yer right." He admitted, returning his gaze to the other boy, thoughtful. "That's pretty deep, you a ph'losopher or summin'?" The anthropomorphism of balloons, assuming that they would be better off free, it reminded him of Si. She was always coming up with interesting tidbits like that; he wondered if this guy would be afraid of his oldest sister, or if they would become entangled in philosophical discussion.

"Name's Thad," He offered. "Nice t'meetcha, Taki." He rubbed the back of his hand across his face in an attempt to de-sand himself, but the only visible result was a new streak of sand left from grimy hands. "Could get new 'uns." He considered, but if this Taki guy thought balloons ought to be free, he might not approve of buying more.

His stomach chose that moment to interrupt, reminding him that he was currently skipping dinner. "Hey, wanna get some cotton candy?" He invited, deciding his money would be better spent on sustenance than on toys, at least for now. The sand pipers hopping along the white sand in search of food scattered as he dashed through their ranks, not waiting for Taki to answer before heading back to the boardwalk.

[fryn]

"Hajimemashite, Thad," replied Takumi. "I am pleased to meet you." To be truthful, Taki hadn't a clue what the boy had said. His accent was difficult for him and the words he used... Floss... something? Tomeech? No, he knew he'd have to concentrate really hard to follow their conversation.

He drew in a deep breath and jogged after Thad, catching him up a few feet down the beach. "Tell me, Thad... What is this cotton you are buying? For clothing?"

He listened closely as the boy explained, leaving Taki unsure whether he'd find the taste of cotton thread to his liking but he was a foreigner in a very new and strange land... He owed it to himself to at least try it.

Taki plucked a small bit of the pink hair-like substance off the stick Thad had handed him. It was sticky and matted almost instantly into a semi-solid state. He glanced at his companion as they headed back towards the sea front and copied his actions.

"Sugoi!" he enthused. "It's sweet!" That had been completely unexpected. That said, Taki hadn't been at all sure what TO expect. "I would like to return your kindness, Thad-otoutosan," said Takumi. They'd reached a stand selling balloons by now. Quite possibly the same one where the escapees had originated. Taki dug into his jeans pocket, soon returning with a trio of brightly-coloured orbs.

"Perhaps tie them around your wrist this time, otoutosan," he suggested. Taki handed them across to Thad, drawn to the younger boy - and not solely because Taki was actually taller than him. That had to be a first so far since his arrival in the US. No, Thad seemed somehow vulnerable and while Taki barely knew him he still felt that tug towards him. Hell, it wasn't like the Japanese youth had a stack of friends in his new homeland, despite having met May and Annie earier that day. And Ash, of course. In fact, when he stopped to give that some thought Takumi felt himself lucky to have been able to make that many friends in a little over 24 hours. That surely boded well for his future...

[Thad Cotton]

Thad laughed at Taki's surprise. "Chyeah, 's called candy fer a reason." He pointed out, still assuming that the older boy could actually understand what he was saying. It didn't bother him in the least that Taki kept using words he didn't understand; Ezmeralda and Roxy were always speaking in Spanish, or, more frequently, Spanglish, and there were so many international students at Gould he almost expected people to speak something other than English. He was, however, curious as to where Taki came from, because he didn't think he was speaking in Spanish. He'd met a number of Asian immigrants since moving to Santa Monica, but not all of them actually came from Asian, and that always threw him -- he had even met a Vietnamese girl who had moved to the US from Norway. That was just odd, he didn't think about them having Asians in Europe ever.

"Yay!! Balloons!!!!" He did a little hop of happiness, thrilled to have new balloons to play with. "See, that's what I'm talkin' 'bout, you're smart." He commented, following the other boy's suggestion and tying the balloons around his wrist. No danger they would escape now!

He raised his hand into the air, allowing the balloons to go as high as he could reach -- and feeling as though he was doing them a favor, probably because of Taki's earlier anthropomorphic commentary. "'Ey, so, you ain't from the US, are ya?" He asked, curiousity finally getting the best of him. "Ya keep speakin' foreign." By which he meant, he couldn't place the language Taki kept slipping into and he was dying to know what it might be. Maybe Si would know, because as far as he was concerned the oldest of the Cotton children knew everything. Fal, of course, she was crazy talented, but he didn't think she would be able to tell what Taki was saying anymore than he could.

His phone buzzed, and he pulled it out of his pocket, grimacing when he saw his home number flashing across the screen. He shoved it back in his pocket, determined to ignore any pleas that he return home at a reasonable hour. He had no intentions of doing any such thing. "Ehhh, I ain't here." He announced to the world at large. "Candy's better'n' dinner, anyways."

[fryn]

Takumi's left eyebrow rose slightly in amusement, sensing a rebel in the making. Perhaps it was one already established? Nothing as bad as his friends Sakuya and Ryou back home in Osaka. Then it had been himself and Yasunori who had kept the balance between mania and sanity. But still... he'd hate to see this boy fall into the wrong trype of hands. He seemed so innocent despite his brave attempts at rebellion.

"I agree," Taki stated. "Why would you want a hot meal when you can have this?" Takumi Yoshino had always been on the hyperactive side... The sugar in the candy was sure to only make that worse. Better? That remained to be seen!

"I am from Osaka, otousan," he answered. "Osaka is in Japan. We only arrived here yesterday and my English isn't..." He shrugged, a wry grin slipping onto his face. "My English cannot get much worse so all is an improvement from here... uccho-jan... right?" Actually, Takumi was a fast learner and already in the two days he'd been in America his understanding of the language had started to improve. Speaking it was perhaps an entirely different matter as his accent twisted most of what he said into anincomprehensible mass of vowels and consonants. Still, he'd get there... given time.

Taki peered closely at his new friend. "You speak... differently to others I have met today. Some words you say are ones I don't know. Aint... What is that? Is it... ah... a slang word?" If he was to make his home an find a place here in the US, Takumi knew he had to adapt... and as over half of his own Japanese vocabulary seemed to contain his own form of slang words then he'd do well to pick up as many as he could in English.

"You teach me some words, Thad-otousan, and I will teach you some back in Japanese... Do we have a deal?"

[Thad Cotton]

"Ya only got here yesterday?" Thad repeated, through a mouth full of cotton candy. "Dude, go back! 's not too late!!"

That was really unfair, of course, there was nothing wrong with California -- except that it wasn't home. He loved Roxy and Ezmeralda, but he still longed to return to the East coast, back to his former life.

"Naw, naw, yer English is great!" He waved his cotton candy reassuringly at the other boy, grinning when this caused his balloons to dance. "Ezzy and Rocks, they was mostly raised here, an' they still speak Spanish sometimes, guess when the fam'ly speaks it, it's hard to do English proper." He hypothesized, very incorrectly implying that his English was anything less than truly horrifying, or that his family might speak the same way. Si and Fal rarely tried to correct him, but he drove Sandra up the wall, and that made it all worth while. He was too stubborn to speak correctly, anyway, even without her, and he firmly insisted that dialect did not indicate intelligence. Nor did education, for that matter. He absolutely refused to change, unless influenced by friends, in which case he hardly noticed he was changing.

"Ain't? Yeah, guess it's kinda slang," He mused, "They'll tell ya, ain't ain't a word, but it is so, it's in the dictionary. 's jus' anti-Southern bias," He informed Taki, "Pretty much, ain't means i'n't." Which was sure to be a most helpful explanation, when he didn't even pronounce the non-slang version correctly.

Learn Japanese? That would be so awesome, he was sure he could apply that knowledge to his ongoing crusade against the step-mother. "Deal!!" He agreed happily, holding out his hand, the one not currently gripping rapidly vanishing cotton candy, to shake on it.

[fryn]

Takumi laughed at Thad's suggestion that he still had time to return to Osaka. It was a rare teenager indeed who was completely happy with his home and area in which they lived. That said, Taki had been one of those rarities back in Japan. That said, he had a feeling he'd quickly adapt and be almost as content here in California. The language and cultural differences would be tricky to deal with but he was nothing if not determined to do his best to fit in.

He listened closely when Thad told him of two people... Ezzy and Rocks. Odd names indeed but then 'Takumi' wasn't exactly ordinary. Not here, anyway. He couldn't tell from their names what gender these two people were but they sounded interesting... Not that Takumi knew more than a handful of words in Spanish. Problem was, his Spanish accent was even worse than his French one! Something that earlier today wouldn't have seemed even remotely possible. Perhpas he'd eventually get a chance to meet with Thad's other friends.

He smiled, though, at the boy's response to a lesson exchange and he grasped the offered hand, laughing when Thad shook it so heartily. "Sugoi, otoutosan," he said. "Sugoi... You would say 'cool' for that. And otoutosan... " Taki grinned. "It's a friendly word. Means 'little brother'..." A name he'd never heard his own older brother use... and he highly doubted he ever would. "So tell me, That-chan... You have older sisters? And brothers? I have a little sister and a brother a few years my senior." He peered at the boy. "Are you sure you won't get into trouble for being late for your meal?" He'd hate to be the cause of any grief for Thad as he had a feeling the younger kid managed to get into enough hot water on his own!