masanari | [Futurelandia] An Eventful Valentines and beyond (happy new year)

Okay...

So if I noticed you're not telling me something, Junko, then there's probably ten things you're not telling me. So I'm hereby... ah, wait.

[ Inhale, straighten face, look her right in the eye -- and then deeper, sterner, dad-Alpha voice ]

Tell me five things you're trying to hide from me.

[Fucking fuckity fuck, fuck, fucker!

She's so upset in that moment but Junko refuses to show it, instead she has to prepare herself for that tone and how it immediately strikes a small bit of fear in her, and a whole hell of a lot of obedience.]

Ah ...

[She just has to tell him things she's trying to hide, right? That doesn't mean they have to be about Rin! But Junko's never been the type to hide anything, either.]

I skipped class last week ... I asked mom to pay off my credit card?? [The second thing isn't even really that bad, in her eyes.]

Sometimes I still think Ethan is cute. [That'll be a really good one for him to chew on.] I think your assistant is a bitch because she gets more of your attention than I do.

[..... Okay she actually really shouldn't have admitted that, Rin or not.]

I don't really like Ada?

[Look, that was five things - she pulled this off!]

[ . . . Well some of those are fairly dark admissions for a variety of reasons. He hums a little, allowing her to get all of those off, keeping his hands to himself as he does it, but keeping his eyes locked on her. He holds the gaze for many long seconds afterwards. Some of those...

Merit some discussions. With both her and with Nariko. But then, blithely, he then asks, ]

But what about Rin?

[ SEE. THE WHOLE THING.

Was a trap ]

[Just kill her. It would be so much easier.]

Rin --

[She's desperately trying to think of something she can say without implicating their relationship in any way, but it's difficult to do with the pressure of Masaomi's gaze, with the instinctual knowledge that her father already has her verbally trapped, and she's only delaying the inevitable. But it's pride and fear that force her to keep trying.]

Rin - is -- He's ...

[Come on, come on she can think of something!!! And what's probably most heartbreaking is that for a moment it looks as if she's finally found an answer-]

His kisses are really wet and I don't know if that's normal or not!

[-- Except that answer totally implicates her. In the half second after the words have left her mouth she knows it. She knows she has fucked up.

It's awful.]

[ Um...

Um... Well, that's - ] I'm afraid I don't have a lot of experience with that. But we did used to call him a drool monster when he was young.

[ That said... he hums a little, tilts his head, and then keeps his gaze affixed on her. Was she desperately trying to hide that they had had sex (...) or ...

Oh. Well, that's more likely, isn't it? ]

You've fallen for him.

[... There's no point now, right? He's already got the main gist, so it seems ridiculous to keep expending the effort.]

Dad.

[Junko didn't want to say this without Rin, and she didn't want to deal with her parents separately about the matter either. But here they are.]

He's my mate.

[That goes well beyond the scope of just 'falling' for someone.]

[ Oh, huh... he's not sure if that's better or worse, really? But all the same, that's- ]

I'm really glad you found your mate then, Junko.

[ Sincerely, before anything else, he must say that. He brushes a hand on her cheek as he does ]

[She's completely thrown by this reaction.]

You're not mad?

[Rin's basically twice her age, he's got a dangerous job that doesn't allow him to be around a lot, and she may never meet the pack he's from because there was an idle implication that his pack was also involved in said job. She kind of expected her father to be a little upset about this.]

Oh no. No. I'm deeply concerned and a lot of those other secrets trouble me even more. Not to mention that if you're sneaking in here to tell me and it's not gossip on Audrey's lips, then obviously Nariko doesn't know either. [ Inhale ]

But anyone meeting their mate is a joyous thing, whatever else can be said abut it.

[ But his look is now shifting to stern, because now they must Talk ]

[There's some kind of Sophocles level irony that if she'd just told her dad the truth then he wouldn't have reacted the way she'd been terrified of. But now she's gone and told him stuff she never meant to put out into the light of day, and she has to pay for it.]

Ahh, I see.

[Why can't she ever get one up on her dad.]

... Thank you.

[For at least being happy that she found her mate, even so early on in her life.]

Of course.

[ Inhale... exhale... Be a father. How do you do that? Well, trial and error. ]

That's a mate with a pretty wide age different though.

[ Let's start there. That seems to be the least of the issues in his mind, though he imagines Nariko might not be the same ]

[Trial and error, and realizing the child is just as confused as you are - hadn't Audrey mentioned that, too? Because Junko, who is usually so calm and well measured for situations she is best suited, is now openly trying to gauge Masaomi's thought process, and it's because she doesn't know where he's gonna go with anything, and it throws her off.]

I know.

[That's a fair concern, and one spoken very reasonably. She can handle it.]

And it's not that I don't think it'll be a problem, but I have every intention of going to school and working really hard. By the time I do all of that I feel like the age difference won't matter as much, since I'll be a bit more grown. Until then, I'm just happy to be with him and figure things out as they happen.

[ He hums ] That's all true, but it can strike you are the least opportune times how much it does matter. [ Masaomi looks off to the left, hoping she won't call out Yamato and Nariko's age difference is greater, he won't know how to justify his concern. ] It's something we can't help but worry about.

[ Let's brush his hand in her hair, trying to make it better. ]

[She actually smiles.]

... But it actually makes me happy to hear that.

[Because a lot of the time it sort of felt like neither of them worried about her at all so. Yeah. This is actually just another positive in Rin's favor here, even if it's an effect that he didn't mean to have.]

I don't think you're wrong, I guess it's just that I'd rather try to learn how to figure it out than live without him.

[ Mmmm, how does he put this... ] Unfortunately or fortunately, Junko... I think you got a lot from your old man. I don't think he could live without him.

[ Masaomi brushes her hair again, tilting his head... and he can't really say too much more about this which isn't chastising her for something she can't help or something he should realistically talk about with Rin and/or Nariko. But he does ... ]

But there's no one more important to me after Nariko than you three.

How is that unfortunate?

[She really loves her mom but it's never stopped her from wanting to be more like her dad. Case in point, she's incredibly tempted to lean against him.]

So does that mean you aren't going to insist I stay away from him?

[Because that was probably what Nariko was going to do.]

An Alpha, I have no reason to. As a father, I'm going to say I won't, but I might need to talk with your mother.

[ Which is a non-answer to her on both counts. As to how it's unfortunate... well, blessed be her if Rin never gets a second mate. Which is probably unlikely, but still, there's that. Or if they end up conflicting somehow. There can be a lot of painful moments he hopes she doesn't have.

But she's his girl.

So she might ]

Awesome.

[They both know she isn't going to react to his very well, and even though Junko understands why that doesn't make her feel any better equipped to deal with it. Still, she's always going to have painful moments and all relationships involve conflict. They'll be awful and she won't manage them well (that, to an extent, is the result of being his daughter) but they're not worth not being with Rin.

Isn't that how she knows they're really meant to be together?]

Can you just warn me before you bring it up to her?

You have until I'm recovered.

[ So she's got a good week, maybe even two. Which sucks so fucking much for the record. He shakes his head, trying to dismiss the darker thoughts from his head, but that's totally fair, right? Right. ]

Ew.

[The truth is that no matter how much time she has it's not going to be enough.]

Alright, so we went over it.

[Nothing left to talk about!!! They're good now!!!]

[ Now for point two, ]

So you intend to have his babies exclusively?

[ He holds up a second finger. The truth of the matter is that she probably was more concerned with her age than with who it was, at this point. But he's leading in with this question ]

Mm.

[Of course there's more, she was silly to think it might have been over that quickly.] For one thing I don't feel right having a child right now. I'm not even out of high school, I couldn't support a kid emotionally the way it would deserve, and I don't have anything against a village raising a child, but I want to be the mom. Not me and five other women.

[And that's clearly something she's gotten from Nariko.] I think I do want my first child to be his, but if it wouldn't harm us any, I wouldn't be opposed to others.

[So there was a little more to it than just Rin, though that'd been her main concern. It just seemed awful to have a kid while she still intended to go to at least four years worth of college. It also seemed pretty fucking awful to give birth to her own son/brother, if she hadn't brought this up to her dad. So, yeah.]

[ Honestly, he's not sure how he feels about that level of incest yet but they'll all need to confront that through Yamato and Nariko eventually if they have kids. Which... which he's not really thought about yet. In any case, he nods a little, because really - ]

Mmm, I wasn't really ready when I was many years older than you and kind of haphazard through things. So it makes sense. [ Okay, he accepts your logic there. He's not faulting it one way or the other, but he does now tilt his head the other way...

Should he ask about Ada? Or about Lisa? No, no, let's go with... ]

So you still think about that Ethan boy.

Oh, that.

[She shakes her head a little.] It's a technicality. Physically he's cute but emotionally, mentally, and sexually there's just ... Nothing there. It couldn't work even if I wanted it to, and I don't. The only man that has my heart is Rin, and I would sooner throw Ethan down a cliff myself than even so much as suggest I still have any feelings for that emotional stand-in excuse of a human being.

[So. Yeah.]

He was a technicality lie, just like he was a technicality boyfriend, too.

[.... Junko can go in a little when she's still salty about something.]

[ . . . Wow. ]

You know Junko, you might have a lot from me, but you have your mother's sense of dramatic tension. [ And dramatic over-reaction, that is.

He grins a bit more, a little bit nostalgic for the mix of both he can see within her. He hums, and then... ]

So how have you been doing, Junko? Should we do something together?

I need to make dinner too tbh

dude go make dinner

I'll be chopping the chicken soon

your dinner already sounds way better than mine enjoy it friend

Well basic set up is now done. Basically throwing new chicken with old potatoes+peppers+sauce

definitely better than mac and cheese

Haha it's not that much more flashy but I hope it'll be good.

have faith in chicken ... or something that sounds cooler than that

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hey is it cool if the get back to the house in midlandia quickly or should it be played out some?

Nah that makes sense to me too. Honestly it seems like the best plan

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