Quiet Celebrations; Cold Iron [Occam/Yuki]

The girl simply nodded when given an explanation to Occam's arm being around her, not really questioning it. "Sometimes you're so mature, even I forgot you're only a little older than I am..." She quietly counted the years... In a way, turning into the age of adulthood seemed so far off at the same time... It was scarily close. She shook her head from the thought. "You haven't really done many... 'childish' things, have you? Like setting off sparklers during festivals or anything..?", she asked, trying to figure out more fun ideas for Occam and Mu, or at least what she considered fun. Yuki closed her eyes, envisioning all sorts of things. "When hahaue or chichiue or even Kori had time, we'd try to do something fun to break from other stresses of life. If a festival was happening, Kori and I would get dressed up and play games and we'd watch fireworks and light sparklers. Outside of that... We'd ply hide and seek or some other game. Kori always won because she cheated with her mirrors though..." The last line said ended up with Yuki pouting a little as if she never really had a chance to win in the first place. "All the mirrors are in the good spots...", she mumbled quietly.

He let out a laugh and nodded a few times once she was done. "You just need to learn to cheat better is all." He told her, softly squeezing her shoulder with his arm. He then sighed and looked to the ground, although he didn't actually seem upset. "Yeah, I never really had a childhood. I was always supposed to be mature, always supposed to fight and be ready to fight. My mum wasn't... Really the best mother, y'know? She loves me but she wanted a warrior, not a civilian. That's what I ended up becoming. I don't really mind although it does mean it's a little more difficult to act childish or be friends with people because of how I am. I'm glad you and Mu have stuck with me though... Even if Musei is a little weird at times." He smiled and sipped his rum again before just emptying his cup and putting it down. "I'd like to do stuff like that though, maybe try and get a little bit of my childhood back before I grow up anymore. It's why I want to go on vacation with my two best friends, so we can have fun, maybe grow a little closer... Emotionally that is, I don't want Mu to get any weird ideas."

"But cheating isn't fair...", she mumbled quietly. A smile tugged at Yuki's lips as she turned to look at Occam's face. "We have to stick with you. You're our teammate and we're friends. Not even friends! We're best friends! And the bestest of friends always stick together!" She nodded sagely a few times before settling back down. "It's not a bad thing to be a bit more grown up. It keeps Mu and me in check, I guess. And with the vacation... It'll mean we can learn more about each other that isn't related to combat or anything. Just other random details about ourselves. ...Learn emotionally. I'm not sure how I'd feel about walking in on you and Mu learning something... weird... yeah...", her voice trailed off as she agreed with Occam about Mu. It was obvious to both how much Mu was head over heels for Occam. Yuki couldn't blame him all that much. Occam's the coolest of the three... Not literally in terms of body heat or anything, but personality-wise. She sighed as she thought about that, a strong feeling that Occam was way far out of their league but she wouldn't stop Mu from trying or get in his way if she could help it.

"That was a surprisingly childish, if sweet, thing of you to say." He told her once she was finished, raising an eyebrow and shaking his head. "Best friends though? I guess I'll accept that, Gods know that I spend more than enough time with you two and more time again trying to stop Mu from stalking me... I'm not even sure if he does that but I wouldn't put it past him at this point." He laughed quietly and squeezed her a little tighter. "It's been good though, the time we've spent together. I've enjoyed it definitely. I don't think we can really be called kids anymore though, sitting here, drinking rum, fully fledged Chunin." He grinned and then brushed his hair back over his ears to get it out of the way. "We'll sit around for a little while longer and then start heading back, I'm sure your sister will be... Quite worried about you, especially after ditching the mirror."

Yuki crossed her arms and huffed. "It's not childish....", she mumbled, though her pouting didn't really stay all that long. The girl sighed. Occam really needed to stop being right about everything. But just because they weren't kids anymore didn't mean they weren't supposed to be serious business all the time. They're still able to have fun and do fun things together like take small vacations or adventures or even play some childish games from time to time.

"Oh! The mirror! We need to get that back before we get home! Kori's going to kill me when she finds out what you did with it!", she squeaked out, immediately covering her face with her hands and continuing to freak out over her sister's reaction. Oh, how many questions would she ask? Would she try to fight Occam? Is the mirror scratched or unscathed? How was she going to avoid her sister when she's like that? How long would Kori be upset about it? Questions bubbled up in her mind, making her feel a bit dizzy from it all.

"Everyone is childish in their own ways, it's not a bad thing. Right, we should get going now. Kori is no doubt readying traps and weapons to kill me but that's okay." He grinned and took another swig of rum before capping it and putting the bottle back around the neck of his gourd. The container of metal was quickly lifted up onto his back and he reached down to help pull Yuki to her feet. "Don't worry too much about the mirror, okay? It was entirely my fault if Kori asks and she can put all of the blame on me, there was nothing you could do, I done it without you noticing, etc etc." He rotated his hand as though going on and on. A chuckle left him and he cracked his neck and knuckles before starting to walk back towards the village elevators. "If she tries to fight me, tell her it'll be in two days once I've had time to lie around and be lazy after drinking the rest of this rum. Then I'll be up for a round of fisticuffs with her or just pinning her down under a mountain of sand and casually sitting on her until she gives up."

Yuki took his hand to get up, sighing and shaking her head after. "I really hope you two don't fight. I don't know what I'd do if that happened." Maybe panic... She handed Occam the cup she had and looked at the sky one last time for the night before walking back with Occam to the elevators. It was about halfway down in the elevator did Yuki speak again. "Thanks for tonight. They sky was really pretty and it's kind of nice just hanging out like that.", she mewed, staring out the elevator as the village grew closer.

"Yeah, I'm glad we got to have this time together. I'll try and get us outside for this sort of thing more or at least get things sorted for the vacation." He told her, leaning back against the elevator wall and smiling brightly to her. "Thanks for coming along, I know it was pretty sudden but it was nice to have the company, that spot had felt lonely before but it didn't tonight." He nodded and then waved to the attendant as they stepped out and he took Yuki back towards the spot where he could hide his gourd and get her mirror back. "Just say you dropped it and we spent time looking for it, or something like that. I'm sure your sister will understand." He chuckled and left her close to her house, giving her a wink and a hug before walking off on his own to get his stuff and head home.