Why was I here again? (Tomomi/Isabella)

After a few minutes of crying and hyperventilating, Tomomi seemed to shift slightly from his fetal position, now sitting back upright, hand leaving his chest as he seemed akin to someone waking up, looking around more confused than distressed. As if piecing everything together, the boy sighed lightly, gently tapping Isabella's arm as a signal that he was, well, alert again. Then, in a voice barely more than a whisper, still shaky yet more alive and coherent than prior, Tomomi spoke. "I... I'm sorry about that... And um... T-thank you..."

For the minutes that would follow, Isabella sat there, silent, all but unmoving aside from her righ hand continuing to stroke his hair. It was.. strange, having him there. But she didn't dislike it, save for the circumstances that had lead to it. She'd look down at Tomomi, her thoughts wandering during those minutes. He hadn't been much older than this boy now when she'd first met.

But then he spoke, and the apology, that struck her right in the heart. The apology somehow even more so. "Oh, you silly boy." She'd speak, trying to put up a cheerful tone, ruffling his wet hair. "You've nothing to apologize for. If there's anyone who should be apologizing, it's me." Her tone was apologetic. It wasn't hard to see that she felt bad over the grief she'd caused him.

At the ruffling of his hair, Tomomi just giggled slightly, completely innocent smile across his lips. Then, as she declared she should apologise to him, the boy shook his head, wiping his arm across his eyes to try rub away the tears. "Um... Y-you don't need to apologise miss Isabella. I mean, um, you had no way of knowing anything had, um, well, happened, so, um... Y-yeah... I just uh... S-so..."

At this, Tomomi shook his head rapidly, before realising this ended up being like a dog shaking its wet fur. "A-ah, sorry... Anyways um... S-so, what have you been doing sat here? Um... W-waiting out the rain?"

It's amazing, just how sweet and innocent this boy seemed, even with the loss he'd been through. Still, she couldn't help but pity him, no child should have to go through that. She'd slowly go to remove her arms from around him. "Perhaps I didn't, but I should have realized that maybe something like that was the case. A lot of families were torn apart by the Divide, after all." The woman explained as she'd ruffle his hair a little more.

The blonde couldn't hold in the chuckle from when the boy shook his head, water-droplets being strewn about. The question though,, got her to focus. "I sat down at first to read through some emails, but then I... Got lost in thought. Isabella would explain, as her gaze first shifted to the curb, before dragging across the street, looking across he road.

At Isabella's explanation, Tomomi nodded, listening, paying as much attention as he could. This was both to get his grip on reality back, and because he was legitimately interested in knowing. At the statement that she got lost in thought, Tomomi offered a smile, shrugging slightly. "I, uh, I also get like that sometimes." He declared with a little grin. "I think it might have some thing to do with the rain? I mean, the little... Pitter patter pitter patter pitter patter... It's nice and relaxing when it's not making you feel like a drowned fish."

With a slight giggle, Tomomi shook his head. "If you don't mind me asking, what sort of uh... Stuff do you report on? Like, politics? Sports? The neeeeeewwwwws?" he asked, leaning forward slightly, and placing purposeful emphasis on the last word before giggling once more.

She didn't draw her gaze away from the opposite side of the street even as the other spoke. The mention of a drowned fish did make her snort slightly, a smile forcing its way onto her face. "Perhaps it is something like that to it." She'd say in response, a white lie to avoid a subject she was not in the mood to go further into.

But then he'd speak some more asking about her job. The blonde drew her eyes away from the road, and back to Tomomi. "My job fall into what is known as a lifestyle reporter, so things like entertainment, celebrities, health, food, just to name a few. It's really quite a wide swathe that it covers as ar as topics goes."

As Isabella spoke, Tomomi's first thought lingered on the word "lifestyle". Was that like, fashion, but a professional term for it? Then she began listing things, the litter boy nodding as he took it in and began understanding, letting out an "ohhhh" near the end as it finally twigged. At this, Tomomi gave a fun filled thumbs up as he nodded even more, something of a personality trait of his as he spoke. "That sounds fun! I mean, with that much things to mix up, you at least won't get bored having to report the same thing over and over right? So, that must get exciting right? Plus, if you get to choose from a range like that, you got lots of things to choose from and not have to, um, you know, be forced down one path? That's super cool!"

She chuckled at the youthful enthusiasm coming from the other, it was so precious. "It has its ups, and it has its downs. One of my co-workers does solely sports-reporting, and from what they said, it can be quite exciting and fulfilling work. But don't even get me started on the poor souls who do business news." She chuckled again, giving herself a moment of pause. "But I mostly end up writing about entertainment, with some celebrity-related pieces and a sprinkling of other things thrown in. You get to meet all manner of people when you do this stuff for long enough, including a few eccentric ones.

Tomomi listened intently at her explanation and clarification about her job, Tomomi seeming to take the information to heart and paying attention to it. The talk about the poor souls in the business news led to a slight giggle from Tomomi, and then the explanation about how she does mostly entertainment elicited a grin and comment of "oh awesome!"

Then, as she finished, Tomomi hummed, before adding. "So, um... Is the eccentric person the most common one, or is it like, a boring person that's most common? I imagine eccentric because that makes a more interesting story?"

Eccentric versus boring? That's... something she'd never stopped to consider. "I don't think it's quite that... What's the word? Black and white? Like when it comes to eccentric types, they can make for good stories if the story is about that person, but it can be a bit hit-or-miss i the story is about something happening around that person." She had to pause for a moment.

"But then you have with these "boring" people." Isabella actually paused for a moment to do air-quotes. "Sometimes they just have something to bring to bring to the table, or the story in this case, that just brings the whole thing together." The woman paused again, this time pulling out her phone and starting to tap on the screen.

"I still remember quite vividly how, one time I was interviewing some people after some small-time pop star had done some charity concert. among those people were a pair of girls, sisters." She paused again, this time lean closer to the boy, to show a picture on the screen. In the picture was Isabella flanked on both sides by a pair of girls, perhaps even a few years younger than Tomomi. The two had practically the same facial features, and could only really be told apart by how one had raid highlights in her hair, while the other had cyan ones.

"These girls told me then how they were a bit uncertain in regards to their sexuality, I believe bi-curious was the exact word they used. And supposedly their household was one that wasn't... So tolerant. Apparently the two had been contemplating committing suicide together, but the positive message of the concert had made them consider alternative means." A genuine smile, bright and wide spread onto her face as she explained this. "It was a direct quote from those two that ended up making the headline for the whole piece."

Isabella's explanation at first caused Tomomi to pause and fall silent. Then widen his eyes. Then lean forward as he listened intently to everything she was saying, seeming positively enthralled by the entire thing. "W-wow... That's very... Wow..." Was all he could manage at the end, before shaking his head.

Then, after a brief pause, he shook himself back into reality, speaking up - well, up for Tomomi. "T-that's really awesome! W-well, um... Not the household tolerance, or the near suicide... B-but I mean, the fact that they s-saw such positivity from a show must have been awesome and really heart cooling to hear! I can only imagine how p-pleasant that was to, like, be witness to and be able to write, right? Heh... Write right..."

At first completely interested in the story, Tomomi successfully distracted himself like an idiot, giggling to himself beneath his breath. "A-ah, sorry."

She'd slip the phone away, one hand coming up to ruffle the boy's hair a little more. "It is. It's really part of what I like about this job. Being able to bring positive things like that to light. That article was originally supposed to be about the pop star herself, since she'd apparently gotten caught up in some controversy or something before. But after the interview with those girls, I took a different approach to the whole thing. She'd chuckle, memories going back to that day. My editor really didn't like it when I went and changed it up so much, but in the end I managed to convince her to keep it as I'd written it."

That said, the older woman stood up and raised her arms up fro a brief stretch, before her hands once again returned to her pockets. "I guess what I was trying to get at with all of this was... It's easy to put people into boxes like "eccentric" or "boring", but once you actually get to know people, you realize those kinds of labels... They start to blur." Isabella seemed like she was about to resume, but stopped herself. "Sorry, I'm just rambling now."

She'd pull her phone out again, briefly. "I think I'd better get moving, I still have some things I need to get done today." Her gaze turned to the youth as she spoke.

Tomomi's eyes shut at the hair rustle, although more in instinct than any sign of discomfort. Like a little puppy, only sopping wet from the rain, Japanese, and 16 years old. Oh, and also a human. So, not at all like a puppy. Then the story that followed, continuing from the previous story. That was interesting, and Tomomi showed it in the way he watched, nodding, and fell completely silent in listening.

Then, the story ended, Isabella apologising for rambling, and then declaring she had to go. "O-oh, okay... A-although, um, you don't need to be sorry for um... Ramboing? It was a really nice story!" The boy declared, smiling, with a hint of sadness in his voice. Then, quickly, Tomomi pulled out his own phone. "O-oh! Um, if you want, you could, um, t-take my phone number? Since I do litter picking, I know places quite well generally, and also I can help clean up stuff if you ever need anything? Oh, um... I-if you want of course..."

Ramboing? Had the boy mishear her perhaps? Still, that brought a smile to her face. The woman was about to turn away when the youth would suggest her taking his phone number. "Well, I currently only have my work phone on me, and well, I don't keep numbers of personal acquaintances on it for proffessional reasons. That said..." Her words would drag off as she'd first reach inside her coat, pulling out a pen, before then taking out her wallet and producing a business card the boy could probably recall seeing before.

With the pen, she'd write down something on the back of the small card, before handing it to the boy. "I wrote my personal number on the back, and my work phone is printed on the back. You can send me a text or something on the former, and I can save your number from there." She xplained as she put her wallet and pen away. "You can call my work phone if you want as well, but please understand that if I'm not answering, then I'm probably in the middle of something with the sounds turned off."

As she signed the card and handed it to Tomomi, explaining about her work/ personal phone difference, Tomomi nodded, and put the card in his pocket. The idea of having more than one phone was fascinating, and one thing he didn't think of before, given how much phones tended to cost. Then, Tomomi got up from his seat. "R-right, well, I should probably also head back. It's been nice to see you again miss Isabella!" The boy declared with a grin, before quickly adding "And um... P-please don't tell anyone what I told you. I-it's kind of a personal thing..."

At this, Tomomi waved, offering a smile, before turning and walking off back into the rain. There, back home in Little Tokyo, Tomomi pulled out his phone, sending a text to the personal number that Isabella had written down.

Tomomi: hi its tomomi

[Exit]