Tokyo Trip: Interactive Fiction

[Sigr]

This fiction is going to revolve around one simple idea that I hope has some potential. It's a piece of solo writing, but with each update I'll add a poll at the end so you lovely people of Blue Moon have input on the story. Comments are welcome as well. I hope you enjoy. I'll try to make each message on the short side compared to what's usual in this section, so I can include people's input as often as possible.

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Furukawa Aoi hurried up through the international terminal of the Haneda airport in Tokyo, her white sundress fluttering wildly with each step. It was a most uncouth behavior, something that was rarely seen unless it was rush hour at the subway, so the shame allied with the exertion and the heat to make her tanned face look red. Finally reaching her destination, she had to go back a few steps to recover one of the white sandals that covered her feet, noticing that it had slipped in one of those final steps. "Did I make it..." Aoi mumbled in a thick Japanese accent, her dark brown, almost black eyes jumping from monitor to monitor, searching for information. A heavy sigh of relief soothed the tension on her petite body, her hands leaning on her knees for support as she recovered her breath.

It seemed that she had arrived on time after all, so Aoi dug into her white backpack for a small pink towel to discreetly dry her forehead. It was a charring day of August, and it was doubtful that the month would give them pause unless a serious storm came in. And nobody wanted that. Her dainty hands folded the towel before returning it inside the backpack, retrieving a small bottle of water this time. "Ahhh..." another sigh escaped her lips, this one of content after she took a couple gulps from the bottle. Aoi normally could stand both exercising and heat, but at the same time and worried about her task? That drained the life out of her, at least for a moment. One of the wonders of youth was how fast she could recover.

The bottle returned to that small yet stuffed backpack of hers, all sorts of maps and guides occupying most of the space. "Come on, where..." she grumbled, digging back into it to finally manage to fish a folded cardboard sign. Taking a deep breath, Aoi focused on the task at hand, the one she didn't want to fail at, she just couldn't. Maybe she wasn't what the tourist expected, but she could do the job, or so she thought. Noise and activity went around Aoi without making her move, just being a bit of a nuisance, so as impassive as a stone in the middle of a river, Aoi just waited. The flight from San Francisco flashed on the screen as marked its arrival, so Aoi stood there, holding the scribbled sign, waiting for the passengers to get out.

Waiting for Sam.

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The first question is pretty simple: http://www.strawpoll.me/13321975

 

[Sigr]

So as I'm writing this, the Samantha option won for the first poll, so I guess that we got our share of FxF lovers around. Lets continue.

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Sleepless and unnerving, that was how the flight had been for Samantha. She had tried to sleep or distract herself with movies and music to no avail, her body ranging from fidgeting on the seat to walking around the plane, sitting back down when the flight assistants looked at her weird. How could she rest? How could she sit still when she was going to do it? A dream come true, it was happening. She was going to Japan. Just thinking of it made her shiver, wondering if she was going to wake up home anytime soon but no, it was real. Too real perhaps, as the long hours of plane trip were ending with her patience, not that she had much of it to begin with.

Once they finally landed, just walking through the Haneda airport was crazy and weird, as escalators and vending machines had their own voice, she looked everywhere with wide open eyes while effortlessly carrying a backpack as hand luggage. As her eyes wandered here and there, she couldn't help but notice that Samantha herself was the object of a few discreet looks, although no one stared at her for long. "Hahhh..." Sam half laughed half sighed, scratching her short blonde hair with her free hand. She did expect it to feel weird, but she was sort of accustomed to those looks. Around six feet and four inches tall, somewhat around 192 centimeters for the Japanese, Samantha was already tall where she came from, and that feature of her was even more patent around Japanese people.

The rest of her was sized accordingly, and the end result could hardly be identified as the huge otaku she was, her bulky frame making her look more of an athlete than a model. She honored her looks though, since Samantha had a basketball scholarship in college and was using her saved money and a couple of August weeks free to travel far away to the land of her dreams. She started basketball because she loved Slam Dunk, an old and inspiring sport manga about a delinquent that got into basketball. Not that she had been a bully before, but even with her size she never thought of doing any kind of sport until she read that manga.

She waited until she could retrieve her main luggage and went through passport control, causing even more looks of awe. It was true that she wasn't an specially voluptuous woman, but it was mainly because her assets were hidden by a tracksuit and even if they weren't, would look smaller than they were in her big frame. Sizes that would make a smaller woman garner lewd looks everywhere just looked adequate on her. Getting out of the arrival area, she looked around for the guide that she had contacted through email. Expecting an old man like the ones of the pictures on the guide website, she searched for any with a sign with her name, to found nothing.

And yet, beyond a bit of a crowd, Samantha took advantage of her height to notice a small Japanese girl holding a sign with Sam written on it. It couldn't be, it was so odd and out of one of her series that Samantha had to blink twice, and yet, there she was. "Hi, excuse me, I think you may be waiting for me..." Samantha tried to be as delicate as possible, keeping a bit of a distance between her and the girl so she didn't have to look down her. "Furukawa-san?" she ventured, noticing how cute and completely lost the girl looked.

---

Wanted to update earlier, but I was quite busy. The question of this update gravitates around Aoi's reaction to Samantha's presence: http://www.strawpoll.me/13466648

As always comments are allowed here, no problem.

 

[Sigr]

With a tie between the requesting proof and causing a scene options, I'll use them both, hope you enjoy!

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Shadowed by the huge figure in a black tracksuit, Aoi was startled by that delinquent looking tall... woman? It was a woman indeed, and claimed to be the one that she had to guide? Aoi was too baffled and surprised to think twice about the approaching figure, and even if Sam was keeping her distance, Aoi freaked out for a moment, asking for help in Japanese while she embraced the sign like it was some kind of shield. "Ah... what's wrong..." Samantha asked weakly, looking around to the people that were staring at the scene. "I didn't mean..." she added, taking a step closer to calm the girl down, something that didn't seem to help. Soon a couple of security guards from the airport appeared, escorting them both to a couple of small private rooms to clear the issue.

Half an hour and a lot of bows later, Aoi was dragging her feet out of the room, completely mortified about what happened, utterly embarrassed and feeling awful for all of it. Samantha had shown the security guards the passport and the emails from her phone, Aoi explained what she was there to wait for Sam thinking he would be a man, and once everything seemed to check out, they were released. Quickly after Aoi, dragging her luggage, Samantha followed, finally able to talk to her after they had been split apart. "I guess that I can look scary sometimes, specially when tired after such a trip, and nervous about all of it..." she was rambling while following the silent girl. "I didn't expect a young girl and you didn't expect a tall woman, so we are even, don't worry" added with a smile. Samantha wasn't one to hold grudges, even less for just a misunderstanding. "Think of it as a funny story to tell about the trip, I sure do" she added, something that made Aoi turn around and quickly approach Sam. When close the height disparity was notorious to say the least, and yet Samantha almost felt the need to step back when she noticed how serious Aoi looked.

"Please don't" the girl asked, her high pitched voice sounding firm. "This is important for me, and I'm very sorry that we started on the wrong foot, but please don't go around talking about what happened" Aoi insisted.

"I... I didn't mean like it was unprofessional just..." Samantha was surprised about how serious the little cute girl looked. Perhaps she had guessed her age wrong and was older than her? Sam doubted it, but she really didn't know. "Just the kind of stuff that happens when different people from different cultures mingle, a learning experience so to speak" she shrugged, giving it no importance.

"Fine then, now if you allow me Miss-" Aoi started, being soon cut off by Samantha's dismissing gesture.

"I know that I may be rude and come across as a bit of a brute, specially in Japan. And I promise I will try to be as polite as possible, but..." she sighed. "Please, please, please. Call me Sam, will ya?" she asked, a smile as broad as her shoulders appearing on her face, honest and bright.

"Ah-" Aoi was surprised by how feminine the woman could look, as her first impression was one of a lumbering giant clad in black. It was against protocol, but since it seemed to be important to her and they had already started in a strange way, Aoi couldn't help but concede the point. If it served for Sam to feel more comfortable in her visit to Japan, it was worth the effort, although it had to be a two way street. "I'll do it, Sam" Aoi's effort was easily heard that first time. "But then I can't be Furukawa-san, so call me Aoi to keep things simple" she said, smiling a bit.

"I'll do! Pretty name, Aoi" Sam said, a brief hearty laugh escaping her lips. "So now I change some money and we get going I guess? Although I bring a few Yen with me, most of my money is in Dollars" she admitted.

"We can sort that in the city if you don't mind a small trip and want a better rate" Aoi commented, still getting accustomed to Sam's attitude.

"After a big trip I won't mind a small one, better rate means more to spend" Sam said, looking a hint tired and yet feeling invigorated by the fact that even if she was still in the airport, she was already in Japan and so close to the Tokyo of her dreams that she could almost taste it.

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For now small details on the polls, there would be bigger things to come once the ball gets rolling. This post question is about the backdrop and not the characters. Is Sam going to stay in a traditional place with futons on the tatami, old wooden bathtub... or a state of the art modern hotel? http://www.strawpoll.me/13583002

As always, comments are welcome.

 

[Sigr]

Readers have spoken and picked a traditional hotel over a more modern one, lets see how it works for our characters...

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If the misunderstanding at the airport had helped make things awkward, the trip from it to the city wasn't helping at all. It seemed that the train had some issues, or so Aoi explained through the messages that sounded over the public address system. That made Sam experience something that she didn't expect unless in the subway at rush hour, and was being crowded in the train. Of course, it still wasn't as suffocating as a real get-yourself-pushed-in subway since there wasn't as much people, but since many of them carried some luggage it was still quite cramped. The lack of space made them stick together, showing the height difference even more as Aoi ended having to look down most of the way to avoid staring directly at Sam's chest hanging at eye level.

The train windows almost felt like a slide viewer, sometimes showing brief glimpses of the outside through the shifting crowd, so Sam could see that the surroundings of the airport were quite normal and almost country like, but soon it started to get busier and busier as they approached Tokyo itself. It was hectic, hundreds, thousands of people transferred from one train to another, always busy, always in a hurry but rarely running. Aoi knew where they were going, but sometimes it was almost tempting to grab her and carry that petite figure on her shoulders to avoid her having to deal with the crowd. Of course it would be completely inappropriate, but Sam was so bedazzled by the boisterous city that it just added to her good mood.

"Finally" Aoi said, tired but still holding the heat like nothing as they arrived at the top of a slope. "Hotel Edoya" she added, the name visible on the front. Sam followed her, handling the train trip and walk up the slope better than Aoi, but the heat was entirely something else, a humid warmth that seemed to seep in every corner of your body. The hotel itself seemed an old but nice half a dozen storied building in a street that had newer and taller hotels, so Sam was sure that it had something special to survive in the business. As they entered the lobby, Sam noticed that it was indeed quite old but clean and well preserved, having that feel of the second half of the twentieth century where you could almost see items from each decade preserved around from furniture to carpets.

Luckily for Sam, Aoi took charge of everything, since the lobby was mastered by an ancient woman that Sam thought it was some wise witch out of a Ghibli movie, little and wrinkly beyond her counter full of stuff. Aoi gave Sam a key attached to a big wooden piece with a 505 carved on it, no fancy card keys in there but old fashioned ones. "Last floor, at least the last one with rooms" she explained, clearly trying to be professional despite their odd start. "The floor on top of it has a resting room, a laundry with some washing and drying machines and the public bath" she added as they went into an elevator that almost looked steam powered.

"They have an onsen?" Sam asked excited about the public bath. She had hired the trip and hotel through an agency since she was horrible at those kind of things, so she knew little if anything of where she was supposed to stay. "Doesn't the room have a bath?" she wondered, more curious than worried. Being an athlete she was more than accustomed to be naked with other women, so it was no issue at all, at least beyond of the usual looks her body could attract but she was sort of accustomed.

"It has one, don't worry" Aoi answered, slightly misunderstanding Sam's question but noticing that she was aware of Japan's public bath tradition by the use of the 'onsen' word. Out of the elevator and into the room, Sam soon got rid of her shoes in the entrance, so it was one less thing to explain to her. The room had a living space next to a sleeping one, separated by a set of sliding doors and equipped with a futon, a small tv and fridge in front of a couch and a little table. The entrance corridor that went to the room had doors for the bathroom and the toilet.

"It's beautiful!" Sam said, walking around the room that luckily had a tall enough ceiling to accommodate her height, even if it wasn't for much. "Oh, yes, air conditioner help me" she said, finding a remote and fiddling with it until the device on the wall started to breathe cold air on her. "Damn... I was told that August was rough, but this is something else..." she said, removing the jacket of her tracksuit and throwing it on top of her still closed luggage.

Aoi looked at Sam wordless, seeing how the giant moved around with more grace than she expected, but it was her bigger than expected chest the one that grabbed her attention. It fit nicely on her taller frame, but on someone smaller would look quite big, enormous on someone as small and thin like Aoi herself. "Make yourself comfortable, you are already in Tokyo" she said, smiling at her charge for the first time.

"I am in Tokyo, right? It sounds surreal" Sam voiced, returning the smile and enjoying the cold air.

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Time to choose the next step for the story. Priorities! http://www.strawpoll.me/13717862

 

[Sigr]

It's been a weird end of summer, but I've been wanting to retake this so here we go. At this moment the poll was able to steer itself from naughty thoughts and went into a more practical route so money exchange it is.

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"Ah, the air conditioning is too good..." Sam sighed, grabbing the hem of the white tank top and shaking it, fanning herself. Partially stuck to her skin, it showed her trained physique and that she was wearing some kind of navy blue or perhaps black bra, at least that was what Aoi guessed, her eyes stuck on the woman. "I'll take a long bath before bed, but for now..." Sam mumbled, turning around to face away from Aoi and open her suitcase, but the Japanese girl couldn't stop staring. Sam removed her tank top, throwing it to a side, revealing a powerful back and the fact that her partly revealed bra was indeed a sporty navy blue one. Quickly drying herself with a towel from her luggage, Sam soon had another shirt in, this time a quite loose LA Lakers one.

"Something short... something short..." Samantha dug absentmindedly in her suitcase. "Ah" she had found something fitting, and soon her tracksuit pants were gone the way of the rest of her discarded clothes in a corner. It was clear that the sporty girl could be a bit of a slob, leaving discarded clothes lying around to pick them later. Only Aoi's self control allowed her to not go around picking up the clothes for the slovenly girl, but what she couldn't help was to stare at her muscular legs and how they started in some fit buttocks clad in plain white panties. Soon enough Sam donned the black shorts she found, finally covering herself, even if it wasn't much.

The end result was somewhat baffling. It was true that many girls Aoi's age were dressed like that of with way less clothes, but none of them had that body. Sam's bare legs seemed to have no end, and to make matters worse, unless she moved, the Lakers shirt was long enough to cover the shorts and create the illusion of a dangerously short dress with nothing below. "Much better, my skin needed to breathe" Sam said, finally picking the discarded clothes into a laundry bag and facing Aoi.

"Y-Yes, being comfortable is important when traveling" Aoi was able to blurt, but not much else.

"So..." Sam rummaged through her stuff, retrieving a sizeable wallet. "My credit card is usable in most places, but I also brought quite a lot of cash" she commented, visibly excited to be in the city of her dreams, wanting to enjoy it to its fullest. "Can we go to that money exchange place?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah, it's not far from here" Aoi said, "we can go walking so you can see the neighborhood" added. "Remember, Hotel Edoya. In case you get lost, seek help and any taxi or police should be able to help you" she said, before getting ready to go back outside. "I'll be with you most of the time, but still... just in case" she said.

"Thank you" Sam said with an honest and wide smile. "By the way, I know just a bit about Tokyo, but I'm a bit of a... nerd" she confessed while they were going out after leaving the key in the old fashioned lobby. "With all the trip and the subway and all that... in what part of Tokyo are we?" she asked, looking everywhere but to Aoi. The city was dazzling, and it had just begun.

"You? A nerd?" Aoi looked at the tall athletic woman in disbelief. If she was an otaku she really didn't seem one, that was for sure.

"Yeah..." Sam turned to face Aoi as they walked through the street, scratching her face with a finger. "I like manga and videogames and stuff..." she said, ambiguous and a bit embarrassed.

"Well, then you are going to love this, but no distractions until we exchange the money, promise?" Aoi said, a sly smile that looked a bit goofy on her crossing her face.

"It will be hard, but promise" Sam said. The afternoon was starting to give way to the evening, so the heat was giving them a bit of a rest, while more and more lights appeared in the street, growing in color as they walked. "Wait, where are..." Sam looked up and around, her eyes wide open.

"The station itself is a few streets away yet but... welcome to Akihabara" Aoi said as they went deeper into the nerdiest area of Tokyo. Electronics and videogames shops shared buildings with maid cafés, floors and floors of anime figurines and all sorts of business related to the otaku heaven. Just the sight of the Taito Station building was maddening.

"Akiba..." Sam gasped, looking like a small child on Christmas even with her prodigious height. "This is..." she mumbled, her eyes getting a bit watery. It was a bit silly, but the sight of the tall girl getting emotional made Aoi shiver.

"Now, now..." Aoi tried to calm her. "You promised me, right?" she asked. "Lets change the money and then we can wander a bit around" Aoi said, smiling at how naive Sam seemed sometimes.

"Ah... yeah" Sam nodded, rubbing her eyes. "I promised. This is wonderful" she just added, obediently following Aoi through the hundreds, the thousands of people that moved around Akihabara streets, until they were in a small alleyway with a door that required Sam to lean a bit so she could pass.

"This place is way cheaper to rent, specially on the fifth floor" Aoi explained as they entered something that looked like an old office building. "That's why they offer the best exchange rate" she added. Entering a door with a ninja, the money exchange was as swift and polite as one could expect, despite the somewhat creepy look of the place. Back at street level, Sam shifted her weight from feet to feet, anxious to get going, ignoring the odd looks her size garnered around, the usual for her even back at home.

"So... any ideas on where do you want to go? We should have dinner and rest afterwards since there is plenty of time to check the whole area on some other day" Aoi instructed, having the well being of Sam in mind, considering that she would be tired after the trip.

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So... where are our characters headed to? http://www.strawpoll.me/13965211