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

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.

[justneedsomehelp]

"I guess cartoons are just kinda Steven's thing, you know?" Not that he hates them or anything, but-- he'd probably prefer some sort of action movie you can mindlessly blank out on or like. Indiana Jones. Something.

"How about you?"

[prefers_magneto]

Erik glances at the television and then looks at Marc.

"I don't even know what this is," he says. "Is this what people refer to as 'Saturday morning cartoons'?"

[justneedsomehelp]

That gets a short chuckle out of him. "I think-- they're from Japan or something. I don't think it counts as Saturday morning cartoons."

He pauses. "Man, you've never seen like... Looney Tunes before or whatever?"

That's probably more Saturday morning cartoon-like, right?

"Anyway-- Steven loves the stuff."

[prefers_magneto]

"I grew up in the Thirties, under occupation. I didn't come to America until 1949. I was eighteen by then, pretending I was twenty-one. When I raised my own child we lived in hiding in rural Poland. We didn't have a television," he explains conversationally, like anything he said wasn't kind of horrible and sad. He watches the screen for a moment. "What's the plot?"

[justneedsomehelp]

"You had a hell of a life, huh?" That's all horrible and sad. Kind of horrific. He doesn't know if he wants to know what happened to this guy's child or not. He can't imagine anything good...

"Uh--" Right, the plot. "Steven could probably explain it better. But that prince-- he got attacked by an animal, right? And I guess it was cursed and now he's looking for some kind of cure. Then there's this... forest princess? Who's with this wolf god."

[prefers_magneto]

"So it's a love story," Erik surmises.

[justneedsomehelp]

"Maybe a little." He shrugs his shoulders. "I think it's a lot about humans fucking up the environment too, hurting the-- spirits and gods there."

[prefers_magneto]

“Do the spirits and gods do something about it?” Erik asks curiously.

[justneedsomehelp]

"I think so, yeah. Uh, I don't know how much good it does in the end?" He shrugs his shoulders.

"Now that I think about it, not sure this is really the kinda movies kids'd want to watch on Saturday mornings anyway..."

[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?"

[justneedsomehelp]

"Huh. Well--" He's been paying attention more than Marc has. It's not that it's a bad movie really, but there's a lot going on and Marc's worried about some disaster happening and Steven being depressed after, or thinking everyone hates him...

And he doesn't want that to happen if it's avoidable.

"Mm, Steven had a package waiting for him and that's what was inside... I don't really get it, you know? We've gotten a pretty odd selection of stuff.'

[theweakhavepurpose]

Pratt is actually pretty impressed with how many people came out to this, Steven is meeting more people than he thought. Good for him.

"Oh yeah yeah. I keep getting shit from home too, but movies would be nice. I mostly get shirts, or cigarettes. Which are appreciated but you know, not exactly fun? You get anything good from those rando packages?"

[justneedsomehelp]

"Uh-- depends on how you define fun. Got some knives, so I'm not complaining about that." Some people might think the bed restraints are fun, but really, it's just to keep Steven from 'sleepwalking' in the middle of the night.

Or like a security blanket at this point. Not exactly sexy or fun.

[theweakhavepurpose]

"Knives are cool. Got a pistol at one point which was... useful I guess." He would have enjoyed it more if it had just been a random gun and not the personal sidearm of the Herald of the cult's army.

"Wouldn't mind the knife though, bullets are limited, stabbing is infinite." He frowns, not wanting to bring the mood down on movie night. "After all the shit that's happened everyone should get a care package of their favorite snacks and fuzzy pajamas and play phone games for a week in bed."

[justneedsomehelp]

"Was?" Marc has... complicated feelings about his own blades. They're not his. They're Khonshu's -- the god that's practically got him enslaved, won't let him go. But that's a depressing topic, and here? Khonshu doesn't seem to have a reach anymore. That's... the Marc that's left back home's problem, he guesses.

"Right? We should get a real vacation after ghosts puppeteer some of us like meatsuits for a month. That was pretty fucked up."

[theweakhavepurpose]

Pratt looks confused for a minute and then realizes what Marc is getting at, "Oh. I still have it I was.. uh.. Gonna say that it was fucked up to get it in the first place considering who it belonged to back home. But I'm not gonna get rid of it because I might need it you know?"

He nods in agreement, "Seriously. Sucked for the people who got possessed, sucked for the people who had to watch ghosts pilot around other people. And then some of 'em got killed. Not to mention the ship falling apart and the restaurants running out of food and shit blowing up. Man fuck October completely."

[justneedsomehelp]

"Oh. Belonged to someone close? Or not so close?" There are a lot of reasons to not want something given to you around this place.

"Yeah... it was a lot. People must have been freaking out about the food." That's always a point of tension, right? Starvation gets... nasty.

"Then their friends turning psycho and trying to kill'em."

[theweakhavepurpose]

"Belonged to a dude I fucking hate, and I hope he shows up so I can pistol whip him with his own gun before blowing his brains out." He grumbles, which is probably some extremely violent talk while Kiki is making deliveries, but he's so easy to rile up when it comes to Jacob.

"Yeah, there was still stuff in the buffet, but all the restaurants didn't have any food. The sushi place just had plates going around that were empty. It was real sad. I don't think anyone tried to kill anyone else for food, and Ava and Bash kind of manned the coffee shop so people didn't go into caffeine withdrawal. But it still fucking sucked. And... yeah. That. I dunno how it happened in the first place, but there's gotta be a way to prevent it in the future..."

[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.

[justneedsomehelp]

"Hey--" He gives a nod in return when Nobunaga speaks up, giving a thoughtful hum. "I've never dealt with ghosts... Zombies, a little. But spirits that can possess you like that? Feels like this was a special case around here, in general."

Like everything else -- the Captain seems to keep special rules in this creation of his.

"So does that mean... you've dealt with that kinda thing back home? Spirits."

[konpeito_aji]

"No, well --" He drags a palm down his face. "I'm the Demon King of Sixth Heaven. Daimyo of Owari, ruler of the Oda Clan. Japan in my time was..." where does he even begin? "Hell. Everyone was at war. The monks and superstitious cults took over, and it descended things worse. There are... so many types of demons. And 8 billion gods." In Yato's version, in the time of Studio Ghibli, but he has no idea if any of the gods still help the land in his time, or abandoned it. Still, most of them long predated Nobunaga, and almost certainly, a lot of the demons were probably destroyed by the time of the future. In so much as they were demons like the superstitious and foreign missionaries believed. It seemed daft to call them wrong despite evidence. "Mononoke are a catch all for three major types of spirits. Ghosts, youkai, and oni. But this includes evil gods..."

It's so hard to explain. He has EXPERIENCE in trying to explain it to the Westerner missionaries, but it's all so much harder when you have the whole different worlds thing, and oh look. Nobunaga just signed on with a God... Despite declaring war on them. It happens.

"Mononoke are blamed for plagues. Among other things." Even now, there is not enough space in the world to quench his rage at Kitsuno's death and the monks' response. "This is part of what makes it Hell. Rather than take control, people accept it as fate. They give up. I spent my life trying to disprove gods. Took on the Demon King label the cults stuck me with to force their hands. So... magic isn't real in my world, but..." a head tilt. "Dealing with lesser demons has is just the epitome of my existence. Possession is... one way mononoke or demon kings do things, but most mononoke just rampage."

[justneedsomehelp]

"Eight billion? Is that an exaggeration?" He's hoping that's an exaggeration because in his experience? The Gods he's met have all mostly been kinda assholes except for one, and the one he was actually brought up to worship? He has no idea if he's even real or not.

"People like to just accept the bad and... suffer through it, I guess. Or blame other people, but never really do much about it." Or they get angry, violent at-- possibly the wrong people.

"Sounds like Hell though. Uh. Sorry about that. Then you get stuck on a cruise like this..."

[konpeito_aji]

"It is not an exaggeration. There are more gods than humans. It is absolutely Hell though. I do not mind it here at all, to be perfectly honest. It is not so torturous to me. I get to see Japan prosper in a way so impossible in my era, and meet Americans, when the New World continents have only just been circumnavigated by Amerigo Vespucci, and America won't be a true country for another two hundred years."

He smiles softly and shrugs. "But I can understand why it is still much worse than nearly everyone else is used to. Even though people fear things getting worse, getting to see the vision of things getting better than even I dreamed possible heartens me greatly for the future. Humanity will definitely reach the realm of Ensign Tendi's Starfleet sometime. And I'm grateful for the chance to even see this much."