A Frosty Start (Open)

It was a relatively calm spring day, a few clouds in the pretty blue sky and a gentle breeze going through the air.

Yuriko wandered through the park, looking around at these strange and new surroundings, floating silently while being incorporeal, being slightly transparent and bringing a cold air with her.

She planned to try and explore this new place, and maybe make some friends along the way, humming a little tune as she looked around, some people looking at her in fear and scurrying away.

Daniel was at the park today, using some of his spare time to jog around the park along with other exercises. It wasn't as easy as you think coming up with stimulating exercises at the park. But being the martial artist that he was, it had become a second nature to find ways to work out his body. He was dressed in a hoodie over a green "gamer" styled tank top with some sweats.

He had just finished his last lap before moving on to a different exercise, when he noticed that a ghost was floating around. His brain processed this for a moment. Was this an actual ghost? They were real? He had seen enough japanese horror movies to be wary of ghosts but never thought he'd ever see one. It was only when she drew closer that he could tell more what she looked like, which helped him relax some. "Um... h-hello," he greeted her warily, not sure how to handle ghosts. "Why are you floating around the park?" he asked trying to be as friendly as he could. He immediately ruled her out being a local from her wearing what he assumed to be a kimono. That just raised more questions!

Yuriko would look to Daniel as he spoke to her, finally, someone who wasn't running away from her! "Ah, kon-nichiwa...h-hello" she said with a small smile and a bow "what am I doing? I-I'm new to this place s-so I wanted to explore a little" she said in a soft and wispy voice "w-why aren't you running away like everyone else? I-I'm glad you aren't but...you must be very brave" she said, nothing about her shouted scary ghost, more sweet ghost, much like Casper.

Daniel felt himself blush at her suggesting he was brave. It was hard to tell if he was from his working out but he was. "W-well um, I just saw you floating around like you needed help and I er uh... felt the need to help you," Daniel replied nervously. Ghost or not, her entire demeanor oozed cuteness and he had trouble handling cute girls. "H-how did you end up here?" Daniel asked, referring to her clearly being out of place- besides the being a ghost part.

Yuriko blushed a little at his thoughtfulness, her cheeks turning a light blue "that's very kind of you" she said, he then asked her how she got here "w-well a group of very kind ghost hunters visited me at my snowy mountain, they were the first human beings I'd seen in centuries, then, I showed them to my body but...it had been destroyed, I never thought to visit it before, but then I came to the realisation that I was now free to leave the mountain, so I travelled with the kind ghost hunters back to America, and they pointed me in the direction of Jump City, they also taught me English s-so I apologise if I misspeak" she explained to him, realising how she had just ranted on like that "s-sorry...I don't mean to bore you..." she added quietly.

Daniel listened intently to her little story of how she came to be here, minus the being dead part of course. Well it was confirmed now that ghosts exist now. Daniel wasn't sure if that was a relief or something else to be concerned about in the grander scheme of things. "N-no no, it's not a problem at all," he assured her, becoming more relaxed with the fact she was a ghost and stuff. Her being cute though still made it harder not to be nervous though. "I uh, actually speak alittle Japanese. Not nearly enough to hold a conversation but I do pick up a word or two," Daniel said as if proud of that, when he was simply trying to overcome his shyness toward cute girls.

Yuriko would smile brightly "d-do you want to become friends then?" she asked excitedly as she would take his hands and...pass right through him "o-oh right.." she said before becoming corporeal and solid and trying again. She took his hands in her cold ones, like a frozen corpse, she would move to sit down with him at a bench "s-so what Japanese do you know?" she asked him curiously.

Daniel wasn't surprised when her hands passed through his, until she became solid right before his eyes. "Brrr," Daniel shivered at the sudden cold of her hands. In a non-suggestive way, that coldness would feel great after his workout. "And y-yes! I would enjoy being friends," he said, still getting more comfortable around her. The fact she was now actually solid and could be touched did not help his nerves any though. "W-well k-konichiwa I know. Bakka- just some random words here and there from the anime I've watched," he explained racking his brain.

Yuriko giggled happily and excitedly "yay! Finally! My first proper friend! Yay yay yay!" she said before hugging him tightly, befofr suddenly realising what she was doing and moved back "s-sorry, you're my first official friend in well...centuries" she explained, she would them nod at his understanding "well I'd be more than happy to teach you more" she told him.

Her first proper friend? That was just... sad, though not unwarranted with her being a ghost. And based on her attire, it was also not odd to think any she had before may have- well, passed on. Daniel was however surprised by her suddenly hugging him, clearly making him blush this time along with a shiver at the touch of her cold body. It was actually quite refreshing, if not very surprising. "Really? I uh, find that hard to believe. You're... uh too uh, too cute not to have many friends," Daniel said tripping over his words alittle, realizing that he openly admitted that she was cute and blushing red in the face again. "And I'm sure I will learn much from you! But uh, is there anything you want to see right now?" Daniel offered trying to pass it off casually.

Yuriko would blush when Daniel said she was cute, a blue shade appearing over her cheeks instead of red "w-well...when I was alive, back in ancient Japan, I had a few friends, but then I had to run with my mother and when I became a ghost, people ran away from me, I tried making friends with the children in the village at the bottom of the mountain but...the adults feared me, and would tell me to go away...eventually a powerful priest came and put seals around the village so I couldn't even enter it any more...then after that I spent centuries on the mountain...alone...watching civilisation be built up from a distance" she explained, her tone growing softer and sadder before she would shake her head as if shaking the sadness from her mind "but you're here now and we're friends so that means I won't be alone again!" she said with a bright smile.

Yuri's sad story was hitting Daniel in his feels. That whole thing before about evil spirits in Japanese mythology quickly went out the window and was replaced by a sense of injustice with how she was treated. "That's not right what they did. You didn't mean them any harm," Daniel commented with more confidence then a moment ago. "Well, as your new and best friend I should help you catch up on everything you've missed," Daniel said more dramatically then before, actually looking more heroic without meaning to. This only lasted a moment until he realized it and he returned to a more nervous appearance "I-I mean- if you want of course."

Yuriko would smile as she listened to Daniel talk about the injustice done to her, she nodded excitedly when he said he'd catch her up on everything "of course! I'd love to! I've only seen civilization grow from a distance, yes I've seen the tall buildings and I've watched horses turn into those broomy broom things, but I've never had the chance to understand it all" she told him softly.

"Well then- I Daniel Jacob Mercier shall try to help you acclimatize to the modern world!" Daniel said in an epic, dramatic fashion that ended with him propping one foot on the top of the bench and posing. And then embarrassment hit him like a ton of bricks until his entire face was beet red and he sat back down. He just got so excited to be of help and from making a new friend he just got carried away with himself again. "Ok, so for starters: those vroom vroom things are called cars. People use them to get around, much like horses back in your time," Daniel explained.

"There is even a public transportation system on big vehicles called buses. There are also taxis, cabs, and basically other services to take people from one place to another using one of these cars," Daniel continued.

Yuriko would smile at Daniel's dramatic act, giggling a little at his enthusiasm. She would then listen to him explain things about the modern world and nodded, taking mental notes of what he said "vroom vroom things equal cars, with big ones being buses for the public..." she muttered, trying her best to store the information in her head.