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[staminaroll]

1418

takasu-san * veronica-san * shun-kun
miyuki-senpai * kominato-kun * sawamura

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[staminaroll]

[He tries to be, he's just not always terribly good at it.

Furuya lifts the top and peeks inside. They look really good and he carefully plucks a couple out.]

Did you want to have one now?

[slowpitch]

[Furuya's never given him a reason to think otherwise! So as far as Mihashi's concerned? Good person.

He had sort of figured he was just going to drop them off and take his leave, but if he's offering...]

We could! If you want.

[staminaroll]

[It seems kind of rude to just take food and send Mihashi-kun back out into the rain, but it might also be rude to keep him.]

If you want to stay. We can go inside.

[slowpitch]

[But turning Furuya down after he brought up the offer in the first place would feel rude. Manners sure are weird.]

S-sure, for a bit. [A good compromise. He wouldn't want to impose for long, after all.]

[staminaroll]

[It's hard to be polite. Hopefully they'll be better friends soon so it's not as necessary.]

OK. Come on in.

[You have a friend who doesn't go to Seido coming in, Furuya... be cool...

Be prepared to be greeted by a house filled with paintings and homemade knickknacks and knitted things... as well as the odd kiddie pool of water. Life with an octopus for a dad.]

[slowpitch]

[Strive to be the temperature you love the most. Keep your chill.]

Pardon the intrusion. [Spoken quietly as he walks in and takes off his shoes. Everything in here feels really homey, it's actually really interesting to him. (The kiddie pool doubly so, but that's just because it's so... Unexpected. Huh.)] is all this, your family's stuff? ['Family'.]

[staminaroll]

[Chill is not as easy as it looks, but he does his best.]

Yes. My father likes to decorate and make things. And he needs the water. [Pause.]

Have you met Takasu? He's an octopus.

[slowpitch]

[An octopus... like, a literal octopus? How does that even work? It makes the pool seem a little more reasonable, but...!!

After a second of shocked silence, he shakes his head a couple of times.] I haven't. [But, he guesses, it's not that much weirder than one of his own 'parents' being a country?] He must be - really talented. [He's trying to imagine a for-real octopus knitting or painting. Incredible...!]

[staminaroll]

He is. He has a human torso and arms so he can use his hands for things, but he also has tentacles instead of legs he can use. He can cook and knit at the same time.

[He was kind of weirded out at first but Furuya's grown very fond of his octopus father here. It helps that Takasu's kind and considerate, too.]

What is your family like?

[slowpitch]

[So... like some kind of octopus mermaid? That just makes it more weird to imagine! Still kind of incredible, though, but he's not sure how much of it he can fully believe without seeing it himself.

Not that he has any reason to doubt Furuya. That's just... a lot of bizarre information to be delivered so casually.]

They're... kind to me. [That a fairly succinct way of putting it.] Germany-san works a lot, and Count D-san really likes animals. [He hesitates for a second, and adds,] We have... a lot of dogs. [And a few other, more odd types of animals running around, but the dogs are something of a stress point, and therefore most worth mentioning. Apparently.]

[staminaroll]

[Basically, but for some reason he just considers himself an octopus. Furuya just sort of goes with it.]

Do you have two fathers? [He knows it's not that unusual, but given that one is an octopus and one is a princess, his parents actually seem like a couple so he's not sure about Mihashi-kun's family, if it's the same.]

We have one too. His name is Glen, he's Veronica-san's really. He's a good dog but he's usually with her. [Because he gets the feeling dogs are some kind of thing to be pointed out like that.] How many is a lot?

[When they reach the kitchen, he brings down a couple of small plates and gets out a couple of forks, then sets them at the table.]

[slowpitch]

[Give him just a second to absorb that questions - he hadn't really ever thought about it in terms like that before.] I guess? [Two guys in parent roles... that certainly would make them a pair of dads.] It's a little... strange - the think of them as dads. [Neither of them are much like his actual dad, and treating a couple of people he doesn't know very well like parents feels pretty strange.]

We have three. [More after the gentlepups show up......] They're - well behaved. [And he'll do his best not to worry about the one here unless it shows up.]

[staminaroll]

[It's easy to ask questions. With a minimum of words, Furuya can make the other person do a lot of the work of talking. He doesn't even realize he's the one moving things along... or that he's putting other people on the spot.]

There aren't many girls here so that makes sense, kind of. And I don't call Veronica-san or Takasu mom or dad either but they're nice to me so it's not so bad.

[That's a surprise.] Three? What kind are they? [A little headtilt; he's not completely unperceptive.]

Do you not like them?

[slowpitch]

[Mihashi's used to having someone else take the lead, but this is... a bit different. He's not used to being expected to filling most of the conversation. He isn't about to complain, or even point it out, it's just... definitely something.

He feels that whole 'they're nice, so that's good' thing at least, and nods a couple of times in agreement.]

They're, um, a retriever, a corgi, I think? And... something else. [This is really not his area of expertise, but he motions with his hands to indicate a somewhat larger sized dog.

As for if he likes them, well... he doesn't want to say anything bad about Germany's dogs.] They're... well behaved. [And that much is true. But totally not an actual answer to the question. Good job.]

[staminaroll]

[Furuya's not really used to the whole 'using his words to communicate' aspect of socializing, either but questions aren't so hard. He's curious about Mihashi-kun, too, which helps.

The third dog looks big. He can kind of understand why it's got Mihashi-kun a little skittish.]

Did you have pets before you got here?

[slowpitch]

[Nonverbal cues are just so much easier. With that thought, he shakes his head a couple of times at the question. It's one he can, at least, offer up a little exposition on without much prompting:]

My parents both - work a lot.

[Among other reasons that made a pet an unwise decision. But that one's the easiest to explain.]

[staminaroll]

[Furuya starts setting the cakes onto plates, offering one to Mihashi-kun when he finishes speaking. There's more to that than he's saying but it's personal, he can tell.]

My parents were worried we'd have to move again, so we never had one either. I heard one of the houses here had a lion, though. That makes Glen seem small.

[slowpitch]

[The plate is accepted with a soft,] Thank you. [Before he quiets down to listen to what the other has to say.]

A... lion? [Is that even legal?? Ah, but something else he said is interesting, too.] Um, did your family move a lot...?

[staminaroll]

You're welcome. [Mihashi-kun is so formal. It's easy to tell he doesn't usually live in a dorm full of aggressive teenage guys, but it's still a surprise to Furuya. He's so... nice.]

That's what my teacher said. He brought it with him to school one day. [Furuya is very fond of Katsura-san.]

Not really but at first they weren't sure. Or maybe my mom just said that. We only moved once, when I was in third grade.

[slowpitch]

[That's scary! And he brought it in to the school...? If he can manage to wrangle it into the building, it might be tame enough to keep as a pet, but that's still scary! He gives a small, stiff nod in reply. He gets it (sort of), but he can't imagine having to live with what is normally a wild animal.]

Oh, us too! In second grade. [That gives them something in common outside of their chosen sport and position. That's nice, he thinks! He didn't particularly like the move itself, so any enthusiasm is brought on wholly from the common link.] Out of our apartment. [Not a notably big move, like from a different prefecture.] Where - did you live?

[staminaroll]

[Furuya got to pet it, so it wasn't that scary. Of course, Katsura-san refused to say for certain that he wouldn't get bitten for trying, but it worked out all right in the end. More of a challenge, really.

Mihashi-kun gets more animated talking about his own move but it doesn't seem to be quite as big as Furuya's was. He's uncertain for a moment about answering, but there's no harm in it. They're both equally far from home now.]

We lived in Tokyo, but my father's job transferred him to Hokkaido. I didn't remember much about Tokyo after that.

[slowpitch]

[His eyes widen a little - what a big move...!]

That's so far...! [And he mentioned before that he'd been back in Tokyo for about a year, on top of that. It makes that assessment of it being a common tie feel kind of weak in hindsight. Good thing he didn't say it out loud and make a fool of himself nice job Mihashi!] Did, um, you go back... just for Seidou? [Or was there something more to it?]

[staminaroll]

It was the south of the island. [As though that diminishes the move somehow, but he knows it was a big deal. He lived it, after all.

Furuya nods.]

I wanted to play baseball with [Miyuki-senpai] that team. My grandparents still live there, too, but I stay at the dorm.

[slowpitch]

[That doesn't change his mind about his comment on the distance, nope.]

That's amazing... [Spoken with a note of awe. Seidou must be a really incredible school, to warrant that sort of move. It's kind of the opposite of what he did after middle school, and he... really isn't sure he wants to bring it up. Not right now.] It's good, that you have relatives close, too. [It probably feels less lonely that way, he thinks.]

[staminaroll]

I had to test in, too. I didn't... the scouts didn't see me so I had to do it the regular way.

[He's a little hesitant about admitting that if only because Mihashi-kun doesn't seem to be terribly interested in the really personal details, but also because it's embarrassing. "I wasn't allowed to play," isn't the kind of thing you can say to another player, after all.]

I don't talk to them much but I guess. They're good people. My grandfather played baseball in high school, too. Does anybody in your family play?