(no subject)

[flips]

Who: leo (flips) & shinjiro aragaki (ax) & various
What: catch all for december
When: december
Where: errywhere
Warning(s): none... i hope.

Comments

closed; elliot

[flips]

[ the past two weeks, leo figures, he's spent more time acting like a proper servant than he has in probably months. it would have been easier if he was by himself. he's used to having nothing, wearing rags, eating morsels and going hungry for weeks at a time. he would have been fine.

but elliot wouldn't. and so leo worked harder to keep his master at least clothed, fed, not with the dishes a noble's scion deserved, but good enough to keep them alive. finding work was difficult when they found out that they have little useful talents that other people would employ... so things are basically pretty shitty right now.

as leo settles down, back leaned against a big rock that makes up of the surrounding confines of the hot spring, he feels tired an drained. his hair feels gross. he hasn't properly washed it in days. but elliot is in the spring now so he would have to wait his turn later. the warm air from the spring does feel comfortable and inviting... he just can't believe he has to be here, guarding elliot from any bystander. ]

How's the water?

[yelliot]

<sub>[To say things have been difficult would be an understatement. No longer is Elliot able to bask in the fortunes of being born of high status. Here being a Nightray meant nothing and that was something that would take some getting used to. Quite literally having gone from riches to rags overnight has made Elliot's life rough to say the least.

Thankfully he had Leo by his side still...even though it was obvious this sudden shift in privilege was leaving them both feeling strained. If there's one thing Elliot absolutely hates it's feeling utterly useless, something he's been reminded he is every day.

At the very least the shallow hot spring he's dipped himself into is rather nice, even if the whole setup is rather undignified. The important part is to get rid of the grime on his body which is exactly what he's doing.]</sub>

It feels nice.

[flips]

That's good to hear.

[ also good because he'll get to dip in it later once elliot's done. sharing would be the efficient way to go, but... he's not sure if elliot's delicate sensibilities could take it. ]

You don't need someone to wash your back, right?

[ because he ain't doing that. ]

[yelliot]

No. I'm not a baby.

_{[He's just as fussy as one though. Turning around to hang himself off the rocky edge behind him he casts Leo a glance from his spot in the water.]}

You know you can come in too, right? The spring is huge.

[flips]

Really?

[ leo looks back, his matted mess of a head falling all over his eyes as he glances past elliot at the spring, then at elliot himself. ]

Wouldn't that be weird?

[yelliot]

_[Weird?]

It's not like it's a bathtub Leo.

_{[Plus the water is so foamy from the bubbling spring that it's not like they'll see any...undignified bits.]}

I don't care. You're welcome to join me or not.

[flips]

Hm.

[ the water does look pretty foamy from out here, the water opaque enough that he couldn't see past elliot's waist line - not that he's looking, of course. it's tempting, and he does need a bath...

so leo stands up and walks to the other side of the spring to undress, because he's victorian too. ]

You'll look away when I go in, got it?

[yelliot]

Of course! I'm not some pervert!

_{[Yeah Leo, what do you take him for?!]}

[flips]

[ hey elliot could have picked up some bad habits from vincent or ernest ok!!!

the hot water feels divine against leo's skin when he eases himself into the spring. it feels like the knots on his back start to loosen just from it, although it could very well be his imagination. his glasses are left on the rocks, placed carefully on top of his folded clothes. the steam rising hazily around him makes up for it. ]

... This really does feel good.

for best hobo.

[foolsvessel]

[ minako doesn't need flowers to give her a push to get touchy with shinjiro.

normally. at the moment, they're the ones giving her courage to get so close to him despite the slight awkwardness for her, not that she's actually able to pay attention to them. it takes her only a couple of seconds once they're under some of the flowered berries for her to grab onto his hand. ]

Soo...

[ never mind, there's still some awkwardness. ]

[ax]

[ up until about three months ago shinjiro never actually thought he would ever be used to a girl being forward. mitsuru is one thing. mitsuru is a whole 'nother league. it's a little shocking to realize he's actually kind of... used to this.

it doesn't stop him from being a little startled, looking down at their joined hands. ]

... What?

[ he hasn't seen the berries yet. but probably soon. ]

[foolsvessel]

[ it isn't going to take minako long to be her normal self around him again. then again, that's because the baby steps are about to be thrown out the window. not that she would complain about it normally, but it's hard to not be worried about the turn out for obvious reasons.

her hands are totally not a little sweaty right now. there isn't any reason for her to be nervous, she's gone through this before so this is no biggie.

and yet... ]

You should kiss me!

[ that gets blurted out. okay, so the berries haven't given her the courage to make the first move, but it should let her be upfront about this. ]

[ax]

[ ok. so maybe he's used to girls being forward, like forcing friendship down his throat or grabbing his hand. that he could deal with. what he can't deal is being told that he should kiss?? a girl??? on his own volition????? ]

I- What?

[ the look on shinji's face must be pretty comical right now - his eyes bulging, brows furrowed, a healthy spread of color over his entire face. and then they're still holding hands, which he somehow can't find it in himself to pull away from? it's only by chance that his gaze sweeps upwards in the middle of looking everywhere else but the expression on minako's face... and the sight of mistletoe makes terrible sense. ]

It's the damn plant, ain't it.

[foolsvessel]

[ at least she has seen his reaction before. a couple of times at least so minako giggles in response to it, leaning backwards a little while keeping his hand in hers.

her own cheeks have flushed a light shade of red when he notices the plant as that is when all of this really sinks in. the extra fuzzy feelings and the urge to be much bolder than she normally would be. ]

Maybe. ... It doesn't feel like a normal plant, or at least that is the vibe I'm getting.

[ not that she wasn't already thinking about being much closer to him before all of this. ]

[ax]

'm surprised you don't know.

[ how backward... and even more awkward than it was five seconds ago. shinji feels frozen (literally) to the spot, and keeps looking down at minako's small hands around his. ]

You... you serious about this?

[ it's not like they know each other well -- or rather, it's just him that doesn't know her well, huh. she knows him. probably better and in ways he doesn't really want to think about. there's nothing on her face that says she might be doubting this, either, and that's the scariest part. ]

[foolsvessel]

[ she puffs her cheeks out, glancing away for a second. ] not my fault I don't.

[ it is in a slight teasing tone. she closes her eyes for a moment and nods her head because how could she not be serious about this? not that she expects him to know.

minako has told him details here and there about their friendship, but never the gritty details of what else is between them. or was between them -- at the very least what she has experienced with the shinjiro she knew. ]

Yeah. ... I'm very serious about this.

[ax]

[ it feels almost like he's backed into a corner. while reasonably shinji knows he has all the power to walk away and decline, but there's something so earnest in her face that has nothing to do with the damn mistletoe, and it makes him almost question the relationship between them, whether he meant something to her that she wasn't being honest about.

he's not brave enough to ask about it. he doesn't think he's brave enough to even look at her face right now. she wants to kiss him. he doesn't think it's right to kiss a girl just because of that, but he doesn't have the heart to even say no.

so in the end shinjiro just closes his eyes and gives in, leaning down to peck her quickly on the lips before pulling back. ]

... That good enough?

[foolsvessel]

[ one would expect magical sparks to happen when you're kissed by the guy you're into, but no, that isn't the case. not with this kiss at least because it felt so short, it was almost a little disappointing for her.

okay. more than a little. it doesn't take her long to get over her shyness about the situation because he did it. there's no reason to her chest to feel tight anymore and the fear of rejection. he wouldn't have done it if he didn't want to. she knows he won't force himself into a situation he doesn't want to be in. sometimes. ]

No. It looks like I just have to show you how to really kiss a girl. [ there's a sly smirk.

standing on her toes, minako warps an arm around his neck and makes sure to grab onto his beanie so that she can pull him down into a kiss. it's definitely no peck on the lips. ]

awkward bro hugs are go. also gonna assume they exchanged names in the last thread, if that's ok!

[hedonistic]

[Technically, he's already been on the other side of this. But he hadn't really thought about it when Koltira had said that magic was responsible for the request he'd made to touch his hand for a moment, and now the berries have gotten to Kagari himself, and his first thought isn't 'magic' so much as wondering if mmmmmaybe those drinks were stronger than he'd thought, or he had more than he realized. There's definitely that familiar hazy sort of warmth in his chest that accompanies getting buzzed, and he can rationalize his happiness pretty easily, under the circumstances. El Nysa has been a whole new world of opportunities, quite literally, and he's bound to feel a sort of 'high' off of his newfound freedom.

On the other hand, wanting to hug someone who was effectively a complete stranger is not one that's familiar at all, though he's not 100% sure that that's not because he's literally never had the opportunity to be drunk in front of strangers before. At any rate, he's not gonna do it. That'd just be weird, even if he's more drunk than he thought. He's gonna go eat more of those delicious cookies, and maybe arm-wrestle some Olympia nerd--

(because even if he doesn't give a rat's ass about either country or their political problems, how can he turn down some good-ol'-fashioned competition?)

--or, apparently, he's not going anywhere and he's sidling up to wherever Shinjiro's probably wallflowering with a big grin and a wave.]

Yoooo, Gaki-san! You're here too, huh.

[Should he have asked before just calling him by a random nickname invented on the fly? probably. but #yolo???? or, well. twice, technically. but who's counting.]

Cheer up, there's no meteors this time!

[tho shinji might wish there were by the end of this interaction, i'm so sorry shinji]

[ax]

[ sure, no meteors this time, but the amount of bodies milling about in one contained space is honestly close enough to meteors. shinji dodges bodies just as well as he dodged meteors - which is to say, rather clumsily. it doesn't help that there's very little room to move around when trying to make it to the other side of the dance floor.

his moment of peace doesn't last long, but that seems to be common practice at this point. still, he flinches a bit when kagari approaches with a nickname that - quite honestly - makes shinji want to knock him over the head. he doesn't, because they're still effectively strangers and he's not that rude. usually. he could be. ]

Figures you'd be here.

[ they didn't talk much, but kagari seemed like the kind of guy who likes a good time. it's natural to find him here, but shinji wasn't necessarily imagining being caught in his company again. ]

What's up with the name?

[ don't call him gaki thanks ]

[hedonistic]

Whaaaat, it sounds cool!

[He huffs, crossing his arms. yeah, definitely more than a bit drunk.]

Aragaki-san's so long and stuffy, I feel like I'm gonna fall asleep by the time I finish saying it.

[ax]

You can cut out the -san part.

[ shinji's nursing a drink himself, but nowhere near tipsy... ]

Havin' fun?

[hedonistic]

Oh my, how forward of you~

[he's wearing such a dumb shit-eating grin when he says that, too. it's deeply punchable. then he laughs, and carries on--]

Yeah, it's pretty awesome here. I've never seen so much real food at the same time.

[when 99% of your country's food supplies is synthetically produced via processed oats because they refuse to allow imports, the real shit is pricey. there's only so much of it he could get his hands on with his Enforcer's salary.]

How much do you think it all cost?

[ax]

[ so punchable. how will shinji hold back his punching arm. ]

What? You eat fake food in the future?

[ sounds... fake, actually. sounds like some of those apocalyptic future movies that were showing from his time. ]

Who knows. A lot. I ain't thinkin' about it.

[hedonistic]

[it's ok if u don't, shinji. kagari literally made his first close friend by challenging them to a fight and getting his arm broken.]

Yep. Be grateful you've never heard of Hyper Oats.

[SERIOUSLY, FUCK OATS. he doesn't care if food is plentiful here he will never eat an oat again.]

Real food's expensive as hell. It'd probably take me years to save up enough for this much.