Strolling Cancelled (Fredrick)

[Frederick Cooper]

Fred nodded once the girl agreed to try out the extra healing. Honestly, if it were him, he would've done it on the spot. Of course, if he was in that shape, he was some what screwed, given the lack of healing skills he had. Well, whatever. Tough girls were fine too. And then he finally got a bit of an explanation. Things made a little more sense. See, no matter how good a Japanese born and raised in Japan was with English, they rarely if ever managed to actually pronounce his name correctly. Usually added some vowels here or there. God forbid he had the dreaded “L” in his name. He just nodded again at her second bit, offering a slight smile. Damn straight. Potential regular snagged.

”Gotta say,” He opened in English, ”I wondered what the deal was when you pronounced my name right the first time. From the US, though, that makes sense. Filled those blocks right on in. Plus, if you don't mind my saying, you're not stuffy on the manners that seem to be a rule of thumb for everybody born over here. Not that it's bad to be polite, I mean, but, for someone that started off in the easy-going state of Texas, it's not gonna feel 'normal', even after fourteen years. Sure, it's easy enough to adapt to it, but damn it feels lonely compared to the atmosphere back there. So I'll say it straight- good to meet someone from the other side of the world. You're not the first I've met, but damn it's nice to meet others.” He paused before nodding slightly.

”So I'll say it again. Good to meet you, Rina.” The portal was in sight. His mood had also improved further. Despite his adventure being a waste of time, the follow-up had been perfectly fine. Though he hadn't noticed it, that was also the first time he had actually straight-up said her name- well, nickname. Oh well. He felt less awkward using names if they were with equally easy-going people. He always felt like he was stepping on the sensitive nature of others whenever he just straight-up dropped their honorifics. Sometimes the situation called for it, though.

”In any case, we're here.” He commented, back in Japanese, before stretching his arms out. ”Go ahead and step on through first, just in case something's hiding and waiting. I'll hop on through afterward.” If it were anybody else he'd met, or if Rina was in perfectly fine condition, he wouldn't have really cared. That “hero” comment still hovered in his mind. Shit, that was embarrassing.

[Marina Mikami]

Even though it shouldn't have, it still surprised Marina a bit to suddenly hear English words. It felt like it had been awhile since she had talked to someone in English. She wasn't surprised to hear him say he had been confused at her pronouncing his full name correctly. After all it wasn't incredibly obvious at first that she was American. She was part Japanese to begin with. However, it was her mannerisms that gave her away more often than her looks.

She couldn't help but laugh at his notion of being not as stuffy about politeness."I like being polite as well as the next person, but people here just take it way too far," she responded back in English. "It is very hard to get used to. I am part Japanese so I did have some experience with it. But I don't like honorifics and I usually still end up saying my name before my surname. That always gets funny looks from locals. It's nice to meet a fellow American, it's been too long." She did take note that he had met other Americans here. That was a little odd, it didn't strike her as happening too often. At least it didn't really happen to her.

Soon the portal was in sight and she couldn't have been happier. Her legs practically ached with joy. It was a bit of work, but she had managed to get here despite the pain. Though she knew her legs were most likely going to hurt tomorrow. Riki switched back to Japanese and told her to step through first. She nodded. "Thank you again. I couldn't have made it this far without you," she told him. She turned to face the portal and took a deep breath. Halfway there now. Just needed to get to a station and then to her dorm. She exhaled and walked through the portal, back to the normal park.

[Frederick Cooper]

All in all, Frederick couldn't say that he disliked the way things had played out. Outside of, well, obvious issues, like the girl's pseudo-injured state. He met someone, another American at that, got a decent fight in, and potentially snagged another regular customer- and one that was polite, at that. All in all, he'd have to say that the good outweighed the bad. Speaking in English was still a rare treat for the man. Sure, online was there, but that didn't count. Despite his being an otaku, he was still the sort that enjoy speaking with actual fleshy people, and not his mic. Well, being thrust into RPG Happy Hour probably made it more so, but still.

"Don't worry about it." He dismissed her gratitude. Maybe she was right, maybe she was wrong. Either way, she was fine, and that was all that mattered for the time being. "Just gimme a call when you think you wanna try heading out again. So long as I'm not busy, I shouldn't mind." He assured her with a wave before watching her head on back to reality. With that, Rina was reasonably safe. He nodded in acknowledgment of that. Then he had a small revelation. If he magically appeared near her, and she was still doing her limping deal, wouldn't it look like he was responsible for that shit? He had had every intention of immediately following, but, well. Probably better that way. Would've been suspicious if two people magically appeared, anyway. Especially in a park.

"Well. This is fine, too." He lightly commented to himself. Sure enough, he could wait. Two to three minutes would be fine. While pacing and mumbling to himself, the guy sighed and looked around. Nothing of note. No enemies, no distractions, no nothing. Maybe half a minute had passed. He could wait. Yes, he could. But he wouldn't. Leaping on through the portal, Fred decided patience was for plebians.