(no subject)

[linefacingforever]

Who: The Investigation Team and Nanako plus one death goddess.
Where: Yu and Nanako's apartment.
Summary: The IT celebrates Christmas together away from home... more or less.
Warnings: Yu trying to keep up his mission to bring a Green Christmas to Hinoto-ri. Horrible singing. lulz

It was a bit rushed and last minute -- and most of the work had to be done by other people because a certain grey haired leader was currently acting like an idiot -- but the apartment that Yu and Nanako shared was currently decked out for the winter holiday. Streamers hung around door frames and windows, and someone had even managed to bring in a little fake pine tree to be decorated.

There's also food, of course, though how good it is depends greatly on who cooked it. Taste with care, least you end up poisoned on Christmas.

It might not seem very festive at the moment, especially considering the current state (and presence) of certain individuals... but that will change at midnight at least.

Comments

Afternoon => Night

[linefacingforever]

[linefacingforever]

Yu probably had the most forlorn look on his face ever, staring uselessly at his poor hands. He had been forced to finger-snap himself back into boring, normal clothes once the others had figured out how it worked. Now he was only allowed to participate if he didn't go snapping himself back into a loincloth. Hence the current state of his hands: they were wrapped up in a thick layer of bandage tape, allowing him a little flexibility to grab large objects, but that was about it.

He flexed his bound fingers uselessly, a faint sound of disappointment escaping from him. This was terrible; he failed the Pyro Jacks, and now no one would be able to enjoy a Green Christmas...

Yu flopped over uselessly on the couch, watching his friends enjoy the festivities. It was so not fair...

[celebrity_commentator]

Rise - partly responsible for wrapping his hands like that - couldn't help but feel a little guilty at seeing his expression like that. On the other hand, she felt they'd saved him a lot of embarrassment and everyone else a lot of trouble, but...puppy-dog face. It was amazing what Yu's expressions could do sometimes, when you paid attention to them.

"Cheer up, Senpai," she said, sitting on the arm of the couch. "You still get to spend Christmas with us, right?"

[linefacingforever]

"Yeah, but..."

He paused, glancing outside to where he could see the snow gently falling. Wow, he... actually failed at something. Sure he had taken more than a few missteps in the past, underestimated an enemy, guessed a weakness wrong... but he never really failed like this.

...this sucked.

[handshakegreeting]

Well. This could not be any more awkward if they tried, and in fact... she likely only came to be sure that someone didn't wind up doing something further that they would regret. That, and she had indeed been invited...

So come she did, and in style. Wait, she had something other than a certain uniform and the burial kimono? Perish the thought!

...Though currently she is simply staying near the corner, watching her representative and possibly trying not to give a damn about the sorry state he is mentally trapped within. She tried, children. Apparently those Pyro Jacks did a number on him if even her illusion mastery could not break it for long.

[gigglesnortpriestess]

There is someone close by the woman as she holds out a cup to her. Maybe a peace offering but maybe just a conversation starter. Either way, Yukiko wanted to talk with her even if her persona was starting to feel a little uneasy. While she pushed the red eyes aside for the moment, the one in the headspace didn't.

"I...wanted to say thank you. For what you did."

[handshakegreeting]

The woman accepted it graciously with a small nod of thanks. After all, it was only polite. Though she does not take a sip just yet, merely gazing from the child's boyfriend to her as she spoke. She could sense the uneasiness, and it was not unwarranted to say the least. However... there was naught to fear this evening, at the very least.

"Do not mention it." She smiled faintly. "I was only passing through, after all... and he likely would not have wanted to embarrass himself farther as much as I could not stand to see another in a situation like that."

[disconinjafrog]

And here's Yosuke, staring at her from the other corner with the most awkward, hostile stare he can manage, because Yu is acting terribly strange (as he has been for a while now) and the rest of the people in here were left to fend for themselves against a Death Goddess that really only a few of them remembered facing.

Why Yu trusted her was beyond him. Why anyone could trust her...

Even with the... strange get-up (how could she look almost normal?) whenever he looked at her he couldn't stop thinking about the cold, paralyzing fear of her death curse prying at his legs, dragging him down into total darkness. Sometimes he still had nightmares...

...And yet he can't help but feel like she's also the only one in this room who might possibly understand more about their situation as a whole than he does.

Soooo with that said, he is slowly, and awkwardly shuffling towards her over the course of about ten minutes until he's about five feet away...

"...Do you know how they're making Yu act like this?" Yosuke's voice is quiet, and terribly nervous.

[handshakegreeting]

Welcome to the perpetually confused corner, Hanamura boy. She is as perplexed about how he could trust her as you are, even with what she did indeed show him in their second meeting in this city. It left her wondering just how much it was him, and how much it was Him. Even then, though... it made little sense.

Which is why she kept her powers to a minimum, hadn't done a thing yet as they enjoyed themselves aside from use her fog to make her seem more normal than usual.

Well, most of them enjoyed themselves. She could see a certain someone in the opposing corner slowly edge his way closer. For his own benefit, she didn't look directly at him, but rather to the others. At least, until he finally spoke up.

"Indeed," Izanami admitted with a sigh, crossing her arms. Over the past few days, it had been both a source of frustration and faint amusement. Mainly because of Izanagi having to suffer secondhand embarrassment. "To put it in terms mankind would understand or find familiar, they altered his mind; brainwashed, in other words. It is a rather strong spell known to their clan that seems to have been modified and thus harder to break free from even with the aide of outside assistance. At least, until it is time for it to wear off."

When would be anyone's guess, though with the focus of it being a "green Christmas"... it did not take one with a 2000 IQ to realize it.

[celebrity_commentator]

"Yeah..sorry about this not being very organized, everyone," Rise said by way of introduction as everyone showed up. "I didn't mean to invade Yu-senpai's apartment either, but we've all been a little distracted, and the important thing is we're all here and okay now, right?"

Besides, the apartments supposedly gave immunity to the singing compulsion, and she's not sure she can handle hearing any more of that after Izanami's network post.

"At least...oh, shoot, I completely forgot a cake too," she said, pouting a little now that she's realized that. "Uh, anyone willing to go out and brave getting one? Unless Senpai has the ingredients here..."

[disconinjafrog]

"Whoa, whoa, I think we're better off buying one!" Even if they have the ingredients, he doesn't trust anyone currently in the house to touch the kitchen without creating some sort of abomination... Even if their last Christmas cake had turned out alright, he recalls Naoto saying it had taken them several attempts.

[celebrity_commentator]

Rise decided to ignore Yosuke's tone in honor of the holiday and the fact he'd actually come around. Dude was hard to track down in this city sometimes.

"Was that a volunteer I heard?" she asked, playfully. "Oh hey, Mays is open tonight, right? Do you get an employee discount there?"

[gigglesnortpriestess]

You know when they say to keep Yukiko away from the stove area so she doesn't cook? Well, they couldn't this time. It was a special day and she wanted to make something that would be edible or at least drinkable. Maybe Nano's lesson earlier made her think that her skills could be saved somewhat.

So for tonight, she's making peppermint hot chocolate from scratch! She even copied down a recipe and got the right ingredients before coming over. But she looks like she's really concentrating on making it just right for everyone. Hope no one will do something dumb and bug her.

[celebrity_commentator]

"Ooh, is that hot chocolate, Senpai?" Rise asked, appearing at someone's shoulder as she is wont to do in crowded rooms. "It looks good already."

[gigglesnortpriestess]

Yukiko nodded and smiled at her. "Yes, I found a recipe for it not too long ago. I wanted to try it out and make something special for everyone tonight."

[greaterdays]

It may be Christmas, but Nanako really doesn't seem very happy. She's too worried about her Big Bro's condition to really enjoy the party. Of course, if someone distracts her this will change, but initially she keeps glancing over at him, or approaching him to try and talk.

Despite the noise, she ends up falling asleep before the party reaches midnight - first on the couch next to Yu. Hopefully someone will carry her to bed and tuck her in.

[disconinjafrog]

Yosuke's kind of been on Nanako-chan duty ever since Yu had pretty much lost his mind to the Pyro Jacks. He notices her fall asleep and is quick to go over to her. He wasn't sure that Yu was in any state to take care of her right now.

Very gently he touches her shoulder to stir her. "Hey, Nanako-chan, are you tired? Do you want to go to bed? You can open all of your presents in the morning." Yosuke gives her a smile, trying his stupid best to be a surrogate big brother while her actual big brother was out of commission. "Don't worry about Yu, okay? He'll be better in the morning, I promise." At least, if Izanami kept her word and turned him back to normal during the Thirteenth Hour if he didn't turn back to normal on his own.

[greaterdays]

Nanako stirs sleepily when Yosuke awakens her, then glances over at Yu again. "He really will be?"

She doesn't want to go to bed if he's still sick - even though she just was dozing off regardless.

[linefacingforever]

Hey, Yu may be upset because his hands are taped up and he can't spread Green Christmas cheer, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't have time for his little sister. He pulled himself up when she went over to check on him, keeping his bound up fingers out of view so she wouldn't be too worried.

"What's wrong, Nanako?"

[greaterdays]

"Um... Are you feeling better, Big Bro?"

Even if he's hiding it, she knows about the bandages. Yu's strange costume change didn't bother her that much, but maybe the others are worried worried he'll fly out the window again if he can change back... So, she doesn't complain about what they've done to him. Although it still does worry her.

Hope this is okay, Rise-mun said she could drop some snacks off

[all_wound_up]

After getting permission from Rise and doing some private worrying and fidgeting over whether she'd be intruding on a private gathering, Nano had decided to force herself to get over her anxiety and come down to Yu's apartment with some snacks she'd baked. The wind-up robot is decked out in a festive Santa hat and is carrying a plate of chocolate chip cookies with her. There's also a cupcake sitting in the middle, frosted on top to look like Rise's face.

"Um, excuse me...? It's Nano Shinonome. Kujikawa-san invited me. I won't disturb your party for long, I promise!"

Even though she'd gotten her courage up to do this, she still sounds rather unsure of herself and more than a little nervous about intruding. But that's just how Nano is around large groups of new people - she's just hoping that she doesn't make a bad first impression on these people.

[gigglesnortpriestess]

Nano's here?

Yukiko turns to see the small robot girl coming in and smiles at her.

"Hello there Nano-chan! You're not disturbing anything at all!"

[all_wound_up]

"Oh, Amagi-san...!" Nano smiles, looking a little surprised herself. "I didn't know you were friends with Kujikawa-san!"

oh this is totally fine~

[disconinjafrog]

Whoa, hey, this girl was unusual... did she have a wind-up key in her back? But she has snacks, that's awesome!

"Hey, if Rise-chan invited you, then you're totally welcome!" She did arrange the whole thing after all. "We've got plenty of food and stuff. I'm Hanamura Yosuke."

[celebrity_commentator]

"Hey, Nano-chan! Merry Christmas!"

Rise greets her enthusiastically as usual, feeling like she's starting to get the hang of this hostess thing. "Ooh, that looks good! Is that..."

Her face? That's oddly not creepy. "Cute!"