#but it's really not as often as one might suspect of 'platonic co-workers' | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mengestress · 8 years

Text

Nip at the Bud

Rating: General Audiences Category: M/M Fandoms: Bungou Stray Dogs Relationships: Kunikida Doppo/ Tanizaki Junichirou, Tanizaki Junichirou & Tanizaki Naomi Day 2: Hanahaki//Dreams “However, there are some people in this world that you can just never forget.” - Kunikida Doppo, River Mist and Other Stories

Read on AO3

The thumping sound of someone running across the room caused Naomi to stir on her sleep. She turned around and forced herself to open her eyes before sitting up and checking on her brother.

She sees the door of their bathroom opened slightly, the light coming from inside pouring out and lighting up the rest of the room slightly. As she got closer, she could hear the disgusting belching sounds of someone vomiting. She carefully opens the door to see her older brother hunched over the toilet bowl.

She immediately ran to his side and rubbed the back of his neck, giving him words or reassurance. For what seemed like hours, he finally stopped vomiting into the bowl. He laid back and Naomi quickly grabbed a glass of water and made him chug the whole thing down. She made a move to flush the toilet but halted when she saw yellow and green flowers in the toilet. She blinked a few times and stared at her brother, who was looking down at the half-full glass of water in shame. He has the Hanahaki Disease.

The Hanahaki Disease is an illness born from one-sided love, where the patient throws up and coughs up flower petals when they suffer from one-sided love. The infection can be removed through surgery, but the feelings disappear along with the petals. But considering her brother, there’s no way he’d want to go through surgery.

But then again, it could also cause death. The flowers would accumulate so much that it would block the lungs and windpipe, causing a lack of air for the patient. The sound of her brother coughing weakly brought her back from her thoughts. She immediately pressed the flush down and helped lift her brother up to their room. She decided to deal with this by asking Yosano tomorrow morning.

“The only other way to cure this disease is by having the patient’s feelings reciprocated,” Yosano says. “So far, no other methods have been discovered. This type of disease is hardly ever talked about, it is a very sensitive subject.”

Well, it does talk about one-sided love. “Who do you think my brother would have feelings for?” Naomi looks at the bag of flowers on her lap. “I didn’t even know he had feelings for other people. Even if he did, he hid it pretty well.”

“That’s Light Snow for you,” Yosano pushes up her glasses and leans forward on her desk. “Can i take a look at the petals?”

Naomi placed the bag on her desk slowly. She watched as the older woman take a peek at it and hummed in approval. She tied the bag up again and slid it back to her. “Well?”

“I can already guess who it might be,” she smirked. Something on her face tells that it must be someone they both know. “But it would be better if you asked him.”

“Thank you, Yosano-san!” She stood up from her chair and bowed. She looked at the bag of petals one last time before closing it and shoving it into her desk drawer.

The petals were yellow in colour, fading out into a bright green at the edges. She first suspected it was Kenji, since he had bright yellow hair. But she knew Junichirou only saw him as a younger brother, just like how Atsushi saw Kyouka as a younger sister.

That brought her suspicion to the weretiger. Her brother was undoubtedly close with Atsushi. Everytime the two were together, it blinded the entire Agency because of their purity and adorableness. She shook her head, Junichirou only loved Atsushi platonically. The two were extremely close but neither of them had actual romantic feelings for the other.

Her eyes began to roam the room to try and find who would her brother actually have feelings for. She saw him interact with all them the same way. But of course with Kunikida, he’d fidget a lot like playing with his sleeves or the hem of his shirt. It was logical, Kunikida was a frightening man in Junichirou’s perspective.

Junichirou would always talk really softly when speaking to him and sometimes tuck his hair behind his ear. He hardly made any eye contact with him, staring at the ground or wherever except Kunikida. He would even blush at just talking to him!

“Oh,” It finally hit her like a pile of bricks. His blonde hair, his green eyes, that tiny green book of ideals. Of course it’d be him.

She stared at the back of the man’s head and started to wonder how in the world had she not seen it sooner. She definitely had to make sure his love was reciprocated, no matter how many years it takes. For the sake of his health and love life, she’ll do it.

Junichirou felt like he was going to die. Every second was agonizing pain. The burning sensation in his lungs, the petals blocking up his windpipe and causing him to cough it up, making his whole body shake violently. It made him hard to breathe, every second the petals just keep growing more and more.

He couldn’t even focus on his work, everything was a blur. His breathe was shaky and his chest felt like it was going to explode. Who knew coughing up petals was so exhausting?

“Tanizaki, are you okay?” A hand rested on his back and a large figure loomed over him. He tilted his head up to look at whoever it was. “You can go back early if want to, I’ll cover up the rest of your work.”

“No! No,” Junichirou rubbed his eyes and shook his head, a sudden feeling of determination surged through him. “I-i’m fine. I can get through the rest of the day just fine.”

He looked up at Kunikida again, a smile plastered across his face in reassurance. He felt another cough building up. He quickly looked away from the man and brought a hand to cover his mouth as more petals were being coughed up. No way could the one man he had feelings for find out he had the Hanahaki disease.

A worried look was given by Kunikida. How does he manage to look so stern and strict, and yet show so much concern for him? Maybe Junichirou was just hallucinating. It must be some sort of side-effect from the disease.

“Alright, but if you really can’t handle it, feel free to rest in the infirmary or just leave earlier.” A tight squeeze on the shoulder and with that, the man left to sit back at his desk. Junichirou clenched his fists, his nails digging into the petals he had coughed up, teeth gritted.

Damn stupid disease, he couldn’t imagine having to live like this for the rest of his life. But the one truly to blame for was himself. He shouldn’t have let himself fall head over heels for his own co-worker. Especially not the one that was a total workaholic!

This wasn’t his first day coughing up flower petals. He’s known about it for days now, even before Naomi found out. It just wasnt as brutal and he was better at hiding it. But ever since that night, his condition has gotten worse. The coughing happened more than often, he was forced to bring extra paper bags just to hide them.

He mustn’t let anyone else know about this. Especially not the idealistic man himself. Anyone but him. He couldn’t bear the thought of him finding out that he had the one-sided love disease that was nothing more than just a urban legend. No one ever talked about it to the point where everyone seems to think of it as just fiction, as if the disease wasn’t an actual thing. Not that the disease was a topic that anyone would openly share about. An unrequited love is a very sensitive topic, no one in their right mind would even think to bring it up.

It pains Junichirou to think that Kunikida would never reciprocate his feelings. He knew it would never happen in the first place, but thinking about it made his heart ache. Kunikida was too uptight and focused on his work to care about his love life. Plus, according to Atsushi and Dazai, his standards of a lover is… indescribable. Unbelievable, even. Junichirou couldn’t even imagine what half of those things were.

Maybe I should go through the surgery after all…

“Nii-sama, that’s nothing like you to think that way!”

“Naomi, think about it. He’ll never like me back, he’s too caught up in his work and I doubt he even has the time to date! Not only that but who would even want to waste their time on some scrawny anxiety-filled teen like me? He is way out of my league and I have zero chance with him.”

“Atleast give it a try!”

“He’s too oblivious and dense to pick up a hint. Admit it Naomi, there’s nothing we can do to fix thi-” Junichirou starts to cough violently, petals falling through the gaps of his fingers.

Naomi rushes to the kitchen to grab a glass of water and brings a paper bag for him to hold onto, just in case.

“Like I said,” He wipes the spit from his lips with his sleeve and stares at the disgusting pile of petals mixed with his saliva on the ground and on his hand. “I have to go through that surgery, Naomi. There’s no other way.”

The words hung between them, both of them taking their own time to let it all sink in. It wasn’t like her brother to think like that. She knew him long enough to know that he wouldn’t do this. But apparently, she’d been proven wrong. She couldnt do anything, she felt helpless. She desperately wanted to help her brother. He had done so much for her, taken care of her ever since they were young when their parents were gone. He spent his whole life taking care of her, he often forgets to take care of himself.

Her brother has always been the selfless type. To the point where he would gladly sacrifice himself just for the sake of others. He would do anything to protect her and to keep her healthy and safe. For her brother to willing get rid of his feelings for the sake of being alive and well to avoid having her take care of him, was the most selfless yet selfish thing to do.

“Atleast…” Junichirou lifted his head up to look at his sister, her eyes brimmed with tears. Her hands were shaking and her lips were pursed. “Atleast give it a try… please…?”

He felt his breathe hitch. The last thing he wanted to do was to make his little sister worry. He quickly pulled her into a warm embrace and held her tightly. He ran his fingers through her hair and pressed his lips against the top of her head. “Alright, Naomi. I’ll try…”

“…Thank you.”

It was a weekend, the office was closed, and Junichirou had plans to just laze around at home doing nothing and catching up on his sleep after the sleepless nights of vomiting up petals. But sadly, it did not go his way since his younger sister was always two steps ahead of him.

“When I said I would give it a try, I didn’t mean go on a date with the one man I had feelings for!” The two siblings were sat at the dinner table the night before when the younger sibling decided to drop the big news.

“C'mon, Nii-sama! Who knows? Maybe that knucklehead does have feelings for you after all,”

“Keyword: ‘maybe’,” Junichirou shoved food into his mouth and chewed angrily. Naomi giggled at how adorable he looked, his cheeks red from anger and maybe a little bit of embarrassment, the food in his mouth making him resemble a chipmunk. “Don’t laugh at me when I’m trying to be mad at you!”

“Sorry, sorry! You’re just really cute, Nii-sama. Without a doubt, one date with you and that man will be wrapped around your finger. Trust me on this one!” Junichirou sighed, finally accepting his fate.

And now, here he is standing in front of the place where Naomi had agreed for the both of them to meet. He wished he could have just stayed at home the whole day, where there were plenty of water and paper bags that he could throw up in.

Now that he was in public, he’ll have to be more discreet with his petals. Especially with Kunikida around. He made sure to bring extra paper bags and a few handkerchiefs just in case. He brought one out from his pocket and coughed into it, a few petals wet from his saliva stuck on it. He scrunched his nose in disgust and folded the handkerchief before stuffing it back in his pocket.

“Good afternoon, Tanizaki,” a voice startled him, causing him to jump up slightly. A hand rested on his shoulder, as if to stop him from running away or jumping any higher. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I hope I wasn’t too late.”

“N-no! You aren’t late at all. I was just here a few minutes earlier y-y'know, I-I didn’t want to end up making you wait for me..”

They both stand there, an awkward silence between them. It only lasted for a few seconds before the older man cleared his throat before speaking. “So, you want to get this date started?”

“O-oh, right. Yes, of course!” Dammit, he forgot it was supposed to be a date! How do dates usually go? Do they go to a cafe and eat first? “Would you like to go grab something to eat?”

“That sounds like a good idea,”

"I know a cafe that Naomi and I tend to frequent. We know a few people who work there so we might get a good deal!“ Junichirou turned around to start walking but ended up almost getting hit by a motorcycle if it weren’t for Kunikida’s quick reflexes.

"Be more careful, Tanizaki. You might get yourself hurt,” His arm was wrapped completely around him, his hand rested on his waist. Junichirou’s smaller hands were resting against his broad chest, looking up at him in surprise. They both stare at each other before pulling apart, both of their faces red.

“S-sorry, I’ll be more careful next time.”

Kunikida stuck an arm out, his face turned away from him. “Here. Hold onto me while we walk so we don’t lose each other in the crowd.” Junichirou might’ve been hallucinating but he swears he saw a dust of pink on his cheeks as he asked that.

“O-okay,” He hesitantly wrapped both arms around the other’s before leading them both to their destination.

Upon reaching there, they were immediately greeted by several workers, including the janitors. They waved at them as Junichirou walked past them, finding a seat for the both of them. Once they were both seated, a waitress came up to them and grinned cheekily at Junichirou.

“What can I get you two love birds?” She winked at them. Both turning bright red, unsure of what to say. They weren’t exactly in love- not requited, anyway- nor were they dating. But this is a date..

“I would like to just get a cup of chamomile tea, please,” Kunikida spoke up, a tint of red could still be seen on his face. “And bring honey as well.”

“You like it sweet, eh? Well, Jun-kun is perfect for you then,” She winked yet again before turning to face Junichirou to take his order. “What about you, sweetie?”

“J-just hot chocolate, please…”

“Mm, hot and creamy,” She writes down the order while smiling to herself. “Just how you like your-”

“Go and find other people to bother, please!” Junichirou is basically red to the tip of his ears, trying to push the waitress away from the table, who was too busy laughing hysterically to care.

“Wait, wait-! You haven’t even ordered your food!”

Junichirou quickly spat out his order, followed by Kunikida calmly ordering his. After she had written everything down she left the two alone, he felt a wave of relief come over him. Now he doesn’t have to go through that awkward scene anymore.

“That was… interesting,” Kunikida spoke up. “Do you know her?”

“Yes, she’s a friend of mine and Naomi’s. Like I said, we both come here often so we know a lot of people who work here,” The waitress bursts out laughing once more, this time with another worker at the cashier. “Including her and her other friend.”

“Are they always like this?”

“Yeah, she’s got a real habit of laughing obnoxiously loud. But she’s pretty cool to hang out with if I’m honest. They’re all really nice and fun to be with, plus, their food and drinks are to die for.”

He unconciously tucks his hair behind his ear, his gaze on the table. He didn’t realize that the older man was staring at him, a weird, new feeling growing inside of him. He also didn’t realize the soft smile on his face as he stared at him.

After they were done, they exited the cafe. Junichirou looked back and waved at them as several workers were shouting “bye"s at him. He turned back in front and smiled to himself. Kunikida stuck his arm out again, and this time, Junichirou willingly wrapped his arms around it.

"Where to?” Kunikida asks. His face was stoic and emotionless, as if he didn’t enjoy himself. What if he actually didn’t like Junichirou at all. What if he was just pretending to like him this whole time for the sake of teamwork and friendship? What if he was forced against his own will to go on a date with him because of his sister? What if- “Tanizaki? Are you okay?”

“What? Oh, yes- yes, yes! I-I’m okay,” He mentally smacked himself. He was too anxious that he wasn’t aware of his surroundings. “Uh, I don’t really have any idea on what to do…”

“It’s alright. We could just walk around town and see if there’s anything interesting,” Kunikida proceeded to walk, tugging Junichirou along with him through the crowd.

There were suddenly a lot more people than before, Junichirou’s grip on Kunikida’s arm tightened and he unconciously moved closer to his body. He was never a big fan of crowds, especially packed ones. He made it an effort to always stay indoors when there was something going on or when it was a crucial time of the day for everyone to go out.

Suddenly Kunikida pulled his arms away. Junichirou felt a pang of sadness hit him. He thought maybe he was gripping too hard on his arm or maybe he was being too close for comfort. He was ready to apologize before he felt the same arm wrap around him and pulled him closer. His hand held onto the other side of his arm, keeping him close.

Junichirou, not knowing what to do with his arms now that their free, wraps them around himself. They both walk like this as they look at different shops and their contents. Junichirou would stop to see whatever clothings they were selling and he’d be so fascinated.

Little did he realize, Kunikida had been staring at him the whole time. He kept watching him and seeing the different adorable expressions he makes. He looked so innocent and cute, it was overwhelming. How could a man possibly control himself around him or at the very least, not develop feelings for the young man?

“Kunikida-san! Kunikida-san, look!” The younger male was jumping up and down excitedly like a little boy seeing his favourite toy. He was tugging at his sleeve, like how a child would tug their mother’s. “It’s a puppy! It’s so cute!”

He runs to the window of the let shop and rests his hands on the pane, staring at the shiba inu who was doing the same action. Kunikida swears he could see a dog tail wagging and dog ears on Junichirou. That would be an interesting sight…

“Kunikida-san, look how cute it is! It’s so tiny and fluffy- ugh, I wanna hug it!” Junichirou threw himself onto Kunikida, his arms wrapped around his middle.

Kunikida felt his heart speed up as he realized what was going on. Junichirou was hugging him. He was rubbing his face on his chest, his body pressed up close against his. He was definitely too adorable, Kunikida was going to die at age 22, in the arms of an angel.

Junichirou must’ve realized what he was doing because he stopped his actions and about to step away before Kunikida rested a hand on his head. He looked up at him, his cheeks flustered and his eyes shining with hope.

“Y-yea, it does look pretty cute too…” Kunikida mutters it, but loud enough for Junichirou to hear. Both of their faces heating up. Kunikida covered his bottom half with his hand, Junichirou shoved his face back into Kunikida’s chest.

Kunikida-san just called me 'cute’…! “Th-thank you…”

“Just stating the truth,” He clears his throat, red still seen on his face.

The dog, unaware of the situation, started barking and jumping around in it’s cage. Junichirou smiled at it and blew a kiss to it. “Sorry, we should be getting back now. I hope you find a good home!”

The sun was already setting when the both of them decided to head back home. They were in their original positions, Junichirou with both arms wrapped around Kunikida’s. They were mostly silent throughout the walk, Junichirou had found a rock big enough for him to kick around.

When he kicked the rock too hard, it fell into the road. Getting lost among the other rocks on it. “Ah, damn. Hey- that’s my place.”

“So this is goodbye,” Kunikida says before pulling away from the other. “I hope you had a great day today. I know I did”

“Don’t make it sound so dramatic! And.. yeah, I did have a great day with you,” Junichirou was playing with the hem of his shirt, avoiding eye contact with the other man.

Kunikida found himself smiling and before he was aware of what he was doing, he lifted up the other’s chin and pressed his lips against his forehead. “Goodnight, Junichirou.”

He turned around before the younger male could even process what just happened. It happened too fast, too short. He lifted a hand up to touch the spot where Kunikida kissed him. His hand slipped down to his cheek, bringing the other hand to the other side. He felt his face warm up for the umpteenth time.

And the best part of it all, he no longer felt the need to cough up anymore petals.

#i feel like this is so shitty but i hope this is good enough #huhu #kunichirou #kunikida doppo #tanizaki junichirou #bsd #bungou stray dogs #bsd rarepairweek #day 2

22 notes · View notes

spookygondolier · 3 years

Text

Okay so I made it through Doctor Who season 11 and... realized why I took a break halfway through to rewatch Peter Capaldi. I’m just gonna spew out some of my thoughts (under a cut because I got a little rambly at 2:30am last night)

Overall I’ve found Chibnall disappointing so far, which is a bummer because I really enjoyed Broadchurch and I had high hopes when he was first announced as the new showrunner. The shows are very tonally different, though, so maybe that’s part of it? I feel like the pacing often seems slow and I feel like he’s trying maybe a bit too hard to make it different from previous seasons.

Like for example, there was not a single appearance by an old monster/enemy, which I had mixed feelings about- I don’t like when it feels like they’re over-relying on bringing back the usual suspects but, like, not a single Dalek or Cyberman or w/e, not even in the finale? (Which, since it was only one part and didn’t really feel much larger-scale than the episode before, I didn’t actually realize was the season finale til it was over). I’m curious to see what he does with returning villains in season 12, though I was disappointed when I read something about the soundtrack that mentioned they’re not re-using old musical themes for the Cybermen or anything.

It also felt like there were fewer references than usual to, like, any point in the Doctor’s past. Again, I find it a bit annoying if it feels like they’re just trying to keep up a constant stream of clever references, but I do appreciate a clever reference once in a while. For example in “It Takes You Away” it’s like okay so you’re in this Norwegian cottage trying to find the blind girl’s father and after going through a spooky liminal cave space you end up trapped in a mirror/copy version of the world and you’re like ‘hm, who could create such a place?’ Like idk Doctor, what about the spooky monks from last season who created multiple copies of the world, and you could visit different locations by traversing a weird liminal space and going through an open portal-door, during a period of time when you yourself were also blind? Like we’re not going to even vaguely acknowledge the parallels here? Okay

I do appreciate Jodie Whittaker though and I feel like she’s doing the best she can with what she’s got. Her version of the Doctor has a fun bouncy energy that reminds me of David Tennant and Matt Smith, her experimenting with slang is adorable, and her outfit is fantastic. She has a very cool sonic screwdriver as well. I do feel like the way she’s written feels less... idk how to describe it but like less confident or less in charge, more of a team player than a leader. Which is fine! It’s a change from most Doctors’ overconfidence (or just straight-up arrogance depending on the Doctor), but seems like kind of a weird change to make specifically for the first female Doctor

I like the idea of the companions, it’d be nice if there weren’t so many of them so they actually had time to develop deeper personalities. I do generally prefer platonic Doctor-companion relationships so it’s nice to see more of that

Overall it just feels...a little bland? Like they’re playing it safe. I think it’s hilarious (and worrying) that apparently people have been accusing the show of trying to push a “leftist agenda” or whatever when actually the show tries to touch on social issues but often does it in like the most milquetoast way possible- ‘hm I suppose Space Amazon might have some flaws, but it’s not actually the system’s fault. At least the workers are getting some paid vacation now!’ Like even Moffat’s writing had more teeth then that.

Another example: the Rosa Parks episode was good in theory but, watching it as a white person, I felt like it was trying to tiptoe around the more painful parts of racism to protect my White Feelings. It felt, again, like a sort of overly careful attempt to confront racism by focusing on a pretty well-known and non-controversial topic (the Montgomery bus boycott) and I didn’t feel like it really had much to say to make me challenge my own preconceptions or internalized racism. It’s really good that they made a specifically anti-racist episode (co-written by the show’s first POC writer- which, seriously, did it really take this long for that to happen?? yikes), but I still came away feeling like the writing was trying to congratulate me for being a progressive modern person who can acknowledge that blatant displays of racism are, in fact, bad. I also sort of felt like the usual sci-fi/historical adventure feel got pushed to the side in favor of making an Issue Episode about the American Civil Rights Movement, but in a way that felt like something I would’ve watched in 8th grade US History, which is probably why some people are whining that the show is trying to beat them over the head with a political agenda. I personally think it would’ve been more interesting if they’d chosen to focus instead on, say, the Black Panthers or the civil rights movement in Britain.

Anyway I’ve heard that season 12 gets a bit better, so I’m gonna try not to be too cynical going in. I’m curious to see what they do with the new version of the Master and I guess I’ll wait and see if the companions ever get more character development haha. I know some people are all up in arms about the Timeless Child thing (which I know...vaguely what it’s about) but I feel like Doctor Who has always played pretty fast and loose with its own canon so I’m waiting to see if they handle it in a way that makes sense or if it ends up feeling weird and contrived

#doctor who blogging #i think i'll go back and tag my other dw posts as well for organization

0 notes

knight-otu · 6 years

Text

After Action Report - Known Unknowns, by Brendan Patrick Hennessy

Over several sundays in May, June, and July, Clubfloyd played the Twine game Known Unknowns.

Known Unknowns is a Twine game, meaning it is played in a web browser - you click on links representing your decisions, and the page changes in response. This means browser games are not something the Club can normally play - someone has to paste the content of the page to the mud. This was done by the organizer of the club, Jacqueline.

The game

ANJA: Hey Kaz. (She looks around.) ...I thought you said you had that newspaper thing tonight. YOU: This is the newspaper thing. ANJA: ...Wow, Nazari. Some turnout.

Known Unknowns, released in four chapter throughout 2017, is set in a modern-day Toronto, with some supernatural elements. The protagonist, Nadia Nazari, is the editor of the school newspaper along with her friend Kaz, struggling with keeping the newspaper alive, her social life, and strange happenings in the closed off north wing of the school. Navigating these treacherous waters is the drive here.

From here on, there will be spoilers. If you wish to play the game, you should avoid reading on.

The play

YOU: Hi Dramas. COOL DRAMA: Actually I think the "drama" this week is you.

Known Unknowns is divided into four chapters. Naturally, we started with the first, which takes us three years back from the main story. In that flashback we shortly meet Nadia's friend Summer on the day their friendship shattered - for as of yet unknown reasons. The flashback ends with Summer fleeing our home making weak excuses, but what exactly happened remains unknown for now - unknown, but guessable.

Back in the present, we are introduced to our newspaper proplems, our co-worker Kaz, and their sister Anja (who instantly fails to make a friendly introduction.) Soon after, we are introduced to the supernatural elements of the world, as purple smoke pours in from the under-renovations north wing and we run into a strange raccoon that Kaz is certain is a ghost, and that speaks in emoji (yes really). Maybe that ghost thing is something for our newspaper?

[clubfloyd] Jacqueline says, "I have not been telling you about the images." [clubfloyd] Jacqueline says, "But you all should possibly know that Annette is wearing a witch hat."

The next day, the hunt is on. Not for ghostly raccoons, though. Nadia wants to hunt for Summer, who, as we previously learned, has returned to our school, and is now friends with Anja. She wants to make up (or, as we quickly decided, make out) with Summer over what happened a few years ago. Naturally, we tried to avoid that - it felt far too much like an unhealthy teen obsession...

... and surprisingly enough, the game allowed us to tarry, meet people (such as Jayden, who in turn is unhealthily obsessed with us, Allen, our boyfriend, Marc Sherbourne, a teacher way too obsessed with appearing to be in line with student culture, Annette, the asexual witch, Olivia Kwon, an ice skater who for some reason we always call by her full name, Docteure Rouillé, who refuses to sully the French language by teaching us... you get the picture), and allowed us to not ask about Summer.

One thing we soon realized is that, when talking to people, you often only get one chance to ask something, and then the conversation moves on. As such, we often could not ask everything we wanted, such as when trying to recruit Olivia for the newspaper, we couldn't tell her that there are other jobs beyond writer, after we told her that she could be a sports writer.

MILES: And had you eaten dinner? YOU: ...Does candy count as dinner? MILES: No.

During French class, Nadia manages to further antagonize Anja by pulling her on the seat next to her in order to avoid Jayden. And the teacher forbids changing seats over the course of the year. Oops. Also, we're getting clues that Anja might not like our bisexual cooties (our words, not the game's). She does get us out of homework with Jayden, but we owe her for this.

We do meet Summer a few times, but either she flees the scene or Anja intervenes, and we do get to talk about the supernatural a few times, especially with Annette. We (and the rest of the school) also get a rather glittery party invite from some guy called Kipling, and after a fight with our boyfriend Allen, rescue Summer from a ditch, though things are still awkward.

We finally reach the end of the chapter about when we'd had to stop anyway, as Nadia confides in Kaz about what happened that fateful day, about the deep connection she felt with Summer, and how she tried to kiss Summer that day - which was what caused her to flee in the first place. Sending Allen (then just a friend of both) to talk didn't help, and Anja began hating Nadia shortly thereafter too - but Kaz is certain that their sister doesn't hate Nadia for being bisexual. They themselves are quite too excited about Nadia being bisexual, though. Next stop - Kipling's party in chapter 2.

In between sessions, I took a look at the game myself because I was curious about the portraits, and it turned out they are clickable for more info. Jacqueline then found out during the second session that Nadia actually keeps a diary of sorts that we could look at.

YOU: Ugh... this was a bad idea. KAZ: What was a bad idea? YOU: Coming here! The whole plan! How the heck am I going to work up the courage to hash out this enormous impossible situation when Summer won't even talk to me for more than three seconds???

Chapter 2 starts with another flashback (this will be the case for all four chapters), a few months before the fateful kiss. Summer dragged us to a party where Allen asked us to dance and later danced with Summer.

The chapter proper starts in Allen's home where we learn that he does not plan to attend the party. Kaz and Anja (the latter to Nadia's annoyance) come and drive Nadia to the party, where we soon meet our host Kipling who everyone loves for his drunk pool teen parties with several unused bedrooms (that yes, become occupied later). Kipling is the son of rich parents who are rarely at home.

Over the course of the party, we meet a couple new people, such as the "drama kids", see some evidence that people at least suspect that Nadia isn't straight, and we have our second run-in with a ghost, this time in human form. He apparently looks familiar, and "tells" us that we know him from the newspaper, and that his death is connected with France in some way. And... for some reason, occasionly let slip a word in emoji/ghost speech (however that works).

After witnessing a bit of awesomeness from Olivia, Annette thinks it's time for some relationship counseling, we text our boyfriend, get into a fight with him, and distractedly run into Anja and spill our drink on her. She gets annoyed by our apologies. We're not going to be friends, apparently.

YOU: You can use magic, right? So could you— ANNETTE: Oh my god! I can use magic! Nadia! You're a genius!

After a quick diversion where we try to help Annette find her phone, we meet Kaz who tries to point us at another girl at the party, which is where Jacq notices the Journal option I mentioned before. We read through it, concluding the session mid-chapter.

Starting the third session at the same point, we protest that, firstly, we have no idea whether the girl is attracted to women (Kaz is sure most people are queer, at least people they know, but can't elaborate), and secondly, that we have no idea how to hit on other people (Allen made the first move in that relationship).

After a bit of wandering, we meet back with Anja. Apparently her not hating us is too much to ask for. I think that's the point where we decided that she burned all bridges that might have possibly been mendable still. Only place left is the upstairs, where a dance party is going.

As we play wallflower, Jayden tries to talk with us, and since it's too loud, we go outside of the mansion. We try to call him a platonic friend so that hopefully he gets the signal. Nadia leaves out the all-important word platonic though (thanks a lot, game), and he makes a move. We nope away from him, send him home, and run straight into, who else, Anja. She gets on our case, sounding sarcastic when we tell her that we told him not to talk to us anymore.

Kipling offers some "sage" advice as we tell him about Anja (this is a point where we really wanted to have multiple chances to offer a topic - every single one was worth being told, really, especially the Jayden situation), and we find Kaz out back. And here we get the option we've been waiting for...

YOU: Kaz. Am I him? Am I Summer's Jayden? KAZ: What? No. Come on. YOU: Seriously. Am I just the clueless person who can't take a hint? She already rejected me once.

Kaz denies the possibility, naturally. And then, Summer enters the scene. We talk to her, offer to clear the air, and then Anja intervenes, claiming that we have already made our position quite clear. Fed up with her, we stop trying to take the high road, and after some verbal blows, she asks whether we think Summer deserved what happened three years ago, whether it is her fault, and is utterly disgusted by the idea that no one supposedly was at fault. Something isn't adding up here. What it is, we'll learn in the next session and chapter - the one where everything* we know turns out to be wrong.

*Disclaimer - Not everything we know turns out to be wrong.

Chapter three, and the fourth session, starts with the obligatory flashback, our first meeting with Anja, a month after the fateful day and before Anja starts hating us. After a few niceties and helping each other, we meet with Allen, who tells us that Summer has no interest in talking to us.

ROUILLÉ: It was a mistake to permit any of you to speak French at all. The crimes you have made against the greatest language in human history are too large for me to think of. Every single one of your presentations was a unique and horrible insult. (You stare down at your desk.) ROUILLÉ: Alors, you have a new assignment. In the same groups, you will write a letter of apology to the French language, expressing your shame and regret at having so degraded it. Now sit in silence until the bell rings.

Back in the present, I want to talk about a silly theory I had (which turned out false anyway), but history teacher Sherbourne once more proves that adults are useless in this universe as he tries to relate a historical event to... The Dress. After he assures us that he is "woke" enough that we can talk to him, we leave.

Next up, we talk to Kaz about the unpleasant things to do, such as homework with Anja, who promptly arrives and tosses said homework at us without a word. That item checked off, an unpleasant talk with our boyfriend Allen is on the list next. But first, a soothsaying/weird question session with Annette that apparently tells her that we'll have a busy week, and a talk with Kipling about his post-party despression. The talk with Allen then ends up not being a talk.

In French the next day, Anja makes us call ourself an idiot through the provided homework. Nice going. Worse yet, we have to go through this again with a different homework assignment. While complaining about Anja to Kaz, they try to remove a painting of the newspaper's founder because Nadia is too obsessed with what he would have done. It goes poorly, and they propose sneaking into the closed-for-renovations north wing with a ghost detector from the internet. Naturally, we are skeptical, but go along anyway.

For some reason that in retrospect seem silly, we decide to leave as few traces as possible. While that didn't last quite as long, we missed a few things as a result before we bump into the drama kids chilling here. After some more exploration we reach our goal, the auditorium and memorial hall, where we reach a very strong hint about the identity of our ghost summoner.

KAZ: You're hyperventilating. YOU: No that's too much air. "Hyper." Means too much. I'm hypoventilating. Look on WebMD for that.

The ghosts soon make another appearance, and as we talk, we realize that the ghost is that of the newspaper's founder, who died in France in World War I. Speaking with Kaz then reveals that we have seen and heard something entirely different from them - they are not aware that the ghost communicated, or that the ghost of the newspaper's founder was there, just the raccoon.

Our revelation is disturbed by the arrival of the ghost summoner. We film them with our phone and flee the scene. The next day after school, Annette coven-iently appears quite soon, and we show her our footage. She is clearly concerned about "our" interest in forbidden bone magic.

Right after that, Allen comes up to drive us home. And this time, the talk happens. And it reveals that Allen has been lying to us for three years. He deliberately sabotaged our relationship with Summer who, it turns out, was attracted to us. He then told her and us that each did not want to talk with the other, and when we reveal that, yes, we would have gone out with Summer had she asked, he acts as if he is the victim, not getting the idea that people can be bisexual.

After the fight and a tearful night, the school day starts oddly as people offer up either support or scorn. Yes, Allen did the scumbaggy thing of telling everyone that we're gay (rather than the correct bisexual), and even, as we hear from Kaz, that we supposedly "asked for permission to cheat on him."

Nadia is getting a panic attack, so Kaz and a new friend swiftly bring us home. To distract us, Kaz suggests that we call the local graveyards to see if they're missing bones, as those are an important part of that forbidden bone magic. After a few rather fruitless calls, we do get one last call. It's Summer. And that's where the chapter (and session) ends.

KAZ: Think about it. Our school is haunted by evil spirits and we have an exclusive on the story. It'll break huge! More readers, more prestige, more volunteers! Its win-win-win.

The flashback starting the fourth chapter takes us to three months after the fateful day, when Allen had just hooked up with us. We want to tell Summer about that, which Allen is naturally nervous about - but Summer has already transferred away, and Anja hates us now.

Back in the present, our new friend drives us and Kaz to school after we stayed home for a few days. We get reassurance from a few characters such as Olivia Kwon, who we still call by her full name for some reason, and even Jayden tries to make some amends. Annette, worried about what we may be going through, hands us a pamphlet that urges us to "Say 'no' to forbidden bone magic, and she isn't convinced by our assurances that we are doing just that and are investigating something.

After another instance of Marc Sherbourne being a bad teacher, we accompany Summer on part of her way home, give out apology candy to her. Summer assures us that she should have come to the same conclusions that we should have come to, namely that they wouldn't just abandon each other, and so they are both to blame about the same. We also learn that we didn't entirely destroy Summer's life.

Back at the school newspaper, we still don't have more people to help, so Kaz suggests checking the graveyards again - there are some that don't have a public phone number. A bit of thought narrows things down to one abandoned graveyard that's been surrounded by a highway and abused as a parking spot for construction vehicles. Seems we'll need to borrow our new friend's car to get there. That friend is a bit sceptical about our secret mission, but allows it, and schedules a day for shared homework.

At the graveyard, we do indeed find a disturbed grave, but not only we don't have a plan for that, Nadia has another panic attack. We drive home and come clean to our friend about the graveyard visit and the panic attack. The next day, she convinces us to leave our recruitment drive, which didn't go well anyway, to Kaz alone to watch some Lacrosse training together, meeting some of the players, as well as Summer and Kipling on the way. There is an overabundance of artsy skulls being mentioned by people. Soon it's the next evening, and homework time with our new friend. We go through it with the help of some shared pizza, and when we go to print it out, Nadia spies a downloaded episode of a teen series. She insists on seeing it, and we end up in our friend's dark room on her bed to watch it, though she insists that we don't disturb the watching (naturally, that promise doesn't go well, but she minds less than we expected). At the start of this awkwardness, we decide to end the session, to be concluded in a sixth session.

ANJA: I legitimately hate you.

Things progress as one might expect at the start of the final session, as the disturbing the watching turns to talking about kissing turns to us and our new friend kissing and falling asleep on her bed. It doesn't take Kaz and Annette long to learn about it the next times we meet them. Furthermore, our joint homework turns out a huge success, despite the teachers' horrible incompetence. An encounter with Allen drops the good atmosphere - he seriously asks if we hate him. Honestly, what does he think? During our next newspaper meeting, our new friend suggests telling someone about the ghost summoner. She's right, but telling her is not an option, so we go with the objection that we were trespassing ourselves. She is also worried about Nadia's health, and guess what? Our choices are deflection and denial. Since we can't tell our friend that she's right, again, we go with denial. Which reveals that we had another panic attack the day after the hookup, which we kept secret so she wouldn't worry that it's her fault. During the argument, Kaz sees the ghost summoner on some camera we had set up.

We may have the ghost summoner where we want them to be, and sneaking after them might be the best idea for both investigating and delaying them for the police. Our friend has the sensible idea of informing Summer to call the police if she doesn't check in regularly, and to pre-dial the number for the police. As we film the summoner, our suspicions from earlier are confirmed, but they also spot us and Kaz in the process. Our new friend avoids detection and hits them with a racoon, allowing us to flee through a suddenly labyrinthine north wing with sometimes really crazy directions. Once we get out, they capture Kaz, but the police also arrives and apprehends them despite their attempts to shift the blame on us. We're reminded just how useless adults are in this town as we practically have to force the police to take our statements. Summer is also there - she had called the police earlier than we wanted, but that's a good thing. Unfortunately, the investigation seems to have been for naught, as the school administration forbids release of the issue - as the ghost summoner was a faculty member. But then....

GRADE 9: Um, hey. Are you the ones who make the cool illegal newspaper?

The replay

KAZ: It says "Dear Sylvie, do you want to go to the grad dance with me?" And there are boxes for Yes and No. YOU: Which one did she pick? KAZ: Neither. (They hold up the paper.) She drew a house on fire.

After we finished the last chapter, I decided to do a quick replay to see how much the choices we are being offered actually matter. How much can the story change?

My findings were interesting, I feel, At times I got text that we did not see during our initial play that could have made, for example, our relationship with Anja even worse, sometimes the texts were not particularly different, especially when it came to the chapter enders. There were no true branches that I found beyond one possible one below, but during exploring, I found some optional encounters (such as Annette being sick in the bathroom during the party) and an alternate route through the north wing in chapter three (and what might be even sillier directions through the same building in chapter 4).

I do think there is one big potential branch I did not take (and thus cannot verify), but I may have gotten the option to reject the hookup near the end (and possibly even in a soft way or a harsh way). It being near the end does mean that it's easier to write a branching story here, but it does mean that there are a number of scenes that either can't happen or have to happen differently if it's the case. I probably should do a second replay to see whether it does branch out.

In conclusion

Operation Make My Ex Best Friend Hate Me A Little Bit Less is moving forward...

I found Known Unknowns to be an engaging story with a number of rather frustrating portions. The first one was Nadia's obsession with Summer, and her inability to see that she is, to all appearances, Summer's Jayden. Even when it turns out that Nadia and Summer were deceived by Allen, it still reads as an unhealthy obsession. The second one was that in conversations, for each branch we could only get one option. In most cases, this was actually fine and made the flow of conversation seem more realistic, but there were a number of cases where it was really grating, especially during the party.

The third big thing was when the sensible option was simply missing. At one point, we had the option of going out for a smoke with Olivia, or ask her about Summer - drugs, or obsession? Turned out it was normal cigarettes, but still. Worse the situation with our new friend at the end of chapter four when we couldn't tell her she was right, twice. Surely even with these options, the story could have proceeded as it did - the ghost summoner was coming up anyway, and we'd have gotten the satisfaction of making the right choice.

A particular point of contention was the emoji speak of the ghosts. I don’t think anyone liked them. I skimmed them personally, even during the replay where I saw them as intended (on the MUD, they appeared in the form of “newspaper emoji”, which didn’t help matters either). I’m sure they made sense on paper - they’re described as a sort of emotional, mental communication after all - but we mostly just made fun of them when we weren’t annoyed by them.

The game has a large and diverse cast. The most important people do get a portrait with supplemental information, but not all of them. Parts of the game do seem like a love letter to diversity and nonbinary people, though Jacq did note at some point - "I (do not) like how it only lists orientation if it's not-straight". In the end it turns out, those really are what Nadia knows, and in some cases, Nadia doesn't know something very important. The large cast and the need to split the game over multiple sundays had some unfortunate side effects - some of the weeks managed to blur together to where we weren't sure what happened when, and we managed to forget things. As an example, between session one and two, I completely forgot who Annette and Jayden were (and Annette is probably among the most memorable NPCs in this game.) It probably didn't help that we played American Angst in-between, but that's not much of an excuse.

The game did manage to make many of us care about many of the NPCs in the intended way - we disliked Anja about right when she entered the scene, took pity on Allen when we still thought that he was the rebound. Near the end, we discussed for quite a bit whether to ask Annette about our findings - she might have been in on the ghost summoning, or she might put herself into danger investigating on her own. (That scene actually raises another branching possibility - the scene might be what triggers her giving us the pamphlet, which in turn plays a role in the final confrontation with the ghost summoner - if it is, what takes the pamphlet's place in the confrontation? Or does Annette put 2 and 2 together from our other investigations and still gives us the pamphlet?) Even the ghost summoner is not a mustache-twirling villain per se - they are not good people, but they have an understandable motive.

Tropewise, Known Unknowns gleefully takes the Adults are Useless trope, and stretches it to its inevitable conclusion. The only adults that aren't completely incompetent are only mentioned in passing. Most parents are notably absent - literally in the case of Kiplings parents, who are chilling at the other end of the world, letting their son throw huge drunk pool sex parties (probably with other drugs thrown in) with the only supervision being Kipling. The teens naturally enjoy those, but it should be obvious just how questionable they are at this scale. The teachers we meet are especially bad at their job - the French teacher doesn't allow anyone speaking French, the History teacher too desperately tries to be one of the students to be an effective teacher, going so far to show "epic fail" videos in class.

Known Unknowns was nominated for several XYZZY awards - best game, writing, story, NPCs overall, Individual NPCs (Anja, Kaz, and Olivia), Individual PC (Nadia), and Use of Multimedia. Though it didn't win in any category, these nominations were definitely deserved in my opinion. Not all players were on-board with the game as much. Part of it was the parser vs choice debate that divides the IF community, and part of it was that the game did, in fact, take six sessions to complete, and patience was running thin. There was also some who felt that the characters did not feel like teenagers.

I do feel there were a few questions that remained unanswered - Was there a reason why Nadia was so sensitive to the presence of the ghosts? Did the ghost summoner actually summon he ghost they wanted, or were we right when we said that they got the wrong ghost? AND WHY IN THE NAME OF ALL GHOST RACCOONS DID WE KEEP CALLING OLIVIA BY HER FULL NAME!?

#interactive fiction #ClubFloyd #Known Unknowns #Brendan Patrick Hennessy #Twine

0 notes