xp_logs | Jishin Da! -- Kurt and Julio

Our intrepid hero scours Ueno Park looking for food in order to cure his ever-growing headache. He runs into Mr. Sefton and buys something violently pink.

The park was a peaceful place, which meant Kurt took right to it, walking quietly among the trees and admiring the buildings and statues. He was considering going to visit the zoo, or perhaps going to get something to eat.

Julio too was wondering around Ueno park. He'd separated off from his group in order to find something to eat. Unfortunately in this part of the part there were trees, statues and more trees. Which Julio had to admit were quite pretty, but very unhelpful to a hungry seventeen-year-old. He was also having trouble concentrating in order to ask directions, due to the headache he'd had since they'd stepped off the plane. He was hoping caffeine and food would help. He was just about to stop and ask a random passer-by when he spotted Kurt. He broke into a grin.

"Oi! Mr. Sefton!"

Kurt swung in his direction, faintly startled, but then smiled back. "Hello, Julio. Are you enjoying today's visit?"

"Yes," he said, running to catch up with the older man. "It is ...different." Though he wasn't having as many problems with the cultural disconnect as some of the others. He figured that sense had been sprained when he moved to the US.

"It is certainly unlike anything you would find in New York", Kurt agreed, slowing when he noticed Julio running. "Or in Mexico, I suppose."

"Or ...Germany?" Julio hazarded. Mr. Sefton taught German, Julio hoped he was safe in assuming that Mr. Sefton was from Germany and not some other wacky German-speaking country.

"Or Germany, indeed. Though this park is a little more like those I know at home than other places we have visited on the trip. Or what I read of Harujuka." He'd decided to leave chaperoning that one to others, after reading up on it.

Julio grinned. He was rather looking forward to Harajuku. "Um, Mr. Sefton? Did you see any place to eat around here?" Julio patted his stomach for emphasis. The general feeling of malaise was getting worse. When in doubt, kill it with food.

"Oh, yes", Kurt assured him. "The zoo is over there, and there are certain to be food vendors inside. Or else just around the park, if you do not want to go to the zoo."

"Whichever is closer," Julio said. "Are you not hungry too?"

"I think that would be the zoo, then. And ... I am not exactly starving, but yes, I could eat."

"You were seventeen once," Julio said amiably as they made their way towards what looked like a food vendor, "you can sympathize, yes?"

"I very much can", was the heartfelt response. "I was seventeen with a mutation causing enhanced agility and a very active lifestyle. And, fortunately, many female relatives who were only too happy to feed the growing boy."

"I miss my female relatives," Julio said, looking wistful. He missed them, he missed their cooking, and he missed Mexico, damn it. He sighed, feeling more than a little homesick for a second. That further increased when they reached the vendor and he didn't recognize a thing.

Kurt glanced at him sideways, hearing the note in his voice. "Could they not visit, perhaps, if the cooking you find in the mansion and in New York is not quite the same?"

Julio shook his head, pulling up a strange bottle of ...something. It was pink. And had a teddy bear on it. "No, it was why I stayed at the school during the summer. I cannot be trusted to stay in a hot zone for long periods of time." He'd been given leave to go on this particular trip since he was just staying for a few days. "In fact, that may explain the headache. There is many fault lines here."

"Headache?" Kurt asked, selecting some sushi off the vendor's rack and eyeing the drinks dubiously. He wasn't sure he wanted to consume anything with 'sweat' in the name. "How long have you had it?"

"Just for a little while. It is nothing serious," Julio said dismissively. "It goes away when I eat," he finally selected a drink called Pocari Sweat. He had no idea what it was, but with a name like that he just had to try it. "And as for visiting, I would prefer to visit them, that is my home, no? I would rather just go home."

"Understandably", Kurt said with a quiet nod. He knew what that was like well enough, both wanting to and not being able to. "It will happen, in time. For the headache - if it gets worse, or food stops making it go away, you will talk to Dr. Grey about it?"

Julio nodded as he paid for his food. He was also getting some sort of pink fluffy cake. "I will," he said. Julio wasn't stupid. There was pride, and then there was being retarded.

Kurt had settled for the sushi, albeit a healthy helping of it, and had chosen not to take any of the drinks. He'd get some water somewhere, later. "Good", he said simply. "Now, since we are in the zoo - would you like to stay and see it, or go to find the others?" He wasn't saying he'd tag along if Julio went for the second option.

Julio shrugged, trying to open the bottle one handed. It was one of those marble drinks, when he was younger he used to break the bottles and collect the marbles. "I would prefer not to see the zoo, we have zoos at home. And there are dinosaurs at that one."

Kurt laughed. "I suppose nothing will ever quite match up to that. I will let you get back to your friends, then."

"Goodbye, Mr. Sefton," Julio said with a cheery wave. He grinned to himself, not only did he now have food, but food Kyle wouldn't go within five feet of. Mission acomplished.