Country roads, take me home

[latersgators]

Who: Steven Grant and open - start your own subthreads and stuff
What: Studio Ghibli movie night
Where: Cabin 135
When: early December
Warnings: none so far

After subjecting Marc and Maeve to Ghibli nights, Steven has widened his circle of suffering to include a few other people. What was going to be 'come over and watch My Neighbour Totoro?' became a proper whole evening at Steven and Marc's cabin. They spent the afternoon tidying up the room, returning a bunch of library books and keeping the rest of his stash in a corner on the other side of the bed. Clean laundry put away, a small load of dirty clothes taken down to the wash. The ankle cuff and bungee cord is stashed away in the cupboard alongside their small emergency hoard of water, snacks and food in case they have to lock themselves in their cabin one day for weeks on end. Bathroom tidied up as well, with extra toilet paper stacked on top of the cistern in anticipation of several guests.

The cabin is still small in spite of their cleanup efforts, and Steven insists on having some snacks available, so for savoury options there's baby carrots and celery sticks with hummus dip, potato skins, kumara fries and cassava chips, and mango sticky rice and pan fried cinnamon bananas for something sweet. It's not exactly going to be the healthiest night in terms of food, but half a dozen people sitting knee to knee in a claustrophobic little cabin crying at children's anime is surely going to make up for that and be healthy for all of them.

The programme for the night is Steven's Studio Ghibli box set, although he only has one DVD player and one television so they need to pick their movies wisely since they'll only be able to watch two or three. They're always welcome to come back next time to watch more. Steven's recommending more Kiki's Delivery Service and Princess Mononoke, and less Grave of the Fireflies and When Marnie Was There. They don't really want to be crying into their bowl of vegan snacks every 15 minutes...

Comments

jeff | ota

[cacophonish]

Jeff's mostly here for the vegan snacks. And because Steven's cool and nice and was, like, the first person he even met on this ship, back when he arrived for the first time! But the vegan snacks are a huge plus, because Jeff's still learning how to eat properly as a veg-type, and if left to his own devices, he'd probably subsist on nothing but bread and candy. He's looking totally impressed by the spread, and helping himself to some mango sticky rice.

"I didn't know rice could be, like, a dessert thing."

The culinary wonders never cease!

Anyway, he doesn't know what Studio Ghibli is, and he's never heard of these cartoons, but he can recognize the art style as some of the nerd stuff his little brother was really into.

"This is, um, like, that--" Wait for it, Jeff's about to reveal that he's Old. "--Japanimation stuff, right?"

Please, somebody educate Jeff on anime and/or Studio Ghibli.

[latersgators]

"Oh, yes, we have rice pudding in Britain, but it's usually made with milk and cream so it's not vegan. This here though is coconut milk," Steven explains. He usually wouldn't touch Thai food with a ten foot pole - it's too complicated and requires a lot of ingredients that are not easily found in your typical small Waitrose, or Tesco. They did have a lot of mangoes though and mango sticky rice was easy enough to get help with from the cruiseship's kitchen.

"Nobody calls it that anymore," Steven teases with a small laugh. "These days we just say 'anime', which covers a broad range of Japanese animated content. Ghibli is an independent studio with a fairly distinct art style and the main director Miyazaki has made lots of great movies, usually with some kind of theme like anti-war sentiments, or family, love, childhood innocence, coming-of-age..." Steven could fanboy over Studio Ghibli for days but it's probably better to just watch the movie.

[broshaw]

Sharky groans from somewhere nearby. "Oh my God, dude, they didn't even call it that when I was a kid." Hahaha, get it? Because he's from the future and so he's old????

...

"...For real though, is the rice good?"

[konpeito_aji]

"Did somebody say Japan?"

Nobunaga wasn't going to party crash, but you can't just avoid the living samurai who gave up everything he had and was including humanity and freedom for Japanese superiority, to get it to produce luxury in order to make it a viable trading nation with the rest of the world.

"Should I get some sake or send Samurai Pratt to fetch things?" He's got shit manners, he didn't give it up, so much as failed to have it beaten into him, but even he knows to do that much.

Maeve | OTA

[millay]

When she told Steven more people wanted to watch the movies, Maeve really hadn’t expected a movie night. But she’s glad that Steven’s expanding his friendship circle and that Marc’s being agreeable about the anime and also all the people in the room.

She’s standing for the moment because she doesn’t really mind. But if anyone drags her down to sit, she’s not going to fight them either.

“Could you pass me a couple carrots, darling? I hate to get in the way of anything.”

hope a wildcard is okay

[latersgators]

Honestly Steven wasn't expecting such a turnout. He thought most people would laugh at him about watching stupid children's cartoons and maybe only Maeve and Sharky would show up. Maybe Ruby too, if he was lucky. This is quite a lot of people to fit into a cabin and Steven at times is fine with the chaos of refilling food and bringing drinks - he forgot his guests would need drinks, oops - and at times he needs to have a breather out in the corridor on his own. Especially when they get to an emotional part of the movie, it's so silent you could hear a pin drop, and then everyone is just trying not to cry and then it's awkward because offering tissues is like noticing they cried and compromising peoples' masculinity or whatever so it's like. He doesn't know whether to offer or just let people pretend they're yawning or sniffling because it's too cold or what to do.

"Hey," he greets Maeve quietly when she steps out to join him in the corridor. He's spent so much time wringing his hands in the hem of his shirt that it's now full of creases. "Everything okay? Can I get you anything? I'm about to go fetch some macaroni and cheese, and chicken tenders for Marc. Maybe you know a bottle Mexican coke and some Jim Daniels..." He seems kind of stressed with all these people in what should be their private little space and Steven feels bad about it. Some comfort food that's meant for people under the age of 12 should help pick him up.

[justneedsomehelp]

"Uh, sure." He offers a brief smile before he's passing over the carrots. "I can move if you want to get at the dip too-- I know it's a little full in here."

And there's not a lot of room to move around in the little cabin as-is. "Didn't know so many people liked cartoons..."

Or maybe they just like Steven, which-- well, Marc'd like that, actually. Slightly. Protective instincts aside.

[konpeito_aji]

Whenever an opportunity presents, Nobunaga grabs a seat somewhat back to back with her at first. He's totally still wearing the swords and armor, despite becoming a holy weapon recently, old habits, but Maeve generally has an aura he finds soothing. He's pretty incapable of eavesdropping though, given how captivated he is by the animation, desperate for more taste of Japan's future that he helped ensure the prosperity of.

Marc | OTA

[justneedsomehelp]

He agreed to this because -- well, Steven's excited for it, and he's trying to make more friends. That's a good thing. Right? Probably. Marc's not exactly the social type, but he can work his way through one social event and not totally wreck it for Steven.

So... he's not complaining (much) about the all vegan options. Instead, he's just grabbing celery sticks and eating the hummus dip while he tries to keep his space and give everyone room in the tiny cabin.

That said, he will find an awkward spot on the edge of the bed, letting guests have the couch, or step off to a corner when he might need a little space.

Children's cartoons isn't exactly what he'd been planning to do tonight, but he'll get interested after they finally start.

"What was this one?" He'll murmur eventually. "Princess Mono-whatever?"

... Look, he doesn't always listen well. It could be the one about a Delivery Service or Fireflies or whatever else.

[prefers_magneto]

Erik doesn't even know what they're here for. Some kind of movie marathon. Still, it seems like a good opportunity to see who hangs around the twins. He drops onto the edge of the bed next to Marc.

"You look positively riveted already," he notes dryly.

[theweakhavepurpose]

"Princess Mononoke. But that's not her name, her name is San. The wolf is Moro." Pratt is just here to help and eat snacks, per usual. It's Steven's party so he didn't show up with garlic bread, but he is definitely helping himself to cassava chips because you can never go wrong with anything deep fried and shaped like a potato chip.

"Where'd you guys even get these movies? Does the library have a secret video rental area I missed?"

[konpeito_aji]

"Mononoke. They're vengeful spirits. They possess people and cause disease. In the Heian period, they -- the monks, would try to transfer the spirits into a new vessel, a sacrificial monk or priestess, one that would make it easier to exercise them from. I tried that in Halloween, but apparently the ghosts do not operate under that principle." And Nobunaga on the floor hives him a nod. Sup?

He can't exactly stealth his way anywhere in the 16th century full plate mail armor, even if it is black, but talking about anything uniquely Japanese, and he's going to be there.

Dedue | OTA

[glassaxolotl]

The next few days after Dimitri cut off contact with him, Dedue is not doing great. His cast has been removed so he can walk again, but he does not have the energy for it. Most of his routines have stopped, and instead he stays in his room, not sleeping but not really doing anything else either. He only really goes out to get food from the buffet and bring it back with him.

He is in the process of returning to his cabin now, when he sees a gathering of people watching what looks like a moving painting? But what really catches his attention is the amount of detail and accuracy to the botanical life present on the screen.

He hovers awkwardly by the door with his to-go box in hand and watches My Neighbor Totoro from a distance.

[latersgators]

"Oh, you brought your own food?" Steven queries as he shuffles over a little closer. He doesn't nosily inspect what's in the box but he does give a quick visual check to see if perhaps cutlery and napkins are required. He has no qualms with that - he doesn't trust other people bringing him food if they don't know he doesn't eat meat or dairy, and he doesn't want to have to launch into a ten minute explanation every time he rejects non-kosher options when he's bringing Marc food.

"There's a liiiittle bit of space to sit and eat inside. And more food! I just brought another batch of cajun potato skins down, they're still hot and crispy, but they are just a wee bit spicy."

[broshaw]

Hey look, at some point Steven got Dedue inside, and now there's someone who (distantly, hazily) recognizes him! Said someone is Sharky, who's got like, sticky rice on a tiny little plate that may or may not be pilfered from Sand Dollars.

"Heeyyyy," name, name, come on man, remember a naaaame, "Dedue??? Right???" He better be right for how proud he feels. "Liking the movie?"

[konpeito_aji]

Steven brought him in, and Nobunaga perks up instantly. "Dedue look! This is from my home! Centuries to the future. Is it not grand? Exporting our very culture." He's literally sparkling, he's so happy!

Pratt | OTA

[theweakhavepurpose]

Pratt has made himself comfortable on the floor with his back against the arm of the couch, trying to stay out of the way so people can be more comfortable on the cushions. He slept on concrete for months, he's fine sitting on the carpet. In his lap is a bowl of cassava chips that he's munching on while he stares intently at the screen because fuck yeah, movie night!

"Man, totally sucks that none of the theaters near me ever did the Ghibli festival thing that happens every year. I bet this looks fucking awesome on a big screen. All the detail and shit. Can probably smell the food when you're seeing it that intensely."

[latersgators]

"Oh, you don't get Ghibli Fest out in the woods I suppose?" Steven asks as he joins the deputy on the floor. "Do you get much of anything?" He'll be able to sit cross-legged for a while although he'll inevitably want to get up and start playing host again when food starts running out or any problems arise.

"Do you like Japanese food? I think it's wonderful, but. Not very vegetarian-friendly at times."

[konpeito_aji]

Nobunaga is on the floor, but he just headtilts up at Pratt. "What?"

He will share his Japanese snacks after a Sundries run though! And more jerky, this time teriyaki of course.

Ylva | ota

[actuallyawolf]

Is Ylva meant to be here? Is she allowed? Unsure. But she is.

She has never seen a movie. And it's kind of a lot, really. It's loud and bright and fascinating and a little overwhelming. And something like Kiki's Delivery Service is probably a very good story, she can tell that, but there's so much context in it that she does not understand, cannot understand.

So she wanders out, and wanders back in later.

Princess Mononoke, though, makes sense to her. Oh, she knows nothing of Japan of any era, sure, but it's magic and nature and a level of technology she understands, and Yakul reminds her a little of her beloved giant goat back home, who she will never see again, so that one she sits down and watches. She sits on the floor with her knees drawn up to her chin, fascinated with the story as it unfolds, leaning forward slightly as San is introduced, San who is neither fully human nor fully wolf, who knows in her heart that she is a wolf whatever else anyone says.

She doesn't make a sound, but she watches with tears streaming down her face.

[latersgators]

Oh dear. Steven did not anticipate the volume of tissues required to get through Ghibli night. He's not especially stressed out about the outpour of emotions. He thinks it can be cathartic and people shouldn't be stopped from crying it out. Especially not if it leads to talking, but silent crying or just letting it all out, choked sobs and runny noses and the whole ugly and raw mess of it is fine with him too.

But he will sit nearby quietly for a little while and hold onto a box of tissues in case they're needed.

[konpeito_aji]

Nobunaga just gently pats her head. Good wolf. It'll be okay. He understands completely though!

"Have you ever seen 'Velocipastor?' You should come watch it with Klaus and I. It is about a religious man who turns into a dinosaur. But very funny instead of heartbreaking and beautiful."

Nobunaga | OTA

[konpeito_aji]

For the most part Nobunaga doesn't get homesick. He misses his right and left hands (generals), his hawks, horses, his castle, being surrounded by an entire country and army of people who knew everything about him, but he'd always meant to leave. It's unheard of. No one leaves Japan. Actually, until him, no one really could.

But not having a history book, and not wanting to constantly bombard Yuuki and Yato with questions about Japan's future, simply satisfied that the Oda ambition has been achieved were usually enough to suffice. Now though. Seeing Japan's culture laid out in a form marketed to the west, he couldn't ignore the opportunity.

Early into Totoro, he heads over to Mikabo and sundries to pick up sake and Japanese snacks, (teriyaki flavored beef jerky still counts, right? Even if he doesnt know about wagyu yet) and brings them back to slide them in as offerings to everyone else.

At the end of the first night, Marc and Steven get a huge bow in gratitude. "You may not know this, but in my position, I did not bow." As he comes out of it, "American presidents offer handshakes, but this is the best I can do. It was the reward I gave to the sumo wrestler winner of our first national contest. Japan is very important to me, so I thank you from the bottom of my blackened heart. Please continue to enjoy our culture, and thank you for sharing it with others."

And anything with flying, especially Porco Rosso, he will lose his mind at!

OTA

[decohere]

Ava's a little late to arrive, but she does. Quietly. Peering down through the ceiling. There's a lot of people here, and they seem more engrossed in the movie than anything. But. She'll just watch from where it's safe. She wants to figure out what a Totoro is still.

She'll give anyone who glances up and notices her a little wave.

[latersgators]

He's never had cute ceiling cat experiences, but against his better judgement he has seen some Japanese and Korean horror movies before, and a head of dark hair dropping down from the ceiling like that makes him yelp in an octave Marc didn't know his own voice could reach before Steven covers his mouth.

"Oh. Oh my word. Oh-- I'm sorry..."