Tokyo, Japan, Monday

[soniaroadsqueen]

Portalocity was weird. Ringo hadn't really traveled with them much, so this was something of a revelation for her. Somehow booking a reasonable late-morning departure from Fandom resulted in a just-after-dawn arrival in a small park a couple of miles from the apartment she shared with her sisters. Of course, despite that, all three of them were waiting.

Rika, with her knowing, motherly smile, managing to look like a carefully-styled model even this early. Mikan, tomboyish hair cropped short and sticking out every which way, smirking mischievously and tapping her foot with nervous energy. Ume, seated on a bench playing with her dolls, but glancing up and meeting Ringo's eyes when she arrived.

With a grin, Ringo dropped her bags and rushed forward into a big group hug, melting into the group for a moment. All worry and stress disappearing in the blink of an eye.

"Now then," Rika said as they eventually disentangled themselves, "why don't you introduce everyone, and then we can go get some breakfast?"

[ooc: For those along for the ride. NFB for distance.]

Comments

RE: Thursday Night - New Years Festival

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Well, duh!" Ringo slammed to a halt in front of the stall and had a quick exchange in Japanese with the man behind it who grinned and handed over two cardboard containers with little fried balls of batter in them. Ringo grinned as she handed one over to Dante. "It's little pieces of octopus fried in batter, and they're best fresh."

RE: Thursday Night - New Years Festival

[rebelseekspizza]

"They're octopus balls," Dante said immediately.

He squinted at them. "Weird."

RE: Thursday Night - New Years Festival

[soniaroadsqueen]

"And delicious!" Ringo declared, stabbing one of hers with a toothpick and stuffing the whole thing into her mouth.

RE: Thursday Night - New Years Festival

[rebelseekspizza]

You know, Dante didn't have a problem with free food, most of the time, but... "You sure about these?"

RE: Thursday Night - New Years Festival

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Totally!" Ringo exclaimed.

Well, tried to exclaim. It came out kinda muffled as she had her mouth stuffed with octopus balls.

RE: Thursday Night - New Years Festival

[rebelseekspizza]

"Fine. Guess I'll take advice from the girl with balls in her mouth."

Sometimes he was easily amused, okay?

... He was biting into one of those balls now.

Weird.

RE: Thursday Night - New Years Festival

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo had finally finished chewing and swallowing, and grinned over at Dante. "Good, right?"

RE: Thursday Night - New Years Festival

[rebelseekspizza]

"Weird," Dante said. With his mouth full. "Kinda squishy."

RE: Thursday Night - New Years Festival

[soniaroadsqueen]

"But warm and savory and delicious, right?" Right?

RE: Thursday Night - New Years Festival

[rebelseekspizza]

"Weird, but hey, you do you," Dante said. He looked away from his carton and towards the rest of the market. "You think they serve hotdogs?"

Sigh.

RE: Thursday Night - New Years Festival

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Sure!" Ringo grinned. "I think there's a hotdog stall over that way." She pointed.

Of course the Japanese had some very unique ideas of what made for a tasty hotdog.

RE: Thursday Night - New Years Festival

[rebelseekspizza]

"Right."

Dante pushed his carton back at Ringo. "Cool, let's go check that out."

And then he was moving.

Culturally sensitive, he was not.

RE: Thursday Night - New Years Festival

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Okay!" Ringo grinned, skipping over in that direction.

Once they arrived at the stand, Ringo looked at the little board listing the menu. "Oh, wow, they've got a ton of options." She looked up at Dante. "What do you want?"

RE: Thursday Night - New Years Festival

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante stared at it for a moment. "Holy shit," he said, "It gets weirder."

A second later, he cracked up. "Love meat? Oh, I fucking need to get me some of that."

Of course you did.

Re: Thursday Night - New Years Festival

[spin_kick_snap]

"Have some beondegi instead!" Kathy said, holding out the container that she'd snagged from a street vendor. "Well, they call it tsukudani here, but the general concept is the same. I got some without the sauce so I could eat 'em by hand."

RE: Re: Thursday Night - New Years Festival

[rebelseekspizza]

"...What's beo-whatsit?"

Details, Kathy! Details!

Re: Thursday Night - New Years Festival

[spin_kick_snap]

"It's a Korean snack," Kathy said, deliberately misinterpreting his question. "Look, they're really good!" She tossed a handful into her mouth then held the container out to him. Look, her mouth was full, she couldn't answer!

RE: Re: Thursday Night - New Years Festival

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante eyed her suspiciously. He took the container and glanced inside, and... "Bugs? You're eating bugs?"

Even he had limits, Kathy.

Re: Thursday Night - New Years Festival

[spin_kick_snap]

Pointing out that they were larvae prooobably wouldn't help her case.

"Silkworms," she admitted, looking not at all apologetic. "They're really good! Taste kinda nutty." She gave him an encouraging smile. "C'mon, Dante! When have I ever led you wrong?"

RE: Re: Thursday Night - New Years Festival

[rebelseekspizza]

He shoved the container back at her immediately. "Don't get me started," Dante added. "You enjoy your worm food."

Re: Thursday Night - New Years Festival

[spin_kick_snap]

"You just say that because you can't think of any," Kathy declared, happily reclaiming her snack. She knew how good they were. "Your loss!"

RE: Re: Thursday Night - New Years Festival

[rebelseekspizza]

"No, I'm sayin' that because I was trying not to bring up the time you dragged us into a burning building," Dante said, rolling his eyes. "Don't they have real food around here?"

Re: Thursday Night - New Years Festival

[spin_kick_snap]

"Such an American," Kathy sniffed. "Refusing to acknowledge anything you don't recognize as real food." She glanced around at the tents that were available. "What are we considering real food. Does sushi count?" She pointed at one tent. "Or how about--ooh! Tempura!" Laughing, she tried to tug him over towards the tempura tent. "C'mon, white boy. I won't even make you try to eat with chopsticks."

RE: Re: Thursday Night - New Years Festival

[rebelseekspizza]

"Sushi's fish, right?" Dante asked. "Never been big on fish."

But at least he wasn't poised to have a weird relationship with it, like edible bugs!

Re: Thursday Night - New Years Festival

[spin_kick_snap]

Edible! That was the important point!

"So what do you like?" Kathy asked. "Besides pizza and enough sugar to give an elephant diabetes. We're in a whole other country! Trying new things is the point!"

But she was going to be nice and get him a bottle of beer from another stand. Kirin Ichiban seemed popular enough.

And one for herself, of course!