tallulahgs

HAPPY BIRTHDAY disks_smilie! Hope you're having a good day! I bring you random birthday fic.

[Title] Rudie Philosophy
[Fandom] Jet Grind Radio
[Rating] G
[Notes/Summary] Mew learns more about the GGs' new member - that is, Yo-Yo. I'm trying a new take on Yo-Yo's character, inspired and promoted by the birthday boy above ^^

"Okay..." Mew rests her hands on her knees, panting, her breath slightly cloudy in the cool air. "Okay, you win. You're in the GGs. Congratulations." She tries not to make her voice sound all spiteful. Doesn't quite succeed. Up til now, she was the undisputed queen of Benten-cho racing. That was why she volunteered to give this newbie the run-around, cos who wants a wannabe under your feet when you're a gang suddenly and unexpectedly hitting the big time? Only hope it doesn't hit back -

The kid smirks. "Sweet."

"Yeah. Totally." Damn it, she really is sounding spiteful. She tries to think of nice things, like candy hearts and eyeliner. "You're... pretty good." Way better than I expected. What is he, thirteen? When she was thirteen she thought she was pretty damn awesome if she could grind five feet without falling on her butt.

"I practise," he says. "You didn't get my name, didja? I'm Yo-Yo."

"Mew."

"Mew. Cute." Then he laughs, pushes his red sunglasses up onto his wide forehead. "Okay, I admit it. I was born and bred in Benten-cho. 'Fore I checked you guys out, I practiced every possible race route and trick point I could think of here. Got lucky - hoped you'd test me out here. I knew there was an alleyway round the back of the Lucky Dragon in Genkijomae - cut ten seconds off my time."

Mew finds herself smiling. Maybe just cos he's kind of saving her rep. "Y'know, I could drag your butt over to Kogane and make you race me there."

"You gonna?"

"No. Mainly cos I'm not in the mood to be menaced by Poison Jammers in rubber masks. 'Sides, I grew up here too. We were probably pretty equally matched."

"And you're not Noise Tanking it?"

"In my opinion, the Internet is for shopping, downloading illegal music, and IMing people," Mew says, putting her nose in the air. "Shorting out people's electrics and making jokes about Java is not my idea of fun."

She begins to skate again, more leisurely now, her legs pleasantly tired from the mad dash earlier. The main street is still busy - people strolling from bar to bar. Laughter. The smell of cigarettes and sugar. Yo-Yo follows her, darting around her, sometimes ahead, sometimes behind.

"You're not Noise Tanking it either," she says to him. "Any reason why not?"

She expects him to say something like they didn't think I was smart enough or they're all geeks or... something a thirteen-year-old would say, but instead he shrugs and says, "They don't think enough about the why. All the stuff they do."

Mew raises her eyebrows. "What's that mean?" She speeds up a little, hurries over the bridge, and the lights of the streets rush away from her. They're both grinding along the handrail now, sparks flying from their skates. She hears Yo-Yo call, "What's the fun in anarchy if you dunno why you're doing it?"

She reaches the end of the bridge, jumps off, turns to face him. The stones of the siding crunch under her skates. The air smells of oil. "Oh yeah? What makes you think us GGs are any more smart?"

"Heh. You all dress different, I figure one of you's bound to have a brain. Not that I'm making out I'm a genius or nothing... actually, school and me were never more'n make-out buddies. I just - and no offence here, I dunno you, I could be shooting my mouth off, in fact given my rep that's more'n likely - I just figure, stick it to the man because it's what we do - it's got some limitations as a value system."

"Big words for a little kid," Mew says, laughing. "What is your value system, then?"

"I gotta find some better words to describe it 'fore I tell ya that. You?"

"I got to work out what mine is." She starts to skate past empty, silent train carriages, her voice echoing off the walls. "C'mon. Maybe we can talk more rudie philosophy on the way back to the Garage."