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

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

[ Nathan moved into tow and that was awkward, Yamato and Nariko probably have some sort of a relationship and that's awkward, Yamato's been trying to make new friends so that's interesting, and Masaomi and Nariko are hopefully solid as anything after that trip, Nathan and Yamato complications aside. There's a new pack member that Masaomi met at a party and Nariko met in class. It's been over a month since the new year began and the old one concluded.

A lot's changed and yet not a lot had at all.

And frankly, things were probably just going to change that much more in the coming days and weeks. ~~this might be edited to something more poetic later once we conclude more stuff about that other log~~ ]

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[Man, she hasn't eaten anything that's needed chopsticks for a long time, so this'll be kind of interesting!]

Yeah, well, that just means you had a reason to fix it, right?

[And despite how they've ended up here, Audrey's pretty glad for it! She's probably an awful staycation date, though, so Sullivan might have somehow still gotten the raw end of the deal. But maybe it's worth it with her first bite, because for just a split second there's such a look of pure wonder on her face as she registers the food in her mouth.]

Mmmfff!

[Which roughly translates to: 'It's good!!!']

[ He hopes she's good with spice! After all, it is Thai Medium, so it'll be pretty hot all things considered. That said, he watches for which one she goes to first as he himself gets out a bit of curry over top of some rice in his bowl as he rummages in there and lays out there satay to drip in that spicy peanut sauce.

He's grinning as he watches, listens to her like that. That's pretty good.

He's pretty sure she likes it, but still. ]

Good, right?

[Right! ....

...

...]

Ohmfff!!!

[The heat is like a delayed reaction and made twice as formidable because Audrey, with all of her intelligence, shoveled way too much food in her mouth. She at least manages to swallow like a decent person, and then she's gasping for air.]

Oh my god - smaller bites!!

[Is she going to die today. She might die a little.]

[ Pffffthahaha. Okay, don't laugh, don't laugh...

He snickers a little bit, it's unbecoming on someone his age, but that was cute on her, and he was almost waiting for it. The older man grins as he takes his first bite, his tongue languishing over the curry flavor and swallowing it without the spice seeming to effect him more then the pleased exhale. ]

You don't need-- uh. Milk, right?

[ Or would water be okay? Juice? Booze? ]

[Her literal death at the hands of Indian food was cute?!?!?!? Reconsider your life decisions, Sullivan!!]

Milk! Tequila!

[Because if she's going to leave this Earth it will be a blaze of alcohol scented glory!But, in truth, the pain is managing to subside enough that she can somewhat comfortably get off the couch and hobble towards the kitchen.]

Get me some of the later! And water!

[ Or maybe he should go with her? ... Nah, he's going to dip one of these chicken sewers. Man, he missed Thai food and this was incredibly nostalgic for him. And seeing a little longer girl react like that to it was pretty much the Dream, right? Like the sort of things people put in stone ]

[Thank god no one makes a big deal about hiding the alcohol in this place, which might be because none of the teenagers are big drinkers, or because most of them are pretty grown as it is. Audrey gets to the right cabinet and just takes a swig from the bottle. Of course it burns even worse but it's an alcohol burn versus a spice one, and when she's powered through it most of the pain is gone.]

Son of a bitch!

[Her voice is a little raw, but she gets a bottled water anyway, and makes her way back to the couch.]

I will never underestimate this crap again.

[ When she comes back, he's nibbling at the tail end of the chicken sewer that he had dipped earlier. His glasses have a bit of fogginess in them. But watching her come back, bearing a water bottle and some tequila... He can't help but admire it. And actually he's mildly surprised she didn't get milk ]

You avoid the pepper flakes and get used to it, you might be okay!

[ He shakes his head ] I didn't know you were bad with spice. You good- uh... I mean, are you okay with Tequila?

[ He's not seen her do it and he knows it fucks up Masaomi even if he likes it ]

I'd rather be dizzy right now, even if I'm not okay with it.

[It's not a good idea to go for anything more than a sip or two because if she pushes it, Audrey's going to be fucking wrecked, and she's not a fun drunk. That's why the tequila goes well out of her reach and the water stays much closer.]

I don't usually have a problem with it! That was just ... Yeesh.

[Such was the difference between American spice and foreign spice! Potency was a thing.]

[ Well she could have gone for the rum or the wine or some of the other alcohol. Tequila has a very, very particular effect on people in all sorts of different ways. Or at least he's experienced that throughout his life. That said, as he looks around for a glasses, sees none, and then guiltily picks up the Tequila bottle, he smirks a bit at her, trying to look cool but mostly just looking like some ghost of what Masaomi would make look effortless. ]

It makes you dizzy? It's always made me - uh - a little horny and charged up.

[ ...

... Anyway ] Try the skewers though.

Dizzy, kind of high, and overly concerned with the color green.

[But Audrey's never handled alcohol well, so while it's very true that she picked a serious hard hitter, she wasn't going to do well no matter what it ended up being. She's not much of a partier to begin with so there's no reason for any of it to appeal to her.

... She briefly considers telling him that her mouth is probably still on fire so maybe avoid the tequila, if you know what that does because she might not be the best to help him out. Which would be a shame.

But Audrey tries to skewers this time, and is far more respectful to the sauces. No more shoveling, she's going for small bites!]

[ To be fair, the skewer is barely spiced more just a lightly curried fried chicken and the peanut sauce to dip it in proves refreshingly mild by comparison, aided by the fact it's a bit cool to begin with, having been served more lightly chilled than hot.

He watches her though, spinning the bottle in his hand and not sure if he's enough of a rebel to sip right out of the bottle. This is a fairly expensive bottle... all things considered... But at the same time, he'll try to pretend he's not doing that to instead ]

What, green? Really? [ He laughs a little and ] Scotch's the bad one for me, makes me loose all my energy and stare at the wall.

[ Which might be oversharing but whatever ]

[While that is a truth she'll eventually come to realize, Audrey is still a little gun shy until she figures it out on her own. But once it's clear she eats a little more freely, because all that crying and sex really did work up an appetite, and caution only wins out over hunger for so long.]

I've never had Scotch. [It's not exactly the choice for someone her age.] But I can see the appeal of just staring at a wall, some days, so I might try to find some.

[Alright, halfway verdict: Thai food is really good! Dangerous, but good!]

Yeah. But on other days it's just like - like well "hello Mr. Depression, nice of you to settle in." [ He shakes his head ] But my old man likes it so we have it every time we get together still.

[ Again, probably not the best thing to say? But he also shouldn't overthink it too much. He decides to put the tequila down for now and reaches around to get the basil fried rice and put some in her little bowl, seemingly deciding she either gets that next or that it'll be at the base of whatever he does next.

And maybe it's reminding himself of his father, but he voluntarily goes back to, ]

So going back to us being irresponsible, you figure we'll both have kids by year's end?

Ergh.

[What an awful topic, why would you bring it up, Sullivan.] I don't know. You've got a higher chance than me, at this rate.

[And since it's there she does try the rice and finds that she likes it!] It's not that I don't want to be a mom or have kids, that was always going to happen, somehow, at some point? But it's just - that's a baby having a baby, basically. And I know that logic isn't what Masaomi wants to think about, it's not sexy or anything, but it's still true.

[And outside the grip of his scent, she can't help but worry about it.] But at the same time, I doubt I'd have to raise it if I did have one, so as long as it never knows I'm the mom, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

[ Because it seems to be weighing on her, and with their Alpha's recovery, it's something that is definitely looming over all of them. It's something he's discussed with Tom and Octavio before now and something he considerd discussing with Ada before he was too much of a coward to it. It's more like... He hums ]

Did you discuss that with him? Even if it's not uh - sexy, it's possible that if you just flat out tell him no he won't push it that much further.

[ . . . A beat ] Plus uh, who would I even have a kid with? It's looking like our Alpha's going to go nuts.

I don't want to talk about it until I know what my stance is, for sure.

[In goes a gigantic spoonful of rice!] Besides, I think he's kind of right that there should be more kids around here! And I do think it makes sense to start inward.

[She gave him a look and a dull shrug, whether this was meant to convey that she little sympathy, or that she didn't think it was as much of a problem as he did was a mystery.] Go for Ada.

[Junko still wasn't very fond of him, Veronica had Koji, Emily was already set up with either her boyfriend or Masaomi, and Nariko was .... Nariko, so it made sense to go for Ada. Besides, they were both even-tempered enough to get along well, right? They'd have such practical kids.]

Ada's probably more against it than anyone. At least--- I mean, I'd assume that.

[ She's always been really cagey about kids. She loved the Kidas and helped to raise them in a very, very real way, but it's not like she ever talked about having her own. That topic had come around a few times before now, about how their pack really did need more little ones, and she was never... that into it.

Really.

Which in a big way did sort of squash the whole topic, because she was the only woman for a fair amount of time. He inhales, and he glances over at her, starts to say something, and then sighs, scooting his hand in to eat more yellow curry ]

A pack really does need more kids though, yeah.

But Masaomi is really campaigning for it, so you don't think she'd change her mind?

[Of course Audrey is ignorant to any other situation where it might have come up. It just kind of seems to her that most everyone in this house follows his lead to one extent or the other, which is only sensible. The idea that Ada wouldn't, of all people, is almost shocking.]

Well if anyone can, it's him. [ He shakes his head ] Or Nariko, but... you know.

[ Everyone knows they were arguing right now, but the fact remained that if Masaomi had the biggest influence on her, Nariko was a really, really solid #2. Or at least she traditionally had been. If anything, that conflict in priorities was probably a lot of what was fueling their current argument. ]

Yeah.

[They are definitely fighting, and Audrey shouldn't take sides for a lot of reasons but ... She's definitely taken a side here. And that's probably made doubly worse considering that Ada and Sullivan were really good friends, and had essentially grown up with each other in the last decade or so. Oops.]

We'll see how it plays out.

[She considers a chicken skewer.]

But for now, I think I'm going to do it.

[ In all honesty, Sulivan wouldn't be surprised if of those that took sides, no one would take Ada's side. It's perhaps for that reason more than anything that he actually leans in her direction, even if he's not going to make a big deal about it. She's got a point, honestly - any budding Alpha is going to try to poach members from an existing pack, and perhaps the most notable and most dangerous prize is Nariko herself. That would put everything into chaos. And him going off on his own wouldn't be good for anyone.

Not to mention, with all this talk about kids - children stay with the mother. So things become even more complicated like that. He reaches around to take off and clean his glasses, but perhaps that was a mistake because he's surprised to hear- ]

Really?

[Audrey completely disagrees, even about who would end up with the most on their side, really, but then she's not counting Junko, Yamato, or Koji because they're in an awful position there. Pick their birth mother, who had devoted most of her life to them, or the other woman who was like a second mom to them and was nearly as devoted? Without those three, wouldn't it make sense that the majority would go to Ada?

It's probably a good thing that they aren't talking about it.]

Mmhm. If it's timed right I should graduate before I'm really showing or whatever, and that'll be for the best. I don't want my parents finding out and creating a problem.

Could you still study to get in whatever school you want like that? And-- A-and, huh, do you mean his?

[ Masaomi's.

... Also Octavio would be a fence-sitter. He's not as sure about Tom, and Emily... for some reason he seems to think she would think Ada is being unreasonable. But she's also pretty young. Who knows, though. This topic is better anyway, and he puts his glasses back on to look at her sympathetically ]

I doubt it. At the very least I'd have to wait until the next Spring term to go to college.

[She'd have to actually have the kid, and Spring would already be cutting it close as it was. And then it only seemed right to be with it and bond a little, assuming she wasn't going to leave it to Nariko.]

And I guess it would be?

[If anything, she'd pick him because he'd already had children, because Nariko wouldn't leave any child unattended. But ... Should she go for Tom or Sullivan? Would Tom even want to?]

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