2025-08-16: Ayame Associates with a Hooligan
- Log: Ayame Associates with a Hooligan
- Cast: Tsubasa Seki, Ayame Watanabe, Satsuki Shimizu, Isamu/Koume Watanabe, Lance
- Where: Aoba Park
- OOC Date: 2025-08-16
- IC Date: Tuesday, June 26 2012
- Summary: Ayame meets Tsubasa in the park, and Tsubasa introduces Lance to her young son. Ayame's mother, unfortunately, takes issue with that... and Tsubasa learns more about why the Shimizus might be invested in helping them so much, in the process. Ayame gets them to open up some more after she explains the situation, only to uncover that despite their parents failing them, Tsubasa has found some people to look up to... like Shinobu and Myunghon!
- Content warning: Suicidal ideation, family violence
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Tsubasa's dressed in their Kasugayama boys' uniform, today, as they skulk down a sunny Aoba street with their dog. (The bottom half of their shirt's unbuttoned and tied around their midriff; their pants are way too low on their hips; their sleeves are improperly rolled up. They're wearing it wrong.) They don't have any particular reason to be here, but neither do they have any particular reason to be anywhere else; besides, Aoba Park is a nice enough place to hang out, and it's not like it's stormy today.
They grab a stick from the ground, where it's fallen from one of the trees dotting the park, and wander out onto the green. "Go fetch!" They call, as they toss the stick across the field, and Lance scrambles off to chase it gleefully.
You know. Normal park things.
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
"Oh! Oh! Doggy!"
Isamu Watanabe points at Lance as she rushes by to chase the stick, and Ayame looks over that way. "Oh, yes," she says. "That is a dog!" Pause. "Oh wait, that's..."
Ayame recognzies Lance in particular after a moment, "Seki-kun?" she wonders, calling for Tsubasa because where Lance is Tsubasa hopefully also is.
But she is not alone with her son! Tohka is off at baseball practice, but Koume is seated on a bench playing her games. And, of course...
A woman of average height with brown hair and grey eyes is there--older, but she doesn't look almost sixty, and her hair isn't gray. Satsuki Shimizu is there, currently telling Koume, "Koume-chan, are you going to let the sunshine get away from you?"
"No, Grandmother," Koume answers formally. "I can feel the sun while I play!"
"Hmm..."
She doesn't approve. But she hasn't noticed Ayame calling over a YOUTH either.
Isamu starts towards Lance but Ayame stops him. "Now, now. We ask first before we pet someone's dog."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Lance retrieves the stick, ambling back up to Tsubasa, tail wagging a million miles an hour.
"Good dog!" Tsubasa exclaims. "Okay, give it here..."
Lance chomphs onto the stick as Tsubasa reaches for it. No take, only throw.
"Hey, c'mon!" Tsubasa says, as they tug the stick. "You wanna go?!"
BOUF, Lance says, around her mouthful of stick, as they get into a round of tug-of-war. Tsubasa quite deliberately falls back on their ass, which is when Lance goes 'aroo?!' and drops the stick to pad over to her and sniff at her.
"Haaah, gotcha, idiot," Tsubasa launches back up to hug-tackle her mercilessly.
Lance licks at their hands, and then perks her ears up and ambles off towards the small child. "Eh?" Tsubasa asks, picking themself up and swatting grass from their pants. "What's up? ... huh."
They didn't hear Ayame the first time, but thanks to Lance, they notice her anyway. Lance trots up to Isamu, wagging her tail, and Tsubasa ambles along after her.
"It's cool," they say. "She's friendly. You like dogs, kid? This is Lance."
Arf!, Lance speaks up, wagging her tail as she sniffs at the small human.
"Yo, Watanabe-san," Tsubasa lifts a hand to her, too, though they're keeping an eye on Lance more than her. "This your son?"
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
Stick!! Dog!! Friend!!
Lance ambles towards Isamu, and Isamu looks towards Lance. "Hiiiii doggy!!" he says happily.
Ayame relents once Tsubasa confirms it's all right. "You can pet the dog," Ayame tells her son, and Isamu pets Lance. Rub rub. "Yay!" he says, and scritches Dog. "I love dogs! I want a dog..."
Isamu smells like Boy and Grass and Food. He had food earlier.
"That's right," Ayame confirms, and Isamu looks a lot like Ayame, too--same hair color, same eyes, though his hair is obviously shorter. He is a happy-looking child especially because DOG. "This is Isamu," she says, affectionately and proudly.
But then he looks up from Lance and makes a perfect :O face. "Whoaaaa," Isamu says. "How'd you get so many colors on?"
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Sniff sniff sniff sniff, and Lance wags her tail ferociously. It's the only ferocious thing about her, despite her fearsome fighting dog mien. She does not lick Isamu's face, because she is a good dog, but she does flop onto her belly in front of him to give him better access. "Yeah, dogs are great," Tsubasa says, when he declares he loves dogs.
Ayame introduces her mini-me, and he looks up, and...
Tsubasa is normally a pretty grumpy kind of guy; they have the world's worse case of resting bitch face. But, like, Isamu's just a kid, so they put a smile on for him, they're not a dick. "You can change your hair colour with hair dye," they explain, rubbing at the back of their neck, because they're not entirely sure they're supposed to be telling kids the secrets to rebellion here. "Or you can get a wig, which is like... costume hair you wear over your normal hair. The good part about those is you can have a different colour every day." Or, well, they could, until half their wigs went missing in action. They're still working on pilfering new ones. Give them a minute.
The fact that Tsubasa isn't dumbing their language down all that much might speak to their awkwardness, in this situation, but they've accidentally stumbled on the right course anyway.
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
"Ah!" Isamu rubs belly. Ayame sighs, but it's a happy sort of thing. "You see?" she asks Tsubasa, and they might recall their conversation about pets. "Oh, well."
Isamu does not understand the nature of 'grumpy'. He's a nice kid who tends to get most of what he wants. And that includes petting the dog, and learning about hair dye! "Wow!" he starts. "Hmm... I don't think Mom will let me dye my hair..."
"Not until you're older," Ayame agrees.
"It's OK because I don't think about my hair much anyway," Isamu admits. "When it gets too long it gets in the way..." A bright smile. "But you look neat with it!"
Isamu appreciates that Tsubasa isn't dumbing it down. He can tell, even though he's only six. (Almost seven!)
"What do we say when someone teaches us something, Isamu-kun?"
"Thank youuu," Isamu says to Tsubasa.
"This is Tsubasa Seki-kun," she introduces. "You should be polite, and call them Seki-san."
"Okay! Seki-san!"
But in the background, Koume has put away her game at Grandmother's urging--and Grandmother has just looked across the way to where Ayame is talking to someone in a delinquent style uniform.
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"You don't gotta think about your hair if you don't want to," Tsubasa smiles, still a touch awkward but at least making the effort to be personable. "But it's cool you can appreciate mine." You know, it's probably good to encourage the kid that it's okay to think something is cool without doing it, right?
They salute, loosely, with a hand, as Lance wriggles around on the grass and thumps her tail against the ground. "No prob," they acknowledge his thanks, and...
"Cool." Tsubasa really appreciates Ayame figuring out the right manner of address, though they don't call attention to it in the moment. "And do you like Isamu-kun?" They actually ask him what he wants to be called! Hopefully that's not too novel... but it might be.
They slouch as they chat with Ayame and Isamu, weight settled on one leg as the other toe taps at the ground, one hand buried in their pocket. Their Tosa Inu rolls around on the grass beside Isamu. How terrible!
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
"Yeah! It's real cool," Isamu says of Tsubasa's hair. "Nobody's got hair like that around..." It is a good modeling. Lance continues to be ADORABLE and Isamu looks towards her with a little more delight and moves to pet her again. Pet pet!
"Yeah!" Isamu answers Tsubasa. "Mommy still wants to call me Isamu-chan sometimes when she's not paying attention, but I'm a big boy now!"
Ayame flushes faintly in embarrassment, but only faintly.
It's going to get worse in a moment though. "Mom!" Koume says. "Grandmother wants to--"
"And what is this creature doing so near my grandson?" Satsuki asks archly. "...Does it belong to you, hooligan? Honestly, Ayame. It's no wonder you turned out as you did when you keep company like this. Without me around to set you on the right path, who knows what will become of--"
"Mother!" Ayame starts, suddenly white as a sheet. "Please--"
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Maybe you'll meet someone who does one day," Tsubasa supposes. "Even if you see someone with blonde hair, that's pretty cool, right?" ... and just as scandalous, in the school system, to be honest.
"Isamu-kun, then," Tsubasa nods, taking it seriously. (Well, not too seriously. They're still smiling for him.) "I'll remember." Ayame having a little trouble realising how big her boy's getting is something they politely decline to comment on, instead saying: "Yeah, looks like you're gettin' pretty big. What's your secret? You eat your carrots or somethin'?"
(Of course they'd imply that eating carrots helps you to grow up. They're helping.)
Except, a girl girls out, and --
Tsubasa starts, stiffening as they look over to the older woman on the approach. "I, uh --" They might have told her to lay off their dog, except there's something in the presumptions she's laying down which makes their skin crawl.
Especially when they see how the blood's drained from Ayame's face.
"She's not gonna hurt him," Tsubasa says, instead, voice growing a touch higher and whinier in their stress. Lance whines, lifting her head to look around at the humans, her tail-wagging slowing to a confused thu-ump. "And Watanabe-san didn't do nothin', I just saw her in the park, c'mon..."
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
"Yeah!" Isamu answers. "I wanna see lots of different hair colors!"
Ayame doesn't object to this; it's nice. Indeed, Isamu and Tsubasa are having a great interaction, and she doesn't really have to step in too much. "Carrots," Isamu siiiiighs. "Yeah... Dad makes sure I do..."
Tsubasa stiffens, but so does Ayame. Ayame, though, is the adult here, for all that she feels much smaller when her mother is putting her down like that.
"Is that how you talk to your elders?" Satsuki starts in on Tsubasa. "What a rude child. My daughter can speak for her--"
"Mother," Ayame starts again, closing her eyes for a moment, and this time Satsuki actually stops for a moment. "Yes?" she asks.
"I happened to call over my young friend because Isamu-kun likes dogs. It's much better for him to see a dog in person instead of just asking for one without understanding what they entail, isn't it?"
"...Hmph," Satsuki answers. "Still, that hair, that tan--"
"Mother, I'm suddenly feeling a little tired. Would you take the children back to the car? I'll be along."
"Mommy...?" Isamu looks at Ayame and he can tell something is wrong, but Koume is quick on the draw, "C'mon, Isamu-kun. I found a cool bug by the car! Let's see if it's still there, yeah?"
"..." Satsuki meets Ayame's eyes as they open again. There's practically an audible crackle in the air.
"...Well, I suppose it is getting late in the afternoon," Satsuki allows. "But be more careful who you let associate with my grandchildren."
"...I'll see you shortly, Mother."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"'Course he does," Tsubasa encourages Isamu, when he sighs over the matter of carrots. "He wants to make sure you grow up to be just as big as him, yeah?" ... it's nice that his dad gives a shit, though that's firmly an inside thought. They at least know not to swear around kids, c'mon.
Unfortunately, their efforts to connect with a child are disrupted by his grandmother. Satsuki starts in on them, and even though there's no real way to see the way their face flushes when she criticises them, the way they look down and slouch a little deeper is easier to spot.
They're certainly not smiling any more.
That hair, that tan... and Ayame's having to reason with someone like that, just because they're here. ... they've made things harder for her.
The kids, too... they can hear the tension in Isamu's voice, the way Koume already knows to get him out of here.
They shift, uncomfortably, from foot to foot, as Lance whines and trots up to sit next to them and look up with a cocked head. "Sorry," they settle on, after a moment, feeling the immense weight of it all pressing into their chest as they turn away. "Didn't mean to set her off on you. I better beat it," and they turn, hurrying off of the green and back to the path dotted with benches, the quickest way out of the park on foot.
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
"Yeah," Isamu agrees with Tsubasa, because his dad is like that. "Carrots are weird, but I'll eat them anyway..."
Ayame can tell it's affecting Tsubasa badly, and that's part of why she's able to take as much control as she can of the situation--such as that control is. She is also not smiling.
"No," Ayame starts when Tsubasa speaks up, "That's not--"
They book it. Ayame breathes in, a little ragged, and then starts after them.
"Seki-kun!" they call as they reach the benches. "Wait!"
Satsuki seems satisfied, at least. Though she doesn't really approve of looking for cool bugs, either...
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
They're just causing problems for Ayame, aren't they? It's better to just -- go.
Except... Ayame's jogging after them, and somehow, it feels like they'll end up wrecking it even more if they ditch her when she sounds like that. Not that they don't consider it, briefly; they might not be a really sporty kind of guy, but they've got a pretty respectable sprint, and ditching a housewife can't be much harder than ditching the cops.
Still, Shinobu encouraged them to stop running from all their problems (that they caused for perfectly nice adults who really didn't deserve getting shit just for knowing them), so they slow and stop by one of those park benches. Their shoulders hunch deeply over their chest, as if they could slouch out of this very mortal plane, as they turn their head to look behind them.
"Dude," they say, their voice tight, "stop diggin'. Seriously, it's cool... she's gonna see you runnin' over here."
... they're trying to protect her.
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
"It's not," Ayame answers Tsubasa. She did have to jog over, and if Tsubasa had really sprinted, there's no chance that Ayame could've caught them. She appreciates that Tsubasa slows down, turns around...
"It's really not okay," Ayame says. "I'll be fine. I've weathered her disapproval before, and I certainly will again."
"...There's nothing she can do other than make me feel bad, anyway."
"But I am a little out of breath. Will you sit with me? ...I want to talk."
A pause. "And apologize."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Yeah, Tsubasa could have guessed this wasn't a one-off. Shit.
"That's not nothin'," Tsubasa protests, when Ayame tells them that all Satsuki can do is make her feel bad. But...
They bite their lip, as she makes that request. "Sure," they say, somewhere between downcast and overshadowed, as they slump down on one end of the bench. Lance, who did not run off because Tsubasa never actually broke into a sprint, comes over to thonk her head on their knee and whine.
They pat her on the head, a touch absently. "But you don't gotta apologise. It's on me, man. I ain't..." They pause, "respectable. Just... didn't realise you'd get raked on the coals for it. Shoulda used my head for once."
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
It's not nothing. "True," Ayame answers. "But it's not what it could be, either. She can't control how I live, or who I talk to. No matter how much she'd like to."
Ayame looks to Lance for a moment. "...Sorry, girl," she tells her too. "You can just tell there's something wrong, can't you?"
A look back to Tsubasa. "It's not on you. Her behavior was unacceptable. ...In fact, you helped me stand up to her, a little."
"...I'm sorry that I couldn't stand up to her more, in the moment. I'm an adult. It's not right for trouble of mine to fall on your shoulders."
"..."
"Don't worry about me, all right?" Ayame says. "I can take it. It's my responsibility to figure out what to do about her, not yours."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"... cool." Tsubasa mentally adds the 'any more' to that first explanation Ayame gives, and feels pretty confident in doing so.
Satsuki just seems like that sort of woman.
Lance says a sad 'aroo', which answers that. She doesn't understand most of the barking humans get up to (though she's figured out the meaning of a few key phrases, god forbid anyone mention a W-A-L-K), but she sure can read the emotional vibes of a situation. Indeed, as a dog, she's an expert in being attuned to how humans are feeling.
(That's how she's such a good therapy dog.)
But...
Tsubasa looks back to Ayame, when she turns her attention to them again. "Oh, yeah?" They ask, rubbing at their neck. "Cool. Hope it's okay."
People like that, they always have long memories.
But Ayame insists she's an adult, and it's lucky, again, that Tsubasa's caked on so many layers that no one can see the way their face flushes when she points that out. (Their frown's visible, though, even if it's a bit hard to pick out without eyebrows.) Yeah, so they were worried about her, but...
"I just..." They start, defensively, before they look down and hunch their shoulders a little more.
"Reminds me of my father," they mutter out an explanation, a touch sullenly.
"Didn't wanna... y'know."
The toe of their foot taps, against the pavement, as they struggle to put words to their feelings and come up short.
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
Any more is right. She certainly could before.
Ayame does not otherwise try to distract Lance from her human at the moment. Instead, she looks at Tsubasa again. "It will be," Ayame says, of it being okay. They do have long memories...
Ayame can tell Tsubasa was worried, and she appreciates that, but she's certainly not going to allow herself to hide behind a teenager.
"...Mm," Ayame says. "That's fair. ...In that case," she says, "I should tell you the story. ...It's why my husband thinks I shouldn't be giving her the time of day at all."
"I grew up with very strict parents," she explains. "My mother of course, you met; that kind of behavior isn't unusual for her at all. She had a very strong idea of what I should be, how I should act, with whom I should associate..."
"And when I was in university, I messed it all up. I got pregnant."
"...They cut me off," Ayame explains. "They wouldn't even agree to let me get married. Luckily I was twenty before I had Tohka-chan... So I didn't need permission at that point."
A sigh. "But things have changed. And now they're back."
"...Don't worry. She'll find something to complain about no matter what I do. It's certainly not your fault."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Ayame tells Tsubasa the story, and Tsubasa folds their arms, as they listen to it. Lance continues to bonk her head against their knee, looking up at them attentively, giving them something to drop their gaze down to.
Strict parents, huh. Tsubasa grunts recognition, but doesn't interrupt. So, she got pregnant, and...
Well, Tsubasa's actually pretty good at putting two and two together. If they ditched her for that, it's probably because her boyfriend wasn't the sorta guy she was supposed to associate with.
(They were still keeping such a pulse on her when she moved out for university, huh. ... well, maybe she didn't move out for it.)
Their lips tug back in a jerk of recognition, again, when she spells out how they cut her off. They'd heard a version of this story before, of course, but it wasn't... it didn't quite sound like this. And now they're back, huh...
"Didn't realise you guys were dealin' with that," Tsubasa says, finally, rubbing at an arm. (They don't entirely realise that the reason why they didn't is because the Shimizu sisters have all been focused on supporting them.) "It's... my father's like that. Like... like it wasn't enough I was gettin' straight As, he'd ask about my friends on the school council or debate club or whatever, and if they weren't doin' well he'd wanna know why I was lettin' 'em reflect badly on me. 'Course, he was just worried 'bout his own reflection..."
They shake their head. "Sorry I couldn't talk back or nothin'," they settle on, instead. "I -- I mean, I was gonna, but -- saw what was goin' on and I just kinda... I didn't wanna fuck it up worse." Oh no, now they're swearing in front of the housewife. At least the children are out of hearing range.
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
Oh, Ayame had absolutely moved out for it. ...But that's just what her parents were like. She notices the shifts Tsubasa's expression takes through the story. And, well...
"That's fine," Ayame says. For not realizing. But, "...Yes. It's like that," Ayame says. "Success, the appearance of success... And above all, doing things 'their' way."
Ayame shakes her head. "Like I said, it's not your responsibility. You did the right thing--she'd have been harsher at you if you'd spoken up. And I'm not very good at standing up to her, myself." A shake of her head again. "Still." She doesn't so much as flinch at a little 'fuck'.
"One way or another, I'll figure out how to deal with them," Ayame assures Tsubasa. "...But for twelve years, they were out of my life entirely, and I did all right. I had to lean on my friends--on my husband's parents, especially--but I was all right."
"And I will be again."
'You can be too,' she thinks it might be a problem to just say. But maybe if she can leave it to implication...
"It's hard, isn't it? When your family wants to control you."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Their way... yeah."
Tsubasa worries at their blue bottom lip, biting at it at they consider what the right thing really is. Like, there's the right thing, and the right thing, right? But... "It's cool," they absolve her of the need to be good at it.
She's still figuring it out, huh. Guess it really doesn't go away when you grow up.
Part of them wants to say that her husband's right... but that's really not their place to weigh in. And... no, it's not just that. If they say something like that, out loud, it's like...
Like, if it's better for her not to deal with her weird parents, what does that say about them?
"Yeah," they answer her question, instead. "My father's... kinda given up on me already, though. When he gave a shit, he cared a lot about me doin' shit the right way, y'know, his way, but..."
They don't really know if they should say something like this, but...
"I'm just a pain in his ass now," they say, a moment later, rubbing at their arm. "He never liked... people seein' what was goin' on inside. Now I'm just, out here flauntin' myself, like, not even pretendin' I ain't no good... I'm embarrassin' him. He..."
They swallow. "He told me I should just bite it if I wasn't gonna get a husband and be some other guy's responsibility," they say, quietly. "He said that'd make his life easier... he doesn't wanna have to deal with my shit for the next couple years. And I, um... y'know, I know there's people who do give a shit or whatever, but... ever since then, I do... think about it. When it's tough. I gotta... pull myself out of it, every time. Hard to say that, though, like... hearin' what he said all the time... it's ungrateful, right? I mean, to my friends, not... don't think there's nothin' I can do not to be ungrateful so far as he sees it." Well. Aside from the thing they just said would make him happy, right? ... but that's too much to say to someone, even when they're admitting it.
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
Their way, and what's right. ...Ayame can't say it just goes away; she wishes she could, but then, she's not sure of that wish. Isn't that the same as deciding her kids shouldn't have their grandparents outright? Maybe Ikkaku's right. ...But maybe not. Ayame doesn't expect Tsubasa to solve it for her, in any case.
"Mm... That's how it was, with my parents," she says. "They didn't even want my sisters to stay in touch, though thankfully, both of them did." Pause. "...I think my mother realized it. But I'm not sure."
Still, just a pain in the ass...
"That's an awful thing to say to your child," Ayame says gently. "To anyone--but especially to your own child." She feels it burning within her, maybe because of her fragile state at the moment rather than despite it--that hatred of such a man, who could treat his child in this way.
"No, it's not ungrateful. I think it's normal to want to listen to your parents. That's why it's so important that they not tell you things that will harm you. That's the adults' responsibility."
"...I can't and won't tell you how to feel about your father," Ayame says quietly. "But I think you have the right to keep living, and to try to be happy. ...No matter what anyone says, I think everyone deserves that much."
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"None of them talk to me any more," Tsubasa says, morose. "I mean... mom did let me talk to her when I found her at work last week, but... she'll be in trouble if she's associating with me too much." Their shoulders sink, as they add: "... and she thinks it's my fault... and she doesn't even use the name I like. She says that if I'd just apologise and stop dressin' like this I could come home, like it's my call... I mean, I guess it is, but I -- I can't be the daughter she wanted." They shake their head, and insist: "B--but she's nice. She's real nice. Gave me a sandwich, and some flowers to take to a kid what got hurt..." Is that the bar for niceness, now?
Well, if the bar is set at 'not telling your child to die', it must be pretty easy to clear it. ... even if insisting on their deadname and outdated pronouns is just asking for another kind of death.
"Mm... Officer Shimizu said that, too," Tsubasa says, folding their arms a little tighter. "How it was awful and shit. She -- she said that I should call her next time he was hurtin' me -- um -- since -- since he was so mad he had to look at me he hit me." Oh, good, it's gone from worse to even more worse. "It's stupid, but part of me really wants to make him happy... but I'll never do that while he thinks I ruined our lives."
They're quite hunched, on the bench. No wonder their neck and shoulders are always hurting. "I don't feel happy," they say, hungry perhaps for some adult figure who actually cares about that. "I just -- deal. Cope. Like, it's whatever? And then everythin' in my life goes to shit all at once and, and he didn't even want me, and..."
Tsubasa sniffs, and rubs at their eyes. "S-sorry," they say, trying not to cry like an idiot about it. "I just, um... y'know, livin'..." Is there anything good they can say about it?
"Well... it's not like I got a lotta options, but... but it's weird?" They start, with the fragile rising tone of a question. "I met big sis -- um, Shimizu-san, uh, Shinobu Shimizu-san -- an' she was tellin' me how she was a punk when she was a kid, but, like, now she does all sorts of shit, and she's not in jail or nothin'... before I ran into her, didn't reckon there was a lot of options for someone like me. Like, not like I can even 'perform' with a face like this... might do fine deliverin' packages or whatever, though. Like... it's weird, but... if she can do it, it's gotta be possible, right? And, uh, there's this person who runs a card shop..." and Tsubasa finds themself unsure what name Myunghon would want spread around, so they just settle on saying, "they're an 'X' like me, but they got their own store. Might not all be above-board, but they can still, y'know, get on in life..."
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
Ayame nods as Tsubasa gives their morose statement. 'Let them talk to her'. 'She'll be in trouble'.
"It's not as simple as just 'doing as she asks'," Ayame says. "I understand. ...At a certain point, you have to be yourself. You can't help but be otherwise."
Still, Officer Shimizu. And he hit them. Ayame feels that, too. It's so, so wrong. "It's natural," Ayame says. "...To want to make your parents happy."
Ayame does care. She wishes she could just give Tsubasa a hug, but suspects it would scare them off.
"All right," she says gently to the apology. Living...
It's weird. Shinobu--big sis. ...Yes, she would be like that to someone like this, wouldn't she? "There are," Ayame assures Tsubasa. "...There's all sorts of ways to live, outside of what your parents tell you is acceptable or even possible."
"That's just right. It's possible. And you know, I may have met your shopkeeper, I think. I know someone by that description." A smile. "...It's a little harder," she admits, "Living as 'yourself', when you're different from everyone. But I think it's worth it."
"...My sister," she says. "She values her freedom so much. Our parents were harder on her, after me. They wanted to make sure she turned out 'better'."
"But she turned out better than they could ever imagine. You're right. If she can do it, why not you?"
...What made it worth it for her... was something different from freedom.
But the freedom helped, too.
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
"Finally felt like... I wasn't lyin' every day," Tsubasa says. "It was a relief... so, like, I get that goin' back would be easier for me, but I really can't."
They nod, mutely, when Ayame says it's natural. And... if he's the sort of man who raises a fist to his own children... it's probably a good guess that they'd bolt if she tried to hug them.
They can't have very good associations with touch.
"I always figured, if you were, y'know, no good, you either kept up with the crimes and shit and got thrown in the slammer when you finally fucked up past twenty, or... y'know, became respectable." They frown, deeply. "But there ain't no man who'd ever want a freak like me," they say, with venom which may or may not be surprising, "and I don't wanna play a woman's part to start with."
Because, of course, AFABs who become respectable will become housewives. ... well, that's how it must have seemed, in a traditional household. Being a housewife is fine if that's what you wanna do, but...
Ayame shares some more about Shinobu, though, and might note how Tsubasa looks up to pay closer attention. "Her too, huh? So she was lookin' for freedom..." Tsubasa turns it around, in their head. "Yeah, that's cool," they decide, and their simple dialogue is informed by the extra engagement in their body language. "She's cool."
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
"Right," Ayame agrees with Tsubasa about going back. "You're who you are. You can't--and shouldn't--pretend to be otherwise."
But what Tsubasa figured, Ayame can see. She notices the venom, but, well...
She can't say much to that; she is a housewife. She does play the woman's part. But she hopes that Tsubasa can see that Ayame at least thinks it's fine not to.
...She does notice, though. That closer attention. And Ayame smiles. "Mm-hm. My sister is a really amazing person," Ayame says, and she could talk of either of them proudly but right now it's Shinobu. "I really admire the way she lives life for hersself. ...The way she always stays true to herself, no matter what."
And, she doesn't say, it seems so does Tsubasa.
She thinks about sharing what made it worth it for her... But she doesn't. She's reminded of it, though.
And it helps.
"Well," Ayame says, "I should get back to my kids. ...But don't you feel afraid to come see us again next time we're in the same place, all right? I'll deal with Mother."
"And..."
She looks left. She looks right. "...I'd like to pet Lance a little, too. Do you mind?"
<Pose Tracker> Tsubasa Seki has posed.
Tsubasa nods. "I don't wanna pretend no more. Ain't like I'm ever gettin' into politics like this, anyway." Oh, is that what he wanted them to do?
Of course he'd expect his children to claim positions of power.
They don't feel like Ayame's expecting them to follow in her footsteps, anyway, though they wonder briefly how they'd even manage anything if they hate the idea of being a 'wife'. Well, maybe if there was a really effeminate guy who'd rather do that shit... but it's not like someone like that still wouldn't care about their looks.
(Somehow, Tsubasa doesn't even think about the corollary to that thought, that if they're thinking about men who would rather be a wife there's an even simpler route to go down. ... they're not immune to society.)
"Oh, uh, yeah," Tsubasa says, a touch embarrassed to realise how much they've ended up sharing with Ayame, just because she expressed interest in their wellbeing. Still, she tells them not to be afraid... "Thanks," Tsubasa says, scratching at their cheek, a touch bashful. "Uh, you got cute kids." Not that Tsubasa still really gets how to interact with children, but it's nice to say something like that, right???
Lance, on hearing her name, perks up and ambles over to thonk her head into Ayame's lap instead. "Heh, like, she's cool with it," Tsubasa says, proving that they actually can laugh in the process, even if it's more of a chuffing chuckle. "Knock yourself out."
<Pose Tracker> Ayame Watanabe has posed.
Politics... Hmm. That tracks, but Ayame doesn't think it seems to suit Tsubasa's hopes anyway.
Ayame could point out that option!! ...If she, in turn, realized that it were an option that Tsubasa was missing. Ayame is kind of clueless about these matters for all her experience in others.
But she smiles at Tsubasa. "I'm happy to hear that," she says. "I'd like you to meet Tohka-chan and Koume-chan too. ...You were very good with Isamu, too."
Lance thonks over, and Ayame laughs. "There you go," she says. "Good girl..."
She'll leave and return to the Family--and thus her mother--shortly.
...But fortified by DOG.