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

Yeah. Someone always has a party or an event or a movie or an exhibit to go to, and I can't make time for stuff like that.

[So she ends up telling everyone 'no'. It's kind of a miracle that she's still got friends in the first place, though the closer ones are around her age, so it's very likely they understand she has other, more important responsibilities.]

I was worried about it, too, but there's a niche and I fit pretty well into it. Junko keeps making fun of me because we both end up studying pretty hard.

[ It's still weird that one studies so much for a fashion degree. He's not really sure he gets it. But all the same, it was her call and her passion, so it makes sense to him. Still, he tilts his head and... ]

You could make time for a movie or two if you wanted, I think.

[ That said, maybe he's going at it from a place of ignorance of how much time she has eaten up between him, Yamato, kids, and their pack. Plus, if you went to one thing, it would lad to another thing and... there's no need to run her across even more directions than she already is. ... He giggles a bit at the idea of Junko teasing her, though. ]

That was probably inevitable for you. But you even have a group of friends! That's pretty much the thing that all those shows tell you is the dream of the college experience!

Edited 2016-07-18 05:37 (UTC)

If I don't even have time to be with myself, then I don't have any time.

[But she knows it's a matter of genuine ignorance so there's no fire in those words. She doesn't have the same responsibilities within their pack nor does she supersede Masaomi in any way but Nariko does make a great effort to actually talk and spend time with everyone in their pack.]

It is, but it felt a lot more authentic the first time around. No one really treats me differently but I'm still part of the older crowd.

[She'd managed to have her fun with the first two years before she dropped out and ended up taking over her father's pack!]

[ He hums a little at this, feeling maybe the lightest bit admonished, but it's not a bad feeling. They don't know everything about each other perfectly, and that's why some little things you wouldn't think of need to be clarified sometimes. and it seems that her schedule is just as if not more ragged than his own. He considers that in the moment where he washes water over her, content that he's gotten soap everywhere it need be.

And he thinks out loud, ]

Well I wouldn't really know either way. [ He applied for and has done some (largely online) classes, but he never went to a university proper or anything. His career was self-taught and banked a lot more on his charisma early on, a natural affinity after that, and experience in the twilight years. He never had the whole live in a dorm go to college proper experience just... because when he was young it didn't seem like a priority and then there just wasn't time.

He hums ]

So when do I get to be a model?

Whenever you'd like, really. A mannequin isn't as dynamic as a body, after all, and men's clothes are finicky.

[But it wasn't exactly a big secret that he didn't really get it, so she'd figured he might prefer to stay out of the whole thing. Then again she'd thought that about the life she lead at school, too, and here he was asking about it, so it only proved that Masaomi was incredibly good at throwing her off.]

You still don't want to try going back for something?

[It's not as if he doesn't have the resources, and Lisa's his secretary as much as she is his protege, right? Or whatever is going on there.]

Not to mention i am, of course, a flawless representation of the masculine form.

[ Wit ha little brush back of his hair and... as much swagger as one can have while sitting in a tub. Which is debatable how effective that can be. Either way, the man laughed, and got a somewhat distant look before smiling and leaning forward.

His excuses over the years... do they even hold up now? He could quit immediately and the house would probably still be secure between saving, the inheritance, and everyone else's jobs ]

How could I know what to even go for? I was the average student, remember?

[She smiles, but he's not getting out of it with a joke this time. It's not something she'll press if he really doesn't have an interest, but that's different from making up excuses.]

You've successfully crafted a business from the ground up, Masaomi. To begin with, you already have experience which outclasses the students who are going to school to learn what you already do. An advanced degree in formal Business or Management or Finance, or Marketing - which you'd probably be frustratingly good at.

[Nariko waves a hand.] You take some general courses, get your grades up, and then just pass everything. A degree is a degree even if it's covered in Cs.

[Somewhere in that house Junko is clutching her chest, knowing that an awful injustice to academia has been spoken aloud.]

[ Masaomi will refrain from telling her that Rin was actually more a D student than anything in high school.... at least he thinks. Maybe he picked up later. Still, the alpha lowers his gaze, smiles a little, and then looks off to the far side of the bathroom ]

An advanced degree... huh. Well, I've already got the business, so a part of me is wondering if I need to do that much more than that. Other than finally really get Spanish down pat.

[ That would be a really helpful skill. He's like vaguely conversational, but he couldn't call himself fluent. That said, though... ]

Maybe.

[Maybe. Maybe - she should push him, but that's not really been the way things go for them and so it feels wrong to do now. It feels even more awful to be self-righteous about it when Nariko herself would probably be just as happy not going as she is actually going.]

It's there, either way.

[He could make a decision, and she wouldn't ask his to be as impulsive and half-baked as her own had been.]

Jada and Zeke want to visit, so we might end up with a few more people.

[Man, she's probably staring to prune. Ew.]

Oh yeah? You think they'll try to get in in, or we'll just be hosting guests?

[ Either way, they're both more or less clean now, so he's going to smile, stand, and offer a hand to her too. They ought to get out of the bath either way, even if a part of him wants to remain in the bathroom. He's not sure he can justify that desire but it is there.

... And either way, he does come to a startling realization that he does really, really need to diversify his social circle. How often has he spoken to anyone outside of the pack or his work lately? Charlotte? Some flirting with Amelia the Baker for it to go nowhere? The people at Emily's party he didn't belong at? No matter what, he really ought to do something ]

In.

[She wouldn't mention them otherwise! She looks a bit surprised when he gets up but, yeah, for as comfortable as the bath is they can't stay in here forever. That, and the bed is probably semi-decent now.] I probably shouldn't be half recruiting people I meet at school, but ...

[It's not her fault they end up asking about it and their little pack actually sounds really cool! They're a bunch of weirdoes who live in the same house and are not as thoroughly related as some other of the major packs in their city.]

[ Or as large as some of the others. The one the major belonged to had a few hundred people in it among several dozen houses and apartments. It's hard to think of that as close knit, but maybe people found some sense of belonging under a small section of that larger group?

Who knows. ]

Eeeeeh. I'm sure you didn't actively push for it. If someone connects on that level, then they connect! Are they a fun sort - eto, one of them was Zeke, right?

[ She did just list off a lot of names he didn't know. But as they exit the tub and h pulls out the drain, he... waffles about them going to the bed or the shower. And he looks down at her tits. Hmmm ]

Then I apparently connect with a lot of people.

[Which - she does. It's part of being both charismatic and knowing herself much better these days.]

Mmhm. Zeke's almost finished a degree in Pharmacology, he's incredibly smart and sort of nerdy. Imagine mostly Tom with a bit of Sullivan and that's his personality, more or less.

[Masaomi why are you staring at her boobs. They're not any bigger than usual when she's pregnant which is still a little rounder and heavier than usual, but still. Either way, she's reaching for a towel.]

[ ... Well he should get a towel too. ]

There was a second one.

[ He thinks. There was, right? Right. ... Her boobs do seem different, and it's the most obvious sign that she's pregnant. He shifts his footing away from her and grabs his own towel. He starts to towel off, grinning some to himself - and for her. Tom and some Sullivan, huh... ]

[She doesn't bother with toweling off and simply wraps it around her which ... Points out the ridiculousness of said boobs because she has to force them into obeying the logic of the towel. At least she gets to look good for a while longer.]

Mmhm. Jada. She's going for what I originally went to school for: Mechanical Engineering! She's smart, creative, a hard worker ... Sometimes it's like looking at a slightly older version of Junko.

[Nariko has to wring her hair out in the tub a bit so that she can put it up and out of the way.] I'm actually really fond of her.

[ Masaomi himself own runs the towel over all of him, getting some cervices run through. And with that done, he rests a hand on his hip and sort of loosely pulls the towel around his waist, trying to tie or hold it in place. He gives her an affectionate little wink, glancing over at the shower before turning for them to head back into the bedroom proper ]

Oh yeah? That's pretty awesome. [ "Slightly" older...? ] She's on the younger side then, Jada?

[ Really fond of her, huh? ]

She's twenty-one.

[The way Nariko says it practically attaches she's a baby to it because, well, to a woman who is on the cusp of forty and seen and experienced more, people like Jada, Junko, and even Emily, are like confused toddlers.

Which sort of makes the entire situation with Yamato that much more perplexing.

Annd their room still smells like sex which puts an immeasurable grin on her face. It's good to know that things can return to normal even after an unprecedented change!]

So the same age we were, back then.

[ To Masaomi... it's not that young, but it's still pretty young. Maybe he's not really accepted how old he is, or it's sort of slowly dawning on him. He tilts his head to the side and glances at their bed, and then looks back at her to ask, lightly, ]

You had sex with either of them?

[ The smell is nice though, and he could make it better! He can let out his scent. ]

Pretty much.

[He's somewhat lucky in that sense because all of these changes have been awful for her denial. There's no choice but to accept her age now, as much as she really kind of doesn't want to.] No, I haven't. You'd probably like Jada, though.

[And she isn't saying it for the most obvious reason in the world.]

You seem to say that about everyone, Nariko.

[ It's said with some good humor, but it's almost teasing as he does. The Alpha's scent lightly coats the room, and he reaches out to brush back her hair, his fingers lingering a little more than was needed in the wet mass. He brushes her cheek, and then shifts the arm down to her waist, spinning her so that they're caught in a loose embrace and moving once more towards the bed.

How does that work with Yamato, he's by far younger ]

That I haven't had sex with people I've met, or that you like beautiful women?

[The answer doesn't really matter because if there was any hint of tension in her it has thoroughly dissolved with his scent. She's far from mindless but there's something to be said for the current floating sense of happiness, the easy way in which her body and scent answer his. She laughs at the spin, and her grip might be a little tighter than his.

It works very, very weirdly, that's how, and with the lingering, unending fear that there's going to come a day when, for as much as he loves her, Yamato won't be able to be attracted to her anymore. It's pretty awful.]

Mostly the later.

[ Though the former is also true, that's also probably an altogether more normal thing, particularly for her. It's not like he's had too much sex outside of the pack either - in all honesty, if she's got this regular thing with a college friend she's probably had more. ... Which really tells him he needs to get out more.

Either way, he laughs a little at it, tilting his head with the implication that she might as well explain why with Jada, unless it's just that she's beautiful. ]

[Oh, she'd be perfectly fine with letting him 'win' this by default, but that's not exactly how it's supposed to go.]

I don't know. She's got the broken bird exterior with the inner strength deal going on, and she's unique, seems kind of innocent despite her attitude.

[She's doing a bad job of articulating it, but these are all definitely traits which seem to draw her mate to people, even if they're spread out a bit.]

[ That's a strange collection of traits... and he considers it for a long moment, humming out, ] But if we're talking innocent, it's not quite Ada or Emily when we met them.

[ Maybe Emily, actually. But certainly not Ada - Ada had bee broken at the time, and in a very real way they had helped her get put back together. He considers to rock her in his arms, keeping keen eye contact with her. ]

Your eyes are a little lighter in this lighting than I had dreamed.

[Masaomi is, as it happens, a strange man.]

'Innocent' isn't what I would apply to either of them in the strictest sense.

[.... What even is that line. It's so unexpected that he half snaps her out of her pleased daze and Nariko looks as surprised as she feels.]

Since when were you dreaming about someone you've lived with for twenty years?

[The wording may be harsh but her tone is unquestionably warm.]

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hi!!

heya!

yes!! hi here at last etc

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