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#heard of the game. Said game has cool Victorian aesthetics
smolfrenchtoast · 3 years
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An attempt at throwing two fandoms in one pile (?)
Aubrey-Maturin, but it’s Resident Evil.
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In the Vague Dark
Prompt: Inside-Out
Christine poured herself another glass of wine, but before she drank any of it, she lay back against the dirt and closed her eyes, blocking out the chattering of her friends and focusing, instead, on the rain pouring down on the glass observatory roof overhead.  She was already three glasses in, but they'd brought an entire case of merlot out here from the fundraising event currently going on inside the mansion to which the observatory was attached.
"We're in a real-life game of Clue," Whitney said, her voice dreamy.
Christine, generally, liked to keep track of how many drinks everyone had -- it made her feel better about herself, for one thing, and it helped her feel more in control of the situation too.  But she wasn't sure she was doing a good job tonight.  Whitney was on glass four -- five?
Opening her eyes, Christine did her best to focus them on the rain against the glass, but between the wine making her vision fuzzy, and the blurred nature of rain on glass in the dark, it had a hypnotic effect.  "No murder," she said.
"What?"
"We can't be in a real-life game of Clue.  Clue is all about murder, and that has nothing to do with anything."
Whitney scoffed, and Christine could picture her shaking her head, brushing off her comment.  Christine shrugged her shoulders even though it meant rubbing dirt into her blouse.
Inside the mansion, the party went on.  Christine could hear it, in the form of a low, constant murmur.  It seemed incongruous with the smell of plant life in her nose, the taste of dirt on her tongue.  Or, no -- that was the wine, but there was something earthy about it in any case.  And wasn't there something about the nose and the tongue being connected, so that to sense with one was essentially to sense with the other?
She stuck her tongue out and, for some reason, was surprised that it felt warm in the night air.  No warmer than the rest of her, but warmer than it seemed like it ought to.  She lifted her hand and clamped her tongue between thumb and forefinger.
"What the fuck are you doing, Chris?" Whitney said from several feet behind Christine's head.  She let go of her tongue and arched her back, stiffening her neck so she could look, upside-down, behind herself and see him.
"You're inside-out," she said and laughed.  "Upside-down."
Now that they had given up on the fundraiser entirely, with no thoughts of returning indoors and trying to maintain any real degree of dignity, Christine felt lighter -- except for the guilt; they were supposed to be supporting Jesse, after all, and it was a good cause, saving an endangered species of salamander or something.  But there wasn't much she could do about that now, so she sat up and left it behind on the dirt.
On her feet, she shifted, unsteady, but she felt a little clearer-headed than she had before taking her brief siesta on the ground.  "I've never been in a real conservatory before," she said and started poking around.
"What is it anyway?  Conservatory," Whitney said, and then she repeated it a few times, like she was tasting the word in her mouth, exercising it.
"It's for -- conserving things?" Christine offered, and then she laughed at herself again.  "What is this place usually?" she said, trailing the tips of her fingers over a deep green plant leaf.  It looked wrong and sort of magical -- like the rain overhead.  Here in the earliest days of spring, the world was all mud and dead leaves leftover from fall, newly visible and slimy as the snow melted.
Christine turned in time to see Whitney shrug.  She shucked her tailored jacket and dropped it onto a small tree as though it were a coat rack.  "Event venue," he said.  She began turning on her toes in slow circles.  "Sometimes-home of some rich guy who's got so many houses he's basically never home, no matter which one he's in."
Christine nodded, more to herself than to Whitney.  She'd always been curious about these big old, Victorian houses on the hill, overlooking the rest of the town.  Now that she was here for the first time, she found it generally disappointing.  But this -- this was nice.
"If I lived in this house," she said, "I would pull my bed and all the couches in here."
She tipped her head back and closed her eyes.  "And this is where all the parties would be."
"With your bed in the middle of the room?" Whitney said -- joking, but not without an edge to her tone, as though she really was bothered by this idea, despite its make-believe quality.
"You're such a prude," Christine said, making her voice sound unconcerned, even though really she wanted a little bit of a fight.
But Whitney didn't bite, either because she was too distracted by her own drunkenness or because she knew Chris too well, even inebriated as they both were.
Despite the itch to argue, the warm comfort of fondness unraveled Christine's resolve, a different sort of emotional pleasure, and one that she decided to accept.
The room, if it could be called a room, was arranged in a maze-like series of plant beds and aisles between them, scattered with the occasional bench or bird bath, though these seemed to be purely for the aesthetic, since this was technically all inside and from what Christine had seen, there were no birds here at all.
Despite the fact that there were, in fact, places to sit that were designed for that purpose, Christine, upon deciding that her legs had grown too syrupy and elastic to hold her up any longer, plopped down into one the plant beds.  She leaned back against the palms of her hands, feeling them sink into the loose earth, just a little.
It took her a moment to realize what seemed off about the way the cool dirt felt beneath her over-warm hands.  it was damp.  Almost wet, as it might have felt in the rain, without the glass roof overhead.
Christine looked up again, squinting through the gray-dark, trying to see if there was a leak in the ceiling.  "Do you feel anything?" she said.  "Like raindrops?"
"Okay," Whitney said and began to make her way over.  "You're cut off."
"No, come here."  Christine held out a muddy hand, rusty in the lack of light, and Whitney took it, allowing Chris to pull her closer.
Christine dragged Whitney forward until she had to bend over, pushing her hand into the dirt where Christine's had been a moment before.
"Jesus," Whitney said as she toppled, catching herself only barely, braced over Christine in the plant bed.  She righted herself immediately, and for a moment, it looked like she was going to wipe her hands clean on her new dress, before she remembered where they were or what it had cost her and thought better of it.  In that moment, she looked down at her hands, and she realized at the same time that Chris did: that the dirt was more red than brown.
Whitney might have been better off than Chris was giving her credit for, because she caught on before Chris did.  She staggered back and away, as though she could escape from her own hands.
Christine heard a goofy laugh spring from her own throat before she came to understand what Whitney understood already.  Still, her body moved faster than her mind.  She turned her head to look, even as she began to wonder if she wouldn't be better off standing, moving away, following Whitney back inside where they could wash their hands and forget all about coming out here in the first place.
But she didn't move away.  She looked down at the dirt beneath her hands, and in the vague light of the dying evening, caught a glimmer that, once seen, couldn't be ignored.
Her horror spread through her like a dawn, slow and unstoppable.  And maybe it was the wine wrapping, rope-like, around her mind, holding her back from reasonable or rational response, but before she knew what she was doing, she held it in her hands, her two hands, cupped in her palms as though it were water, only a pool formed by the rain, rather than what it really was: cold, and solid, and heavy.  The word impossible to hold, unlike the thing itself.  Until suddenly it wasn't, until her mind snapped back into her control.  The thing flew out of her hands and onto the chill tile floor of the path, and the word flew into her head, almost out of her mouth, but she clamped one muddied hand over it just in time.  Heart.
For a moment that seemed to draw itself out, longer and longer, Christine and Whitney remained still and staring, looking down at the dirt-masked thing between them on the ground.  Unmistakable shape, even though everything about it was wrong, wrong --
Neither of them spoke.  Christine didn't even realize she was tipping forward, leaning closer to the earth and tile, until she felt Whitney's hands on her shoulders, keeping her in place.  Dimly, she thought that there would be rust-colored hand prints, two perfect stamps, on her beautiful new blouse.
Whitney pressed her palms to the curves of bone beneath shirt and skin and muscle, dug her fingers in, and lifted, so in a second, Christine was on her feet.  And without a word, Whitney led her back inside, jacket left behind or forgotten entirely.  "We need to wash our hands," Christine heard her say, and she could only nod.
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xelamoc · 5 years
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Last Night
Another dream prompt. More about monsters and stuff the more you get into it. Don’t really have a whole plot to it, but the first part was interesting enough that I might do some sort of second part if I feel like holding onto this idea. We will see how into detail I get into this. 
There was a house that everyone knew of in the middle of the forest behind the high school, where we weren’t allowed to go. The high school staff would tell us that sometimes kids would go in there and get lost and would never be seen again. I called BS on that, but they actually had video evidence of people going into the woods and the staff had missing reports of every kid that went in there. After that, I didn’t really care to go into the forest, but the group of teenagers I hung out with at the time were very interested in seeing the house in the middle of the forest. As hesitant as I was, I wasn’t going to let them just go on their own. So, I guess I was going with them. There were 5 of us all together; 2 boy, both one grade above us and 3 girls, including me, all of us juniors. We all grew up together. We figured the boys would try to pull some prank on us, a simple one just to joke around. But whatever they had planned, we didn’t get to laugh about because we found it. A house in the middle of a large field. The entire property surrounded by trees. The house was kind of Victorian, at least that’s what we guessed. To me, it just looked Gothic. We all said that we wanted to go see the house, but one of the girl suggested just one person go up there to make sure its safe first. The two boys looked at each other with worried looks. I don’t blame them. It was the middle of the night, the moon was full in the sky, everything seems to be black and gray out here and the whole thing just screamed bad vibes... well, not literally because that would just be horrible.  The boys decided to do rock, paper, scissors to see who was going to be the first one to go up there. The girls were very focused on the match, mostly because the boys were being stupid and picking the same thing over and over again. I figured they would be too chicken to actually go to the house. I suggested loudly that we just head back home before we forget the way that we came in.  No one heard me, of course. They were all too focused on who would win the game. I groaned, knowing that whoever was going to go up there wasn’t going to actually spend anytime admiring the house up close. So I took out my phone, no service of course, and opened up the camera to take some pictures. I started walking closer to the house to get a better look and that when i heard someone say one of the boy’s names. He must have been the loser in rock, paper, scissors. Right after the guy was chosen, I heard a collective gasp. Glad to know they finally saw me walking up to the house now.  I had just gotten through the field when the realized and I was on some sort of gravel drive. I got my camera out again and took some more pictures. The house had two tall towers on either side of the house. The house was three stories... maybe four. It was a very pretty house. I thought the pictures were coming out great, but then I heard everyone yelling my name. I turned around to see what they were yelling about when I felt two large hands on my shoulders. I ducked under the hands and took a few steps away so I could turn around to see the individual. He was tall, dressed in a suit, bald with a big beard, and overall, quite terrifying. I started to run away from the man when I felt him grab me again and this time, he threw me over his shoulder. I looked at where everyone had been and just barely saw them running into the forest. At least, they were going to be safe. I didn’t really expect them to come and save me. They were all pretty wimpy when it came to fighting. I guess this is where I die. The man was taking me into the house when I remembered I still had my phone on me. I turned the camera around and took some pictures of me entering the house, going through the grand entrance and into a room with a long carpet that led to a couple of stairs and eventually led to a small couch. On either side of the room were pools the length of the room so deep that I couldn’t see the bottom. The man placed me on the ground a few feet from stairs. I put my phone in my back pocket and looked at him.  “Now what?” I asked him. “Are you going to torture and kill me now? Or was throwing me over your shoulder just your way of inviting me to tea?” Not the best time to be sarcastic, but I was pretty freaked out and I’d rather go out calm and collected-ish rather than panicking and screaming.  “I am neither going to torture and kill you nor am I going to give you tea.” A voice said from behind me. I looked up the stairs and found a man sitting on the couch. Well... rather, he was draped across the couch. “I want to know what you are doing on this property and what you want.” I swallowed. “In all honesty, I didn’t even want to be here. I was just following everyone else and I wanted to see the house up close because I thought it was pretty cool looking, very Goth-Victorian kind of cool. Its totally my aesthetic. Really love it.” The man looked at me. He had long dark hair and a very light skin color. He was dressed to match the house. A dark coat-jacket-thing that had many layers and a lot of accessories. He wore a white blouse-shirt with a lot of ruffles in the front and on his wrists, had very tight leather pant and was barefoot. He was very Gothic-Victorian.  “I don’t appreciate you trespassing onto my family’s property. I believe there is only one way to settle this.” He said before he stood up and began walking to me where I sat on the ground. Many thoughts were going through my head. What was the only way to settle this? Slavery? Sex? Sex Slave?... Okay well not many. Those were the only options that had been going through my head. I would have preferred none of them.  “The only way to settle this...” he began before he knelt in front of me and got incredibly close to my face. “is death.” He finished. My eyes widened and I couldn’t stop the loud “What?” that came out. “Death. You trespassed onto my property so you must die.” I looked at him with bewilderment. He couldn’t have been serious. I’ve heard of trespassers would be shot, but I didn’t see any warning of death to trespassers anywhere on the property.  “Brother, you aren’t thinking straight. Perhaps, I should take over this matter?” Another voice spoke from my side. The man in front of me looked over at the voice and I followed suit. To my astonishment, I found another man inside the pool.  “I don’t need you to take over this matter. I’ve already decided that she is going to die.” He spoke harshly as he stood up and walked over to the couch once again. He started rummaging around behind the couch, probably to find something to kill me with. “Pst.” I heard from my side once again. It was the man in the pool. He was waving for me to come over. He was smiling at me. “Come on.” I crawled over to the man. “Don’t worry. My brother has the sickness right now. He should be over it in a few days and then he will apologize for his behavior and let you go.” I blinked at the man. “What do I do until then?” I felt the man grab my hand and he slid a pearl bracelet on it. I looked at him again and he was still smiling at me. “Don’t worry and keep breathing.” He said before he pulled me into the pool. I gasped as I hit the water and felt the water enter my mouth and lungs, but... it wasn’t painful, like drowning. It was like I was breathing normally, just underwater. “Just keep breathing. Its alright. Its normal.” I looked at him and nearly squealed in surprise. The man wasn’t really a man at all... he was a merman?... I had so many questions. 
I’m gonna stop right there because I didn’t really have a whole lot else planned out completely, but some elements were from my dream. There was a merman and a house in a field. I don’t remember a lot else though... So I’ll figure something out. 
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Netjuu no Susume 2 - 3 | Black Clover 2 | Classicaloid 28 | Juuni Taisen 2 - 3 | Code: Realise 2 | Houseki no Kuni 2
I lost Classicaloid after episode 28…good thing I had Girls’ Last Tour on tap. (See Houseki no Kuni’s simulcast commentary for more details on that.)
Netjuu no Susume 2
Aw, I’m not really one for romances, but once again, these guys are making me warm and fuzzy on the inside. Hayashi and his cry emote really get to me – I love bishies who aren’t gung-ho macho.
Sakurai has an email from Comico! LOL!
I’m with Lilac on this love story, LOL.
“Sakura-chan”!!! Oh, it’s so cute. It also probably explains why Sakurai = Lily, eh?
This isn’t a manga, it’s an online manga. Same diff, Hime-chan.
If you pause at Moriko’s email, you’ll see it’s riddled full of keigo (polite language).
Sakurai Yuuta voiced by Sakurai Takahiro, LOL. Didn’t notice that the first time around.
It’s staying on, even if for just warm fuzzies.
Netjuu no Susume 3
I’m hearing the OP for the first time and…it’s actually pretty good! It fits the entire cute aesthetic of the show.
Irina was only just talking about this.
I’ve heard people call Moriko Morimori-chan across the ‘net and I didn’t understand it until Koiwai said it just then. Nicknames mean you’re uber close in Japanese terms.
I had the volume on while Koiwai and Morimori-chan (LOL) had their chat and I couldn’t hear her cry. So much for Mamiko Noto being a top-notch seiyuu, eh?
LOL, Koiwai’s so fun as a character.
Eyyyyyyyyyy. This green counter boy is probably Kanbe. You can tell by the hair colour!
Is Li-chan Lilac or Lily?
LOL, the Rose of Versailles parody is too good.
A…dog PUG? Apparently not. Never played WoW, of course I wouldn’t know the term.
Oh, I preempted the show’s caption. These sorts of captions were used in Superstar wa Nemurenai too, so this feels nostalgic in a sense.
I know the feel, Lily. I’ve been in online arguments before (you’ll see in previous simulcast commentaries I cite the magicalgirlsandcerulean one a lot).
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! These too-cute-for-this-world characters steal my heart againnnnnnnnnnn!
Interesting that Nico is called just that in the credits.
Black Clover 2
That very scribbly handwriting appears to be…English. Mostly correct English, to boot.
Someone decided on sakuga this ep, it seems…
Okay, I think I’ve had enough echo reverb for a lifetime. That’s going on hold.
Classicaloid 28
Ah, the new OP. Same song, Dovo-chan + “Wataru”, a few new staff…but otherwise, same old, same old. That’s what I like.
Oh, I almost missed the sign that says “Place all used tableware in the sink – Kanae”. Thanks, subbers.
Huh. The word “respect” is teinei, which technically means “politeness”. But “respect” works better in context, I guess.
Sometimes, Beet says things that actually make sense + are quotable. Get me some quotes of this man (LOL).
This shopping list stuff, if it isn’t something you’ve done for your family already, is normally something for kids in Japan as part of fostering independence. So, I think Wa-kun’ll be the winner here.
Garland chysanthemum is the only one of these I’m unfamiliar with. Apparently in Japanese, it’s called shingiku, which would correspond to those kanji I saw on the shopping list.
Why is Dovo-chan going with Wa-kun? (LOL?)
There’s a coffee shop called Mogura (mole) behind Liszt in one scene.
Wa-kun reminds me a lot of the Beppus (Boueibu). Seriously, we need a comparison of those three.
Symphony No. 7. The Allegretto seems to be stirring some memory in me, but I can’t seem to detect what particularly or why it does. However, Wikipedia does note Wagner liked it. In fact, Wagner admired it.
Yup, Pad-kun. That’s (the bit about “apotheosis of dance”) the bit Wikipedia says.
I think the hippo -> idiot joke works better in Japanese (kaba -> baka, it’s a reversal of syllables).
See? Wa-kun is like the Beppus! Lookit that boy blush.
How does one spell “yeah” anyway? I swear I’ve seen 2 or 3 variants of the word alone…
Oh, Schu-san wasn’t around this episode. He got taken away by the kite strings like last time, come to think of it. Admittedly, I think I liked Schu better when he wasn’t a rapper, although apparently this time he’s going to go into reggae, judging by the rasta cap he had in the OP.
Ohh, a goukon I see. It’s translated as “singles’ party”, but…well, let’s say it’s a little more complicated than that. “Singles’ party” translates sufficiently, but goukon have certain connotations to them that make them uniquely goukon, much like sushi needs vinegared rice to be sushi, anime needs to be at least partially made in Japan and so on.
Juuni Taisen 2
I think Nezumi being sleepy is a pun (neru -> to sleep).
Oh, hey. They do look like the Justice League.
By the by, this OP is called “Rapture”. Not “Rupture”, even though that would sound more appropriate in some contexts.
The CGI models at the end of the OP look like figures. Either I give you my money for good quality versions of those or you…shouldn’t waste your time, Graphinica. (Especially the Tatsumi bros.)
The title of this episode literally translates to “chicken cry, dog steal”. I dunno what idiom’s behind it, so I’ll leave that to the subbers.
Well, a manhole is one way to lay low…
“Old Timer”. Good pun there.
Knowing the Beppus, I’d say the Tatsumi was talking about his bro and not Inou.
Well, that was a bit too much blood. Good thing is wasn’t as bad as King’s Game.
Finally, an Ume show I can really kick back and not worry about! Young Black Jack and a lot of shows I go into for Ume are normally shams or locked out by licensing, so I’m finally psyched to get a proper Ume show to back.
Uuma walking through the turnstiles was…pretty funny, actually. (LOL.)
How does one out-crazy Rabbit, with his high heels and booty shorts???
Well, as they say, when an unstoppable object meets an unmoving force, kaboom! (Or…something like that…)
According to the manga, Dotsuku was a teacher. Can you really imagine that though? Dotsuku, a teacher??? Of little kids???
Note Niwatori is shown with science things. She must know some stuff about Dotsuku’s poisons too, although she probably didn’t expect them. Update: Read ahead, and let’s say I’m right about one thing and wrong about another.
I wonder which Tatsumi bro is the NEET and which is the gambler…
Rabbit home boy’s too good, but Ushii and his fluffy jacket are better.
Nezumi and Twelve Mart, LOL.
Juuni Taisen 3
I read up on some spoilers for this…so I’m only just keeping abreast of some of you guys out there. However, the TV Tropes page notes that the OP shows who the winner of the Taisen is if you pay close attention…
Ugh, I love Nezumi and Ushii too much. Mah Ume-boy is good as gold – this is a step up, considering I’ve started some very bad anime because of Ume-chan – but even though I don’t know Shun Horie very well, I like me a bishie like that too! (Horie’s a tad quiet, but otherwise he’s pretty good too.)
It was much clearer that Niwatori was affected by the One Man Army even during her meetup with the Monkey in the manga, so…yeah. I’ll give it that much.
Silly name of “Cockscomb” aside, that’s the name of Niwatori’s spading fork. Cockscomb.
I’m properly listening to the OP and ED for the first time, but I like the ED more than the OP. Probably because the Justice League is funny but the ED’s casual stuff is better.
Oh, there’s a post-credits scene. Keep watching.
Oh, that’s…pretty powerful stuff, Niwatori. Wowee, Juuni Taisen’s got the mark of a high ranker, from its staff to its OP and ED quality. Tough competition this season, as I keep saying.
“Even a monkey can fall from a tree.” – That’s a kotowaza meaning “Even experts fail sometimes”, which is an important adage for this show.
Sharyuu was taught by sages, so that comment is interesting, Duodecuple…or Horse…or whoever’s narrating this.
The pun in the next ep title is something to do with the word saru (monkey). Noting that saseru is a thing in Japanese, maybe saru is a shortened form of that Nisio Isin wanted to cash in on…?
Update: I finally figured out Dotsuku’s pun! Make the tsu smaller, give the ku a tenten and you have…the katakana pronunciation for dog!
Code:Realise 2
Get me a man like Impey and I’ll be set for life, LOL.
“If you touch me, you’ll melt.” – The juxtaposition of Cardia’s sadness with a punchline makes for something very interesting, indeed.
Saint??? Is that his first name or his title?
These ornaments on Finis and the queen – the pseudo-Chinese or Japanese ones – stand out a bit compared to all the steampunk stuff.
Oh, dearie me. The cars and carriages in this are CGI and it shows.
“…Baron Gilford Dudley and party.” – LOL.
“He loves his food too.” – I’d assume ths subject of this is Sisi, but the way this sentence was framed made it sound like Impey loves his food too. Which seems to be true, since Impey likes cooking.
These really bright scenes are kinda sudden. They don’t quite work with the rest of the show, and that’s because they’re probably stills you collect in the game.
I keep thinking this dude with the guns is Fran. Geez, it’s quite the bad case of Six Same Faces…however, this one has purple eyes while Fran’s are green.
C’mon! Stockinged legs aren’t that indecent, Lupin. I know you run by Victorian London standards, but still.
Okayyyyyyyyy. Vampire hunter fits the theme of historical fictional bishies, but…you really don’t imagine Van Helsing to look like this. Just sayin’.
The glowy blood was probably unnecessary…
I feel like I should put this on hold, just to be on the safe side. That means the lineup is settled. I’ll update the sheet when I can...eesh though. There’s some tough competition this season…
Houseki no Kuni 2
The two moons are a nice touch.
This OP is way cool. It’s such a visual spectacle.
By the way, I’ve heard good things about Girls’ Last Tour so I may binge it next month (November) and it may even challenge for one of the top spots.
Uh, cleavage? Not to use a dirty joke here, but gems are androgynous. They have no cleavage, so to speak.
Oh, Dia’s fighting style is like baseball. I see.
Huh. I should really write about identity and belonging in this series. Dia’s a really interesting character, pretty much denying their own name and nature because they see Bort as the “true diamond”.
“…tried to lend a hand.” – Oh, the irony of you missing a hand, Dia.
Notice Phos is still holding Dia’s hand as she talks with Jade and Euc.
Holy snails, Batman! Arima (Boueibu) wouldn’t like this for sure…
Wow, this truly is a new innovation in anime. Certainly, traditional animation can’t do this.
Wowee, this ED is something else. As I said, it’s tough competition this season. Girls’ Last Tour may even just miss out for the ground-breaking nature of this show alone, even though Kado is its precedent 3D-wise (and on the 3D front, I accepted that very well).
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