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

[generalflirt]

[ 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 ]

Comments

[idiotduo]

[ 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 ]

[themaelstrom]

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.]

[idiotduo]

[ 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.

[themaelstrom]

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!]

[idiotduo]

[ 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 ]

[themaelstrom]

[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!]

[idiotduo]

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?

[themaelstrom]

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.

[idiotduo]

[ 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.

[themaelstrom]

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.]

[idiotduo]

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.

[themaelstrom]

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.]

[idiotduo]

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. ]

[themaelstrom]

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.

[idiotduo]

[ 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?

[themaelstrom]

[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.

[idiotduo]

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 ]

[themaelstrom]

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?]

[idiotduo]

Are you okay with that?

[ Which one did he mean? Both of them? Probably both of them, right? He doesn't have the courage to clarify, even do himself. He instead looks down at the Thai and finally gives himself some fried rice, not really looking at her and nominally looking up at the screen they'd largely ignored ]

[themaelstrom]

[She leans back to really, really think about the answer as much as how she should word it to Sullivan.]

Yes. [Simplicity ends up being best.] I'm okay with waiting on school because now I'm not sure I want to go at all. I pushed myself so hard because of my dad, because I was kind of trying to fulfill the dreams he didn't, because he had to stay and provide for mom and me. If I'm honest, I'm not sure I really care about archaeology. It's interesting, but not so interesting that I'm okay with being away from my pack for years and ages at a time.

[So, for better or worse, she's gone through one kind of a metamorphosis or another.] I don't want to go into college without knowing what I want to do, and the best way to do that is to take some time off and figure it out, right? I'll just have a baby at the same time.

[idiotduo]

[ Huh... Well, he can't say he blames her for wanting to re-examine her life. It's not like he probably wouldn't have benefited from that back in the day. The older man takes a few bites of his fired rice, and then finally nods a little before he makes a reply ]

Archeology does sound - y'know, it does sound pretty cool. But I know what you're talking about. [ Though it's interesting she would say that about remaining here despite not being sure she belonged ] With all the hesitating. Stuff.

[themaelstrom]

Yeah, well, I'm also seventeen, am I really made up of anything but hormones and hesitation right now?

[For a moment the weight of all her concerns exists in her tone. She's been thinking about this for a while and hadn't even gotten around to discussing it with Junko or any of her other friends.] So for right now I'm going to finish high school on a good note, get knocked up, and figure it out from there.

[She takes a deep breathe, as if saying it like this makes it a firm reality.]

[idiotduo]

Point taken.

[ He pauses... and then he smiles. He reaches a hand out, and strokes her cheek. He's not sure where he fits into that plan, or into her life, but he knows he should offer ]

I -- I'll take you out or something when you need to get away. When hesitating, I mean.

[ A date? Is that a promise of it? He's not sure, but he laughs a little, and ]

And I can always fuck you to distract you when you need it too.

[ Plus he said that he would help her if she needed it earlier and she did like this Thai so... points, right?! ]

was that the ending for pokelandia?? if so that is hilarious

[themaelstrom]

[That ... Was actually a really nice offer! The sex thing at the end took away from it a little but, again: That was a demon of her own making, right? So it wasn't exactly her place to complain about it. Just this once she was just going to pretend the last part didn't even happen, and stick with the nice part about helping her like a normal, person who hasn't been 100% objectified. Just 89%.]

I guess that means you'll be taking me out a lot in the next few weeks.

[She would inevitably waver on her decisions, be terrified of them and such, so it was kind of a lofty idea on his part.]

That was my intention rofl I didn't know how to end it oops...

[idiotduo]

[ If he knew that the objectification bothered her he might be more concerned about it. The fact is, she'd made such a show of herself doing it to herself since he had known her he was under the impression that while it wasn't her core self - obviously - it was definitely a self she didn't mind people seeing. It was the mode in which they met, and it was something which had kept up since. She took pride in that beloved toy tag. No one had forced her into that.

Probably?

But either way, he nodded and blushed as he reached out to put some more curry on top of his rice ]

Okay, I - I don't mind doing that at all.