<@Grysar> [Date: April 9, 2004.] <@Grysar> [Our international travelers and Satoshi gather at Boston North station before meeting the larger gang. The layout has a few different entrances, but Satoshi picked out one closest to Akemi and Kaede's hotel for simplicity.] <@Grysar> [The weather is slightly cloud and with a cool breeze off the harbor. There's a chance of scattered rainburst, but otherwise shouldn't be too bad for tourism.] <@Grysar> [Start!] <@Grysar> [Addendum: Kaede and Akemi bags are back at the hotel, so you don't have to worry about that.] <@Grysar> [<> Refers to Japanese. Other languages will be specified, e.g. for French.] * @Satoshi is waiting near the station entrance. He has on a bright blue button down shirt, dark blue jeans, black boots, and a black lightweight jacket. His hair is pulled back and he is excitedly scanning the people for Kaede and Akemi's arrival. * Kaede comes out from under the steps from the train platforms, looking fairly haggered, Akemi in arm. Is it cold here in Boston? Cause he's got on his coat like it is. Jeans, glasses. Still *fairly* casual. He also seems to be trying to separate himself from the crowd. <@Ardweden> [Akemi is babbling excitedly to Kaede, maybe a little less bounce in her step due to jetlag, but even less-bouncy Akemi is still HELLA BOUNCY. She's pretty easy to spot, even though she's short, given she's probably the hottest girl in the station, and Satoshi's probably struck by the fact that he hasn't seen her in... well, pretty much a year, since they haven't met up at all over winter break.] * Kaede doesn't look at Akemi, speaking solidly in Japanese. "" * @Satoshi spots them and waves, starting to head in their direction. <@Grysar> [Akemi will be getting some attentive looks from passersby throughout most of the trip. However, they seem primarily to be checking her out or impressed. Encounters with outright fans are still pretty uncommon in Japan and it doesn't seem like there's much risk of that yet in the States.] <@Ardweden> ["" Akemi agrees, "" Her hair's long and bleached with gold-ish highlights, and she's wearing a thick, woolen knee-length pink coat and black leggings underneath. It's open to reveal a short, checkered black and white dress that's cinched at the waist, and she has BRIGHT PINK boots. She is peering around for a Satoshi.] * Kaede has his arm around Akemi's waist at any rate. Less "this is my girl" kind of pose and more "not wanting her to get lost like an overly excited puppy" posture. He looks up and notices Satoshi. He *might* smile, but really he looks a little too worn to provide the full effort. <@Ardweden> [Akemi notices Kaede noticing lights right the hell up, yelling "SATOSHI!" complete with excited waving!] * Kaede flinches at the yell. As if someone is half hung-over. Geez Akemi. <@Ardweden> [Akemi doesn't notice! She is still busy waving and calling, "Herro!" in her terrible approximation of English.] * @Satoshi grins at Akemi as she calls out to him and picks up his pace, so he reaches where they're waiting. Kaede saw him about three months ago, so he the major difference is that his hair's longer (do they not have barber shops in America?) and he's maybe a little taller? Maybe? Akemi, on the other hand, has not seen him in the better part of the year, and so to her he definitely looks different. Taller, broader shoulders, definitely longer hair, and... maybe cuter? We'll let her decide that. "Hey!" he says, cheerfully, because *he's* not dealing with a thirteen-hour flight/time zone change. <@Satoshi> <@Ardweden> [Akemi squeals, and she bows before giving him a hug. "" she declares. ""] * @Satoshi hugs and blushes and laughs all at the same time. "" <@Ardweden> ["" Akemi declares at Satoshi's blush. To Kaede: ""] * Kaede doesn't know whether Satoshi is cuter or *not* At least...he starts and turns to her. "" <@Grysar> [Satoshi, she's doing that Akemi thing she does with full force. She's likely to gain a string on you just by sheer force of personality if you remain reduced to a blushing stammer. What do you do?] * @Satoshi blushes *harder*, but manages to offer Kaede a teasing grin. "" * Kaede sighs and rubs his fingers through his hair, still very haggered. "" Then he kind of realizes what he's said and looks a bit self-conscious. "" * Kaede *does* finally manage a smile at this point and gets closer to slap Satoshi on the back. "" He frowns and looks around, adding as his hands go in his coat. "<...this place is strange.>" <@Ardweden> [Akemi leans up from the other side. "" And before Satoshi knows it, she's somehow managed to kiss him on the cheek.] * @Satoshi relaxes a little at the back-slapping, actually, and starts to answer Kaede, "" before he is cheek kissed by Akemi. Stop. Blush. Don't roll. "" * Kaede sighs and rubs the back of his neck. "" He turns to Akemi now. "" Before he explodes in a pile of overheating. <@Ardweden> ["" Akemi says, pout in her voice as she hangs on to Satoshi's arm.] <@Ardweden> [Around the trio, absolutely nobody seems to care about the PDA (well, any more than they'd care about people babbling in Japanese, which... actually not much). Akemi's still drawing looks, but no more than they would otherwise.] * @Satoshi blushes slightly less. *Slightly*. "" She is still hanging onto his arm. Is this weird? Maybe kind of? Kaede is *right there*, after all, but she's always been very affectionate... * @Satoshi casts a "help?" glance in Kaede's direction. * Kaede doesn't seem to care. He's used to this. You're on your own here. He did his cursory attempt. Stepping forward, "" * @Satoshi shakes his head. "" <@Ardweden> [""] * @Satoshi looks at Akemi. "" <@Ardweden> [Akemi looks up at Satoshi. Her eyes are big. And beautiful. And disturbingly puppy-like, actually. Is *this* what Kaede has to deal with all the time?] <@Ardweden> [But she lets go.] * Kaede pushes up his glasses, closing his eyes, calm as can be. "" <@Ardweden> [At that, she grabs Satoshi's arm back! YES.] * @Satoshi looks at Kaede. "" And he awkwardly reaches one arm across his body to pull two tickets out of his opposite pants pocket, which he then holds out to Kaede. "" He looks *so* proud and happy. * Kaede blinks and looks at the tickets, kind of unsure of the weight and the implications of these. "" * @Satoshi looks a little confused. "" * Kaede nods, a little unsure. "" He glances to Akemi now. He's no good at this, save him. * @Satoshi nods encouragingly. "" * Kaede is still looking at Akemi, waiting for her to respond before he does. This is a good thing, right? This is an important thing? <@Ardweden> [""] * @Satoshi grins. "" Babbling. You are babbling now, Satoshi. "" He's still holding the tickets out. * Kaede smirks and shakes his head at the telltale bounce, pushing back on the glasses. "" He takes the tickets now and *now* looks like he's lightened up a little. Stepping closer to Akemi, but not taking her arm away. * @Satoshi lets out a quiet sigh. "" <@Grysar> [Satoshi did get a look at his watch when he was pulling out those tickets. Now that the handoff has happened, it may be time to meet up with the group. Kaede and Akemi were a little late even though he gave them a buffer, thanks to the confusion that is Boston. There's probably time to cover another topic as they walk though. Satoshi is familiar with the area now so he can pay attention to <@Grysar> his friends and not the navigation. What do you talk about?] * Kaede shakes his head, then steps forward and not cracking an expression. "" He does go for Akemi's hand now. "" <@Ardweden> [Akemi grins and takes Kaede's hand with one of her own! Her other hand slides to take Satoshi's hand, at the end of the arm she'd claimed. "" she declares.] * @Satoshi seems okay with this. So he leads them off to the group meeting spot, giving them a brief rundown of places they might want to go. And yes, there's tea party stuff for Akemi. He's trying not to be super overwhelming with choices because jet lag although Akemi certainly seems to be... well, Akemi. <@Grysar> [And it appears the others are in the process of gathering. Joshua, Liam, and Grant stand together, chatting. Meanwhile Paul and Ji-Yun are approaching from the direction of a nearby parking garage, but are still about a block off.] <@Ardweden> [Akemi cheerfully chats about whatever! Now that Satoshi's spending more time with her, he can see that she actually is pretty tired; she has a manic edge to her and while she's *talking* she's not doing a great job of following more difficult conversation threads. She also is expressing a desire for coffee or tea or something. Is American coffee and tea different?] * @Satoshi explains that coffee and tea are pretty universal, actually, and adds that they can hit a coffee shop pretty soon. <@Grysar> * Grant is wearing a team jersey and has a fetching playoff beard to go with his trim tightly curly hair. The African American student is carrying a durable looking satachal bag with a book, some papers, and snacks in it, based on a quick glance at its unzipped top. <@Grysar> * Liam remains shaved, his pale blond hair didn't make for much more than stubble and he was too vain about his well appointed hair to accept that. He's wearing a well tailored pair of pants and a burgundy long sleeve button up shirt. There's no jacket, which means you can see the stiched maple leaf on the Canadian's back. * Kaede probably needs to hit a coffee shop soon or at *least* tea. Some type of caffeinated beverage would be important. Are there vending machines for them in America? <@Satoshi> [America does not appear to have outdoor vending machines. Man. What is with this place?] <@Grysar> [They're gathered at a coffee shop on the way to the harbor. It's in an older building with a wooden facade and counter and smells strongly of roasting beans. The other players already have their own drinks.] * @Satoshi is also clean-shaven. He tried, briefly, but his attempts at playoff facial hair were ... let's say they are *never* to be spoken of again and leave it at that. <@Ardweden> [Joshua's looking at a map and is scruffier than ever. His usual thick stubble has turned into a BEARD for the playoffs, which is tamed as best as he could but seriously. You can't expect to contain the scruff. He's got a flannel shirt over a t-shirt, jeans, sneakers, and... yeah, scruff. Plenty of hair, all over him. Other than that: pretty big guy, pale, light brown hair, and hazel eyes.] <@Ardweden> [Akemi doesn't know who they're looking for! So she says to Satoshi, ""] <@Grysar> I suppose if there's time we could also see the Boston Massacre site. Massacre? Really, Grant, you know as well as... * Grant grins. "Later Liam, they're here." [Satoshi is totally their America Expert here.] * Kaede responds with "" He pulls out his phone, just as a matter of course. To make sure it still works. * @Satoshi spots his teammates and waves to them, leading Kaede and Akemi towards them before answering her, "" <@Ardweden> [Joshua looks up at Grant's announcement (he'd been tuning Liam out) and smiles, waving. "Hey, Sato! These your friends?" He looks Kaede and Akemi over, not lingering especially long on each of them.] <@Grysar> [Kaede's phone is able to find a network and negotiate some sort of connection.] <@Ardweden> ["" Akemi says.] * @Satoshi switches to English. "Yeah! Hang on, I'll introduce you all." He sounds pretty much like a native speaker of English when he switches. * @Satoshi looks at Akemi and Kaede. "" * Kaede blinks and then looks at all of the teammates in turn. Are they tall? Americans are all so tall. <@Grysar> * Liam looks up as well, dropping the triffle of an argument with no difficulty. He listens to the Japanese carefully, as his general wont with foreign languages, but doesn't seem to actually picking much up. <@Ardweden> ["" Akemi says, looking up at them with wide eyes. Seems she was thinking that, too.] <@Ardweden> [She also keeps holding Kaede's hand, now that Satoshi's dropped her other one.] * @Satoshi begins, "" motioning to each one in turn. "And these are my friends from Japan, Kaede and Akemi." He smiles. "And, uh, I'm going to have to run translation services for all of you, so please be patient with me." * Kaede rubs his nose a bit as he realizes the translation services needed and available. "" To Akemi. "" <@Ardweden> [Akemi winks at Kaede and then gets into the action, bowing! "Herro!" she says in her badly accented English. "Preasedu to meet-you!" That long, Kaede!] <@Grysar> * Grant bows to each in turn. . It's obviously a practiced phrase, but for that his accent wasn't bad. "And I fear that is the extent of my spoken Japanese, but pleased to meet you, too!" <@Grysar> * Liam smiles and bows "Hello and," * @Satoshi conveys the English part of what Grant said to Kaede and Akemi. * Kaede turns from Grant to look at Satoshi. That was awfully familiar for people you just met. <@Ardweden> [Akemi beams! ""] <@Ardweden> [Joshua does his best to bow, which is probably good enough, and he's smiling. "I don't know any Japanese. But it's cool you guys could come over. Sato's missed you."] * @Satoshi sends Kaede a mental message. ~Yeah, I know, but his intentions are good and he's trying, honest. Man, it would be so much easier if I could just translate to you guys like this, but then the others would wonder why I'm not saying anything out loud.~ * Kaede sighs and tries to keep track of all of the phrases at the table. And then he blinks with a start before taking off his glasses, focusing. ~I'm sorry. It's been a while since I've remembered you could do that...~ * @Satoshi translates what Joshua said, then looks at the North American contingent. "They had a long flight over and are pretty jet-lagged, so we're going to grab some coffee." * @Satoshi sends back to Kaede, ~Hey, it's been a while since I've had anyone I *could* do it with.~ <@Grysar> * Liam nods and then bows to Kaede and delivers a practiced , sounding oddly like a restaurant worker as he does so. "Sounds good. We'll grab a table." <@Ardweden> [Akemi recognizes one of those words, and she cries, "Coffee!"] * Kaede responds with a soft "Need to get better at English..." Hey, he's practiced *some* apparently. But he does agree with Akemi. "Do need coffee." <@Grysar> [And not long after, they're at the table. Paul and Ji-yun have also arrived and exchange greetings. Paul uses accented and slightly slow Japanese, but does refer to both of them by surname. Ji-yun sticks with hello and a bow. They both seem a little just wowed by Akemi in a way our champion hockey players weren't.] <@Ardweden> [Akemi doesn't seem to notice, though she's delighted to meet an American who's good at Japanese and is now talking to him and Satoshi rapidly (maybe too rapidly) about the flight over.] <@Grysar> * Paul is not as athletically built as Satoshi's other friends, and is wearing a windbreaker over a shirt that says University of Maine Anime club in both English and katakana written around a mecha shaped like a black bear standing upright. * @Satoshi introduces Paul and Ji-Yun when they get back to the table, and explains that Paul is his roommate and Ji-Yun is another one of their friends and a fellow skater. * Kaede gives a small smile as he looks at Akemi talking and doing what she does best, drawing in the crowd but really looks too tired himself to interject so much. He *is* looking at the mecha with curiosity though. <@Grysar> * Ji-Yun is still a bit frazzled from the drive in. She's wearing a short dress over cute blue stockings that match her fuzzy blue sweater. * @Satoshi does what he can to facilitate cross-language conversation, but it's a bit overwhelming and he's politely apologetic on both sides. <@Grysar> * Grant has saved a seat for her next to him. She isn't in quite as good shape as Satoshi and his fanatic teammates, but she does move with a certain grace and awareness and has been getting better on the ice over the past month or so. * @Satoshi is sitting next to Kaede, and he says quietly to him, "" <@Grysar> * Liam has been a bit quite since Paul and Ji-Yun arrived, contemplating his coffee and idly catching rare snippets of Japanese. <@Ardweden> [Joshua stretches in his seat, yawning a bit. Joshua, you aren't one of the people with jet lag!] <@Grysar> [Ji-Yun is also notably tall. Must be an American thing.] * Kaede responds with a faint sound of appeciation. "" <@Ardweden> ["" Akemi asks the otaku in question, pointing out his shirt.] * @Satoshi smiles at Kaede. "" <@Grysar> * Paul nods eagerly. "" * Kaede then blinks as he turns to Paul. The man with *surprisingly* good Japanese. "" He glances at Satoshi now. Did you know about this? <@Grysar> * Paul smiles and looks over at Satoshi. "" * @Satoshi nods. "" * Kaede nods in response to that, then turns to Satoshi again with a sympathetic bent. "" He...actually sounds pretty serious about it. <@Grysar> * Ji-Yun looks over to Liam. "Elise sends her regrets. She wasn't able to get out of class for today. I offered to drive back and bring her tomorrow." Ji-Yun frowns, "But she said I needn't put myself out." Grant glances over at the conversation, frowning slightly as well, but doesn't further comment. <@Ardweden> [Joshua also glances over at the bit of English, with a frown that practically matches Grant's.] * Kaede catches the tone of the conversation and turns towards it with interest. May not have caught *all* of it but frowns are noticeable. Glasses adjust as he sits up more. <@Grysar> * Paul looks to Akemi, " Let's Canoodles