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starrypawz · 5 years

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Very brief thoughts on episodes

General Content Warnings: Love, Death + Robots is rated an 18, most of the episodes are pretty graphic in some way. Basically the show lives up to the Death part of the title. Most of the shorts have people die in them.

There’s a lot of gore, and a lot of naked people (typically women), three of the episodes have like sexually exploitative tones/themes (Sonnie, Witness and Good Hunting), Aquila Rift has a drawn out sex scene. The gore elements vary from episode to episode but involve things such as blood, dismemberment and severe and often fatal injury.

A few of the episodes have post-apocalyptic themes. Several of the episodes have war/military themes, quite a few have some variation of ‘trying to fight monster(s)’

Basically if you’re not good with gore/blood, and with nudity and sex this series isn’t probably for you.

Sonnie’s Edge- Interesting? Cool monster designs, only one with lgbt+ themes and it’s not done in a positive way (Body Horror, Nudity, Blood) CGI

Three Robots- Not much to say about this beyond what I’ve seen other’s say, hilarious (Pretty safe?) CGI

Sucker of Souls- Liked the style, generally enjoyed this one even with the rather dark humour ending to it (Bloody, Horror Crude Humour, Sex) 2D

The Witness- Interesting concept, not much else to comment, very... fanservicey... (Nudity and Gore, Sex work, Gun violence) CGI

Suits- Reminded me a bit of Borderlands somehow? Enjoyed it quite a bit (Some cartoony gore/blood, death, animal death) 2D

Zima Blue- Honestly this one is probably my favourite? Loved it. (I’d consider this a ‘safe’ episode wrt to triggers) 2D

Helping Hand- 127 Hours in space, not much else to say about it, (Horror themes, dismemberment/body horror) CGI

When The Yogurt Took Over- Hilarious (I’d consider this episode a ‘safe’ one generally?) CGI

Beyond The Aquila Rift- Holy shit that got fucked up (Body Horror, Explicit sex, Medical) CGI

Good Hunting- Visually yes, some other elements... no thank you (Body Horror, Assault, Racism, Blood, Forced Surgery) 2D

The Dump- Aptly named tbh, not much to say about it? Kinda did like the big trash monster pupper (Blood, gross out humour) CGI

Shapeshifters, We have werewolves, I love werewolves, but idk felt there was something missing, kind of felt like I was watching COD? (Really bloody, military/war, mutilated bodies) CGI

Blindspot: Borderlands vibes again, liked the visual style, bit like a grown up version of a Saturday Morning Cartoon, family of misfits? (Crude Humour, Blood? (Probably coolant but it’s treated like blood) CGI

Fish Night- Visually reminds me a little of A Scanner Darkly, generally enjoyed it, Idk if it has a name but I like that sort of fantasy/horror based around the American desert (Nudity, Blood) 2D

Lucky 13- Thanks you gave me emotions over a space ship for a bit, felt it needed a bit more (Violence, Military/War, Blood/Gore) CGI

Ice Age- Interesting concept, kind of cute,

THE SIMPSONS ALREADY DID IT (Generally pretty safe? Some violence) Live Action/CGI

Secret War- Felt like watching an FPS shooter (Blood, violence/war, Occult themes, horror, there’s a decapitated, naked woman used for a ritual in a flashback) GCI

Alternative Histories- Not much to say on it, probably my least favourite, gets points knocked off for a blink and you miss it joke (Cartoony blood, Hitler/Nazis, a very brief joke that I suspect has transphobic undertones, people are drawn very stereotypical in this could be seen as Anti Semitic maybe?) 2D

Overall Favourites: Zima Blue, Suits, Fish Night, Ice Age, Sucker of Souls, Three Robots, When the Yogurt Took Over, Blindspot

In the Middle: Shapeshifters, Beyond the Aquila Rift, Sonnie’s Edge, Good Hunting, Lucky 13, The Secret War

Least: Alternative Histories, The Dump

#love death + robots spoilers #love death + robots #love death and robots spoilers #love death and robots

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paulisweeabootrash · 6 years

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Series Review: Read or Die (R.O.D. the OVA)

Welcome to another episode of Paul is Weeaboo Trash! Today’s topic is a show I’ve previously seen one episode of, so long ago that I’m almost going in fresh: the OVA (what we in the US would call a “direct to video release”) of Read or Die (2001–2002)! I was lucky enough to grow up in a household where education and fun were not portrayed as opposites, and we had the means to find plenty of fun educational things to do. My parents searched for all kinds of potentially interesting activities, and living in southern New Hampshire, the Boston area was not prohibitively far to go for them. And so I was signed up for Splash, a program one weekend per fall in which MIT students teach middle- and high-school-age kids seminars on a wide variety of topics.

What counted as topics worthy of education was quite broad, however. I ended up in a "class" that consisted of watching one episode each of several anime that the student running the class was a fan of. This was back in the days where anime fandom spread person-to-person by recommendations and there was more emphasis on developing a background knowledge of "classics" among the more informed and/or snootier fans. (I still feel this way a bit because certain tropes and references are so common or influential that being familiar with the original sources can make newer shows suddenly make a lot more sense, but I disapprove of the gatekeeper tendency to look down on people who don't yet know the things "everyone knows".)

I don't remember how many shows we sampled there, but the two that made an impact were Hellsing, which in retrospect was at best questionable for the age of the audience, and was very much not my thing because I have a low tolerance for gore, and the topic of this post, Read or Die, which was very much the kind of thing I wanted to see: a nerd being a badass in a fantastical way. Especially since I was also really into James Bond at the time, so I was probably primed to eat up other media involving a British spy fighting a mysterious secret organization. Since I'm incredibly averse to media piracy and had no clue where to buy anime, though, I never followed up to finish watching it, and eventually it faded from my mind. Until I stumbled across the first volume of the manga for super-cheap at Saboten Con last year, and it flicked some nostalgia switch that reminded me how much I'd enjoyed it at the time, although I barely remember any actual details, so I am practically going in fresh here.

Read or Die follows Yomiko Readman, a teacher, obsessive book collector and reader, and superpowered secret agent who can manipulate paper in nearly any way. Any paper available, from money to ribbons to a briefcase full of blank looseleaf she apparently just brings with her. She uses this power in the course of her service as a secret agent, codename The Paper, working for the British Library?! Along with Miss Deep, who can selectively phase shift, and Drake Anderson, a gruff and dismissive military type (and apparently potter in his cover job), she is assigned to a plan to save the world in a way that vaguely involves collecting books. Saved from whom? The I-jin, clones of historical geniuses with superpowers related to their areas of expertise, such as... knowing stuff about insects, or... uh... spreading Buddhism to Japan... who are going to flashy and violent lengths to steal books the British Library is trying to acquire legitimately. Trust me, it eventually gets explained, and the Big Reveal, although pretty goddamn weird, fits in with the rest of what has been established. Suspend your disbelief enough to accept the I-jin at all, and it’s fine, although still a bit ludicrous.

And I submit that all that is still less weird and ridiculous than your typical superhero or spy movie, and this show does after all have elements of both genres in one. Or, well, more and more superhero and military action as it goes on. Although the theme music uses 60s guitar sounds, chromatic chord changes, and blaring brass hits that are virtually guaranteed to evoke the James Bond theme, and our main cast do work for a secret intelligence agency, they are in quite open military-style conflict with the I-jin -- with the approval of the UN -- and very little that’s actually covert occurs, with the notable exception of something I can’t spoil that happens at the end of ep. 2. And because of the superpower angle, some of the instances of weirdness are not flaws at all but pretty creative implementations of the characters’ powers (using a paper airplane as a lethal weapon?!).

This last point didn’t really fit in organically, but I'd also like to mention a couple of things about the art that I love but don't see often. The very first shot of the series uses multiple flat backgrounds at different distances moving in relation to each other to convey the camera moving across the scene, which I have seen in other animated works (at the moment, I can only think of examples from very old Disney movies off the top of my head), but not in recent ones. I don't know whether it's simply out-of-fashion or this is a result of the shift to CGI so animators figure "why would we do this when we can actually render a city with realistic perspective?" This show also has a particular kind of fluid motion in characters that I’ve seen in many reasonably-high-production-value shows from the 90s and 00s, but rarely in newer shows (Space Dandy being a notable exception). Maybe I'm watching the wrong recent shows, maybe it's just a stylistic choice that's out of fashion, maybe it's harder to pull off convincingly when you're not animating by hand.

I’m glad I finally got to watch this. It’s even better than I remember. Now to get to work on the rest of the manga and the other series. Oh yeah, haha. The abbreviation "R.O.D." stands for both "Read or Die" and "Read or Dream", which are different parts of the same larger series. The Read or Die manga (4 volumes), this OVA series, the Read or Dream manga (also 4 volumes), and a 26-episode TV series all take place in the same narrative universe, rather than the usual model of the anime being an adaptation/retelling of the manga. There is also a light novel series I know nothing about, but it sounds from the Wikipedia article like that is the single ongoing series that is the source for the two manga and two anime. (There is also apparently a barely-related future side story manga.)

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W/A/S: 1/3/3

Weeb: I don’t think there’s much, if anything, in here that would require explanation to a typical Western audience and which isn’t also explained in the dialogue.

Ass: There is a single implied nipple in the opening sequence. Gasp! And Miss Deep's costume design is pretty fanservicey, but only barely more explicitly so than you're likely to get in American media deemed suitable for older children.

Shit: Until the Big Reveal, it's just unclear why anyone involved other than Yomiko should be this interested in acquiring the specific books that serve as the show’s MacGuffin, nor is it clear that the I-jin’s plans extend further than searching for them in a very destructive way, leaving me baffled that the Library immediately makes the connection that the books are key to saving the world. There are a few minor errors in the subtitles and a visual glitch (Blu Ray remaster, please?), and a couple of places where faces just... don’t... look right. Oh, and if you’re watching the dubbed version, add another half point of Shit for Crispin Freeman’s British accent.

And for the first time I feel the need to add a CONTENT WARNING. Usually, I think the review is sufficient to give you the idea whether there is anything likely to be disturbing in a show, but this is different, because the first two episodes have the sort of over-the-top stylized combat you might expect from other action anime or Western superhero media, where even a death comes off as un-shocking. But in ep. 3 of this, there is a shocking pivot. There are several short instances of graphic and sudden violence of kinds that are quite a bit more disturbing and distressing (even when they involve the use of powers) than anything that occurred previously.

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Stray Observations:

- Yes, those of you who know a little Japanese caught that joke: "Yomiko" could be loosely translated as "read girl". Her name is "Read Girl Read Man". Because she likes to read. Get it? Ha! Ha! Ha!

- In the manga, Yomiko is also established to be a literal bibliophile. As in "books, regardless of content, turn her on". I'm kind of glad this is not a plot point in the anime.

- The “secret” operation in the last episode, which is conducted with UN approval and involves an actual military attack with an actual goddamn naval fleet (and collaborating with North Korea to keep the US too distracted to notice it, even though this is a British operation against an organization that literally burned down the White House in the first scene of the first episode) might actually beat the first few episodes of Full Metal Panic! for “worst undercover operation ever”.

#R.O.D.#Read or Die #anime review #weeaboo trash

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recentanimenews · 7 years

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FEATURE: "Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star" Review

Every once in awhile a game really surprises me. My familiarity with the Fate series begins and ends with the anime, but I’ve been aware of the mobile and handheld franchises for some time. When the Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star was announced with some flashy promotional videos, my expectations were pretty much set at a sold Warriors-like with some dating sim elements. Let's say I was at least right about the dating sim, but had drastically underestimated Marvelous. Fate/Extella delivered with some interesting new ideas that rejuvenated the aspect of Warriors games I’ve always felt was their Achilles' heel, the irrelevance of map movement and strategy.

Taking place after the climax of Fate/Extra, which occurs in an alternate timeline of Fate/Stay, Fate/Extella begins an indeterminate amount of time after your character won the Holy Grail war. After some unexpected events, you end up on the moon (which is also the Holy Grail and a big computer) with some dramatically raised stakes and a story that has entered that sphere of conceptual complexity that only anime can reach. Despite the plot insanity, the narrative remains pretty comprehensible by giving you simple to understand goals, mostly involving defeating other Servants who are trying to mess with your moon kingdom. At worst you hit a few wall of text interludes between missions describing some historicity or abstraction of what's going on, but your immediate goal always has face begging to be punched.

To be honest, even extended dialogues are fairly painless. Nero is an immensely dramatic character and alternates between sanctimoniously dispensing orders and lavishing compliments upon the main character, her Master. The two of you are in the midst of a fated romance so over-the-top that just about every conversation is dominated by gushing digressions and starry-eyed gazing. Whether it’s the result of some great translating work or the original intent was to make the dialogue as soppy as it is I’m not sure but it actually never gets old and Nero's voice actor delivers. There are some dating sim elements, primarily Nero whisking you away to your shared room regularly to have private conversations which allow you to deepen your bond by answering questions in the ways which most please her. Do well enough and you can earn yourself some fanservicey special scenes. It’s a sort of take-it-or-leave it aspect of the game that doesn’t do too much to obstruct the focus of the game, the combat.

The biggest surprise Marvelous brought to bear was the high pressure gameplay in battle. Fate/Extella plays like a light speed Warriors title, giving you the same combo structure with more enemies and higher mobility. The biggest quality of life upgrade is that your jump button automatically includes a launching attack so that none of your strong attack combos have to be your designated air combo starter. Perhaps the biggest issue is only your form change really has a guard break attack. This would be a huge sticking point for me except that the main thrust of the gameplay is in prioritizing objectives. Your enemy is constantly making attempts to invade your conquered territories from their own, so you can’t simply push your front forward to win. Instead you have to constantly dive in and out of enemy territories to crush “Plants” before they can invade then move back to continue your advance. From mission start there isn’t a single moment you don’t have something to do and the dynamic requires you to constantly keep an eye on your mini-map and actively choose between offense and defense.

Visually speaking the graphics of Fate/Extella accomplishes a lot with very little, keeping things simple enough to not to lag the game even with several hundred enemies gathered around you on the screen while delivering some insane particles and sequences. You're provided with three different ultimate attacks that have a variety of uses as well as adding a lot of style to your combat. Extella Manuever is your most basic ultimate, a huge attack that has you mashing O while reaching several thousand hit combos. Your Moon Crux transformation puts you into a boost state after a ridiculously elaborate and satisfying henshin sequence, the your transformation involving an elaborate and extremely satisfying henshin sequence. Your Noble Phantasm is a miniature Ikuhara production, complete with rose tossing and spontaneously manifesting golden architecture. One of your enemies has a pop-star persona and you can tell you’re drawing close to her because you can hear her performance from several zones away. Even the levels themselves are composed of floating pieces of architecture in a multicolored void connected by wormholes you leap through. The personality of the game nearly reaches Guilty Gear's stratospheric altitudes.

In addition to the above, Fate/Extella offers the usual accoutrements of modern day action games. There is a crafting system that allows you to make equipment for your own character which provides utility powers you can use to aid your Servant in combat as well as upgrades for the Servant themselves. A bonus of building your Bond with your Servants and Sub-Servants are occasional gifts of both item types. While you start with Nero, there are at least two other story paths following Tamamo and Altera, as well as several side stories featuring many of your Sub-Servants. For the perfectionist, all missions can be run multiple times and various difficulties to grind levels and achieve EX rankings as well as completing optional objectives that build Bond with your various Servants.

Whether you came for plot, gameplay, or some shared bath scenes with Saber, Fate/Extella manages to deliver on all fronts without shoving any of the three down your throat. Speaking from my personal preferences which typically doesn’t favor obvious “level-like” environmental designs, Fate/Extella managed to compartmentalize it’s arenas without giving me invisible wall fatigue. The combination of fast combat and the mental engagement of battlefield movements made for a shockingly satisfying gameplay experience that leaves you feeling immensely accomplished if you can successfully juggle objectives to take ground without ceding any territory. Whether you’re in it for the romance or no, the characters deliver some surprisingly charming dialogue that helps you wind down between battles.

REVIEW ROUND-UP

+ Satisfying high-tempo combat

+ Enemy invasions force constant objective triage

+ Visual flash and dramatic characters provide a lot of personality

+ Plenty of extras to pad out replayability

- No set guard break

- Needlessly complex plot

By: [email protected]

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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codedredalert · 7 years

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hi! im a huge fan of your long haul fic and i remember you saying you had a few deleted scenes you could post if asked? Could you? Your writing is my favourite! lots of love

awww thanks anon

oh and its ambiguously 1859 fanservicey ish hahahha.imo dealing with a drunk person is very not sexy but i know the shipper mindset HAHAHAAH

its about 3k words long so pls click the readmore to get all of it! if its less than 3k and you dont see the readmore you might need to view the post on my blog

===/\===

“Goodevening Gale!”

FUCK gokudera shot out of his chair SCRAMBLEAGAIN Hibari’s going to kill him

Hibari looks up from the floor and dragshimself two steps to the sofa and stretches out there.

Well, looks like gokudera’s just given him afree pass to the sofa then. Shit next thing you know gokudera’ll be sleeping inthe bathtub.

“Hello!” she says and she breezes in as soonas gokudera opened the door.

“Hi Ma’am, Angel, uh, Kaoru’s sleeping.”

“Oh whoops, sorry,” she said, and she creptover to check. “Wow, he looks super young like this!”

Was hibari actually sleeping haha no waydumb question.

“Hey Gale hon, what’s this?” thelandlord asked, picking up the photo of the Costeggiarefamily member bastard son they’d been having trouble looking for since thebombing

Dropped on the floor, the picture ofDario/duilio which hibari kept in his pocket.

Shit shit shit, cover story quick.

“Well, right now we’re looking for thatguy. Hoping to interview him. You know him from somewhere?“

“Oh yeah, hon. He’s a regular at mywork for two months now, sometimes comes on too strong to the staff or othercustomers, but he spends big, so,” she shrugged. “What can Ido?”

The door opened and Hibari dropped his keyson the table before turning to lock the door. “Kaoru,” Gokuderacalled. The dark haired man looked up from where he was taking off his outdoorshoes.

Hibari opened an eye. When it was convenientfor him huh, bastard.

“Where,” he asked, sitting up.

“good morning Kaoru,” she says. He eyes herfunny, then dips his head.

“Angel found our mark,” headded in Japanese.

“Who?” Hibari asked. Gokuderawaved the photo of the Costeggiare familymember. “Not that,” Hibari said. Gokudera rolled his eyes. Why was heunsurprised by Hibari not bothering to remember who Angel was when she’d beenwaltzing in and out ever since they started the mission? “Thelandlady.”

“I see,” Hibari answered,setting the shopping on the kitchen counter and walking over to the table. Hemet the landlady’s eyes.

“Boungiourno,”he greeted stiffly before turning back to Gokudera. “Where.” Herepeated.

“He is a regular at herworkplace,” Gokudera said, passing Hibari the photo.

“you can speak Italian just fine why don’tyou ask her”

“people say a lot when they think you don’tunderstand them,” hibari answered irritably. “Where.”

“Say Angel, you never said exactly where youwork.”

“Well, it’s not an uppity sort of place.” She bites her painted lip. “aw hell with it.It’s a dance place. We have girls dance on tabletops if you know what I mean.”

“ah,” gokudera says. “should be fun. For meat least.”

“Oh, that reminds me,” thelandlady said, pointing at Hibari. “That guy in the photo? He’s a regularof one of our girls, and she looks a lot like you. You know, exotic, pale, darkhair, dark eyes,” she added helpfully. Hibari looked at Gokudera.

“You should really stop pretendingthat you don’t understand Italian,” there’s no way im actually goingto translate for you, Gokudera said dryly. Hibari smirked.

“If that’s true, then I’ll bite him todeath,” Hibari said, eyes sparking with anticipation, completely ignoringGokudera’s input. It looked like his weeks of boredom were over, and he didn’teven have to resort to visiting the Chiavarone house.

“If it helps, he stops by to watch Kikievery Friday night– Kiki’s that dancer Kaoru-san looks like– and he alwayssits in booth twelve. She comes on at eight, so if you boys get there a bitearlier, you could get yourselves a seat nearby.”

Hibari stands gracefully, one fluid motionand is already walking to the kitchen.

“Ask the landlord if he wantstea.” He says, businesslike.

“That’s nice of you,” gokudera says,trying and failing to keep his incredulous tone out of his voice.

"If you don’t tip informants, you won’thave informants.” Hibari said, and he put the kettle on.

Gokudera sighed. Of course Hibari would beso mercenary. "He wants to know if you would like tea.“ He tellsAngel and he laughs

"Oh, so all I had to do to getKaoru-san to open up was to invite him to the club? "Sure, I’d lovetea.”“ she laughed. And gokudera winced laughed along. A club is thelast place hibari would want to be. He is crossing his fingers that that nightwont be a disaster.

"And I think I’ll need another coffee,I need to run more background.” Gokudera calls to him

“Milk?”

Wow that’s amazing.

“No thanks, it’s two already.”

“Oh, and no offense if you alreadyknow this, but just tell Kaoru-san, because he doesn’t look like he’s ever beento a club in his life. STRIP CLUB ETTIQUETTE

Alright boys, now the real reason I’m here,

Right, gokudera pulls her money from hiswallet, exact amount, and she drinks her tea. Hibari doesn’t even comment onthe lipstick stain.

Well, see you boys [tonight] then! She saysand leaves. Clack clack lack of her boots on the way to the lift. Gokudera andhibari and chiavarone are the only weirdos who take the stairs.

Gokudera drinks his coffee and marvels athis luck.

Hibari washes the cups.

"Not bad, miser,” Hibari saidbefore he disappeared into the room, and the clack of plastic on wood meantthat he had gotten his laptop out.

Good morning Tenth. It’s a day of goddamnmiracles. –59

Heh. Good to hear, Gokudera-kun—27

===/\===

The good streak of course couldn’t last.

“We need to come off as young, cockyfirst floor trash so he won’t take us too seriously, got it?”

“Yes,” Hibari said, and Gokuderacould hear the eye rolling in his voice. at least he was still replying? Butnow gokudera wasn’t sure if hibari would LISTEN and what’s the use of aconfirmation that might not actaly be what he means.

“I’m serious,” Gokudera said, using everyounce of self-control to not snap at him. “I want us to look so young that weget carded.”

There we go. Hibari’s stopped answering.

Gokudera wore an amalgamation of his clothesfrom his high school days and his current wardrobe. The button down was Galeand the three belts and the graphic tee were all teenage-Gokudera.

Hibari wore a full suit, crisp black overdeep purple and perfectly tailored. Gokudera was this close to introducing hisown face to the coffeetable.

“Are you really going to a club dressedlike that?” Gokudera asked incredulously.

… Yes “This is how I normallydress,” Hibari answered, frowning.

You know what kind of club this is?

… a looooong pause.

“Well, there’s your problem,”Gokudera said under his breath. “Why don’t you just break out your shinycredit cards and get yourself a clubbing outfit?”

Hibari observed him for a moment. “Idon’t want to,” he answered simply.

Coffeetable was too far. Gokudera put hisdespairing head into his hand.

“Dammit, just change, I don’t want towalk into any club if you’re wearing that,” Gokudera sighed, running onehand through his hair. Hibari raised an eyebrow as if he truly believed that asuit was the perfect attire to go to a strip club in while undercover.

“Change to what.”

Oh dear lord all the talk about dressingHibari up was going to become a real thing. Maybe he could shoot himself andget this over with.

“Alright, I’ll see if I can work a miraclewith your closet,“ Gokudera sighed, walking over to the window side of theroom and opening the bedside drawer. A quick rummage proved that yes,everything was office shirts and black suit wear. So Hibari wearing the purpleshirt with the suit was his idea of interesting. Gokudera closed the drawer.

"Looks like you don’t have much ofchoice,” Gokudera said, looking over Hibari’s outfit once more.

Lose the jacket and tie,“ he directed,but Hibari’s eyes just narrowed in defiance.

"Work with me here, damn you,”Gokudera cursed, walking over to the other bedside drawer and pulling out a fewaccessories of his own. Looking at Hibari then at the items he’d laid out, hepicked a fang on a black leather strip and an accompanying leather wristband.

“This is stupid,” Hibari intoneddryly, unbuttoning his top button. His blazer and tie were draped over thechair, and his sleeves had been rolled up. Without the extra padding of hissuit, his slight build was obvious, barely changed from his middle school days.Still, with an aura that fierce, it was unlikely he’d have too much trouble.Besides, any story that involved Hibari getting picked on in a strip club wouldbound to be interesting to tell to the guys back in Japan.

“One more button,” Gokudera toldhim, before turning to look for a suitable belt. “And wear those,” headded, waving absently at the pieces he laid out on the bed. “Andthis,” he added as he pulled out a belt. It had two teeth and metaleyelets in twos, with another strap hanging from it like half suspenders.

“That would be a liability,”Hibari critiqued as he fastened the wristband on his left wrist.

“Just wear it and give the poor suckerswho try to make trouble with you a fighting chance,” Gokudera snickered,closing the drawer. Hibari scoffed quietly as he removed the belt he wascurrently wearing.

“A straightjacket would be moreappropriate,” Hibari said, threading Gokudera’s belt around his waist andcomfortably cinching it at the innermost set of eyelets.

“Nice to know that the cloud guardianof Vongola is a humble man,” Gokudera remarked cynically.

Hibari bowed his head in humourous? Assent.

If you wear your boots we’re good to go. No,wait there a second.“ Gokudera stepped into the bathroom to grab some hairwax. He passed it to Hibari, who looked at it then gave Gokudera a deadpan lookas if to ask ‘and what do you expect me to do with this?’

"Style your hair a bit,” Gokuderatold him. At Hibari’s blank look, Gokudera decided that it wasn’t any goodexplaining. He grabbed the bottle and opened it, scooping out just a littlewith his fingers. “Now stay still and for the love of God, don’t goberserk on me, alright?”

Hibari flinched and glared as Gokudera’shands came up to his head, but otherwise took the fussing well.

Kind of punk looking. But hey, punk’s notdead right. Yeah.

“Hah, not bad,” Gokuderacongratulated himself.

“Disgusting,” Hibari commented, ashe touched his hair lightly, the slightly sticky texture of the waxbrushing off on his fingers.

“boots. Boots, lets go.”

Angel worked in walking distance in the notso nice part of town. Hibari was more acquainted with the place than Gokuderaexpected. Two turns later and he slowed.

“C’mon it’s almost time.”

“What is this place?” Hibariasked, stopping in his tracks. From the neon lit street, booming music and theunmistakable noise of throngs of people emerged. Gokudera sighed, and turned.

“That’s Angel’s bar.” When Hibarimade no sign of recognition, Gokudera elaborated. “The landlord’sworkplace.”

“There’s a crowd,” Hibari stated,refusing to carry on walking.

“Yes, it’s a Friday night, but this isalso work, so let’s go.”

“If I go anywhere near that place, it’sto bite everyone there to death,” Hibari said, mouth curling into a silentsnarl.

“Well, suck it up. This is work.”

Hibari walked at a steady pace, cut throughthe crowd and Gokudera had to follow.

Second floor less so. They didn’t actuallyget carded. Gokudera was much disappoint.

Murderous aura and the nearest patronslooked nervous.

“Just be glad we’re in a booth.”

Kiki wasn’t on yet, but Bambi was. Or atleast that’s what she said her name was. Bambi was a sultry brunette withshoulder length hair and hazel eyes. Gold glitter painted stripes and spotsdown her back, arms and legs, highlighting the tan skin.

“You just missed me, handsome,” she says toyou. you smile and wave.

“Next time then,” you say casually. You areso not good with women especially when they don’t have all their clothes on.You blame your sister.

“Hey, we booked this booth,” someone saysbehind you.

“Oh?” Hibari says and he’s spoiling for afight so hard that you level a warning glance at him instead of turning to seewho it was.

“Let the boys stay,” an amusedvoice.

Goddamn, Dario himself. He looked IDK HOWDOES HE LOOK WHO ARE HIS GOONIES

Hibari’s grin was wicked.

“I’m Darren,” he lies smoothly. MIGHT WANTTO CHANGE HIS ALIAS.

“Kaoru,” Hibari said.

“Is that your real name?”

Hibari gave the man a look. Whut you smokingbruh

He laughed. “Could I buy you adrink?”

“No need, I have a tab open.”

“I insist.”

“Then, if you must.”

Kiki was a petite woman, with raven hairspilling freely over her shoulders down to her waist. She didn’t look anything like Hibari, she was justAsian.

If this guy had yellow fever you were goingto laugh your ass off.

===/\===

(missing scene)

“Don’t touch me.”“What’s wrong with you?”“It was crowded. And noisy. There was something in my cranberry juice.That man kept talking to me and I couldn’t kill anyone. I hate that place. Youcan go alone next time, pervert.”

“He’s a pervert. You’re a pervert too.” Hibari’s eyes narrowed.“I should bite you to death.”“Yeah, yeah, tomorrow alright? Just try to stay conscious until we reachthe house." "Wait,” Hibari said, suddenly throwing his weight back.“What?” Gokudera asked tiredly. “Outside clothes, don’t touch the bed, herbivore,” Hibari mumbled disjointedly. “Nice to know you follow your own rules,” Gokudera sighed, pullingdown the bedcovers and dumping Hibari on the bed. “I said not to touch the bed,” Hibari protested, sitting up. Gokuderagave him a light shove and collapsed on the bed himself.“Shut up and go to sleep,” Gokudera said, words muffled by thesheets. He couldn’t even be bothered to get his pillow from the couch outside.He fully expected some sort of retort or a threat from Hibari, but none came,testament to how far gone the other man was. Yawning, Gokudera decided hazilythat he would take whatever nonsense he’d get for ‘crowding’ the bed and justwent to sleep where he was.

===/\===

Gokudera woke like a man struggling not todrown in molasses, slowly, with a lot of effort and a little pain. He hadn’tdrawn the curtains the night before and he was in a strange place betweenfeeling ‘rested’ and ‘like crap’. He’d slept on his front last night and therewas a kink in his neck as due punishment. Of course, there was also the matterof him smelling like sweat, cheap perfume, alcohol and cigarette smoke. It wasamazing that Hibari hadn’t just thrown him out the window for daring to so muchas touch the bed in this state.

Gokudera turned to his side to stretch andfroze. Hibari hadn’t rudely kicked him out of bed, not from some sense ofgratitude for Gokudera hauling him back from the club, but because he hadn’t woken up yet. Gokudera gaped atthe thought, but before his eyes was the undeniable.

Hibari was curled up on his side, back tothe light, and face shielded by the crook of his elbow. Gokudera felt a grinbreak through his usual morning grogginess. The sight was almost endearing,except this was Hibari, and the onlythings associated with Hibari and the word ‘endearing’ were either a highlyintelligent messenger bird that could be carrying a spy-cam that sealed yourdoom or a personalised box weapon that could decimate an army and reduce askyscraper to rubble within five minutes. Gokudera could almost see thehedgehog curled up in the exact same way as its owner in the empty space nearHibari’s stomach, and Hibird nestled between the man’s wrist and hair. Heresisted the urge to take a photo and send it to the Tenth and got up asquietly as possible. As much amusement as he got from seeing the violentmisanthrope sleeping all tucked into a ball, photographic evidence wasn’t worththe broken bones he knew he would get afterwards. Hibari appeared in the doorway of the bedroom, arms full of sheets. He took onelook at Gokudera and the landlord sitting at the kitchen counter, then steppedback into the room and shut the door.“Oh my, I think that’s the first time I’ve ever seen him half dressed,”she commented. Then she gave Gokudera a knowing smile. “Changing thesheets are we? Good going." "Ah, yeah,” Gokudera tried to smile casually while mentally screamingno. She must have picked up on Gokudera’s uneasiness, because she patted hisarm reassuringly. “Be more confident, sweetie. You’re good looking, smart and you have awonderful disposition. You’re a right saint,” she smiled.“Besides,” she whispered. “I don’t think anyone but you has thepatience to deal with his temper.”Gokudera laughed. “You should see our boss,” he replied. Tsunacould smile genuinely all the time while talking Hibari down off a rampage andpersuading the man to do something other than stalk around Namimori or sit inhis house and drink tea. It never failed to amaze Gokudera each and every time.Heck, Tsuna even managed to get Hibari and Mukuro to go on a mission togetherwithout one of them coming back dead.

He placed the plate on top of the glass tofree one hand. “Hibari?” Gokudera asked, knocking on the door.“Go away.”“If you can’t drink, you shouldn’t,” Gokudera said matter-of-factly.He opened the door then took the plate back into his hand, pushing the dooropen the rest of the way with his foot. Hibari was sitting in the tub, water upto his chest and dark hair plastered to his skull. It vaguely reminded Gokuderaof bathing his cat.“Who said you could come in?” Hibari asked, not turning to faceGokudera. “If you’re too out of it to even lock the door, then I’d better come inbefore you drown or something,” Gokudera retorted. “Here.”“Don’t want it,” Hibari muttered without even looking at whatGokudera was holding. “It’s just toast, water and aspirin,” Gokudera said, starting to getannoyed. “How badly could I fuck up toast?" "I’m not going to eat in the bath,” Hibari said, leaning against theside of the wall and grimacing. “Leave it outside.”“Seriously, you alright?” Gokudera felt the need to ask again. “Must I bite you to death before you are convinced?” Hibari snipped. “Hah, you must be fine if you’re making threats. Don’t drown, bastard.”

#1859 #khr #khr fanfiction #long haul fic #1859 friendship fic #replies #answers #previews #deleted scenes #my writing #Anonymous #im still working on the other asks slowly if youre the many ask anon!! sorry was out of the country and now its event season

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