masanari | [Futurelandia] The Wonderful Christmas (and maybe into New Years stuff too)

[Futurelandia] The Wonderful Christmas (and maybe into New Years stuff too)

[ Their pack's Christmas tended to be one which was full and chaotic, despite the fact that there were increasingly less children in the house as Yamato and Junko (and yes, Koji too) all grew to maturity. In some ways, this was actually more "kids" than had been in the house for it than in a long time, what with their new additions.

Still: Masaomi, Nariko, Ada, Sullivan, Emily, Octavio, Tom, Yamato, Junko, Koji, Veronica, and Audrey - Twelve people with at least one gift for everyone else, often times more in the case of those who were more generous or had deeper pockets or more to impress others with. The sheer number (even if it had grown over time) is probably what prompted them to set up a grate tree in one of the living room spaces which was probably meant to be a formal dining room and then lay out all the presents from everyone wrapped up under it andt hen sprawled out for a wide area around it all. There's chairs set up in a circle around the room to give everyone room to sit and the first one there (Which if, of course, Masaomi) brought bags for the wrapping paper to go into a recycle.

Also Masaomi has on a santa hat and a fake beard. Both of which Ada picked out years ago, and he wears mostly out of tradition. It's similarly out of tradition that he got up at the ass crack of dawn to sit in the room and eat some rice before anyone else got up, wait for them all to filter on in here usually starting with Ada or Sullivan or in recent years his eldest son so people can start to make breakfast and be ready. But either way, breakfast and present opening in the morning! A white elephant gift exchange game in the afternoon! A big dinner in the evening!

Christmas is a time of togetherness, where there has to be some structure, but there's a lot which can happen beyond all that and often did. Movies watched, songs sung, and even if this year of different and strange for a variety of reasons... well. It was still their day, and everyone would enjoy it. ]

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[ What is he missing! You really got to tell him these things if he's missing something with your dream houses, okay. He's learned the hard way that if he tries to read intent too much that can end up backfiring on him. Still... ]

Aaaah, you'd be cutting her effort anyway, she might like it. [ A beat - ] But yeah, I do.

[ He hums and - ] We leave on the 5th and get back on the 12th.

[ So he might be cutting into the time, depending on how you look at it. ]

[Considering that she had every intention of actually leaving on the 4th and coming back on the 11th it goes beyond just eating into one end of the time frame. It's true that she hadn't exactly discussed it with him beforehand, but she hadn't thought that would really be necessary since, well, up until a few hours ago they weren't going on a trip together.]

Hm.

[Obviously she has to push off going to see Nathan until the 13th, or she'll have to go to him straight from their trip, but.] I'm not going to be able to stay with him for very long, then.

[She goes back to school around the 16th, after all.] Well, I guess that means I won't be away for too long.

[.... This'll actually be the longest they've ever been away from their kids, and she's pretty much never left the house, come to think of it. Shit.]

[ He---? Oh, right, Nathan. Had she planned to be at Nathan's for a week or something? ]

He'll be here himself soon enough though, right? [ Maybe Masaomi had figured Nathan could move too fast, be all packed up enough for Nariko to finish the job even before the New Years, and then she went over the seal the deal and possibly even flew back with him. Still, the guy had a whole house and a whole life, so maybe that was unrealistic. ]

I didn't know you had booked anything.

I didn't, the flights'll be cheaper the closer to New Years we get. [See!! She's not expensive about everything! Although maybe that's not the right takeaway for this conversation. She's quiet for an extra moment, trying to figure out the best way to tackle this.]

You know, if it was another man I'd think that it was best for to just wait until he gets here with Irina.

[She's not saying that's what'll happen, but he knew she couldn't go after Christmas because she wouldn't have made it back in time for New Years day, which she spent with her mate. So. The logical conclusion there had to be that she would go sometime after then, and before she went back to school.

While Nariko's willing to accept that she's maybe being a little paranoid and critical here? She'd bet just as much that he did it all on purpose.]

[ Hmmmm.... ]

No, no, I don't think so. The both of you were looking forward to seeing each other without me breathing over your shoulder, particularly Nathaniel.

[ and... Well, yes, it was deliberate in some ways, but really, could you blame him. That spineless puke told Nariko to leave him, and even if he was mostly cool with the guy or at least was trying to be, there were hard feelings over that ]

If needed, I can get my money back for the flight.

[ And he should be able to cancel at least the resort room... He's trying to show openness to her but he knows or at least hopes she won't take it, won't want to have an extended trip with her bother over a trip with her mate. ]

Edited 2016-01-10 07:28 (UTC)

[Without me breathing over your shoulder?! It's that, really, and the mention of money, that upset her so badly in that moment. Could his words be taken as a sign of openness, that he'd be willing to cancel it all so that she could see her brother? Sure. Maybe. But there's no way that Nariko would ever view it that way unless she really sat and combed over the words which - might have been a possibility if he wasn't always so concerned about fucking money!]

Obviously I'm going with you.

[But it's good to know he apparently thought it was a choice, when it never was.]

[ He thought she would, but all the same, he says - ] Mmmm, I'd hoped you would.

[ Because it was a choice, everything they did was a choice. And the siblings probably would benefit from time together when he was on the other side of the planet, or at least, Nathan would see that as beneficial, even if it made his stomach do some strange flips. But the Alpha cups his her face in hands, not necessarily oblivious to how upset she is, but also not necessarily knowing the extent of it ]

Time together alone like that really will be fun.

[ Both on this trip and with her little house idea. Sure he might have gotten on her about the specifics she threw out, but he didn't dislike the theory! ... Maybe he was missing something under all of it, though. ]

Edited 2016-01-10 07:53 (UTC)

[It's an incredibly good thing that he doesn't know how upset she is because if he did the last thing Masaomi would want to do is touch her. He trusted her to fuck everyone on the planet but he couldn't trust her to naturally choose him, or to be alone with her brother for a little while? He had to use one of the few, meaningful romantic and thoughtful gestures he'd ever shown her as some kind of backwards ass evaluation?

It just sucked. And in a way it was impossible to keep up with what he deemed inevitable and what was apparently a choice.]

It will be.

[She can probably stop being upset by the 5th.]

[ The truth of the matter is that if Yamato excited him, Nathan scared him. When he was in the abstract, back at the pool, that was more exciting that she would admit it. But when he met the man... the fact of the matter was that Nathaniel not only probably could make a compelling argument to her that she would be better off without him, but he was willing to do it when he was in the same room. What would he be willing to do with him a continent away.

He didn't see it as a test, or if he did, he saw that test as being romantic in and of itself. Maybe that was his failing.

But all the same... She doesn't smell as into him right now. He --

He was going to kiss her, but he decides not to. He slowly removes his hands from her face ]

I'm looking forward to it.

[Nathan wouldn't do anything, and neither would Yamato. Whether one excited him or the other scared him none of it would amount to anything at all. She can't really understand why he doesn't see that, but maybe that's what happens when your brain runs so quickly and constantly. You lose focus of the details that make up the whole picture in your head, and if enough of those small details are wrong then the whole thing can be, too.

In a way that's how she pushes the anger out of herself. In the end Masaomi still thinks she's someone that others might actually want enough to fight over and that's ... Really not the case. So it makes him stupid enough to accidentally hurt her feelings, in the end.]

You know, it's almost a little scary to realize that we haven't spent a lot of time alone together.

[She's back to normal, now! And even though it makes her feel a little desperate she tries to catch one of his hands so she can kiss his palm. He always pulls away when she needs him to hold on, or at least be dramatic. But maybe that's more of the romantic mess that gets them into these weird moments. She's supposed to be stopping, she promised herself she would before they came back home.

Maybe it just took practice.]

Edited 2016-01-10 08:17 (UTC)

[ That is absolutely the case, excuse you? Even putting aside that Nathan tried to do it in front of him, Masaomi firmly, firmly believes that she is the greatest woman in the world. Ergo, she is the most desirable woman in the world and therefore, there are many people who would want to take her from him. Basically everyone, really, though very few stand a chance between her ability to choose him and other people's being intimidated by him.

Or at least, it's that flux, that lens that he sees the world through. To him, it's exciting and terrifying and beautiful, especially now that they have that stronger connection that the funeral had created. It's why he had worked hard to finish that manuscript, or why he had wanted to give them some alone time in the first place. And when he's tugged back in he's...

mildly surprised. But only for a moment, only for an instant.

He smiles, and he takes that as his cue to kiss her after all. ]

Mmm. That's my failing more than anything, I'd think. Not only did I get that job, but I made this pack and gave you all those kids.

[ . . . It's a joke. It's not a great one, but few of his are ]

[But Nathan had rejected her. He hadn't stayed here with her, he hadn't even tried to fuck her for the entirety of that trip. And while it was true that her brother might be made weaker as a result of her presence, or maybe he was just weak in general - she couldn't know until she saw him around other people, after all - but if a man really wanted something, didn't he go after it? Or was that kind of thoughtless action unique to Nariko?]

Masaomi, tell me you love me.

[Because that's really what she needs to hear, right now but it might take a half hour or more for him to round up to that on his own. So she's speeding things up.]

[ That's... He actually blinks at that, as if she needed to ask that of all things. But dutifully, he responds, ]

I love you.

[ In fact, his eyes move off from her but only for a moment, only to look at the face down picture frame she's brought along with her when he carried her over, and then right back to her. ... He'd offended her again, but this time, he was only barely sure how. He could only barely guess what the problem was. ]

[What, she can't just need to hear it?] I love you, too. [And then:] Thank you.

[But she ends up watching the path his eyes make, from her to the frame back to her again. Thankfully of the two of them Nariko isn't the one to hesitate to ask a question or voice her first thought.]

What is it?

[He's staring for a reason, and she knows that, so he's better of just answering than trying to lie to her.]

You don't thank me for loving you, Nariko. [ Which is totally and completely not in contradiction to the fact that they chose to be together like this and shut up. ... Okay no, their biology helped a lot with that. Still, the Alpha - ah. He strokes her hair, absently. ]

I was just thinking back on how young we really were then. And our kids are really still quite young, if we compare them to us.

[ Basically, even if Yamato is an adult legally and Junko isn't long to follow, even if Koji knows his mate or Yamato is an Alpha, even if Junko went off to college or Yamato became a pro... even when they were in their early-mid 20s and mated and had a kid, in retrospect, they were so young. Or at least, it feels like that as compared to now. So even with all of their experiences then, they were young. How mature could their children possibly be.

... So basically, she was right to say he shouldn't have mentioned grandchildren ]

That's not what I was thanking you for. [So he really didn't need to worry about that. But she relaxes into that touch, draws designs along his lower back and up his spine as she listens to what he's saying just as much as everything he keeps to himself.] They're incredibly young, Masaomi, and we're not exactly old, either.

[Sure, they weren't in the same class as Yamato and Junko anymore, but no one was at an extreme aspect of the spectrum, here. When they'd been dealing with Yamato and his arrival they'd been stupid, winging it like any other set of new parents. If anything Nariko would make the argument that she wasn't really any sort of 'adult' until her mid thirties, and now she's just barely edging towards the next tier. They've spent a lot of time scrambling to figure out how it all works.

Maybe that was kind of why she wanted another kid. Yamato had been the first pancake, Junko was a little easier, and then Koji had just been outright smiled. If they had a fourth they'd both finally know enough to be the best parents they could be. ... But that was another topic. She looks at that picture too, and then makes the ridiculous effort to reach over just enough to turn it over so she can really look at it.]

I'm sorry. [She got upset, and some of the reasons for that upset were valid. But other parts of it were stupid and illogical.]

[ He starts to say something like "you don't need to say sorry" or "no I'm sorry" but ... he doesn't actually yet realize what he would be apologizing for other than he did upset her. So instead, Masaomi decides...

... Maybe he should communicate more. He glances again at the picture, and then back at her face. He kisses her briefly (his shoulder stings a little now, the cuts open up to the air around them - ]

Mmm, how about for the sorry you tell me what you thanked me for?

[ Because then he might understand it a little better? ... They aren't old, are they? He - ] My father died only about ten years older than this.

[ Maybe that warped his sense of time. That his father died in his early fifties. ]

[.... Ah. Okay, one issue at a time, here. But she acknowledges that part concerning his father by taking one his hands, squeezing it. But, for now:]

I thanked you because I just needed to hear it without anything else being added on. If you hear what really matters then petty shit becomes easier to deal with.

[Ergo - he wasn't right to not trust her in regards to Nathan, but she was getting wrapped up in a lot of extra, little stuff that didn't matter. He was kind of being a dick, but her getting huffy and emotional didn't help, either. They'd have to deal with the issue of her brother eventually, she knew that. So for the moment she just needed to be able to calm down.

Otherwise she probably would have smacked him.]

[ Honestly he might deserve that smack. ... He might deserve a lot of smacks. Still, he accepts the squeeze on his hand, and he nods. She... Ah, right. The big picture, the main point without the details. ]

And you're sorry because you thought you were too focused on the petty shit.

[ He tries that out. ]

I'm sorry I didn't react to the part that is actually a problem. You thinking about money first, all the time, even beyond a person's feelings, isn't exactly pleasant. I can't pretend to like that.

[And, really, unless he's been selectively blind she's never made her disagreement with that nature a mystery, but she's never actively put him down for it either. It wasn't that important, but she could get weirdly caught up in it, like now.]

That you'll trust me with everyone but my own brother is something else, or that you won't just admit you might not want me to go see him isn't right, either. None of that is petty.

[It's an issue, but. The result of their funeral escapade is that she's going to be reasonable, she brings it up without any aggression or dragging excess negativity into it.]

[ What in the fuck is she talking about? He-- ]

Thinking about money first?! [ No, no, no, he shouldn't get angry at this, but ... but he does. He's offended, largely because he's needed to manage the finances for this house for years (even if he didn't need to, what with her money) when it was way beyond anything that should logically be within his means and he grew up with concerns about money (his pack wasn't exactly a wealthy one and he had to be self-sufficient-ish by the time he was a legal adult or so) and she's getting on his case now?! The year that he actually went out of his way to make big, impressive, expensive gifts for everyone? Honestly, the brother thing is something else entirely because he is completely justified there but- ]

I literally invested tens of thousands into that trip! And I just told you that I can cancel it if you want to go to your brother! What about that makes me value money over your feelings?!

[ . . Okay he didn't really pull off the not being offended thing ]

Edited 2016-01-11 03:26 (UTC)

... Didn't I just admit that was the stupid thing I shouldn't have gotten caught up in, and am sorry that I did?

[Because he had really tried this year, and done a wonderful job, because she knew he hadn't grown up in the same way as her, and because, well, there was probably some part of him that thought all that money had made her life better. It hadn't, but that's an even worse conversation to get into.]

[ He...

He needs to reign it in. He inhales hard through his nose, and he shakes his head. ... Did she really see him that way? Did she really see him as some heartless scrooge after all he had done in order to try to provide for this house and his pack? Well excuse him for not having grown up as some rich boy who felt comfortable throwing around money willy nilly, who didn't think that investing in a two floor house in a city was a small investment---

... He really shouldn't be this pissed off at it, particularly at the expense of the other part of it. And he exhales just as hard and - ]

You did. [ He admits that. Calm, calm. ... Weren't they better? And this was communication. ]

[ ... So what's she supposed to say, now? Every time she opens her mouth it just seems to cause more problems.

If she thought it might help to speak then she would, in some way or another, tell him that's not what she thinks of him in the least. It's not like the trait doesn't have it's explanation, and it hadn't ever really impacted how she thought of him, either. Was the idea of taking the cottage from Yamato at any given moment kind of mean? Yes. He couldn't really change her mind on that.

But, let's face it, he's still upset at her, she can practically feel it roiling off of him.

When she wiggles up a little it effectively separates their bodies and while it's always wrong to be disconnected from him now it actually seems to physically hurt.]

Just forget I said anything, okay? I'm sorry. [The house or her brother or any of that, really. It would have been fine if she kept her mouth shut. ... All of her clothes are ripped so she doesn't have anything to put back on. Well, shit.]

[ Where is she going? Was she - ]

I don't trust Nathaniel.

[ He shouldn't speak, should he? She was already backing off from him, pulled him out of her body. She was moving away from him. Was that his fault or her fault? And why did it come to this right after he'd given her some beautiful gifts, ones he put so much effort into? Yamato could impress her with a ring, and he ... couldn't impress her with something eleven times the price or something with fifty times the effort?

... It's petty to be this jealous. He exhales again, releasing the tension from his body. He squeezes her hand, and he puts another arm so as to pin her there. ]

I'm sorry about that. I'm worried about you going to visit him alone, after he so boldly asked you to leave me.

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They. They were doing so well.

God dammit woman rofl (okay no it's his bad as well buttmad at Nathan and wary)

the only mild upside is that he's wary of the right person at least?? or something like that.

hahaha true. .... Sob

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You know before their trip she's got enough tim to read them through his eyes in his book

true. but how much that fixes things is up in the air tbh the reverse is the real issue imo

yeah it really is, but it can be a conversation starter of "wow this is not how it is"

that is a very very good point

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I'm so sorry by the way

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this whole thing really makes me feel like she'd be incredibly envious of Charlotte and Fred

... rofl poor Nariko (but hey she creepily raised him in her image so there's that)