The Christmas Date (Japan and Taiwan)

"Etto..." Kiku looked at the pictures again. They really were good the way they were. But...Mei had written something, if only just a little, and he felt somehow that he should too. Maybe it made no sense...they were both in the photos after all...but to have both of their writing on it too seemed to mean something, even if he wasn't quite sure what.

So he took the pen and wrote on separate photos, small and neat: 'Kiku and Mei' and 'Japan and Taiwan'. Then, as small as would be readable - almost as if it were a secret - the kanji for love.

He found himself looking at Mei after that, and once again another layer of redness came to his cheeks. He gave an embarrassed smile. "Is that okay?" he asked.

---

ilu2
<3

She peered down at the small characters he had added and smiled. He wrote so nicely and neatly, not to mention what he wrote made her heart flutter.

"Of course it's okay!"

Mei maneuvered the menu until the the 'Print' button appeared, then selected it, the screen turning into a 'Thank you' note with a happy face. She knew it was just common courtesy for the machines or something, but the small feature made her mood a little... better. And she was already in a very cheerful mood. Hmm, she wondered for a moment how much happiness one could feel. Was there a limit? Hmm... she shrugged it off and intently watched the opening where the pictures were to come out.

"Hmm, I wonder how long they'll be?"

---

:U the more decorations, the longer printing time. I learned this the hard way OTL

Mine took at least 7 minutes. =u=
>:c holy hell your reply so cute

"I'm not sure," Kiku said, then thought for a moment. "It shouldn't be too long, I think." They didn't put that much on them, after all. Although, it wouldn't be very quick, either.

He looked at Mei for a bit while they waited. Then he turned away suddenly, feeling the need to repress the feelings that welled up in him. You're in public, he scolded himself internally.

He took a deep, calming breath, and then entwined his hand back with hers.

---

Wow.

Whaaaaaaaaaaat

This reply took me longer than it had any right to. orz

Warm.

His hand was warm. She smiled and squeezed it a little, standing near him as they waited for the machine to print the pictures. Mei was blowing little breaths into air, watching them puff out then evaporate into nothing again. Before she realized how silly she must look and stopped. Hm. It had probably been a good minute and a half already. She glanced at the opening again, wondering if perhaps they hadn't heard them come out-- no, still empty.

She leaned her head against Kiku's shoulder and continued waiting quietly.

---

how many times have I told you, take your time! ♥ i take much longer still.

Kiku felt Mei squeeze his hand and he gave a little squeeze back, as if in response.

He looked at the slot. Why was it that a minute had the capability of stretching into forever when they were just waiting like this? And it's not like they could.... Public. He sighed. At least the silence that stretched out now was comfortable. They were becoming less and less awkward with each other, which was certainly a good thing.

He felt her head lean on him and leaned his own head just slightly, so that it touched hers on his shoulder. This was nice. He suddenly didn't mind the waiting so much.

He was almost to the point of his eyes closing when he heard a sound. He straightened his head and looked. The pictures were done.

...How long had they been like that?

---

Yeah, well, I only get disappointed in myself for such things. orz

It's mostly when it takes forever and it turns out short anyway that it bothers me.

Mei felt herself flinch in surprise at the sudden sound the machine made. She had spaced out.

"Oh."

She crouched down to the level of the square opening, reaching her hand in and carefully drawing the small sheet of pictures out. There were eighteen total, six rows and three columns. She ran her thumb over the glossy surface, finding herself smiling back at the array of little images. Mei stood up again and held the sheet out to Kiku.

"There's enough for both of us to have one of each, plus a a couple more!" she exclaimed happily.

---

;3; -patpats-
I know the feeling lol, but personally I don't mind short replies, even though you may. >u<

"Yes," Kiku replied and smiled at her. He took the sheet and looked at them, a blush coming to his cheeks once again. He wondered vaguely if it would become permanent if he kept it up for too long.

Then he looked back up at Mei. "So what now?" he asked. "Do you want to eat?"

If they ate they could sit down and perhaps talk about what he wanted to talk about. Or needed to talk about. Or something in between.

Regardless, they could sit and talk and eat, and it would be public enough that he would be forced by his own sense of privacy to keep his mouth from kissing her.

---

I don't mind short replies. I only mind when they take me like 12 hours to write. orz I feel like...if it's going to take me that long, I should have been able to come up with more.

Then again, I'm only that strict on myself, so...

"Sure. Eating sounds good right about now."

She wasn't to the point of starving or anything, but she was hungry, considering she had eaten right around noon. And it hadn't been much at that. Stupid anxiety, affecting her normal eating habits. There wasn't anything really to worry about anyways... as long as she stayed calm and didn't think too much.

Mei looked around, surveying the area for a place they could sit and eat. There were several various food stalls, picnic tables, benches. Darn, a map would be helpful right about now, why didn't she grab one when they had entered the park?

"What would you like to eat?" she asked curiously.

---

you need to be nicer to yourself ;;
lol, 12 hours is also my timeframe, but I usually end up failing orz forgive me

Kiku looked around at the places he saw in view. He wanted to treat her to whatever she wanted, but perhaps that would pressure her. Why couldn't at least one of them have a clearer opinion on something? "...I'm not sure...I suppose if you have nothing in particular in mind, we could just pick a place and figure out what we want from there," he answered.

He was fair from an expert on what this park had to offer, and of course the same went for Mei. Perhaps it would be best if he just picked somewhere...

...What looked good...?

He spotted a place that looked fairly nice and pretty popular. And they seemed to have a variety of things.

"We could try there, maybe?" he suggested, pointing it out.

---

Kind of took out my frustrations about our indecisiveness in the text. orz

That kind of thing has worked for me before in my original work...heh...I had a point where I was like 'I feel stuck, like this is going nowhere' and then had the character express it and somehow that made it WORK and I was able to move on. Anyways...

I'm my worst critic. On the upside, it makes it really frustrating for anyone to try to make in fun of me because I'm like 'HA! I can insult me better!'

...OTL

...and it's okay. Take as long as you need. Personally, sometimes I think of stuff right away, sometimes I have brain freeze. It depends. So I might take only 20 or 30 mins, or I might take 12 hours, or in the case of serious thinking, like historical stuff, sometimes I might take 3 days. It all depends.

(this one took me about an hour - not bad)

...sorry my OOC here was longer than my IC...I just rambled...and now I'm making it longer so I'm going to stop orz

"I'm okay with anything at the moment, so as long as you're fine with it, let's go," she stated. Hunger had that ability to make most any variety of food taste good, be it meat buns or popcorn or kimchi.

Well, maybe not that last one, but...

She walked alongside Kiku towards the pretty little stall, inhaling as the aromas of different foods penetrated the air. Mmm. She hoped her stomach didn't start making embarrassing sounds, especially with more people around.

The modestly-sized stall (?) had several people hanging around it, along with the line. It wasn't a long line, but wasn't going to take 30 seconds to get through either. Ah well, waiting wasn't so bad.

---

holy crap, I have no idea what foodstalls or whatnot look like at parks anymore. My memory is failing me so bad today I'msorryI'msorry. lllorz

ene I'm kind of fail in general today, sorry.

=3= I know that feeling. Just don't insult yourself too much ;3; Tell yourself you're awesome once and a while too c: Becoming better by encouragement, and becoming better by beating oneself--they accomplish the same result, but the mood at the end is generally happier if you encourage yourself.

At least, that's what I learned one day from this movie. LOLOTL nevermind

I'm okay with you rambling, dw ♥
...see look my OOC overtook my IC too so don't feel bad fffft

Kiku actually appreciated the wait a bit. It gave them time to look at the menu that was posted. Besides, it wasn't so bad standing there, surrounded by the smell of good food, and holding the hand of the woman he loved...not bad at all. Rather pleasant, really.

He would maybe have been embarrassed about how obviously couple-ish they were being, but he had realized that many of the people there were as well.

He had thankfully decided on his menu choice before it was their turn in the line. "I'll have the oden, please," Kiku told the stall worker taking the orders, then he turned to Mei who hadn't spoken up yet. "What do you want to have?" he asked her.

---

Yeah...I don't remember either.

Also, don't call yourself fail and then tell me not to be so hard on myself.

For this, I was going to just be vague about the food, but then decided to not be such a coward about a decision for once. \o/ Yay me.

Mei stared at the menu up ahead, scanning the various selection of food. She had to tiptoe sometimes to see some of the items, though. Inconvenient height of hers. Thankfully, the line had been long enough to give her enough time to decide on what kind of dish to get. Hmm, she wondered what Kiku would get?

She stared at the menu more once they reached the front, while Kiku has placed his order. When he had finished, she took her turn.

"Ah, I'd like the chicken and vegetable tianbula, please."

The worker nodded and wrote their orders down, then giving it to a second worker to fill. She stood quietly and observed as the second worker cooked the food, though watching seemed to make Mei more hungry than she already was. She sincerely hoped her stomach wouldn't start making noises...

---

tianbula = tempura wooo gyaaaah
I'm very hungry right now
can you tell
orz

I'll be nicer to myself if you do the same for yourself, how's that |D
-claps- see, you can make decisions just fine c:

They moved a bit aside to wait for their food while the next people ordered. The smell of it was definitely making his hunger increase. He was happy when it was finally handed over to them.

He led Mei over to one of the tables where they could sit and at first they mostly just ate. When he had gotten enough of the food in him that his hunger was abated, Kiku reached across the small table. Then he blushed.

"So..." He took a breath. "We were supposed to talk about what we wanted for our wedding today," he managed to get out, if a bit quietly. "...Remember?"

---

So I finally get back to this question on January 15th. lol But it's still Christmas for the characters, so it's fine.

I'm glad I just ate. Talking about food can get me hungry otherwise. Sorry you were last night.

And sounds like a plan. No more saying we are fail to each other.
\o/

When they had settled on a table, the both of them ate somewhat silently for a minute or so, getting rid of the feeling of hunger. Mei made sure not to eat too fast since, one, she would get sick, and two, she didn't want to look like she hadn't eaten for days. That would be very, very embarrassing. And unladylike.

She was biting into the middle of a tianbula when Kiku spoke up, and in order to keep herself from spazzing out and choking, she chewed slowly, politely holding up one finger to signal to give her a minute. After swallowing, she hesitated for a moment, even though that minute had given her plenty of time to think. But being as she was, her thoughts kind of... buzzed around in her head.

"I do remember," she started quietly, "so uhm, where to start..."

Mei paused again, trying to get those disorganized thoughts to form something comprehensible.

"Well, we could start on what day. Or it doesn't have to be exact. Just in general. A month would be okay too. Just ideas."

---

Erm so, here we go, lol. |D
I was reading your reply and Melt started playing and so yeah I started crying on the spot it was so cute coupled with the music I died a little aaaaaah ;w;

So...they were really talking about this. They really were. Kiku took another bite of his food to give himself time to process the first topic Mei had brought up in relation to what he brought up.

A date...even just a timeframe...setting such a thing would make it seem so much more...real. It would move it officially from that dream space in his head.

When he had swallowed, he organized his thoughts and took a breath. "Spring?" he suggested. "April or May? What do you think?"

Was that not enough time? Or was it too far away? He conversely thought both might be true.

But that was one of the timeframes that felt right. The other was probably too soon - the ume or mei would be in bloom in a month. Not enough time to plan everything, he thought.

...And waiting a whole year would not be acceptable.

---

Awwwww Mei

Plum blossoms flower around late January or February. We aren't nearly decisive enough for that. That would be realistically rushed, anyway. Heh.

"Spring..." she said softly, repeating the idea to herself as if that would help in making a decision. Her gaze dropped down, staring at the table as she thought.

"Well..."

Mei looked back up at him after half a minute or so, and smiled.

"I was kind of thinking around that time as well. The weather is always nice in Spring~" She paused for a moment and thought again. "Er, depending on where, though."

She slightly regretted adding that last part. It just gave them more to worry about. Which wasn't good, considering they were already having a hard time deciding on a certain day. 'When' might depend on 'where' or vise versa! Why was it virtually impossible to concentrate on only one thing? Why did one thing have to be dependent of some other thing, then another, and another?

Mei breathed slowly and told herself to calm down. If it needed to be addressed, then she needed to think logically and keep her nerves from getting the best of her. She could manage at least that, right?

She bit her lip and stared at the man sitting before her, before smiling childishly to herself.

Of course she could. And she would.

---

I would panic big time if it were that quick pfft
ah, do we take ooc schedules into consideration too ouo
the ACT is the first week of April uhm /dorknerdgeekorzforgiveme

"Where," Kiku repeated and once again delayed his response with a bite of food. He hadn't really thought through a lot of these things, he realized. Didn't girls usually have this all figured out? Have their dream wedding all planned out in their heads and the man just had to tag along and be there? Not that he minded being asked.

"Well...if you really don't have a place in mind..." he mused for a bit. "I can't say I really know, but I assume somewhere in one of our territories. Perhaps one of the islands in the East China Sea. Pick the one you think is the prettiest, if you want." He smiled a little, a bit embarrassed.

"But if you had anything else in mind, whatever you think is fine," he added quickly after a pause.

---

...I might have a heart attack, actually. Well, probably not. But...it just wouldn't happen, so let's not even go there.

We might want that little bit more time anyways, so we shall see when we decide on, but even so, hey, we're still roleplaying Christmas here, so it's not like we can't roleplay something later than the actual date if you happen to be busy with something.

If you are interested in the islands, I pulled up these links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_islands_of_Japan (the East China Sea ones being http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryukyu_Islands these)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_islands_of_the_Republic_of_China (in this case I don't know which ones are where, I haven't gone through them)

"I've never really... thought about this kind of thing."

She took another bite of her food, giving her more time to think. Hm, Mei never thought she would ever get married. Maybe this was why everything seemed so foreign and confusing.

Mei thought about the little islands occupying the sea between their countries. She had seen most, if not all, of them at some point, but the memories were a little hazy. Not to mention, the parts that stood out were all already pretty, plus it had been a while...

"Okinawa is a pretty place," she recalled. "And, it is like the halfway point between your island and mine."

That part made her smile, though she couldn't really place why.

---

Okay. （´・ω・｀） You always make a good point pffu

Taiwan currently has claim over two in the S. China Sea, one which isn't very populated and the other which is disputed, so lol. |D Your place it is. ewe

So Mei really hadn't thought through this. He hadn't really, either, but.... Ah well, they would work it out now. That was the point of agreeing to talk about it, wasn't it?

Kiku listened to her reply and found himself smiling a little, for seemingly no reason, but then he did that a lot around her, especially recently. "Okinawa?" He might have said that she didn't have to go with his suggestion if she didn't want to, but then she seemed to be happy about it, so he let it be. "Okay. Okinawa." He nodded.

He paused. They had a vague idea of timeframe and a place now, but there were so many more things to think about. "So...traditional or western? And is there anything in particular you definitely want to do?"

---

Oh sorry. I didn't really look through them. Ah well. I guess Taiwan itself is really one of the closest ones to Japan anyways.

Territory disputes are not a good way to start a wedding...

Hooray, they had something figured out, even though it wasn't much. Much more to go, but small steps would eventually get them there. Mei shook her head no for the second question, considering she actually had a... semi-definite answer to that one.

"The only thing I definitely want," she started, "is for both of us to enjoy it."

She blushed and bit her lip, realizing how vague that sounded. But it was the truth, and she really was just... happy at all to be getting married to Kiku. Her insides went mushy again at that thought, so she switched the subject back to the first question. She wouldn't be very useful if she couldn't think straight.

"As for western or traditional, I really... have no idea about that one."

Well, she was really at a loss here. Mei tapped her fingers on the table, impatient with herself. There were differences in the two, both their had positive points, negative points, but which would she personally prefer? Which one could she picture herself in? She didn't know.

---

Don't apologize, it's alright. owoa
aaaaaa vagueness

we're quite mushy today ♥

"I'm positve I will enjoy marrying you no matter what we do." Kiku looked directly into her eyes when he said this, feeling mushy, and of course, blushing. He wasn't sure if this statement was romantic or dorky or what, but it was the truth as far as he could tell it.

The other question was important though. In factored in so many things. What kind of ceremony they would have. The clothing. Everything.

"Well...if you were to picture both of them, which one would make you happier?" he asked her, attempting to help her arrive at an answer, but not really sure how successful this would be.

He took another small bite of food.

---

So mushy. <3

Mei smiled and blushed at his statement. She felt... lucky. He was sweet, kind, always seemed to have the best answer for everything, always seemed to have the answer that would make her face turn red and her insides feel giddy. And he loved her, even when she didn't love herself most of the time. When she looked in the mirror, she saw a worrisome, imperfect, childish girl, flawed inside and out. Yet, he didn't seem to care, and loved her anyways. But this wasn't what she was supposed to be thinking about. She sighed and pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind.

She thought back to the decision at hand, and tried picturing herself, no, both of them, in either situation.

White and black, or white and color. In a chapel, or at home.

"Well, when I was younger I always did kind of want to wear one of those big fancy white dresses..." she stared self-consciously at the table. "If that's okay, though..."

---

I'm failing and trying to take the easy way out lmldfjg;soirg
I know nothing about traditional weddings waaaah ;__; /sobs forever

I still can't really reply comprehensively right now ldfkjgs;iorg /spazz

Kiku smiled and tried to keep in the small laugh that tried to bubble up, for fear he might offend her with it. He didn't think it was silly, which was what he was afraid she would think if the laugh came out. He thought it was cute.

"That's fine," he told her. "I think Feliciano-kun offered to do the ceremony if we did it that way, so that might make things somewhat easier. ...I'll have to check back about that, though."

He looked down at the table and then back up at her. He gazed into her eyes, smiling warmly for awhile. He wasn't sure how long. Time seemed to slip away for a moment.

When he came back to his senses, pink tinged his cheeks once more. "A...etto.... What next?" he asked, flustered.

---

It's okay.

And I'm amazed you were able to reply last night. Heh. <3

"Oh, okay! T-That's good then." She nodded nervously, her stray strand of hair bobbing up and down. She resisted the urge to reach up and smooth it down. Mei frowned at it for a moment (as if that would fix anything), before blowing it away from her face and turning her attention back to Kiku.

Her eyes met his, and stayed on his. She couldn't... bring herself to move, to look away. Her mind buzzed with a distant hum, her breath stopped, her face gradually grew warm. That feeling that welled up in her chest--that indescribable, both choking and exhilarating feeling--threatened to suffocate her, until he spoke again and she remembered she needed to breathe.

It occurred to her she probably looked very, very, ridiculous at that moment.

"Ah, uhm, well, how about... who... is... invited? Weddings usually have some form of guest list, right?"

---

I was quite amazed at myself. e//w//e
siiiiigh why do I take so long and come up with hardly anything slkdf\s;oihs;dekjf sorry ;;

"Well...yes...invitations," Kiku's brow furrowed as he said this. It was much easier to think of the wedding only on terms of Mei and himself. But of course that wasn't the case. Guests...guests...guests....

"I suppose we could just write up a list of our family and friends and then go from there." It was much easier to put it in writing anyway. They would be able to go through it later, make sure they didn't miss anyone or whatever else they needed to do.

"We should probably go to Okinawa sometime soon," he suggested. "We'll look around at the available places, pick one and see how much space we have..."

He reached across the table again, this time taking one of her hands in his and rubbing in gently. "...And we'll decorate with all your favourite flowers. And...we'll figure everything out." He beamed at her. He was smiling more often lately, mostly at her, but this was one of his true the-rays-of-the-sun-are-shining-on-you smiles, which were rather rare even so.