A Tourist At Home (Brittie / Tomomi)

"Yeah. ... Yeah! ... YES! I know, right? I so totally know! Daisy is letting the role as a captain get over her head! I mean, I like her but sometimes she's so ruthless, not mindful of others..."

The conversation would go on and on, with Brittany often laughing as she kept the cellphone close to her ear while holding two plastic bags on her elbow (and three more on the other free hand). Shopping for supplies was never easy when you don't have help. Or perhaps it was her own fault for letting certain goods end instead of checking beforehand how long they'd last, therefore arranging her time better in accordance to her needs. If only Bernie (her owl pet) could carry some of the bags for her...

After almost being hit over by a car (twice) and knocking her feet on the ground (which would be one hell of a fall) Brittany would stop by the corner of a street, in front of a crosswalk glancing upwards to check on the semaphores. Geez, they just turned red lights for pedestrian. She sighed. "Huh? Oh no, it's nothing with you, it's just I'm waiting for the lights to turn green here. ... Yeah, I'm listening! You can keep talking, sure!"

Brittany rolled her eyes, a bit and unusually impatient. There were some people on the opposite side of the crosswalk; by her side, only one guy nearby who presumably was also waiting for the lights to turn green as well. She glanced to him briefly before putting her cellphone between her lifted shoulder and her inclined head ("Really? Did she really say that to Daisy? Oh my gosh, I wish I was there to see it!"), in a way she could organize her bags better in a more comfortable way. Sadly, as multifunctional as Brit would like to be, she...wasn't. Therefore, one bag found its way to the ground causing a clunky sound of a metal can hitting another solid enough surface for it to crack open.

"ARGH, DAMMIT! ... No, Terrence, that wasn't to you... I think I just lost part of my dinner tonight", she chuckled, clumsily crouching trying to retrieve the bag in hopes the can wasn't torn, the meal wasn't ruined with its content scattered and the other bags wouldn't pursue the same fate. "What, you ask? Just regular stuff. Like... canned pea... Argh, it wasn't cheap, why does this kind of thing happen to me when I'm just, like, trying to be a good housewife..."

Brittany was giggling at how stupid Terrence could be sometimes. Naturally, that comes with the whole package of being a jock; Terrence wasn't part of a sports team per se, he was her team mate in the cheerleading squad, and yet he just takes the natural dumbness and common sense of jocks to the next level.

"Yeah, of course I like peas! Why not? I'll totally have you know they have good nutritive value and--"
If anything, a hand stretched out to her stopped her brief laughing fit at the expenses of a friend in order to take a better look at who was the one offering her money. A guy. The guy she had seen nearby albeit not paying enough attention to his appearance prior to this moment, thanks to (once again) how not-multifunctional she was.

"Hey, I gotta go now. Imma call you later then. ... Yeah, once I get home, take a shower, prepare my dinner, do the laundry, study a bit, clean the mess my baby has made while I was away. You know, regular adult stuff you wouldn't understand!", she laughed at her own humor attempt. "Yeaaaah, right! ... Of course I don't believe you, you're a child in a man's disguise! You have your momma to do that for you! ... Alright, Terry, alright. Look, I really gotta go, bye bye!"

The devilish chuckles ended as soon as she turned her phone off, returning it to its rightful place: the pockets of her preppy blazer. With that, her attention focused on the one who presumably had been waiting for her to end the friendly chit-chatting: the guy. Admiteddly, Brittany hardly remembered a single word he said to her while she was conversing and gossiping out loud, yet it wasn't hard to deduce it was a gesture of kindness she had not anticipated at all. Awkward perhaps, but the cheerleader appreciated it once she understood he meant well.

"Hey, it's fine! It's, you know, just...pea? Besides, it's not that bad??" Taking a glance inside the bag with the damaged can... only to grimace at how tore it was, the peas spilled through the hole formed in the fall. "Erm... Yeah, it's not that bad! Thank you, really, that's so sweet of you!"

With some degree of difficulty, Brit managed to pick up her feet and stand up, retrieving the bag and organizing everything inside. "Okay, it's all good now! Do you live around here? I kinda have never seen you, and I've been here for some years!"

...yeah, she could easily tell this guy was a foreigner, and a lost one. The embarrassment in his voice was too obvious to hide it and Brittany couldn't help but think it was too endearing to pass. After all, he went out of his way to assist her in her display of usual clumsiness.

"Oh com'on now! You just told me you're lost and don't expect me to assist?", she smirked in a matter-of-fact tone. It was simply her nature to be helpful; besides, he deserves a retribution to his kindness. "I kinda have nothing better to do but...you know, house chores! Do you need some direction, or maybe I should make you company to somewhere else? I still have some time, it is totally nooooo trouble at all! Totally!"

As they spoke, the traffic lights were about to turned green for pedestrians (and consequently, red for the vehicles lining up), and with that Brittany smiled invitingly to the stranger. It didn't seem like he would make a decision on his own, or rather a quick one before they were allowed to cross the street. It was up to her to take the wheels, then. "It's almost our cue! Wanna come? We can talk in the way!"

Alright, she didn't know what kind of name was "Tomomi" but judging from the boy's facial traits and mannerisms, it was clearly foreign as well. At least he introduced a nickname that's fairly easier to spell and pronounce. "Tommy".

"Tommy, the weird kid who's lost? I like it!", she giggled at her attempts to be humorous. "Mine's Brittany. But you can call me Brit just like...uh, 90% of the people I know? Some are lazy enough and think Brittany is a tongue-twister, I wonder why. I mean, it's just three syllables, Brit-ta-ny! Or you can call me B, it works too!"

At this point, Brit was rather used to forming bonds with shy, socially inept acquaintances. Granted, her boyfriend also fit the criteria, so the girl had her fair share of handling people who were awkward in personal interactions. Not that she minded; in a way, the fact they were usually the typical stereotype of loneliness, something she could understand well, makes the girl extend her excessive friendliness to them without much thinking.

"It's alright not knowing everything about here. I too don't know much because, well, it's not like I have too much free time to roam around. But there's subway, you can, like, get to everywhere from anywhere anytime, so that helps speeding up things a bit. This is my neighborhood, Vista Square, been living in here for a while! I like it because it's, like, close to everything, and we also have everything here, so...yeah, it's practical! Basically everything you need without having to go far!"

"Oh, festivals in Little Tokyo? That's so cool! Like, totally! You know, I haven't been there much. How's it there? Next time there's a festival, I wanna come! Heard the festivals are always so bright and cheerful and full of people. Oh, and of course, lots of food! My friend went to it last year, saw the pictures on her Instagram account! She had this big sausage in a stick for a photo, she bought it in one of the food stalls, oh gosh, I was soooo envious you had no idea!"

Tommy probably had the wrong idea to talk about festivals, Brittany's excitement would let go on and on about unless he stopped her before the time, which judging from his shy, easily intimidated personality, isn't likely to happen. As for Tommy's question, Brittany had to silence herself a moment to ponder over it.

"Uh... Let me check, there's the News Studio! Oh, the Theater too, which is kinda nice if you, you know, like theater in first place. I gotta be honest, like, it's been a loooong while since the last time I saw a movie. Actually... now that I think of it, I rarely go to the movies. Somehow the thought of being sit for 1-2 hours static bores me... But I don't have the same problem being sit in front of my computer to play a game. Funny, right? That and most of the time I'm just studying, working, taking care of home and domestic stuff like that. What about you?"

"Well, sounds like a regular festival to me! I'm just a bit iffy about it being late at night. I mean, when it's, like, regular weekdays I wouldn't go because, you know, stuff we gotta do like wake up in the morning to go to school, then work. You know, this kind of stuff. BUT if it were on weekends, I'd totally go!", she said, excited about the possibility. Festivals are always such a fun mesh of colors, smells and people she couldn't help but feel joyful about the idea. Lately she hasn't had much time to appreciate life with all the Terrorist convoluted life aligned to the daily routine, the prospect of finding something out of the ordinary to do was definitely welcome...as long as said something wasn't fighting demons, of course.

"Awww, that's so cute! You don't have to, like, thank me or anything, it's no big deal, really!", she smiled, waving one hand dismissing any attempts at formality. Helping people was just something Brittany felt pleasure in and even if she had things to do at home, naturally the girl wouldn't turn away if there were people with problems she could assist with. "You said you usually end up clearing up. In the festivals, I mean. Do you work at them or something? Is it some kind of volunteer work?"

“Weeell... If it was even personal, then I’d be in a bad spot because, you know, everybody would see it!”, she said with a matter-of-fact tone blended with her typical good humor.

“I work at a model agency. I’m a part-time model there, you know. Posing for outdoors, magazines, companies, starring commercials, fashion catalogs, sometimes being feature in music videos… This kind of stuff. Oh no, I was never, you know, featured in a music video before! That is kinda something way too big for me, but I’ve joined a campaign for cosmetics! You know the seven sins perfume? Yeah, that’s the one in case you’re wondering!”

Though not so sure if Tomomi would recognize her, the best way was to refer to her most successful feature up to now – the rather embarrassing and controversial take of her posing entirely naked with a white snake around her body, advertising for a small flask of perfume with the alluring and suggestive shape of an apple. The photoshoots of said campaign were everywhere, from outdoors to magazine covers.