Sarah Lockheart - A brave new world?

[Anastasia]

(Note - Since this takes place in the world of SM Redux, it's officially out of canon. Well, mostly. This is just to fuck around with various things therein.)

---

Tokyo, the foreign capital of the nation of Japan. A faraway fairyland of different customs and bright lights, or so one might imagine. Did one exchange student from the United States of America see it as such?

If Sarah Lockheart did, it's perhaps a small dissapointment. While there are lights and oddites about in spades, it's also still reality. School is still held in session, the foods aren't that crazy once you get used to them, and friends are still made and lost. Heck, she even has a sort of brother that annoys her now!

(Albiet by hitting on her...)

So, even in Tokyo, life goes on.

---


A small house in Tokyo. There are numerous examples of these, but the one that concerns us is a small one story house in Juuban Ward. It's not so big by American standards, a small front 'living' room, a kitchen without al ot of size, then small rooms in the back. Four in total, which is a blessing. This means Sarah gets her own room in this house - the house where she lives as an exchange student.

It is in this room, decorated with bubbly images of 'anime' characters(Cartoons, an American mind may insist), idol singers and other things thought pleasing by your host family, that Sarah sits. Namely at her small desk as homework is assaulted and battered into submission, as her futon isn't quite comfortable enough to do homework on.

Lost in thought as she works with these strange, squiggly and annoying kanji characters for homework, it's perhaps not a surprise that Sarah doesn't note her door - a real door, a small mercy, but no lock - open softly. This doesn't stay for long, though...

"Sarah-chan!" The son of the family you live with pokes his head in, black Japanese hair falling, short but with long enough bangs to cover his eyes. His head is in sideways, a comfortable smile on his face. A social type, moreso around Sarah. If it wasn't for one thing, you may just think he's really trying to be 'American' and be welcoming.

[Carthrat]

Sarah stifles a groan; when Ranma poked his head in through the door, it could only mean one of three things, and none of them good.

The first was that he was here to ask her out again. This usually sent her into a stuttering fit, as she tried to remember the correct words (which almost constantly escaped her), and usually involved some kind of thrown object. This would inevitably lead to a lecture with Ranma's father, who, whilst he appreciated that his son could be a handful, would nonetheless have a few things to say about such actions in his house.

The second was that he was here to get help in his schoolwork. Sarah usually gave it to him- to a point; after all, he was the only person she really knew and, to a point, trusted at school, so she did sort of have to rely on him to show her around, translate when her mind failed, and the like. Usually, he'd work in some flirting somewhere within the help- especially during English class.

The third was that he wanted to play some chess. Sarah always thought she was rather good at chess, but Ranma had trumped her in every game thus far. Quite aside from being the last person she'd expect to be any good at the game, he had an annoying habit of deciding bets halfway through the game (If I win, you buy me a milkshake!), and was by no means a gracious winner. Well, perhaps that was her fault- the first time they played, she wasn't exactly complimentary before the game.

"Ranma-kun!" says Sarah, anyhow, wondering which it is this time, and pushing some hair out of her kind-of-tired eyes. "What is it? Sorry, but I'm kind of busy..."

[Anastasia]

"Oh, oh," he nods understandingly, niceness and diplomacy coming. Uh oh...that probably narrows the field already, his brown eyes interested. "Mom and Dad want me to go to the corner store for," A word you can't quite understand yet, a unique one. A food name, maybe? "and noodles. Wanna come," Ranma smiles winsomely, in that way when he wants something and isn't being a pest or a loudmouth.

It is a nice day in very late May, the heat having taken a vacation today. Earlier in the month the weather was miserable, summer making an early entry into your life.

[Carthrat]

Sarah pondered for a moment. There *was* some stuff she needed from the store; energy drinks, for one thing, and she really needed some more gum (a bad habit of hers was to chew gum, especially where she shouldn't,).

And her dratted pen had run out of ink. On the other hand, she'd have to go.. with Ranma.

Well, just this once couldn't hurt.

"Um... yes, yes I do," she says, haltingly. "Let me get my things.. I'll come in soon. I mean, I'll come out soon. Is that right?"

[Anastasia]

A winning smile there, Ranma nodding. "Yeah, that's it," he answers, talking so much faster than you. Easily talking, no hesitation with the Japanese words at all. Giving you a large wink - a bad habit he got watching an old movie from America, one your adopted family rented to try and help you settle in - "It's a date!"

With that the door is slid shut, Ranma's protruding head vanishing. For Sarah, his last words were easy to understand. He's used them a few other times, after all.

[Carthrat]

"Right," mutters Sarah, switching back to her own tounge. Nice guy, sure, but.. ugh. Maybe he'd be more attractive if she wasn't *living* with him, or something.

Closing her notebook for now, Sarah grabs her favourite jacket- the one she's had for years, now- and takes a quick look at herself.

Sneakers- check.
Jeans- check.
Long-sleeved shirt and denim jacket- check.

Grabbing a baseball cap from her futon, Sarah quickly shoves her long hair through it, grabs her wallet, and sets off, outside her room!

"I'm going, now!" she announces to the rest of the family. That was one thing she could say smoothly, mainly because she used it every day, without fail.

[Anastasia]

Out to the family room you go. A large room, with couches, a few chairs, a very large TV(48 inches! Woooooow.), a VCR, and a few other odds and ends. IT also serves as where the family often eats, a circular table there as well for sitting on the floor and eating off of it. Your host father isn't here, but your host mother is.

You don't see her - she's in the kitchen, but you hear her reply. "Have a good trip out!" Another familiar phrase, this one a daily reply whenever she's around. Outside you go, to a tiny porch that leads right to the road. No lawn, onto the sidewalk almost immediately. Ranma waits there, leaning against a lightpost and giving you a cocky, relaxed grin.

[Carthrat]

Adjusting her cap slightly, Sarah nods, smiling brightly- nice day out, to be sure. "Let's go!" she says, cheerily, (in English), and starts walking towards the store.

Or, at least, where she *thinks* the store is. On the way to school, right?

[Anastasia]

Ranma takes the lead easily, going in the direction you started in. Good...you think. To the streets with people, the only greenery an occasional tree in a circle inside of the sidewalk. High fences border off many areas, the sun shining down. Amid a sea of people, many of the familiar 'Sailor uniforms' seen, Ranma leads the way. The shop in question is only a block or two away, a short walk. Ranma also stays rather close, "So do you wanna play chess when we get back," he offers easily, slowing to line up perfectly with you.

[Carthrat]

"Not really. There's a test tomorrow which I need to do well on," replies Sarah, honestly. "I'd like to play tomorrow very mu- I mean, maybe tomorrow? Unless you're doing something after school." Worth hoping, perhaps. Sarah wasn't sure if Ranma would cancel his.. what *did* he do after school, anyway? Whatever it was, Sarah figured there was a 50/50 chance of having to play chess.

Not that she minded, that much. Sarah looked down a bit, her cap obscuring her eyes.

[Anastasia]

Walking along, the corner store not far - "Ayoba's Rosa" the name, a bad mash of Europeanish and Japanese for the title. As you approach it, it's just a little nook of a corner store, shoved between a currently for rent apartment/restaurant and a barbershop.

"Aaaw, I can't," Ranma makes a face. "Damn." That word is in English, anoter caveat to you. Choosing an English swear word to impress was an oddity, but whatever. Shoving his hands into the pocket of his school uniform that he still wears, "Make the most of the time we have," he smiles, inching a little closer as the store in question is just ahead.

[Carthrat]

Sarah shook her head, slightly. No matter how you wore it, a school uniform was just *not cool*.

"It's not like an experience I'll have once," replies Sarah, shrugging, and picking up her pace a little, heading inside the store.

[Anastasia]

Your almost sort of brother blinks at your odd Japanese as you enter. He seems to mentally try to put it in a more coherent order, and as he does so? Tight, narrow and tall shelves are lined up all over, goods stacked on top of goods, with advertisements about.  A chaotic quality is to this place, moreso since the color motif tries to favor rose pink. A few people weave between the aisles, going past everything from instant curry to a month out of date 'manga' to all sorts of odd presonal products.

Ranma isn't fazed by this, however, easily taking the lead. "I'll get the milk," he nods, close to you again a moment. Waaay too close, personal space not really being respected as per you'd like. He's not touching, though, something he doesn't really go as far as to do. "Go get the-" That word again, still not quite caught by poor Sarah.

[Carthrat]

Not to worry. Sarah *thinks* she heard the word right, even if she's not sure what it means, and heads up to the clerk. "Hello. Can you please tell me where the.. um..."

Did she get the pronounciation right? It was always the worst when you missed some 'i' or didn't extend a consonant. Even when she knew exactly what she wanted to say, she still had accent issues...

[Anastasia]

An older man is at the counter, grey-white hair and a polite, perhaps daft smile usually on his face. 'Yes, yes. You mean," he gently corrects you, having before shown a good ear for the languague. Oooooh, a specific brand of rice. Nice enough guy, really, it seems.