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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It was amazing.

[And she ... Has to tell Masaomi about the fact that she's pretty much mated to their son. There's a lot to go over and they're still in the car, but at least they're pretty much there!] No reason to smack him or anything, he was perfect.

[There might be a hint of love in there that she wouldn't usually associate with discussing Yamato but thankfully they make it to the temple. As usual, there's only a few other couples, the occasional singular temple goer to share the place with.]

[ Perfect, huh. He smiles all the wider at that, genuinely pleased and genuinely affectionate. As they're pulling in, he leans back in the chair and nods. they need to get out and go in, of course, and even as they do... ]

Glad to hear it. [ Because he was, she was looking forward to the night. ] Do you have more to talk about?

[ She assumed he did - and he did have one more thing - so he might as well ask it back, right? ... Even if he didn't necessarily finish his own thing ]

I do.

[A whole hell of a lot, actually.] But let's pray first?

[It'll help center her and, honestly, if he does have extra stuff to talk about then she hasn't quite picked it up, but she'll listen!]

Ahaha, okay, okay. I had something important to talk to you about, so I figured I should let you recount your story of the night first.

[ But paying? Thats a good idea. He takes her hand in his and leads her up towards the front of the temple, to the main shrine. He rummages in his pocket with the other hand for his wallet, so he can give a proper donation beforehand. ]

This is a little more important.

[He generally likes to hear the details and all that, but will they still be appealing when he finds out what really happened? She's thinking not, so better to keep the details to herself for the time being. She squeezes his hand, follows him up the stairs. There might not be too much of a line for the whole bell ringing and clapping and such, but as always she'll do everything a step behind him. Now it's not because she has no understanding of his practices, but simply because that's how it's always been.

... Man, they've been coming here for almost twenty damn years. Since the first year of their son's life. Shit.]

[ It's true, they have. There's something deeply nostalgic about it all, coming here, ringing the bell, donating, clapping. And giving a prayer for the new year.

A little more important? So they both have an important topic...

But Masaomi's prayer is the same silent one he's given for the last six years. It's one he would have thought was generic in his youth, but one he likes now - to wish for the happiness and longevity of his family. Of his mate and his children. It's the perfect way to start off the new year. And when it's done, he turns back to her, smiling. He takes hr hand again, and leads them towards the fortunes, to see where they'll fall. ]

[Her mate and her children, their pack and their continued health, all of that is standard. But this time she throws in a little prayer specifically for Yamato, her new mate, for Junko, her daughter who is emotionally struggling left and right, and for Koji, who is apparently blinder than a bat with one eye. She doesn't really know if it helps any to think of them all as separate entities rather than just grouping them all as the 'kids' so she just does both before it's all over with.

She kind of glowers at the fortunes, though, because they've always been eerily right for her. Which is great when you get a great blessing! Not so much when it's anything negative.]

[ Even if it's negative, you can tie them up! Masaomi, for his part, actually picks up his pace a little as he heads over to them, giving another donation and accepting his fortune from the shrine maiden.

Nariko will purchase her own, of course, it corrupt the process of the fortunes if someone else gets it for you.

He unrolls his own, silent this whole time but comfortable. and on his is...

small blessing, travel and marriage proposal.

... Man, that's a weird one. It's not bad, though ]

[But even if you tie them up and the idea is that it stays it never really feels like it does. Hell, maybe she accidentally takes it with her despite tying it. Who knows. Anyway, she looks at his first and raises a brow.] If Charlotte asks you to marry her I will actually punch her.

[Fair warning, Masaomi. But she stomps down her territorial nature by donating, and getting her fortune. She stares at it for a second before unrolling, and:

Middle blessing, studies, romantic relationships, and childbirth.

...

Okay, so definitely not bad, but that last one?]

Junko's taking a pregnancy test when she gets home.

I'll allow it. [ Even if he doubts that'd happen ] But I doubt it'll happen.

[ But he actually has his cheeks color at her fortune, smiling to himself. That... He likes that. It fits with what he has to say, even if it's something difficult to figure out how to say--

Wait, Junko ]

Why Junko?

She's the only one that would ask about marriage. [Maybe it meant someone close to Masaomi was getting married? One of his brothers? God, how weird. Not that hers was really any better, but she's definitely going to keep it, and probably look at it every time she's worried about a test.]

Who else would get pregnant?

[Didn't it kind of stand to reason that 'childbirth' could work in relation to Nariko becoming a grandma?] It's sure as hell not going to be me.

[.............. Except. ... Yamato ...]

Mmmm. I still doubt it. [ He's trying not to focus on the marriage because, well, he's not sure what to make of that. Who would get married around him? Certainly not Emily or any of the kids, Ada didn't have any one so serious and he doubted Audrey would want that after her parents. There's a few options, like Tom, but still.

That seems weirdly distant.

But here was his opening, he... ]

Ah... actually. Remember how we talked about my mortality over Christmas?

[Maybe Tom will get the rest of himself out of his closet and marry his friend! That'd be nice. But, yeah, she's not paying much attention to that either aside from the vague possibility of a pursuit of Masaomi's getting a little too overzealous. But at this rate she's not sure she'd even care a few months from now, so there you go.

What a weird segue, though, because he's going one direction but her brain goes in the exact opposite, and she takes his hand again.]

I do, and here's your friendly reminder that you're not going anywhere anytime soon.

[She's - Sort of a little worried, now.]

I know. That's... actually what I meant.

[ He inhaled and exhaled, squeezing her hand as he reached out to take it again. ]

But when you convinced me of that, I realized - and I know this contradicts Emily's party and what I felt there - but I'm not that old, we're not that old. And I wondered if maybe I was too selfish, too hasty in saying no more kids. [ A beat ] I'm still thinking about that now, honestly.

[ If Masaomi could know what was in her head, that she wouldn't love him or would leave him or what the fuck ever in a few months he might have his blood run much more cold ]

[If Masaomi knew what was in her head then, well, he should be proud, right? He was always saying marriage and all that was archaic, outdated, right? So if he wanted to appease Charlotte with it then why would Nariko care? It'd be weird and kind of sting a little, sure, but that's about it. It wouldn't mean anything.

And in truth she's kind of put having kids on that list, too, despite all of her talk with Yamato last night. She was on her birth control, she wasn't above buying the morning after pill, either. But he's ... Apparently considering having kids again.]

Oh.

[That's all she has for a moment.] I mean, to be fair I think you can be too old for loud parties but not too old for kids.

[Masaomi's only shocked her to the core maybe once or twice over the course of their relationship, but this gets to be the third. She's too tired to know what she's supposed to say or what she's even supposed to feel, aside from vindicated, except it's weirdly bitter and painful in the back of her throat.]

[ Marriage is archaic, it is outdated. It's a falsehood that complicates everything. But ti some people, it means something. And to Nariko, it means something. Nariko is the love of his life, he would not survive without her, and he would never willingly do something he knew would hurt her. Which is perhaps his biggest weakness, and why he's dragged his heels about everything. He inhales again, and with his fortune safely in his pocket, he begins to walk with her out back towards the car. They both had good fortunes, right? No need to tie them up.

But... ]

Probably. [ But. ] I'm still thinking about it now, and something last night got me thinking about it more. [ He tilts his head and - ] and so I wanted to talk to you this time. I kinda just... scheduled it last time. But I could reverse my vasectomy. And I wanted to talk to you about that. That's my important thing.

[It did mean something to her, at some point.

She's still got her fortune in her hand, she still has no idea how to field any of this at all. She still has to drive, and she's incredibly fucking hungry. While he's talking she tries to weigh the likelihood that he might have enough alcohol in his system to count him as drunk. But that would be mean, so she gives herself an extra few seconds to respond.]

If you decide it's something you want to do then it's alright. [Did he think she was going to say no, or something? It'd actually make sense if that was his concern.] I'm not going to be mean to them or their mothers, they'll just be part of the family. We'll have to talk to the kids again, though, and I'm not sure that'll go over any better than the last time.

[So they would need to prepare for it. And she has to accept that when she said 'kids' she only thought of Junko and Koji, not Yamato.]

Edited 2016-02-22 06:53 (UTC)

[ Huh... ]

No I-- I want to have more children with you?

[ It's true, he had promised Emily. It's true, he did still have his vision for a harem thing in his head. He was actually working out in his mind how he was going to get that point. But then she jumped the gun and he didn't know what was going on here? And she was...

What's with her tone? What's with her mood? Should she be more elated, or if she's assuming things like this, more terrified? Did she... ]

Ah. [This is a morning for single syllable responses while they head to Emily's car because she can't think of anything else to say. And it has to look bad to him, she knows, but she can't think of anything to say, there isn't even a bit of anger to draw on! What's she supposed to do here?

Regardless, she's pretty determined to go through the motions of at least making it into the car, but she sits there, kind of staring off into the distance for about nine seconds, which might feel much longer. She's never really internally freaked out about something like this, not in a long, long, long ass time.]

I mean that's ... [She can never shut her damn mouth any other moment of her life and now she's struggling.] I'm sorry I just - I mean I didn't think you'd ever want to again and I stopped thinking about it so - [She's trying to explain herself because Nariko's basically been nothing but a pile of overreaction and frustration for him in the last six weeks and she's trying not to be that.]

Yamato and I mated.

[That. Is definitely not how she planned on telling him but she didn't wake up thinking her other, first mate might consider having children again when she'd finally stopped being angry over it. So they can both have a fun filled morning.]

[ What.

She's right, those seconds felt like an eternity, the march to the car saw everything about him feeling cold, numb, filled with an anticipation he couldn't begin to qualify. What could be the problem here, what was he missing. What was... Was he too late or-

... For all of his bravado about how excited he was, about how he'd steal her back if that happened, what comes out of his mouth, perhaps a little bit drunk and tired is - ]

You're replacing me?

[ It sounds so scared, so needy, so incredibly unlike him. But what was he supposed to get from the context of that sentence. You only had one mate. It's just... how it worked. And she resented him that much? that she did it? Not that you can control that, but what was he supposed to get from the context of that sentence? ]

Edited 2016-02-22 07:27 (UTC)

No!

[They’re both tired and he’s drunk and she’s still not completely awake, and none of this even feels real, except for his tone, the fear in it and her innate need to fix it.] I love you! I can’t - I can’t not love you! [They’ve been together a very long time, so long that it might be easy to miss the ways they click back into place when they’re together. The dumb jokes and contact, the sense of rightness - none of that had left, for her. If anything that sensation was alarmingly highlighted now, a facet of her every day life that she’d sort of gotten used to after two decades. But it’s still there and it’s strong. They haven’t separated.]

I don’t know how it happened. Somehow, it’s - It works with both of you.

[And that’s not how things work, she knows that, and yet here they are.]

… Do you feel separated from me?

[It’s her turn to sound unnaturally small, and that’s not the right way to say it but no one ever has to put words to this feeling. The sense that they might not be right anymore, but she doubts he won’t get what she means.]

[ Somehow it works for both of you.

He can't --

She loves both of them? She's mated with both of them? Did she think of him at all last night, even as they had their honeymoon. No wonder they had so much sex. She didn't have the earring in. That's an irrational thing to worry about, and he knows it, but he can see the ring on her finger right now. Should he have done that, should he have proposed to her back at the funeral--

No, he can't think back that far. He can't allow himself to fall down that rabbit hole. But even so, before he realizes it, he's gripping the shoulder which has his Alpha tattoo on it with a vice-like grip, the telltale sign he rarely uses of extreme stress and, indeed, fear.

Does he feel... ]

I can't not love you, Nariko. I said... before. You're the love of my life.

[ And he even wrote a book to codify that. ]

Then I got up, I thought about you. When I fell asleep, I thought about you. When I resolved to get people pregnant, I thought about you. I don't feel... any different. [ Other than being worried she does ]

[When I resolved to get people pregnant. She doesn't even have time to process that, the fact that she figured it might be something like that, and they were probably always stuck on the path to that whether she liked it or not, really. She just hadn't figured she would be part of it all. It's something that has to be packed away for later - when, she has no idea. But Nariko can't watch him react this way and be still.

So she reaches over to try and pry his hand off of his arm so that she can hold it in both of hers.]

Then it's okay, isn't it? I'm right here, Masaomi, and so are you.

[He has to let her put his hand over her chest, above where her tattoo rests. There's no way to see it with the sweater she's got on, but it's still there, and the arm that has his name is more than visible, too.]

I'm not going anywhere.

[ He had it planned out in his head, a series of earnest statements he'd make, some rules he would set out for himself and others. Some parameters were he would feel out how she felt. and he just bungled all of it because her news was that much more shocking.

She...

He's comforted by this, how could he not be. In the car, he leans over her, looking her in the eyes and resolving to remain there, locked in eye to eye with her. His hand grips her sweater, and the other reaches up to gently stroke her cheek.

She's right here, and so is he ]

You're my mate. Mine in every way.

[ But if he could... could he even say that if it was split between two? ]

I am.

[She leans into the hand at her cheek, and then graduates to leaning forward enough to kiss him. There's probably something to be said about how they rely on physicality to communicate their feelings. It's either succinct and passionate or sad. Right now it's the former, as far as she's personally concerned.] I am yours, completely, as I always have been and will be.

[And she is, just as surely as she kisses him again. It's not a lie, it isn't something that's being said to comfort him or his ego, it's just the truth. She wouldn't say it if it wasn't.]

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