(OPEN) Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

[symmetrophile]

Who: Villa residents and all visitors.
When: December 25th
Where: The Villa
Style: Whatever you like!
Status: Open!


[Hey, guess what?

IT'S CHRISTMAS! Which means Villa residents will be trading gift-wrapped presents and enjoying a delicious holiday feast prepared by a very hard-working Rin Okumura, so be sure to thank him!

The threads below are meant for mingling, the exchanging of gifts and other holiday activities!]

Comments

[keepsthefire]

Yeah...

[It's difficult to hide the note of sadness at the mention of Shirou. To say that was still a fresh wound would have been a gross understatement. The man gave his life so Rin could live, knowing it would be difficult for him but also knowing that if anyone was strong enough to handle it, it was his son.

Rin swallowed hard, managing a smile in spite of the ache in his chest, a part of him wondering if it was always going to hurt like that.]

Neither could anyone else in the church. But I like cookin' for other people. If it makes 'em happy and they say it's good, then I'm happy too.

[openminded]

[ The smile on her face is warm. Shirou was ... a very touchy subject, not just for her boys, but for her as well. There were a lot of mixed feelings on her end, though, and it wasn't necessarily something she was ready to talk about ... and from the looks of things with Rin, it was something that he didn't necessarily want to talk about, either. ]

Making people happy ... that's all that matters, isn't it? If you can make people happy by giving them a good meal, or offering friendship, or even by simply being nice to them, then you're doing good in the world. In any world.

[ She wanted happiness for everyone. Not just humans, but the demons of Gehenna as well. She knew as well as (if not better than) anyone that there were some bad seeds in Gehenna ... just as there had been in Assiah, as well. But for the most part, she had found that both races had a lot of similarities between them. She wanted to see a future where those in Assiah and Gehenna could see those similarities and become friends over them.

... Of course, that sort of future fell to her boys to create now. Obviously, there was only so much she could do herself, having been dead for so long.

There was much that needed to be done before that could be achieved, but she definitely thought Rin was on the right track with cooking.

Rin, your mom is a satanic hippie. ]

[keepsthefire]

[And just like that, Rin found himself right back where he'd been all week - a million things to say, to ask, and no idea where to even start.

How do you talk to some one who gave you life, but never got to see you live it? In his mind a parent was supposed to be some one you knew, at least on some level. He wasn't ignorant enough to think that everyone had that luxury (certainly there were kids even in his cram school who never got to know their parents all that well) but he was still left with a constant feeling of "how do I act?".

They were still strangers, trying to cope with the knowledge that they were related by blood.]

Well... y'know, we're all stuck here... might as well try to get along...

[Not that everyone did, but he wasn't going to mention Vanitas unless it was absolutely necessary.

His tail twitched behind his back, looking a little worse for wear from recent days. There was even a couple of bandages on it - a few unfortunate run ins with closing doors and some one's foot.]

You... uhm. You settlin' in okay... ?

[openminded]

About as well as I can, all things considered. I was pretty fortunate, though.

[ Kid was very quick on the ball, inviting her back to the villa and feeding her ... and providing a rather useful infodump, complete with blunt revelations as to her identity. But, she supposed it was going to happen eventually, right? She couldn't fault anybody for that. After all, she was here, talking with one of her boys as a result of what had happened. She was actually very grateful for that. ]

Ah, but I do have to start looking for my own place after the holidays ... apparently the place I'm staying in right now will only give me a week before I have to be out.

[ She catches sight of his tail. At first, she hesitates to reach out and inspect it, especially after seeing how it looked now ... but she eventually decides to say "screw it, I'm his mother," and realizes she has every right to be worried if any part of her son seemed injured. She reached out and gently ran a finger along the poof of his tail. ]

What happened here?

[keepsthefire]

Gu--...

[A tiny noise escapes at that. Normally a touch wouldn't have been so bad (it usually took things like actively petting, pulling or tugging to get any sort of reaction out of him via his tail) but the abuse he'd been taking lately had left him bruised even with his enhanced healing.

He didn't jerk it away, though, making a face over his shoulder at it and all the bandages he'd applied on his own.

Thankfully Yukio's training plus his terrible habit of getting in to weekly scuffles had taught him a thing or two about first aid.]

I've just been havin' some bad luck. Can't say doors have been very friendly with me lately...

[He didn't bring up the curse because in grand scheme of things, a little bad luck for a week wasn't nearly as some people were getting stuck with, and quickly changed the subject back to housing.]

My old apartment is still empty. Ain't anythin' fancy, but it's a roof over your head.

[openminded]

[ She makes a bit of a face at the news that his tail had been suffering some abuse, but at a closer inspection, it looked as though he'd learned to take care of it to some extent. She has to wonder how often this happens, though ... still, the two of them were still getting to know each other. As much as Yuri wanted to pull out the mommy card right now, this was probably not the best time for that.

She smiles as he offers his old place, though. As much as she would have loved to stay here in the Villa with everybody, she realized that 1) it was .. pretty packed already, and 2) the boys probably needed their space for the time being. It was a good idea, overall. Besides! She could totally take care of herself. Yes, this was a good idea. ]

I think I'll take you up on that, thank you! Ah, but you'll definitely have to let me know where it is, exactly.

[ Yes, Yuri, state the obvious. ]

[keepsthefire]

[The worried look doesn't escape him, though, and he can tell she wants to say or do something, and for some reason it bubbles up some weird teenage instinct in him, causing him to blurt out:]

Stop lookin' at me like that, it's just my tail. I'll be fine, M--

[But he catches himself in that last second before all the letters of that word escape completely, cheeks going a rather interesting shade of red. He gently pulls his tail back away from her with a hand, looking away.]

I'll... show you after the party... 'kay?

[openminded]

[ .... Did he just-- He did. Almost. It makes Yuri happy to know that he was instinctively nearly calling her 'Mom,' but at the same time, she knew exactly why he had stopped. This resulted in a surprised expression on her face. Yuri froze, staring at her son for several moments before letting out a breath she didn't realize she was holding, her hand falling back down to her side.

She nodded, her eyes averting to the side themselves. She smiled a little, though it was a bit of a forced one, and it was fairly obvious. ]

All right.

[ She continues to keep her eyes off of him, though all she wanted to do in all reality was watch him, never take her eyes off of him, and take in the sight of her grown son. ]

Ah, but ... don't let me keep you, okay? Surely you must have a lot to do, hm?

[keepsthefire]

N... not really. I don't gotta run off right now... everyone's pretty much taken care of for a while.

[There's a noticeable fidget, fingers fiddling with the hem of the pocket on his apron. This really did get more awkward, and he's kind of hating himself for it.]

Unless you wanna get back to talkin' to other people.