Post by KAZUE FUJIHARA on Oct 5, 2013 5:38:43 GMT -8
When her bandmates had threatened 'babysitter' after the whole getting arrested business, she'd felt genuinely threatened by it at first, and had immediately began to prepare to employ her old strategic escape tactics. After all, while she appreciated their concern, she also didn't like feeling like she was being restrained.
Then they saddled her with Leon.
'I thought they meant babysit me.' she'd thought, and while yes she did know that was what they meant...that had not been the most tactical of choices. And the outing had went just about as well as they should have planned – the two of them had spent maybe an hour with each other, mostly buying more sugar-laced foods than should be allowed, before agreeing to split up and meet back later because who the hell cared, the others wouldn't have to know. So, Kazue had gone off for a mostly normal but still fulfilling day of a movie, some time at a mall, arcade, and even peeked into a local coffee shop that seemed to have live music (which naturally the music had drawn her in, and a few hadn't been bad but it had been mediocre at best).
It was starting to get a bit later into the day when she messaged Leon and told him to meet her back near the hotel, just a block down so the two of them wouldn't have issues finding each other too badly. Then she'd hopped on her bus, and absorbed herself in a game on her phone and the music in her headphones. She supposed she really should have paid more attention, and maybe, just maybe, there was some merit to this babysitter business, because by the time she looked up, she had no idea where they were. When she asked the driver how far back the stops in Santa Monica were...well, 'far' seemed to cover it, and he told her they were only going to get farther for the next two hours.
A bit distressed, she asked him if there was a way to get back. He gave her directions to head to another bus stop from the next stop they were heading to, which would be heading in the opposite direction – back to where she needed to be. That was doable, she just had to walk a couple blocks down in a twenty minute span. No big deal. When the driver told her she'd best not go alone, she'd given him a look, and told him she had little choice. He pressed further that the last place a young lady wanted to be walking around in – or at least one of the last places – was near the next stop. She shrugged, and assured him she was tougher than she looked.
After all, didn't most Americans believe anyone of Asian descent inherited knowledge of badass martial arts, or something? She could just strike a menacing pose and spout random bullshit in Japanese and it should be enough.
It was never as easy as that, though. The stop she was dropped off at looked...well, a bit run down, but open and mostly surrounded by safe buildings. It gave her a false sense of security. The more she walked in the direction she was told, however, the less secure it began to look. Her tactic mostly became move fast and ignore people. However, when she was obviously being called after and flagged down from a building to her left, it gave her pause, and she stared at the group trying – and rather spectacularly failing – to talk to her.
She couldn't understand a damn word they were saying, and she wondered if she dared go nearer to them, or even respond. She was able to pick out two or three English words, but she was fairly certain the rest was in Spanish. Yeah, like she didn't have enough language issues as it was, lets add a new one. They didn't seem to be threatening her, at least – in fact the whole group of them seemed unwilling to move from their perch on their doorstep – but they were talking at her too much to be entirely ignored. Great. Well...maybe if she could get them to speak a language they knew, they could help her...maybe?
Then they saddled her with Leon.
'I thought they meant babysit me.' she'd thought, and while yes she did know that was what they meant...that had not been the most tactical of choices. And the outing had went just about as well as they should have planned – the two of them had spent maybe an hour with each other, mostly buying more sugar-laced foods than should be allowed, before agreeing to split up and meet back later because who the hell cared, the others wouldn't have to know. So, Kazue had gone off for a mostly normal but still fulfilling day of a movie, some time at a mall, arcade, and even peeked into a local coffee shop that seemed to have live music (which naturally the music had drawn her in, and a few hadn't been bad but it had been mediocre at best).
It was starting to get a bit later into the day when she messaged Leon and told him to meet her back near the hotel, just a block down so the two of them wouldn't have issues finding each other too badly. Then she'd hopped on her bus, and absorbed herself in a game on her phone and the music in her headphones. She supposed she really should have paid more attention, and maybe, just maybe, there was some merit to this babysitter business, because by the time she looked up, she had no idea where they were. When she asked the driver how far back the stops in Santa Monica were...well, 'far' seemed to cover it, and he told her they were only going to get farther for the next two hours.
A bit distressed, she asked him if there was a way to get back. He gave her directions to head to another bus stop from the next stop they were heading to, which would be heading in the opposite direction – back to where she needed to be. That was doable, she just had to walk a couple blocks down in a twenty minute span. No big deal. When the driver told her she'd best not go alone, she'd given him a look, and told him she had little choice. He pressed further that the last place a young lady wanted to be walking around in – or at least one of the last places – was near the next stop. She shrugged, and assured him she was tougher than she looked.
After all, didn't most Americans believe anyone of Asian descent inherited knowledge of badass martial arts, or something? She could just strike a menacing pose and spout random bullshit in Japanese and it should be enough.
It was never as easy as that, though. The stop she was dropped off at looked...well, a bit run down, but open and mostly surrounded by safe buildings. It gave her a false sense of security. The more she walked in the direction she was told, however, the less secure it began to look. Her tactic mostly became move fast and ignore people. However, when she was obviously being called after and flagged down from a building to her left, it gave her pause, and she stared at the group trying – and rather spectacularly failing – to talk to her.
She couldn't understand a damn word they were saying, and she wondered if she dared go nearer to them, or even respond. She was able to pick out two or three English words, but she was fairly certain the rest was in Spanish. Yeah, like she didn't have enough language issues as it was, lets add a new one. They didn't seem to be threatening her, at least – in fact the whole group of them seemed unwilling to move from their perch on their doorstep – but they were talking at her too much to be entirely ignored. Great. Well...maybe if she could get them to speak a language they knew, they could help her...maybe?
Dated May 14th around 4pm and tagged for LARSAEKUS ROSENDAHL
