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

Maaaah. That just makes it sound like I owe you kids an apology all over again. [ But still, he's... he's not sure he should apologize for being a parent, or for being the sort of parent he was. That would just invalidate everything that he's done until now. And he doesn't quite want to do it, so he lets that sarcastically float in a air a moment as he continues what there is to say about his dad. Honestly, he could tell her about everyone he grew up with. All his siblings, the older women, his dad...

What was he like, though? He considers and then finally ]

Incredibly sweet. A lot of it's hindsight, of course, because he teased a lot, but he's one of the kinder people I've ever known.

[... She'll come back to that first part because it's over due. Because there's a lot she needs to talk to her dad about, a lot she needs to hear even if he thinks its all stuff that should be obvious or that she should already know. But it can wait a second because she's trying to avoid fucking up her count.]

That almost explains your jokes.

[Almost.]

Do you think he would have liked us?

['Us' being ... the entire family that Masaomi has helped create. His mate, his children, his pack members ... The whole thing. Even though he's gone she somehow can't help minding the opinion of her grandpa.]

[ Would he has liked them...

He tries to consider that seriously, and the fact of the matter is that he doesn't know. He doesn't know a lot about his dad, now he thinks of it. And so he just decides to speak more in hopefuls than in absolutes. And so resting a hand on his cheek, he comes out with ]

Probably. I know everyone else does.

That's such an even response.

[Junko's smart, but not enough to tell her what he might not be saying with such an answer. After all, she feels like she knows her parents incredibly well, even for the short amount of time she's been on the planet.]

Dad.

[...] If there are things you feel like you regret or should apologize for, about being a father and all? You don't, okay. [She pauses in her embroidery, staring at it as if the threads might give her the answer to world peace.] I've been upset about some stuff for a long time, but I think I get it now. I think, when you have more kids with mom, you'll spend more time with them, and that's all I'd ask you to do anyway.

Sorry. None of his children were old enough to have their own families when he passed.

[ So it's hard for him to imagine him reacting to it. ... Well, Basara was old enough, but he mated rather late in life all things considered. That said, what she follows up with - that gobsmacks him. It makes his stomach do a somewhat unpleasant flip, and while it should be really reassuring to him, it's not. It just makes him feel a lot worse, honestly. And so he starts to say something, falters, and then looks down at the screen. He runs a finger over the touchpad to prevent it from locking and clicks something idly on the screen to advance ahead a step.

Things... ]

If my daughter's carrying some weight about me, it seems like I might need to. [ Inhale ] But alright.

[Her head tilts in a manner reminiscent of him, which is ironic.]

If you feel a need to, that's something else. I'm just saying that everyone makes mistakes, but one of the benefits is that your family will forgive you no matter what. No one will think less of you or stop loving you.

[So if he wanted to have a long drawn out talk in order to clear the air of it all? They could do that. But how could she continue being so upset with him when all the things she'd expected from her father were things he'd never even had, or known to want? When he'd lost his father so early on?

It didn't make sense to hold onto any of it, now.]

[ He response to that isn't obvious. Is it better to just allow it to sit there and from there allow Junko to move on if she really is okay? Or is it better to unpack it and see what might rest there. It's an impossible choice, particularly in what's been an otherwise quiet, nice, conversation. He looks at the laptop and then back at her, and he focuses evenly on her, and smiles ]

You can't appreciate it now, probably, but we were so young when we had you three.

[ Even if in the back of his head he was a third of the way to his own grave or nearing it. ]

I'm so sorry for whatever hardships my ignorance caused you, Junko.

[She looked back at him, hands in her lap and unexpectedly nervous. There's something odd about talking to her dad this way, maybe it's because they don't exactly have a lot of familial talks like this.]

I forgive you, completely. [To her, that's a more respectful and dignified response than 'it's okay' or 'that's fine'. Both of those responses seem dismissive, and that's not the point of this talk. She exhales and then smiles wide.]

And thank you.

[At the end of the day all she really wanted was that apology.]

[ And... ]

And I'll hear out whatever complaints you have. Or well, as much as I can as a Father. [ As Alpha, he'll hear all of them. But as a Father, don't you need to eventually put your foot down or something? That seems like how it ought to be based on what else he's seen, right? That said, he looks down at the laptop again, tilting his head to the side. He clicks again. Next screen ]

I mean, I don't think it's anything that hasn't already been addressed in some form or another already, which is why I'm not worried about it.

[She pauses, considers -]

... I know you're really busy, but I'd like it if we spent more time together like this. I'm not ... Always the most entertaining person like Audrey, I know, but -

[It's really not like her to be so unsure.] It's just nice.

[ He's... ]

I'm not so busy that I don't have time for any of my pack individually if they want. And even more so... [ This is weird for him to say, but even as he starts to say it, it sounds sincere ] for my family.

[ To him, he knows, there's basically no distinction between them. But there's something to be said for the flow of blood, and the way that she's moving, it reminds him of himself. ]

[That's the thing, though - there is a little bit of a distinction for Junko, as his daughter. She can't imagine her Alpha sitting around and playing games and talking about boobs and stupid shit, and maybe that's just the result of his nature, or maybe it was always meant to be that way.]

Okay.

[Man she feels stupid for even asking such a thing. Why are feelings so mortifying? It might be easier to take her seriously if she wasn't making a really dramatic expression based on her own self-loathing over sharing her genuine feelings with someone she respects and looks up to so much.]

[ Inhale, exhale. An then he reaches out to rumple her hair a little. ]

And I'll try not to stare too much at your breasts, for what it's worth.

[ That's a classic him joke. Sort of. In a way, that one might not be the right joke for his daughter, but he wants to give her a wide and inviting smile. The fact of the matter is that he wonders if he accepted the response, or if he should have probably should have been more direct. But oh well, if it wasn't, he might've noticed. ]

[She snorts at the joke - it's maybe not appropriate, no, but this is ultimately a new facet to their relationship, and it was never that Junko loathed the sexual aspect or even had a problem with it! It was just unfairly unbalanced, and she didn't enjoy feeling as if she wasn't a good enough daughter - because she was a damn good packmate, thank you very much!]

Everyone else seems to be having trouble with that, Tom might get smacked with something the next time his eyes bug out of his head.

[Which is unfair, perhaps, since the guy knew her as a bitty, angry little child and now Junko is ... Still kind of bitty, but far from a child.]

Mmmm, mmm. But at the same time, you're cursed with that figure on a frame which is much more mine. It makes them pop a lot.

[ A petite Japanese frame with Nariko's massive tits? It's a recipe for standing out. He wonders if she thinks it clashes with her more traditional beauty she had going before...? He's not sure he should ask, particularly to a growing teenage girl. Still, he folds his hands together in front of him and scoots a little closer to her, closing the laptop. The game might be fun and all, but right now, he's paying attention to her and he wants the heat off his legs anyway ]

Exactly!

[It's awful and Masaomi's actually right: This is pretty much the opposite of what she wanted! Of course it would have been nice if they were a little bigger and fuller, but not to such an extent that she couldn't keep her modern/classic hybrid look going!]

Genetics are cruel, and I shouldn't have wished for them to be bigger in the first place.

[Maybe it's karma for the whole thing with Ethan.]

[ He nods ]

All the same, they really are impressive. Tom can handle the violence, but I do hope they're sensitive enough for you to enjoy the inevitable attention.

[ He hums, tilting his head to the side and nakedly looking at them now. They're... D now? DD? Something unexpectedly big. He nods to himself ]

They're a little more reactive, yeah, I kept trying to think of who I was supposed to ask about that.

[Because it seemed like a really weird result of the whole thing! It's not like her nerves should have changed, right?? Who knows.]

But, hey, Rin likes them!

[Is that creepy of her to say in front of her dad?]

[ . . . Maybe a little, but he hums and - ] That's not surprising, really.

[ Is there a story there or was he just suggesting that mates liked the parts of each other's bodies? Who knows? But now he's crawled up close to her and entered her personal space by way of leaning against her shoulder. Who she should ask about that...? He considers for a long moment, and then finally produces, ]

Emily. Or Ada, if you can swallow her.

[ Her mother would be a hoverer about it all ]

Why do you say that?

[She leans into him in response, in part because she'll never not like attention, but because, again: The other parts of their relationship aren't a problem.] Emily, then.

[Yeah, best to leave her mom out of it aside from the obvious 'oh they got bigger' discussion.]

When he was little, he was always chasing the boobie ladies. Or well, that's what he called 'em anyway. [ He laughs at that, nostalgic for a brief moment before he inhales, exhales, and waves a hand in fron her. Does he dare-- ]

I'll second Emily, but what's the issue with Ada?

That sounds like something you'd say if you were my age again.

[She laughs, though, and feels a bit more at ease to catch that look on her dad's face. But, ew, he managed to round back around to that issue! She'd hoped he forgot!]

Look, I just ... No matter how I look at it Ada is someone who tried to come between two mates. When she stuck her nose between you and mom, she messed with the entire flow of the pack.

[Junko waves a hand here.] And I'm not saying that the things that have happened didn't need to. I think you guys are way stronger as a couple! But the fact that there's someone here who puts her viewpoints above something so sacred, that she was able to speak with you once and she was the harbinger for change in that situation ...

[Frankly, if anyone tried to pull that shit in Yamato's new pack Junko would rip their throat out.]

I just haven't been able to reconcile with it.

[ Honestly? It's not an unfair viewpoint. And it's in that he wants to answer that seriously that he doesn't even address the idea that he'd talk like that at Junk's age, because... well, he might've. But at the same time... he lets out a long exhale and closes his eyes. It's precisely because Junko has a point that as an Alpha, he's not sure he has a good response.

The only good one is that he has told Ada to speak freely and asked that she give her opinion. He hums, and reaches over to brush her hair a little ]

When Audrey joined the pack... I told her that now that she had, she was more Free.

[ And that might seem cryptic, might not even necessarily make sense to her, but it does to him. Ada had that freedom to question, it's not something he holds his pack above. It's true she was probably rude, and that was probably underhanded, but he wasn't going to hold it against her at this point, not personally, anyway. ]

[That's an incredibly vague and borderline useless answer, because Junko has no way of making anything of that.]

Ada isn't my Alpha, my mother, nor my sister. She's my pack mate and she holds a great amount of seniority and experience over me, which I respect.

[Because for as much as Junko will debate certain topics she is fully dedicated to the pack life, there's no question about that.] So when she gets to circumvent the order we've had, or when she tries to act in a way my mother would for me, I have a problem with it. Someone who would go to such lengths to nearly destroy a years long friendship in order to alter your opinion is a giant concern in my eyes. I don't trust her, I don't appreciate her butting into my personal issues when I don't ask for help, and if she continues to try and stifle Yamato I'm going to have an even bigger problem with her.

[Mostly because you don't fuck with Junko's brothers.]

You've seen her to stifle Yamato?

[ That's another fair concern, and he adopts a somewhat deeper tone now, deciding to take this just a little more seriously now. Not that he wasn't before, but it's a serious concern now, perhaps worth of arbitration.

Even so, he can't blame Ada for the perspective. She more or less helped raise her ]

/compiles an actual list of his birth pack just so I can keep it straight god damn

it will never end, it will continue to grow

Well yes but I want to make sure I've got the facts I set up already right

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