Jake Anderson's Story

Jake was walking to the mansion. He had been dropped off by his taxi after the driver saw that Jake had a gun. His dad wanted his son to be armed in foreign countries and connections always helped. The only catch was to carry around a special permit at all times as well as hide the weapons. He carries two Colt Pythons and long knife in his inner jacket pocket. He came into the driveway of the mansion heading straight for the door. He rang the door bell and waited. He stood there but nobody answered the door.

"Y'all know that there's company at the door right?" He asked into the door. After a while a confused maid opened the door and told him to wait in a lobby. "Thank ya very much ma'am." He told her. He got to a chair, looked up, and saw a guy who looked like a waiter. "What'cha doin? Waitin for some kinda banquet?" He asked the waiter.

"Actually I'm one of the people who signed up to turn that spoiled Oujo into a lady," Daniel replied. He'd looked closely at the woman who'd named herself Kaede Sumigara, her posture was rigid and upright, typical of a Kendo user. But her manners left much to be desired, she was impetuous, proud and in desperate need of a lesson on respect. "The name's Daniel L. Watson," he turned and introduced himself to the man in a furry jacket, he looked like your classic tough guy. "I guess we'll be working together to teach Kaede-chan some manners," he had deliberately called her chan since it was often used when referring to a female younger than oneself.

In truth he wasn't certain than Kaede was younger than him, but from the impression she gave...Daniel had a feeling he was a couple years her senior. "I guess after everyone has shown up, the Lady of the house will meet us and give us the full details of the arrangement." The man seemed to be a Westerner like himself, but he kept using polite, standard Japanese.

The girl named Kaede had introduced herself but she didn't look too unlady like. The girls in the states were the same way, headstrong and all. Maybe she doesn't know how to cook or clean. Childcare is something that every woman understands. Jake looked around the room. It looked very oriental. A subjesct he knew little to nothing about. He was familiar with the West, not the East. If he were to stay here he would have to learn a lot himself about the customs of the culture.

He looked at the fancy man in front of him. He talked like he grew up in Japan all his life unlike Jake. "The name's Jake Anderson. Guess we'll be teachin her how to be 'proper'. She looks fine to me though but I guess she ain't a proper Japanese lady. So what'cha doin in Japan?" He asked with a smile. Daniel sounded like he was from some place in Europe, maybe the UK.

"Studying for my doctorate and working a bit for a living, originally I was here on vacation but I was cut off mid way through so I wound up moving my life over here," Daniel responded in English, it'd speed things up. "What about yourself? You certainly don't seem like you're in Japan for something like comics or some other form of nonsense." While rough on the edges, Jake didn't seem anywhere near as crude as Daniel had originally expected. He silently chastised himself for judging based on appearance, after all presumptions like that are what lead otherwise perfectly good men to act like savages.

Jake was glad that Daniel started speaking in English. Every time he listened to another person speak he had to think it over of what they were saying. "I'm here to study bussiness and Eastern economics. It'll be the last tour of colleges and I can get back to the family bussiness right away." He told Daniel. The thought came up to him that Daniel wasn't from the US so he probably didn't know what the Anderson name meant. "Oil. Family's in the bussiness of harvesting black gold. On American soil for the most part. Came here to understand how the economics of the countries out east work. I've got an apartment in the city and I work at the shipyard. Get to know the crew right." He said jokingly as a statment more than a question. "Yeah I think this'll be just dandy if we can stay here."

Daniel turned when he heard someone clear their throat,it was a young woman,presumably another person here in provide lessons in etiquette to Kaede. He switched back to polite standard Japanese,"Hello, sorry about ignoring you there. Am I correct in assuming you are here for the same reason as us? My names is Daniel L. Watson, may I ask yours?" The woman he was addressing was most assuredly a lady, while he was still getting used to concept, he was also certain that she was also a yamato nadeshiko. His job had drilled him into getting basic Japanese etiquette to say the least so he bowed on introduction: bend at the waist, hands at sides and held for two seconds at precisely thirty-two degrees. That way the bow was slightly more than formal but not enough to be a gross exaggeration.

"If you're here to train the Oujo into becoming a lady, do you require help with your luggage?" He didn't get to hear her immediate answer as the Lady of the house, made herself known at that point. The reaction and general mannerisms of Kaede in regards to her mother were even more repulsive than he'd thought. It was clear that she drove the woman past her limit, he'd have to fix that one bit," If we're talking about the floral metaphor, yamato nadeshiko, it's the embodiment of pure and feminine beauty, specifically a shy young woman. This is highly precocious of me to say but it deserves pointing out: threatening to mount your mother's head on a wall, swords and every hobby you listed with the exception of tea ceremony are the opposite of a yamato nadeshiko."

Now that he'd spoken his mind he gave his introduction, "My name is Daniel L. Watson, I have a passion for reading and am quite the tea enthusiast myself. Aside from that I doubt we have much more in common that is worth mentioning, everything aside it's interesting to meet you Kaede-chan." He let the implication of him being her senior sit in the air, in terms of culture she had no room to complain about him referring to her as 'chan' under such circumstance,it'd be a personal issue. Furthermore he'd just seen how she moved, even with his body weights on the chances of her beating him in actual combat were abysmally low.

Jake was listening to Kaede explain her situation with her mother. It seemed reasonable with the exception of a few details that were disrespectful out west and probably also disrespectful east too. "I don't see any problem with your hobbies. Lots of women like sports and being fit. That's all fine and dandy but ya have to bring it down on that temper. Be easy on your mother to, she is your mother after all. Respecting her don't mean ya have to like her." He said. He knew that Mrs. Sumigara was there listening to this but she was a smart woman so she knew about the difference between manners and relationships. "Also don't get so mad, just get even. A bad temper ain't gonna get'cha anywhere in life. Guess I'll have to teach ya to not be such a hot head." He told her smiling at her jokingly. She just had that temper that was holding her back, other wise she was already a lady.

"A Yamato Nadeshiko does not throw swords as if they were spears through doors like a savage." She spoke up nonchalant then began to enter the room. "May I?" She glided through the doorway and into room with her head held straight. "Your mother wishes for you to become a modern girl. A Modan Yamato Nadeshiko. A true woman of prestige knows how to adapt to her surroundings." Kairi eyes scanned the young girl up and down. "And you my dear are living in the past." She made eye contact with Kaede, while keeping her hands folded and pressed against her skirt, reflecting her disapproval. "I have to disagree with my colleague. This appears to be an impossible task."

Logan began racking his brain for what he knew about the Edo period and he got an idea, " I've got an idea, but it'll take quite a bit of cooperation from all our parts." He pulled out his phone and turned on the IR so they could swap contact information. "Though for starters I'll need to know if the Sumigara were a samurai family." If that were the case they could theoretically get Kaede's cooperation without having to sneak behind her back. If the Sumigara weren't a samurai family, the situation would get a bit more complicated but the underhanded method he had in mind could still work.

That didn't change the fact that the underhanded part left a horrid taste in his mouth. But compared to the revulsion the current Kaede provided him with, he'd rather have a bad taste in his mouth.

Jake didn't like the idea. Being from a world of commerce he had been taught that compromise was all about give and take. This was just another one of those situations. "What's with all this trickery? Y'all sound like this is some kind of battle strategy to deal with some ogre. Why don't we just introduced her to some more westenized kimono? Then Kaede gets to have her tradition and her mother can see the details of western style in it too. Y'all should think about it." He told them walking out to meet Kaede.

He walked out to meet the girl in her car and got into the passenger seat. He took a deep breath before speaking. "Before ya start to slam my ideas I wanna tell ya that I respect your wanting to stay traditional. Also I should have worded my last statement to showing respect. I met Putin once and though I hated the man I still showed respect because that's how gentlemen act. Same goes for ladies. So how bout' ya try a western kimono. Ya don't even have to wear it all the time. I can buy it for ya and ya can bring it back to your mom so she can see that your beginning to become more modern. Besides that we can do kareoke like ya wanted to. What do ya say, is it a plan?" He finished.

Jake raised an an eyebrow at the word "canidate". Were there a lot of suiters for this girl or was this a culural term? He didn't know nor did he especially like the family situation. The mother had no roots in her culture, which after living in Saudi Arabia for two years just seemed plain wrong. The girl wasn't as open to new ideas as he had hoped for but he still wanted to compromise on this. "Ya know ya don't have to wear a dress right? Ya can wear more casual clothes too. How bout' this. You can think bout' trying somethin that can be worn on certain occasions. Until then we can just shop, I'm hungary." He told her with a smile.

Logan shrugged at the scene before walking out to join everyone else at the car, in a situation like this there would be no concealing his body weights if he got in. While he did pause at the thought, he got in the back seat and tried to keep his weight as close to the center to the car as possible. "Well let's enjoy ourselves this evening, after all it could very well be our last together." As it stood, he really doubted they'd get this to work but at the very least he intended to enjoy himself.

Jake scratched his cheek looking at the menu. "I'll have some sushi, an eight once steak, and a bottle of sake." He told the waiter. if this was his last night doing this he planned on getting so hammered that he would feel the hangover for a week. After he sobered up after a few days of course. He looked back at Kaeda to ask her something. "So what song do ya wanna sing? Personally I like the idea of 'Save a Horse' but y'all can figure this out too ya know." He motioned to the others while the waiter handed him his cup and bottle, which he started to just take drinks from the bottle, ignoring the cup. He had no idea why he was given a cup if it wasn't vodka.

Jake was on his second bottle of sake when Kairi passed out on the table. One sip of wine? Seriously? He thought to himself in amazment. He got up, picked her up, and proped her back up on the seat. He didn't know anybody who was that bad at holding their liquor but now he did. After a bit of waiting his food came out so he began to eat his sushi first as well as use cups for his drink.

"So Kaede." Jake began as he got everything out. "Tell me a bit about yourself an then we'll do the same." He told her. In order to actually help the mother out on "modernizing" Kaede, Jake would first have to know her personally.

Jake thought about the idea and began to make a big smile. The idea was good, very good, in fact he was willing to do it as long as he could find some clothes that could fit. He looked at the girls. Kairi was hammered but Kaede still looked sober or if anything a bit buzzed. He didn't know much about Japanese clothing other than they had some robes and weird, uncomfortable looking shoes. If they did go for the idea it would be a long night.

"Sure. Why not?" He said smiling at the others. "I think we should go out now an buy some clothes that fit us." Jake looked straight a Kaede now. "I think it'll be a little funny if you come back to your house dressed in my wear. Maybe it'll be too western for her." He told her grinning widely.

Jake was getting mad now. Was she really so stubborn that she wouldn't even attempt to try the joke? He thought it would be funny and he was determined that they would pull it off tonight. "Now listen here." He said calmly and patiently despite his rising anger. "I know that you don't like the clothes I wear. To be frank I don't give a damn. Daniel made an idea for a joke to pull and I would rather have the first night filled with good laughs than one filled with arrgument. You'll switch with Daniel cause he's practicely already wearin a suit just not the jacket. Kairi will switch with me. I don't care if mama sees your clothes or not cause bein a lady's got nothin to do with their dresses."

"When I was studying in Saudi Arabia I had the choice between my clothes an wearin thawbs an such. If I wore my clothes then others would show their respect but if I sucked up my pride an wore a thawb to get their respect. So I wore it cause a bussiness partner that respects ya is better than one that don't." He took another drink. "Hell. If ya had my parents they would've thrown ya own your ass since day one." He finished. Maybe she would would suck up her pride or maybe not.

While the others were discussing the details Jake was paying their bill. It was polite, after all, for the man to pay for the ladies. For some reason Daniel seemed a bit more tight on money. He put on his jacket as he stood up. "Kairi I'd suggest ya just shut up before ya mess thins up even more. Besides your idea of a proper lady is borin. Kaede's only problem is her temper but other then that theres nothing major to change." He told the girl. He looked over to Daniel now. "Right. So we gotta leave an find our stuff but you gotta guide me through this fasion. I got no idea what's what." He told his British counterpart.