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pastelpaperplanes · 4 years

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Calling in a Favor part 4

Ultra Magnus was not having the best of cycles.

The cycle had started with him waking up with a crick in the neck, and it had been joined by a headache caused by the presence of one Sentinel Prime.

He reminded himself that everyone grieves differently, but the ego of his second was honestly starting to grate on his patience.

Half way through reading a report, he caught the sound of a commotion not far from his ground floor private office, taking a long suffering sigh, he got up, poured himself a cube of high grade, and stepped out to deal with whatever Sentinel was likely upset about this time.

Had some poor bot put the filter in upside down in the general energon dispenser again?

Was there a tiny crude drawing scratched into a surface he spotted?

Maybe his attempt to flirt with First Aid had backfired in his faceplates again and she was giving him the what for…

Or perhaps his second in command was having his faceplates smashed in by the business end of a wrench that a familiar pseudo retired medic was wielding.

Ultra Magnus let the shock show on his features for a few moments before he schooled them and spoke up, using his ‘I’m in charge’ voice that he knew carried well enough to get everyone (hopefully Ratchet included) to stop what they were doing and shut up.

“What, in the infernal pits of Kaon, is going on here?!”

Everyone froze.

Except Ratchet who got one more good swing in past Sentinel’s feeble attempts to prevent it.

He looked between Sentinel and Ratchet, expression furrowed into a frown. “Ratchet, this is not like you, what has happened?”

Sentinel, who was pinned under the older, smaller, supposedly not as aged as he looked mech, growled. “What does it look like Sir?! This maniac attacked me!”

Ratchet got up, but kept a pede firmly planted on Sentinel’s chassis, likely leaving a dirty footprint on his shirt. “Oh, you don’t know, I’ll tell you, and every bot here what happened.” He paused, the dramatic effect was certainly felt. “This morning, I heard a ruckus above my clinic, I go to investigate, only to find one of the tenants, Bumblebee, in hysterics and screaming at his apartment mate Bulkhead, it took me getting two cubes down him and four trips to the can to purge before he spat out what happened.”

Another pause for an effect, but this time it felt more like the medic was taking a moment to compose himself before trying to continue, the look in his optics suddenly becoming haunted.

“Optimus is dead. The mob got him. Bee was a bartender at one of the clubs apparently, one of the goons told him why one of his best friends hadn’t shown up. They took him to the Docks last night and he never came back.”

The words hung in the air for a time no one present really thought to keep track of.

What broke the silence was the cube of high grade Ultra Magnus had been holding, the cube smashing on the ground just ahead of him, spilling its contents across the floor.

The sound of the cube shattering snapped Magnus back to the present. “My upstairs office. Now. Sentinel, you too.”

Sentinel grumbled as he got himself upright and trunched after the two senior mechs, barely squeezing into the lift between Ratchet and Magnus before the doors closed, having chosen to turn around at face the doors along with the two so as to avoid optic contact with the medic who’d just been trying to rearrange his face with the wrench he was still holding, he could feel energon dribbling down his faceplates.

Once they were all behind the soundproofed and locked door of Ultra Magnus’ entire upper floor spanning office, did he turn and address Ratchet. “Ratchet… I understand your distress, I was of the impression you had taken Optimus under your wing so to speak… But… You are aware you just assaulted my second in command with a wrench, correct? I really should be arresting you for that, but I have a sneaking suspicion you had a rather good reason for targeting Sentinel, correct?”

Ratchet’s gaze locked on Sentinel and turned murderous. “Looks like you never told your boss, how about you tell Magnus now what you’d been holding over Optimus’ helm?”

Sentinel, with his now rather smashed in faceplates, still managed to look like a mechabuck caught in high beams.

Magnus turned to look at Sentinel as well, an incy disposition falling over the head of the Elite Guard.

“Sentinel Prime… What in the name of Primus… did you do.”

It was at that moment that Sentinel knew… he was slagged… and Optimus wasn’t alive anymore to take the fall for it… not again.

The Polaris

Optimus waved Shrike and her younglings goodbye, they’d been paged by Shrike’s lieutenant about a fight breaking out in the main engine room, not a joor after they’d finished touring that area.

Apparently her way of dealing with such issues was to, and to quote Rumble, a youngling, directly ‘Bea’ tha bolts ou’ ah those slag suckers!’

He distinctly remembered that some of those slag suckers were the twins sparkling sitters when Dust managed to catch Shrike and attempt to put the femme back together.

Optimus shook his helm at the whole thing, making a personal note not to take a trip to the engine rooms unannounced, as lovely as all those giant oil and grime caked mechs and femmes had been, they were all rather quick to brawl, and some of their fists he swore were bigger than his whole helm.

He turned to regard the door Shrike had left him standing outside, and after a moment, knocked, Shrike had said something about him finding his direct supervisor inside.

The door swung open after a swift ‘Coming!’ and he was brought faceplates to faceplates with a pure white armoured femme who came up to about his chassis, who had a metric ton of vibrant organic plumage sticking out from one side of her helm, specifically around her audio.

The femme looked up, took in the sight of him, and tutted. “Orion right?” He nodded. “Goodness Shrike took you to the engine rooms! You’re filthy!”

He jerked his helm down to look over his casual attire. “Oh! Oh no this was just the first stuff I grabbed out of my r-”

The femme didn’t let him finish, promptly dragging him by the collar into the room. “Everyone! Calipso! Get me a dressing gown! Eion put down the optic liner and help me get this mech to the showers!”

Mechs and Femmes alike, all of them arguably some of the most beautiful and gorgeous bots he’d ever seen all spun in their make up chairs to look him up and down, some of which still applying make up to their features as they did so.

Two jumped up, a mech who was mostly soft greens with a red highlight colour that framed his lithe figure, and a femme of soft lilac and blue who looked half dressed if the fact she was only wearing a form fitting dress and nothing else was anythign to go by, she wasn’t even wearing shoes.

All of this he was able to take in in the few short moments he had until the mech, he assumed to be Eion, pulled him into what he guessed was the mech shower room, and began setting up a stall for him.

A dressing gown was tossed at him before the doors were shut to the shower area, leaving just him and Eion.

The mech chuckled and offered a servo. “Eion, Orion right? Congrats on getting the spot.”

Optimus’ jaw was hanging a bit. “Um… what? I’m sorry I’ve been told… very… very little about what’s going on here… where am I?”

Eion laughed. “You’re on level four, and this chunk of the level is set aside for us Entertainers, the femme who dragged us in is our supervisor, Jadarite. The rest of us, you now included, all work in the main entertainment district of the Polaris. Dancers, wait staff, table jockeys, that kind of stuff… got any experience with dealing out tables?” Eion asked.

Optimus shook his helm. “Um no… I was just a waiter and danced back at the club… sometimes I also sang, sometimes.” He flushed the full way through the admission of his previous roles.

Eion smiled, hopped up and patted Optimus on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’ll help you get up to speed, but Jadarite was, well, right, you are filthy, c’mon, showers work like any other shower, but be careful, the max temp is only the max temp because we have some sadomasochists on board who get their jollies off going to Dust for scalded plating!” He grinned and giggled as his own apparent joke, whacking him on the shoulder quickly.

Optimus knew his jaw was hanging a bit, it felt like it was going to be a permanent expression on his features for quite a time to come. “Why do I feel like… at least half of this ship is on their way to going insane?”

Eion really laughed then, waving the mech off. “Comes with the territory! I’m assuming you’ve never been off the home world before?”

Optimus shook his helm.

Eion grinned. “Then don’t worry, you’ll be one of us in no time in that department too! Now wash up! And dump those clothes in the hamper over there, they’ll be given a proper wash and sent to your new quarters long before we’ll be done with you for the cycle!”

And with that, the green and red mech slipped back out, closing the door behind him and leaving Optimus to stand alone in the mechs showers holding a dressing gown and wondering what fate Megatron had thrown him to.

Tentatively, Optimus got to undressing, spotting the hamper Eion had mentioned and dumping them all inside and silently hoping he didn’t loose them, he hadn’t had time to pack anything at all, not even a spare change of briefs.

He didn’t bother to don the dressing gown just yet, putting it up on one of the hooks a safe distance away from the showers next to where a number of unbelievably plush towels were hung, they were so soft…

Before he even knew what he was doing, he had one of the towels and was just rubbing his face against it, it was so soft and fluffy he could just melt!

He supposed otherworldly soft towels was a good quality he could chalk up to working here.

Knowing he’d get to wrap himself up in at least two of those towels once he was washed, he moved over to the showers and inspected them, the controls looked simple enough, hot and cold were colour coded and he just needed to lift the lever like nob up to increase the pressure.

Picking a temp a bit below the ‘you sadomasochists’ engraved plaque that was over the dashed part of the red, Optimus braced himself and turned on the shower head he’d found himself under.

HOT.

He jumped back, luckily the tiled floor was dry so he didn’t slip, but Primus!

Oh right, he’d not had a hot shower since his cycles at the academy, wanted to avoid paying a high heating bill.

Steam was already starting to billow out from around the spray, bringing up the humidity of the area.

He reached past the spray and notched down the temperature and tested it again with two digits, still warm, not scalding.

Bracing himself, he stepped back under, and got to work trying to get himself presentable, making use of a handy little solvent dispenser that was mounted on the wall in a little wire basket just to his left.

Eventually the suds and solvent were all washed away, and the water running off his frame was just as clear as when it hit his helm and the broad span of his back.

Turning off the faucet Optimus looked out at the steam filled room, and carefully, mindful of the now wet floor, stepped over to the towels and where he’d left the dressing gown.

The first one he used to rub down his frame to get the water that was taking it’s time vacating the panes of his frame, the second smaller one he used to rub his faceplates dry, as well as focus on the harder to reach spots.

All done with drying off, he slipped the dressing gown on.

And oh he was never getting out of this, the inside lining was even more soft, and fluffy!

He gave himself a few kliks to just melt into the softness before he moved back to the door that led back out to where all the other bots were.

He cracked the door open, and found many of the bots from before were gone, Eion was still there, as well as Calipso and Jadarite, but only two others remained, and they seemed to be just finishing the last of their apparel.

Jadarite turned to regard him and smiled. “Much better darling, c’mon out, there’s no need to be shy.” She coaxed, she was an older femme who had apparently perfected the ‘soothing frightened bots’ voice, because the moment her servos took his, he was more than willing to step back out into the main area, despite only wearing a dressing gown, he should feel more… not ashamed, he’d done nothing wrong, embarrassed? No… considering how communal everything in this area was, he couldn’t imagine these bots around him being very prudish.

Jadarite patted his shoulder once he was seated at a vanity that was much more barren than the rest of those in the room. “Alright dear, let’s see how we can gussy you up right pretty with what we’ve got here.”

He nodded, and just let them do what they wanted.

Three joors, a number of rambles about Knockout’s skill of being better than him at this sort of thing, and a whole reel of measuring tape, and the, dress prep? Was complete.

Jadarite clapped her servos together, and spun his chair to face the mirror.

Okay, he’d bite, he looked good, the eyeliner in particular was really framing his optics well while also defying the laws of physics to a truly astonishing degree.

Calipso, who was a rather timid thing, gave him a small smile. “We’ll figure out stuff like what colours work best with you and if plumage works next cycle, do you wanna keep that stuff on and wash it off later or do you prefer us getting it all off now?”

He glanced to the three who’d laboured and experimented away at his features for the last three joors to get him looking this good. “Um, I’ll keep it on? So… what next?”

Jadarite beamed at him. “Now’s the fun part, the shows over for the night, so everybots gonna be coming back to finish up for the cycle, and from there, we’re all hitting our private bar here on deck four. If you want to come along, I’m sure Unverlo will be able to lend you something comfortable, he’s a bit bigger than you so you shouldn’t have any issue with fitting into something of his.”

“You’re sure he won’t mind?”

Apparently the mech in question didn’t mind at all, and had an apparently love for big, fluffy and baggy jumpers, which hung off one of his shoulders no matter how many times he tried to adjust it while he found himself sitting at the Entertainers private bar and had conversations struck up with him by basically everyone he was going to be working with.

The Bar was, Optimus couldn’t describe it in a single word, but everything seemed to of been designed for relaxation and winding down.

There was dim mood lighting that pulsed around the room, the only stron light coming from the vibrantly coloured tanks of energon that bubbled and churned behind the bar.

The opposite side from the bar was where the tables were, built into the wall around circular tables, the padded seats had enough room for everyone.

Opposite from the entrance, and passed a small dance floor, with a familiar pole mounted in the centre, was a floor to ceiling window out into space, the stars beyond providing a stunning backdrop to the bots dancing.

Unverlo, the mech he was currently sitting next too at the bar was a soft spark with a love for neo-felines, he apparently had four in his own suite and he had maxed out three data-pads image storage with pictures and videos full of the brightly coloured, highly affectionate things.

Unverlo admitted he spoiled them all rotten with treats and affection.

Optimus had cooed over every picture and goofy video he’d seen, even asking at once point if he could be taken to see them one cycle.

Unverlo was more than happy to accept, setting a date and time right there and then before taking a cube of mid grade, he apparently wasn’t too fond of high grade, something about his tanks not agreeing with it, before he vacated the seat next to Optimus and let someone else quickly take it.

Which turned out to be Calipso, who struck up her own quiet conversation with him.

The rest of the night cycle continued like that until Jadarite announced it was time for everyone to retire, which many did without too much grumbling.

Some left in pairs, others in small groups, Eion offered to show him where his room was and he gladly accepted, Unverlo had already left so he assumed the soft baggy clothes would be returned to the mech the next cycle when clothes more suited for him were ready.

Admittedly he’d miss the jumper.

Eion led the way to his new room, providing some idle chatter about this and that as Optimus took the time to appreciate just how, luxurious everything was.

Him bumping into Eion’s back was what snapped him out of appreciating the decor.

Eion held up a key, not a key card, but an actual key and passed it to him. “Don’t loose it, okay? The smith here on the ship doesn’t like it when bots loose his keys.”

Optimus nodded in understanding. “I understand, thank you Eion… would you be willing to collect me tomorrow? I fear I may get lost a number of times before I get proper bearings of this place.”

Eion smiled up at him and nodded. “Sure thing! I’ll come pick you up before morning feuling, see you then Orion!” The mech waved goodby as he walked off, heading towards his own suite.

Optimus watched him go for a few moments, before turning his attention to the door and sliding the key into the keyhole.

A quick twist and the sound of a needlessly complicated locking mechanism coming undone later, and he was stepping into his suite.

The moment the room registered to him, he did a double take.

It was larger than his shared apartment back in Iacon!

His jaw was dropped once more as he took in the sprawling open plan suite.

A glance to his right revealed a modest kitchenette, fridge, oven, energon dispenser, sink, a number of sleek engraved cabinet doors…

A glance to the left revealed the open door to a lavish wash rack, there was even a bath large enough for him to submerge in completely!

He walked into the washrack and felt his lower jaw threaten to fall off, it wasn’t just a bath, it was a Primus be damned jacuzzi!

He found four dressing gowns hanging by the door, and soon discovered his alias designation of ‘Orion’ had been stitched into each on the breast pocket in cursive text, in golden thread no less.

He found some make up wipes in a draw under the mirror in the washracks, and after a bit of hesitation, wiped off the makeup he’d been wearing, he was planning to locate the berth and pass out, and he didn’t want to make a mess of the pillows he had a hunch were going to be just as lavish as everything else.

Finished with cleaning himself up, Optimus stepped back out into the open plan living area, there was a number of pieces of furniture dotted about with little tables and table lights next to them, perfect for some light reading under soft light.

He’d have to see about acquiring some data pads from the Library Neolock had mentioned earlier, apparently it was two floors down nearby that floors branch medical bay.

Walking through the door into the berthroom, he had to do a double take.

That berth could fit four of him!

He was hit by a sudden wave of exhaustion, and suddenly he didn’t care that the berth was massive, wider than his old room in Iacon was, he reached the end, fell into a crowl, kicked off his shoes, and slid face down onto the covers and just took in the smell of freshly washed sheets.

Running his digits over it, he marveled at the texture, cool to the touch, but promising to trap heat…

A bit of fumbling later and he was under the covers, snuggled into one of the ludicrously plush pillows.

Recharge claimed him before he could even turn the rooms lights off.

A few moments later the lights flickered out, and an airy giggle came over the speaker nestled in the wall.

“Sleep well new crew.” An autotune voice whispered, as the lights in the rest of the room shut off, and the door left unlocked deadbolted itself shut.

#:’)))))#i love this little series ahh #cops and mobs creations #fic #submission

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fastsalad · 5 years

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The middle school production of Undertale the Musical I that I watched a couple of nights ago seems a bit like a weird fever dream now so I thought I’d watch it again and post my thoughts. Reactions and reviews under the cut:

-I was wrong about them misgendering Frisk and I apologize, they said genderless child at least ten times in the intro.

-They used the intro from the game as a little slideshow/overture in the beginning, which would have been fine if the person who was managing it hadn’t moved the mouse, causing the little YouTube thing to show up on the bottom.

-There are a crap ton of technical difficulties in this show a couple being: Music randomly starting and stopping for no reason, EXTREMELY long transitions, I’m talking like 5 minutes, and poor lighting, video and audio quality.

-Flowey was a phenomenal actor, but not the best singer. It did not help at all that his music quit out on him halfway through the song and he had to sing a’capella.

-Toriel was good singer, but her acting was kind of flat. (I’m not going to blame her, she’s young.)

-Did I mention the lighting could be horrendous at times? And that random crashing noises would happen in the middle of scenes for no reason?

-From what I saw, Heartache had some really cool visual effects, but I could barely see anything because of the horrendous lighting.

-Toriel sang a nice possibly original song after Heartache, but it was a little hard to follow because there was no background music. (And I might be wrong about the Frisk’s gender thing? I can’t tell what Tori’s saying but it kind of sounded like little girl)

-Did I mention Flowey is absolutely hilarious?

-The Sans scene had some strange blocking and the music malfunctioned, but overall it was alright.

-PAPYRUS IS THE BEST ACTOR IN THIS SHOW AND I LOVE HIM

-He has the best costume too.

-They had the cutest little setpiece for Snowdin.

-The lights got kind of unnecessarily weird when Papyrus showed up but it didn’t affect the scene too much.

-This wansn’t an actual part of the show, but I found it hilarious when either Frisk or Sans’ mic was on during a scene change and they kept repeatedly whispering: “WHERE’S THE JACKET GIMME THE JACKET I DON’T KNOW WHERE THE JACKET IS” because we’ve all been there.

-The annoying dog was played by an actual dog and that was an absolute gem.

-Did I mention how in character Papyrus is? And that I can actually hear him?

-Papyrus literally reminds me of me when I was 11.

-Frisk asked: “Does Grillby’s have food” and I found that absolutely hilarious for some reason.

-There might have been a music malfunction before Bonetroustle, and if it was a malfunction then Sans Papyrus handled it FABULOUSLY with their imrpov skills.

-Papyrus’ singing kinda sounded like shouting and he was a little off-key but he was tap-dancing so bonus points for making my vision come true.

-There was a Chara and Asriel scene which was cute but I could barely tell what was going on because of the light and sound.

-The entirety of the first Waterfall scene was so dark I legitimately could not see.

-There was a very cute and funny scene in Temmie Village, but it went on for so long I kinda felt like I was hallucinating.

-Undyne pulled out an extemely long scroll when she referenced her speech and then immediately threw it away when she said screw it.

-Papyrus answered the phone with, “Hellow human, it is I... WALUIGIIIIII!!!!!!! Wait wrong number.

-Undyne made some nice character choices.

-”Why are you calling me if you’re standing right there?”

-Undyne chased Frisk around the aisles which I greatly appreciated.

-Alphys was making one of those coke and mentos things when Frisk walked into the lab.

-And she was wearing pajama pants which I appreciated.

-”I’ve been watching you all this time-” “Well that’s not creepy at all.”

-Frisk is very salty in this show.

-Mettaton was a person literally wearing what looked like a trifold with armholes. I don’t know whether that was a poor or amazing costume choice.

-They included intermission in the video which was kind of annoying to have to skip through.

-Since Mettaton couldn’t see he had to be escorted around by another person which I first thought was a poor choice until the guy said, “I”m not your slaaaave.” Then I thought it was a hilarious choice.

-Since Papyrus couldn’t take a flying leap through the window during the Undyne date so he just kid of awkwardly wiggled out the window.

-”Why don’t you use the door?” “THE DOOR IS FOR WHIMPS! THE WINDOW IS FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS!” “Are you caLLING ME A WIMP?”

-Sans showed up at one point and started playing the trombone for no reason.

-”Oh my god I just burned your house down I am sooo sorry.”

-The sound definitely got better during the second act and there weren't as many malfunctions.

-Muffet had a rather strange costume.

-Spider Dance had some nice choreography but the ensemble wasn’t really all that energetic about it.

-Spider Dance was overall a kind of weird scene.

-Mettaton had a rather strange singing voice but it wasn’t necessarily bad.

-Aaaaaaand now he’s off-key.

-Honestly everybody in this musical is off-key at this point. Mettaton’s off-keyness was probably just a result of the song being too low for the actor.

-The MTT resort waitress had a ROCKIN’ costume for a character that wan’t even in the game.

-Sans: “YOU’D BE DEAD. RIGHT WHERE YOU STAND.” (Blackout as he runs away)

-Let me just say Burgerpants was AMAZING.

-Sans and Papyrus showed up at Burgerpants’ shop for literally no reason but it was kinda funny. I like how this show went off-script in llittle ways.

-Mettaton’s slave: (Fixes mtt’s costume)

-I’m pretty sure mtt’s slave was played by the guy who played Flowey which is hilarious.

-Mtt had some nice backup dancers.

-Frisk: “Well those Broadway people are... narcissistic.”

-There was kind of an awkward pause before Death by Glamour where everyone just kinda stood still while the music played.

-Mettaton EX’s costume was really cool but the hair was a bit weird in my opinion.

-Undyne and Papyrus literally showed up during Death by Glamour.

-Papyrus and Mettaton started dancing together at some point in the song and let me just say the choreography was ROCKIN.

-Honestly though the minute they called Mettaton ‘She’ I kinda noped out on this show.

-Frisk had some rad fake crying.

-Undertale was a cool dream sequence or something I don’t really know what it was but it was cool.

-Narrator: “One day, a human fell down below the mountain.” Chara: (Falls on their face)

-Asgore’s costume was very strange.

-Asgore: (Fighting Frisk) Toriel: (Runs in) “ASGORE YOU USELESS PIECE OF TRASH!”

-They skipped over all the true lab stuff so there was no Alphdyne and I lost most of my faith in this show.

-They made Papyton a thing and I would have been happy about that if they hadn’t made mettaton a friCKEN FEMALE

-Asriel had the best costume in the show everyone else go home.

-He also had some neat flying effects.

-Dreemurr family reunion awwwwww

-NEVERMIND BABY ALPHDYNE IS IN THIS SHOW I’M ECSTATIC

-(Toriel and Frisk having a tender moment) (Cue Mettaton and Papyrus running around the audience screaming)

-THE ANNOYING DOG WAS PLAYED BY FLOWEY

There’s what I think is a Q&A at the end so I’ll talk about that and post my overall review of this show later.

#undertale #undertale the musical #toriel #frisk #sans #papyrus #undyne #alphys #mettaton #asgore #asriel

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deprofundisad · 6 years

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How to nicely and smoothly save your DMM stream without a screen capture app but using simply VLC (and Video Download Helper).

AKA when your computer is a potato

EDIT: DMM recently changed their protocol and that trick ISN’T WORKING anymore (especially if your stream’s url starts with http://tc-video3.dmm.com)...

... but you won’t let that stop you ;)

(Of course, this is all theoretical, since, you know, it’s not technically legal and stuff... so obviously, I’m just posting that out of general, scientific, detached interest XD)

So, as I am found of mentioning, my laptop is a potato. It is over 11 years old, has traveled around the world with me and has somehow survived all the tea and coffee I poured on it through the ages. It is truly a warrior and still allows me to stream HD videos on the net without any problem, like the DMM streams for example (cheaper than dvds, even though it’s fun the get them both and compare the editing XD). Where the troubles start however is when screen recording is involved. The graphic card and processor of my good old potato just can’t handle the pressure of streaming HD video *AND* screen recording it at the same time in a decent quality, whatever the different settings I tried to cajole it with. This was just the line it would not cross and kept sulking when I tried to force Active Presenter on it by getting very hot and handing me over very jerky-hicky out-of-sync recordings.

Since screen recording was a big no no, I tried to remove it from the equation and I thought about tinkering around a bit with VLC since it has a stream recording feature. AND IT WORKED VERY WELL! (theoretically, of course XD)

The only tricky bit is how to find the url of the stream (edit: just made that step easier;)) in order to put it into VLC, so that it can manufacture a nice and smooth recording for you. There are however 2 small downsides: the processing of the video by VLC may be a bit quite very long and you will want to leave your potato alone while it’s dealing with the task.

So, if you’re interested on knowing how to achieve that (out of pure curiosity, of course, nothing else XD), there is how you should proceed.

First, to buy a DMM stream, follow the steps from the excellent guide made by Riku, from 1 to 7. And I will explain the alternative 8th step - how to save the video on your disc without using a screen recording app (with pics!) - under the cut.

You can still try the following steps BUT THE TRICK ISN’T WORKING ANYMORE because DMM changed their streaming protocols

SERIOUSLY, It DOESN’T work anymore!

STEP 8 BIS:

Please read this first: you can follow the rest of the tutorial, however you will get stuck at the end of step 8 bis B and VLC will never actually start recording. The progression line will never actually start progressing. I have received a number of messages from people asking me for help - despite the fact that this post was edited 2 years ago to signal that the trick wasn’t working anymore - because they couldn’t record the stream with VLC. Well, again, I’m sorry but it is perfectly normal because the trick doesn’t work anymore. I have tried to find a way around the problem 2 years ago before throwing in the towel quite quickly once I found an easier way to cook up a decent screen capture recording with my good old potato and figured it was maybe more time-consuming but certainly less of a hassle than digging around in DMM’s code with almost zero computer skills. If I ever come back to this quest of finding a new hack and become successfull, I’ll edit this post. In the meantime, please keep in mind that even if you follow the next steps, you won’t be successful in ripping a DMM stream.

STEP 8 bis A

First, you need to find the URL of the stream. I used to do a trick with Firefox and the web developer console, but it turns out there is a much easiest way to find it with Video Download Helper. Note that if your computer is a new sleek thing, you can try to save the video directly via Video Download Helper (I’ll just call it DH now, for clarity sake, because VDH may be confusing): you have a 1 on 3 chance that the addon will succeed in completing the download. But if you have a potato, the chances drop down to about 1 on 100. That’s why using both DH and VLC may be the safest option.

Before anything else, if you’re not already using it, add the Video Download Helper addon to your browser (it works best with Firefox). You can find it there.

Once you have set up your VPN, bought your stream and gone to your library on DMM.com, open the stream you’re interested in (still hypothetically XD) and start it, just like you would if you were going to simply watch it. Like this one for example

Once you have started the video, look at the top right corner of your browser and you will see the DH icon, 3 little balls, suddenly wearing the colours blue, yellow and red. This means it has detected video(/audio/stuff) flux that it can download.

Then, pause the video and shut down your VPN. (Technically, you can still watch the video and change the quality settings as long as you don’t refresh the page).

Go back to the page where the stream is open and open the menu of DH (the 3 coloured balls) by clicking on it. It will display the list of medias it has detected on the page, like this:

In our present case, those are the different levels of quality you can choose to watch the video in. If you glide over the one you’re interested (but don’t click just right now), you will see a little white arrow appear in a grey box next to it, on the right side. Click on that arrow.

And on the menu that appears, click on the option “Copy the URL”, like this:

Congratulation! You just copied the URL to your video.

Note that if you’re not a potato owner, you may try your chance with downloading directly the file on your disc by choosing one of the 3 first options. Unfortunately, DH doesn’t handle well long heavy videos. But you never know, eh? Might just be lucky this time. If your computer is old and slow, don’t even bother to try...

STEP 8 bis B

The only part left to do is to record the stream with VLC.

Open VLC and in the menu “Media”, choose “Convert/Save”

Click on “Network”

Since VLC is a clever little beast, the URL you just copied should already appear in the url box. If not, simply click right and paste it. Then select “Convert/Save”.

You will get to the following window:

The source is the URL you previously added. If you check “Display the output”, you will get to see the video at the same time VLC is converting it, but I will advise against it if your computer is a potato and if it can’t handle screen capturing, because the process will be dreadfully slow and you will end up with light glitches in the final video if the processor is overwhelmed. And most likely you will only get a glitchy preview anyway.

[Note: At this stage, I also recommend to shut down all the other applications running on your computer, including firefox, to help your little potato to really pour all its strength and power exclusively into the task of getting you that nice video. And before you actually launch the processing of the video, you may elite to do a couple of other optional things to help it further: first, if you have a laptop, make sure to deactivate any energy saving mode and connect your power cable (just don’t trust your battery). Secondly, you may also choose to try and prioritize VLC as a main task (Ctrl+Alt+Delete > Task Manager (Window) > Processes(Windows XP) or Details (Windows 10) > right click on VLC > change the priority > High) the CPU will allocate the most ressources to (and you can switch it back later; the priorities will reset to default anyway when you shut down VLC or when you switch off the computer).]

Then, choose the path for the exit file and create a name for it by clicking on “Browse”. If you know what you’re doing, you can also tinker with the profile, but the default one is really fine too, especially for a trial. When you’re ready, just hit “Start”.

You will arrive at this final window:

The progression line may flicker for a few seconds in yellow, as VLC is establishing the connection to the url of the stream. When it’s ready to start, you will see appear on the bottom right the complete duration time of the video file and on the bottom left the progression of VLC as it processes it from the beginning to the end. Don’ t touch anything, just let it do its thing until the end; at this stage, your role is over and the rest is up to your potato.

The speed of progression will depend on the speed of your internet connection as well as whether you continue to use you computer to do something else in the meantime or if you let it focus exclusively on the task. The manier the tasks you ask it to deal with at the same time VLC is treating the video, the higher the chances to get some minor glitches in the processed video. If your computer is a smart new thing, watching another video or browsing the internet at the same time may not have much impact on the process. However, show some mercy for your little potato and try to help it by being patient. I had to let mine in peace for 4 hours and a half so that it could process 3 hours and a half of high quality video. Also, if you can use an internet cable instead of the wifi, that may speed things up. And if your potato is a laptop, remember to plug in the power cable (it is unlikely that the battery will hold long enough) and deactivate any energy saving mode.

When the conversion is over, it will look like that.

Close VLC, take a big breath and look up the emplacement of the file on your disc. If you chose the default settings, it should appear as a mp4 file (with the audio track already merged in) quite heavy (depending on the quality of the stream that you chose) but with a nice and smooth quality to it.

To give you an example, there is a short clip from the final video (beware of spoilers - but since someone already uploaded the OP song...) from the second highest quality of Tousute Hiden that I may or may not (XD) have gotten after letting my eleven years old potato do his thing for a little over 4 hours (total file size of 4Gb). (Note: Tumblr drastically lowered the video quality, but it’ s still possible to see that the video isn’t jerky)

So, anyone interested in trying out that trick - purely out of scientific curiosity - on, say, Tousute Hiden for example XD, before the end of the delayed stream (in a little over 12 hours), by all means, be curious as hell... theoretically, of course XD

Feel free to ask if you have any questions.

REMINDER: again, please keep in mind that this tutorial doesn’t work anymore because DMM changed their streaming protocols 2 years ago.

#DMM #VLC #useful #no screen record #save video stream #tousute #hiden

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brynne-lagaao · 7 years

Text

(Fanfic) All That We Are - Chapter Six

Title: All That We Are

Chapter: 6/12

Rating: M

Mirrors: AO3 | FF.NET | Website

Summary: There wasn’t any real need to find out whether or not they were soulmates if they were both sure of the answer. But Yata’s answer was different from Fushimi’s, and that was just another of the dividing points they couldn’t reconcile.

Note: Once again, thank you to my wonderful betas, @dropletons and @candylit for their hard work and for not giving up on me over the course of writing this fic! You guys rock!

A large part of this fic takes place behind the scenes of certain canon events. Whenever it’s material outside of the anime (season one, Missing Kings, and Return of Kings), I’ll try to provide notes stating which materials are referenced. The fic should still stand decently without reading those things, but certain parts will make more sense in context.

Chapter Note:��This chapter contains a reference to the first chapter of the K: Countdown manga, which takes place between Missing Kings and Return of Kings. It also refers back to something that happened in the drama cd, If There Was Homra (text translation here and audio here), set between season one and Missing Kings.

It wasn’t the flawless red of Anna’s fresh Sword of Damocles that stuck out in Fushimi’s mind hours later, though the lingering memory of fire blazing up through the scar at his collar hadn’t quite faded despite everything. He lifted his fingers from the keyboard of his laptop and reached up to slide them under the edge of his shirt reflexively, giving the mark a half-hearted scratch as his thoughts wandered.

It was early in the afternoon, sunlight pouring in through the large windows, but the working office space at Scepter 4 was conspicuously empty. In point of fact, Fushimi was the only one who had ignored Awashima’s instruction to sleep while there was opportunity, leaving any non-emergency tasks to those outside of the Special Operations Squad.

Even with Homra on the verge of piecing themselves back into an active clan, things were likely to stay busy. If he didn’t take the opportunity to catch up with the reports that had been piling up, he’d be annoyed with himself later.

Besides that, it was unlikely that he’d be able to sleep right then.

Fushimi’s fingers stilled, though he didn’t pull them back. His mind kept taking him back to the same point in time. The moment when Misaki had looked at him without bitterness – without anger, without desperation – but with an uncharacteristic hesitance and uncertainty, as if he didn’t know where the twisted remains of their relationship stood either. Not the sparkling eyes of their early days, not the blend of fury and bitterness he’d gotten used to in those years of separation, and certainly not the dull weariness from recently. The feeling this look had stirred up was a lot like the restlessness that had been plaguing Fushimi since he’d started on this path, but far more compelling – as if all of his instincts were calling out for some action, but his brain couldn’t – or wouldn’t – comprehend what it was. The whole thing was unnerving. He didn’t want to acknowledge it.

Misaki had been lively again – maybe not quite as carefree as before, but he’d still greeted his comrades with unrestrained enthusiasm, and rather than being annoyed by that, Fushimi felt as if some huge uneasiness he’d been carrying unknowingly had settled.

Honestly, he wasn’t sure what to make of that. It was baffling, and that was making him agitated. Unconsciously, his fingers dug in a little deeper, drawing out a sharp sting.

“Fushimi.” Awashima’s crisp voice intruded on that moment of inner reflection. Fushimi looked up as she stepped across the room toward him, pulling his hand back. She raised an eyebrow at him when their eyes met. “Didn’t I tell you earlier that we’re off duty for the rest of the day?”

He clicked his tongue. “I can’t sleep when it’s this light out.”

“I see.” She crossed her arms, studying him critically. “You realize that the purpose of a break doesn’t necessarily need to be sleep?” Without waiting for an answer, she added, “Have you eaten?”

Fushimi narrowed his eyes at her, frowning back. “Have you?”

He expected a weary sigh and a reprimand of some sort, so he was surprised when her face softened into a rueful smile instead. “I suppose that’s a fair point.”

The unexpected honesty robbed him of a proper response. Fushimi hesitated for a moment, eyeing her warily. He’d worked closely with Awashima on a number of occasions, but they’d rarely spoken on a personal level. Not that he went out of his way to speak on a personal level with anyone – he hadn’t come to Scepter 4 to make friends – but Awashima was not the prying type in the first place, unlike certain others he could name. She was more than competent at what she did, possessing the ability to efficiently draw out the strengths of any given unit when the situation called for it. That fact alone made her tolerable to work with and for, despite the occasional annoyance.

At that moment, she was addressing him casually.

Somehow it put him at ease, though he wasn’t sure why. Fushimi tapped his finger on the side of his laptop, uncertain what to make of this conversation. “Did you come here for a reason or are you just checking to see if you could catch someone who snuck in to get work done?”

She raised an eyebrow at him but didn’t comment on the mild swipe he’d taken. “As a matter of fact, I came here looking for a few overdue reports.” Another wry smile. “Considering how things have been, it’s possible they were finished and not submitted.”

That was convenient, considering what he was working on – and it provided an easy way to bring this back into comfortable territory. Fushimi faced forward again, reaching out to tap the stack beside him as he eyed his laptop screen. “Tell me which ones you want, and we’ll find out how lucky you are.”

There was a brief, startled pause, and then she dutifully recited a list.

“The first, I’ve already processed.” Fushimi indicated his ‘done’ pile. “The second isn’t written yet, as far as I know – check with Kamo when he’s back. The third and fourth are in here somewhere.” He tapped his stack again. “The fifth is too, but I wouldn’t count on it being ready, since Domyoji is the one in charge of that case. Odds are, it’ll need a lot of revisions.”

Awashima made a slightly impatient noise. “I’m not sure if that boy will ever grow up,” she observed in a murmur. “Well, no matter.” Striding around the table, she pulled out the chair on the other side, opening the work laptop in front of her. “Since you’ve gathered the reports, I might as well assist you with the processing.”

Fushimi blinked at her, once again taken aback. Awashima rarely sat with them in the work room, usually busy supervising the various operations of Scepter 4 or serving as Munakata’s second under an official capacity. When he worked with her, she was more often in command of an operation for which she’d chosen to utilize his particular skillset. Processing the completed reports of the Special Operations Squad had generally been his task when he wasn’t in the field.

She raised another eyebrow at him. “I also have a vested interest in making sure this work is done, Fushimi. With two people, we’ll finish sooner.” Her other eyebrow joined the first. “Unless, of course, you have some complaint about the quality of my work?”

What kind of question is that? He clicked his tongue. “I hope you’re not expecting me to answer that.”

Her expression softened again into a smile. “I’ll let it pass this once. Here.” She lifted about half of his stack and set them beside her instead. “Let’s get started.”

The atmosphere was still and peaceful as they worked. Awashima, as it turned out, was quiet and focused, unlike several others who seemed to feel the need to fill the silence with inane chatter. The soft, rapid patter of their mingled typing kept the air from growing awkwardly stilted, and their respective stacks began to lower with an efficient speed.

He was in the process of reaching for the final report in his stack when the sound of a PDA buzzing made him pause. In the split second that it took him to confirm that it wasn't his, Awashima had pulled the device from her coat. "Sorry," she said to him, rising from her seat and moving toward the back of the room before answering. "Awashima."

There was a brief pause, and then he heard her sigh. "You could have said something earlier." Another break, and then, "So I understood. But still..." The words trailed off, and then she made a small, amused sound. "There's nothing to thank me for. Scepter 4 was protecting its own interests." Another pause, and he could hear the smile in her voice when she responded. "I intend to. Is that all?" After only a short moment, she added, "Then please give my regards to your new King. Goodbye."

Ah. Not that he couldn't have guessed who it was based on the tone, but that last bit confirmed it. "You're still trading intel even now?" he commented when she returned to her seat.

"Nothing has changed in that respect," she confirmed, without batting an eye.

Nothing, huh? Fushimi frowned at her, hesitating for just a moment before going ahead with the question that had come immediately to mind. "You and Kusanagi-san aren't soulmates, are you?"

She stared at him, obviously taken aback by his directness, and then sighed. "That's a bold question." Her voice was dry. "Well, I suppose it’s natural that something like this would come up. As a matter of fact, we don't have that kind of relationship." A corner of her mouth turned up. "Not that the possibility hasn't occurred to me."

The candid admission had him furrowing his brows. "You two have talked about it?"

"That's not necessary." Awashima shook her head, crossing her arms and leaning back in her seat. "We share something of an understanding as the second in command of two traditionally opposed clans. It would be pointless to even discuss such a thing as long as that reality remains." She offered him a small, rueful smile. "I'm sure he's as aware as I am that our compatibility may be high enough, but we have responsibilities that won't allow for it."

The simple, pragmatic explanation was strangely unsatisfying. Fushimi felt his frown deepen without knowing what it was that unsettled him. Was it that easy a decision to make, to not pursue a soulmate connection with someone who seemed like a likely match? And... traditionally opposed clans? The intricate sword mark at the back of Munakata's neck came immediately to mind as he considered that response. He wondered if she knew about it.

If it signified what he thought it did, what would her thoughts be about that connection?

As soon as that particular thought occurred to him, an insidious whisper slid up into his brain with another question: what would her thoughts have been if he'd come to Scepter 4 wearing a matching mark to Misaki's?

It was impossible, of course, but Fushimi felt his fingers twitch against the keyboard in front of him, the urge to reach up and scratch at his burned Homra mark rising, along with the same baseless urgency from before. The idea of a soulmate match with Misaki didn't bring quite the same feeling of sinking dread that it had in the past, but it came with several uncomfortable memories all the same.

Memories that weren't even necessarily uncomfortable in the same way they had been.

That’s the problem, isn’t it?

More often lately, he couldn’t keep away the thoughts he’d always been able to overwrite in the past with the memory of Misaki’s furious face. The sharp bark of Misaki’s laugh felt as real in his mind’s ear as it had been in person. He could see the inward curve of Misaki’s shoulders and back as he rubbed at the back of his neck, grinning sheepishly. The way the longer strands of his hair curled around the line of taut skin there had always made Fushimi’s fingers itch to brush it, and the play of muscle beneath Misaki’s clothing as his body moved had fascinated him more than he would’ve liked to admit. Misaki could never sit still; he was always in motion, gaze sharp and smile bright. Even when he wasn’t smiling, Fushimi could feel the energy radiating from him, and the passion lurking in the warm color of his eyes.

Even in those days, his eyes had sometimes traced the slope of Misaki’s jaw, the outline of his lips. He wanted to feel those places under his mouth and run his hands along the parts of Misaki’s body that were hidden normally.

The desire was more or less understandable, though. It was just a physical reaction, after all. It had led to more than one careless mistake, which was irritating, but at least it made sense. It was the restless feeling that accompanied it that he still couldn’t comprehend – the insistent urging that had become worse when Misaki’s energy had dimmed, gnawing at Fushimi with ferocity during the moments when he’d seen or encountered him.

There was no energy, no passion within Misaki during that time, and yet he still felt that draw of his presence. It had been easier to turn his back and walk away than to deal with it or try to sort out what it meant, but it had left with that hollow, unsatisfied feeling every single time.

Even now, he didn’t feel any urge to rile Misaki as he had before. Something had changed irrevocably, and he couldn’t put his finger on what – or how, for that matter. His only real clue – and one he would’ve liked to ignore – was that single encounter in the middle of it all when he’d been unable to still the flow of desire within himself.

It had drawn a response, he couldn’t deny that.

Fushimi clicked his tongue automatically against the pleasant shiver that overtook his body with the memory. He hadn’t wanted to stop – probably wouldn’t have if the interruption hadn’t come – and it wasn’t purely for physical reasons. It wasn’t anything to do with soulmates, either, although he suspected that was a large part of Misaki’s motivation.

As if it would’ve even gone that way in the first place…

In that moment, Misaki had seemed like he was drowning and had clung to Fushimi as if he were a lifeline. And something within him had wanted – needed – to respond to that desperation.

He wasn’t sure what that said about him. It was disturbing.

Across from him, Awashima cleared her throat; when his gaze focused on her again, she tilted her head to the side questioningly. “If you do need a break, there’s no reason to push,” she reminded him, and uncrossed her arms to indicate their two nearly-completed piles. “We’ve already made a considerable amount of progress.”

Once again, Fushimi had to appreciate her habit of not prying. “There’s no point leaving it with only this much to go,” he mumbled, attempting to shove back the confusing blend of emotions in his mind as he reached for the final report in his stack. “You can go if you want.”

“I wasn’t asking for my sake.” Even without looking, he could hear the smile in her voice again. “Let’s continue, then.”

It was strange, but somehow as the sound of typing filled the silence between them again, the afternoon sun gradually darkening into twilight as it poured in through the tall windows, Fushimi felt a comfortable feeling spreading across his entire body. For the first time in a long while, that restless urging at the back of his thoughts had stilled, and he had a sense of peace.

He didn’t really know what to make of that either, so he pushed it from his thoughts and bent his attention to the work at hand.

The sound of Anna’s soft footsteps as she went up to her room for the night was the only noise in Bar Homra during that moment, but Yata found he didn’t mind the silence that much. In the bar they’d just reopened, with the light buzz of his first taste of alcohol warming his body, he felt comfortable.

It was enough to make the smile on his face widen, eyes shutting with contentment.

Homra was back together, and he wasn’t alone anymore. That alone was enough for him, but he didn’t think he’d ever shake the weight of what had happened. His initial thought when their clan had reformed was that the empty feeling from before would be gone and he’d never have to worry about it again, but that hadn’t exactly been the case. There was a lot to think about. Anna had given them all hope – and a place to belong once again – but it didn’t erase the heavy sense of something irreplaceable being gone. He still felt the grief pulsing strongly at the back of his mind, and couldn’t quite rid himself of the guilt for all the things he hadn’t done.

That emptiness was a faded threat in his soul, a scar that wouldn’t quite heal.

Yata figured it was his reminder that there was more to be feared in life than enemies. That period in his life when he thought he’d lost everything wasn’t something he was about to forget. He was going to do his best this time not to have any regrets. If he at least tried to understand the important people around him better, there wouldn’t be so much disconnect between him and them.

A recent memory flared up behind his closed eyelids – Saruhiko, with his impassive frown, turning his face away as Yata fumbled for words to express his gratitude. It came with the distant throb of an old ache, different from before.

That guy’s kind of a special case, huh?

“Something on your mind, Yata-chan?” Kusanagi’s voice cut into his thoughts; when he opened his eyes again, his older friend was giving him a small smile. “You can go if you want. Not that I mind the company.” There was a bit of a wistful edge in his gaze. “Tell you the truth, it feels a bit different in here now.”

Without Mikoto and Totsuka around, Yata’s mind instantly supplied, and he felt something clench a little within him. It wasn’t the all-encompassing grief from before, but… Hell, he didn’t think it’d ever be entirely gone. Looking up at Kusanagi’s face, he was pretty sure he wasn’t alone in that respect.

Trying to understand the important people… It didn’t have to be just Anna.

Swallowing against the remains of that ache, Yata leaned forward on the bar counter, elbows resting on the surface. “Kusanagi-san,” he started, feeling a bit awkward about it but determined to press onward. “Y’know, there’s something I’ve been kinda meaning to say – or, uh, I mean apologize for…” He shifted his weight to reach up with one hand and scratch at the back of his head. “How should I put this…?”

“Ah.” Kusanagi’s smile became more of a grimace. “Yata-chan, there’s no need to apologize – ”

“No, I gotta say this!” Lowering his hand, Yata leaned forward, meeting Kusanagi’s mildly startled gaze squarely. “Just hear me out, okay? Please!”

The grimace relaxed into a more serious expression. “All right.” Kusanagi leaned against the bar on his side, his gaze intent. “I’m listening.”

“About… that time…” Despite his resolve, it still felt awkward. Yata resisted the urge to lower his face, determined to face this head on. “When you told us you were closing the bar... I lost it. Those – those things I said, back then… I didn’t mean it. I was upset. But that’s not an excuse!” On the counter, he balled his hands into loose fists. “Kusanagi-san… I’m sorry! Really, truly sorry!”

At that he did bow his head, residual shame flowing through his body in waves. “I expected you to be a certain way all the time, just for my own sake.” He swallowed down the lump that had risen at the back of his throat, forcing himself to continue. “When you weren't what I wanted, I lashed out. It was selfish of me. I... really, I'm sorry."

There was a significant pause. Yata found himself trembling with emotion, tense as he waited for a reaction to his words.

Finally, Kusanagi heaved a sigh. “When you say things like that, you really sound like an adult now, Yata-chan,” he remarked. There was something weary in his tone. “Still… you don’t need to bow your head. After all, you weren’t the only one making mistakes that day.”

He hadn’t expected that. Yata jerked his head up, surprised, and found himself the subject of a rueful, slightly pained look. “I have an apology of my own to make,” Kusanagi admitted, once their eyes met. “Truth is, I lashed out at you too. I could write it off by saying I was grieving just like you were, but I’m the one who’s supposed to be the adult here.” He shut his eyes briefly. “I’ve had time to think it over, and it wasn’t fair of me. How pathetic, huh?” That came with a slight scoff, but when he opened his eyes again, his gaze was still serious. “I’m sorry for it, Yata. Sometimes I forget… we were both there, after all.”

The unexpectedly subdued tone had that aching lump rising at the back of Yata’s throat again. “Kusanagi-san…” Even as he felt something tense within him start to give with the return apology, the fresh reminder of their shared experience had him swallowing hard. In that moment of raw honesty, he felt open enough to offer a low, pained, “I still dream about it sometimes.”

“Yeah.” Kusanagi sighed again, straightening. His eyes were distant. “So do I.”

It didn’t feel like there was anything else to be said. The moment of silence that stretched out following that affirmation felt thick with remembrance and grief.

Somehow, there was something freeing in that shared understanding, too. Yata reached up to rub the moisture from the corners of his eyes roughly, managing a soft huff of a laugh. “Things got weird, huh? My bad.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Kusanagi eased back from the counter, offering a small sideways smile. “It’s not so bad to have moments like this once in a while.”

“Got that right!” Yata grinned back at him roughly, and then slumped forward with an exaggerated motion. “Man, I’m glad I got that off my chest! It’s something I really regretted, y’know?”

“I know how you feel,” Kusanagi agreed, with a bit of humor. “Though… one other thing I regret is not having a chance to be open with you – not just you, Yata-chan, but everyone else, too.” His smile turned rueful. “I had reasons – and it’s not that they weren’t valid, but given the way things turned out, it seems it just caused unnecessary grief in the end. Can’t promise I’ll break the habit, but I’ll try to trust you in the future.” Their eyes met again, and the smile widened a bit. “Try to keep your head if you can – I’ll be relying on you.”

Yata couldn’t help but perk up at that, straightening in his seat with pride. “Leave it to me!” He thumped his fist against his chest enthusiastically. “I’ve already pledged my life to Anna and Homra – I’ll give it my all! And I won’t let you down!”

If anything, he expected a smile and fond agreement, so it was a bit surprising when Kusanagi gave him a serious look instead. “Let me share something with you, Yata – one adult to another.” He leaned forward, bracing both hands on the counter so they were closer to being eye to eye. “Never pledge your entire life to anything. In Homra’s case, you’ll always be our Yatagarasu. But don’t forget that’s only a part of who you are as a whole. If you haven’t yet, you should start thinking about what kind of man you want to be – and what steps you can take to start getting there.”

Yata blinked at him, taken aback. “Only a part…?” It seemed unreal to look at it that way. The idea of thinking beyond Homra – beyond being Yatagarasu – wasn’t something he’d thought about. When Homra wasn’t in his life, there hadn’t been anything – just that endless, consuming emptiness. Didn’t that mean there really wasn’t anything else for him?

Somehow, that thought was… kinda scary.

Well, there was one thing… Not that he wanted to think about it, but he still kept coming back to it, as fixated as he had been from the start. That one stupid, painful, traitorous bit of hope he’d let himself fall back on – the retreat to his younger years, when all he’d wanted or needed was to be Saruhiko’s soulmate.

No point thinking about that. Yata curled his fingers into loose fists, trying not to scowl. It wasn’t like he could help it. All it took was looking into Saruhiko’s eyes, catching a hint of that mingled wariness and intensity, and he was lost. Even now, he shivered a little just thinking about it. Saruhiko’s mouth on his, warm and eager; Saruhiko’s hands on his body, mapping every crevice as if he wanted to commit them to memory. And then there was Saruhiko himself in the circle of Yata’s arms, the excitement of being able to feel the press and pliancy of that familiar thin frame against him as he held tight stirring to life within him and clouding any chance of reason. He’d thought about it a lot since. Couldn’t help it.

That guy’s not easy to forget. Even with so much reason to do so, Yata just couldn’t.

It kinda didn’t help that some time while everyone was apart, Kousuke and Eric had picked up a pair of deep brown, perfectly matched paw print marks on their opposing shoulders. He was happy for them of course, but still, sometimes…

Well, okay, he was jealous. That was normal, though. Right?

Pushing that thought – and the bitterness that came with it – down, Yata summoned up a sheepish grin in response to the conversation. “Not sure if I really get it, but…” He still had his resolve, and he wasn’t gonna back down from that. No room for doubts now. “Y’know, I wanna be someone who my important people can rely on.”

And if he was being selfish… also someone they wouldn’t want to leave behind. But he wasn’t gonna say it.

“That so?” Kusanagi smiled back, straightening again. “Well, maybe try to keep that thought at the back of your mind anyway. You might find other pieces of the answer coming to you here and there.”

“Uh, right. Got it.” Honestly, he still wasn’t sure if he totally got it, but he didn’t have to think about it right away. Yata frowned a bit. His earlier thoughts had kicked something else loose from the back of his mind. “By the way, Kusanagi-san… Can I ask you something? It’s about Mikoto-san.”

Kusanagi gave him a questioning look. “What’s on your mind?”

He’d been wondering about it for the longest time now – and he did want to try and understand his original King, as best he could despite everything. “Did he…? I mean, Totsuka-san wasn’t just teasing me way back then about the soulmate thing, right? Mikoto-san really did have one, didn’t he?”

“Ah…” At that, Kusanagi looked a bit pained. “Yeah,” he admitted, after a second’s hesitation. “He did.”

He did. Those words felt like they buzzed through Yata’s brain. He leaned forward, anxious to find out more. “So then, why…?” Suddenly unsure of how to word the confusion coursing through him, he stopped there, eyebrows bunching together.

Why wouldn’t he say anything? Why’d we never meet this person? Shouldn’t it have been awesome, finding a soulmate match?

Shouldn’t it have fixed things? Made it better, even… even when…

Kusanagi seemed to pick up on most of his uncertainty without the words coming out. “Why wasn’t it a celebration, you mean? Why didn’t that person intervene or magically fix things in the end?” He sighed heavily, looking away, and muttered almost to himself, “Well, in a way that person did intervene…”

Yata stared at him, more confused than ever. “Huh?”

“Never mind.” Kusanagi shook his head, not quite meeting Yata’s gaze. His expression was unreadable. “I don’t think it’d do you much good to know the person, but I will say this much…” When their eyes met again, his gaze was serious. “It wasn’t a match that could have worked in the long run, given the circumstances.”

The words didn’t sink in immediately. A match that couldn’t have worked… Yata frowned back, unable to reconcile that with what he’d always known. “But… if they were soulmates…”

“Yata-chan…” Kusanagi shot him a glance that was almost pitying. “That doesn’t really mean much, you know. It tells you something, sure, but it doesn’t change your relationships for you or fix any problems with them.” He shrugged. “In the end, they’re just a set of marks, after all.”

Yata jerked upright in his seat, shocked. “What are you saying, Kusanagi-san?” Just a set of marks? The words were a blow to one of his most closely held ideals. “Isn’t finding your soulmate the best thing that could happen to you? How could it be just a set of marks?” Carried away in his passion on the subject, he demanded, “What about Kousuke and Eric? You’re saying they’re nothing but a set of marks?”

That earned him a sigh, and Kusanagi briefly shut his eyes. “Don’t put words in my mouth, Yata. I never said it was a bad thing.” He looked wry when he opened his eyes again. “Let me ask you this, then: d’you think Kousuke and Eric treat each other different, now that they have those marks?”

It wasn’t a question he’d expected. Yata blinked, hastily scanning back through his memory. “Eh… well…”

Kusanagi didn’t wait for him to collect himself. “You think they didn’t care about each other as much as they do now, that it?”

“Ah…” The answer to that was obvious. “No, but – ”

“But,” Kusanagi continued relentlessly, “you’re okay with saying all that care and effort and consideration doesn’t make a difference, right? Just the fact that they’re soulmates?”

It was hard to argue when he put it like that. Yata frowned back, his mind working fast to try and process the contradictions. The words resonated, but it was hard to try and piece together why or what it meant for him. “That’s not,” he started, and then paused, frustrated. “I mean…”

Kusanagi gave him a second, then shook his head when nothing else came, a rueful smile forming. “I’m not trying to bully you here, Yata-chan. If anything, I’d like to see you think these things through on your own and see what you come up with – even if we end up disagreeing in the end. Just challenge yourself.” With that, his gaze took on a knowing look. “Maybe you’ll find some answers. Or closure.”

That hit uncomfortably close to home. Yata squirmed in his seat, warmth prickling across his face. “Y-yeah, well…” He reached up to rub at the back of his neck. “I-I’ll think about it. Thanks.”

Truthfully, he wasn’t sure any more if there would be an opportunity to find answers when it came to Saruhiko. Or closure, for that matter. He only knew that he wanted to, desperately, somewhere deep down that he didn’t like to acknowledge openly. There was still the burning hope within him that he was right, they really were soulmates, and once Saruhiko realized, he’d see what a mistake he’d made and explain everything. And then they could move on.

After everything, now he was finally starting to realize that he might have to work on accepting that he’d never find out for sure. And that moving on might mean doing it by himself.

Having gone through so much aching loneliness, the thought should’ve scared him. But somehow, despite everything, it really didn’t. Mostly, Yata was just confused. And maybe a bit lost. He didn’t know where to start with this crap yet.

Nothing else to do but move forward and try his best, really.

Kusanagi offered him a grin, as if guessing what was going through his head. “Any time.”

#k project #sarumi #yata misaki #fushimi saruhiko #fanfic #fanfic:mine

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