come_sailaway | Country roads, take me home

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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...

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"It's.. I think supposed to be an allegory for something." He says hesitantly because he doesn't know what for, nor does he know what the word allegory means.

"Like he's a lion who befriends prey animals so they want him to eat bugs with them instead of meat because then he'd eat their friends. Which I'm pretty sure a lion would die just eating bugs, or need to eat so many there'd be no bugs left... It's a cartoon I think we're overthinking it already."

"I wonder." He's going to continue overthinking it! "You mean it's a thematic representation of humility and starting from the ground up instead of having everything handed to you by birthright? I suppose lion prides don't have many siblings to war with over dominance. Well, the evil Uncle. Hm... I wonder if lions could survive on bug protein. They could eat fish except there not much of that in uh... shit I know the word from Yasauke. What is it? Not desert... nor jungle. Something with an s? Savannah?"

"Yeah Savannah. And that's probably exactly what you're supposed to learn. But as a kid it was just a funny song about farting and bugs. I dunno maybe I internalized that I could start from nothing and then come back and defeat my evil uncle." There's a few problems with that plan though, "I don't have an evil uncle, and I couldn't defeat some random ass dudes from Georgia so I dunno if I learned the right lion based lesson here."

Nobunaga needs to learn how to get a grip on his emotions. Holy shit.

Deep breath. "I did. Have an evil Uncle." Klaus' face when Nobunaga told him is the reason (+Yato!) that Nobunaga is trying to keep calm. "I think most of my generals did." Mitsuhide. Ieyasu. Masamune. Ehhhh. Ranmaru. Not Kichou but only because it was his own father. "When Klaus mentioned the destruction to the lands... I wanted to flee Owari too. My whole life. But I couldn't. My Uncle would have ruined it completely, I couldn't bring myself to shirk that responsibility. I still think you protected Hope County more than you give yourself credit for. I assume Simba had to use prey animals to help restore true balance to his realm?"

Nobunaga gestures to the anime. "This is the truth of the world I wanted my people to see. That it should not be about those in power cruelly destroying everything. There are options, so long as you use your brain, eat bugs to survive, you can still do the impossible, fight gods, change your world to how you wish. You cannot do it alone. Samurai," he rests a gauntleted hand on Pratt's shoulder. "Ronin never win. But by trying, you can send a message to the others that they can learn from and do better, and that saves them, even if it seems like you could not." Martyrs are a big deal in Japan.

"Man, Klaus has you fucking figured out via a Disney movie and that's awesome. He's hella clever, he just doesn't know it." Pratt will forget, but right now he's making a mental note to go pester Klaus more with uplifting messages that he won't believe.

"And you have me figured out." He chuckles, "I'm definitely the guy dying so that other people can live. Or at least I wanna be that guy here, that's not what happened back home. I was so fucked from everything, and traumatized - that I couldn't fucking deal with the end of the world. Embarrassing as hell actually. And I probably caused the crash that killed us. Or at least partially. Cuz I wanted to turn around so we could get to shelter because we weren't going to outrun a fucking bomb."

Just casually leaving out the part where he was praying and screaming for like ten minutes up to his death while everyone yelled at him to shut up.

"He is secretly brilliant," a giant proud grin! "I'm only glad it is so secret, because then I don't have to share him very much." He's openly selfish.

And a smaller smirk about Pratt himself. "Traumatized is still a strange word for me, but I understand it. A severe head wound even if it is invisible. Keep getting stronger here. As long as you have freedom to move, to think, to speak, you can keep finding another way."

"Part of that is he doesn't believe it himself. And he's gotta eventually. I'm working on it." Or he keeps starting to and then forgets to follow through on his threats if Klaus isn't nice to himself.

"That's kinda it exactly, injured in a way no one can see. And it takes for-fucking-ever to heal. Or seems to be anyway. I guess I am a lot better now than I was just a few months ago back home."

"Maybe it'll work better if we all gang up on him. There's a lot of people determined," a small laugh.

"Yare yare.. I guess some things heal with time." And some don't. Nobunaga would rather not mention that though. "Still getting nightmares and insomnia?" Things that have never left him, but then again, he's always being injured more, probably.

"Intervention style, but for self-esteem. We all write letters about how important he is to us and read them and then he has to agree to love himself."

Is Pratt basing this off the tv show Intervention? Yes. Yes he is.

"I don't think I'm ever gonna sleep right again. But at least here I get to lay in a bed, and for a decent amount of time. Hell I can stay in there for twelve hours if I wanna. Which is nice."

"I had no idea you were such a sadist. I'm impressed."

Oops. Nobunaga has no idea of the show or the rest of it.

"You... never sleep at all? Samurai, even I get a few hours each night, and I'm hardly someone others point to as proof of mental stability. It helps if I have someone guarding me. Best sleep I got usually was in the saddle, whole army nearby. Got anyone here you could count on?"

"I'm a cop, gotta be mean sometimes. Most of the time. And I know how to break people." Yeah that's normal.

"I sleep, just not well or all at once. In little chunks here and there because I wake up thinking I gotta go on patrol or thinking I'm... somewhere else. You know? Like my subconscious hasn't caught up to the whole being on a boat thing. I fall asleep and wake up with no idea who I am or where I am, every goddamn morning. It fucking sucks. But it's getting a little better at least."

"Hot." Nobunaga blames Klaus completely for that comment. He is not that masochistic (generally speaking), but he is rather fond of violence. He has issues.

Nobunaga nods and understands instantly at the explanation. "Yes. My body hasn't caught up to not being under constant assassination attacks either. Were you able to join Siffleur's game yet?" A beat. "Not that it would help with the sleep necessarily. On that... any sleep at all is acceptable. Maybe something that could be done in a group could help too. Like the camping to map infinity trip. I will think more on it. Or you can ask Tendi. The future must have some better techniques."

"Eh, it can be. Not so much when I'm the one doing it tho." Despite having a deep, gruff, gravely voice, he's not that good at being domineering in the bedroom. A few moments of pushing people around here or there but ultimately he'd rather that be done to him.

"Oh I'm deff gonna try Siffleur's challenge. I needed to wait for this to heal cuz the blood smell would make it too easy for him." He holds up his right hand with the missing finger that's not bandaged anymore, but also not completely healed. Though he did a good job with the stitches. "Tendi's world probably has sleep pods that play nature sounds and stay at the perfect temperature the whole time..."

A small snort of amusement. Nobunaga prefers to be the sadist, but given his loyalty to Klaus, he purposely refrains from commenting.

"Reasonable enough," waiting to make it a challenge.

"Sleep pods huh? I wonder. Maybe for some people, but I got the impression she found beds as weird as I do. I kind of want to ask her now."

Pratt still thinks he has a solid chance of winning. He's hunted all kinds of things, a cougar shouldn't' be that different right? And if he loses he gets to play out some real weird kinks. Everyone's a winner!

"Wait you don't sleep in beds? Why the fuck not? You're the Demon King. You should have silk sheets and goosedown pillows."

Genuinely what Nobunaga wants for his two friends! And he will live vicariously since once again, it would seem he still cannot quite afford the steep cost (upsetting those he cherishes!)

Nobunaga blinks in surprise and laughs rather loudly, hoping it is mistaken for delight at the movie. Then aims a gentle nudge (a punch from a regular person, but enough strength to symbolize he believes Pratt can handle it, but could be very EASILY fended off!) with a fist to Pratt's shoulder. "Wahahaha! Is that kind of King you think I am?" Hilarious! "Hell doesn't have beds. Japan has futons. I'm told in the future they gain European furniture, but in my time, it would be an absolute waste of wood! Do you know how much wood I go through for construction of buildings, ships, and guns?"

His matchlock is mostly wood, because metal is even harder to acquire and smelt.

"No chairs either, I still haven't mastered it even here. I may have been the richest man in all the world in my time," hard to say, because he didn't know every single culture's rulers, and certainly he only found out from Clarke that Australia even existed! "But the future holds such incredible wealth, that even a starving counter-culture outcast like Jeff has experienced more wealth than the entirety of some nations or maybe even a continent in my time. Mufufufu..." Another chuckle. "Ah, it's a shame you missed the Captain's game show. It was hilarious. But this was why I didn't stand a chance. I'm very familiar with art." He gestures to the TV! "But did you know?" A finger goes to his lips conspiratorial and he winks. "Japan didn't even have a currency before."

Another laugh and a headshake. "Every daimyo paid their samurai separately and charged their lands whatever they wanted. In order to get trade with foreigners so we don't all starve to death and the cultists kidnap and indoctrinate children, I had to make Japan one land again. Demon Kings aren't born." A slightly grimmer shadow flicker, but the good humor doesn't disappear at least. "They are the survivors of the endless wars who get possessed when their hearts get blackened and souls grow vulnerable. So it's said. I didn't used to believe in souls so I wasn't worried. In any case... it means every other demon king, or any human with a conqueror's capacity wants to cut you down to be the new strongest. Do you know... this the most peace I've ever seen in all my life? That the future has so many billions of people, and all able to eat candy or have beds and chairs and text emojis,k and an entire culture around it... wahaha..." He lays on his back with a happy flop!

"It means all the pain was worth it. Demon King is an insult. The monks said it to rile each other up. They said I was Satan. Because I wanted people to live freely, and eat candy, and not suffer in the endless wars. That's what being the Demon King is. The most stubborn, and foolish. Believing not in Gods, but an impossible dream. That someday in the future, humanity will be able to bypass war with economics. That prosperity IS possible. And candy isn't wrong. That life isn't meant to be suffering." Another laugh and another attempt for an affectionate nudge! "That a world with luxury isn't morally reprehensible." It's so funny to him. Always is, somehow. "Truly heretical."

Leaning on one fist, the free hand puts a finger over his lips again, even though he's the loud chatterbox here! "I could have a European bed if I wanted back home, but all I really wanted was to be free, and go see Europe for myself instead. We couldn't get a pipe organ though. Luis Frois really wanted one for his Catholic churches. But even if we could ship the parts, the sheer expense given all the individual pieces and then assembling them again was insane. Too expensive for something no one in Japan might even appreciate, a total gamble. I told him to just adapt to our local instruments. Its more effective advertising, and people won't feel like it's forced on them if it adapts to our culture. Besides, as for beds... I slept better sitting upright in saddle surrounded by my army. Even in tents near the battlefield were a lot safer. No one is insane enough to try to fight my army to get to me, so that's when I was safest. Ah, but here, I have Klaus. And him I just have to convince he deserves better than the floor." Silly Klaus.

Pratt lets himself get punched because that's one of the physical interactions he's okay with! Weirdly sex and fighting is totally fine, but simple hugs or handshakes make him cringe and flinch away. He doesn't wanna unpack any of that.

He blinks as he listens, brow furrowing as he tries to process all of that. "No time for the fun shit if you're fighting all the time huh? That part I get anyway. Same for us. You're gonna end up like Jacob, not knowing what to do with himself when he's not at war. No idea how to just be a person anymore because he's a weapon and when that weapon isn't needed anymore..." Pratt frowns. "You know what, it sucks that he died actually. I wish he would have lived and had to survive in a bunker and have to learn dumb shit like how to grow plants and talk to people. It'd be like torture for him."

But back to the present!

"So being the Demon King both kinda sucks, and is awesome. At least you get a bed here, and someone to share it with." He grins, "Look at you learning all the basic boring human stuff."

Nobunaga was the same way. Crichton did a lot of work on him. Don't underestimate the fearlessness of the first Earthling to that side of the universe.

"I'm more a weapon now than I ever was before. But I haven't killed anyone on the ship, and if I can, I want to stay that way. I know how to be more than just a weapon, Deputy." Just yesterday he was baptized by Yato. Officially named, became a gunblade. But more than that, he's Yato's shinki. An ally. Yukine might not be here to be a guidepost, but Nobuanga intends to do his best to help Yato in all capacity he's got! "I've had to break a lot of samurai of their conditioning. The monks -- in order to keep their castes rigid, they break men. They convince the lower castes they will never be worth much as a person, and the royalty that they should be so afraid of losing their status that the only course for them is obedience. I'm the Demon King because I'm the opposite of that. I want samurai to be more than just their sword. I'll let you in on a secret."

He lays back onto his back, arms folded behind his head, looking relaxed despite the armor and weapons and the general wound up spring waiting on a hair's breadth for a reason to trigger and react. But again, one finger moves to his lips to indicate the secret. "My dream wasn't for power. Not even to be the strongest or richest man in the world. All these things I've done, and ever would have, I just wanted to explore. To see Europe, maybe even the first and only Japanese in my time to see the New World, America before it became called that. Being here... is a dream come true for me. Nothing in all my time could ever compare. Even if I unified Japan, solved all the daimyo, the cults, the ninja villages, the pirates, and every other damned country, I still couldn't see these future things outside of my hopeless dreamer ideas. The things everyone called impossible."

If he could tell his younger self anything, it would be that. That anything is possible with a strong enough will to make even reality bend to it.

"Being Demon King sucks. There is nothing awesome about it. If I could have left Japan as a teen I would have. No one leaves Japan. Even in Yato's and Yuuki's time it's unheard of. But when someone dies, those that inherit their position have to carry on their will and dreams, the things that person would have done if they didn't die. My father died when I was young. My siblings were all even younger. My father didn't see Owari united, couldn't prove his theories about trade or economic tactics correct. I couldn't escape until I saw Japan united. Not just the Oda clan, or Owari, but all of it. I had to drag Japan out of hell or die trying, so that someone else could carry on where I left off. Nothing less. I hate being the Demon King of 6th Heaven. Well, there's a lot I hate. But nobody wants to be a maou. It happens when you sink too far from humanity, do things no one should do, let yourself be consumed by darkness. Lose your soul for power. Without the power I couldn't free Japan. And I never believed in souls, so I didn't consider it a bad bargain to make at all. But you can't be free so long as you still seek power. The only way for freedom is to use that power to free everyone else, and then let them save you, even though it usually means letting go of that power completely."

Luckily that was always Nobunaga's plan. Unite Japan, depose the shogun, refuse to become shogun himself because then he'd be trapped in Japan forever, and give it Hideyoshi and Ieyasu to rule together instead while he got to FINALLY go explore and be free. "And salvation never comes from Gods. A god himself told me that." Yato, as a matter of fact. But also an important piece of Nobunaga's plan back home, because the Emperor wasn't directly god, so much as the descendant and acting regent (supposedly) but don't even get Nobunaga started on that blasphemy.

"This place is awesome for me too, because I'm kinda stuck in a small town in Montana and not that I don't like it, or well.. I guess most of it, I'm kinda trapped. I could move somewhere else but I don't make that much money, and it'd be looked down on so I dunno if a bigger town would even want a small town cop. Though maybe cuz I'm a pilot that would help." He shrugs, leaning foward to rest his chin on his palm. "But yeah, I get the whole doing anything to get outta somewhere and see other shit."

All the rest of that is kinda lost on Pratt who can't even conceptualize that amount of power. Even the cult hadn't reigned absolute, and they had been really secluded from the rest of the state even. "So now that you're not a Demon King anymore, and can't travel, what are you gonna do? Live happily ever after with Klaus? Because that's fucking adorable."

"I understand completely. If I could fly -- technologically in my time, I would have been hard to keep landed," a small grin. "You do have to have a certain amount of fearlessness about being looked down on. Though perhaps I have too much. I have been defying everyone's expectations my whole life that now Klaus tries to tell me not to do things that garner me scorn or loathing, and it's very hard to acclimate. Ah, but I do want to travel with him."

Blushing shocked Pikachu face, just as Klaus once told Pratt Nobunaga does without fail! "Sh-Shut up!" Ugh, he's torn between punching Pratt again or hiding his face! "N-No!? It's not -- not anything like that! Tcha... I'm still going to find a way to travel and live h-happ-- Sh-Shut up! Do you have a death wish even now?"

"Fearlessness is good tho. Fear is the mindkiller." He unfortunately doesn't remember the rest of that quote but he nods as if he's said something truly profound. "It's kinda different here, if you piss everyone off you can't get away from them. And they'll stop helping you when you need it. So you wanna be on their good side at least a little."

Oh no that face is extra adorable!

"I do but that's not related to this. Damn you're cute, I see what Klaus is all about here. Well I hope you get to travel and live happily ever after. It'd be a good 'fuck you' to the people back home yeah?"

"Whoa whoa whoa... cute? No?????" His voice goes from the deep bass of Demon King to sliding up several octaves like a slide whistle. He gives Pratt a hard shove. "Did my lucky number neglect to inform you I punish him every time he uses that word too? Tch!"

A forehead flick! Since he's pretty sure Klaus would rather Nobunaga kept his bitings to Klaus. "Even as a lion king, I am still capable of devouring souls or whole villages!" Grr grr!

Pratt laughs struggling to keep it under wraps and look super stoic. Nobunaga is super scary. Terrifying even. Pratt sure isn't thinking about how utterly adorable this all us.

"He didn't say anything about that. Come on, you can't devour my soul - Sharky would make the saddest faces at you. No one wants that."

Nobunaga doesn't laugh, but he does imagine that, and it's really amusing, and completely fair. So there's a giant grin, disrupting his flustered grumpy faces at least! "True enough. All right, I will not devour your soul, only mar it slightly." Stubborn armfold!

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Country roads, take me home

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Cw: cults

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