welgaia | (no subject)

[Generic Info]

[No more Wankerville, this time! Nope, this time our resident nexus place is known as Japanifornia. Some odd mishmash of Los Angeles and Tokyo, Japanifornia is in fact a huge city with skycrapers and lots of roads with hills. A tram moves through the city but people can also take a car or their bike. There's parks, a lake, sushi places, burger places, noodle places, gashapon machines and a Starbills on every corner. Most homes are equipped with a traditional Japanifornian kotatsu. It's a paradise for weebs and hipsters alike. Also, a themepark because why the heck not.

Truly, the greatest city in these United States of Nexusica.]

[De Killer bit]

[Still, a nexus is a nexus, which means it draws in people from all sorts of places. There's only so much order to be found. Turns out, some rich asshole is trying to run for 'president'. One would think it'd be mayor, but considering a nexus is basically a world of its own, he might as well be attempting to crown himself King of the World. Outrageous remarks of building a wall to keep out more 'foreigners' aren't gaining him much popularity either. He's lucky that there's a couple of rednecks on his side who feel that the city might be getting a bit too crowded.

Even so, many residents of Japanifornia are in agreement; this powerhungry douche by the name of Ronald Chump needs to go.

As luck would have it, Shelly de Killer has already set up office in Japanifornia and has now been approached to eliminate the problem. He's not going to do it alone, either. Benny (who's been around for an equally long time) will be joining him on this venture.]

[Other]

[Who else is in Japanifornia? Do a thing!]

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One has to name a child after something. [Except for Benny, who won't be having any kids ever. Lex and him adopted cats instead, which were all named after... footwear.]

Well, yeah... [She laughs a little.] To tell you the truth, this isn't how I expected things to go. If you told me a year ago that I'd be pregnant right now, I wouldn't have believed it. I've had regrets, but... for the most part, I'm really happy.

Edited 2016-07-12 17:45 (UTC)

Ultimately, happiness is what's most important. Happiness for you and for your child. That's a notion most parents would agree with.

That's right. Besides, it won't just be me and her father. Raven will be born in a world where so many people care about her. She'll never have a shortage of love, I'm sure of it.

[She wants to believe that, and she's certain it's true.]

[He's about to respond when he realizes the person behind the counter is trying to get his attention. ...Right, he ordered noodles. Time to accept that 'to-go' box with a polite smile and a 'thank you very much'.]

[She watches him with a soft smile. Benny's always really polite. ...jeez, how does he do it?]

[Lots and lots of repressed frustration. Don't worry though, he has a different outlet for that. (/eyebrow waggle)

Once he's gotten his noodles all ready to go, he turns to face Tori.]

Well... I believe your own order shouldn't be long, now.

[Oh my.]

Yeah, hopefully! [That craving isn't exactly going away, after all.] I wouldn't want to worry Jeb by being out too long, after all!

[Because naturally, Jeb's here with her.]

['Oh my' indeed.

And ah, it's that Jeb person who Benny's never actually met, but has heard about.]

That wouldn't do at all. In fact, one might say it would be twice as bad as usual. He wouldn't be worrying about just one person, he'd be worrying about two. [Hah, pregnancy humor.]

[Pregnancy humor that actually manages to make her laugh. This is how you do it, other Simon.]

Haha... that's true, isn't it? I don't want him to worry about both of us more than he needs to. He's been such a trooper through all of this, you know?

[He doesn't know, but he can picture it. And also... misunderstand it a wee bit because surely Jeb is the father. SURELY.]

I should hope so. It would be rather unfair for the entire burden of pregnancy to fall upon the mother.

[It's so fortunate that she realizes that he's likely misunderstanding, isn't it?]

Huh? Jeb isn't--

[On the other hand, maybe she should just. Not. ...too late.]

[Oh yes, quite fortunate that she realized that. Now he's noticed her reaction and there's no going back.]

Hm?

Jeb's not really... the father, you know? I mean, he's totally ready to help me raise this kid, so I guess he's going to be the father that way, but--!

[And in this act we have Tori, digging herself into a very deep hole.]

[...Ah. Well. That's embarrassing. Here we have Benny, looking just a wee bit uncomfortable, which is rare for him.]

My apologies. I didn't mean to make assumptions.

N-No! It's fine, you don't have to apologize. It's a fair assumption to make, you know? If things had been different, he would have been.

[Tori has spent a lot of time feeling guilty over the events leading up to her pregnancy, and she hopes it doesn't show at this exact moment.]

[Benny's trained himself to hone in on that sort of thing, so yes, he can tell. He doesn't bring it up, though. It's perfectly natural for Tori to feel that way and it's none of his business.]

Regardless, I believe that raising a child is what makes a proper father, regardless of flesh and blood. [And he would know.]

Yeah, that's true. My own biological father's a piece of shit, so the father figures who've guided me are the ones I see as my real dads.

[Except saying that implies something she'd rather not imply.]

--not that Raven's biological father's necessarily a piece of shit! It's just, you know... we're not together. [She just needs to. Shut up.]

[He never pictured Tori to be the 'one night stand' sort of person, but then... That would be him jumping to assumptions again, wouldn't it? Who even knows what the situation is like?]

Mmh, that sounds complicated.

You have no idea. Things had gone to hell in so many ways at the time, and...

[She stops herself there.]

Damn, I'm just going on and on about this, aren't I? [Tori, please. He is a therapist. He's probably used to such things.] Sorry.

[Benny has heard people ramble on and on about things that might make most people's skin crawl, so yes, he's used to it.]

That's perfectly alright. If you ever need to talk for a... more extended period of time, I can always give you my card. It wouldn't need to be any sort of official appointment, simply one friend lending an ear to another.

[She looks surprised.]

Really? You mean it? [Her expression warms to a smile.] ...thanks, I appreciate that. There's a lot of people I can talk to about this, but most of them already have their own... opinions on it, you know?

[Plus, well. Benny's a professional and shit.]

[Yup, professional. Totally didn't at one point abuse his profession to get closer to the Phantom and assassinate him. Nope.]

Yes, the difference between a close friend and a neutral party can be quite staggering.

Oh, so we aren't friends? [She laughs.] Don't worry, I know we aren't close... and I get what you actually mean.

[She bows her head a little.]

To tell you the truth, I'd love to have a therapist I can talk to about things... it's just-- sort of hard when most of them don't know about the whole nexus bullshit stuff, you know?