Backdated to the weekend Beach Party and Birthday Log! \o/

[fierybluebird]

[Marco runs around setting everything up. There's platters of food laid out -- more than enough and some extra as a habit from dealing with Ace and 1600 pirates, a boombox with tons of music, beach volleyball set up, a campfire, and according to Selphie and Marco, fireworks for later. GO NUTS. There will be some threads set up, but you can make your own or do anything! Just remember if the thread gets wild, mark it as NSFW.]

Comments

[ascendit]

Seriously.

[Glaring, Nate gingerly balances the cup he's holding onto a free spot of another plate (mostly containing chips, dip, and veges) before snatching the plate of breadsticks.]

Look, there's a difference between the plates and the platters. [He looks like he's about to add something else, but his gaze flicks down to Yosuke's translator, and he thinks better of it.]

[windbreak]

Hey, you could've put it down somewhere else! If you're just going to pile it up with nothing but breadsticks, don't you think people're bound to get a little confused? [But he wilts a bit in the spotlights of that glare.] Just... say something next time.

[Quick, he's gotta think of some way to stop dragging the mood down...]

Uh, apart from that, you enjoying the party?

[ascendit]

Someone was putting down the last of the cola; I had to grab it before someone else did. [l o g i c

[He shrugs.] Some ["a lot"] of the food's weird. But the set up's okay, I guess.

[Not that he has much to compare it to.]

[windbreak]

C'mon, you gotta be a little more enthusiastic than that. I mean, I'm not the biggest fan of fish either, but it's a beach party, man! [This is so important to Yosuke that he's even going to let the "had to grab it" comment slide without rolling his eyes.] There's so much potential here! And I'm told these don't roll around too often, so you might as well get into the spirit of things, right?

[He says all of this while still munching on Nate's breadstick.]

[ascendit]

Potential for what?

[Nate is now facing the logistical problem of having two plates and a cup to deal with. So he puts the mixed plate and his cup down, guarding it with his elbow, and starts inhaling the breadsticks before somone else gets the bright idea to take some off his plate.]

[windbreak]

Whaddaya mean, potential for what? Dude, free food, girls, swimsuits, girls in -

[As he's about to take another bite, he catches a glimpse of Nate's awkward plate manoeuvres and looks over at him with a touch of concern.] Um, having said that... shouldn't you be pacing yourself a little?

[ascendit]

[He shrugs one shoulder, but at least swallows before speaking.] Free food, you said it yourself. It's the best thing about being at Garden. [It's off-hand. It may or may not be sincere.

[eat eat eat]

[windbreak]

Well, yeah, but that won't do you any good if you just choke... It's not as if the platters are going to wander off by themselves.

[He's still holding that breadstick.]

[ascendit]

[Nate gestures at the offending breadstick with another breadstick.] Yeah, that's what I thought about my plate.

[windbreak]

[Yosuke almost drops it.] I told you that was an accident! And besides, didn't you say it yourself? At least it didn't cost you anything.

[ascendit]

Yeah, whatever. [We have just replaced Nate with a different game's hero. Let us see if anyone notices.

[He sideeyes Yosuke's translator again.] What language? [It's not unkind, out of curiosity more than anything, but some of his grudge for the stolen food remains in his voice.]

[windbreak]

[Yosuke does not because he's from entirely the wrong franchise, but he does blink and glance around for a moment before catching onto what Nate is referring to.] Huh? [He remembers what he's wearing when he moves his neck and it clinks off his headphones, though.] Oh, right, this thing. Yeah, it's for Japanese... uh, if that means anything to you. [The kid looks foreign to him.] Of all the languages they could speak here, guess it's a good thing it's one I already know I suck at, but it's still a little weird.

[And not really relevant here. He drops it and grins at Nate in what he hopes is a disarming way.] I should go ahead and introduce myself anyway, huh? Let's just start over. I'm Yosuke Hanamura. Sorry if we got off on the wrong foot. It's been one hell of a day. [So forgive him for one lousy breadstick! ...Pretty please?]

[ascendit]

[Nate is about to nerd out about languages when Yosuke changes the subject. Oddly, it's not the grin (which he finds merely creepy) that makes him relent, but the comment about it being a hell of a day.] Nathan Drake. [But he's not relenting hard enough to give his nickname. He brushes his hand off on his jeans and offers it forward to shake; the idea of handshakes not being a thing elsewhere not occurring to him.]

[windbreak]

[At least they're pretty much a thing where Yosuke is from - although, since he doesn't think to brush it off first, he ends up shaking Nate's hand with a hand full of breadcrumbs.] Nice to meet ya. [He lets go fairly quickly.] So, you a student too, or do you just know someone here?

[ascendit]

[Wrinkling his nose, Nate brushes the crumbs off himself.] I'm a student, yeah. It's my second trimester here.

[And saying that aloud, he blinks.] Damn, I didn't think I'd been here that long.

[windbreak]

[Wow, unfriendly. Then again, maybe he's just holding onto a grudge about the bread. Or shy. Yosuke has encountered considerably worse reactions before, and simply nods.] Yeah, time really flies when you move somewhere new. And then one day, you wake up a native and don't even notice it happened. I wouldn't worry about it.

[If this guy isn't wearing one of the translator things, he's probably from a little closer to here than Yosuke is...]

[ascendit]

I dunno if I want to be a native of anywhere. Even before this place, I haven't been back to where I grew up in years - I like not being tied to somewhere.

[Nathan Drake: Party philosopher.]

[windbreak]

[Yosuke appears to take the philosophising entirely in stride, although he looks mildly surprised for a different reason.] "Before this place"? Oh, so you're in the same boat as me?

[ascendit]

Yeah, I'm another off-worlder. [Slight amusement.] What, do I pass for a local?

[windbreak]

Uh, how should I know? [He's not entirely sure whether Nate is making fun of him or not, but he finds himself feeling a touch defensive either way.] I don't see anyone else here with one of these - [He gives the front of his translator a little tap, scattering a few more breadcrumbs down his shirt and over his headphones.]

[ascendit]

[Nate's smirking a bit now, but it's not entirely unfriendly.] No translator just means we speak English already - I'm American. [His tone is actually genuinely sympathetic now:] That's just bad luck, coming into a place where you don't speak the language.

[Nate doesn't at all envy him for that. He lucked out, speaking Spanish before he went to South America, though he's still not entirely sure how.]

[windbreak]

You'd say that's the unlucky part? [The smirk doesn't bother Yosuke - his own smile at this is distinctly self-mocking.] You've got a point, though. If I knew something like this would happen one day, I would've stayed awake in more of those classes. Hell, I was on spring break back home, too...

[He trails off.] Wait, does that mean I missed...!?

[ascendit]

[Nate laughs.] Yeah, you missed your spring break.

[windbreak]

[His face falls.] Spring break, and... the long holiday in May too, I bet... [...Hey, didn't some of the paperwork they threw at him earlier have a date on it?] And my birthd- [He stops.] Oh, you gotta be shitting me!

[He sounds far more despondent about this than he did about any language issues, or the rest of his situation.]

[ascendit]

[Nate is very proud of himself for not laughing more, but the urge is still pretty clear in his tone and expression.] Yeah, sorry [not sorry] - it's July. [He gives Yosuke a patronizing consoling pat on the shoulder.]