#trust me that will be important later

[misslisamiray]

It's a day later than I originally planned to get this posted (on a related note, I might just switch to Monday being the regular update day), but here we go: Time for chapter 3 of Down With the Rickness!

“Morty, stop staring at me like that. I’m gonna be OK, and you oughta get out of here and *Cough!* *Cough!* go to school.” Rick said flatly.

“It’s still dark out! And it’s Saturday! It figures the one time you actually want to let me go be a normal kid and go to school, it’s not even open, and, and…” Morty started to object. Then, something occurred to him, and, becoming almost frantic, he quickly switched to, “Holy shit, you never tell me to go to school! You’re always talking about how it’s a waste of time and not a place for smart people, and how you’re doing me a favor every time you pull me out of there! Oh, man. You must be a lot sicker than I thought, Rick! Here, let me see. You feel warm. Like, you’ve definitely got a fever. At least, I’m pretty sure you do. But it doesn’t seem bad enough for you to be hallucinating, or your brain melting, or…”

At this point, he had one hand pressed against Rick’s forehead and the other on his right shoulder. A look of surprise crossed Rick’s face when Morty first knelt down to check his temperature. That was a nice gesture, but now the boy was caught in a wave of worried rambling he couldn’t stop. And frankly, Rick needed him to stop.

Grabbing Morty by the shoulders and shaking him, he said, “Morty, listen! Shut up and listen! *COUGH!* I am going to be fine, and you need to calm down. You’re right about one thing, though. ‘Go to school?’ I am just as surprised as you are, not to mention disgusted, that I couldn’t come up with something, anything better than that. I can see how that set off more alarm bells than the actual alarms from earlier. Listen close, Morty, because I will not repeat this, understood?”

“O-okay. Go ahead.” Morty stammered, still holding onto his grandfather’s shoulder.

Rick took a long swig from his flask, then continued, “I don’t get sick often, Morty. It’s been years since the last time. *Achoo!* Maybe decades? Hell if I know at this point. But when I do, it fucks me up bad, no matter how minor an illness it actually is. Even just a stupid cold like I have is enough to… Errr, I mean, like the Mimicking Disease is making me think I have, ummmm…” Struggling to keep his train of thought, Rick realized he’d let something slip that he hadn’t meant to. He hoped Morty hadn’t noticed, but the look on his grandson’s face quickly dashed that hope. The concern was still there, but it was now mixed with annoyance and realization.

“Uh-huh. You don’t say.” Morty said, pushing past Rick to get a look at the computer screen displaying the test results. They were still there, clear as day: A strain of rhinovirus, often referred to as the common cold. Morty re-read the words several times to be sure he was seeing what he thought he was, then turned back to Rick and asked, “God dammit, Rick. Do you seriously just have a fucking cold?!”

Rick tried and failed to think of a new lie, and, coming up with nothing, nodded in response. As if emphasizing the fact, he sneezed loudly again. Both he and Morty sighed.

“Let me guess. Summer figured it out. Or was at least close to figuring it out. And that’s why you sent her away?”

“Yep.” Rick admitted, sounding defeated and wrapping his arms around himself. He was sure it wasn’t usually this cold in the garage.

“Rick, isn’t that dangerous? What if she gets in trouble?”

“Morty, r-relax. Nothing’s going to happen to Summer, except being bored out of her mind for a few days running dull, lame-ass errands I’ve been putting off because I didn’t want to bother with them. And she’ll probably be super pissed off at me about it when she gets back. *Cough!* Trust me, nothing on that list is interesting enough to be dangerous. Your sister can take care of herself just fine, but to be on the safe side, I didn’t send her anywhere crazy. Since, you know, I’m clearly not up to any rescue missions today.” Rick explained, the annoyance in his congested voice palpable at that last part.

“Okay, I guess that makes sense. Sort of. And why did you want the rest of us to leave?” Morty asked, skeptical but willing to accept the explanation for now.

“You’re really gonna make me say it? Fine. Your mom would have caught on before long, too. This whole thing is stupid, and I would’ve preferred if no one knew about it. So much for that. Not to mention, unlike what I was pretending to have, colds are very contagious. *Achoo!* The more time any of you spend around me, the more likely you’ll get sick, too. Speaking of which, you should get lost, Morty. Go help your dad, or I dunno, maybe you go spend the day with Gene?” Rick grumbled, turning his back to Morty.

“What? No! Why would I want to go spend the day with Gene? Why is that your go-to today? Nevermind. Doesn’t matter. I still don’t fully understand why you thought it was better for us to believe you have some weird alien virus instead of an ordinary cold, but that doesn’t matter right now, either. You’re sick and somebody needs to take care of you. Mom would clearly be the best choice, but you made her go to the horse hospital five hours early. So now I have to do it.” Morty sighed, tossing a blanket around Rick’s shoulders.

“M-Morty, no. You don’t have to do that. I don’t need you getting yourself sick by hovering around me all day. And no offense, but what good are you actually hoping to *Cough!* accomplish? It’s a stupid fucking cold. You’re just gonna stand there watching me cough and sneeze out a bunch of phlegm until this thing’s finally out of my system. That uhhh, doesn’t exactly require an audience.” Rick argued, inching away from Morty and pulling the blanket tighter around himself.

“Yeah, yeah. I know all that. I also know if you’re left to your own devices, you’ll just sulk and probably not even bother to get off the floor all day. I’m not letting you do that today, Rick. Come on. Up.” Morty insisted, grabbing Rick’s arm and trying to pull him to his feet. Rick gave him a dirty look – his plan clearly was to stay sulking on the garage floor – but reluctantly let Morty help him up.

“Fine. I’m up. Now what, Dr. Morty?” he asked sarcastically, grabbing his already half-empty tissue box.

“Well, ummm… Aw geez, when was the last time we had to deal with, like, a normal human problem like this, huh?” Morty mumbled, realizing he had no plan.

Ignoring the smug look on Rick’s face, he thought about it for a few seconds, then said, “I know. First, we need to get you into your actual bed to rest. Then, uhhh, I should see if we have medicine. For like, normal sicknesses. Not serums for regrowing body parts or antidotes for alien poisons. I mean, I know we have those things, but they won’t help with this problem. Besides that… Well, I don’t know, exactly. But that’s a good start, so let’s just do that for now.”

“What-*COUGH!*-ever.” Rick grumbled, scowling and sniffling as he let Morty lead him out of the garage.

“Good luck, Morty. Trust me, you are going to need it.” the AI called after them. Rick flipped her off.

______________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, Jerry was in the attic, surrounded by several medium-sized cardboard boxes.

“Okay, I know it’s here somewhere. How were these organized again? Alphabetically or by release date?” he muttered, starting to go through one of the boxes of VHS tapes.

“Wait, why is El Hazard with Revolutionary Girl Utena? Those certainly wouldn’t be next to each other alphabetically, and they were released in 1995 and 1997, respectively. Were Beth and I trying to organize these tapes by some kind of thematic connection, maybe? I could understand that for display purposes, but it seems a little silly for storage. Wait, that one random volume of Kimba the White Lion we own is in this box, too? What kind of theme were we going for, exactly? Unless…” Jerry said to himself, continuing to pull tapes out of the box.

Then, he had a realization and slapped himself in the forehead, loudly complaining, “Dammit, that’s right! We couldn’t agree on whether to sort by title or release year, so we just started tossing tapes in boxes all willy-nilly. Well, this is certainly going to delay me by at least a few hours.” He looked around at the collection of boxes with a defeated expression for a few seconds, then stubbornly resumed going through the box in front of him.

______________________________________________________________

“There. Isn’t this better, Rick? It’s too cold out in the garage. And lately you’re always just passing out in there instead of ever bothering to go to bed. I mean, like more than you usually do. Might be why you got sick in the first place.” Morty said, sitting Rick down at the foot of his cot.

“Are you fucking kidding me, Morty?! You don’t actually get a cold from being cold. This isn’t some 90’s sitcom or S-Saturday morning cartoon! Please don’t tell me that in the middle of feeling like I got hit by a garbage truck, I have to teach you elementary school shit like how viruses work, Morty! I swear to God, if the next thing you do is ask if I went outside with wet hair…” Rick raved, immediately jumping back up.

“Dude, calm down! It’s not that serious. And I, I know how viruses work, okay? You caught a cold because you were near someone else who had one. Maybe they sneezed on you or something. Not because the garage is cold, and you keep passing out in there. Not that that’s a good thing, either. But you’re sick now because you were around some germs, not because of that.” Morty stated, a little surprised by the outburst. Sure, Rick was short tempered, but he hadn’t expected that to be such a hot button issue.

“S-sorry. Didn’t mean to *Cough!* *Cough!* bite your head off there. It’s just, I’m a scientist, Morty. I can’t abide hearing nonsense like that, in this day and age, from someone who should know better. And ev-everyone should know better, but especially a member of my family.” Rick sort of apologized. He grabbed the blanket, which had fallen when he jumped up.

“No, no. I get it. But you know, Rick, things like not sleeping right, or spending too much time in environments where it’s cold and drafty, that can weaken your immune system. So even though, yeah, you can’t actually get a cold from any of that without being exposed to some germs, it can make you more susceptible when you, ya know, are exposed to them.” Morty couldn’t resist pointing out. This earned him an “if looks could kill, he’d be dead in a second” glare from Rick, but surprisingly, no further arguments.

“Dammit, I think I like it better when you and your sister are stupid! Seriously, Summer saw through my act in like a second, and now I have to sit through a biology lesson slash lecture from you?! I want to be mad, and I am, but at the same time, I’m sorta impressed. Maybe even proud? Ugh, I really must have a fever.” he complained instead, sitting back down and holding his head in both hands. Morty looked at him sympathetically.

“Hey. It’s alright, Rick. I mean, that’s your influence on us, right? So, ummm, you should be proud. But I guess I can see how that would be annoying… even if it’s something you should be happy about? Maybe I don’t understand, after all. But it doesn’t matter. You just hang in there, and I’ll be back in a few minutes with something to make you feel better. Why don’t you uh, change into pajamas or something? You know, get more comfortable. I’ll be right back, okay, Rick?” Morty said, giving Rick’s knee a gentle tap before turning to leave.

A miserable murmur of “Uh-huh.” followed by another series of coughs was what he got for an answer. Morty hurried off to look for medicine.

[martyrbat]

batman/tmnt adventures #1

[ID: Alfred Pennyworth approaching Batman as he clanks away at the Bat-computer. Alfred is carrying a silver serving tray with a matching dome lid. He asks, “I don't suppose you could spare some time for a late-night dinner, Master Bruce?” Bruce tells him, “Not right now, Alfred. Thank you.” Alfred sarcastically replies, “I'm shocked, Sir. And here I went and prepared this generous portion of nothing. Now it will all go to waste.” He lifts the lid as he speaks to show the empty plate as the narration boxes read: ‘Alfred Pennyworth. Batman's butler and right-hand man. Rarely shocked.’ Bruce smirks slightly at the joke and says, “Cute, Alfred.” After briefly discussing the current Gotham woes, Bruce takes off running due to breaking news! Behind him, Alfred mimes emptying the (still empty) plate into a trash can. END ID]

[arianeemorythethird]

Thinking about Rex & Anakin & the (intimacy of) what they call each other some more...

I really latched onto that one scene in the movie where Rex uses Anakin's first name as a warning - it's a combination of Rex's trust that Anakin will get it (and he does!), that they're two people who already work really well together, they understand each other, they're in sync -

But it's also that Rex has this deliberate boundary up and Anakin respects that. Whether he actually consciously recognises there's a power imbalance between them and he needs to let Rex set the terms of how they interact or not, he acts that way, which is what ultimately counts? Anakin is someone who often struggles with maintaining boundaries in other relationships, but with this one, Anakin steps back and lets Rex set the pace.

Rex is someone he's close to and trusts, but he doesn't seem bothered that Rex keeps him at arms length in this one specific way - and more than that, he has a lot of self-awareness about it. When Rex calls him 'Anakin' in that scene he doesn't think, 'oh things are going badly and Rex must be reaching out to me more personally in a moment of need, we're getting closer, yay' - he immediately grasps that this isn't personal, this is a warning.

Both characters are making really deliberate choices in this scene, and those choices reflect how well they know each other but also how much each of them knows they know each other...

It's a kind of intimacy in and of itself.

[prapais]

LOVE IN THE AIR (2022) episode 09 // episode 13

[that-spider-fan-over-there]

Actually guys let me ramble (read: shout over text) a bit more before I sleep (because I am hyped but it's 2AM-)

BNHA 422 spoilers ahead!

THAT IS MY FAVORITE MAIN CHARACTER RIGHT THERE HE IS THE MOTHER FRICKING MOMENT

HIS FRIENDS? SUPPORTING HIM WHATEVER IT BRINGS. CRIMINALS? PSSH, THEY'RE HIS ALLIES NOW. NON-BELIEVERS? THEY'RE ALL CHEERING ON HIM NOW. THE WORLD? HE'S CONQUERED THEIR HEARTS LOOK AT RODY AND MELISSA. THE SYMBOL OF PEACE? DECLARED THAT'S HIS HERO. HIS MOTHER? SHE'S 100% SO PROUD OF HER KID.

THIS KID IS THE EMBODIMENT OF "FALL EIGHT TIMES, GET UP NINE"- THAT'S THE SYMBOL OF HOPE RIGHT THERE- WHO CARES ABOUT THE QUIRKLESS ENDING OR NOT LOOK AT HIM GO!

THAT IS THE TRUE CRYSTALIZATION OF EVERYONE'S HOPES-

MIDORIYA IZUKU IS THE WORLD'S GREATEST HERO AND HE'S GOING PLUS FUCKING ULTRA!

... Oh yeah also I know who we were expecting but psst he'll be back I promise Horikoshi-san is saving his favourite boy for later yes he's too relevant to not show up think of him as the here's own surprise trump card later- this is Izuku's moment right now let's focus on that for a bit this is his Rising chapter the moment the narrative has been building up since the title of Chapter 1, the other little guy will be back soon-

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

got so into my laughingstock feels that i burnt my fuckign toast

[longagoitwastuesday]

I am liking Jujutsu Kaisen, way more than I imagined I would, but I foresee it will let me down and it's keeping me from enjoying this as much as I could haha

I think the characters and dynamics are well set, and I think many of them have an incredibly good and deep potential, but I would be willing to bet they'll not get a proper development, enough for them to really hit. A well assembled set of gears is not enough to make the movement go, you have to wind the clockwork.

I think Gojo and Megumi have a fascinating and very complex dynamic, but I doubt it will be given the time and care that imo it needs to actually work. And it is going well enough for now! One could see the intimacy between them was deeper than the one Gojo had with, say, Yuji and Nobara ever since the very first few episodes despite the fact Fushiguro too was a first year. But the pieces forming what they have are extremely complex, and it just wouldn't be realistic if it doesn't show, even if in a not showing way, or if it doesn't have consequences or implications.

It's one of those dynamics that shape one's life, the way one regards the world, the way one establishes or not relationships with other people. It's one of those dynamics that could be full of fondness, gratitude, resentment, admiration, trust, and that imply intimacy, the good kind or the bad, even if in just the knowledge of someone who's been a constant through your life. It could, and would, imply a myriad of feelings, and probably in such a mix it could imply contradictory feelings too. Even the nothingness would weight, even the nothingness would be significant and meaningful.

Gojo took Megumi and his sister under his wing, the son of a man who murdered him, because of both selfish and selfless reasons. Megumi looks like Toji. What does Gojo feel about this? How does Gojo deal with this? How does Gojo go about taking care of Megumi? Would he walk him to school? Make him breakfast? Celebrate his birthdays making him blow candles? Did he take him to the zoo? Does the relationship between them feel professional or is it something more? Gojo appreciates his students, but is Megumi to him just another student? When Gojo faces Sukuna in Megumi's body, did he see the kid he raised, or does he just see Sukuna in one of his students' body? Did he have one faint wavering instant? And how does Megumi feel about this? Is he resentful of him? Resentful of the situation? Of the selfishness behind his actions? Does he feel like a pawn? Is he grateful? Does he resent feeling grateful? Would he rather not? Does he love Gojo? Does he feel nothing about him other than what he could feel about a teacher that sort of annoys him but knows he's reliable in his strength? Does he think it unfair, cruel or unfeeling that Gojo is close, closer perhaps, with Yuuji or Yuta, considering their story? When Sukuna slices Gojo in two, does the remnants of Megumi's soul tremble?

And not just Megumi and Gojo. Yuuji and Nanami, Gojo and Nanami, Yuuji and Fushiguro, Nobara and the boys, or Nobara and Maki, Todo and Yuuji or Yuta, Gojo and Yuta, Megumi and his sister. Gojo and Geto, even! If the pieces are well set, the dynamics are intriguing, interesting, and have potential to be deep, but then the characters have like two plot relevant scenes that punch you hard, but little more, it's not nearly enough. Especially not nearly enough for the enormity that is shonen dynamics and situations. And the potential existing at all, and then not delivering, makes it all the more frustrating when you're left with something mediocre that could have been so good.

The development of dynamics through not only a few plot relevant gut wrenching moving scenes, but also the smallness of life, is important. The friend who recommended this to me said that those things were just unnecessary filler, but I disagree. I think there's a big difference between a large amount of anime-only filler episodes whose existence is based on the fact they had run out of manga chapters to animate, and moments of quietness. The low stakes character-driven moments of quietness can be so telling and so insightful, and they are so satisfactory when brought back later in higher stakes situations. My friend teased me there was no scene of Gojo making breakfast to Megumi, that it would be an idiotic idea, but it would be so telling. How he makes breakfast, what they eat, if he tries hard or if it's all mechanised, if they have personal bowls or if they use whatever, if he just buys them some pastry on the way to school, if the way they have breakfast changes through the years, or if he doesn't make them breakfast at all! All that would be very insightful on their dynamic and its evolution. All that would give a glimpse on how they regard each other and why, even in the present. All that could become meaningful in tense situations and high stakes scenes.

These moments also let the plot breath; if a lot is happening all the time, if every character is always experiencing trauma after trauma, the entire story is so emotionally draining that at some point you don't even care all that much. Besides, these nothing moments or low stakes plot arcs, besides deepening and developing dynamics, also let some in-world time pass, which would make the intimacy and bond between characters more believable imo; between Yuuji eating Sukuna's finger and their last confrontation in December how much time has passed? A few months? Am I truly to believe these characters are so everything to each other in only a few months?

Without some smallness, some repetition, some daily life, some low stakes not plot-centric development, the dynamics don't hit, they don't truly feel fleshed out, and dynamics as complex as the ones Megumi and Gojo have, or as supposedly meaningful as the one Megumi has with Yuuji or his sister, should be fleshed out if they're going to exist at all. Otherwise they'd risk making the writing feel awkward and fake. Besides, if the dynamics felt well fleshed out and realistic, they would shape the way the characters interact and act, and how they deal with situations, thus being plot relevant.

The shonen genre has so much happening all the time, the stakes are so high, the dynamics are so rooted in big events and the relationships carry enormous weight and implications. Yet they barely get developed, and it feels so stupid, so plain, the absence of something so important noticeable like a constant void, a shapeless nothingness present in every scene. It makes the characters feel like cardboard figures. Jujutsu Kaisen is already getting a better job than many, but I doubt it will do enough for what I've heard, and I fear I am bound to feel let down, and bound to feel unmoved.

After all, if not enough time and care has been given to develop a dynamic, I am not going to feel pressured by the high stakes; if not enough time and care has been given to develop the dynamic between Megumi and Yuuji, as good potential as it has I am bound to feel little for this last confrontation between Sukuna and Itadori, and his effort in getting Megumi back.

[camelspit]

after a day of contemplation im no longer as much of a hater <3 unraveled you seem.. fascinating

[angy-grrr]

There is gonna be more than that coming from the poll, but whatever it is vote Kacchan/Deku for best hero. Idc who wins i just need them to be together again

if they just announced it today without saying anything before, I would probably immediately do it.

Right now im just bitter because of the hype -I thought it would at least slightly relate to the actual story (adaptations of other stories, extra content for the volume which once again may I remind everyone is extremely short, almost half what a manga volume usually looks which is a huge problem).

This disappointed me extremely, as its not even related to any content from the manga beyond the characters it uses. I get that many ppl will work on this, and that artist will get excited over being able to get the spotlight, some will be able to ask specific questions, and a character will get a statue and a movie.

Still extremely disappointed because of the "special project will be announced on the 5th *wink wink*".

I can't feel excitement over it as, in my mind, I lost something that felt better -more content related to the story. So at best this would be "oh cool I can try it", a feeling pretty similar to the other announcements -not my favorite thing in the world, but I wont reject it and try to see what comes out of it.

This isnt at best to me right now

[genekies]

tag vent

[fragmentofmemories]

while i was drawing characters for [REDACTED] i was thinking "hey i should probably draw a maid with short, purple hair and have her be the innkeeper."

then i remembered eou did that and i've never sulked so hard before...

[marcskywalker]

Nah it's fine I'M FINE it's not like my heart is on the floor IT'S FINE

[cuppajj]

Here's the current draft for Thalamhan's map, including the names of all four cities and Danuas's location! Things are most likely going to change in the future but for now, this is the layout. It's not entirely accurate, for one the scale is probably bound to change and the map presents the colony as very vertical when it's not. I'd probably need to make it in a 3D software for it to be the most accurate it can be, but that can be for another time

When Danuas tunneled into the planet millions of years ago, the series of interconnecting cave systems she left behind would become Thalamhan. Early Thalamites would found Danann, the capital city, and during the Branching Era centuries later, they would expand upward toward the surface, founding the other three cities as well as many smaller towns and villages. Thalamites also live along the tunnels connecting each settlement to another.

Danann is the capital and cultural center of the colony, home to the Sacred Grounds. Beneath it is Danuas, accessed only by the cityspeaker through an entrance known as the Well of the Titan.

Loc Faore is the agricultural capital, a city built around a large lake of the same name. The settlements that surround it are along the streams that come from the lake, home to most of Thalamhan’s farmers.

Astorea is known for its high population of smiths and metallurgists. Its nickname is Little Danann, as it has the second largest cultural scene in the colony, particularly textiles and art.

Tollana is unique for being a mostly vertical city, so most of its population are Thalamites with flight based alternate modes. Many scientists and engineers including some from Danann have residences here, as it is the closest city to the surface, perfect for researching the planet and sky themselves.

The dark regions that surround the colony are the Darklands.

[akkivee]

naughty busters drama track: youthful riot summary

i’m not good enough to give a line by line tl of the track but i tried to make it as comprehensive as i could without it. you can listen to it here but if you can buy dawn of divisions vol 3, please do!!!! cdjapan has it in stock still!!!!

———

the drama track opens up with the end of otome’s coup speech and ichiro watching the televised event.

otome: instead of foolish, warmongering men, women will be the ones to give the world a fresh start!!

ichiro: whoever just became our leader better be powerful because nothing is going to change for us.

time passes, and ichiro’s just gotten done with his tasks of the day. he figures he might as well go home when he hears footsteps approaching.

kuukou: found ya, ichiro!!

ichiro: oh kuukou!! what’s up??

kuukou asks him if he’s seen the news and upon ichiro’s confirmation, he tells him he should know what these are and tosses him a mic. ichiro’s surprised, and kuukou explains as soon as he saw the power the mics had from the televised coup, he knew he had to give it a try and signed them both up for their mics. it’s then ichiro recalls that these are the hypnosis mics and kuukou demands they give them a whirl, to which ichiro agrees to do tho he sounds a startled by the sudden activity.

kuukou gives a self-introductory rap but when the blow lands on ichiro, ichiro comments it’s a little underwhelming and kuukou wonders how to get the output of power he’s seen. kuukou tells ichiro he’s up next and ichiro delivers his own introductory rap that similarly feels weak. ichiro speculates rapping skill may have an impact on their power so kuukou suggest they better get to practicing then!! agreeing, ichiro says that they need to get good with the mics as fast as they can because this will be the newest weapon everyone will get their hands on. kuukou sees his point and says and they need to stay ahead of the game, which is exactly what ichiro was thinking so they better get on it he exclaims!!!

—————————

we flash forward and training is done. kuukou suddenly started chuckling to himself and ichiro asks him what’s he laughing at. kuukou’s feeling good about how hard their rap training was, ichiro’s lyrics were strong and just about knocked him unconscious!!! ichiro asks if getting knocked out was really something to laugh about and kuukou tells him something along the lines of, “one should buy a lot of hardships.” well, ichiro does see benefits of their training and kuukou tells him soon they’ll both be knocking fools out together, to which cracks ichiro up a little.

ichiro suddenly gets a phone call. he answers the phone and after a brief conversation, states that he’ll be there shortly. kuukou asks him where he’s going and ichiro replies he’s been called in by mozuku.

kuukou: ah the corrupt priest huh…. guess that’s where we’re headed to next.

ichiro: it’s not like you have to follow me.

kuukou: stuuuupid. ain’t this something about your job?? what kinda partner would i be if i left you to do all the work alone?? so let’s go man.

and as kuukou walks away, ichiro pauses and quietly laughs to himself before following after kuukou.

—————————

the next scene, ichiro walks in mozuku’s office, followed shortly by kuukou.

mozuku is pleasantly surprised to see kuukou, as it’s been awhile, and asks if he’s here because he’s missed him. kuukou lets him know he’s the last person he wants to see. laughingly, mozuku says he’s so cold to him.

ichiro steers the conversation back to why mozuku asked him to come in. mozuku tells him he’s requiring a bodyguard service. for himself?? no, for a man who goes by the name osaragi, an investor known for evading taxes. kuukou asks if that’s the kind of guy that they’re guarding and mozuku confirms.

mozuku: do you remember tomabechi zakuro?

tomabechi zakuro, leader of the group Extortion, was the man who terrorised unami and her sister from dhbat manga chapter 12

apparently his right hand man, teshigawara, is after him. ichiro’s familiar with him, he’s the one who stepped up to take over the group after they helped put tomabechi in jail. kuukou asks why he’s after him and apparently he took off with all their money made in their name and left behind a wake of territorial disputes as well.

kuukou scoffs, that’s boring as shit.

mozuku: boring as it may be, i will be paying handsomely.

mozuku again tells ichiro to bodyguard this man and he’ll be sure to provide extra reinforcements.

grimly, ichiro accepts the job.

—————————

we next cut to our boys arriving at their rendezvous point, a business by the name of ‘Lounge.’

kuukou: tf kinda shop is ‘Lounge?’

ichiro: i’m not too sure either, but apparently you buy drinks and get to talk to women.

kuukou: *gives the most exasperated sigh* people really spend their money on this?? that’s so stupid.

ichiro comments to never mind what people spend their money on and they enter the shop.

once inside, they find a man laughing uproariously. ichiro hesitantly asks if he’s osaragi and introduces themselves as his bodyguards mozuku assigned to him. osaragi grumbles at the fact they’re just a bunch of kids and wonders if they’re capable at all. ichiro audibly reels in some anger and affirms that they can. well, as long as they don’t fck up, the money is his and osaragi commands them to stand off to the side so they don’t kill his drinking vibe.

they step away and kuukou swears at osaragi under his breath, calling him a pig. ichiro feels that and let’s kuukou know it’s fine if he’s not up to it and can go home. kuukou again chides ichiro, saying a partner is supposed to always stand by his side. besides, he’s looking forward to beating up some small fries.

kuukou: so i’m not leaving

ichiro: *chuckles* well, i’m glad you have my back, aibou-san

kuukou: *softly laughs* that’s right, just leave it to me!!

the moment is ruined when osaragi beckons them over like they’re his pets. very disgruntled, the two approach osaragi, who asks them if they drink tequila. kuukou firmly tells him he does not. osaragi insists tho, they can drink and do whatever they want to the women here, since they all owe him money. osaragi passes kuukou a glass imploringly, but kuukou, in a fit of anger, takes the glass, repeats he’s not drinking and makes to make a mess—

but ichiro stops him.

osaragi sneers at them, and ichiro declines for them, saying they’re here to bodyguard him, not to play around. osasari groans that they’re so uptight and sends them back to their spot since they’re making his drinks taste bad.

kuukou is ready beat the stuffing out of a pig.

ichiro quickly tells kuukou to calm down, they just gotta put up with him for the night. not mollified but putting it aside, kuukou brings up how those girls are under his command due to their debt to him. ichiro’s concerned about them too, but they can’t make any moves that might put their situation at risk. the girls need to be the ones to ask for help. kuukou concedes with a sigh, saying that’s a rather adult way to look at it. ichiro denies this; he’s only able to come to that conclusion because of his experience in this line of work.

if something goes wrong and he’s blamed for it, ichiro would feel like crap. kuukou hums in thought.

the doors suddenly burst open and a man demands to know where osaragi is. osaragi is in a panic and yells at ichiro and kuukou to protect him. they step up, itching for a fight and to their surprise, it’s teshigawara. they asked what happened to the men stationed outside and teshigawara and his men laugh, saying they made for some good punching bags. ichiro doesn’t understand how they took out so many of them and teshigawara reveals his hand:

he has a hypnosis mic.

so that’s what it was, ichiro muses, and their men hadn’t picked up mics yet. teshigawara is confident they have the upper hand here and tells them no amount of grovelling will save them if they get in their way. is that a threat, ichiro asks but it’s the opposite really. teshigawara feels thankful to them for getting him to the top of extortion, so he’s offering them a way out.

kuukou chuckles and asks ichiro what he’d like to do and ichiro answers they’ll make their own way out.

they take out their mics, much to teshigawara’s surprise, and spit bars about climbing to the top as a diss to teshigawara hand me down position.

their rap sends them flying!!!!

both ichiro and kuukou taunt their fallen enemies and it’s then osaragi shows himself, surprised the brats completed the job but pleased. kuukou scoffs at him and ichiro, job complete, excuses them from them scene.

but osaragi stops them from leaving, and demands they stay on as his bodyguards. he thinks they’re very well suited for this kind of work and offers to pay three times as much as mozuku’s offer. ichiro refuses and makes to leave again, but osaragi instantly knocks the price up to ten times the amount!!!! and offers up the number one hostess of the joint!!!! and they can have their pick of any of women he has under his control, repeating they can do whatever they want with them.

kuukou walks up to the lady osaragi is presenting to them, and tells her,

kuukou: hey miss. if you always hold your tongue, then nobody will ever understand what you need.

hostess: …………..please help me.

kuukou huffs, satisfied.

kuukou: ya hear that, ichiro-san??

ichiro: loud and clear. osaragi-san?

osaragi: so we have a deal??

ichiro punches the living daylights out of him. no they do not.

kuukou teases him, like whatever happened to not interfering where they aren’t welcome?? ichiro quips back that times change which draws out kuukou’s gremlin laugh, oh is that so??

ichiro lets out a deep sigh and says it’s time to go home.

as they set out, it strikes kuukou that they should make a team name for themselves.

ichiro: is it really that important??

kuukou: stuuuupid of course it is!!!! it gives proof that it existed.

ichiro: *pouty* well in that case, go ahead.

kuukou: but what would be a good team name……?? well, since ichiro’s suuuch a rebel, why don’t we go with “naughty monks”?

ichiro: that has nothing to do with me at all???

kuukou: you don’t think so?? then how about—

—————————

the scene changes for the final time and a man is on the run. he very quickly runs into a dead end tho, and, exhausted, turns to reckon with his fate.

kuukou: *laughs* i gotta admit you’ve got some big balls to be acting up in our territory!!!!

man: who……. who the fck are you guys?????

ichiro: we’re ‘naughty busters’, asshole!!!!

[mysterygrl20]

this is his stage and it's showtime

[strangersatellites]

ok the people have spoken

eddie munson x ethel cain - american teenager