Complete Private Meet the Family, Day 1, Part 2: We Can't Cook Japanese!

[Yugam]

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With the path to the grocery store opened up on his phone, Ari lead the way, hoping to god that they could eyeball what ingredients were what since literally none of the three actually knew how to speak or read Japanese. But, that was a worry ahead of where they were now anyways.

"So, what do you guys think we should make?" Ari asked, turning around and taking a few steps backwards before turning about face again. "I don't think it's a good idea for us to make, like, Japanese food...I don't want Nao to judge us and our shitty Westernized versions of her home's dishes..." Hell, every time Ari had gyros in Philly (well, the ones away from Greektown), he wanted to vomit. Bastardizations not fit to be put on pita...

"Maybe we make her something like...carbonara? Something Western." That was probably their safest bet. "Not burgers though. Too easy." Ari then looked to Theo, knowing that the man could cook as well, if not even better than Ari could. "Any ideas dude?"

@Jin | @Fiora Di Angelo

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

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Nico wasn't worried in the slightest that the lovebirbs sent the fantastic three to buy ingredients when none of them knew japanese in the first place. If life taught her one thing is that guugul translator breaks cultural barriers like Zelrius breaks tables.

With her arms above her head, Nico stretched out and yawned, only then replying to Ari. "Anything." Hunger and constant walking was making her sleepy. If her legs already feel a bit tense, how does Theo even feel at this point with his zero physical aptitude.

That made her glance back at Theo, curious how the baby of the group was doing. "Everything chill or do you need Ari to princess carry you?" Half joke half 'this guy is gonna fall apart for real at any moment' kind of concern. But then, Ari decided to ask about ideas of what to cook. Cool. Problem is-

He specifically asked the 'dude'. AKA, Theo. AKA, not her, not in plural. Weren't they a team?!

"Hey I'm here too, y'know?" She snapped her fingers twice, visibly irritated at that. "Alla Carbonara is cool. Most of the ingredients are easy to see, and we should kindaa aim for that. It don't matter how simple or hard the recipe is, if it needs too much stuff, that means more chances of us buying the wrong thing." She reasoned, because again, neither of them knew japanese and relying on a stranger or the cashier to know is tough luck for the most. "Fortunately for you suckers, I have a translator app I installed back at home because I wanted to impress Toko with some lines here and there." And with that, Nico pulled out her phone, dumb smile on her lips and a glitter on her eyes as she set up the app and rolled up the volume.

'KUSO!' The last thing she translated went out at full volume.
"Fuck wait that's not-"
'URUSAI!'
Hastely, Nico just swipped off the App and turned off her phone, sweating bullets at that point as she pursed her lips. "That was an ad, it's a free app..."

@Jin

 

[Jin]

Theo decided to wait for the others to get their ideas out before he spoke. When Nico harassed him about his less than stellar physical fitness, he did what he did best. "Carbonara is a heavy dish for a hot summer night," he recalled. "We could definitely do it, but we'd be full and bloated afterward with the humidity like it is. We should go lighter- maybe a Chicken Parm?"

It was funny when he remembered meeting Ari, in retrospect. "An alfredo sauce will be less hearty and more smooth, not acidic. Chicken has whole lot less fat, so it won't feel so heavy. We'll sleep better." These were the sort of details that Ari had come to know Theo for best. Seemingly insignificant details that, if applied in the most effective way, could create a specific outcome. He was always thinking ahead.

Even with things as small as cooking. "I do think a noodle dish was definitely the right call, though," he appended for Ari's benefit without looking up at the man. "If we can't find a more western style pasta, we can easily substitute buckwheat or rice noodles. I've heard those are mainstays in many Eastern dishes, so they shouldn't be difficult to get ahold of."

Heard the obnoxious woman making a similar point as he finished speaking, something about the difficulty of finding ingredients. He glanced toward Nico as she began to say something even more impressive about how she had taken the initiative to install a translator app, and he opened his mouth to commend her for her singular good idea.

He shut it immediately when her phone loudly shouted a word, and it sounded extremely harsh. Theo blinked and looked around, noticing the eyes of several locals turn toward them. Again, the phone barked, and again, a number of heads turned. Theo turned immediately to Nico.

"Let's just try to get by with English," he suggested dryly.

He turned back to Ari. "We're going to need the noodles for sure," he began. "Angel Hair is thin and easy to get smaller bites of, and it will digest more smoothly than a thicker noodle. If we can find that, it would be perfect. Also, some half and half, parmesan, and mozzarella for the sauce base." Theo glanced to Nico. "You've heard of those, right? White cheeses, made in some backwater European country, couldnt say which one, though."

Without waiting for a response, he continued along the path as Ari directed them, listing off what they would need. "Chicken breasts would be ideal, but tenderloins will work if you can't find them. The more white meat we use the better, and we can portion out more between the five of us. Olive oil, some butter, garlic, onion powder, oregano, basil..."

Theo snapped his fingers.

"...and that ought to do it."

@Yugam

 

[Yugam]

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One of the things that always impressed the shit out of Ari was the way that Theo thought about the smallest details when it came to...well, anything, really. As far as Ari was concerned, the man just cooked whatever sounded good at the moment. It didn't take much more thought than that for him. But this guy? Ari felt like he was playing checkers while Theo was playing 4D chess.

"Chicken parm sounds good," Ari said with a nod, just as Nico decided to interrupt.

Yeah, Ari didn't directly ask Nico her opinion. He just knew Theo was the best person to ask. And while she had a good point, the moment she tried to open her translator app, Ari decided to pull a Theo and start walking ahead of the others, pretending that he didn't know Nico.

Ari was Asian. He looked like the wrong kind of Asian. But at least he didn't look like as much of a gaijin as the other two. Hopefully if he kept his head down, he could avoid the dirty looks he knew that Nico was getting.

After having putting enough time and space between himself and Nico, the man waited at a street corner for the other two to catch up, so they didn't all get lost and could actually do their jobs together.

"If we can't find chicken breast, I'd be surprised as hell," Ari said, picking up the conversation from where they'd left off. "Honestly, the ones I'm not a hundred percent sure we'll find are the oregano, basil and angel's hair." Ari looked at the token Italian, "Unless you brought an Italian grocers with you," he said jokingly.

@Fiora Di Angelo

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

.

Ari, that bastard, just ran off as soon as he got the chance to when her app went off, and Theo wouldn't be helping her out of this one, not with so many eyes set upon them at the moment. Edge man brought up a good point to stick with what they knew, but why did the locals keep looking at them?!

"WHAT?!" She spit out, baby-blue eyes twitching towards every single one of them with arms spread as if to add more meaning through body language, and they all quickly went back to their own lives as if nothing, weirded out more than anything of the silly and rude gaijin.

Fortunately for Theo and Ari, this meant the pinkette would take the aggro.

Spiteful, sight set on the ground "Yeah, let's stick with english..." With a tone that disregarded everything and anything around her right now.

Having lost half track of the conversation as Theo proved to talk too much for her own tastes, even going as far as overcomplicate things. The stalking thing was already nailing the coffee of weirdo, but to include food into this? The last she got was an 'ingeniously' crafted ingredient list and-

Nico laughed, she got a few looks out for how abrupt it was in such a quiet day, but she didn't mind nor care by this point. "Heh, yeah, backwater country..." Acrimonious to the core, if anyone could imagine what kind of masteries she would have in real life if it were possible, then it had to be S-rank Aura.

She kept her tact for the most, despite the humidity getting her in a bad mood, and the twink not helping her in the slightest to hold it together. "Real funny. But do that joke again and I'll wait for you to land, stalk you back to your house, and fucking murder you while you sleep. We cool?" Daggers for eyes shot right through him, not waiting for an answer "We cool."

Once they caught up to Ari, who might have missed this whole scene (good for him), Nico listened him go off and just shrugged with an innocent, tiresome smile. "Jezz, the only time I forget to bring my italian grocers with me..." She played along, but quickly changed subjects before they could get off-track "I don't think we should try to 'optimize' our cooking to be honest, we should just cook what we feel like. You don't cook with your brain." A line she remarked with a look back at Theo and a tap on her forehead. "You cook with your heart; Anyways, capellini is a good alternative if we can't get angel's hair. And that applies for everything else. Oregano? Marjoram. Basil? Tarragon." Hands tucked back on her hoodie's pockets.

"You should do the talking, though. You are the most asian-looking here, no cap. They probably racist or something, so the more funny looking your eyes are, the better." Wouldn't they be easy prey to scams too, even?

Ugh...

@Jin

 

[Jin]

"Oh, my apologies," Theo turned and matched the Italian woman's gaze with a deadpan that almost seemed to drink in the enmity of her gaze and swallow it whole. It wasn't just disinteterest- his default setting was complete apathy. "Did I offend you? I can't imagine how that must feel. Why don't we ask the large number of locals who you're harassing just by virtue of your existence right now?"

Theo had gone out of his way to antagonize her just to make that point, as all the people staring at them were now whispering among themselves, exchanging glances, while they were looking at the group less often, they had not stopped doing so by any means. "We'll be 'cool' when you dial the aggression back from 200% and try to keep a low profile, at least while we're in public. From what I've read about the culture, the Japanese are very reserved and prickly about disrespect. We don't want to have the cops called on us for disturbing the peace."

She then made her own point, something about cooking with the heart. "Oh wow!" Theo feigned an expression of awe, "I didn't realize that you were secretly a top Italian chef! In that case, why don't you pick out a recipe and cook for everyone?"

He sighed audibly, his demeanor and expression bleak once more. "You don't cook with your brain," he mocked under his breath. Theo busied himself with picking out ingredients, phone in hand to check prices and make the conversions between Yen and USD. He wasn't about to shop whimsically and burn through their funds.

@Yugam

 

[Yugam]

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O, woe the day that Aristotle Roussos had to be the responsible one in a group. Which, somehow happened more often than you would think. Yeah, their generation was kinda fucked...

"Hey!" Ari snapped at the two sharply, giving them the stern look of someone who had spent countless hours teaching small children. The only thing that had kept him from slapping the two on the back of the head had been the culture shock that Theo had mentioned. "Keep it down you two," the man said, beginning to sound like Olivier had just minutes before. "Small town like this, everyone knows everyone. And everyone probably already knows we're seeing Nao. What we do reflects on her now. If you're gonna fight, don't make it so goddamn obvious."

With that out of the way, the pairs conversation began to take a more even tone as they continued to fire longwinded insults back and forth, and Ari rubbed his temples from the headache he had. His social batteries were already running low.

"You should do the talking, though. You are the most asian-looking here, no cap. They probably racist or something, so the more funny looking your eyes are, the better," Ari could hear Nico say to him. The man looked back at her with a raised eyebrow before answering. "You just want to watch a bunch of old ajumma judge me for being the most white-washed Asian in existence, don't you?" Ari said casting her a tired glare.

Exhaling sharply, the man turned and looked just down the road, the grocery store in sight now. Forcing himself to make his next inhalation long and slow, Ari breathed out slowly before speaking again. "Aight, let's go, almost there and we can see what they got," he said as the crosswalk light turned over to the little man. "I don't really care what we make, if I'm being honest," Ari said, looking over his shoulder as the other two. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm with Nico on this. I just cook whatever I'm in the mood for, but you two hash it out. I'm down for whatever. Nico," Ari look at the girl, "you're in charge of finding alternatives of whatever we need if we can't grab 'em. Theo, you and I can look for everything else we need. Maybe figure out appetizers or something. Sound like a plan guys?"

@Fiora Di Angelo

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

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"Dude, I'm barely even trying, you know your face would be having an up-close meeting with the floor if I did." By all means she should have, it's the first time in the day someone gives her a reason others would find 'acceptable' to do so, and the intensity between both was reaching it's boiling point. Ari, being a practitioner might be able to notice the slight cues of upcoming violence if a clenched fist and one coy step forward were any give away.

If anything, his intervention came right on time, with a reasoning not so similar to Theo's but it's the wording what mattered, lacking on the patronizing intent which seemed to be a staple of Jin and it's player alike. Nico just looked away and gave Theo his personal space back with her departure, and god bless they were getting on topic once again and Ari cracked a pun to help her cool off.

"You just want to watch a bunch of old ajumma judge me for being the most white-washed Asian in existence, don't you?"

"Si." Despite the attempt to leave hostility aside, her voice carried some bitterness from most recent batch of anger.

And even that lasted little as once again the pest itself descended upon her, shockingly in 'awe', and he got the full kit of annoyed bitch face out if Nico, with a frown included this time around. "I'm not gonna bother even. The way you cook is the same way you deal with your depression, and that ain't going well for you. Keep cooking mid dishes at best, bitch. I could put more soul and taste into plain, white rice than you do to your day to day." She was about to turn on one heel and leave the fuck out, just flip them off and go to walk somewhere else for an hour or so. All that stress was making her heart feel heavy, and that usually made her feel sick for the rest of the day.

To her surprise, Ari agreed with her. Nico looked at him dumbfounded as he practically caught her off-guard with that, with a new plan even. Words fell short out of her mouth as she kept quiet and simply pulled up her hood with nowhere else to hide herself in. "Yeah." She mumbled an answer

@Jin

 

[Jin]

He glanced at Ari when the man stepped in without any need for Theo to prompt him. However, Theo knew not to give the many any credit for picking up the cues. The other man was kinder by far than his counterpart, and he wasn't just going to stand by and let Theo talk Nico into a rage. In provoking the woman nearly to violence, he'd created the perfect opportunity to turn the situation into a game of "good cop, bad cop."

Ari just happened to steal the show exactly the way Theo intended.

With a small smile, the youth turned from the pair and gave a shrug. "Do what you want," he declared at last. He continued to pick up the ingredients for a lighter, chicken based dish to prepare for himself. If they wanted to disregard his warning, they could do so at their own peril. Theo personally wanted nothing to do with the ten hour rebound on sleep that was bound to come from a heavy meal.

When Nico blasted him about his lack of passion and flavor and mentioned that she could infuse her cooking with more of both, he closed his eyes. "Oh, look, these spices are on clearance," he murmured to himself after double checking the price tag against a hastily searched translation. He didn't seem to hear her; or if he did, he did not react.

The situation was well in Ari's hands now.

@Yugam

 

[Yugam]

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As the trio walked into the grocery store, Nico just sort of stared at the man, a look of shock on her face, as if he had just said that the birds were just spies for the government. The man didn't even notice until he looked back at the two, the suspiciously long silence (it had been less than two seconds) making him worry that they'd gotten into the back of a white van that said 'Free Candy!' on the side or something. Instead, the man was greeted by the sight of the pink haired woman pulling her hood up over her head and muttering a sullen agreement.

"Do what you want," Ari heard Theo say as the man began to grab some chicken and spices, resulting in Ari letting out an exhausted sigh as he buried his face in the palm of his hand for a moment. 'Christ this is turning into such a shit show,' he thought to himself. At least it was out of sight of Nao. She could believe for now that they were functioning human beings. Plot twist, they weren't.

"Alright, so how do you feel about puttanesca?" Ari then asked Nico, removing his hand from his very exhausted look face. He wasn't even trying to hide it anymore. Between the bags under his eyes and the resting bitch face that said 'I'm gonna stab the next bitch to look at me funny' the man screamed 'travel fatigue'.

Despite the lighter nature of that pasta dish, as Theo had suggested, the man was all the same, 'cooking from his heart' as Nico had put it. It was one of his favorite dishes to cook. Quick, easy, tasted good and it looked fancier than it was. Honestly, it was kind of the perfect way to impress someone, if that's you what you were looking to do...like Nao! Ari did still want to make a good impression on one of his first friends in Terrasphere.

@Fiora Di Angelo

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

.

The group split in two with an objective each, only this group wasn't on pairs whatsoever since Theo decided to play lone wolf. Good for her, that meant she wouldn't have to look at him in the eye for a little while at least. Hopefully the store would be big enough to keep them apart.

Nico spaced out for a second, blinking back to reality when Ari drilled her ears with a question, meeting his eyes with her own and just now realizing how broken the poor Eboy looked. It split her between slapping the man or showing some sympathy for once. Her restless body gravitated to the latter.

"Hmmm, It's a good option, but you know what I was thinking?" Half-circling him, she stood on the tip of her toes to reach the tallest of the shelves, where a small (and that's a generous way to describe) bouquet of basil piled up among the rest of it's peer. '100% organic' the label on the front reads. She could notice the bullshit from miles away on this one. "Basil- We can also use it for frutti di mare. It's a pretty nice sauce, and Japan is well known for it's seafood, isn't it? Then frutti di mare would do nicely... Y'know, seafood, western dish, seafood western dish." Her voice went off, like she tried to catch herself up from stumbling once wrapping up what she tried to say was harder than expected, but she hoped Ari would catch what she meant. "I don't care what we eat so long as it's tasty, but I also want her to get a nice impression." Stretching her hand out, she put the little plastic box on his hands. Better to gauge his skills now than later, keep her expectations high or low, maybe even ask him to cook some extra for her.

Fuck Theo though, what an asshole.

@Jin

 

[Jin]

He collected the last of those things he needed for his own dish and promptly began rummaging through other items for the things that Ari had mentioned. It simply would not do for him to completely disregard the others' wishes. They would have something to say about him, and he was far past the point where he wanted to listen to them whining. Armed a handbasket filled with goods, Theo approached the counter. "Ohayogozaimasu~" The kindly woman tending the register greeted.

"Ah, um, sorry I don't speak Japanese," he bowed respectfully, hopeful that she knew English well enough to pass.

"Ah, hai, yes yes, little English okay," the woman confirmed, still smiling. Theo loaded the conveyor up with his items and watched as the cashier counted out the total, mindful of deductions and the sales tax, just to be certain. "Total is 4,640 en," she stated after tallying the final amount.

Theo quickly did the conversion with his phone. "35 dollars," he murmured, counting out the Japanese currency that he'd gotten from the exchange. "Not too bad. I would probably pay more back in Philly." He handed the monies over and she finished bagging up his goods. "Thank you," he said with a bow.

"Hai hai, thank you, arigato gozaimasu~"

He walked toward the exit and turned to check on the others. Had they come as far as he had, or were they still bickering? Theo hoped that wasn't the case. He had gone out of his way to piss her off so that Ari could look like a saint by comparison. Surely, the other man couldn't fail to score off of that big of a power play.

"Where the hell did those two idiots get to?" he asked to no one in particular. A man standing nearby stepped closer to him, and Theo noticed far too late to dodge out of his way. No sooner was he shoulder to shoulder with the boy than did he elect to speak.

"You are Amerika-jin, yes?" the man asked. Theo blinked. "Americans," the man repeated, this time in English.

"Me and the other guy," Theo replied, "but the girl is Italian."

"Ah, sou," the man spoke sagely, stroking his beard. "Japan is very respectful culture," he explained. "No like loud people. No like rude people."

"Yeah, I picked up on that," Theo responded.

"Americans and Italian should be careful," the man continued. "Noise law in Okinawa much-" he gestured as though describing large in size, or great in number, "much different from Tokyo. Smaller. Less crowded. Less tolerant of gaijin kuso."

"I have no idea what that means," Theo repeated for the second time, reminding someone that he did not know Japanese. "But I do understand the sentiment, and I appreciate your warning," Theo turned and offered the man a bow.

"No need thank," the man waved him off. "Actions more better than word. Nao is good girl, come from good family, live in town long time. No make trouble for Nao, best way to thank."

"Yeah, I'll let the others know," he answered. The white haired, grandfatherly figure gave him a stiff, shallow bow and disappeared as quickly as he had appeared. Theo grumbled as he turned to once more check on the progress of the two boneheads who had succeeded in getting him a "strongly worded letter" from some Village Elder.

Yeah, it was about time to go.

@Yugam

 

[Yugam]

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"Hmm?" Ari replied as Nico walked around him, reaching for something on the shelf. The girl pulled down a large bouquet of basil, and suggested making a...a what? See, this is why Ari kept his memory book on him usually. Except, there was no way in hell the man would've written down what a 'fruity mare' was, even if he heard what the term before. "Uh, hold on," Ari said as he pulled out his phone and made a quick Google search. "Oh, yeah, that sounds pretty good. We can pull up a recipe and just grab everything," the man said, Googling once more before pulling out his little notebook and pen and making a quick note.

Frutti di Mare - Italian seafood pasta - Nico, Japan

Snapping the miniature notebook shut and stuffing back into his back pocket, tapping his mouth with the end of the pen while he looked at all the ingredients. "Mm, I think we can find everything actually. Should we get some stuff to make bruschetta too?"

With Nico's agreement, the pair began to go around the grocery store, putting the ingredients into their basket. Somehow, they made it through without a single, minute, argument. This? Yes. Into the basket it went. Clean and simple.

Approaching the register, Ari said nothing as they approached, merely smiling and nodding as greeted them in Japanese. "Uh, English," he said pointing at himself, and the woman nodded in understanding. "Ah, yes, yes, English." One by one she scanned all the items before gesturing towards the card reader, which read the owed amount. Some value that held no real meaning for Ari since it wasn't in US Dollars. The man just swiped his card, took the bags and left, handing one of the two to Nico and meeting up with Theo as some elderly gentleman began to walk away.

"Who was that?" Ari asked as they all started to walk back to the house again.

@Fiora Di Angelo

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

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"Huh?" His confusion came off-putting to her, specially with how much he and Theo condecorated themselves as the certified cooks. Nonetheless a minor inconvenience as a little google search proved four-eyes Eboy wasn't a know-it-all. Something she could vibe with as opposed to Mr.Brainiac cook who just left to dio knows where.

When Ari produced a notebook out of nowhere, Nico leaned closer with a hand over his shoulder just to peek at what he was writing, giving him a funny look at that... Quote? "Are you quoting me or something? What's this all for?" She tried to peek further, but he snapped it back on his backpack and that was the end of it. Before she could strike back with questions fit for an interrogation, Ari struck her down with one thrust to the heart...
"Should we get some stuff to make brusch-"
Starry eyes quickly drawn to his at these magical words. "Yes." She quickly assented, not even letting him finish his thought before he got his answer.

And then the two of them would start their waltz across the groceries.
Garlic? Yup
Pepper? Sure
Tomato Juice? Into the basket! Paste too.

And on top of all they needed, a bunch of snacks to go along, some chips, and a few soda cans. Ari didn't seem to mind, and that made her feel like a kid in a candy store but in japanese, just rampaging through with claw-like hands snapping anything out of it's place and dropping it where it belongs: on the basket that would put a dent on Ari's finances, however unlimited they might be.

Finally at the register, she put far more attention than usual on Ari, staring at him uncomfortably long albeit with a warm smile, expectant, then back to the cashier, trying to catch on any cues that scream 'Yes, this woman is clearly biased for my white asian'.

Splitting the weight between the two of em with a few bags on her hands, the two made their way out just in time to see the elder walk away, and a few of the locals even watched the exchange apparently, something easy to see from their angle.

"See, I told you that being asian helped. Probably got a discount." Unfortunately, all good comes to an end. Now Theo was back on her peripherical, and her own deadpan challenged his own. "Can't even leave you alone for five minutes dude, and you already talking with strangers." She rolled her eyes painfully slow at that just to let him see her sass in 4K. "Blegh, forget it, can we just leave please?" She used one of the bags to point back from whence they came.

While they made their way back, fortunately with less and less eyes pointing at them, judging them from afar, Nico leaned closer and bumped shoulders with Ari to get his attention. "That diary ain't for quotes right? What's the deal." No, she wasn't THAT dense, but one little joke never hurts. Now she had to be a little more serious, if curious for the most.

@Jin

 

[Jin]

Both of the others met back up with him only after the scolding, too late to have heard the details for themselves. Theo had to sigh audibly at the irony in the elderly gentleman's timing. Then again, it seemed that he had not approached specifically because the other two were out of earshot. Did it really look like Theo had any control of the situation from the outside? He found himself wishing he could switch places with any of the spectators and find out.

Then again, if he could do that, he'd just hop the first flight back to America.

Such is life.

"Lets get back to Toko's- Nao's- whatever. Let's get back." Theo said as he slid through the door. The others might start to notice now, if they hadn't already. Other than Ari, Theo referred to everyone by their In Game handle. He didn't differentiate. They were all just other Players in a game to him. He didn't want more than that. If they started to piece that together, they might start to understand why he seemed so out of place.

Then again... he doubted they were reading that far into it.

He corrected himself here because he had been forced into this situation. It wasn't Toko's house. The house belonged to Nao. She was physically entertaining them as guests. It was no longer viable to disassociate. He was visibly and audibly struggling with that fact, now.

"I got the things you needed for Carbonara," he added after a moment. They hadn't been anywhere near him when they changed their minds, after all. How was he to know?

@Yugam

 

[Yugam]

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Ever the nosy Italian, Nico did her best to lean over Ari's shoulder and peer at the notebook in his hands as he jotted down the dish they'd settled on. "Are you quoting me or something?" she'd asked, "What's this all for?"

"Nico, my dear friend," Ari said with a tiredly humorous smile as he'd snapped the volume shut and stowed it away. "Were this a book of quote, you would still not be in it, for you have yet to say anything worth quoting."

They'd finished up their shopping bags full of ingredients, snacks, alcohol, pretty much everything they'd needed for a successful dinner among friends, and met up with Theo who looked about as worn out as Ari felt. Ari gave him a sympathetic smile before starting to walk back towards Nao's place, all of them laden with precious cargo.

"I got the things you needed for Carbonara," Theo said, breaking the momentary silence between them all. In the end, Ari couldn't really suppress the amused chuckle as he glanced over in the other man's direction. "Thanks dude. Looks like we'll all be eating well tonight," he said appreciatively.

Only a couple moments later, and Ari felt something softly jostle his shoulder, drawing his attention. Of course, Nico again. "That diary ain't for quotes right? What's the deal," she asked without about as much tact as she seemed to handle anything. "Ah, that," Ari said with a sigh, running a hand through his hair. "It helps me remember things," he tried to explain. "Back in uh, junior year of high school, I nearly drowned. Wound up in a coma. Didn't wake up for like a month. As you might imagine, I didn't really come out of that at a hundred percent," he explained, not really wanting to get into the how or why of his near-death experience.

Theo had heard the story before. Heard the parts Ari had decided to leave out too. No doubt, the most perceptive man Ari knew would notice his lies of omission. They'd known each other for to long for him not to. "Most of my memories before then look like swiss cheese," Ari went on, "and my short and long term memory can be kinda spotty. Writing things out helps though."

@Fiora Di Angelo

 

[Fiora Di Angelo]

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Instincts told her to go for it. To knock a couple o' teeth outta his mouth, be the dentist she always wanted to be with her fists being the only tools for the job. However, tired potato brain picked up on an even moreso tiresome form of humour, an attempt she just rolled her eyes off and smiled back at him.

Little did he know, that roll of her eyes practically worked as a purification ritual to wash away all the violence she almost erroneously unleashed on him. A disaster to feel guilty about for sure. "Stick around then. I'm full of bad quotes and ideas." Lazy, she struggled to hold that energy of earlier back on the streets, but everyone's batteries were running low, hers and Ari's included.

The impossible happened once they left... Theo helped. Theo actually did something for the team, and the way Ari took over is, if anything, the same she had in mind: appreciative, despite the change of plans he could not be aware of. "Yeah, thanks..." Distant, but that's as much as she could give him. The guy still pissed her off not so long ago, and yet she held back on her fangs this time around.

However, if one thing she knew, is that Theo is still the mind behind Jin despite the lack of weeb clothing right now, and to stumble upon a word and dismiss it with a 'whatever' is possibly the least on-brand ever. But perhaps this has to do with Ari dragging him off somehow to this trip, which put him in an unfavourable position. Who wouldn't end up on his position as the brainiac he is?

"It helps me remember things,"

Ari snapped her out of that thoughtful trance she had with that sole line, a confused stare back at him tried to recover composure, nodding along to urge him to continue, only she ended up regretting that decision seconds after as it turned from what she hoped to be some funny case of bad genetics, into a horror show with the guy almost drowning and ending up as damaged goods, in a literal sense.

"That sucks..." Words so dishonest it almost felt like a lie when her voice matched the usual indifference Theo speaks with. "Well hey, I hope that punch didn't rob you of some more." A jest paired with a smirk, as Nico looked up to him afterwards, patching up the lack of confidence on that sentence. "You still remember that by the way? The punch I mean. I'm surprised you tanked through that like a champ, I was hoping to knock you out cold."

Maybe a compliment will do? Fuck, I don't wanna apologize right now.

@Jin

 

[Jin]

It vaguely interested Theo that while Ari disliked- or appeared to dislike Fiora, he was willing to part with information about his accident. He glanced back over his shoulder toward the man warily, like he was watching impassively as the only actual person he knew in Japan tilt their hand toward a stranger and expose any amount of weakness. To Theo, that was almost the same as handing someone the gun to assist in your own suicide.

But that choice wasn't his to make, and Theo was an avid believer in a person's right to dictate their own destiny.

He continued to watch, and to listen as they walked back toward Toko's home. To his surprise, the boisterous woman didn't immediately turn information about the journal against Ari- which made her a marginally better human being than Theo originally thought.

"You still remember that by the way? The punch I mean. I'm surprised you tanked through that like a champ, I was hoping to knock you out cold."

...or not. Instead of a proper apology or some kind of affirmation, she gave the man a backhanded compliment. Theo rolled his eyes and turned to look back at the path ahead of them, which grew shorter with each minute. It wasn't so bad now that he was used to the walk.

"I'll cook first," he said, "so that I can eat and then hurry back to the hotel. You guys can all eat together and get to know... Nao... better."

@Yugam