Were there pictures? Aside from the ones his parents had and the ones that had been in the society pages? Hell yes. His sister kept a stash of them just to torment him. "Pictures? Of course not." He tried to keep a straight face and mostly managed. "And yes, some of them had themes. In New Orleans it starts with the carnival season, before Mardi Gras. There's a lot of masquerades, jazz age, winter wonderland." The parties had always looked grand but had been such an incredible pain in the ass. "And of course," he gave a sort of bow in his seat, "the orient
( ... )
Oooo. There were pictures. The slight twitch of Jun's face said it all. His sister. It had to be his sister that had them. Older sisters were like that. Meisa knew her own older sisters had embarrassing pictures of her stashed away somewhere. Speaking of pictures...
"I doubt most of the clients we work for will want us standing several feet apart," she said wryly, cocking her own eyebrow up. Especially if the photographer from today was the one shooting. The pair of them were never apart for very long. Unconsciously mirroring Jun, she opened her napkin and placed it on her lap. Did he realize that his Southern drawl was coming out as he talked about home? Just a little. She thought it was cute.
What didn't sound cute was the process of being courted. "Courting sounds boring." Honest to goodness boring. "It's a good thing we're past all that, Jun-pon." Meisa chuckled as she took some of the bean pancakes for herself. "Of course you did it properly. It's youShe was going to say something about dancing, but the topic turned to her own
( ... )
Jun took a bite of food and nodded, pointing at Meisa (vaguely) with the handle of his fork. "They would not and if today's photographer would probably have grafted us together if he could have." He paused. "Fiercely
( ... )
Easy street? Maybe just a little. Japanese lessons were the easy, normal part, it was the witch aspect of her childhood that got odd. Meisa would tell Jun about that eventually, but not here. "That's not quite it," she said instead, "I had to learn a tea ceremony too, but I kept botching it up so bad that Baachan gave up." Though... she chewed thoughtfully on her food before joking, "If it'll please your grandparents, I'll learn it properly, in addition to the dancing
( ... )
Tea ceremony? "Never had the tea ceremony," he said consideringly. "But then again, if I had I'd have stuck it out." He offered her a small, sincere smile. "I was kind of a perfectionist as a kid." He still was but given everything that had happened to him he'd settled for a different sort of perfection in his life. Un-life. Whatever
( ... )
"If you're making movies, then I'm retiring and becoming a stay-at-home mom." No, wait. Meisa wasn't working on a degree for nothing. "Scratch that. I'll be an art curator or something along those lines." She crinkled her nose at him playfully. "We'd have to visit your side of the family at least once a year, you know. The children have to know both sides, I'd insist. Especially all their crazy aunts. My sisters taught me to cry on cue to help them get out of trouble."
Though she said it jokingly, Meisa did want her kids to know both sets of grandparents. It was very important to her, no matter where she ended up settling down. BUT. That wasn't going to happen for a while yet. It was a good thing this was just a joke between her and Jun.
"That sounds like fun, I may take you up on that offer," she said, watching dinner be set down in front of them, "Hopefully our schedules line up so that we can hang out more." With a final bite of appetizer, she polished off her plate.
"That's right, woman, you will work for your keep," Jun grinned at her. "The children and I will tour the gallery when we come to pick you up." He made a face. "Believe me, my family would insist on that sort of thing. It'd be good for the children should they take their place in 'society'." He mimed quotation marks around the word as he let the wait staff take their empty plates and put down the clay pot of braised pork ribs and side vegetables and the platter of sirloin. The burner on the table would take next to no time to heat up. Jun spoke around the soft clatter of the wire grills being laid down
( ... )
Meisa giggled. "Agreed. I fear for our lives should they ever join forces." They would scary to deal with, no matter if she and Jun were just friends. She watched as the equipment needed for their food to be prepared was set up. "They'd probably get it their heads that we had to start dating, if we weren't already. At least, my sisters would." Maybe his sister would too, if she wanted Jun to get married first. "The kids will know their aunts, but never at the same time, dear
( ... )
Her sisters would get it in their heads? Ha. His sister probably already had it there without even knowing about Meisa's existence. He raised his wine glass to her. "A man can't ask for much more than a wise and beautiful woman
( ... )
Meisa blushed deeply at Jun's compliment and tried to hide behind her beer. It was genuine, and those always made her shy, never knowing what to say to them. She snatched a grilled onion and bit into it, savoring the flavor as she tried to will the blush away.
"Will there be very many of these society functions?" The mushrooms looked really good when he took one, so she took one for herself and popped it in her mouth. "I solemnly swear," Meisa raised her right hand, "To tell your mother, should I ever meet her, that you taught me how to dance."
How did 'Jun-pon' come about? She shrugged. "I don't know, it just popped out of my mouth." She grinned. "I was going to go with just 'Jun-kun', but I guess that 'Jun-pon' came instead when we were joking about dating. Call me 'boo' if you like. And I'll stop with the '-pon' if it bothers you."
He'd made her blush! Jun felt his smile grow sly. "My, my, my Miss Meisa, you do look a little flushed over there." He was too impatient to wait for the waitress to finish grilling another onion; he sneaked it away as she was selecting more meat from the platter. It had a pleasant and tangy crisp to it still. "And I notice you said that I taught you how to dance, not how I taught you to dance. You're explaining the towels to her."
Maman would actually be fairly pleased with the idea. She believed in manners and breeding but not to the exclusion of having fun. As long as he hadn't done it in front of Magnolia planning board she'd find it amusing. "She can tell Papa."
Did 'Jun-pon' bother him? He wasn't actually use to having an honorific attached to his name. His father's parents called him 'Jun' or 'grandson' if not some variation of 'little boy'. His mother's parents and grandparents simply 'Jun'. The only time somebody had consistently added an honorific had been in his Japanese language lessons. But did it bother
( ... )
"Alright, I'll tell her about the towels, but not that it was because of work we were in them," Meisa deadpanned, still slightly flushed. She wouldn't. Not really. Not if it were the first time meeting Jun's mother. Despite it happening only in their imagination, first impressions were always very important. Especially if Society was what Jun said it was. Oh god. Jun's father. "Why do I get the feeling that it'd be your father that would disapprove of us traipsing around in nothing but towels, no matter the reason
( ... )
"I wouldn't dream of you doing any differently," Jun guffawed before biting into his meat. It was still pink in the middle and tasted of blood and rendered fat. He did his best not to let his eyes flutter closed. He HATED always being hungry but it always made food taste so very good. "Though you're wrong about my father--and not." He chewed, thinking. "Papa would be upset; he'd think it was very improper of me and disrespectful to you and to work but if it was something like...if we were married for a year and did something like that, he'd think it was fine." His father had been raised in a fairly traditional household, for all that it had been in America. "He's got some very Japanese values about work and relationships
( ... )
Meisa snuck another mushroom from off the grill. "Kaachan and Baachan are like that," she said behind her hand, chewing thoughtfully on the mushroom. "They'd be scandalized, no I don't think that's the right word, it wouldn't be that extreme since they're used to what I do for work." She swallowed and waved her chopsticks around. "It's the Japanese values thing you were talking about though, about work and relationships
( ... )
If the values matter a lot, Meisa's mother and grandmother were hosed--Jun was serious about his work and he respected his workmates but it was something they needed to earn, for the most part. He could have the manners but generally preferred to just be himself. Jun took another bite of meat and shrugged. It wasn't like he and Meisa were actually planning or doing anything so it really didn't matter what her mother and grandmother thought of his suitability.
But Meisa was definitely a cute girl. "You like me so you call me Jun-pon." He snickered. "You're something, Boo."
And so was her family. Surfing? Really. He leaned back in his chair, stretching out his legs and crossing his ankles even as he crossed his arms. "I surf just fine. Looks like Papa approves of me already."
Jun could surf? Talk about learning something new everyday. Meisa raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? We'll have to test that out sometime. When it's warmer, not now." Definitely not now. The water was already cold even if the weather hadn't quite caught up yet. "I found a couple places to go surfing, but I haven't gone at all since moving here. We should go! I'm going to teach my sister how to surf come spring, we could go together! Do you have a board?"
She grinned at Jun's easygoing confidence. "Papa would like you just fine, Jun-pon. The surfing thing would be a bonus."
Not that they would probably ever meet anyways. Popping a piece of her meat into her mouth, she closed her eyes and made a happy little sound. "Mmmn. So good."
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"I doubt most of the clients we work for will want us standing several feet apart," she said wryly, cocking her own eyebrow up. Especially if the photographer from today was the one shooting. The pair of them were never apart for very long. Unconsciously mirroring Jun, she opened her napkin and placed it on her lap. Did he realize that his Southern drawl was coming out as he talked about home? Just a little. She thought it was cute.
What didn't sound cute was the process of being courted. "Courting sounds boring." Honest to goodness boring. "It's a good thing we're past all that, Jun-pon." Meisa chuckled as she took some of the bean pancakes for herself. "Of course you did it properly. It's youShe was going to say something about dancing, but the topic turned to her own ( ... )
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Though she said it jokingly, Meisa did want her kids to know both sets of grandparents. It was very important to her, no matter where she ended up settling down. BUT. That wasn't going to happen for a while yet. It was a good thing this was just a joke between her and Jun.
"That sounds like fun, I may take you up on that offer," she said, watching dinner be set down in front of them, "Hopefully our schedules line up so that we can hang out more." With a final bite of appetizer, she polished off her plate.
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"Will there be very many of these society functions?" The mushrooms looked really good when he took one, so she took one for herself and popped it in her mouth. "I solemnly swear," Meisa raised her right hand, "To tell your mother, should I ever meet her, that you taught me how to dance."
How did 'Jun-pon' come about? She shrugged. "I don't know, it just popped out of my mouth." She grinned. "I was going to go with just 'Jun-kun', but I guess that 'Jun-pon' came instead when we were joking about dating. Call me 'boo' if you like. And I'll stop with the '-pon' if it bothers you."
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Maman would actually be fairly pleased with the idea. She believed in manners and breeding but not to the exclusion of having fun. As long as he hadn't done it in front of Magnolia planning board she'd find it amusing. "She can tell Papa."
Did 'Jun-pon' bother him? He wasn't actually use to having an honorific attached to his name. His father's parents called him 'Jun' or 'grandson' if not some variation of 'little boy'. His mother's parents and grandparents simply 'Jun'. The only time somebody had consistently added an honorific had been in his Japanese language lessons. But did it bother ( ... )
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But Meisa was definitely a cute girl. "You like me so you call me Jun-pon." He snickered. "You're something, Boo."
And so was her family. Surfing? Really. He leaned back in his chair, stretching out his legs and crossing his ankles even as he crossed his arms. "I surf just fine. Looks like Papa approves of me already."
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She grinned at Jun's easygoing confidence. "Papa would like you just fine, Jun-pon. The surfing thing would be a bonus."
Not that they would probably ever meet anyways. Popping a piece of her meat into her mouth, she closed her eyes and made a happy little sound. "Mmmn. So good."
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