saveourearth | Take Out with a Smile [Closed Log]

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Take Out with a Smile [Closed Log]

Date: September 12th
Characters: Benjiro, Walter, and Russell

It has been a few weeks since the group outing to the arcade, and since then a minor matter has gone unresolved. For one reason, then another, Benjiro had delayed in explaining why he had begun donning a face mask in public to his distant cousin. The line between reason and excuse had blurred many times to justify the evasion. Yet now that summer festivities are only a memory, his sense of time has corrected.

His wear of the mask at the house had caused some friction with his great aunts - especially when he struggled to find a way to evade dinner time chatter. As a streamer, he had to ignore much of the attention the change brought after posting a single explanation and a request for understanding. School had been rough in its own way; fielding questions with an outright lie and enduring the teasing the unusual measure encouraged. All of that on top of the physical drain from the pain and disruption of his sleep - it was all he felt he could do to simply focus on routine.

Painfully aware of those days passed, Benjiro had reached out to Walter for advice. A discussion lead to a solution with an invitation over to the flat for an evening after work and school alongside a requested order.

Arriving at the door of the flat Walter and Russell share, Benjiro knocks. Held securely in his other arm is a hefty bag of take out noodles and food ordered from a nearby restaurant recommended by Walter.

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Free hand lifted to greet Russell, he starts to answer only to cut short the pleasantries when he spots the phone, "Hey, Russell." Given room to enter, he steps inside and immediately out of the way of the door to give his cousin a chance to close it.

Listening, Benjiro picks up on the mention of a new job, and his brows furrow. He looks over to Walter as he notices him in the hallway and the way he looks is telling, especially when he cannot cover it with effort in the wave. Benjiro waves weakly in return, a frown on his face behind his cover.

Doubt piles on as he realizes how rough the timing actually may be. He's seriously considering aborting his plans. Again.

Waiting for some direction as to where to take the bag of food, he'll set it down as indicated.

He closes the door after Benjiro with another nod, eyes firmly rolled towards the phone against his ear.

"--Yes, that's Benjiro, I'll... Mum says hi," Russell tells everyone, pointedly keeping the phone to his mouth. "And I'm sure she's happy to hear he's brought food, which I can see steaming from here, so if I could call you back later...? Thank you, bye mother!"

Then it's the usual scramble, to swipe an end to the call quickly enough that she doesn't talk again, the brief uncertainty whether it hung up without that satisfying click sound. Smartphones just aren't the same, sometimes. But he pockets it anyway, and takes a few bouncing steps into the room towards the best surface for food.

"Right! Now! Welcome over properly, good to see you, how are you, all that."

Walter would agree with that assessment on smart phones; some things are just better off with actual weight behind a noise.

Ben gets aid in putting the food out, and Walter also fetches napkins and drinks for the three of them (Ben in particular gets choice of drink, though the default for tonight is water).

"Glad we didn't have to cancel," he says quietly.

One can only appreciate the maneuver as Russell disengages from the conversation with his mother. Benjiro watches, and after his cousin pockets his phone to guide him in, follows those energetic steps to deposit the food with small smile behind his mask, "Good to see you too."

Two hands now free, Benjiro opens the bag to begin fishing out the containers within, and murmurs thanks at the aid to properly sort and arrange everything needed for the meal. When asked, he'll opt for water himself.

All the while, he's considering ways to excuse himself into leaving before eating, but those thoughts are put on hold at Walter's comment. A nervous edged reply is spoken just as quietly, "Yeah."

"If anything is wrong with the order, just let me know and I can run back out and get it corrected," he offers as everything comes together enough that containers are being opened.

Edited 2018-09-23 17:54 (UTC)

Russell leans over the table to assist with any food sorting, and as an excuse to sniff a few containers and nod appreciatively. He opts for water as well - as he's in something of a boycott against his usual soda, ever since Walter's oh-so-casual comment about how much he drinks them.

That, and it's cheaper than going to the nearest store to get one or two. They're cheaper bought in bulk, something he hadn't really noticed until getting a little more cautious with his funds.

"Oh, you don't need to do that," he says encouragingly. "I'm sure it's fine! It all smells wonderful."

He's not sure yet how well he'll keep it down, since he picked up a little bit of a stomach bug over the weekend, but that's a whole other matter. And not one for the supper table.

"But, how do you want to do this with, uh," Russell waves a hand around his mouth to demonstrate. "Eat while watching the telly?"

Walter nods in agreement with the food comment. If Russell needs to excuse himself, odds are it won't actually be Ben's fault.

He also, however, shoots him an odd look for his indirect commenting.

"We don't have to talk while we eat if you don't want to, is what I think is Russell's point," Walter explains.

Mistakes can be made on orders anywhere, but the only legitamite reason Benjiro could find to step out again is denied as Russell accepts what they have to eat following his check.

When Russell extends an accomodating set up for the meal in response to the face mask Benjiro has been wearing, the boy feels that accumulated guilt uncovered in full alongside a hefty portion of embarrassment. His cheeks flush at the edges of that mask visibly, brows furrowing as he struggles to find the best way to broach the topic as his gaze drops, “Well...eeto...”

Walter interjecting to clarify eases the stress enough to recover his speech as he forces himself to look up to Russell to explain himself as he rubs at his neck with one hand, “There’s no need to do that... The thing is...I don’t actually need the mask because of a medical issue.” A pause to let it sink in, then he completes the thought, “It’s because of my number that I have to wear it.”

Russell glances between the others, beginning to get the feeling like there's a conspiracy going on here. Or, at least, like he's the last in the know. "I meant we could face the telly instead of around a table, give you some privacy."

That option's still on the table. As is their food. He twirls a fork in his lo mein, fidgeting as he reconsiders the situation, then adds a little weakly, "I thought you were exploring fresh fashion avenues. And... maybe covering up braces. It's something from your number? Something... changed?"

Walter looks again at Ben, trying to ascertain if this will, in fact, help Ben destress, then nods. The food is not as important, here, as much as he wants to dig into his rice.

"Sadie found out first, and then me. I don't think Takamasa knows either."

It's not quite a question.

"I don't think Russell is going to panic here, Ben. Or think worse of you."

He's been a good flatmate, after all.

The correction provided by Russell is met by a bow of his head. He certainly realized enough to know Benjiro was avoiding sight around his mouth. Then his cousin busies his hand with his fork in the noodles and lays out the assumptions he has been leaving others to make before he states the matter plainly.

With a solemn nod, the teen confirms the presence of a change.

Benjiro glances to Walter quietly, then with a deeper breath to prepare, reaches up to begin pulling away the mask as he provides a verbal indication, “My teeth changed.” Simple and direct, that warning hangs as he lowers the mask with his lips closed. His face looks perfectly normal, his overall structure intact...but when he forces a smile to show off the new teeth, there’s nothing human to it. The teeth he sports are all angular, pointed, and crowded tightly together to mesh into a zigzag.

Russell nods slowly along the list of who's in the know, unsurprised by Sadie's mention. His lip quirks in a half-smile as he suspects how, and maybe he'll think to tease about it later.

For now he stays attentive as Benjiro goes with showing, and he takes a second or two after that forced smile to catch on.

"Your... teeth..."

It might be hard to say whether he's panicking, or thinking worse of Ben, or any of that. Once he sees those inhumanly sharp teeth, he goes quiet and stares. His eyes fixate on something beyond them, as a rushing sounds in his ears and something reverberates in him, and he shudders.

Give a prize to the theatre-lover!

Walter recognizes that moment of freezing, though, and carefully puts a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Russell?" he asks quietly. "Are you- is it a memory?"

He could at least answer for the sake of Ben's well-being, if not his own.

Walter, meanwhile, starts thinking about if he's going to need to fetch another sketch-pad.

His nervous smile falls as Russell simply….stares. There’s a subtle change in his eyes, a loss of focus on what is so near him, and Benjiro takes immediate notice of that shudder. Hand coming up over closed lips, he bows his head and backs several steps away from his cousin.

The speed of his thought may not come close to challenging Walter, but Benjiro tenses as his mind tries to balance and weigh the possibility of a variety of explanations all at once, including the proposal of a new memory.

It's with good timing that Walter reaches out; Russell sways a little bit and steadies himself against that hand before blinking rapidly.

"Whoa. What? Sorry," he shakes his head again, trying to shake off the dizzy spell. "I, uh... What were you saying?"

Ben needs time to process, to calm down... and frankly, Russell looks like he does, too.

They just can't have normal dinners around here anymore, can they?

"I was asking, were you seeing a memory just now?"

His voice is even - internally, he's really hoping he's actually being a calming influence in this room.

"Because of Ben's teeth?"

Breath held as his cousin sways, he remembers to inhale again as he steadies. Russell coming out of the stupor instead of fainting or retreating in some other fashion is a positive sign. Nevertheless, Benjiro gives a calculating look back towards the entry door. He could be out and gone in a hurry.

Hand remaining plastered over his mouth, Benjiro listens for his cousin’s answer as he keeps the distance he took within the limited space.

Russell nods, rubbing at his eyes with the palm of his hand.

"Yes, I was... Well, not seeing it, I wasn't seeing things, but I had that feeling, and I suddenly remembered a friend with teeth like that. She was blue," he adds, disgruntled, because somehow that detail makes it even less plausible than the teeth. Teeth, at least, somebody could get altered like that, without whatever supernatural thing is going on.

He uncovers his eyes and glances between them, then catches the evasiveness of Benjiro's face.

"Sorry, sorry, it's fine, I didn't mean anything by it... Can we sit?" Russell glances between them. "I feel like I'm going to fall over."

Walter also catches Ben's glance towards the door. This situation isn't - quite - irredeemably awkward; hopefully they can still make this work out.

"Blue... skin?" Ben's own flashback-creatures hadn't been human, but he hadn't described their skin as blue.

"I'd second sitting down," Walter says, only moving once he's sure Russell can sit down.

The push of his hand against his mouth lessens as Russell talks after hearing the word ‘friend’ used to describe the association with such teeth. It doesn’t leave his lips however until Russell looks directly to him and assures him that he inflicted no offense. Benjiro lowers his hand with fingers trailing briefly at his chin as he looks to the floor, repeating thoughts to collect himself with furrowed brow. These are his friends, it’s okay.

When Walter repeats the characteristic of blue skin, the teen cannot help but raise his brows. Not in surprise, but recognition.

Slow about moving, he’ll hold back until Russell is seated, then return to the table to pull out a chair and sit.

Russell moves for another of the chairs, as no one's agreed for bailing for the couch - and they're the closest seating surface, with the food and drink already there.

"Is it always so dizzying?" he complains, delaying addressing the elephant in the room in favor of shaking his head a few more times. Sitting helps, and the smell of food rising up to him grounds him in the present tense. "I didn't expect I'd half fall over, but that gave me a shock. I promise, I didn't expect... that."

He considers his cousin again as he finishes, chagrined and sympathetic. He wasn't joking when he said friend, and now that those teeth don't immediately bring movie monsters to mind...

"Yes," Walter says flatly.

"Though sometimes circumstances can make it worse."

Like, oh, drug cake.

"Should we have food then discussion, or would the other way around work better here?"

On the one hand, time to decompress could only be a good thing; on the other, Walter knew well enough that memory wasn't perfect (well, normally) and that details could get lost if they weren't careful.

As they talk of the dizziness that accompanies the echoes, Benjiro picks up his glass of water for a drink to wet his uncomfortably dry mouth. He looks over to his cousin with a pause when Russell explains he was shocked, and brings the glass from his lips to answer softly, “It’s okay.” Another sip taken after using the glass to hide his mouth when he spoke, he puts the glass back down.

Now he better understands what Sadie had gone through after the aurora. It isn’t a sense that he has done anything wrong as much as that he is wrong.

When asked if talk or food should come first, the teenager shrugs then motions a hand at the food. They shouldn’t let the food go cold.

Edited 2018-09-30 16:36 (UTC)

There's a lot of questions he wants to ask. When did this happen, did it happen all at once, has he remembered things that relate to having teeth like those...

But, seeing the subdued affect Benjiro's taken on, he's too discouraged to ask most of them. For now, at least. Instead, Russell nods and and reaches for food containers, distributing servings onto his plate, and pushing some fried rice around with a fork. He finally asks one question.

"...It doesn't hurt, does it?"

Okay, this is an improvement. Walter will help pass around food as well (the remote for the decreasingly-used-TV-these-days gets barely a glance), before sitting down at one side of the somewhat-small table.

He doesn't give Russell another Look when he asks his question, but he doesn't look pointedly at Ben either - he knows the answer to this question, and can fill in if Ben doesn't want to give it.

This isn't about him, right now.

Following suit, Benjiro goes about dishing portions of the food onto his plate. The food does smell quite good, and with his anxiety ebbing, his hunger is resurfacing in full after suffering the delicious aromas carrying the bag to the flat. He starts to cut up the bits that require more chewing that the rice and noodles, but stops as he hears the question from his cousin.

The question carries curiosity and concern, and the priority of it before other questions is all the more telling.

Hand half rising to cover his mouth to speak as if in the midst of chewing, he glances down at his hand and frowns faintly before lowering it back down. Looking directly over to his cousin, he answers with a timid smile, “No...no, not anymore. They hurt coming in, and I still bite my tongue every so often, but they feel like regular teeth now.”

Best pun

spoopiest pun?

8)

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Soda Snark Success!

Walter’s influence over the world continues to grow

It's just an experiment and he can go back to drinking soda any time he wants >:[

THAT'S WHAT THEY ALL SAY also fdahgdlhal

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sorry in advance ben

Re: sorry in advance ben

He will be okay

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Beeen. ;a;

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