Let Me Be Your Padawan

Participants:

hiro_icon.gif kimiko_icon.gif magnes_icon.gif

Scene Title Let Me Be Your Padawan
Synopsis Magnes goes to Japan to convince the Nakamuras to train him.
Date May 4, 2009

Nakamura Residence


Sometimes Magnes has impulsive ideas, sometimes he has bad ideas, but he's a bit worried about Hiro lately, and his latest idea is a bit of a mixture between impulsive and bad. He rode on top of an airplane to Tokyo, which was not the easiest thing to do in the world, considering the thin air, packed bags, and the large metallic pole on his back.

A few hours later, and a nap on a rooftop, he arrives in front of the Nakamura residence, ringing the bell as people walk past, giving him looks. He does not speak the language, and he once again knows the feeling of being a minority… Awesome
The door is opened…not by Kimiko, nor Hiro, but by someone who is clearly some form of butler. The dapper looking Japanese man takes one good look at Magnes, and says in surprisingly British sounding English, "How may I help you?"

"I uh, I'm here to see Hiro or Kimiko." Magnes says with a polite yet slightly nervous smile. Right, they're rich, aren't they? Hiro must have amazing videogames. Oh, right, he won't be able to understand the games… "I came all the way from America, so please don't turn me away."

"And you are?" the man asks, looking down his nose at the young man.

"Oh, um." Magnes looks himself over, as if trying to find his name. "Magnes J. Varlane! I'm a friend of Hiro's."

The man permits him to step inside with a sniff, only for Magnes to discover that this was only a sort of gate house, and that the Nakamura residence is actually something of a traditional Japanese compound, with a large courtyard at the front and a very large residence across the other side. There's a security desk here, and cameras too, smile Magnes! You're on high level security camera! The man picks up a phone, dials, and begins speaking Japanese.

"I wonder if I needed shots…" Magnes suddenly whispers to himself, looking around, then shaking his head. It's not like Hiro gets shots every time he goes to another country. He follows the man, looking across the large courtyard, then stares at the phone, possibly wondering what exactly the man is saying. Hiro's videogame setup must be huge.
The phone rings inside the actual house. It is within equal reach of Hiro and Kimiko. She arches a brow at him. "Want to get that, please?"

"Sure…" Hiro replies, terricloth robe on and house-slippers worn while he dries his hair. He just got out of the shower and walks across the house. Picks up the phone. "Moshi moshi."

In Japanese, the security man at the front gatehouse says, "Sir, there's an American here named Magnes Varlane, who says he is here to see you or Miss Kimiko. Are you familiar with this person?" If Hiro bothers to check the phone, well - it looks like Magnes!

It looks like Magnes, with a metallic pole on his back like some sort of Robin III cosplayer, and a large suitcase in his hand.

Hiro does check the phone. "Send him in. Remind him about the shoes. He's American." He doesn't bother with the guard's reply, hanging up the phone. "Kimi-chan!" he calls. "How did Magnes Varlane find us??"

The man hangs up the phone, and resumes his snooty Oxford English tones in Magnes' direction. "Please proceed to the main house. Do remove your shoes before entering, the Nakamuras maintain a traditional home." And that's all Magnes gets aside from a 'you may proceed' gesture.

"Magnes Varlane?" Kimiko looks up from the portfolio for new acquisitions she'd been reviewing. "I have no idea. One can get quite a bit from the internet though, and it's not as if our family is reclusive."

Magnes removes his skates, including the sneaker portion inside of them, so he's just down to his socks. He holds them up to the man, assuming he's supposed to take them. Crazy American! He walks up to the main house, then opens the door, looking around. He attempts to whistle, but it falls flat, so he just calls out, "Hiro, Kimiko, are you here?"

Hiro comes to the door, towel in hand and hair wet, and looks down at Magnes' feet. "You're supposed to take them off inside." he states simply, switching to English. There are slippers there for guests. There always are. "What're you doing here, Magnes?"

Kimiko moves to stand up, some distance from Hiro but quite visible behind him. She's dressed down a bit - slacks, a nice blouse, slippers. She keeps her hands folded in front of her. "Hello, Mr. Varlane." she offers. She'll let Hiro deal with him while she goes to advise one of the servants that there'll be a guest.

"Oh, guess the socks are dirty now too…" Magnes sits his suitcase down and bends over to remove his socks, leaving them with any other shoes, then slides into the slippers. "Kimiko said you were indisposed, and I was kinda worried. I'm sitting on my hands in New York, I wanna get trained by you, or at least your sister. I thought you were beaten up or something." When he sees Kimiko, his eyes widen a bit. "Wow, you're Kimiko?" he asks in apparent surprise, then his cheeks go red and he quickly adds, "I, uh, I mean, hello."

There's a look on Hiro's face that is part long-suffering patience, part amusement. "Come in." He turns and heads in farther, going to the den where the huge TV (and the badass game system, because it IS there) is. He says, "I'm not much good right now. I've been taking time to try to learn these new powers I have. Because I am not a good flyer yet. You didn't use your powers to get here did you?" That only now occurs to Hiro. "High-jumping across the ocean?"

Kimiko offers Magnes a polite smile as she retreats. "Yes," she says, "I am." Once again, Kimiko's super-power kicks in, apparently. After her discussion with the house staff, she goes to meet up with the pair in the den. "I've arranged someplace to slip for you." she informs Magnes calmly. You must be famished." A blink. "High-jumping? Across the ocean?" She looks at Hiro in amazement. Can people do that?

"I could probably do something like that, but I don't really know how to get to Japan. I might get tired too, it's a long way, a lot different than jumping across New York." Magnes bashfully rubs the back of his neck, smiling brightly when Kimiko asks about his jumping. "Ah, it's no big deal, I rode on top of an airplane." he explains, acting like it's no big deal with a casual wave of his free hand. Apparently Kimiko causes him to try and have a 'cool' and 'casual' attitude, these words being relative, of course.

Hiro shares a look with Kimiko. Yeah. He knows what's going on here. But for politeness' sake he fails to point out the obvious. "Well. So long as you're here. Is this your first time in Japan?"

Kimiko's either been too oblivious or deliberately obtuse about her apparent secret power, but the look she shares with Hiro is suitably wry. "Excuse me," she offers politely - always, ever politely. "But if you were concerned for Hiro's health, there are ways that wouldn't require such extreme measures."

"I was gonna ask you to train me, I didn't expect him to be up and walking." Magnes points out to Kimiko, then nods to Hiro. "It's my first time, other than when we went to the past." He reaches behind him, taking the long pole from his back and holding it up for the two to see. "I'm ready to learn how to fight! Wait, did you just say you could fly?"

"Yes. I can fly." Hiro says with a characteristically curt nod of the head. He hesitates and says, "I seem to have found a teacher myself for that, in how to fly. As for teaching you…" Hiro hesitates. And then visibly he seems to get an idea. That idea causes him to look in Kimiko's direction. "Perhaps we could do it together."

Kimiko's expression may seem unflappable, but Hiro can detect the signs of surprise in her poster. She regards Magnes a moment with an intensely scrutinizing gaze. You have been weighed, and you have been measured, Magnes Varlane. She then looks to Hiro and says in Japanese, "He lacks patience."

"Yes. But he shows great determination." Hiro replies quickly. Nothing so good as using a foreign language to speak over somebody's head in their presence.

"Weird." Magnes says, because Hiro can't fly! That's just all kinds of strange. He smiles when Hiro makes the suggestion, nodding rapidly a few times. "Ah, that works! Wait, I didn't think that through, if she's teaching me…" He swallows hard, and doesn't verbally address his concern, because his concern is embarrassing.

"That's true. He got all the way here, even." Kimiko conceeds, and then looks at Magnes. One delicate brow lifts. "Yes?" she inquires. "If I am teaching you?"

Hiro gives Magnes a questioning look. Kimi's question seems to him to be worth answering, and he doesn't see any need to help her here.

"A-ah, well, see…" Magnes swallows, holding the pole at his sides as he looks down at his feet. "You know, I mean…" Looking around, trying to find his way out of the situation. "Do you have anything to drink?"

"Because I am a woman?" Kimiko inquires gently. "Or because I am not Evolved?"

At this point Hiro seems to be fully amused. He breaks into a smile at Magnes' squirming and says, "We'll work the details out later." He knows what's going on and is sure Kimi does too. "I'm actually glad to see you, Magnes. Even if I am not sure we can give you what you seek, it's good to see a friendly face. Please, let one of the staff know you would like something to drink. Most of them understand some English, although it would flatter them greatly if you tried to learn Japanese while you're here."

"The touching, a girl…" Magnes says in an incredibly low yet audible whisper, not looking anyone in the eye at all by this point. "O-oh, it's nice to see you too." at least if he were looking. "And I could learn Japanese, I think, I've never tried to learn a language before."

Kimiko sighs and mutters something about otaku, but offers mildly, "Some food should be along shortly. To Hiro in Japanese, "Introducing him to Father will be…interesting."

"Father will probably dismiss him like he did me, unless he's learned his lesson there. There is little harm in it." Hiro retorts calmly, adding for Magnes, "We learned English. I think you'll find that Japanese is an easier language. If you will excuse me, I don't want to spend the rest of the evening in this robe."

"Ah, don't let me keep you!" Magnes' head shoots up at Hiro, nodding. "So, we're eating Japanese food? Is it like, squid, and um, you know, other Japanese food." Oh, sure, he could say sushi, but he suspects that might be offensive.


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