QM's Note: The "Girly, Frilly and Flower-Studded" dress gives you +1 to Kindness.
'Just jeans' would've given you +1 to Proficiency, 'Rebellious' +1 to Guts, 'Elegant' +1 to Charm and 'Old-timey' +1 to Knowledge. In retrospect, maybe +1 to Kindness should've been something local-made or thrift store-y, bu eh.
The hairdresser was a black lady slightly older than me who introduced herself as Tamara, her own hair right now in highlighted dreads, though I could see from some photos she showed me that they were but one of many hairstyles she'd taken. When I mumbled that I was new in the area, she in turn said "Really? Well hey, welcome to the West Coast, hope LA doesn't let you down like it does so many others, ah, should
not have brought that up.
Anyway, cool you found our place on only your first day here- oh I see, a punk-girl showed you here. Always good to know a girl who knows a girl, Lord knows you won't get anywhere without connections in this world of ours.
Huh, San Leonardo's? Hmm, not heard good things about that place, though of course I'm betting it'd be pretty tame compared to an inner-city school. Oh hey, they got that athlete though, last I heard his name was, er, Rory right? Oh, my apologies" she said when I corrected her on Ruth.
The employees over at The Satin Subterranean were nowhere near as talkative, they were mostly a bunch of mopey, bang-covered part-timers who only ever gave a nod and sigh in response to me. The apparent store owner though was... certainly something. He was fully Japanese, had spiky bangs dyed red beneath a purple headband, and wore bright pink trench-coat held together with one too many belts.
I came out of the changing room slightly shaking, as opposed to Amelia who strode out with flair, wearing... opera gloves, thigh boots and a one-piece dress. Knowing her previous image I couldn't help but giggle at this "I, um, didn't figure you for that classy".
Her eyebrows briefly twitched at me as she said "Hey, what're you implying?!", but a couple of seconds later she was laughing that remark off too "Yeah, it's weird, but I still like pretty stuff, like I feel I ain't too old to still be playing dress-up, ya know".
I then feel silent, as I remembered another certain sort of people who weren't 'too old to be playing dress-up', in masks, coats, suits and shrouds. But I suspended those thoughts, smiled back at Amelia and went to pay for my new clothes.
"'Sides, least this get-up's grown-up and all,
you look like you could be auditioning for Strawberry Shortcake," Amelia grinned and chuckled "Oh, guess ya gotta be gettin' to your grandparents soon, so it looks like I'll have to put the rest of the tour on hyperdrive".
The rest of the alley had everything from little art galleries, underground record stores that one would question the necessity of in the Internet age, more cafes than a single street possibly needed, tiny local-run markets super and flea, and as I was embarrassed to notice, some New Age medicine stall.
"Well, that's pretty much the place, I mean Downtown's prolly got a hell of a lot more to offer, but eh I still like it here, ain't anywhere near as crowded.
Oh right, guess I'll see ya tomorrow morning! Let's hope Felicia doesn't try to burn the school down on the next day" Amelia gave a bright farewell.
"Yeah, same" I said simply I return, as Amelia promptly skated off. I then realised I didn't know the directions from this off-road alley back to my grandparents' place, until I remembered what century this was and brought up the street finder App on my phone. Still was quite a walk back to Burbank, but I reckoned I could make it in time.
-|-|- Goal: Readjust to normal society -|-|-
My grandparents' home was an old Spanish Colonial house, whose front wing had been converted into a little memorabilia store, since their days as animators were decades ago.
I walked around and rung the bell on the side-door, only for a loud shouting and scrambling to come my way as my own Granddad then came out and brandished his walking stick at me!
"Stay back ya hooligan, I'm warnin' ya, I was top of my class in self-defence, and I ain't takin' anything from the likes a-" he barked in my face, my Grandma fortunately was swift to step in "Urgh, lemme at 'em Hotaru!".
"Calm down, Junichi, why it's only your dear Sarah, my you must've given her an awful fright" my Grandma as she pulled Granddad out of the way. "Ahem, so sorry you had to see him like that, dear granddaughter, these past years have, um, not been kind to him. I thought your face would help soothe his troubled mind, but oh well, such is life".
So what I'd heard my parents whispering about was really true, Granddad was going senile? The same man who'd given me presents and showed me old cartoons when I was still in elementary school?
"But come in, come in! I haven't seen you in years Sarah, and my how you've grown, into such a charming and delicate young thing too. Hah, and I here I was fretting away, night after night, that you'd gotten caught up in crime or something just as dreadful" my Grandma brightened up, with me giving an uneasy grin at her words.
As the sun has gone down by now, not that LA cared much about that, we soon tucked in to a rather large meal of ramen, meat, vegetables and desserts, I guess Grandma was going all out for my arrival.
I was too stuffed to give much conversation, though I did get to ask my grandparents how business was coming along. "Well it's..." Grandma only sighed, she mumbled a bit before saying "Oh, never you mind that, my dear. Just you focus on enjoying your youth, let us old folks sort out the serious stuff".
With dinner finished, I-
[ ] -Headed straight to bed, I was too exhausted to do anything else.
[ ] -Started unpacking, I'd better get it done sooner than later.
[ ] -Went online to research local crime, since I'd heard almost everyone mentioning it.
[ ] -Went online just to see what was happening in LA.
[ ] -Decided to play on a handheld I'd brought along.
[ ] Write-in.
QM's Note: Went out for a while, hence why this update was a bit delayed.
Will try to have the next update be a bit more of an 'Event'.
