[OPEN/MINGLE LOG] New Year's Eve at the Youth Center!

[cuteshit]

Who: Kanji Tatsumi, Coraline Jones & you!
Where: The youth center!
When: Evening of 12/31 (forward-dated).
Rating: PG
Summary: The adults are celebrating New Year's Even in their own way, but what about the younger crowd?
The Story:

[The idea had actually been Coraline's, way back around Halloween. New Year's was pretty important back home, and in the wake of Wonderland's most recent event, Kanji was missing home more than usual. This would be the first New Year's he'd be spending without his mom. There was no shrine to visit here, and while he could still go around and offer New Year's greetings to his friends, he still felt like there should be something more.

Coraline's idea for a sundae bar seems like a pretty good solution. A lot of the adults in Wonderland will be ringing in the new year with alcohol, but that didn't mean the younger crowd had to miss out entirely. It's nothing like the traditions he would have observed back home, but-- since he wasn't at home, maybe doing something totally different was the way to go.

He has to ask Coraline for her expertise, not exactly knowing what goes into putting together a sundae bar, but he helps with the legwork and the lifting. By the time evening rolls around, the youth center has been turned into an ice cream buffet with an extensive toppings bar, including candy that had been inspired by some of the treats that Dustin had handed out to people for Christmas. Once everything is set up, he sends a text out across the network to grab people's attention-- can't have a party without people!]

Yo, Wonderland! Too young to drink? Youth center's got all the ice cream you can eat, come ring in the New Year right!

[Or, you know. By sending yourself into sugar shock.]

Comments

[slapfight]

Apparently, we're just not meant to destroy the atmosphere.

[at least it was funny.] That was still a lot more entertaining than that boring "adult" party.

[powerofmabel]

I don't think the [she hiccups] the Queens can do that stuff... That sounds like a weird Core thing. You'd have to ask Dipper. He's got a string wall.

[powerofmabel]

It makes you see rainbows everywhere. And everything sounds like synth pop, and, um... erm... Muscular dolphin guys.

[she waves her spoon erratically as she explains.] Heh. Aoshima was a cool guy.

[powerofmabel]

[mabel taps her bottle against his and then proceeds to glug it down before realizing TERRIBLE IDEA. TERRIBLE IDEA. she at least doesn't spray it, but when she swallows, her face is contorted into a mask of shock.]

Ugh. It tastes the way pee smells. [she stares at the bottle, stares at Maya, and then takes a slightly more reserved swig.]

[drummeintheface]

Ooh. Neat! I have a wall wall.

[Huh. She's hiccuping a lot.]

Do you need to hang upside down?

[powerofmabel]

[she blinks at him, head tilted, not quite comprehending in her alcohol daze.] ... Are there monkey bars in here?

[needlebearer]

Ugh, I know. [She wrinkles her nose a little.] The food there was good, though. I hid under the table and stocked up before I came over to this one.

[cuteshit]

[He frowns, his eyebrows knitting together for a moment.]

Pepsi and--?

[What the hell.]

It ain't like that at all!

[DUMBEST THING HE'S EVER HEARD ALSO IF ANYONE IS COKE IT'S PERSONAS.]

[cuteshit]

Yep, and then she's gotta tell me she's disappointed in me and she knows I'll do better.

[He grimaces. That's always the worst part.]

[cuteshit]

[He frowns.]

'Course not. I'm not old enough.

[As if that's ever stopped any teenager who really wanted one.]

[cuteshit]

Yeah, a little bit.

[He can see that-- both Maya and Rise are pretty damn aggressive, at least.]

It's not like that all the time, but-- yeah? You think?

[Aggressive or not, it clearly means something to him that Maya does like him.]

She's real nice. Into art and stuff.

[uncoils]

Right. And then you feel like shit because she's disappointed, but you know it's gonna happen again, and it's just a mess. A complete fucking mess.

[Life really sucks sometimes.]

[eatsyourscience]

I think so. It's a party, so everyone will act a little different from normal.

[Souji didn't so much see the "nice" but he trusts Kanji on it. That right there probably wasn't all that representative of Maya's behavior overall.]

Do you two have fun?

[cuteshit]

[Yep. That sure as hell sounds familiar.]

She's really why I wanna be better. I wanna-- be a son she can be proud of, not some mess that's always dragging trouble home.

[cuteshit]

Yeah!

[That answer, at least, comes without hesitation.]

Lots of it. First time I met 'er she was workin' on a mural. Pretty cool. [He'd enjoyed joining in with that one.] You know Riley, right? They're best friends.

[eatsyourscience]

Riley? Yeah. She gave me a bunny.

[He still needs to name the bunny, which somehow has not been eaten by his dragon.]

So they're from the same world.

[cuteshit]

She gave me a couple, too-- I was helpin' her look after them when she found herself, you know. Covered in 'em.

[Riley definitely learned a lesson about the closets that day.]

Yup. They're from New York? [Which, of course, he's heard of, but he's never seen the place for himself, obviously.] They look after each other, kinna like our gang does back home. It's nice.

[eatsyourscience]

They're lucky. It's nice having someone from home here. It makes getting through things easier.

[He's referring to Riley and Maya, but he's speaking from experience.]

[cuteshit]

Sure does. I mean, I've got you-- can't imagine what it woulda been like otherwise. Probably would have punched a lot more holes into the walls on my first day.

[As it stood, they'd wound up with just the one. Not bad, all things considered.]

[eatsyourscience]

We don't need more of those.

[Even if the Mansion fixes itself, there's no reason to force it to need to.]

But you know, you seemed a little confused back there.

[cuteshit]

I, uh--

[He looks down at his feet for a moment, and he might be blushing again, but it's a little different from before.]

I mean, I got no problem talkin' to girls now. But the other stuff-- I don't know what to do about the other stuff.

[And Maya is-- let's say assertive.]

[eatsyourscience]

It's okay not to know.

[As far as he's concerned, Kanji's come a long way to being able to be in a relationship with a girl.]

There's some time to figure things out.

[Well...maybe he shouldn't say that so confidently. Either Maya or Kanji could leave at any moment and that would be the end of "figuring things out."]

[uncoils]

Me too.

[Actually, wait.]

Except in my case, daughter, not son.

[Jolyne there was no need to clarify that, why did you even?]

[cuteshit]

[It's exactly the same clarification Kanji would think to make, anyway. They're two peas in a delinquent pod, after all.]

Well-- maybe we can help each other out with that.

[He already has a lot of support from Souji, but it helps to know that there's someone else struggling with the same kind of change.]

Not the kinda change that happens overnight, right?

[cuteshit]

[Even if that's the case-- they all know uncertainty is the Wonderland way-- he feels a little better having heard it. Everything sounds reassuring coming from Souji.]

Yeah? Did it-- did it take you awhile to figure that stuff out?

[Please tell him he's not the only one who's fled from a room panicked at the thought of lips touching lips.]