Beautiful Wearable Memories
| Beautiful Wearable Memories | |
|---|---|
| Date of Scene: | 02 January 2020 |
| Location: | Kazuo's grandparents' house, off in the mountains |
| Synopsis: | In which Jadeite gives presents, by which we may mean doom, by which we may mean his. |
| Thanks to: | Thanks to Naru's player for co-conspiring (and Naru for providing IC art that will hopefully not be her doom). |
| Cast of Characters: | Jadeite, Kunzite, Mamoru Chiba |
Kunzite has posed:
It's probably a good thing that there was a stop in Tokyo between Neil's family and Kazuo's grandparents, because it turns out that Kazuo's grandparents live on a mountain in the middle of nowhere.
Okay, technically there is a town. Of sorts. There are probably fewer people in the town than there are in the single building that the Earth Court lives in. Kyouko may be in urban withdrawal.
But Kazuo's grandfather, Kiyoshi Shimizu (who looks not entirely unlike his son-in-law Hiroshi, for all that he's decades older, gray-haired, and has a secret actual sense of humor), has a garden that is completely impossibly large by the standards of Tokyo, and pretty to look at even in winter; and if the house is remarkably cramped with the invasion force that has crammed itself first into a train and then into the house, Kazuo's grandmother Rogaia (who towers over her husband, has all the weight that her husband and her grandson do not, fusses absolutely unbelievably over Jadeite and Mamoru, and declares at operatic length that she went into mourning for people if they are three minutes late for dinner) has found some way to force enough food through her kitchen that some people might wonder if it is secretly a magical power. So at least Kyouko is not in calorie withdrawal.
The rooms are drowned in patterned carpets, two and three deep. There are wall-hangings to keep out the chill. The buildings and the furnishings are rustic, but nothing else about the house is minimalist.
And the mail comes through.
Kazuo may be about to regret, deeply, that the mail comes through.
Jadeite has posed:
There is technically a town. Jadeite has even visited it, briefly and with the invasion force, when the strangeness of being in a single house got to some of them, but for the most part, he's adapted impressively well, if he says so himself.
He does say so, usually at dinner, and usually as he tells Rogaia that her garden is beautiful and her home is delightful and that he thought he might have seen a tanuki in the trees and so he'd made a little sculpture and would she like to see it? To say that they have gotten along well is to say that smoke and fire are tangentially related. Really, the only thing that's been missing is chaos.
And there was no need to worry about that, because where the Earth Court goes, chaos follows. In this case, is delivered after much dutiful observation of tracking information.
Kazuo will recognize, later, that there were sighs. The most obvious is this, the way he practically bounces as the mail arrives.
"Anything for me?" He asks, "I've been waiting on something."
Kunzite has posed:
"Yes!" the Grandmother of the Wall calls from outside the door, dealing with the mail delivery. "Yes, there is! What is it? I'm not sure it will fit through the door."
Kiyoshi blinks behind his glasses, mild, and may perhaps be contemplating whether it would be excessively difficult to solve this problem with a saw if necessary.
Kazuo himself ... regards Jadeite. Steadily. And then goes into the kitchen, because right now, his grandmother can't see him infringe upon her territory, and more coffee is called for. Possibly much more.
Jadeite has posed:
"Let me come and help," he says cheerfully, a bright and warm smile on his face, that sings of innocence and peace and harmony, and all of those things that his dear friends would know heralds trouble. Oh Kazuo. It's too late for coffee.
He goes to the door, and there is indeed a box, and it is indeed quite large. Hm. Bigger than he thought - it must be the bubble wrap and packing peanuts. It was thoughtful, really.
"I can open it here," he suggests the Great and Wonderful Grandmother. "There should be smaller boxes inside."
Kunzite has posed:
It is never too late for coffee. It is only too late to have alcohol stashed in the kitchen. This inability to borrow Neil's (in retrospect, suddenly attractive) habits may be a good thing, in the long term, given how well Jadeite and Rogaia are getting along.
"Oh, yes, of course!" Rogaia enthuses. "Do you need a letter opener? Or possibly a knife. Kiyoshi, do we have a --"
Kazuo is in the kitchen. Defending the knives.
Kiyoshi joins Jadeite at the door and silently offers him a box cutter.
Jadeite has posed:
"Thank you," Jadeite enthuses in return, his excitement an obvious thing. "It's probably better to use one of these than a knife, I can be such a butter fingers."
He slits the box, and the smaller boxes on the inside bear the logos of Shindo Rinka and workshop 91. His smile widens. There is a great deal of packing peanuts in the box, padding it out, but there's also two boxes of decent width and one a good bit wider. They're thin, and will definitely fit through the door, now. There's an itemized receipt as well, and he casually tucks that into his pocket.
No spoilers!
"I can break the larger box down, now, so it can be recycled properly," he offers, because part of the fun is drawing out the sense of doom.
Kunzite has posed:
"Would you care for any assistance with that?" Kiyoshi offers, solemnly helpful.
Butter fingers. Butter is good. It means Kazuo will have something to spread on the slices when he turns all three of them into toast. ... fortunately, Izumi's the one who can arbitrarily set things on fire, so Jadeite is probably safe. Probably.
Granted, Kazuo is still in the kitchen, and he is on record as having once killed a youma with a gas stove. Um.
"Perhaps you can bring the other packages inside?" Rogaia suggests, it being utterly unclear which of them she's suggesting this to. "Whatever can it be?"
Doom. Doom is clearly what it can be. Kazuo finishes his coffee, grimly, because he knows the next line --
"Kazuo! Come help bring these inside!"
The look Kazuo gives Jadeite as he comes to the door does not actually manifest another youma on the spot. But it might come close.
Jadeite has posed:
"I would, if you don't mind," Jadeite says, his megawatt smile dimming into something find and thankful as he accepts Kiyoshi's offer. He can sense chaos coming, the seeds ready to sproud. He can sense before the words are even said what Rogaia is going to say.
And then there it is, and there is Kazuo, an expression fit to kill on his face.
In a show of deep courage, Jadeite does not even flinch. He doesn't even lose his smile. He's a brave, stupid man.
"A couple of gifts for Kazuo," he says lightly, timing the delivery so that it's after Kazuo has reached for the first box. "I know no one's mentioned much about it, but we are here in time for his birthday, after all."
Kunzite has posed:
Sometimes Kazuo's glares are translatable into words. This one Jadeite can translate in detail. It says: if this involves any clothing with bright floral patterns, even Mamoru will never find your body.
But Rogaia is gesturing imperiously, as if she were ... well, not Mamoru, but at least someone who could document her ancestry back to Alexander the Great. And Kazuo exhales, and picks up two of the boxes, and carries them inside, and Kiyoshi keeps an eye on him through the open doorway to make sure that he doesn't run off with them.
"You convinced Kazuo to let you all know when his birthday is?" Rogaia asks delightedly. "I didn't think he ever told anyone his own age! Next year we can have a party!"
"No," Kazuo says grimly. "No, next year we cannot have a party."
He is probably not going to win this one.
Jadeite has posed:
This is a very legible glare, and Jadeite can smile with the innocence of a man who knows his item is so much worse than that specific thing that he is truly, genuinely, safe.
"Convinced him, found out through not entirely scrupulous means... We usually politely ignore it, but I couldn't imagine not making it known that we were aware."
What monster would he be, not letting Rogaia know that they know, that their is no need at all to not celebrate Kazuo at least a little bit?
Not the sort of monster he actually is, anyway.
"I don't know why he hates people making a big deal of him, but you know, if you had a Kazuo-and-New Years Party, he couldn't protest as much," this is a man who has always wanted to celebrate Kazuo's birthday. And 'celebrate' it too.
"I'll take care of the packing box, and then we can get him to open it," he suggests, which means that someone will need to keep an eye out to make sure that no box vanishes.
Mamoru Chiba has posed:
That is, of course, when Mamoru bikes up the road and wheels onto the garden path, taking the same route as the delivery man. It's cold, obviously, enough for him to be bundled up and to be wearing a toque with a giant pom-pom that he acquired as a gift in Canada.
It's winter he shouldn't be biking. It's not a motorcycle. He shouldn't be biking what if there's black ice. He's heard it all and he has to do something to aggravate people since he's been amazing and diplomatic and attempting to shield Kazuo somewhat (when not abandoning him entirely for the entertainment value, which is admittedly rare but puissant when it happens).
His eyebrows raise and he stows the bike in the woodshed before slinging off his backpack and coming to see what the unboxing is all about. He can read Saburo. He can read Kazuo. His eyes are already sparkling and wary at the same time.
"It's not a giant shark mecha DIY kit," he says firmly, as if willing it can make it true.
Kunzite has posed:
There. Mamoru is there! He is clearly an eye to make sure that no box vanishes! Therefore Kiyoshi is able to spare the attention to hold cardboard still for Jadeite to take care of it. All shall be well.
"Oh, that's simple," Rogaia says breezily. "We were never able to give poor Akemi any little brothers or sisters. And my relatives don't live in this country, and Kiyoshi's relatives, well, I was always a little bit of a surprise to them." ... 'little.' "So the only relatives Kazuo's own age were his father's relatives. Have you met his father? Surely you've met his father. So you must have some idea what all the parties were like."
It is not impossible that this might prompt the mental image of gray accounting-themed assemblages of near-cloned little boys in near-cloned little suits, all eyeing Kazuo's white hair and jeans and rolled-up sleeves dubiously and whispering to each other when they think nobody's watching.
From inside the house, there is a bland response to Mamoru: "If it is a giant shark mecha DIY kit, I'm giving it to you before you break your neck on that thing."
Jadeite has posed:
There's a Mamoru there, and a horrible, awful mental image. Jadeite makes a face like he's sucked a lemon and then manages to slowly peel it back into a human expression while he and Kiyoshi dismantle the cardboard box. "I can guess what you mean. I've met his father, and it's true, that well,,,"
The man is so straight laced. Not a bad man but certainly someone who fit in best among the hollow-eyed citizens deep within the Matrix.
"We're going to have to make sure he has a great party next year," just solidifying himself as Kazuo's enemy, huh? At least he has an ally.
"Well, I can promise these presents wouldn't fit it in at one of those parties at all. Shall we dispose of this and go see? I promise it isn't a DIY anything."
Mamoru Chiba has posed:
And that Mamoru's expression sets, carefully blank when Rogaia mentions Kazuo's cousins. The feelings related to the lack of expression aren't quite stifled in time, which means that at least Kazuo and Saburo -- and possibly the other three Shitennou -- can feel a brief surge of helpless, useless, far-too-late fury from the prince.
But! His voice stays mild as he slings his backpack all the way down, leaning against the wall by the door so he can absently watch the packages. "I'm personally a bit more than partied out," he says lightly, and then snorts at Kazuo's promise. "It's a bicycle. I'm sure if I hit a rut or skid off the mountain on a patch of black ice, I'll learn to fly."
Odds are good that despite his efforts, Kiyoshi likely caught the schooling of Mamoru's face. Fortunately, it could come as a reaction to 'have you met his father'! Even if the timing's a little off for that.
Kunzite has posed:
Rogaia does not actually pat Mamoru on the shoulder the way she would Kazuo, but the affectionate smile (Mamoru, after all, being second only to Jadeite on the fussing scale) conveys much the same without actually infringing upon his personal space. "You'll have a year to recover at the very least! We will see what you feel like then."
Kiyoshi blinks mildly at Mamoru behind his glasses, and does not bring up anything that he might or might not see. Not in front of other people, at the very least. "Let me take the cardboard," he suggests to Jadeite. "Your grandmother is patient, but not eternally so."
... wait what did he just say.
Kazuo must not have heard it, given the clearly audible mutter from inside: "OK Google, tell me about paraglider prices." (It should be noted that Kazuo is too damn paranoid to have any assistant on his phone.)
Jadeite has posed:
See? An entire year to recover! It's as good as guaranteed that his will now happen. Rejoice!
But instead of scheming, there is much blinking of eyes, because Jadeite is close enough to have heard what he just said, and he's clearly taken aback. Not offended, but shocked silence. An incredible achievement, truly one for the record books, and it lasts for an entire seven seconds. Yes, seven seconds of pure surprise, melting quickly into delight. He smiles, and practically bounces as he goes to Kazuo's doom.
"Thank you!"
And there ends the last of Kazuo's grace. There's no stopping it now, not with Jadeite bringing in the last and largest box.
"Thank you for waiting, I am here! It's too late for any paraglider to save you now."
Mamoru Chiba has posed:
It's funny, too-- odds are actually amazing that by the time they leave, Rogaia will, in fact, be patting Mamoru on the shoulder like she does Kazuo. The affectionate smile she gives him does, in fact, mitigate his expression of 'I'll probably feel the same in a year, at this point,' and he leans really very slightly toward her unconsciously. Affection gravity.
The doubletake doesn't happen until he belatedly processes that Kiyoshi was talking to Jadeite, not Kazuo. Doubletake, and then wide, wide grin.
He trails in the rest of the way, from... wherever he actually is, thresholdy-wise, and drags his backpack with him. "Siri could probably get you a paraglider faster," he chirps.
Kunzite has posed:
"I don't care how fast Siri gets me a paraglider," Kazuo says, leaning against a wall where he can keep an eye on the low table the boxes already inside have been set down on. "You are the one we apparently need to license with a paraglider. In case you hit a rut. Since apparently you manage to bicycle at escape velocity."
Kazuo would like to be able to bicycle at escape velocity right now. Or teleport. Teleporting would be ideal. Sadly, he still can't do that outside of henshin. Siiiiiigh.
He eyes Jadeite and the largest box, instead. "... you're bouncing."
Jadeite has posed:
"I am a bouncy person. A whimsical soul. One could even say a, a gentle and giving soul! These are for you. Well, two are for you, one is for Rogaia-san and Kiyoshi-san, for having us," all of this is said in a tone of gentle patience, as if he could not possibly understand where this position is coming from, but is nonetheless accepting of it. He has done nothing wrong. There's nothing to fear.
"Oh, are we interrupting a safety lecture? Let's interrupt a safety lecture. It will only encourage him to practice more, which, to be fair, there is plenty of ground to practice on, and practice does make perfect and -"
Wait, wait, he is distracting himself. There is no time for this!
The large box is held out to Kazuo. There is no more escape.
"I've been helping out with a small venture, lately, and the team sent me a sample of our product as thanks. I thought it would really make the perfect gift."
Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru's about to retort something fascinatingly idiotic at Kazuo when Jadeite very firmly interrupts, and then the prince just grins again, shrugging out of his coat and hoodie, and leaving on his Mr Rogers sweater. He tugs off his toque just in time for Kazuo to see the epic hat-hair at the same time as Jadeite's presenting a giant box of oh no.
Kunzite has posed:
This results in a very slightly more strangled noise than the box alone would have. Kazuo draws a breath. Lets it out, slowly. "Well. You have been practicing with ventures. Let's see what perfection entails."
There is a little whirring click noise from behind Jadeite. Rogaia has retrieved her phone, and it, of course, has a camera.
Kazuo claims the box cutter without a word, and without looking at his grandmother, and painstakingly neatly and carefully slices the box open, because if he damages whatever hell this is going to unleash upon him, Mamoru will mope in hat hair and there are no high windows for Kazuo to fling himself from to escape.
Jadeite has posed:
Jadeite only smiles, an ever more visible aura of angelic innocence washing over him. Why, everything is fine. Everything is innocent, and wholesome.
The inside of the box is innocent, wholesome, and deeply, deeply wrong. For you see, lying inside the box, wrapped in plastic and with layers of bubble wrap all about it, to keep it safe, is something made of rubber and plastic. An eye is visible, a cat's eye, and even just that is familiar, an intense and almost regal look captured in the plastic.
The air of foreboding is upon them. Just one thin layer of plastic separating them from hell.
"I almost died, getting the pictures for this."
Kunzite has posed:
"Saburo." Kazuo makes the name a sentence entirely of its own. "Why is the box looking at me."
Rogaia ... giggles.
Kazuo exhales, quietly, mines the box for bubble wrap, sweeps the bubble wrap in Mamoru's direction, and sets down the box cutter so that he can open the plastic without risking maiming something that he almost certainly wants very much to maim already.
Jadeite has posed:
"Well, cats do have a tendency to stare," Saburo says, quite reasonably. He has decided not to acknowledge that very soon they will be back in Tokyo, and he will not have Rogaia's protection to defend him.
Besides, it's making her happy, and him happy, and Mamoru happy, so Kazuo will only murder him a little, he hopes.
It is a cat.
Or rather, the face of a cat.
Or, rather, the face of a caracal, crafted from the rubbery-plastic that all horrifyingly realistic animal masks tend to be crafted from. The fur covering the majority of the face is a honey-brown, with white under the chin, and deepset eyes shadowed with black, tracing up the muzzle. The ears are quite tall and thin, forming into long triangles quite unlike the common housecat's own extremities. They are tufted, and these gifts are the only things not crafted from rubber. The entire thing is about half again as large as a human head, and the neck is open, from the mask to be pulled on.
It is a very good likeness to the guardian of Kunzite's palace.
"There's another one in the other box," Jadeite says, into the no doubt stunned silence. "It's of Luna."
Kunzite has posed:
And Kazuo still has Bearsharktopus on display in his bedroom. Surely Saburo has some credit in that department from that. One may hope.
Evidence for this is good, since Kazuo's stare at the content of the box is not interrupted by throwing either the box or its contents at Jadeite. Instead he ... well ... stares. And then, slowly, slowly, he reaches in and lifts the mask out of the box, angling it carefully to display the ... gift. Yes. It will be called a gift.
Rogaia's cellphone may burn out its battery just from the sound effects. It is perhaps a pity she doesn't just have it on video, or perhaps a mercy. She is cackling in unholy glee. "Ah, ah, it is beautiful."
"Luna," Kazuo says, "is going to murder us both."
She's a cat. He is giving away absolutely nothing by saying that out loud.
Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru very. Very. Carefully.
Pops one of the bubblewrap bubbles.
He won't laugh. He won't. But it's so quiet.
Jadeite has posed:
"We turn people's beautiful pets into beautiful, wearable memories," Jadeite grins, the sales pitch sounding just as pitiless as the mask staring out at them all, with intense, regal, and somehow outraged eyes.
"Oh she will," He agrees, "But if I can survive your cat, I can survive Usagi-chan's."
Bold statements to make, but honestly, not so cold as his follow up, as laughter fills the air alongside the single puncture of a bubble.
"Care to try it on?"
Kunzite has posed:
Kazuo narrows eyes at Jadeite's sales pitch. "That sounds --"
pop!
-- Kazuo clozes his eyes, exhales, and accepts his doom.
The one saving grace is that once he is actually wearing the caracal mask, Rogaia is laughing hard enough that her pictures are more likely to be of the ceiling than of her grandson. (This does not actually save him. The tufts on the ears are probably long enough to brush the ceiling, after all.)
Kiyoshi, meantime, lets himself back in the door. Pauses. Blinks owlishly at the room through his glasses. And then, just as quietly, lets himself back out, perhaps hoping for plausible deniability. Whether of the "I didn't see it" nature, or of the "of course I did not hide behind the garden shed and laugh until I was doubled over and out of breath."
Mamoru Chiba has posed:
When Jadeite's laughter fills the air accompanying Rogaia's absolute delight, the prince can't help it-- he half-turns and practically stuffs his fist in his mouth, stifling the almost-hysterical burst of laughter that bubbles up from deep inside. He bites his knuckle hard, which lets him gasp out, "The thing that's really unnerving is that the one of the caracal-- it's life-size, isn't it? The damn thing is real size, oh gods I can probably get away with wearing it at the caracal and not dying--"
He hoots, then, suddenly having to sit down, and he puts his face in his hands, shoulders shaking. The next words to come out are probably inaudible except maybe to Jadeite, who he's closest to, with Rogaia shrieking laughing and himself barely able to talk. "Us-- Usa would-- probably-- wear the Luna-- Luna-- she'll be ON THE CEILING-- oh fuck me she'll-- can you imagine--"
Jadeite has posed:
Jadeite is unable to actually grab his phone and snap a picture, because he is laughing so hard the sound has died because he isn't taking in any breaths. His stomach is starting to hurt from laughter and oh, oh it's so worth it, it's so worth it -
He will carry this memory with him until the day he dies (again) and after.
"If you can get me a picture of you between our two caracals, I will be the happiest person to ever live -"
Kazuo in the mask, the caracal with its own face, and Mamoru in the middle, the only living being capable of standing in the middle of such a horror and surviving.
Kunzite has posed:
The calm, calm, slow, paaaatient step that the caracal-masked Kazuo takes toward Jadeite and Mamoru?
That helps nothing.
With anyone.
Ever.
Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru's laughing and laughing, and Jadeite can't breeeeeathe and Mamoru leans over to thump him hard on the back even though the best way to get someone to take a breath is to blow in their face, and thump given he happens to look up just in time to see Kazuo stalking toward them step by step, inch by inch--
--and he literally squeak-shrieks, kicking his heels into the layers of oriental rug and making the couch rock back an inch and then thump back down, arms up in front of him in wild giggling defense, eyes wide and face caught between a grimace and crying laughing. "Nononononono NONONO TOO WEIRD TOO WEIRD--!!"
Jadeite has posed:
Weakened by laughter and lack of breathing, all Jadeite can do is fall back on his butt and cackle helplessly. He's gasping for air in between his laughter, waving his hands weakly to try and ward him off.
"I can haha - I - hahaaha s-stop - don't - " wait, just wait please Mr. Kazuo don't Then Perish him, wait -
Kunzite has posed:
The mask is taken back off, with solemnity and care, and Kazuo crosses the rest of the distance and sets it down on the couch where it can stare at Mamoru, possibly wanting either tuna or scritches. "You were both safe," he informs them. "I couldn't see where I was putting my feet. A carpet edge would have defeated me long before I could menace either of you."
His grandmother (their self-declared grandmother? was Kiyoshi's 'your' singular or plural?) has given up on remaining vertical and sat down on the rugs where she stood. It is probably going to take all three of them to get her back upright, and they might need to send for Neil, but at least they know they'll have time to get their breath back.
Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"There is--" gasps Mamoru, "nothing SAFE-- about you in that thing-- for my mental health--"
Jadeite has posed:
Jadeite just laughs, and laughs, and laughs, because the mere image of fearsome Kazuo being destroyed by a carpet edge is incredible, and it's a couple of minutes before he can wheeze, "Oh this was the best idea I've ever had. Please jump out of a corner at Neil in that thing. Please. I will beg you."
His stomach hurts, and his lungs, but oh, it was worth it.
Kunzite has posed:
"I'm surprised," Kazuo says down to Jadeite. "You rig a method to dangle a shark outside my window, and won't hang a mask outside of Neil's?" Granted, that's probably because 'Neil' and 'actually indoors at night to be startled' are not concepts that go together very often. ... also the aforementioned point about Mamoru's mental health.
Mamoru Chiba has posed:
And this is the part where Mamoru, still wheezing, leaves his outerwear on the couch next to the uncanny caracal head and stumbles over to start on the logistics of helping Rogaia back up.
He's got a plan! Help her shift around so her legs are better equipped to help him help her, then kneel and get her to put her arm around his shoulders, then get up with her by stages--
It might even work if her laughing didn't set him off again, if he didn't end up sitting on the carpet next to her, leaning on her and helplessly, breathlessly chortling.
Jadeite has posed:
Jadeite swallows, again and again, swallowing down air to stop from erupting in laughter all over again. He tries to formulate whole sentences again, but it's hard with Mamoru and Rogaia both laughing madly.
"I could," he manages, lips twitching as he tries not to grin too hard to speak. "I'm just saying, the effect would be perfect if it was you wearing it. You know I'm right, he'd swallow his tongue and the look on his face would be great."
And he lays back, on the floor, and just breathes, trying to reclaim his breath among errant giggles.
"I still have to give Rogaia-san her present," he realizes as he lays there dying.
Kunzite has posed:
That's the worst part. They're all the best at something. And Jadeite ...
Among many other things, Jadeite is the best salesman.
Kazuo picks the mask up without a word, and goes to put it back in the box, where a Neil cannot wander in and see it in advance.
Besides. He's the only mobile one left in the room. Equally wordlessly, he picks up the only box that could be his grandmother's, and presents it to the A-frame made of grandmother, Mamoru, and survival without oxygen.
Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru is weak from laughing. He just sort of flops a hand around like 'it's not for me so it's their problem'.
Jadeite has posed:
That's victory. That's victory, and Jadeite doesn't spoil it by cheering, or showing how delighted he is in the win. He just drapes an arm over the couch cushions and tries to pull himself up, at least enough that he can see the gift when it's opened.
"Can you - can you cut the tape open for her?" He suggests, "I think the - lack of oxygen you know -"
Kunzite has posed:
"Your lack of forethought concerning hypoxia is not my problem," Kazuo informs Jadeite. And goes and gets the box cutter anyway, in some combimation of acknowledgement of Jadeite's win, following of Mamoru's handflop, or desperate prayer that this may somehow all come to an end before his own expression cracks.
Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Do you need artificial respiration?" Mamoru sighs out, finally leaning back to prop himself with his hands behind him. "I mean I took French in high school, so I can do it without any extra equipment..."
Maybe he can crack that expression.
Jadeite has posed:
"Not me," Jadeite protests, and his cheeks are a little flushed. From laughter, of course. He gestures at Rogaia, still giggling and undoubtedly deep into oxygen deprivation. "I just meant, maybe a box cutter isn't the best -"
Shaking hands, lack of oxygen, all of that.
Kunzite has posed:
Kazuo is not giving Rogaia the box cutter. Kazuo is kneeling down to open the box for her. Himself. Because Mamoru is --
-- Apparently Kazuo actually has a "that is my grandmother RIGHT THERE" expression. Who knew? Does that count as a crack?
Rogaia seems to think so, since whether Mamoru is leaning back to prop herself up or no, she gasps for breath and leans heavily on him, gesturing vaguely with the camera hand. Click! Random picture of a wall. Or a carpet. Something.
Jadeite has posed:
When the box is finally opened, a much more innocent present is revealed. There's no rubber in sight, and not a single tuft either. Instead there's a long, somewhat awkwardly shaped object, wrapped in packing paper. It's just waiting to be handed to Rogaia.
"Don't open the rest, she's got to be the first one to see it." That's not suspicious at all Jadeite.
Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Oh no.
Also, apparently ('apparently') Mamoru has a 'and what, you think a) she doesn't know and b) old people don't think this is funny also?' expression, because he levies it on Kazuo before smirking, both at Jadeite's blush and at Rogaia still laughing, and he braces himself a little more solidly at her heavy-lean. Okay that's not a smirk it's a shiteating grin.
But there's also the oh no. He tilts his head, then glances from it to Rogaia, and then to Kazuo because now he can't help because if he un-braces to pick it up and hand it to her, he'll actually just fall down with her on top of him.
Kunzite has posed:
Kazuo ... actually heaves a sigh. There is visible motion of his shoulders, here. And, abandoned to his fate on all fronts, solemnly leans down and presents the packing-papered object to his grandmother, who promptly hands Mamoru her phone and begins to pick at the paper. Without actually taking it from Kazuo. Apparently Kazuo's job today is Gift Easel.
Jadeite has posed:
The gift, when it finally sees the light of day, can be recognized as a photo frame, one of those sorts that can hold multiple photos, all of them slightly bigger than the average wallet size.
The second thing that can be recognized is that each of the frames is filled, and the photos are of kids - ranging from actual infants, to little toddlers, to small (and not so small) children. Some are not even photos, but pocket drawings, beautifully detailed.
There is baby Kazuo, of course, in all his adorable glory. It's the one of him in a flowered onesie, pulling himself over to the bars of his crib.
There is a picture of Neil, easily no older than three and cheesing cheerfully, absolutely retrieved from Aunt Sandra, and a drawing of a child clearly meant as an imagination of what an infant Izumi would like, clapping his hands and laying in classic baby pose on his back.
There is a picture of Jadeite, blond as ever, all big blue eyes and a mouth trying to swallow his fist. Next to that one is a drawing a toddler Kyouko holding an apple above her head.
And at the other end (because at one end is Kazuo) is a photo be of a dark haired toddler, clearly sat in a high chair of some sort, covered in chunks of what can be vaguely recognized as bananas. He has a little plastics spork in one hand, and a little sippy cup in the other.
"I thought, if you were willing to share such a treasure with us, it would be nice if you could have a treasure worth the same value," Jadeite explains, quietly.
Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Obligingly, Mamoru starts taking pictures of Rogaia opening her gift, and Kazuo's long-suffering face, and -- of --
-- the gift --
-- he's smiling, he's grinning in delight at the pictures of the others --
-- he freezes and stares.
Kunzite has posed:
Fortunately Kazuo's back is turned to Jadeite, so he can't glower at him for the Flowered Onesie of Eternal Humiliation. Even he might soften a little at the drawing of a tiny Izumi, or at Jadeite gnawing on his own knuckles, or ... that is a familiar style that would dare draw a toddler Kyouko. Apple and all.
And then.
Then there is a spork.
Kazuo, also, freezes and stares, but somehow manages part of a sentence. "How did you --"
Rogaia commandeers it. "-- put all this together, Saburo, they're amazing! You're all so adorable!"
Hopefully she is talking about the pictures. (Hope away.)
Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru's voice is a whisper, and the camera falls into his lap from suddenly-nerveless hands. "Is-- that-- really me?"
Jadeite has posed:
And Jadeite can breathe again, because reactions are positive, and because this is a secret he's managed to keep for... the better part of a week, actually. It's a long time for him.
"I spent a lot of time looking around and talking to a lot of people," he says, and this is an answer to both questions, and all. "It is. I found as many of us as I could, and then I asked Naru to help me with the rest. There are more of you," and he looks to Mamoru, with a serious face, not joking now. "Boxes of them. Tons of them. I have them in my place, all waiting for us to get back so you can see them all."
Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Somehow Mamoru's managed to get the camera someplace where it won't be smushed and Rogaia can get it easily and he's lurched forward and past Kazuo, half-crawling and half-rolling the lopsided distance to Jadeite, and he just grabs him from a position of 'more of him is on the floor than Jadeite right now' and pulls him down into a crushing hug, and if his eyes are leaking a little bit and getting Jadeite's shirt wet, Jadeite probably won't tell, and maybe he can stop his shoulders from shaking before they start, and maybe he can't, but that's definitely a positive reaction, yes.
Kunzite has posed:
(Whrrrrclick.)
("Grandmother. Really.")
Jadeite has posed:
And Jadeite hugs him back, tight, because yes. Because photos are important and memories are important and it is so very necessary to have images and memories that live outside of yourself, that you can hold onto, and because they had laughed and teased Kazuo to see his baby photos, but it had been - something. To see him like that, proof of another life, a life that they had never known. It had gotten him to think, and then to plan, and then this gift had come to mind, once they were finally sure of their travel plans.
And then it had just been a matter of how stubborn he could be.
"You were a really cute little kid," he says, quietly, "Really happy too. I can't wait to show you."
