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bipabrena · 3 years

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Beneath x the x Ice (AO3 HisoIllu fic) Chapter 5

A fic where there’s more to Illumi than meets the eye. Hisoka goes to great lengths to help him realise he deserves better than the Zoldycks and being a puppet to his parents, even at the expense of their friendship. Slow-burn HisoIllu. Read the whole thing here.

Illumi stopped in his heel for a couple of seconds. He had to squint, to evaluate if the redhead that looked from side to side every now and then, leaning against the diner’s window, was Hisoka. His mouth formed a small “o”.

It really was.

He stuck his hands in his pockets, and approached him.

“Hisoka,” he called, halfway to the diner.

The redhead perked up, and looked at the direction the voice came from. He smiled as the assassin walked towards him.

“Illu ♥!”

The Zoldyck stopped, now face-to-face with the magician. He subtly scanned him from head-to-toe, even though he had already done that when walking to him. Hisoka was fashioning a teal cardigan with a grey sweater underneath, khaki pants, and a sage coloured scarf. His hair was layered down, and he wore no make-up.

“So,” Illumi broke the silence, “I take it you’re cold tonight.”

Hisoka’s shoulders shook in laughter. “I have no idea how you could tell. ♠”

Now it was the magician’s turn to eye the assassin. He fashioned the same clothing from lunch. His smile stretched.

“Hm?” Illumi inquired, noticing Hisoka’s foraging eyes.

“You’re looking lovely. You have an interesting fashion sense for an assassin, I must say. ♦”

“As do you,” Illumi replied. “You’re like a rainbow with all those colours on you.”

Hisoka was expecting the assassin to mention how he wasn’t wearing make-up, how his hair was down, or how he wasn’t dressed the way Illumi complained about days prior. Well, he was disappointed.

“Are we going to see the meteor shower here?” Illumi asked, knowing that a city was the worst place to see such an event due to the light pollution.

“Oh, you offend me, Illu. I’m not so cheap! ♠” he ran fingers through his hair, cheeky smile on his face. “I have a very nice night planned for us, you see. ♥”

“I understand,” Illumi replied. He enjoyed the way Hisoka looked right now. “I suppose I’ll allow you to lead the way.”

“Oh?” Hisoka brought his fist to his mouth, chuckling. “So, you’re a sub? ♦”

“What?” the assassin didn’t understand what he meant.

“Nothing,” Hisoka waved his hand with a grin, shrugging off his previous statement. If he had to explain the joke, it would obviously lose the humour. “Come on, Pacific Park is nearby. The meteor shower shouldn’t hit until midnight. ♣”

“What?” Illumi repeated.

Hisoka cast a backwards glance.

“That’s five hours, Hisoka. Why couldn’t we have met at nine as originally planned? Or ten?”

“I told you, Illu,” he smiled “I have a nice night planned for us. ♥”

Illumi blinked at him.

“Will you trust me? ♠”

“I’m hungry,” the assassin announced. “I skipped supper because of this, so food better be in your plans.”

Hisoka moaned, drawing the attention of people walking near-by. A mother tightened the grip on her daughter’s hand, walking faster to get away from the odd redhead.

Illumi seemed indifferent to yet another one of Hisoka's eccentric episodes.

Hisoka placed a hand on his chest. “You skipped supper for me?” He squinted his eyes in a long smile.

“I suppose so, yes.”

“Oh, Illu… ♥”

Illumi’s sight wandered, from side to side, eyeing every person walking past them. Two pedestrians, in particular, ogled Hisoka as if he were disgusting. For some reason, this upset Illumi.

“Are we leaving or not?” he asked.

“Yes, of course! ♥” Hisoka led the way.

Illumi followed. They walked for various minutes. The city lights gleamed their faces. They walked past people, pets, bars with neon signs—and during the entire trip, Illumi could see Hisoka talking.

He talked, and talked. He swirled his body, looked back at Illumi; always fashioning that cheeky smile. The Zoldyck followed Hisoka mindlessly, but he was, quite frankly, not listening to him. Then, they reached their destination. Pacific Park.

It was an amusement park located on the coast. It wasn’t large, but it was cosy, and housed very entertaining attractions. The most visually appealing ones, or, in other words, the first you would notice immediately, were the neon-lighted roller-coaster that whirled the park, and the Ferris wheel that sentinelled the ocean.

Hisoka was about to do a spectacular, charming introduction to the park, but Illumi beat him to it and spoke up first.

“Are we going to eat here?” Illumi asked.

Frankly, Hisoka wasn’t planning on taking Illumi to dine until ten. His original plan was to spend time together at the amusement park, ride some attractions, chat, attend one of the stage shows, to then dine at one of Illumi’s favourite restaurants. The final act of the night would be the meteor shower, which they would see on a lake five-miles from here.

He figured that, being isolated from the world as a child, Illumi was never taken to places like this. He thought it’d be interesting for the lonely assassin to experience it.

“Yes! ♥” Hisoka responded with pride. “But!” he emphasised, “not dinner per se, because first—"

“I don’t like this place,” Illumi decided.

“Sorry?” Hisoka didn’t appreciate being interrupted.

“I don’t want to eat here. What was the plan? To eat, then ride something? I would get nauseous. Or to ride something, then eat? I don’t see the fun. This is not a nice place to eat. I would’ve much preferred a restaurant.”

Hisoka felt offended over Illumi’s critiquing of his plan. Why couldn’t the assassin not be dense for once, and allow things to flow?

“Now, Illu, don’t be impatient!” he rose a hand. “We will dine, at Mirazur to be precise. However, the reservation is at ten, and don’t you agree it would be fun to do something else first? This is a spectacular place! ♠”

The assassin looked around. “I don’t see the big deal,” he lied. The place looked gorgeous, and he enjoyed the visually appealing night-lights.

Hisoka bolted towards Illumi, positioning himself behind him. He gently grabbed his shoulders. “There’s a lot to do! There are these rides,” he pointed to the rollercoaster and Ferris wheel, then a pirate ship on the far left, “there’s a shooting range,” he pointed to the distant right. “There are stage-shows up ahead,” he pointed to the front.

He rested both hands on Illumi’s right shoulder, and leaned his chin on them. “It will be fun. I promise. ♥” He smiled.

Illumi pierced him with his large and impassive, black eyes. He wondered why Hisoka was so close to his face. “Okay.”

“Good! ♦” Hisoka clapped once. “Let me give you a tour, shall we? But,” he rose a finger, “let’s get ice-cream first.”

Illumi’s eyebrows rose. “Ice-cream?”

“Yes. ♥”

“I am okay with that,” Illumi approved.

He loved sweets. Being thoroughly denied them as a child, he developed an itching need to consume them often. He would take advantage of this.

They approached one of the ice-cream stands. It was massive. There were several people in-line, and Illumi wished he could stick his needles in them to make them leave. By the way the assassin observed them, Hisoka was able to deduce, immediately, his intentions. He smiled. Suddenly, Illumi felt a gentle touch on his wrist. He looked to his left, where Hisoka stood.

“Now, now, Illu… don’t try anything funny. We’re in public. ♠”

“Who are you to say that? You moan in public all the time.”

“Mm, but that’s not the same as trying to kill people. ♣”

How ironic of Hisoka, of all people, to say such a thing.

“I wasn’t planning on killing them,” Illumi muttered. “Just make them leave.”

The magician grazed his thumb over the assassin’s wrist, much to the latter’s discomfort. “You are very lucky to have me,” Hisoka stated proudly. “Don’t fear, Illu, I will teach you how to behave in public! ♠”

“Excuse you?” Illumi interjected. “I very well know how to behave in public. Who are you to—” he stopped in his tracks.

Hisoka narrowed his eyes with a long smile.

He’s just trying to rile you up. It takes two to tango.

“You are correct,” Illumi looked forward.

“Ah?” Hisoka’s smile reverted, puzzled.

“Yes,” Illumi responded, not making any sense.

Hisoka opened his mouth to say something, but his dense friend interjected.

“I will have three scoops, all different flavours,” he announced. “What will you have?” he looked at Hisoka.

Oh, this man was so endearing. Hisoka could barely contain himself.

“Oh, Illu… ♥” his smile stretched.

“Hello,” the female cashier greeted.

“Oh, hello,” Hisoka boldly leaned forward, resting his elbows on the counter. He bore a coquettish smile. “A banana split, no whipped cream. I want almonds for a topping. Please do sprinkle them everywhere. ♥”

Illumi caught the flustered look on the young cashier’s face. He supposed she wasn’t used to having such a charismatic, bold customer.

“And you, sir?” she looked at the assassin. His impossibly large, onyx eyes made her feel uneasy. He was quite attractive, but she’d rather look at the redhead that bore a much more inviting expression.

“I want a large ice-cream cone, three scoops. One cookies and cream, one caramel and one chocolate.”

The cashier nodded, smiling. She announced the price, and Illumi sought his wallet to pay for his snack.

Hisoka stopped him in his tracks. “How silly of me! ♠” he slapped his forehead. “Did I not mention I would be the one to pay, Illu ♥?”

While his intention was to be the same old-fashioned, quirky Hisoka, the cashier couldn’t help but believe these two were a couple.

Illumi spoke, as impassive as ever. “No, thanks, Hisoka. I’ll pay for my own." He was about to hand the money, but Hisoka held his hand and pulled it down.

“I insist. ♥” He purred.

That whispery, half-growl tone definitely stirred something strange in Illumi’s belly. Hisoka was weird…

“Oh, well,” Illumi shrugged, getting off the line. If he had free ice-cream, better for him.

He walked towards one of the nearest attractions. His eye shifted from the ride to the sign. It was called “King’s Dominion,” a 305 foot drop-tower with a 72mph descent.

Currently, people were mounting the ride. It would begin shortly.

He felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned, and it was Hisoka, offering his ice-cream cone.

“Thanks,” Illumi muttered, eyes shifting back to the ride.

Hisoka noticed something curious. The more time passed, the more Illumi’s guard eased. Right now, he was alert enough to anticipate any sort of danger, but he was relaxed enough to enjoy his surroundings. In fact, he was so relaxed, he didn’t notice the way Hisoka was looking at him. Hisoka was fascinated, taking small spoons of his banana split.

He wasn’t paying attention to the crazy night-lights, the people screaming in near-by rides, or the people walking past them. His attention was, irrefutably, focused on no one but Illumi and Illumi alone.

The ride was about to commence. Illumi leaned forward expectantly.

“Illu,” Hisoka chuckled, “you haven’t tasted your ice-cream. ♦”

Illumi did not respond. He watched as the tower went up. He could see the people getting smaller and smaller, some wiggling their legs. His lips were parted, eager to find out what would happen next.

Hisoka never took his eyes off him.

The tower stopped. Faint “yeah”s and “whoo-s” could be heard from above.

Illumi quickly took a bite of his ice-cream, as to not miss a single second of what was about to occur. He licked his lips.

Hisoka was dying.

Then, screaming ensued. The tower dropped, and all Illumi could see was hands and feet wiggling in the air.

The ride stopped midway. The fascinated assassin gasped quietly.

Then, it went back up.

“Oh!” Illumi uttered, surprised.

It went back down. The motion was repeated three times, until the ride finally dropped for the last time, stopping. The riders unbuckled their belts, and ran to the exit, some quite tipsy.

Hisoka loved how disbelieving Illumi looked. In a way, he couldn’t understand how Illumi had never seen something like this before.

Illumi finally noticed the way Hisoka stared at him. He turned to look at him. “What?”

“Nothing,” he smiled, taking a spoonful of his banana split. “You simply haven’t eaten your ice-cream yet. ♣”

“I took a bite,” Illumi refuted.

“Yes, but that’s not eating it. ♠” Hisoka repositioned his scarf. “It’s melting! ♥”

“Oh, yes,” Illumi agreed, looking at drops run down the cone. He licked the ice-cream, from the second scoop to the third. “That is very good,” he concluded.

“Yes, I can see… ♥” Hisoka hoped Illumi would continue doing such a gesture.

Illumi’s nose tickled. He inhaled, then sneezed gracefully. Hisoka couldn’t believe how he could look perfect doing even that. He felt something cold hit his shoes, and that’s when he saw Illumi’s ice-cream. The sudden movement made the scoops drop from the cone.

Illumi eyed it, and blinked. “Oh, no,” he stated, in the most monotone voice possible. He sounded robotic, and like he couldn't care less. But truly, he really was bummed his ice-cream fell. It was rather amusing to Hisoka how that hollow, robotic tone betrayed Illumi's words of despair.

“That’s okay,” he shook off his feet, ignoring what just happened. “I can get you another one. ♦”

“No, but thanks,” Illumi announced, throwing the cone in the stand’s trash can. “I would like to ride something now.”

Ride me. Hisoka thought. “Mm. Would you like to ride that one? ♥” he pointed at the drop-tower they just observed.

“I believe so, yes.”

“Okay,” Hisoka grabbed a large spoonful of his ice-cream, and offered it to Illumi. ”Here! ♥”

Illumi stared for a couple of seconds. “What are you doing?”

“Hm? I’m offering you a spoonful of my ice-cream. ♣”

“Yes, I can see,” Illumi looked at the spoon. “But why?” his eyes shifted back to the redhead.

“It’s ice-cream, Illu. You dropped yours, and sharing is caring. Why wouldn’t you want it ♥?” he chuckled.

Illumi blinked at him.

“It’s not poisoned… ♠”

“Yes, but you ate from that spoon,” Illumi remarked.

“Sorry?” Hisoka pulled the spoon away from him.

“You put your mouth there. Why would I eat from there?”

Hisoka’s lips parted. Was Illumi implying he disgusted him? He felt very offended, something he didn’t know was possible for someone like him.

“Can we ride the drop-tower now?” Illumi asked.

“Go ahead, I’ll watch from here,” Hisoka stated, looking forward at the ride, eating the rejected spoonful of ice-cream.

“You’re not coming?” Illumi inquired.

“Well, I did just say I’d watch from here. That means I won’t go, no?” he kept the spoon in his mouth for a couple of seconds.

Illumi only began to notice something was off. Hisoka was acting different, all the sudden.

“You’re acting strange,” Illumi stated matter-of-factly.

“Ah,” is all Hisoka responded. He still looked forward, avoiding Illumi’s gaze.

“Oh!” the assassin brought his fist to his palm, believing he figured out what changed Hisoka’s mood. “I splattered ice-cream on your shoes. Is that why?”

Hisoka finally looked at him, lips pursed in annoyance. Illumi gazed at him expectantly, to which Hisoka could only laugh. Laugh at Illumi’s denseness, laugh at himself for feeling offended; laugh at how Illumi was making this night not-too-easy to enjoy the way Hisoka expected. It would be a waste of time trying to explain the simple-minded assassin why the magician felt offended to begin with.

“I haven’t finished this glorious treat, Illu, ♥” Hisoka chuckled, in attempts to lighten the mood again. “I can’t ride while eating it.”

“Oh,” Illumi felt silly for believing something was wrong to begin with. “I’ll wait for you.”

“Are you sure? ♦” the magician inquired.

“Yes.”

He waited in silence as Hisoka took his time eating his ice-cream. He was almost done, now eating the bananas. They watched a second round from the attraction.

“Okay. ♥” Hisoka threw the empty container.

They waited in line. Hisoka peeked at Illumi, who was blankly looking forward. He broke the silence by chuckling, drawing the assassin’s attention.

He tried to softly run fingers through Illumi’s hair, but the latter pulled back before he could touch him.

Oh, Illu… why must you make this so difficult? “You should tie your hair, otherwise it’ll be rather uncomfortable. ♣”

“Oh,” Illumi muttered. “I didn’t bring a hair-tie.”

“What about your needles? ♦”

“They’re a bother to tie my hair with,” he brought his hair up and gathered it around itself to make a bun. "But I suppose I've no other choice," he kept it in place with two needles.

He looked intimidating, but in an enigmatic, attractive way. And Hisoka loved it.

“Mm. Scary. ♥” Hisoka purred, observing him intently.

There it was again. That tone, and the slight narrowing of Hisoka’s golden eyes. It stirred something in Illumi, something he couldn’t identify. A strange, warm feeling.

They were next.

Hisoka was incredibly excited, hoping that the vertigo would produce an expression in Illumi. Oh, he couldn’t wait!

They sat next to each other and buckled their belts, waiting for everyone else to accommodate. Hisoka looked like an excited child, which Illumi found amusing. Could he blame him, though? The assassin felt a dull hint of excitement himself.

They went up.

Hisoka held Illumi’s hand, and rose his arm. Illumi immediately pulled it back. “What are you doing?”

“Put your hands up, Illu! ♥” Hisoka smiled. “It makes it more fun,” He insisted, grabbing his hand again.

Hisoka’s long, slender fingers felt warm and delicate wrapped around Illumi’s. It was odd to the assassin how these deadly fingers capable of crushing bone and stone could feel so… inviting.

He complied.

The ride, now at the top, remained still for five seconds.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

Illumi heard piercing screams, and wind abruptly hit his face. A tingly sensation overcame his stomach, but his expression remained the same. It felt similar to when he jumped off a building. He suddenly felt squeezing in his hand, and recalled Hisoka was holding it. He turned to look at the redhead, and found a strange child-like innocence in him.

Hisoka bore a huge grin, his scarf flew up his face. He swung his legs, yelling “whoo-s". He looked relaxed, and happy. Illumi found it strange, but endearing. He found himself, reflexively, squeezing his hand back. Had you asked Illumi why he did it, he wouldn’t know what to reply. His answer would simply be “because it felt right.”

Read the rest of the chapter here.

#hisoillu #hisoka x illumi #Hisoka #illumi #hxh

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memoriesoffear · 4 years

Note

Dear Memories of Fear staff: What were some of your favorite games to translate?

We have written down our favorite games to translate underneath a cut.

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KulaRose:

Of the games we worked on, I can easily pick out my top three that I adored as a translator:

Toilet in Wonderland: - This one was a challenge due to the memey quality of it, but I loved the utter crack nature of the game, and translating scenes like that of the Soccer Kid and his Doctor Dad was a load of fun. Even the non-translation aspects, like Mira herself and the overall world made it a treat to work on and made me excited to translate it.

Peret em Heru: For the Prisoners: - Honestly, this was very likely my favorite title to work on, both for its setting and because I had way too much fun translating Tsuchida and Kuroe's interactions. I can’t think of any other duo where the dialog just came to life right in front of my eyes as much as those two’s speech that was just dripping with underlying aggression. The rest of the cast’s little quirks were a lot of fun to translate as well and it just left me wanting more Peret em Heru. It’s a game that I was really sad to see come to an end, both as a game and as a translation project.

The Mystery Files of Detective Inaba No. 2: - Characters, characters, characters. That’s the name of the game here. Just like with Peret em Heru, I loved translating the characters and, again, just like Peret em Heru, I LOVED translating the aggression between Tsubaki and Natsume. I think I just have a thing for barely contained rivalries/rage. But yes, once again, I love translating characterizations and this game had it completely in spades. So much is going on beneath the surface of this case which gave many chances for the characters to shine. Naturally, Inaba and Arimura’s natural ability to play off of each other was amazing in this game and highly enjoyable. You should notice a trend at this point that I really enjoy translating a ragtag group of misfits a lot.

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enigmaopoeia:

Here are the games I have personally loved working on: Ghost School: - This game stood out to me because of the graphic work I had to put into it. There were a couple of disembodied voiced lines in this game which had no subtitles provided because it was meant for an audience who would understand the language. Thinking on how to handle this, I was inspired by XSEED Games’ work on Corpse Party (PSP) where they provided subtitles on the upper corner of the screen whenever this happens. So taking that inspiration, I was able to insert subtitles into the game to help the many players who do not understand spoken Japanese, that way they can obtain the same full experience as those who do understand the language. Because I feel it is important to make sure all dialogue is understandable, any time I am faced with a game with spoken dialogue and no subtitles, I will do my best to provide them every time.

Peret em Heru: For the Prisoners: - It was my first time working with the RPG Tkool Dante 98 II engine and I really enjoyed learning it, especially when there were no English written tutorials out for it. There is still a lot I would like to learn about the engine, but I am happy with what I have accomplished thus far. While it's probably not possible, it makes me wish that I could port CORPSE-PARTY (PC-98) to that same engine, since it's a much easier engine to work with.

The Mystery Files of Detective Inaba series: - I am a big fan of murder mystery stories, so it was a lot of fun for me to work on these games. So much so that I even wrote out timelines for No. 2 and No. 3 that way when I worked on it, I could make sure there are as few plotholes as possible. I also loved helping out with the bug fixes and I would send my reports back to Inui, the game developer, of Suika Bar. If I had to choose one game that in the series I loved working on most, it would be The Mystery Files of Detective Inaba No. 2 due to the amount of characters and interactions.

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Ajogamer:

CORPSE-PARTY ZERO: - This one was my second playtesting project ever, so because of that, it made it enjoyable simply due to my mindset, where playtesting still felt fresh and new me, but I was also a bit more confident due to having a prior project under my belt. In addition, CORPSE-PARTY ZERO was a project where I wound up finding a lot of issues to report, but they were usually simple enough that re-testing them and making sure they were fixed didn't wind up becoming frustrating. As a result, the project was one that felt fairly satisfying to work on. I also liked that the game had a lot of variations with its events, which made it feel like there was a good amount to explore and consider while testing.

Toilet in Wonderland: - This one was rather enjoyable for a couple reasons. For one, I was rather happy to simply have the chance to work on it at all, since it was a game that seemed relatively obscure and with little info on it even among the Japanese RPG Maker fandom, so when I first discovered it and played it for the first time, it almost felt like I was uncovering something lost. As a result, helping Toilet in Wonderland get localized in English was exciting, since it was an opportunity to give this little-known game another chance at some exposure. The game itself was also fairly fun to work on, since with how odd and surreal it was, its plot and dialogue were more of an unknown than usual, going into it. As a result, I was initially a bit unsure how much the dialogue would add, but I wound up being really pleased by its dialogue, since it was just as goofy and humorous as the game's its surrealistic visuals and events, and it felt like it made me appreciate Toilet in Wonderland anew. Between its surreal areas and that consistently silly dialogue, it was also fun to work on. It made polishing up its dialogue feel a bit different than with our previous, projects (which were generally a bit more serious in tone), and I even found replaying the game (as is always necessary as a part of the QA Process) a lot of fun, since its silliness never failed to make me smile.

The Mystery Files of Detective Inaba No. 2: - While The Mystery Files of Detective Inaba series was fairly enjoyable to work on in general, The Mystery Files of Detective Inaba No. 2 was my favorite to work on of the bunch, since it was a game that really emphasized its writing, along with having a large cast of characters, most of which had plenty of dialogue. As a result, I felt like there was more of a need than usual to consider each character's unique way of speaking, and there was a bit more time spent tweaking dialogue to make sure that was consistent all throughout. In addition, it was interesting making sure all the story details and character accounts were properly conveyed and matched up in our translation. The game also had some nice jazz music, which was pretty catchy and pleasant to listen to even on my 2nd and 3rd times running through the game to playtest it. Peret em Heru: For the Prisoners: - This one was exciting to me for a few reasons. For one, Peret em Heru was another where the character voices were a bit more of a consideration, since its characters are pretty distinct and with some stronger personalities in the mix, so it was fun seeing their unique voices shape up in English, and then helping tweak and polish up their dialogue (especially so for the characters that were a bit more cheeky or blunt, which is quite a bit of the cast, heh). In addition, Peret em Heru was a game with a good deal to see and test, between the different characters to make use of in combat, their variable fates, and the entire command-based system for dealing with obstacles and solving puzzles, all of which made the playtesting process interesting and fun. Being a PC-98 game, it also felt like a more unique project to work on, since it makes it feels a bit different than your usual RPG Maker game, and well... I also just really love the PC-98 aesthetic. Speaking of, I really loved this game's aesthetics and atmosphere in general, and they never failed to suck me in each time I replayed the game to playtest. Lastly, Peret em Heru is also a game that especially impressed me, so I was also just excited to get a chance to work on it and bring it to an English audience!

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

#Anonymous

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