Thread Roulette - Ryu, Roxy, Abby

[Ryu Kobayashi]

Roxy's laughter was infectious and in spite of trying to remain cool and aloof Ryu found himself laughing at her description of her friend's embarrassment following the discovery of the magazines. The change in his expression lifted his face completely and anyone watching would have been able to catch a glimpse of the pretty normal boy behind the mask of rebellious youth. The scowl was soon put back in place though. He found himself liking the idea of being caught up in a trick of some kind with Roxy and Sawyer. Ok, maybe it was childish but with his track record from back in Tokyo he knew he had to be careful about crossing the legal line. His parents would have a blue fit if he was caught doing anything seriously wrong here in the United States.

So this cheerleader was related to his skateboarding teacher? Jamie seemed cool so perhaps this other girl was as well? But Roxy had mentioned she taught at school... Weren't all teachers morons?

"I already know you will talk to anyone," he said. "I mean, here you are talking to me! Hardly anyone at school bothers." He had an inkling that had something to do with his usual facial expression and constant attitude but it was better that way. Let people get close and they'd only end up hurting you in some way. Ryu saw himself as a loner... but now he'd been dumped in purgatory, as he called it, he was slowly discovering he didn't like being alone.

"Never let anyone tell you what you should or shouldn't do," he stated with vehemence. "No one has that right. To shape and mould you into what they see as the perfect child...?" He snorted a laugh of sheer derision. "And who are they to say what is perfect?" Roxy had spirit - that much he could see - and as with any wild cretaure that spirit should remain untarnished!


"And Tokyo... I am from Tokyo." He paused, adding as a slight after thought. "That's in Japan... As for tricks..." He lifted one slender shoulder. "It's probably better you don't know..."

[Roxy Rivera]

Roxy hadn't known Ryu prior to this so to know that his laughter and smiles were uncharacteristic was impossible. No, instead she found him to be a friendly, fun sort of guy and she was glad she'd run into him, even under the circumstance of avoiding a lash out from a maybe mad cheerleader.

"I'm sure that's not true," she said when he informed her that no one in school talked to him much. "You're just new and they don't know you yet. I mean, we've only been in school a week. People are weird like that only wanting to talk to their own friends sometimes, the people they already know but the more they see you around the more they'll start talking to you," she reasoned. Sure, Roxy was especially talkative but she certainly thought that she was more likely to approach someone she recognized or maybe had classes with over someone who she'd never seen before, unless the said person gave her reason to like a cool outfit or something.

"It's easier said than done," she said grimly when he told her to never let anyone else tell her what to do, "you've never met my parents. Maybe in a few years when I'm 18 and off at college it will be different but for now its all controlling and do this and do that and your grounded," she said rolling her eyes but her tone was still somewhat bright as Roxy liked to let all of that stuff slide off her as if she was resilient. Really, she just liked to concentrate on the good and pretend that the bad didn't exist. It was much more fun that way.

"Tokyo! Oh that must have been magnificent," she exclaimed. "I've never been anywhere in Asia," she said, "but if I could go, I'd want to go there. Everything I've ever seen about it in pictures or TV just looks so cool. Everything is so bright and colorful and the fashion is some of the coolest I've ever seen," she said. Maybe her current outfit didn't really show much of her personality as she'd just come from church, but usually Roxy adorned herself in brightly colored clothing and fun accessories. "Why did you move here?" she asked, thinking that LA sounded much less exciting but perhaps to someone who had grown up in Tokyo is was the opposite.

"Better I don't know!" she said. She grinned, "Oh you better tell me now," she laughed, still smiling as she attempted to shoot him a serious look.

[Ryu Kobayashi]

"Hai... Tokyo is... sugoi! Amazing," he concurred. "Once you have been there you will be in love. A love that will never leave you." He spoke, for once, from his heart and any scowl had evaporated. How could he fail to feel that way when speaking of his beloved Japan?

"And Nihon... Japan... is like no other place on Earth," he went on. "It is a warm embrace, a intriguing friend, a show of lights, a geisha's smile." He threw her a wry smile. "To see it would have you believe you have stepped back in time. Yet you can move from the wild pace of the cities to the time of day when everything stops turning and tea is taken. It contradicts itself," Ryu told Roxy. "My country is as much about Zen, Kabuki, Sumo, and Geisha as it is about Sony, Toyota, and Panasonic."

He laughed. "Crazy, huh? And above it all stands Fuji-san. Mount Fuji," he translated. "She peers through the clouds over miles and miles of autumn-burnt parklands. And then Tokyo... That's my home city...It is a maze of metal and glass towers stretching up to the sky... it is a narrow alleyway with wooden homes with dragon-tiled roofs."

He lifted his shoulders. "I think you would like it," he finished with a self-conscious look in his eyes. As specches went that one was unheard of from the normally silent and serious youth.

"As for why we moved here... " He face hardened once again, adding a good handful of years to his otherwise youthful features. "I stole a car back home. Got caught. Arrested. My father paid for my release and we had no choice but to leave Japan. The fact that I only borrowed the car and would have given it back after the race didn't seem to appease the deka." He shrugged slightly. "Are they any races around here?" He'd have to start looking for a suitable car to borrow if so.

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