All in days work (Izzy tag Any)

[Izzy Chen]

[Character name: Izzy Chen]
[Location: Santa Monica Carnival]

Izzy had decided to get out of the house. She could not take much more of Jett ranting and raving about the mistake he made. It took everything Izzy had not to bust out laughing and telling him about the bet. It was funny. Poor Jett though, he did seem really torn up about it, but what could she do. This was Eden's thing, not hers. Eden wanted the revenge, Izzy was just along for the ride. She had been told early to stay out of the Compton area because of some activity going on and because she looked Asian. Izzy did not understand it, but she never went to Compton anyway.

Izzy decided to take a break from her column. She needed to have some fun. Granted coming to a carnival alone was not fun, but she did not feel like invitng Jett and she had not spoken to Eden or Ben in a day. She would have texted them, but she forgot her cell at home. So no such luck. Izzy decided to walk around for now and just enjoy the carnival. She would have some funnel cake and maybe go on a few rides. Nothing else.

Izzy liked the carnival. The ride she really loved was the ferris wheel, but you needed two people for that ride and Izzy was not the kind of person to just go up to someone and ask for them to ride with her so for now she would just watch. it was fun and not too bad. Izzy decided to lean against the wall and eat her funnel cake while the Ferris wheel went round and round. A girl could wish, but it was not the end of the world if she did not get to ride it.

Izzy needed to keep track of the time, but she had no phone and no watch, which meant she would need to ask a stranger for the time. Izzy licked her fingers free of any sticky residue and looked around. She tapped someone on the shoulder. The person looked young and around her age, which was good, "Um...excuse me do you have the time?"

[fryn]

With plenty of time on his hands before meeting up with Ezzie later - and her in how to read manga - Takumi opted to hang out in Santa Monica for a little longer. The carnival looked to be fun and very unlike anything back home. There it would have taken the form of a parade comprising papier mache dummies to rtepresent a whole host of historical figures. From the 'monsters' of the Nebuta Matsuri, Aomori through to the more bizarre Mount Tsukuba Toad Festival where the toads have their own toad-shaped Shinto Shrine. The entire month of August was spent celebrating one thing or another but this carnival was very different.

Taki wandered through the attractions, holding another stick of the candy floss that Thad had introduced him to. Its taste was definitely an acquired one and Takumi had yet to work out if he really liked it or not. Either way, the sugar high was sure to have its usual effect on him.

He was startled by a hand tapping his shoulder and he turned around when the person spoke.

"Um...excuse me do you have the time?"

"Time?" Taki frowned slightly in confusion. "The time for what?" he asked. He'd likely misunderstood the girl but he wasn't at all sure what she meant.

[Izzy Chen]

Izzy laughed thinking the guy was joking. She smiled, "As in what time it is....I am suppose to be home by midnight. I know it is not near midnight, but I have no cell phone or watch. I was wondering if you had one so I may check the time to see how much longer I have." She explained. Even if the guy was joking, which she had no idea he really wasn't joking, she explained anyway because thats who Izzy was.

Izzy noticed she had not recognized the guy before. Either he was new or he just did not go to Gould or Silver. Then again both schools were pretty big, so how would she notice him. Also it did not help her nose was always typing away at her laptop. Okay her fingers, but people got the point, "Hi, I am Isabella, but please call me Izzy." She said holding her hand out to the guy.

"Pleasure to meet you, would you like a piece of my funnel cake?" Had her brother been there he would have slapped her for asking a stranger to take a piece of her food. He would tell her that it was dangerous to offer strangers food, but the guy did not look like a dangerous man. He looked nice and sweet. So she found nothing wrong with it.

[fryn]

"Izzy," he repeated, committing the name to memory. It wasn't too tricky as it was also the shortened version of a well-known Japanese name... That of Izumi. "I am also pleased to meet you. I am Takumi." He bowed his head slightly as he shook her hand. "But what is funnel cake?" He peered at the delicacy she held in open curiosity. It looked good and so he nodded with a smile. "As long as you share this with me," he added, gesturing at the pink fluff-adorned stick. "I forgot its name. Something to do with cotton?" Thad had told him but the name had slipped from his head.

"I am not sure if I like it," he admitted with a wry grin. "It's very sweet but... I wanted to try it again." He held the cotton candy towards her in hope she'd take some.

"Oh... and... " Taki twisted his left wrist, almost dropping the cotton candy onto Izzy's chest. "It is kyo... I mean, nine thirty... almost." He was oblivious to the near accident, intent on converting gogo kyouji sanjuupun into comprehensible English.

"This is nice," he finished after taking a bite of the cake. "What is it called again?" If he could learn the words then he could try and buy some for himself another time.

[Izzy Chen]

"Funnel cake is a guilty pleasure." Izzy said with a smile, "Its basically fired fat and calories, but too good to resist." After hearing him talk she could tell English was not his first language, so she knew to be semi careful about how she talked. Basically that meant she had to talk slower then she normally would because Izzy could rant and rave with the best of them.

She smiled at him as she took a piece of the cotton candy, "Funnel cake is basically fried cake batter and powdered sugar. What you have is called cotton candy...just glorifed sugar that has been turned into fluff. Its good if you want a sugar high. Both are good for a sugar high." She said laughing as she took a bite of the funnel cake and then the cotton candy, "Cotton candy is an aquired taste. You get use to it after you have had it a few times. Good, but it gets sticky."

Nine thirty. That was good she still had plenty of time, "Its called funnel cake." She told him. She did not mind repeating herself. "You cannot come to a Carnival and not get funnel cake or cotton candy." She smiled, "So where are you from?"

[fryn]

Fried cake batter? It didn't sound like it should taste as good as it did. Then again, the candy had received a similar reception. Takumi was finding the food of his new homeland hard to come to terms with, being very different to what he was used to back in Osaka. He'd adjust, though, but it would be a pretty long term task.

"Funnel cake," he repeated beneath his breath. He'd have to tell Mayuki about it tomorrow... and about the carnival. Oh, and the cotton candy. Would a stick of it keep until the morning? He wasn't so sure it would and it might not taste so nice when stale. Perhaps he should risk it and take her some anyway...?

"I'm from the prefecture of Osaka... in Japan," he replied. "It's very different to here," Taki added with a wry smile. "We don't have places such as this..." He waved a hand around at the attractions. "I'm not even sure what most of them do," he admitted.

The Japanese boy glanced at the large wheel-like device that had been built nearby. "That." He pointed at the wheel. "I want to see what is from the top." He looked back at Izzy. "I'm not sure I want to go on my own... and I know you hardly know me... but..." He closed his eyes for a second or two. "Izzy, would you go on it with me..... please? I would be honoured if you'd allow me to pay for us both."

[Izzy Chen]

Izzy listened when he replied to her question. "Oh not sure you heard, but be careful when you go home tonight. There have been talks of gang violence on the radio. Apparently people who look Hispanic and Asian are targets." She said in a friendly warning, although she did not know much about it either. Just what she heard from Jett and the radio in her car. Izzy smiled when he talked about the ferris wheel. She thought it was adorable.

"Its called the Ferris Wheel. I would be delighted to accompany you the ride. It's my favorite ride, you will love the view from the top." She led him to the Ferris wheel so they could stand in line, "i hope you like heights. Because the look down is a big one." She hated to look down, but she loved heights at the same time. Izzy was aware she could be a little weird.

They waited until it was their turn to get on the ride. "Thank you for paying. You really didn't have too." She gave him a sweet smile. Jett might kill her for being so nice to a stranger, but she did not care. The guy seemed harmless and he was new to the city. Why not get to know him better.

[fryn]

"I hadn't heard of the gangs," he replied, eyes widening slightly in concern. He'd make sure Izzy returned home safely when it came time for her to leave. Takumi hadn't honestly expected to encounter violence because of his looks but he was well used to gangs as such. Back home in Osaka they had the biker gangs, of course. The bôsôzoku. Normally harmless though and just out for a good time. Worse though were the Yakuza... the Japanese mafia. They normally kept to larger crimes than street violence... Unless a person either got in their way or intruded on territory. Crime rate in Japan in general was low and so such attacks were very rare. It was worrying to hear troubles such as this were in this area and he made a mental note to warn his parents in case his sister, Mayuki, asked to go out alone. His older brother, Fumihiro, was more than capable of taking care of himself.

"Ah so... Ferris Wheel," he repeated and he smiled in pleasure when Izzy accepted his invitation to join him on it. "Heights? I am ok with heights." Taki looked up at the top of the wheel while they queued... and swallowed a bit. It was, after all, very high!

He inclined his head slightly when she thanked him for paying. "I kno0w I didn't have to but... it is my honour," he assured her.

They climbed on board and Izzy - luckily - knew how to secure the safety bar. Had she not done it Taki would have probably gone all the way around without it. The wheel set off and their seat rose... and rose...

"Sugoi!" he exclaimed when the full view started to surface. The lights of the carnival dotted the scene below, reminding Takumi of the tank filled with multi-hued glass pebbles he'd seen at the Kaiyukan... Osaka Aquarium.

"I can see why you love this ride, Izzy-chan," he stated with a laugh. He turned to glance at her. "You live in Santa Monica or close by? I am from Venice Beach..."

[Izzy Chen]

Once on the ride Izzy leaned over and secured the safety belt once Taki got on the ride, "Okay we should be fine. I warn you the ride might stop at the top because people are always getting on and off the ride." Izzy watched the ground as they went up and smiled. She really did love the ride, "It is beautiful right." She took in the sight. Especially at night when the Carnival was all lit up. So nice.

"MY brother told me about the gangs, so I thought I would share the information." She said with a nod of her head. "I live in Malibu actually. Which is closer then you might think." Or so she thought. Then again Izzy was use to the drive to Snata Monica by now, so to it was nothing. "I have friends who live in Venice beach. I will have to introduce you to them....they go to Gould as well? Do you attend Gould or Silver?" Izzy could not remember if she had asked or not.

"So how long have you lived in the US? It must be very different from japan?" She could only imagine the culture shock for the poor guy. Izzy had been lucky. She might have been conceived in Korea, but she grew up in the US. "My family comes from Korea. I have only been there a few times though."

[fryn]

"I attend Gould," replied Takumi. It seemed Izzy also did and that was a bonus. It was always nice to see a friendly face at school. "I would be most pleased to be introduced to your friends, Izzy-chan," he replied. Ok, so his terminology might be a tad on the antiqauted and formal side but that was the manner of his upbringing. That was the 'nihongo' way... The Japanese way.

"I have been here since.... hmm... " He glanced at his watch and then threw Izzy a bright grin. "It is measured better in hours perhaps!" He laughed before speaking once more. "We arrived here on Thursday... This Thursday just passed. Valentine's Day," he added with a wink. "I have met a fair umber of people since then and all have been warm and friendly. I have been most lucky!" And he knew that to be a fact. He'd been warned by his old friends that he'd struggle to fit in and that had been anything but the case.

"Life is is very, very different," he agreed. "Its not bad to be unlike Japan. I love Japan... really love it... but here it is also good. But... yes, different in almost all ways. Korea looks to be a nice country. I have not been there but some of my friends have and they say it is good. Do you speak any Korean?" Not that he did but he was always interested to learn about a new friend... and Izzy surely classed as one.

"Look!" Over there!" He pointed out to sea before she could answer his question. "What do you call that?" he asked. The beam from the lighthouse out on the nearby headland cut across the surface of the sea. "We call it a 'toudai'. I love looking around toudai... I wonder if they allow people to visit that one?"

He could hope!