Miniature Golf, But Big Friendship

PixelatedGlory

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Tadashi was excited. It was the day Ezra and he had agreed to meet up and go play minigolf. Possibly even get something to eat or do other fun things too if Ezra felt up to it. The address was a little far out from where Tadashi normally spent his time but after looking it up on his phone he had stuck mostly to his cat form to get there- aside from riding the bus a ways of course. Before long he found himself outside a brick wall or fence of some kind that surrounded once of the fanciest houses Tadashi had ever seen. Which, to be honest, really wasn't saying a whole lot since he had been born in an alley and raised by fairly poor and working-class people in rural Japan.

To that particular white cat with jet black paws the house before him might as well have been a castle or palace. He trotted up to the huge metal gate and just stared. He could have climbed over fairly easily but he stopped himself. That would have been the cat thing to do. The boy thing to do would be to look for some way of letting Ezra know he was there. Worst case he could just call or text his friend. Glancing up at the pillar to the side of the gate itself Tadashi saw a panel with a button on it. As tempting as it was to jump up and hit it with a paw that wouldn't have been very helpful.



Instead Tadashi shifted back into his human form and carefully brushed a few wrinkles and some dirt off of his clothes. He was wearing the light yellow button-down shirt that he had accidentally bought while trying to buy a new grey one, grey slacks and his usual grey gloves and shoes. Gemma had mentioned the shirt looked good on him so he figured why not wear that one. Most of his wardrobe was whites, blacks and greys even before his colorblindness. He walked over and pushed the button, unsure what would happen next.


@ArcanaFate

 

ArcanaFate

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Ezra was prepared for their adventure.

Maybe a little too prepared. They had picked out an outfit worthy of a first outing with a new friend: a white button up shirt with sleeves rolled up to the elbow and bandages wrapped from the elbow down to the fingertips, a black vest, and nice dark slacks with dress socks and sneakers. Their power restriction bracelet They would have normally matched their ensemble with nicer shoes, but since walking around a lot seemed to be more likely, regular shoes felt more appropriate. Attached to their left leg was a simple grey leg holster with their water bottle and an umbrella contained inside, and their house key, wallet, and cellular device were stashed away in various pockets. Their hair was mostly pushed back and tied in a simple ponytail, minus a few strands to help frame their face better. Miss Asteria had taught them much in their year together, but one thing that they remembered was that each time you wanted to make an impression, you had to dress to fit the occasion. Feeling confident in their appearance wouldn't embarrass Tadashi when they went out, all they had to do now was wait for their friend to hit the buzzer to the gate and they would begin their friendly adventure that was not, according to the information that Miss Zora had given them, a date.

The soft hum of the buzz rang from the doorway, and Ezra quickly made their way to the small screen by the front door. Looking through the camera that was posted by the buzzer and seeing Tadashi waiting in a nice light yellow shirt, they quickly pressed the button to activate the speaker. "I will be down shortly, Tadashi." They said quickly before making their way out the front door (locking it, of course) and down the driveway before making their way through the iron gate and shutting the large metal gate with a few quick movements.

"Well, Tadashi, this is what my physical body looks like. I am ready to begin our day of miniature golfing and possibly eating at a restaurant if so desired. I am ready to experience "fun"."
 

PixelatedGlory

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Tadashi quickly looked first at the small speaker and then glanced around until he spotted the camera. "Ok, no rush," he called out as he waved at the camera. Whether or not Ezra had seen or heard him he had no idea but that didn't really matter too much.

Tadashi fidgeted with his gloves a little bit as he waited for Ezra to come down to the gate. He still wasn't sure whether they were going to be coming along in Salem or not. Either way Tadashi planned to make the day as fun as he could. Not that he was especially skilled at that but he was going to try real hard.

As Tadashi saw Ezra walking down the driveway his face lit up. It was not Salem coming down to meet him and that could only mean it was Ezra themself. He looked at how Ezra was dressed and was happily surprised. Aside from the bandages and leg holster thing what they were wearing could have been right out of Tadashi's wardrobe. More or less. Tadashi's own clothes were similar in style, if a little less fancy. His slacks not quite so dressy and his in general his clothes were not high in quality. He certainly didn't own a vest. The long sleeve button-down shirt and slacks with sneakers thing was definitely right up Tadashi's alley though. The same style his siblings sometimes playfully teased him about.

"Hi Ezra!," he exclaimed before bowing a little. "I know I already introduced myself officially but I thought I should bow since this is the first time i've met you in person." As he spoke his attention was drawn to Ezra's eyes. He couldn't tell the color of Ezra's eyes but that magical glowing was intriguing. He found himself staring just a little longer than he should have before returning his attention to the conversation. "I'll be glad to take you to eat somewhere after we go golfing. Just let me know if you need to take a break or come home or whatever."

Tadashi gestured for Ezra to walk with him as he made space on the sidewalk. Clearly Tadashi was going to be spending most, if not all, of the day in human form. Which was a little unusual for him but if Ezra was going to be along with him for the day it was a fair trade as far as he was concerned. "Come on Ezra, let's have a fun day together. Do you want to catch the bus for a bit or just walk the whole way there?" The mini-golf place was a good distance away since Ezra lived in a more secluded, upper-class part of the residential area. Tadashi wasn't worried about it too much but he had no idea how long Ezra wanted, or even could, walk.

 

ArcanaFate

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"Hello Tadashi, it is a pleasure to see you as well."

Ezra also followed suit as well with a quick bow of their own, before giving the bakeneko a long look from the boy's shoes all the way to his hair. Now getting a look at Tadashi in his full outfit, it was almost similar to the outfit Ezra had picked. Slacks and a button up shirt, which was a nice yellow in comparison to Ezra's monochrome fashion sense. They briefly wondered if their friend had picked out the shirt himself or someone else did as he had mentioned being colorblind, but other possibilities came into the argument as a factor of how long ago he lost his ability to discern color or how long he had owned the shirt. Briefly getting lost in the thought process, they realized that Tadashi had been maintaining eye contact for quite a few moments before adjusting himself. Was that normal? Perhaps he was interested in their eyes. They were definitely uncommon on the island as far as they could tell. Before they could fall into that second rabbit hole of possible solutions to questions unasked, Tadashi had brought up taking the bus to the miniature golf site.

Ezra had never been on a bus, although they had been in a car briefly when first arriving on the island. Being inside a motor vehicle had been strange for the spirit, as they had found it rather restrictive but efficient. Flying in a plane had been even more so, the marvel of modern technology allowed people to traverse the globe much quicker than wandering by foot or boat. Walking was the preferred option, though. "I would enjoy walking with you, Tadashi. I enjoy being outdoors quite a bit. I will let you lead the way since I am unsure of our destination, but while we walk, perhaps you can tell me more about yourself? I believe that is something friends do, yes?"
 

PixelatedGlory

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Tadashi didn't mind walking at all. It just meant they just got to enjoy more time together on that really nice day. "Sure, walking will be great. Just let me know if you want to take a break or something," he smiled and gestured for Ezra to walk with him.

Tadashi was fairly athletic just owing to the natural gifts from being a bakeneko so he was being very careful not to go too fast for Ezra to keep up with. They were not in a hurry at all as far as he was concerned. "Right, I think friends get closer when they share stuff about themselves. Um," he paused, "I don't know what to tell you about. I guess maybe I could start with how I really like to eat fish but i'm not really good at swimming so I mostly just hunt things like mice. Birds have too many feathers." Tadashi was hoping that didn't sound disturbing. Some people didn't like hearing about hunting for food but Tadashi still identified as a cat even if he was also a boy.

As they headed down the sidewalk towards a location deeper in the city Tadashi absently patted his pocket to make sure he still had the three small nubs of charcoal. Shifting forms with a whole pencil in his pocket felt really weird and disturbing to him but he liked having something to draw with. The little pieces of charcoal would be perfect for that. Maybe he would get to use one of those small pencils for the minigolf too. He looked over at Ezra and smiled again. They were going to have so much fun.

 

ArcanaFate

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Ezra tilted their head with a very confused look on their face as Tadashi began explaining how he hunted for mice but not birds. Why would someone want to hunt small creatures like that? Realization clicked that Tadashi was a feline 'demon', emphasis on the feline aspect. The spirit nodded furiously, eyes flashing for a moment. "It took me a moment to understand what you meant. I just remembered you are a kind of cat spirit, so you have feline tendencies. That would also explain why I find you so fascinating. I have mentioned my abilities to you somewhat, if I remember correctly, but I honestly find cats to be the most interesting thing to connect with emotionally. Their responses and thought patterns are quite amusing to me."

Ezra continued walking alongside their friend, occasionally glancing at the bakeneko as they moved ever closer. It was a weird feeling, to be out in public without Salem. Noticing that Tadashi had patted his pocket, Ezra casually slid their hands into their own pants pockets. They were unsure of what to do with their hands while walking, so hiding them away seemed to be the best option.

"I read multiple books and watch a lot of cinematic films. Miss Asteria is a film enthusiast so she has a very large collection for me to view. I mainly look to see how people interact with one another throughout the narrative. I know that most movies are fiction and not entirely realistic in their portrayals but I find it is a good starting point in my social education."
 

PixelatedGlory

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"Oh, i'm sorry. I guess sometimes I forget that it's weird for some people to hear me talk like i'm a cat. I'm- oh you think i'm fascinating? I don't anyone else has ever said that about me." He had a very happy smile at that point. He was both a boy and a cat as far as he was concerned so in effect Exra had sort of just said how much they liked connecting with beings like him.

As they walked the occasional other pedestrian or obstacle made Tadashi have to slide a little closer to Ezra so they could get by. As they approached the more populated portion of the city there were more crowds of people coming and going. Whether it was obvious or not Tadashi was keeping an eye on their surroundings because he wanted to keep Ezra from stumbling or getting bumped around. He was feeling very protective of his friend. His own gloved hands were out and ready to react, though they otherwise remained calmly swinging just a little as he walked.

"Hey, you have to start somewhere. You'll get better at it as you do it more anyway. You like watching a lot of movies? I have been watching movies a little less since I lost colors but I still like watching them if it's with other people."

They had to wait at a light before they could cross. Tadashi looked over at Ezra and grinned, "Not too much further and then we can do some mini-golf"

 

ArcanaFate

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Whenever Tadashi moved closer to Ezra, the spirit's first instinct was to shift slightly away as they did not want to invade the bakeneko's personal space. But as they continued to walk, they realized he was doing it to avoid hazards on the road as was not meaning to get close to annoy them. Realizing the error, Ezra continued to keep the appropriate distance as much as they could as the two continued to walk down the sidewalk.

Ezra went quiet as Tadashi mentioned not watching movies as much due to his colorblindness and frowned slightly. It must have been hard when he had lost the ability to see colors, especially as an artist. The spirit could see that he was very talented and although they could not say how true it was, there had to be some sort of hindrance with lacking color perception as an artist. Or maybe not. Ezra was certainly not an artist. "Do you miss it?" Ezra asked, waiting at the crosswalk. "Not being able to see color, I mean?"

As a car drove by while waiting at the light, the spirit reached instinctively towards Tadashi's sleeve and grabbed onto it. Although they had been living on the island for a little bit now, they were still not used to automobiles and most modern modes of transportation. The first (and only) time Ezra had gotten onto a plane, they had a mixture of feelings both physical and emotional and Asteria had to explain it was stress that was causing the turmoil for the spirit. It was not something they planned on reliving and avoided getting to vehicles whenever they could.
 

PixelatedGlory

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Tadashi noticed Ezra sort of moved out of the way every time he came a little bit closer to dodge obstacles. 'Oh', he thought, 'maybe they don't like being close to me.' After that he started to be a little more cautious about getting too close to Ezra. The last thing he wanted to was to make them uncomfortable.

Tadashi had mostly adjusted to not having color vision any more. It was sometimes extremely frustrating, probably even moreso because he had seen in color for all his life until very recently, but it really mattered very little for his art. He hadn't been talented at using color before anyway. It was almost like he had been sort of prepared for the change before it had happened, in a way.

"I do miss it sometimes. Especially when people start talking about how pretty a color is or they point someone out by their hair or clothing color. Also...," he looked sheepish and tugged on the edge of one of his gloves with the other hand, "I kind of have to bring people with me to go shopping for clothes and stuff. I didn't even know this shirt was yellow until someone said it looked nice on me."

Tadashi thought very little of the car passing. It was loud, but he had been around them enough to not be overly bothered by them. Ezra though, seemed to be upset by it and Tadashi was surprised by the sudden grab for his sleeve but he didn't pull his arm away. He looked over at Ezra to see if something was wrong and gave them a reassuring smile. "Hey, it's ok Ezra. If you need to hold on to my sleeve or my hand or something I don't mind."

Maybe next time he could stand a little bit more in between Ezra and the road or something? There wasn't a way to avoid being around cars when they had to go into the city but Tadashi could do his best to comfort Ezra on the way.

 

ArcanaFate

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"Apologies, Tadashi. I did not mean to invade your personal space. If you are alright with it, I will hold onto your hand as we walk nearby traffic. I am still not quite used to most vehicles." Ezra paused, glancing at the bakeneko as they waited for the light to turn so they could walk. They slowly let go of Tadashi's sleeve, moving their hand down until their hand was at the same level as their friend's. Another car zoomed by, and Ezra quickly latched onto their friend's hand as the vehicle sped onward.

As the light shifted and the pedestrian icon flashed in front of them, Ezra would follow along with Tadashi still hand in hand as they made their way across the street and onto the other sidewalk. "Well, whoever you took with you to get the shirt did an excellent job. The color is very pleasant to look at." They nodded, looking at the yellow shirt their friend was sporting. "But I do understand the complications of clothing shopping. I do not have 'fashion sense', whatever that is supposed to mean, so Miss Asteria had to take me out to find clothing that would fit easily. It was a bit of a challenge as I could not manage having the restriction bracelet on for a long period of time. Despite the complications, we were able to find quite a few articles of clothing I am able to use. I am not usually a fan of being overly dressed, but I did not think casual clothing would be appropriate and I suspect that miniature golf is a physical activity so a longer dress might not have been proper either."

Ezra continued to ramble about the various items of clothing they owned, occasionally glancing around at the city as they moved every closer to their destination.
 
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