(no subject)

[shiromadoushi]

Who: Bakura and those he gave his address to
What: An unofficial 4th party!
When: 7/4, after 3 pm
Where: Bakura's back yard.



The Bakura home was an older house in the older part of the city that had been kept up quite well, a pair of well tended flowerbeds flanking the porch steps. But it was the gate off the driveway that the partygoers had been directed to, leading to a fenced in backyard that was half taken up by a large deck and in ground pool.

There's a UFO grill set up, as well as a small stereo [that's really just Bakura's ipod plugged into a set of speakers] that's playing an odd assortment of pop, jpop, anime soundtracks and Jonathan Coulton. There's also three different things of sunscreen and three pictures of water, lemonade and ice tea set up on a small table, as well as various snacks.


[OoC: Subthreads will be set up, but feel free to make your own! Mingle about, threadjack, have fun!]

Comments

Food!

[shiromadoushi]

Bakura's grandfather was oddly young looking, despite his greying hair. Most of his attention was on the grill, and the careful ear could hear him muttering to himself in Japanese. The burgers weren't cooking right, much to his annoyance...

Bakura's grandmother was flitting about, playing hostess. Any empty glass was refilled and are you sure you don't want something more to eat? There's plenty of snacks inside, please, eat up!

Open

[icy_heavens]

[What is it with grandmas and trying to stuff kids' faces with food? Must be an old lady thing. Even if Bakura's grandma is clearly a good bit younger than his.

[In contrast to how he usually acts around adults, Toushirou actually has a hard time saying no to the woman. Really, he has a harder time saying no to old people in general. Which is probably why he's wound up with a plate full of more food than he'll likely be able to eat. He's got a good appetite, but come on. Look at the size of him. There's not a lot of space to pack it all away.

[Still, he'll be over here trying to finish as much of it as he can, though if someone wants to take a bit of it off his hands, he won't object.]

[shiromadoushi]

"I see grandma got to you~" Bakura grinned, walking over with a plate of his own, piled rather high. The main difference was that Bakura was very sure he was going to easily be able to finish all of it, even with the earlier snacking.

[icy_heavens]

[He's honestly not sure where to start with all this stuff. Sure, there's nothing there that he doesn't like; there's just . . . so much of it.]

This must be a thing with old people.

[shiromadoushi]

Your grandma do the same?

[[And out comes the napkin out of seemingly nowhere to be tucked under the edges of the towel that was being weighed down by his soaking wet hair before he digs into his own plate, somehow managing to eat both neatly, and with enthusiasm.]]

[icy_heavens]

[... Well, at least there won't be food flying all over the place.]

Most of the time, yeah. [Growing boys need their food, right? No matter how slowly they may be growing.]

[shiromadoushi]

[[His grandmother is a neatnik. It's a learned habit]]

I think it's just a mother thing. Mom used to do it too, and she's from a different side of the family, so I know she didn't get it from grandma.

[icy_heavens]

[Might as well start with the snack foods, seeing as they're kind of burying the burger anyway.

[He won't bother bringing up how he wouldn't know if it's a mom thing or not. They don't need to talk about dead parents again.] Maybe it is.

[shiromadoushi]

[[It said alot about Bakura's mood that he was so easily able to avoid that subject and just focus on the positive things.]]

Kinda funny. When she suggested this, I don't think she expected I'd say yes to it. She was going to invite some of her friends from yoga as backup if I didn't have anyone to invite over, like she did last year. But when I said there were people she just got so happy...

[icy_heavens]

[He may not eat as enthusiastically, but it's definitely with a healthy appetite.

[Granny had been pretty happy too, when he'd mentioned this to her. He's never been very good at making friends, so mentioning he had a place to go for the holiday? That had perked her right up. Hey, she'd needed that after how he'd scared her, right?] Huh. Granny started doing that not too long ago, too.

[shiromadoushi]

Something good to balance all the crazy shit, eh? Giving us antisocial assholes a reason to actually hang out with people.

[icy_heavens]

I guess. [Expressive, ain't he?]

[shiromadoushi]

[[have a potato chip flying at you, Toushirou.]] What do you mean "you guess" c'mon here. [[a small laugh]]

[Open]

[scramasax]

Anthony was in much the same boat as Toshiro. You do not refuse your elders, and it is unthinkable to refuse your elders' unmistakable generosity; all the more he was untellably grateful that Bakura's grandparents seemed to so believe that he was nothing more than "sickly."

Therefore at this point he had eaten nearly as much as he surely would have at a dinnertime before June, anytime Bakura's grandmother had come even close offering a docile little smile and look and taking a half-bite of something, two to be safe - and had now settled somewhere just to the side, half-full plate in resigned hands, into a quite possibly and quite differently indeed "sick" stop, awkward and bemused by it.

At the bottom it was not a bad feeling. It was another rest in normalcy, ease and welcome - let it mean that he'll not have any inclination to worry about eating tomorrow, even so!

[Open]

[shiromadoushi]

"Wafer thin mint?" Bakura asked with an impish grin as he all but appeared behind his timid friend..

[scramasax]

And Anthony reflexively started, sharp; both his stiffening and such instant, obvious recognition of the voice kept it no more than back bolting - even so the plate just tilted, as sharply, and a few little things go skipping and in a moment of a breath and a preemptive loosening to catch, move, something! the edge almost slips out of less-than-nimble fingers.

He recovers - and smooths that over, his alert drops, and he turns with a humbled - still certainly bemused - smile. "...Your grandmother's -- being - really kind," he says - and gives the plate another glance.

[shiromadoushi]

Bakura laughed at the startle, moving to catch anything that might have fallen before flopping to sit on the deck chair nearest the former freshman. "She really is. And she's going above and beyond today too. I swear she was seconds from bursting into song when I said I had friends I would invite over," he laughed, leaning back in the chair.

"Hope she's not smothering you too much."

[scramasax]

On the laugh Anthony's smile became increasingly bemused, and increasingly humbled, and he watched Bakura take his seat with an additional undercurrent of something not quite traceable - not quite wistful. Too neutral. Bakura had friends' company over that little; another reminder of the changes, and their meanings in their extensions.

He shook his head, thought a No, it's to respond but no unpresumptuous following - of course it was well-meant. Of course it was rather nice. It'd be something to worry about as a travesty if he didn't appreciate the concern.

And he trailed on from there, instead, into the source of its generation.

" - What did you tell them -- exactly... by the way...?" was what he found himself asking with default assumption that what was referred to was understood - and on the matter broaching his mind was abruptly conscious of how poor his posture was and straightened his back a tad again - not effortlessly, with a rueful mouth-twitch.

[shiromadoushi]

"That you had some weird rare disease that you didn't like talking about. Totally safe and non communicable, but very visible and something you were super self conscious about," Bakura explained. "She works with a lot of people at the senior center who are dealing with stuff like that, so she was really understanding about it. She just asked if there were any special accommodations you needed or anything like that."

[scramasax]

"I see..." Followed after a pause with "...Thank you for - explaining... things - for me."

Bluffing, rather, for the gentle and effective.

He sorted through and unplugged further interrogation - whether then they definitely wouldn't tell anyone, what any impression of the details was, to trust and enjoy it as easy, taken care of.

"And for having me here."

[shiromadoushi]

Bakura smiled in an oddly warm fashion. "Don't need to thank me for that. Wouldn't be fair if you couldn't come hang out, right? Solves all problems," he nodded, leaning back in his chair. "...and it's stupidly lonely being solo," he admitted, twirling a soaked bit of his hair around his finger idly. "Kinda weird to realize it."

For years he had cut himself off from people, declaring quite firmly and angrily that he didn't need anybody but his family... after all, everyone was just going to leave him, why should he bother with them? But this was different... The easy bonds formed...

It was weird to reflect on, but the dread he always had felt coming back from Japan had vanished the instant they had come into Locke's airspace, even if it had taken until he stepped out of the plane for the flashbacks to hit.

He had people here now. People he actually was connected with and cared about.

It was weird.

[scramasax]

The thought caused another swell of gratitude; in deference, Anthony left it verbally unexpressed.

He hadn't ever liked the principle of being alone, and since the first call to the network the scope of feelings of company and connection had crept in and focused narrower and narrower. The pulse in June had happened, and abruptly it had been drawn in scarce and acute as the light of a laser point.

Pity, too, was isolating. He wouldn't give the notion of rejection another thought, now, at least - even respect for the resolution of things that he'd understood to begin with aside, that sensitivity weakened, and invited further pity.

Today was a relief.

He understood inherently that "not knowing what one is missing" is a facet of in fact missing something, and taking the same relief in its return.

" - I'm sure..." he said gently, and set further comment down to rest. If even in a simple and essential sense, he assumed them to be in agreement. It would stilt rather than help.

What would be of further use on the other hand - with a sudden widened-eye blink something caught his memory, and his hand darted into his pocket for a slip of paper, found it, pinched it between two fingers and drew it out - this was far overdue!

It was neatly folded; less-neatly written, he knew.

"...Also -- er - Egyptian..." Turning slightly back to Bakura. " -- I tried remembering as much as I could about anywhere I could have read anything about it, but it's not much... -- I - can't - get to any... of my old books, to be sure about anything."

And so he'd written down whatever had come to memory with hilarious inconsistency - one title and author set, one title and an author's last name, an author name and notes of cover design, for seven possible books.

[shiromadoushi]

Bakura blinked at him. "More book of the dead stuff or...?" he asked, cluelessly.

[scramasax]

" -- Some of it - perhaps." All at once he was mentally floundering. Getting to this had been too slow of him to be of value. He was embarrassing himself. "...I've had plenty of books; I remember some of these had -- passages - written. Transcribed or translated. I can't remember where they were taken from. Still. ...In case there might be - anything you haven't found yet. -- To help more with the reading."

[shiromadoushi]

To be honest, it had utterly slipped his mind that anyone else was looking up stuff. His own efforts in looking up things from Egypt and broken off swiftly when he realized he couldn't read the hieroglyphs that represented the language he had gained from the flashbacks. It'd pissed him off far too much for him to continue...

"Eh? Aaa!" he rubbed the back of his neck a bit sheepishly. "I haven't... actually been looking anything up for a while. Kinda got pissed and stopped," he admitted. "Thanks."