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

[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.]

[windbreak]

[Yosuke attempts to bat Nate away with the half-eaten breadstick he just picked back up, but it's clear his heart isn't in it.] Ugh, what kind of joke is this? What did I ever do to the universe!?

[He heaves a long, theatrically world-weary sigh.] Dammit, and I already told them how old I was... I can't just march back up there and say I was kidding...

[ascendit]

I dunno, you probably could say there was some confusion... Say the translator malfunctioned when they asked you or something.

[windbreak]

[He shakes his head and casts a dejected look over at the shoreline, where a few people - specifically, people in swimsuits - are playing volleyball.] I should've known it was too good to be true. Urgh, I don't care any more... [Then he looks back at Nate.] But you, you didn't have to say it like that!

[ascendit]

[Half a shrug and a headtilt. Clearly his earlier 'sorry' was totally ineffective, so there's no point pretending much harder to be sympathetic, though he does manage to school his expression into less of a grin.]

[windbreak]

[It's enough to more or less mollify Yosuke, who never gets sympathy anyway. He finishes off the breadstick, which by now was looking almost as morose as he is, swallows, and sighs again, still looking out over the beach.] Well... if this is what I'm stuck with...

[All of a sudden, he slams a hand down on the side table, rattling the nearby platters alarmingly.]

Then I'll just have to make the best of it! You in!?

[ascendit]

[MY CABBAGES no that is actually another character in Uncharted whom tiny Nate hasn't yet met

[Nate is initially rather nonplussed, by both the table slam (which, yes, his non-cabbage food) and the inclusiveness, but after a moment he nods.] What the hell, why not.

[Noting Yosuke's lack of drink for toasting, he offers a fist to bump. He has seen this in the halls of Garden and it looks way easier than the complicated handshake he's seen from kids back home.]

[windbreak]

[Yosuke responds in kind, burning with enthusiasm -] All right!

[- before attempting to pretty much drag Nate away from the food by the front of his shirt, in the direction of the volleyball players.]

Okay, the first stage is making it look like we're just joining in! And then...!

[ascendit]

[Nate tries to grab one of his plates as he goes - his food - but only ends up dropping it on the sand. Today is not Nate's food day.

[He tries to make it his volleyball day, nodding in greeting to some people he recognizes from class, but eventually he darts a glance to Yosuke.] And then what? [In an undertone.]

[windbreak]

[For some reason, Yosuke looks pained.] Come on, man, do I really have to walk you through it? Girls, on a beach... Isn't it obvious!?

[This is not in an undertone, although he might be trying.]

[ascendit]

[Nate snorts to himself, and then goes to a lady classmate who seems to be taking a break from the game and starts chatting with her. There is gesturing at Yosuke involved.]

[windbreak]

[Yosuke is initially somewhat taken aback when Nate abandons him (traitor!), but when he lets out a sigh and starts to look around for someone else to talk to, he happens to catch some of that gesturing. It does not strike him as the good kind of gesturing.] W-What's that look for...?

[ascendit]

Nothing, nothing - [The gesturing itself is neutral, but his face is close to a smirk, until he eventually returns, the girl in tow.]

This is Hine - I took international law with her last trimester. Hine, meet Yosuke.

[Smiling, Hine takes a hand out of her cutoffs and offers it to Yosuke. Nate's experience with her is that she likes newbies, especially off-world newbies, but with Yosuke's flailing, he's curious about how this new kid will react.]

[windbreak]

[He's suspicious. He's very suspicious.

But he's also eager to get off whatever topic might have occasioned that noticeable smirk on Nate's face, so he swallows the question he'd really like to ask and shakes Hine's hand with, to his credit, a somewhat less panicked (if still mildly embarrassed) smile.] Yo, how's it going? Having fun?