Santa Monica Bound - open tag

[fryn]

After spending a fair bit of his morning at the comic store, Takumi headed home for an early bite to eat. The day, though, was still young and the weather was pleasant enough. The lunch-time weather report claimed a high of 35°C which was very warm indeed compared to the usual temperatures back home in Osaka. Sure, they had their hot days there, too, but Taki had a feeling the Californian summers had weather like this as the norm, rather than the opposite.

"Anything planned for the afternoon, Takumi?" asked his mother and the middle Yoshino child nodded.

"I am thinking of riding out to Santa Monica. It's not far," he quickly added, "and I will have my phone with me."

"Ii desu yo," his mom replied and Taki grinned. "What?"

"In English, mama," he said with a laugh. After all, she was forever pulling him up for lapsing into Japanese.

His mother rolled her eyes and laughed with him. "Just don't be out too late... You still have some chores..."

* * *

A half hour later the red Vespa could be found heading along Lincoln Boulevard, its rider clutching the set of directions he'd scrawled down from Google. It wouldn't take him long at all to reach his destination and , sure enough, ten minutes later he'd reached the outskirts of Santa Monica. He drew up in a large parking area and cut his scooter's engine. The pier here was far bigger than the one at Venice Beach and filled with countless attractions. With luck he'd find a way to pass his afternoon... and hopefully not by spending too many dollars in capsule machines!

With his manga book in one pocket and his phone in the other he headed towards the pier, opting to take some time out to relax before attacking the attractions. Instead of stepping onto the pier he ducked down onto the beach and explored its underside. He'd read for a while first...

[Ezzie Lopez]

[Character: Ezmeralda Lopez]

Ezzie bribed her brother to take her with him to Santa Monica. She promised not to bother him. She had her phone so he could call her when he was ready to leave. Ezzie took any excuse to get out of the crazy Lopez house. She walked around and played a few games. She walked around with her huge purse slung over her shoulder. She was loosing track of time and that was not a bad thing. She knew Pepe would spend most of lunch at the pier with his friends.

Ezzie started to walk along the beach. She wore tight shorts with flowers all over them. He shirt was black shirt with the names of different colors written on it. Like red, blue, orange. The kicker was that each word was written In a different color. At the bottom was written, "In what Color is each Word written?" It was really hard to say the name of the color the word was written. It was so hard not to say green when it was written in orange.

Ezzie was walking onto the beach and checking out the underside she put her purse on the ground and took out a radio. She turned on the music. Some J-LO was playing and she started to dance around. Nothing new for her. She did love to dance and move. She was taking lessons. All kinds of dance. She did not even notice anyone else was around.

[fryn]

Takumi had been engrossed in his book, tracing the images from right to left and from back cover to front. The story was starting to get interesting, hence his pretty much oblivion to his surroundings. The sound of the waves crashing against the pier's structure were mere background noise - as was the noises coming from above. The ambient noises were soothing if anything and seemed to meld into one as he read on...

... that was, until a whole different sound registered. A femaile voice... singing. One that seemed vaguel recognisable from songs his sister had started playing since the arrived in the US. He glanced up from his book... and blinked. A vision in colourful clothes was dancing to the music and not all that far away. Takumi was mostly hidden from view by a particularly large wooden strut that helped to hold up the pier above them but not to announce his presence made him feel something of a voyeur.

He coughed.

The music drowned out the sound, as he should have realised.

Instead he pushed himself to his feet, brushing sand off his charcoal-coloured jeans as he rose. "Hai!" he called out, adding a hand wave for good measure. Still she didn't seem to either see or hear him and so he approached... slowly so as not to startle the dancing girl...

[johson]

{OOC: Decided to get involved.}

Ashton stood back and watched with some amusement as the girl kicked sand all over the Japanese guy he had seen near by the other day, Ashton had been strolling along the beach in the general direction of the pier having decided to waste some cash and have some fun on the pier or something similar, he had parked his car a couple of miles down the beach so he could use the fresh air.

He stepped forward out of the shadows behind the Japanese guy, "Hey." Ashton yelled at the dancing girl who still wasn't listening. "Takumi right, I think I saw you around here the other day." Ashton said before walking past him and tapping the girl on the shoulder. "Hey you have people down here, your blaring that muck that you call music out for all to hear, you need to check where your dancing before you start... its just bloody annoying." Ashton said knowing the boy was annoyed at the girl and his English didn't seem to be to good.

He walked back to the other boy, "Good comic book?" Ash asked him politely. "Not my thng but I hear they can be entertaining." Ash added.

[Ezzie Lopez]

Ezzie was horrible and inconsiderate sometimes. Which was really bad and she knew it. She got into her own world and there was no pulling her out of it. Ezzie really needed to work on that, but she loved the pier and she loved her music. She really needed to invest in an Ipod. It would have been easier. She felt the tap and shut off the musi with her foot. She could not blame the guy for what he said. except for the music being muck. it was not muck. She just smiled and spoke, her spanish coming out because she was higly embaressed. "Hola, lo siento. No quise decir esto. Su justo de la playa es el mejor lugar para la práctica de la danza."

When she realized they might not know Spanish and when she regained her composure from being embarrassed she smiled, "Sorry. I am really sorry. Its just the beach is the best place to practice dancing. Weird I know, but its true." If you can dance on teh beach you can dance anywhere.

She looked at both guys. Neither she recognized. "Comics huh? i love comics. i can get lost in them all day." She admitted, "I am Ezzie." She extended her hand to the two guys.

[fryn]

"Ohayu, Ashton," he replied, pretty sure he'd remembered the other boy's name correctly. "You are well, I hope...?" he asked, as polite as ever. He wasn't annoyed at all by the girl and had enjoyed watching her despite starting to feel like some peeping-yukihara. Ash reached out to tap her shoulder and that caught the girl's attention where Taki's uncertain reluctance to disturb her had failed completely. That said, he hadn't been sure of the polite way to announce his presence and that alone had seen him hold back a little.

"Good comic book?"

"It is!" replied Takumi enthusiastically. "I found a good manga store and bought it this morning." He paused and frowned. "Not the store... I bought this book."

The girl called out something in a completely alien language. He struggled enough with English and so could be forgiven for not understanding what she said. She smiled and spoke again - this time in English.

Takumi waved off her apology. "When you have a desire then you should follow it through," he stated. "Even if it is beach dancing and covering people in sand," he added with a friendly smile. "Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare," he said, having memorised the translation his favourite life quote from Japanese into English. "You would maybe like to try reading manga then." Takumi showed her his book. "They are easy to read once you learn how."

He brushed sand off his hands and down the front of his t-shirt, tipping his head forwards in a hint of a bow. "I am Yoshino Takumi... Taki is what I usually get called. It is an honour to meet you. This," he added, gesturing to his companion, "... is Ashton... Gomennasi... I am sorry for disturbing you."

[Ezzie Lopez]

"Disturbing me....non sense. I can dance anytime. I was just practicing. The beach is the hardest surface to dance on because your feet are forever sinking into the sand. In dance you have to be fast on your feet. So if you can dance on the beach then you can dance on stage." Ezzie said with a smile.

"I have not read much Manga, only things like Sailor Moon, Princess Mononoke and few others. I usually read comics. I am into everything." It was true. To keep Ezzie's attention things had to be good. She was forever shifting her attention from comics, to manga to cooking to dancing to anything. She liked anything and everything except scary movies and stupid remakes that sucked.

"Which one do you have? I admit I still have trouble reading it. I can't remember if you read the manga front to back or back to front." She said with a small laugh. She heard his saying, "I like that. I am going to have to remember what you said. Action without vision is a nightmare...." She said repeating only part of it, "That saying is very cool. I will have to share it if you do not mind. its nice to meet you Taki." She smiled when he bowed. It was cute, "You too Ashton." She said to the other guy.

[fryn]

Takumi struggled to grasp everything the girl was saying. She spoke so fast and a lot of the words she used were ones not known to the recently arrived Japanese boy. He understood enough to know she was far from angry at being disturbed and her love of dance was evident. Plus she had read some manga. Ok, Sailormoon would never be his personal choice, despite (or in spite of, perhaps!) his love of Hello Kitty!

"I have Gensômaden Saiyûki... Saiyuki Reload," he replied, showing her his book. "I am trying to read the series through," he added. "It tells the tale of 4 friends... a monk, a monkey king, a half demon and a man who is now a demon. It is good," he assured her, "but I am struggling to read this one as it is in English. It helps me learn... hai?" Takumi grinned at the girl.

"From back to front," he explained, opening the book to show her. "See? The front has a warning... " The bold words 'STOP!This is the back of the book. You wouldn't want to spoil a great ending!' hit you right in the eyes, making it virtually impossible to read it incorrectly. "Then you read the pages from the right to the left. If it goes over two pages then you read all the way over both." He shrugged. "It is easy once you get used to it."

She seemed very friendly and easy to talk to but then so had everyone so far in his new country. So much for the warnings from his olds friends back in Osaka. American people didn't feed on foreigners after all. He made a mental note to email Ryou later and make sure the baka knew about his first few days. He'd be a jealous as hell.

[Ezzie Lopez]

Ezzie looked at the Manga Taki showed her. Sure enough there were words written in big letters telling her which side was the back of the book, "I guess my english needs work if I did not understand those words written there." She said with a small laugh. It was good the book had written in big bold letters about not starting at the beginning but at the back. Manga was strange, but that did not stop Ezzie from reading it, "Well now it makes more sense. I have been reading it back words." She said with a smile.

"I tell you what. You help me learn the right way to read a Manga and I can help you translate the English words so you can understand them." It sounded like a fair trade since she had yet to master reading Manga. As crazy as it sounded it bugged her. Then again once she found something new it would not bug her, but still. Why not offer help? Ezzie loved to help people and make friends and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. She could try anyway.

"Easy is not the word I would use, but I am sure like with everything else practice makes perfect." She said with a small smile, "So tell me about where you are from? I love hearing tall tales about far away places. I have only lived in the US but I plan to travel the world one day....maybe." She had so many plans. That was one of Ezzie's problems. She had so many plans.

[fryn]

"I think we have a...." Takumi paused as he sought for the word he wanted. "... a deal... That's the right word?" A nod told him it was and he smiled back at Ezzie. "Then I will teach you how to read manga and you will show me what the words mean." He grinned. "I think I have the easy job!"

"So you want to travel? I can think of nowhere better than Japan. I am from Osaka... in Japan. You would love it," he said with a nostalgic glint in his eyes. "It is Japan's third largest city but second only to Tokyo in importance. Osaka used to be Japan's capital, you know? Before Tokyo. Then it was called Naniwa.."

He broke off with a wry smile. "I am starting to sound like a geography teacher, am I not?" With a wink, Takumi continued... "Where is it that you live, Ezzie?" he asked. "Do you go to Gould school?" If so he was sure to see more of her. If not then he'd make sure he sought her out. After all, a person needed to know how to read manga... and he needed to speak better English. Add to that his deep need of friendship and he was totally sold.