I do not advise anyone to drive and operate a video camera at the same time. Just for the record.
For those who don't know, Hikaru has recently moved to my home state of Georgia. She has been insisting on meeting me for years and now she finally had the chance! Dan has also been anxious to get down to my part of the state and check it out as this area is pretty much uncharted waters for him. While I was initially nervous we finally met up today (as you can see from the video above). There wasn't much to do on a Sunday night in my city as most everything is closed by this time but we still made a good time of it just riding around and talking (and eating). Here's how it went...
We met up at Red Robin so I could treat them to lunch (my form of a 'welcome-to-Georgia'/'happy-housewarming' gift). Before I got to Red Robin I stopped by the store to pick up my card for the two of them. I tried to get peaches, but if you'll believe it, even in
Georgia, it's hard to find peaches at this time of the year. So I just got them a card. But it's the thought that counts, right?
Oh and I treated them to lunch so yeah.
Dan, our resident webhost.
I got to Red Robin, and caught a glimpse of Hik and Dan walking into the restaurant as I parked. I planned to sneak up on them or something but Dan called me as I was walking into the restaurant, and then saw me.
Hikaru was wearing a dress!!! They'd just gotten out of Church. She's also quite short and skinny in person. We got a seat in the restaurant, and as she scurried off to change out of her dress, Dan and I chatted about the drive he had, about how things were going, etc. Hikaru soon rejoined us and we chatted. It was initially a bit awkward (Idk, maybe it was awkward the whole time, but I think we warmed up to each other) but that's mainly because it was so surreal to me. Dan told me about his latest business antics over burgers. Hikaru shared her perception of the south so far, her hopes for the future, and so on. Dan tried to demonstrate her attitude towards public affection by giving her a big hug, resulting in him getting a good jab in the ribs in the restaurant.
After we enjoyed our burgers, I decided to show Dan our local Toys-R-Us (he works at a Toys-R-Us) in the mall. Apparently it's big -- Dan tried to explain the store layout's technical name to me, and proceeded to troll employees by asking them if they had various items which he knew would be out of stock. No trip is complete without a trip to the pony isle! And Hikaru found a ball so we had to stop and take a picture as she played with it. I was tempted to ride on a bike and get us kicked out (though Dan says they can't legally kick me off for that). Dan was actually wearing his work uniform (a nice polo which doubles as Sunday dress) so he took us over to Baby's R Us as Hikaru and I acted like a couple buying a stroller for our son. Apparently our son is named Billy.
Hikaru giving her best attempt at a smile.
As we left Toys R Us, we chatted about Gamestop. Throughout the day, I laid down various SP references, some of which they got and some of which they didn't. For example, when Dan asked me about my character -- Kveta Kauliya -- I started talking in a Russian accent. That prompted a discussion about rather Zarethians are more Russian or British. Dan told me that if I get pulled over by a cop I should tell him my name is "Genesis Dragon -- first name Genesis, last name Dragon". Hah.
So, I took them to a local venue used for concerts, festivals, etc. where they were having a "liquidation" sale which was somewhat falsely advertised on the radio as being quite cheap. It wasn't cheap. The entire room was like a small warehouse, cut into sections run by different booths. Admission alone was seven dollars a person. But we went in anyway. Some guy tried to sell us an old Mac and a vista computer with a crappy CPU -- they were 200 - 300 each. Some guy was selling bongs. Hikaru shopped through the headphones, and Dan looked at skillets for the apartment. We also went into the ghetto part of the warehouse where there were lots of old shoes for sale. It wasn't looking promising at this point.
We went to a large section where I think a DJ was broadcasting but I can't remember. There were lots of speakers and our local pop radio station was blasting really loud -- which Hikaru found out when she stepped right in front of the speakers. Dan explained the mechanics of car stereos to me, and found a huge speaker which was really heavy. We spent some time there before heading down to the last booth, run by a nice Asian guy. Dan found something (a radio? I'm not sure, I can't remember.) which he decided to buy, and Hikaru quickly found the man's collection of daggers and his hand-made katana. I found a 420 hat. As Dan checked out, I chatted briefly with some guy about football. Dan managed to get a discount from the Asian man, and we were off.
As we were leaving, a man stopped us and offered us to get our shoes cleaned, for free. Of course I said sure, my boots were quite dirty, and he managed to sell me a $20 shoe/leather cleaning kit which I instantly regretted buying. Alas, we left the venue and decided to drive around for a bit. We tried to hit up the comic book store but I forgot that it was closed. I proceeded to explain that my city is full of clubs. We passed two sex shops, and both times Dan begged me to stop and go in. Hikaru has also been reading up on haunted places in Georgia, so I took her by some of my favourite hunted places in my city just to freak her out!
We headed down to the river, downtown. Hikaru and I shared a brief moment admiring the beauty of the river before we headed up the river, right on the state-line of Alabama and Georgia. We passed some old mills, and Hikaru found a cool walking stick which Dan broke trying to wrestle it out of her hands. We admired the scenery and walked around for a bit before heading back to the car. It was getting late so I drove them back to their car, but on the car ride back, they got to hear my many voices -- my attempt at screaming Chester's part in a Linkin Park song, and my creepy voice. Dan got into it quickly.
We got back to the restaurant, and before we left, we were sure to get a group picture. Some lady who was having a smoke was glad to take it for us, so we posed together and gave it our best smiiii... uh... Well, yeah.
So I have a question for you guys! If you were to meet someone from the internet offline, would you prefer for them to use your username or your real name? I prefer my real name, to be honest. Hikaru answers to 'Hikaru' or 'NekoHikaruChan'. What about you? What would you prefer?
