Broken Desks

Despite the fact that Devias was extremely long winded, Naoko was enraptured. It was all she could do not to lean forward, doing her very best to look calm and collected and normal and not like she was peeling back a layer to another world. She was always fascinated by the places people had come from, whether mundane or even more strange than Manta Carlos, and having no experience outside the island, it was her standard.

"It sounds..." Naoko paused when he had finished, trying to decide how she felt about it. Interested, yes, but everything... "Like a movie. Or a fantasy novel. A world built from magic. Sometimes people say Manta Carlos is a land of magic, but it's not really. It's not an integral part of our culture, really, because plenty of people go without it. It's something we're still growing with and experiencing, but there's parts of the city with no magic at all. It's strange, because you see a bit of everything here, but sometimes... it feels like Manta Carlos lacks a solid identity of its own, beyond as being the island where everyone else comes to stay. I guess because it had no natives? Just transplants to start."

Naoko supposed Devias was right about that much. The island was a safe haven, but that was all it was to Naoko. A safe place for her father and people like him, but that was that.

"I guess so," Naoko said. "But that just feels like one thing. And it's a thing that a lot of people who arrive here don't even realize, because they haven't had to deal with the outside world and what it's like."

Which was big talk considering that Naoko had never experienced the outside world and what it was like.

"Well, I mean - I guess there are movies and books and things to tell you what the world outside is like? But that's not really the same thing as living it. Either way Manta Carlos is a hodgepodge."

Devias's question was one that Naoko had thought about a whole lot, and that meant her answer cam quick and easily, without much thought.

"Los Angeles. No wait, New York." She really hadn't made up her mind, and she didn't have much of a sense of scale for America either. "They're both good, so it really depends on the time of year, since they have different events at different times."

Did Disneyland count? Because she wanted to go to Disneyland too, and if that counted as part of LA, that would seal the deal.

"My mom says I should go back to Japan to meet family they left behind, but I really don't see the point. They're not family to me - I never met them."

"Yeah, but it's a long story," Naoko said. Initially, she wasn't going to say any more - the conversation effectively done. Only Devias had shared quite a bit of personal information already, telling her about what amounted to his own world. She was pretty sure his home was a place that only he an Lorencia were from, and not the sort of place she'd be able to read about in a book.

So she decided to share a little bit, even if her instincts told her otherwise.

It was only fair.

"Well, the long and short of it is that my dad--who isn't totally human--was really badly mistreated by Japan. And while I know that my mom's family weren't directly involved, it seems stupid to me that they didn't try and... I don't know, reach out more? Like, their daughter ran off with some guy the Japanese government said was a criminal and they just bought it, rather than trusting my mom was right."

It was a bit deep for the conversation, so Naoko did her best to turn the conversation to something a bit lighter, jumping back to the last conversation.

"Los Angeles has Hollywood, and it also has Disneyland and a ton of things to see. New York has broadway, but it also has Times Square. They're basically the pinnacles of American culture."

Ahhh, this was a topic Naoko could really talk about without hesitation. She loved Hollywood, and she loved movies.

"Yep! Hollywood is in the south of California, and it serves as the main area for the US movie industry. All the big blockbusters, all the big Disney films, and most of the TV shows come out of there these days. Even if they're filmed elsewhere, they all come back to there to be finished off, or to be shown at previews. If you like movies, that's the place to be, and movies... well, I run the school's film club. I think they're pretty amazing. The fact that we can do that sort of thing, making giant blockbusters put together by hundreds of people..."

Okay, she was definitely rambling.

"We should probably get back to studying though. You could stop by the film club one day if you were interested - we let anyone come and see the movies, evne if they're not a member."