come_sailaway | Country roads, take me home

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...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

He nods along with the explanation, looking very interested. He is somewhat aware that there can be religious and cultural restrictions around food, but it’s a subject he doesn’t know much about, especially not on an interdimensional level.

“Yes, it does,” he answers. “I enjoy cooking. And learning of different cultural cuisine and the contexts behind it.”

"Well. I don't want to distract you or anyone else from the movie right now, but. Perhaps when we go to the buffet, I'll tell you everything I know," Steven promises. "Although I don't think we have much opportunity to cook here," he adds, not particularly lamenting that fact. He's a quick and easy, everything goes in one pot or just salad will do for the day kind of bloke.

"You watching the movie? Is it alright?"

"We do not," he sighs. He is definitely lamenting that fact.

"I am watching," he says, eyes glued to the screen. "It is relaxing," he adds appreciatively. He definitely needed this.

Just as well they're not watching Grave of the Fireflies. That's decidedly less relaxing. Steven smiles a bit, happy to spread his love of Ghibli around and pick people up.

"I wasn't expecting such a turnout. Maybe next time we'll hire an area out, have more food." Their poor table is too small to accommodate bigger portions of everything so Steven has had to make multiple trips up and down to keep the food topped up and the bowls get slightly bigger every time he does in the hopes that they don't run out too fast.

"Do you watch much anime?" He's kind of curious if it only exists in his... universe or timeline or whatever.

“That is a good idea,” he says.

At the anime question, he blinks in confusion before saying, flatly, “I do not know what that is.”

"Oh. I mean, these sorts of animated movies, or television shows," Steven gestures towards the TV. "You know, as opposed to actors or celebrities or... sock puppets or wha'ever." Look, Steven isn't judging if Lamb Chop's Play-Along is more his thing.

Dedue just looks at him blankly. He has no idea what he’s talking about right now.

Steven just sort of laughs a bit and shakes his head. "Nevermind." Maybe he shouldn't try and make conversation while the show is running. Besides, they can already talk about food, so there is some common ground there at least.

"Are you following what's happening at least?" He's happy to give a breakdown about the girls and Totoro.

“The girls and their father have moved to the countryside. They are encountering different spirits of nature,” he summarizes.

The concept of nature spirits isn’t completely unfamiliar to him. He had some conversations with Petra back at the academy where they discussed the religions of Brigid and Duscur.

"Yes." Well, there's some other deeper stuff going on, about young children and fear of loss, but there's no need to go too deep, honestly. Not with Totoro and catbuses and other things to enjoy.

"Well. I won't interrupt you further. Do you have everything you need?" A albeit tiny seat, not that Steven can do much about that. The food he brought with him, some other food already here. "Do you need a drink maybe? Or-- perhaps after the movie I could introduce you to a few people here, if you don't know them?" Steven offers. He's made a few new friends himself tonight, so why not spread the love?

Dedue does feel a bit uncomfortable being jammed in with a crowd of people. The food and the movie are helping, but it is still stressful. “Um. Perhaps a few people,” he concedes, figuring he should probably not be a shut-in for the entire week. “That would be a good thing to do, maybe in the hallway where it is a bit less populated,” he suggests.

However, as the movie progresses, it becomes less calming. Dedue isn’t here for the sadder parts of the film, he’s here for beautiful landscapes. The second the girl goes missing and her sister starts frantically searching for her, Dedue feels his chest sink with dread. He mumbles, “Excuse me,” and tries to slip away from the party as unnoticed as possible, with zero intention of returning for those introductions.

"Of course, sure." He thinks everyone can agree that this room is too small to cater to this many people. He feels a bit bad about it but he's glad people are making do just fine and are enjoying themselves.

At least until the man tries to leave. Steven relents and lets him go as far as the hallway, and then he hurries out to stop him.

"Hey, Mister? Is everything alright?" Did he eat something funny? Was someone being mean? Or is it just too stuffy in there?

“I...” Dedue stands stiffly, facing away from Steven.
“It is nothing,” he mumbles.

Oh no, is he getting the anime nandemonai treatment? 👉👈 Well, this simply won't do. Steven pouts a bit and slowly approaches from behind.

"Um... well. If you're tired, it's no matter. Can I walk you back to your room at least?" he offers. Maybe they can talk while they walk, once they're some distance away from his cabin.

"I didn't even-- get your name." That's a good start, right?

He waits for Steven to catch up with him.

“Dedue,” he says. “And yes, you may.” He starts walking in the direction of his cabin. “Thank you for sharing the movie. The subject matter was... no longer what I needed.”

"I'm Steven." Though he probably knew that already since there's a bit of confusion when people walked into their cabin about two blokes that look uncannily similar but sound quite different. The anxious but cheery one is Steven. The slicked back hair with a slightly deeper voice is Marc.

Luckily nobody's asked them any invasive or awkward questions about what's the deal with them.

"What do you need? I could suggest you another movie. Or some books?"

“Oh. It is not that I need anything,” he assures Steven. “I just wanted something happy. I have... had a rough time lately.”

"I see." Steven offers a couple of nods and a small smile. A lot of people have had a rough time of it lately, for all sorts of reasons. He won't pry unless Dedue feels like sharing, but hopefully Dedue won't mind, then, when he wakes up tomorrow morning and finds a couple of pick-me-up library books and a tiny sack of chocolate gelts at his doorstep.

Country roads, take me home

no subject

no subject

no subject

dw ganbatte

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject