天道 あかね (asanequal) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-09-05 17:22:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, akane tendo, ranma saotome, yue katou |
Who: Katou, Akane, Ranma
When: July sometime
Where: Katou’s old warehouse
What: Katou gets Ranma and Akane drunk, inexplicably buys Canadian import vodka spritzers.
Ratings/Warnings: Low
Status: Log | Complete
Katou was still kind of impressed that he had managed to pass his classes with a solid D average across the board. Maybe it was nothing to write home about, but he had worked his ass off and he really hadn’t been expecting to pass his classes (it was amazing what he didn’t know he was capable of until he had started dreaming), and he knew that he owed a lot of that to Akane. Summer school was a drag, but it wasn’t nearly on the level of the amount of cramming he had had to do for the last few weeks of school, and so he practically considered it easy.
He had asked Ranma and Akane to meet him at the old warehouse he had lived in before he had moved in with Jack and Wendy. The place was a dump, but it was still abandoned, and it looked like no one else had taken up residence after Katou had moved out. Against one of the walls was his old, shitty mattress, and there was an old table and some rickety chairs - all of which he had pulled from the dumpster at some point - in the middle of the large room. He also figured that Wendy wouldn’t particularly appreciate a bunch of teenagers getting drunk at her place, and assumed the dojo was out for the same reason. Besides, it had a lot of room, and they could get as loud and as rowdy as they wanted (which Katou might normally not think Akane would be, but, well, he had eaten dinner with them and knew better). He had brought with him a bunch of beer, whiskey, and Palm Bays if anyone wanted shitty girly drinks, a deck of cards for drinking games, and some pretty fantastic peer pressuring skills, because whether they wanted it or not, he was going to get them drunk.
Ranma was bored enough to accept just about any offer Katou had put out there honestly. He could only spend so much time honing his martial arts abilities by himself. This place wasn’t like the dreams, there weren’t endless opponents to keep himself occupied with, or multitudes of fiances to serve as distractions either. The latter part though he was a bit relieved by. Not that he hated them, just that they were a damn handful.
He let Akane lead the way, as she could read English directions better than he could be bothered to. However when he was lead to a warehouse type thing, an eyebrow raised as he looked over at her skeptically and asked “Are you sure this is the right place?” Still in Japanese, he prefered it to English any day.
Akane wasn’t sure what to make of the invitation. Mostly she just didn’t know what Katou had planned. But she got along with him so she doubted it would be anything too bad. Or it was just that typical tending to see the best in people thing coming through. Besides, it was something to do. Even so, as she led the way to the warehouse, even Akane was beginning to wonder just what he had in mind for them.
“Eeto….”
Yeah, Akane wasn’t completely sure either. But pulling up the information she was given, the street name was accurate, as were the different signs she was told to look for.
“This is where we were told to go….”
So unless he was just sending them on a wild goose chase because it amused him…. Which, okay yeah, seemed like something Katou might do. So she just shrugged as she looked at Ranma.
Sure that everything was more or less set up, Katou stepped outside for a smoke. Not that he didn't smoke inside his warehouse all the time, but it was nice out and he might as well keep a bit of an eye out for the two.
Spotting them once he stepped outside, he gave them a wave. "Ah, Ranma! Akane! Welcome to Chateau Katou!" He gave a bit of a flourish toward the warehouse. "Irasshai!"
Ranma’s arched eyebrow couldn’t go any further at the sight of Katou, but if it could it would have. “What the hells this about?” He asked with a slightly annoyed tone, why were they dragged out to a virtual dump? Katou wasn’t going to do anything weird was he? Ranma wasn’t exactly known for his patience, but he decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.
“Welcome to where..exactly?” He asked, trying to sound a little less put out in any case. He trusted Katou a lot more than he probably should have.
Much like Ranma, Akane had no idea what Katou had planned and was wondering if he was going to be weird. However, she also had manners. Which was why she just bowed in greeting before straightening up. They may not be in Japan, but habits died hard. It was reflex, especially when she didn’t know what to make of the situation.
A look was shot to Ranma as if to tell him to behave but it seemed that he was trying to not sound as put out as they were feeling. Really. A warehouse in the middle of nowhere…Akane really had no idea what to make of this. She wasn’t familiar with the term ‘Chateau’ so she was left to try and come up with a theory on what was Katou meant.
Katou really couldn't stop himself from laughing at the looks on their faces, because they looked so confused. "You guys look like you've never seen a warehouse before," he laughed, speaking Japanese. "It ain't like I brought you here for something weird or nothing. This is just where I used to live before Wendy invited me to move in with her," he turned to head back inside. "It ain't got much inside, but I've got some tunes and booze, and you guys can sleep here if you can't go home after. The mattress ain't that comfy, but it does it's job."
They were the first friends outside of the old crowd of people he used to hang out with who he had brought there. He probably should have remembered that most teenagers maybe didn't spend a lot of their time in old abandoned buildings, and would probably be a little weirded out at showing up at one with no notice.
Ranma wasn’t the traditional bowing sort, so unlike Akane he just stood there looking as annoyed as he felt. “This better be good, callin us all the way out here.” Ranma also wasn’t the sort to hold back many of his words. He arched an eyebrow at Katou. “Course we seen one, but people don’t usually hang out in them...:” Ranma stated, but he was willing to give his friend the benefit of the doubt. His mind seemed to gloss over the fact that Katou said booze and he joined his friend anyway.
“Hmm.” He gave him a bit of a shove playfully before glancing back at his warehouse. “Well then show me a good time.”
Akane wasn’t really sure how to respond to Katou saying he had lived in the warehouse before his current living arrangements, so instead she just blinked in confusion at the part on him saying that they could stay there that night if they couldn’t get back.
“Why wouldn’t we be able to get back?”
Because given how Soun was… Akane really didn’t want to deal with overprotective panicking father. And not going back home until the next day? That would lead to crying and hugging and worrying and that was a headache. Even though she was perfectly capable of defending herself, her father still seemed to go over the top with that.
Whatever. It wasn’t like she planned on drinking, so it would be fine. In theory.
Katou grinned when he was shoved, though instead of shoving back he went to loop his arm around Ranma's neck. "Hanging out in warehouses is all the rage among American teenagers," Katou said, in a voice that clearly stated Ranma and Akane should have known that. "You can be as loud as you want, make a fucking commotion, and no one gives a shit, so they're pretty fun. And it ain't like I'm gonna hold you hostage. You can go home if you want, but the option is there for you to use it." Wendy and Jack were probably used to Katou coming home inebriated at this point, even if it hadn't happened much since he decided to take his school work seriously, but he didn't particularly want Ranma and Akane to get in trouble with their old men, especially since Ranma's dad sounded like a fucking hard ass.
Once he got inside, he separated himself from the two of them and pulled a couple of cans of Palm Bay from the cooler, and tossed them at his two friends. "Heads up," he added a little belatedly.
“American’s are weird.” Ranma said and made a face but followed his friend inside. Obviously he had very little reason to resist, he hadn’t really intended on drinking anything either. Maybe they’d just chill as he said and listen to those ‘tunes’. He knew a bunch of the guys back at Furinkan who liked to get drunk and stuff during P.E., but he’d never bothered joining in.
However obviously he was a bit wrong. He caught the drink and raised an eyebrow. “One won’t hurt I guess.” He looked over at Akane though, unsure if she’d be into this sort of thing. He wasn’t about to pressure her into it. “Didn’t you have a lesson today or somethin?” He tried to give her an opening without seeming to do so in true Japanese fashion.
“Very.” Was the only reaction Akane gave about Americans being weird. There were times she just didn’t understand her classmates or students. She got along well enough, but weird was definitely an accurate description. Especially right now. Chilling as Katou put it had seemed a good enough way to spend the time. It might not be as exciting as Ranma wanted in his boredom, but it was still something to do. Drinking though?
“Eh?” On reflex, she reached out and caught the can and just blinked. Vaguely she heard Ranma mention one wouldn’t hurt, but she didn’t really pay attention until she heard the question on if she had a lesson. That caused her to look up before shaking her head in confusion, missing the point.
“No, that’s why we chose today to come here since I didn’t have any…” Though now she had beer in her hand and didn’t know what to do with it. It would be rude not to drink it, but she really had no desire to do so either.
Katou had kind of suspected that neither of them had really drank before, but he hadn’t been sure. Their hesitation seemed to confirm his suspicions, which would make this more difficult but not impossible. Katou grinned. “Yeah, Ranma’s right. One won’t hurt. Besides, Palm Bay’s taste like juice. Won’t be gross or nothing.” Gross, carbonated juice. Katou’d stick to beer. “I mean, I won’t force ya to drink it if you’re a chicken or something, but it ain’t like nothing bad’s gonna happen with the great Katou watching over you.”
Ranma made a face, Akane missed the point of what it was he was attempting to do all together. She couldn’t say he didn’t try later in any case. He looked over the drink but didn’t recognize it. The thing was in English, Ranma still sucked at reading that damn language. He didn’t even try to sound it out. “Guess you American’s aren’t much different then. Buncha guys in P.E. used to hang out and get drunk during class back home.” He leaned against one of the lesser dirty looking walls and rolled his eyes. “Well then oh great one, what now?” He asked him with finger quotes and everything as his own was opened and gave him a toothy grin. Glancing over at Akane he frowned though. “Nobodies chicken, it’s just..” He trailed off, both of their fathers were going to go bat shit if they found out. “Nevermind, Akane maybe Kasumi needs somethin’ “ He was trying to look out for her, but knowing her pride would get her first anyway.
When it was all said and done, Akane would realise it later. So that was that. However, the second Katou mentioned them being chickens if they didn’t, she just blinked and looked at him.
“Is this some sort of American test of courage?” It was the same type of language. Only this time actually vocalised. It wasn’t unheard of in Japan, just usually it was going through the forest at night to some location with creepy scenes set up…. which Akane hated even though she would for the life of her pretend to be fine and refuse to back down. If anything, the dreams made her more determined to prove herself.
Still. There was the issue of their fathers at hand. Ugh, this was annoying.
“We’re not chicken.” A look was sent to Ranma, wondering just what he meant by Kasumi needing things. Even if she did, Kasumi would just tell them to pick it up on their way back home. Ranma would know that. “Mm...I can always call and ask for when we head back?”
It was kind of endearing how many openings Ranma gave to Akane, and how many she just so obliviously turned down. “Not so different at all,” Katou confirmed. “I think teenagers are teenagers wherever they are.” There really hadn’t been much of a difference between Katou’s life in California and Katou’s dream life in Tokyo, so he could attest to that. He brought out one of his decks of cards, and started absently shuffling with the skill of someone who had spent a lot of time playing cards.
He almost had her, he could tell. And as much as he wanted to lie and say that it was a test of courage, it… really wasn’t much of a test of courage. There wasn’t anything scary to getting drunk. “I wouldn’t say that so much as a… rite of passage. A coming of age type thing. You guys are done with high school now, entering into the world of adulthood, and this is a stepping stone toward that. But showing yourself to be all grown up and shit can be pretty scary, I guess.
“As for what’s next, young grasshopper,” he didn’t care of Ranma’s ‘oh great one’ comment was practically dripping in sarcasm, he’d take it, “we can play cards for a bit to settle in, and then figure out what everyone’s up for,” once everyone’s good and drunk, “a little later.”
Ranma still worried about Akane, he always would but right now he was so bored he could almost convince himself he didn’t really care if she stayed or not. The teenager leaned over to peer at the deck of cards. “Hmm..so, poker then?” He’d learned from his father how to play on the road of course. He wasn’t sure if Akane knew, but growing up around Nabiki had to have some sort of advantages. If it didn’t, it really was just a jip.
One step closer to ball and chain, yeah, okay maybe it was a decent time to drink Ranma thought to himself as he took another drink of the terribly sweet alcohol.
And since they were doing the drinking, Akane finally decided to try the alcoholic drink. Which. Okay, was extremely sweet. While she didn’t mind sweet, it was unexpected and she just scrunched up her nose. It wasn’t terrible, just different. But between boredom and a refusal to appear weak or chicken, it wasn’t like she was going to back down or run off. No thank you.
“Poker’s fine.”
It really wasn’t her favourite of games, but really. Nabiki would get bored and decide they should play for chores when they were younger. And then cheated because it was Nabiki. But it was something she knew and it was a way to pass the time, which really was the point of this entire trip.
“Poker it is, ladies and gentlemen,” Katou sang, and dealt the cards. “The ante starts at one drink, you can up the pot by up to two drinks per act. Winner of each hand doesn’t have to drink if they don’t want, losers drink what they bet. If you fold, you what you’ve already put into the pot. Good? Good.”
Katou himself wasn’t that bad at poker. He spent a good amount of time using his poker face in his day to day life that doing so in a poker game really wasn’t that difficult. Still, the name of the game was less to win, and more to get drunk (and to get his two friends drunk), and he spent a lot of time raising the pot even when he was fairly certain that there was no chance of him winning, throwing a quarter into the middle of the table for every drink the losers had to take. It didn’t take very long until he could feel the familiar, comforting buzz of getting drunk, and he judged that Akane and Ranma were probably there, or close to it, themselves. “How’re we all feeling, boys and girls? Feeling good?”
It was at least a little comforting that some teenage things didn’t change even over the sea. Ranma still understood how to play poker and how to kick a little ass at it, but it wasn’t his strongest game either. Most of the rounds he ended up even steven. “M’bored..Gotta be somethin’ better here’in playing cards.” He looked over at a blurry Katou and Akane, “Dun even care what.” He’d had several drinks, because what the hell. It was a right of American passage, and they were in America now. Nobody could fault them.
Akane was feeling very….fuzzy. Was that the word? She wasn’t completely sure. She had also lost track of the drinks. Not that it had been a lot. Just she wasn’t counting as it was easy to lose track while playing cards. She was good enough at poker thanks to Nabiki, but it was what it was.
“You’re always bored.” Well, it wasn’t a lie. But no matter. “Change of things is fine though.” Proper sentence formation. Not really a thing right now.
“More fun than playing cards?” Katou gasped, pretending to be scandalized but then breaking into a grin. Most of the things he liked to do when drunk - petty vandalism, bad graffiti, and lipping off to strangers on the street - were things he was pretty sure wouldn’t fly. He had already managed to get the two drunk, and that was all the peer pressure he felt like throwing out there tonight.
He took a smoke out of his pack and lit it, leaning back in his chair a little so as to actually think. “You guys do that whole random shit martial arts thing, right?” Anything goes, random shit, same difference. “Wouldn’t mind seeing some of that.”
Conning his way into free food was one thing, but actual vandalism was another. Ranma wasn’t the sort. His dark eyes did however narrow at the butchering of his style and he rolled them in exasperation. “Anything goes.” He corrected with a slightly slurred tone before sliding that gaze over toward Akane. “Merica’s boring. Ain’t my fault.”
He rarely showed off his skills, Ranma was many things but a showboat wasn’t typically one. Unless Ryoga was involved, then dear god the showboating. All the same he looked up and stood, everything was blurring together. “Gonna need you.” He tugged at Akane.
And where Ranma had no problem conning his way into free food, Akane tended to stick closer to the law. She didn’t mind the free food when it was shared, but she did still side eye it. Though she was used to things like that thanks to Nabiki and Mr. Saotome as it were. “Hai hai.” It was a common interaction. Ranma would be bored because of America, Akane would just agree because, well...it was
Though sparring had not been planned. And her general reaction to Ranma tugging at her was a confused “Eh?” before stumbling some as she got up. Balance was… not so much a thing as it usually was. This would be interesting.
The mild annoyance from Ranma was exactly part of why Katou had butchered the name in the first place, and he grinned. The grin stayed on his face as it looked like Ranma and Akane were actually going to take his suggestion to heart.
Sparring when drunk maybe wasn’t the safest practice out there, but it sure was a lot of fun. Katou’d watched a couple of drunken street fights (and had taken part in even more), but none of them had the finesse or structure that actual martial arts had, and he was actually kind of stoked to check it out. It was like dinner and a show, if dinner consisted soley of whiskey and if watching two of his friends could be considered a show. So, he stood up, turned his chair backwards so he could rest his arms and chin on the back of it, and lit a cigarette.
He raised his hand, prepared to drop it to start whenever Akane and Ranma looked like they were ready to begin. Assuming they were sober enough to recognize that as a starting cue.
At the end of it all Ranma had landed in a very awkward position. Even more awkward was the fact that he’d landed with Akane in his lap. Drinking and graceful landings never did match kids, don’t try it at home. Ranma looked up at her for a moment and was quiet. Not really sure what to say, except a reddish hue crept into his cheeks.
“How long ya gonna sit on me like that?” Not entirely grumpy about it, but not exactly kind either.
Akane really couldn’t exactly remember the spar given the whole fuzzy feeling of the alcohol. It also led to her not really knowing how she and Ranma ended up as they were. He wasn’t the only one who had a reddish hue to their cheek. Awkward times indeed. Because the two of them had perfected the art of awkward along with Anything Goes. Only when Ranma said something did it seem to register to Akane that this wasn’t normal or that maybe they should move so as not to give wrong ideas to people.
“I... “ So intelligent was the response though Akane definitely fell backwards off of Ranma’s lap. That never happened. Thank god it was just Katou and not someone (family members) who would never let them live it down…. though given Katou…. So. Awkward.
With Akane and Ranma toppling all over the place, Katou was pretty sure that the sparring was going to be amusing as hell. It was almost adorable, and if Katou hadn’t been so busy pointing and laughing (and keeping a careful eye on Ranma and Akane so that if they turned to glare at him, he could immediately stop laughing and whistle at the ceiling instead), he’d probably have made some quip.
Ranma had ended up with an arm over Akane's thighs in an attempt to keep her from collapsing over, or at least that was his theory he'd tried to come up with to justify their whole situation. It didn't work out well.
It didn't account for the fact that she was actually kind of cute just then and he felt a growing need to tell her so, but couldn't seem to find the words. "You're not bad sometimes." Was the best he could come up with when he became very aware that they weren't alone and squirmed back toward Katou instead awkwardly. "The hell is so funny? " he slurred grumpily.
Where normally Akane would notice and freak out over things like Ranma having an arm over her thighs, she either didn't notice or didn't care.
Finding words was always complicated. Hearing an almost compliment was just rare. And if she were sober, she would ask what he wanted. Instead she just blinked. The flush was totally the alcohol. Though she did manage to mumble that Ranma wasn't all that bad. Then Katou was laughing and the moment was basically broken. So Akane just looked at her lap. Quiet. Because what the hell just happened?
“I ain’t laughing,” Katou said, whistling innocently as though that would fool anyone. He smiled softly looking at the two of them. Them not doing much to fight the engagement seemed to make more sense now, with them being all bashful and kinda adorable. He’d never actually seen Setsuna and Sara interact in his dreams, except for the one time when he was still alive that he kidnapped Sara just to torment Setsuna, but he wondered if the two of them ever acted like that before they had finally gotten together. “You kids want a moment to discuss how not terrible the other is? I can go out for a smoke or something.”
"Shut up. Don't you go anywhere. " He glared, grabbing at Katou’s arm drunkenly, but it really wasn't a thing that was hard to get out of if the other boy wanted to. He leaned back against the wall a moment later, head throbbing.
Now that they weren’t sparring and there was no more drinking, it was as if the alcohol was hitting much harder than it had been. Or maybe it was just the fact that they could feel it now that there was nothing else going on. Either way, it was a very unsettling feeling and Akane wasn’t quite sure what the appeal of drinking in excess was. Before it had just been in theory, now? Well, it had been a fun afternoon, but she still didn’t quite get the appeal.
And Katou laughing at them, while pretending not to, which was just met with an annoyed look before she blinked repeatedly to focus her gaze. Right. This was just weird. Even so, she just shifted so that she could use the wall as balance as well.
Katou was still far, far too amused at everything. Normally, this would be about the point where he'd encourage them to drink more, and then draw on them with sharpie when they passed out. Instead, he stood up, moving out of Ranma's grip. "Alright, alright, I ain't gonna go out for a smoke. You two take a seat and I'll get you some water." And some barf pails. He was turning over a new leaf after all. He'd still draw on them if they had passed out, but he'd be extra nice and just keep it to areas that were easily covered by clothes.