#who routinely steal their every scene (and quickly become the characters you actually care about once the bullets start flying in the

[bluegreenandpurple]

A beard through seasons- Chap 2

Second installment of this four chapter series... let's see what moment is Ron's beard bringing to us!

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the characters from HP Books nor do I get a single pound/penny/peso (money) out of this. Rated M because of Hermione's thoughts.

You can also find this work in AO3 and FFN.

Chapter 2: The dad’s beard

Hermione Granger-Weasley hadn't slept one single night alone since five years ago when the news of the conception of her daughter had been delivered to her husband. When Ron found out that he would become a father, he made a resolution to never miss a milestone of his child’s life and spend as much time as he could with his family. And so, he resigned his position with the Aurors and took a full-time job with George in the joke shop. Although, at the insistence of the Minister himself, Ron agreed to keep a connection with his former work as a Consultant for special cases and Professor of Strategy and Planning for the Auror Training Program.

Hermione Granger-Weasley hadn't slept one single night alone in five years until two weeks ago when her new position as Deputy Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement had required for her to present the British Wizarding Community’s advances in the abolition of blood-related laws and regulations for the International Convention of Magical Law.

Actually, Hermione Granger-Weasley hadn't slept one single night alone in five years. Because whatever she had been doing the past two weeks surely couldn't be counted as sleeping. The king-sized bed of the hotel room seemed extremely big and frighteningly deserted without her husband. Despite applying impeccably performed warming charms one after the other, the bed remained cool. And the silence. Hermione could sleep with cold, she had done it countless times during her younger years in the Horcrux hunt. But, as had been proved during said hunt and reaffirmed in the past two weeks, she couldn’t sleep without the soft soothing sound of Ron’s light snores.

Each night for the past fortnight, Hermione had spent hours in bed recalling the warmth of Ron’s body and the comforting feeling of his arms encasing her in a fortress where only his signature smell and his purring breaths could trespass. She would concentrate on every sensation in an attempt to convince herself that he was there and overcome her insomnia. But he wasn’t there and she would subdue herself to night after night of what little hours she could accomplish of restless sleep.

When time passed and Hermione was finally able to return to her loved ones, she was bouncing on her feet in anticipation. The second she stepped out of the fireplace, she heard the muffled voices of Ron and Rose coming from the second floor. Eager to see her family, she sprinted and took off her cloak halfway up the stairs, discarding the garment on the floor. This level of disorder was anomalous coming from her, but the familiar smell of her home combined with her husband and daughter's voice had made her desire for Ron’s warmth and her children's stickiness almost unbearable.

Hermione followed the sound towards Rose’d bedroom and was frozen on her spot at the sight of her family. She was itchy to go and hug them but the scene on display was so adorable that she had to take a minute to commit it to her memory. Ron and Rose were sitting on the petite chairs of her tea time set and she was decorating his beard with a variety of her hair clips. He was curled on himself in an unnatural position, with his knees almost beside his ears and his hands resting palms down on the carpet, probably for balance. He would've been more comfortable on the floor than scrunching to fit on the chair, but Hermione had the suspicion that he was doing it for their daughter.

Hermione’s heart warmed watching as Rose was adorning his father's facial hair with a grin so wide that her eyes were closing from happiness. He was cottoning to her about how beautiful he felt with his new beard style and Hermione chuckled internally as she focused on said beard. She could clearly remember the last time Ron's beard had stolen her attention for so long. It was the day she’d noticed that he was no longer a boy, but a man. And now she was realising that her man had become a full proud and accomplished father. No, not a father. Her colleague's husbands who they continually complain about for not contributing to their children’s care were fathers. Ron was a dad. A fully committed, capital “D”, Dad.

‘Are you done ogling me, or shall I give you a few more minutes?’ Ron was glancing at her from the corner of his eye twitching his lips with the effort to stop a smile.

Hermione shook her head amused by his boldness. Oh, you are so full of yourself, are you? Well, two can play this game . She thought, and narrowing her eyes at him, she asked, ‘What makes you think that I was looking at you?’

Ron chuckled, triggering a reprimand from Rose at the sudden movement of her model. He apologised to her and promised to remain still before he answered, ‘Because if you would’ve been looking at Rosie with that eyes, love... I’ll be calling child support and the Aurors.’

Hermione gawked but recovered quickly, deciding to ignore her husband's ridiculous comment and walked into the room. ‘‘Where is Hugo?’ She queried, noticing the absence of her youngest son, as she squatted next to Rose and wrapped her in a bear hug. The little one immediately left her task at hand to snuggle into her mother.

‘He’s already asleep. Little Rosie here put her brother to sleep - with my help,’ Ron hastily added, as Hermione’s incipient protest died in her throat. ‘And now is my turn to give her night night.’

They ended up putting Rose to bed together, stealing glances at each other, trying to convey through their eyes all the longing from the last two weeks. Once in their bedroom, Ron and Hermione fell into their well practiced bedtime routine. As usual, she was first in bed. Ron didn’t know it, but she had trained through the years to perform the routine in record time so she could watch him peel off his clothes with no interruptions. Contemplating as Ron undressed was one of those little simple pleasures of life.

Whilst Hermione rejoiced with the view of her naked husband, she remembered the story Ginny had told her about the name she’d heard her coworker’s daughter called Harry. Ginny had been so full of herself recalling how she’d caught the girl saying to her friends that Ginny’s husband was a total DILF. When Hermione asked what that meant, Ginny’s grin could have lightened an entire city. “Dad I’d Like to Fuck”.

Hermione surveyed her husband. He was absolutely a DILF. If she’d been a teenager she was sure she'd have a crush on him. She had had a crush on him when they were teenagers and he was still a work in progress. If she’d have to choose, Hermione was completely sure that Ron had never been more appealing than he was at that moment. He didn’t have the body of his early twenties but he was still stunningly fit compared with her colleagues’ husbands. And maturity had brought an air of wisdom that mixed with his sarcastic humour made him more attractive than ever. In addition, seeing him as committed as he was to Rose today, made his sex appeal rise to the sky.

‘Ready to sleep, love?’ Ron had suddenly stopped mid-movement putting on his pyjama bottoms. One leg in the air, contracting his entire body to remain balanced. Hermione bit her lower lip to contain a moan at the sight of is firmed and perfectly sized for a small hand arse.

‘I think there are some other things I’d like to do with you before we sleep.’

Ron’s eyes went wide with want as he dropped his pyjamas and as he kneaded his hands he huskily said, ‘Then what are we waiting for?’ Then jumped on the bed and crawled between the sheets.

[t455a-rambles]

Starcatcher Pico's Backstory

Haha, I'm typing these out instead of doing my assignments for finals. Oh well.

This has been the back of my mind since I started fantasizing the lore for FNF Starcatcher.

Once again, please support the creators of the mod, Kip and Stardust Tunes.

Oh. And uh... a little warning, this story will have major injury and an almost character death.

Without further ado, let's begin!

...

Whenever I see Cyber Pico's design from time to time, it made me think that he wasn't actually an alien, but rather, a human.

Think about a scene from "The Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1" [And yes, it's one of my favorite films.] What I'm thinking is that, after the incident from Pico's School, Pico was being accused for the destruction of the school. Even though, we know he was the one saving it from further destruction. Pico didn't want to face something even worse than he had experience, so he ran and hid away from everybody.

During his fled, he got pull by an unknown gravity and ended him inside of a foreign room. Pico was quick to react and started a shoot-off against the weird aliens.

It was long, until eventually, all of Pico's ammo's had run out. One of the aliens was the first to speak in a language Pico never heard of and he responded with, "What?"

There was a lot of miscommunications from both sides, but later came to an understanding through body languages, a pretty universal language obviously. And both sides was able to sit down and explain themselves through showing images.

The people that abducted Pico was a group of mercenaries who travelled every planets and galaxies to hunt, steal, and even kill for money. And every once in a while, they would recruit any living being as one of them if they are deemed worthy.

For the mercenaries, Pico's a worthy one since they haven't seen any other beings fighting a different alien creature from their own, i.e Cassandra. Pico had a slight hesitation on whether to join them or not. But the thought of being away from the people accusing him of murder is a better choice for him.

And so, the life of becoming the new mercenary began. He would received a letter, whether it was anonymous or not, travelled through different planets alone or with a small group, and finished the job by meeting the client themselves.

It has become a part of Pico's life that he wouldn't trade it for anything.

But, this is where he began to lose his human self.

He was in the middle of a chase sequence with a group of friends from their heist, after one of them underestimate the security system. It turned out there were dozens of polices were chasing them.

They managed to get the item still in hand, but one of the police shot at Pico through his shoulder blade and his eye. And like a small grenade, it exploded with bits and pieces of him scattered before arriving at their small spaceship.

One of the group members piloted the ship and flew as fast as they could to bring them back home. Meanwhile the rest tried to cover up Pico's wounds with everything they have.

After the stressful ride, the group carried Pico to the infirmary and explained to the medics the damages Pico had.

It might've been hours of waiting and finally the news had just came out. The medics told them there was little to no hope Pico would survive that critical impact. There was one last option to save him and that was to turn him into a cybernetic human. In order for that to proceed, they need to ask the leader's approval.

Let's just say the leader agreed upon the operation, since Pico had proven himself to be the most skillful mercenary and it would be a waste for him to die so quickly.

Thankfully, the operation was a success and Pico had a new look and much more efficient performance than before. But those perks came with a price. He didn't feel the raw emotions he felt when he was fully human.

The excitement from receiving a new mission was now dull as if it was another daily task he had to follow. The thrill during and after the heist felt so cold and lifeless to him. It was as if he was machine and nothing else.

Even with all of that, there was still a spark of him that yearned to feel that way again.

This is where the "Week 3" began.

Pico had received an message from Daddy Dearest. He ordered Pico to retrieved a specific gem, known as "Cyber Star" hidden in the almost dead planet. [I dunno how to describe a planet lol.] Pico had to give the item before a certain blue haired kid steal it. The new Cyber Pico accepted the mission and headed to the location alone.

Pico managed to steal the gem and was readied to fly off when a familiar language he hadn't heard in forever rang. Boyfriend had showed up late with Girlfriend beside him.

Boyfriend tried to use the Beep language, but failed on a few words, which made him speak more English than he would like to Girlfriend. Pico interrupted the two conversation. "Hey, you. You're the kid my client was talking about." That got both Boyfriend and Girlfriend gave full attention towards him.

Somehow in the back of his mind, he wanted to do something different than his usual routine. With a cocky smirk he pulled out the gem and waved at them. "Looking for this?"

"That's the Cyber Star that we needed!" Boyfriend piped up. "Too bad you can't have it. Unless you want to fight for it." He pulled out his gun and aimed at Boyfriend. "W- Wait! Wait! Can't we do a different kind of fight instead?"

"Like what?" Now Pico was curious. "We'll do a rap battle! Or singing if you like that." That sentence had stunned him for a few seconds. It was when a microphone was tossed towards him that made him snap from his trance.

He was confused on what kind of battle was that. "If I win, I'll take the Cyber Star. If you win, you'll get to keep it." He still looked at Boyfriend in complete confusion. "Uh... I don't know how to rap nor sing."

At first Boyfriend was shocked, but later relaxed. "No worries. I'll show you how throughout the battle." Boyfriend explained the rules of the battle quickly and the countdown began.

.

I wanna say in details of what happened during the battle, but we all know that Boyfriend's gonna win. But at that time, Pico felt calm and happy from doing the non - violence battle. Heck, even in the second song where he had the longest turn, I see that he was feeling comfortable singing his part out loud.

Even Boyfriend didn't care if he did have fewer parts because from what he sees, Pico's having a great time without even worrying about if he loses or not.

At the end of the last song, Pico was exhausted but satisfied nevertheless. He handed the Cyber Star to Boyfriend and left with a quick goodbye.

================================================

I actually like how I switch to casual explaining the backstory into a semi - lit story. Not sure if y'all like. But whatever. It's already pass midnight and I'd like to have a snooze.

Thank you for those who have read this far.

Have a nice day / night!!

[aces-to-apples]

DVD commentary meme! Whatever part of Family Before Honor you'd like to talk about, please!!

Alrighty, since there isn’t much of it posted and chapter two isn’t very long to start with, I’ll just do that then. Author’s commentary on chapter two of “Family Before Honor” beneath the cut:

Two Months

Domestic: 1) of or relating to the home, the household, household affairs, or the family. 2) no longer wild; tame.

I suppose the first thing to note is the pattern of the chapters and summaries—each chapter, and there’s only going to be three, is titled based on how long it’s been in the fic since Cut’s death and each summary is the theme on which the chapter is built. “Two Months” is more meant to bridge the gap between “Two Hours” and “Two Years” and is based around Rex making the transition from military life to civilian life. Settling into a rhythm with Suu and the kids that works for everyone.

Rebuilding the La’Cuane farm is an undertaking both larger and smaller than Rex had first estimated.

Ah, yes, “La’Cuane”. Because fuck Dave Filoni. Before I watched The Deserter, I was under the impression that Lawquane was most likely pronounced more like “lah-kayn” but, as is my custom, when I learned the “official” version I said “nah, fuck that” and came up with my own. So, “Lawquane” is a mistranslation as so many Basic Twi’lek names are. Because fuck you, Dave.

The first few days are an unending game of hurry-up-and-wait: for Republic forces to finish routing the Seps, for Jesse and the boys to come back to retrieve him when he didn’t answer their comms, for Suu to sniffle and stutter her way through the story they’d cooked up to explain his ‘death.’

I just don’t like “Seppies”, okay? I just don’t. “Covies” I’ll accept from Halo, because Marines, but “Seppies”, “tinnies”, and “shinies”? Mmm, how ‘bout the fuck not?

Then waiting for various scans of the remains to come up positive for Fett’s genetic material, for ‘his’ chip to come up too damaged to ping as more than simply present, for Kenobi—well, it turns out that Kenobi had a softer heart than Rex had ever thought. From what Rex spies, he looks damn near devastated for a few heartbeats after Suu tells him the news.

Departing from @norcumii’s version, “Dead Men Tell No Tales”, I decided that it’s too early in the war for Rex and Obi-Wan to have actually started a romantic relationship and kept it as more of a “what if” kind of thing for them to regret. More pining, that way ;)

Then the children march up to him and Jesse, carrying Rex’s armor in their undersized little arms, and Jek loudly proclaims that they want to keep Rex’s bucket. “He was like a, a superhero,” Jek says earnestly, and next to him Shaeeah nods vigorously. “He was so brave and he saved us from the monsters and we’ll take really good care of it.”

Listen, the La’Cuane kids are just insanely cute, okay? And according to Legends (I think?) they were aware enough that they had several million uncles out there in the universe that Shaeeah wrote a book about it, so they absolutely grew up with stars in their eyes about their extended family.

Suu makes a little scene of chastising them, calling it disrespectful, saying that his brothers should have his helmet, it was only right. Rex is dazed by the layers of manipulation they all go to just for him to keep his face; he’s even more dazed by how well it works.

Kenobi clearly melts at the display but looks to Jesse, Kix, and Hardcase for the final decision. Rex can read the silent conversation between them as clear as day. When Jesse crouches down to gaze intently into the visor of Rex’s helmet, he knows the children have won.

“I think that’s a good idea,” Jesse says decisively, and it’s settled. Quieter, he adds, “I think he’d like that…”

If Rex wasn’t so traumatized right now, he’d be absolutely indignant that Jess just blatantly lied like that. How dare you slander the good name of Captain Rex, good Lieutenant, by implying this small child whom he only knew for a few hours and “died” to protect should keep his face when Kenobi is standing over there trying not to cry. Come say that to his helmet, coward!

Rex doesn’t think about where Cut’s bucket had ended up.

I like throwing out lines that if you think about them for longer than it takes to read them then they might become incredibly depressing. What did happen to his helmet? What happened to his armor?

Jek clutches the helmet to his chest in victory and Shaeeah smiles sweetly and Suu has this fond, exasperated look on her face that Rex assumes comes standard with being eyn buir. The children magnanimously offer the rest of his armor to the men, stacked as neatly as they could manage. Rex stares as Kenobi helps pack it away with the supplies for safekeeping, subtly pocketing his left vambrace as he does.

I’m gonna be honest, at this point canon and fanon have merged so much for me that I don’t even know what’s true and what’s not. Just go with it.

Rex doesn’t think about maybes and what-ifs.

Then Kenobi turns back to Suu and his gaze goes past her to the ruined farmhouse and Rex gets the feeling that Kenobi’s about to do one of those terribly un-Jedi-like things he had never, ever admitted to sometimes doing. He pulls out a credit chip and Rex knows.

He has to turn away from the scene and take careful breaths. Kenobi wasn’t perfect—Cody has spent hours venting to Rex and Wolffe and whoever else managed to meet up at once about his hypocritical, sanctimonious Jedi—but just like Skywalker, just like Tano, just like Windu and Yoda and Secura and every other Jedi, he had his moments of breath-stealing goodness.

Listen, I love some Jedi characters to death, but I have—had, now that Tumblr filters out posts with words like “fuck” and “wank” in the tags when you search for them and pretends they don’t exist—a #fuck the jedi order tag for a reason. The narrative tends to frame both the Jedi Order and most Jedi characters as Righteous and Good, while also having them commit pretty heinous acts and tossing the audience horrific implications/pieces of information at the same time. I’ve said it somewhere before, but The Clone Wars wants to have its “deep, edgy, grimdark exploration of war” and eat its “fun, wacky space adventures” too and while we’ve all noticed the tonal whiplash that the show gives us, it plays hell with the narrative itself. Unspeakably bad shit happens in one arc, and nobody ever mentions it again. The Jedi control a slave army, and that’s Bad, but we’re told that they care about their troops and want to help them Later, which cancels out the Bad and keeps them Good Guys. In universe, it absolutely doesn’t work. We all know the Jedi pull some fuckshit every two weeks, so you bet your ass the clones know it too and routinely get sauced and rant about it to each other where no one can hear them. But they also can be extremely helpful and empathetic between three to five every other Thursday. Sorry, just mentioning #fuck the jedi order sends me off into a rant and I actually deleted a lot of other stuff from this part because Not Important.

Rex should’ve known his last act as a captain, and his first act as a free man, would be finally witnessing one of those moments.

And then Kenobi is gone, his brothers are gone, and the work begins.

- - -

It’s slow-going, and at times back-breaking, and it quickly becomes apparent that the nerve-damage Kix had warned about has set in good and proper. After the children have gone to bed, Rex and Suu go outside to have a rousing argument about what to do—the first of many on the horizon.

I know, I know, it’s common wisdom that disagreeing with your partner are normal but knockdown drag-out arguments Are Not and while I absolutely understand that, I come from a family with an absurdly large number of siblings that subscribe to the Taika Waititi School of Siblings and therefore it’s perfectly reasonable to shout yourself hoarse about some nonsense or other and get mad and stomp off and then two hours later throw a pillow at the other person’s head and say “hey dickhead come look at this funny post what’s for dinner later”. And as such that’s how every sibling relationship I ever write will function because I genuinely don’t understand siblings who don’t drag each other at every opportunity and then pop up around a corner like an awful gremlin to scare them at 2:30 in the morning just to fuck with them.

Suu demands they use part of Kenobi’s credits to pay for surgery to remove and replace the dead arm; Rex counters that he can function with only one arm, but none of them can function without a roof over their heads and walls to shield them from the elements. Suu says that they will contact a doctor she knows on the other side of the planet tomorrow and that’s final; Rex blinks, says understood, sir, and stands down.

The next morning, between frying eggs and waking the little ones, Suu apologizes for 'pulling rank’ on him. Rex can tell the words sit strangely in her civilian mouth. He accepts her apology and says nothing about how he hadn’t even noticed his own automatic reaction to her tone the night before, but. That was exactly how he’d reacted, wasn’t it?

When next they argue, about him ‘overdoing it’ and ‘exerting himself too much’, he’s ready for the gut-punching Commanding Officer Voice and shouts back when it’s his turn to talk. It works for them.

Listen, I don’t know about you, but when I hear certain tones of voice I automatically respond in certain ways. Like the vocal version of being full-named.

- - -

“White is death,” Rex explains once the final layer of base paint has settled on the plastoid. He runs his hand firmly down the prosthesis in its finalized form, from the ball of the synthetic shoulder to the tips of each finger. It’s as much to test that the molecules of paint bind properly as it is to get himself used to the difference. “White is the bones of those long gone. White is the snow that covers the fields in winter. It… stifles, and kills, but it’s also. Possibility, I suppose. White armor is shiny and new, but that just means it has yet to prove itself. You never know what you’re gonna get when you scratch beneath the surface.”

I had a lot more of @izzyovercoffee’s Mandalorian color theory stuff that I ended up cutting just because it didn’t really fit, but you should check them out because they’re suuuuuuper interesting. I love cultural worldbuiding shit like that.

Hanging on his every word, Jek and Shaeeah nod breathlessly. They watch as he picks up a foam brush and dips it into a small pot of 501st blue. He sets it to the very top of the arm and brings it down in a smooth, careful, practiced motion.

“Blue is reliability,” he continues. The unbroken line he draws down to the wrist is thinner than it was on his armor, but copying his armor isn’t the point; the point is to create something new out of its loss. “It’s faithfulness, and consistency. It’s the sky—the very air—and you can always in trust that.”

Listen, if you want subtlety, go read deadcat’s stuff. If you want to get bashed over the head with this shit, you’ve come to the right place.

Lastly, he picks up a fine detail brush and dips it into a second pot.

“This one is different,” he says eventually, gauging his little cadets’ avid expressions. “You use red to honor a parent and the word for ‘red’ in Mando’a is ge’tal—literally, ‘almost blood.’ It’s a complicated word, because to Mando’ade, your family isn’t always going to have the same blood as you. It might not be red at all—it might be green, or blue, or something else entirely. But with family, you’re always ready to spill others’ or your own in order to protect them; it’s about honor… and love.”

“Mom,” Shaeeah deduces, her voice quiet as a mouse as they all gaze at the sharp, cutting magenta that coats the brush.

Rex nods.

“Just so.” He twirls the brush around and offers it to them. “Now, what should we do with it?”

Listen, it’s very important to me that we cut that toxic masculinity shit out of Star Wars, stop linking pink to femininity, more important stop linking femininity to weakness, and ultimately I want to see more clones wearing pink. Pink flowers and curlicues mixed in with 501st blue on Rex’s sick robot arm? Sign me the fuck up.

—

Aaaaand that’s the Author’s Commentary on Chapter Two of Family Before Dishonor, hope you enjoyed!

[pancoleon]

Baccano Rewatch Rambling Commentary

So. due to having a long and fun talk about Baccano at MCM Manchester, I felt like rewatching the anime and OH BOY I forgot how the first episode goes, so I decided I might as well do (spoilery) commentary on here as I rewatch. Don’t expect anything written nicely or concisely, I do the numberwang, not the wordidoo.

This is the first 3 episodes and because I ramble like hell and I do reference the books, it’s a “Read More”. I apologize in advance, but “Short Form” has never been a thing I can manage. This is me essentially writing down what I say to myself while watching it. I added the formatting later, but I want to keep the rambling as in tact as possible, partly out of laziness and partly out of interest in looking back later and seeing what was going through my head.

Episode 1

I forgot just how much time is spent with the discussion between (Christ me, you literally saw this half an hour ago, how have you already forgotten her name!?) *Carol* (Thanks Baccano wiki, and by extension most likely thanks Rev) and Gustav St Germain. Looking back after reading the books, I like the fact that they used the paper explosion scene and would have loved to see that reappear later had they continued the anime. That would’ve been a nice scene of the anime doing a foreshadow of a scene to come while not making it blatantly so, and that final context would’ve probably put an extra spin on things. (Oh boy, it’s really clear I can’t write short sentences…)

The scenes foreshadowing Book 6 (Was it? I lose track. Either way, the Mist Wall book.) really hurt me. I’d have loved to see Christopher, Adele, (Heck, ALL THE HOMUNCULI) and Maria, along with seeing Ronnie just be Ronnie and fuckin’ be extra as hell with the help of essentially Omnipotent powers.

The sequence initially showing Firo... Y'know, I remember this properly, but I have to say I prefer the book version? In the books, it’s before he becomes immortal and he avoids getting hit by the knife in the first place. I feel that while how this scene was rewritten means it’s good for revealing his immortality, the books help show that he is rather suspicious as a character, which works well considering his discomfort from the fact that even after becoming immortal he is careful due to the knowledge that there *is* a way to kill him. Then again, I’m not a literary master and the change probably works considering the more carefree Firo you see in the show.

I like the setup for the Flying Pussyfoot (even if I’m sad the stuff being called in doesn’t pay off due to them not using Vino in the 1932 arc that *should* be Drugs and Dominoes). What you know from the first episode is:

that the train’s been swapped out do to an “accident”

there’s an assassin on there,

there’s immortals on there,

there’s bombs on there,

a bunch of corpses and a murderous guy with no arm and a woman he’s talking of killing litter the tracks (On an off hand note, I thought that Ladd actually killed Lua there when I initially watched Baccano),

and that the people that are leaving the train are the thieves mentioned earlier (who if you pay attention are probably immortal),

the immortal child (Funny how early it’s revealed that Czes is immortal in comparison to the books),

and a group of people of which the middle one seems to be in great pain.

You also know of an unknown figure reading an unknown message about finding someone, but that’s rather late in the story.

Point is, you are swiftly shown a lot of information you probably won’t piece everything together from, but will help give you one specific idea: Something bad happened on the Flying Pussyfoot and that (probably) included the supernatural.

Episode 2

Okay, I’ll now be writing as things happen, so I might remember names this time! And before I start, let me say this at least once. “Hah! Flying Pussyfoot is a silly name!”

I like the fact they left in the couple where the woman just calls stuff in advance.

I have to say, I am love with Isaac and Miria’s logic. “If we mine, we’re stealing from the earth!”. Along with that, the story of them being shouted at for panning for gold in other people’s land is something I want to hear more about. I’m being reminded that I damn well wish I knew more about Japanese Mythology to be able to directly pinpoint where Isaac went wrong.

Oh, and the letter from Ennis. I like how this directly implies than Ennis is not actually human without going “SHE’S A HUMONCULUS, NOT HUMAN” and then quickly makes you forget about that by having I&M start talking about this clearly means she wants a brother, rather than there having been previous people before her who were destroyed before she was created.

(Oh shit, this is gonna get looooooooong, I haven’t got past the I&M scene yet). This is followed by perfectly showing what I&M are like, by having them figure out how do to a train robbery. i.e not how you actually do one. And then I&M go to the train station, move past the Lemures, and then as they talk about the “Orchestra”, the camera zooms in on Rachel. If only the Dub hadn’t specified Vino’s gender, people might’ve thought she was Vino, that’s how the books spun it anyway. And then we get to Claire, who starts talking before coming on screen and has a conversation with Tony just before Tony gets murdered. It would have been nice if the other conductor got a couple lines here, but this does set up Claire’s anger at Tony being dead later on nicely.

Meanwhile, best panicking wreck of a leader, Jacuzzi Splot, explains what his group are doing on the train, namely stealing something. Then the anime moves focus from Nice to Czes, nicely implying that their aims/jobs are related. I’ll stop listing what happens now, but OH JEEZ I LOVE THE CUTS AND PANS AND FOCUS CHANGES. I don’t know much about cinematography, but this feels good to me. 

So to abridge a conversation: Nice: Why don’t you ask them? You might make some new friends. Jacuzzi: (Panics a bit) I don’t wanna. Nice then persuades Jacuzzi to go talk to Isaac and Miria. Not much meaning, but I just wanted to say, SAAAAAAME Jacuzzi. If not for @thingsarenotwholesome taking the place of Nice, I wouldn’t talk to a lot of people. but yeah, then Jacuzzi starts crying because he thinks he’s nothing but some delinquent. Props to I&M for supporting him in the only way they know: By being lovely, funny and acting ridiculously.

Some day Narita, I’d like to see how much of this is them faking it to avoid a bad topic and how much of it is their own joy in insanity. I just can’t accept “They’re a bit mad” with no other details, because even if Isaac routinely gets stuff wrong, he’s weirdly well read. I also love the fact that Jon and Fang spend their time calling out bullshit and commenting on what’s happening. It gives a nice contrast of the straight man, while not overpowering I&M and also properly showing what their influence on Jacuzzi is.

I like that the voice acting makes it clear that Czes struggled to say his own name. Clearly from the immortal thing. Good Dub there.

The Lemures in general feel much cultier than when I was reading the books. Perhaps because in the books the individual greed for immortality in the members is made clear before the operation starts, whereas this has them speak of their unwavering loyalty (yeah fucking right) to Huey Laforet, while the Conductor preaches about how this is all for the sake of freeing their “Glorious Leader”. Shame there’s a Claire on board.

Episode 3

And we start with poor Eve Genoard looking for Dallas, too bad some other poor person has him. [Edit Note: Look, you can’t expect me to remember every detail of the books perfectly, I barely remember what I had to eat most days]

 I love the Daily Days and their information based business model. The Runorata Goons just got to experience information based capitalism.

Well, I might have to source the music playing while Lua and Ladd are dancing. This is also the first scene where Lua doesn’t seem to only be some poor girl who was forced into something by Ladd, but someone who actually wants to be with Ladd.

I love Randy and Pecho, those glove burning fools. I’m also starting to realise how damn good this show is at giving you information in off-hand comments. From their short conversation we know they’re friends with Firo and that there’ll be a party, while also starting the fire that kickstarts the events of the Rolling Bootlegs.

Similarly, the anime then goes on to show that Firo is joining the Camorra as a Capo and that I&M are in town at the time. This is also why I’m writing so much, BECAUSE THEY MAKE SUCH GOOD USE OF THE TIME GIVEN. This reminds me though. Narratively, in the books, the hobo attempting to stab Firo happens just before the hat shop. I damn well wish we could properly place that scene somewhere chronologically in the show.  It could literally any time still during the depression after Firo becomes immortal.

The fight between Firo and Dallas' Gang really does show the fighting talent Firo has in an impressive way, which again makes Firo getting cut in episode 1 more frustrating.

And here is the first big change to Rolling Bootlegs! Firo does not have the time nor the bottles to swap about his wine with the immortality potion for the heck of it. I'm not sure how I feel about this change, but I will commend the 2016 Manga for keeping to the books on this. 

And then Jacuzzi finds the two corpses in the Conductors Wagon, which is surprising when you’re first watching considering we *know* the murderous conductor was using a gun, not sawing off people's faces.(Goddammit it Claire, kill cleaner) You could explain the second corpse as being the white suit we see get the uniform in the second episode, but if you’re looking at the corpses, the body with the face torn off is the one that looks like the Young Conductor, not the Lemure Conductor. This isn’t exactly important considering it’s revealed later, but i like that the detail can be seen. Hey, this anime is doing a better job at the Mystery genre than BBC’s Sherlock!

And at the end, with the faceoff in the Dinner Wagon, I'm calling it a night.

Well, I'll be posting this in the morning evening after as I'll be doing some formatting at my PC tomorrow, but it's midnight and I'm rather tired after MCM Manchester.

[mattbrothersscriptwriter]

Once Upon A Time

I’d like to have a little ramble and shout into the void about a truly unique, life affirming and heartfelt movie. Not because any of this hasn’t been covered before - I’d bet my guitar case full of coins it has. Not as a review or a hot take or a think piece, though perhaps it’s a little of all of those things. But because I recently rewatched the 2007 musical drama Once (dir: John Carney) and it reminded me how much this movie makes me fucking feel… which is also the hardest thing for me to eloquently put down into words but hey, I’ll try.

Once tells the simple story of Guy (Glen Hansard), a busker in Dublin who lives with his Dad and works in his hoover repair shop. He’s a talented musician but is still living in the shadow of a long since broken relationship, something that evidently both haunts and drives him. This inner conflict has inevitably kept him stranded in the same place – possessing the skills and the ambition to transform his passion into a career but lacking the courage and the heart to truly see it through. That is until he meets Girl (Markéta Irglová), a Czech immigrant who gets by selling flowers and the Big Issue. She’s a keen pianist and the unlikely pair quickly form a unique friendship, bonding over songwriting, heartbreak and Dublin itself.

Shot for next to nothing in three weeks, it’s a film so raw (and perfectly suited to that style) that just a single step in either direction would shatter the illusion. Too glossy and the magic is somehow lost. Any more ramshackle and there probably wouldn’t be a finished film to even worry about. Cillian Murphy was supposed to play Guy but dropped out, making way for director John Carney to convince Hansard, who was already set to write the music, to take the natural next step and just play the role himself.

It’s a story that manages to exist in the moment like nothing else I’ve really seen, thanks in part to the guerrilla style production but also thanks to its immense, bittersweet heart and commitment to bottling the ‘life as it happens’ feeling. It’s how we all experience life after all and it’s only afterwards that we may look back on certain memories as feeling like scenes from a movie: those perfectly captured instances where decisions have huge consequences and it feels like some higher power is writing you into a cruel plot twist or inevitable turning point. Its one thing to physically make a movie feel so grounded but to write and perform it that way too shows a real understanding of the tone they were aiming for – and absolutely nailing in the process.

It’s a joyful movie but an effortlessly melancholy one too. Like I said, it’s bittersweet. Anyone who has ever had a dream, ever been in love or ever wished for something more, you can understand and feel all of that through one look at Hansard’s exhausted face. Avoiding saccharine movie tropes and clichés, he’s simply a bloke who rides the bus with his guitar. Who chases thieves stealing his busking money. Who exists in our world. We probably see him every day, out on the streets or hunkered away in a corner of the tube. His or her music echoing through crowds, ignored by most but probably connecting to more people than we might think.

Guy never seems more vulnerable than when he’s hiding behind a forced smile or his sad, puppy dog eyes and watching this mask of happiness slowly blossom into something genuine is where the film really hits me. It reminds us that we have to seek change – or allow change to happen to us – to move from where we are to where we want to be.

I love how Guy is a thirty something pessimist whilst Girl, despite living with just as much of an uncertain, unstable future as Guy, is a ray of sunshine in comparison. She’s a stubbornly joyful extrovert, happily striking up conversations with strangers - a comically recurring trait that rewards her with casual piano practice in the music shop, helps to secure a bank loan for the recording session AND score a reduced charge for the studio hire later on. It’s the ‘if you don’t ask, you won’t get’ mentality, utilised by someone with no ulterior motives; a real pure soul who finds happiness in what she has, not what she’s lacking.

She speaks her mind, unconcerned with any risk of social awkwardness. Her abrupt “I have to go now” way of announcing she’s leaving becomes something of a catchphrase and it works wonderfully in establishing not just the generational difference between the two characters but the cultural one as well. I really love how we first meet her in the film – when she is drawn to Guy performing his most emotionally raw song (the amazing ‘Say it to Me Now’) all alone, in the middle of the night. This exorcism of his repressed feelings, expressed only through his music, is in fierce contrast to Girl’s happy go lucky outlook and she wastes no time in probing him for the truth.

This film is one of the most genius, underplayed and natural musicals ever – essentially doing the ‘bursting into song’ thing whilst remaining firmly in reality, never quite breaking that thinly veiled fourth wall that all other musicals do. Here, it’s in a beautifully captured song-writing-on-the-fly sequence (‘Falling Slowly’) or a late night jam session between family and acquaintances (‘Gold’) or in a great sequence where Girl sings lyrics to an instrumental track given to her by Guy whilst on a walk back from the corner store to buy batteries (’If You Want Me’). It’s so relatable; from the street kids watching her go past to her fluffy slippers to the clunky portable CD player in her hand. Who hasn’t done something like that? A more traditional musical might have been tempted to convert the pedestrians to background singers, cooing harmonies over her shoulder or snapping their fingers in a dance routine through the street but this film shows that life can be full of ‘movie-adjacent’ moments and not feel cheaply earnt whilst portraying them.

This movie is something of an Irish, folksy Before Sunrise – except Guy is probably in the period of his life where he’s actually living in Before Sunset (jaded, wondering what could have been) whilst Girl is firmly in Sunrise (open to new connections, optimistic about the present). They’re on different paths and perhaps even swap roles throughout, with Guy becoming more enlightened and eager for new experiences whilst we learn that Girl is caring for a small child who is product of her past. These two never really come to any real conflict themselves. The closest they maybe get is when Guy makes an awkward, kinda sad pass at her one night – but it’s practically all forgiven and forgotten by the next day. That’s real life too and I’m glad a moment like that is addressed in the story but promptly resolved. It doesn’t need to be this instance of overly contrived setup/payoff, it’s just a misunderstanding that the characters are aware enough to acknowledge and put aside. In fact, so much of this narrative goes against the grain. Guy never gets ‘the Girl’. He chooses to chase down a woman who is probably bad for him. And Girl ends up giving her husband another shot – a character we’ve never met and have barely heard about. Again, just because we aren’t aware of a person’s backstory doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist or that we’re responsible for making any grand change to the way things pan out. Here, a kind gesture of purchasing a piano for a kindred spirit is more than enough… if a little unpractical.

So much of this movie acts as a mirror to the lives of the people making it. The struggling artist narrative is straight out of Hansard’s life, even recording the demo tape in the same studio as he once did. The ex-girlfriend who moved to London is right out of Carney’s own past. All of this helps blur the line between fact and fiction, The scene where Girl tells Guy that she loves him, unprompted and ingeniously unsubtitled, is perhaps the most quietly powerful moment in the film – because the line between performance and truth is shattered as we, like Guy AND Hansard, perhaps can’t tell who’s saying what anymore – the character or the actor. In reality, it may have been both. And it’s captured right there on screen. Lightning in a bottle.

Arguably, this film is set in the last era of when a story like this could be romantic – or at least romanticised. If it was made today, in 2018, Guy would be recording in his bedroom, uploading to Soundcloud, plugging his Patreon page and filling a Youtube account with cover songs sang directly to his webcam. There’s no doubt that the advancements in technology has added an artifice to the whole struggling artist thing and it means something very different in this day and age. Here, in the far flung days of the mid 00s, there’s no real social media presence (Myspace was sort of at its peak but was more of a Facebook precursor than the platform for music it slowly morphed into) and Guy ends the movie with a handful of CDs to show for his time in the studio. Ah physical media, how I miss thee… sometimes…

This is definitely one of those movies that is firmly lodged in my brain. Despite only having watched it twice, three times at most, I’ve had the soundtrack on rotation for ten years and the time I caught Glen Hansard himself in concert (at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire in 2015, natch) was legitimately one of the most memorable gig experiences I’ve ever been to. Everything from the setlist to the showmanship to the intimacy to the grandeur, it was just incredible. An unplugged encore starting with Say It To Me Now up on a balcony in the crowd through to Falling Slowly on piano? Woop woop! 

But I digress… this is a film that is firmly time-stamped in my memory. I watched it on the very same night that I first properly met someone who ended up becoming a huge part of my life. Nearly ten years ago to the day, me and some friends - energised by both the movie and the hazy summer evening - trekked across town to a housewarming party. This was a decision which would inevitably change the very direction of my life, which is insane when you really sit down and think about it… and being able to pinpoint the origin of such a huge personal crossroads is kinda what Once is all about so it really does resonate.

And I think this rewatch really did resonate, because I now saw myself more as the cynical, pessimistic person Guy is at the start of the film – just trying to keep on keeping on and push himself out of his comfort zone. To achieve something special or worthwhile. Without getting too personal, I can be my own worst enemy and while 2008 mostly feels more like a lifetime ago, there are times when it feels like it was just yesterday and I blinked and went from then to now in a flash. And we all have these moments. Be it meeting someone influential, deciding to move house, to travel to a new country, to quit that job and take that risk; they can be scary or freeing or even traumatic but they’re an element of life that movies strive to replicate… and this one just does so by downplaying the weight of these moments rather than draw attention to them in an artificial manner.

John Carney has said that the title of the film is in reference to other talented musicians and artists that he knew, who always said ‘once I do this and once I do that, then I’ll pursue my passion’ etc, referring to the realities (and the safety nets) of life that can sometimes stop people from taking the plunge and chasing their dreams. I’ve definitely felt the same way and have constantly had that conversation inside my own head: that once I get these things sorted then these things lined up then I’ll do such and such and how in the end, time just keeps on moving regardless… so you have to act. 

This film is about making that choice to act.