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 Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2022 12:14 am
"Cheese rare at home," he explained enthusiastically, chowing his way through the first sandwich and then picking up the second to devour, "Lived with Chrysocyon family. In burrow. Traded with village often, but cheese rare to come to Fang. Many kept for themselves. Fair. They work hard for their cheese." He finished the second sandwich easily and then licked his lips, looking to Murikabushi with begging eyes. Yes, he wanted the cheesy fries and the water, please. He made "gimme" motions with his hands, not focusing so much on the politeness of saying it aloud so much with talking more about his home. "Sometimes I did get cheese. Usually for holiday. Good times. Miss them," he said tenderly, tail slowing to a stop. "Was easier to live, when I had friends. Watching everyone die... Then starving. Only remember starving, after. Food... hard to find. Here, food plentiful. Cheese plentiful. People... so many. And yet... I cannot be myself. Fang is alien. Fang's ears and tail give me away. Hide them, as myself and not Fang. And I must talk. So much more than used to. People make fun of me, for skipping words. For messing up. Impatient. Unkind. On Fang, Fang never had such a problem. Just... traded problems, now." He felt more fine, right now, after talking, than he usually did after so many words. He wondered if this had anything to do with those "spoons" he'd overheard about somewhere. He didn't quite understand it, but he'd caught something about a task costing spoons. He wondered where he'd gotten them from or where they'd gone if he'd paid them to speak for so much. Or maybe he was in spoon debt now? He'd have to ask someone how that worked.
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Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2022 9:59 am
When Fang made his grabby hands, Reiki blinked for a moment. He understood perfectly fine, but…there was something odd (in a good way) about seeing that the body language signs for “gimme gimme, please” were fairly universal. Since the cheese fries were easier to hand over, Fang got those first, though Reiki flipped open the container first so Fang didn’t have to worry about it himself. On one hand, maybe it would’ve distressed him, considering the state he’d so recently been in. On the other, if he ripped the container open, they would’ve needed to clean up a mess of litter, which sounded tedious.
While he got to work on his fries, Reiki took one of the bottles of water out of the bag he’d brought back and cracked it open (again, so Fang didn’t have to worry too much about that). He’d hand it over after giving Fang a few moments to just enjoy his fries. Which, incidentally, gave Reiki himself a few moments to mull over everything Fang had told him and try to decide what he made of it all (aside from worrying about what he’d done to Kerberos last week, which felt like it would persist as mental background noise regardless of what Reiki did or didn’t do for himself, and regardless of how many times he tried telling himself to push that particular pause button and focus on Fang).
“I’m sorry,” he said, after trying to think of anywhere else to start and coming up with nothing. “I…I don’t even think I can name just one thing I’m sorry for in all of that, because…? It all sounds awful? What happened to your planet, what you went through, how people on Earth treat you…none of that’s okay, and nobody deserves that.”
Huffing softly, Reiki tucked his fringe behind his ear. “It’s not the exact same thing? But my Mom, she deals with something similar. Because she wasn’t born in this country, and she didn’t grow up speaking English at home. She learned it at school, and her parents used to get upset if she did too well in that class.” Because they’re a pair of ethno-supremacist fascist assholes, Reiki thought but didn’t say because……there was no way he could unpack all of that for Fang right now and expect Fang to understand. Too much accumulated Terran history and politics, too messy.
“Anyway, Mom’s English is really good now? But…sometimes, she still misplaces words. Or she gets the order wrong, because it can work differently in English from the language she grew up speaking. Or she says one of their words instead of the English one, or uses a Japanese grammar thing but with English words. Or sometimes, she just has too much of an accent. So, even though she’s a professor and even though she’s one of the smartest people I know? People hear her speaking quote-unquote ‘improperly’—” To illustrate exactly what he thought of that, Reiki made sarcastic quotation marks with his fingers. “—and they treat her like she’s stupid.
“So……I’m sorry that people on Earth have been doing anything like that to you.… For a species who talk about how much we want to meet people from other planets, you’d think we’d do better when we actually get the chance.” With a soft, earnest expression, Reiki considered shutting up—but decided to add instead, “And……I’m sorry. For bringing all of that up for you. Just—I thought I saw the monster you were talking about. I didn’t mean to hit you with that attack. And…I’ve only been doing this for, like, a month, so? I…don’t really know what all my powers even do yet.”
Aside from, apparently, traumatize people and pick the exact worst times to actually ******** work.
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Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2022 10:02 pm
Fang eagerly took the container of fries, not giving any thought to the fact that Muri was opening it for him. To him, it just made sense. Muri was already taking care of him by getting him the food, doing the extra motion shouldn't be anything to worry about. The food was coming to him; he could trust Muri. He patiently listened, like Muri had done for him just moments before, as he shoveled the fires (mere vassals for the cheese) into his mouth, soothing his aching stomach and feeling warm inside. "Most people who make fun are not us as we are now," he said, indicating their fukus with a gesture, a fry still in the hand. "It is when... I am me me, and I go out with friends. To grocery, or park. Want to go to arcade someday. Buttons!" The last word was said gleefully, tail suddenly wagging again, ears perked. "They say buttons all over arcade games! Buttons funnnnn." He cleared his throat, taking the water and sipping at it carefully, judging how his throat felt. He was probably reaching the end of his tether, now. Choosing to use more words and speak more properly was doing a number on him. But it felt right to speak more... well, properly, when he was referring to who he was outside of Fang. Fang was more feral. Fang could be more feral. He was wild and raging and howling. Todd... was softer. Happier. More... present with people. He wanted that. "Sorry your powers are pbhbhhbt," he said, sputtering his lips. "Fang okay. You saw monster like Fang and wanted to protect. You got Fang food. I'm happy." He shoved the last fry in his mouth with a happy-yet-disappointed whine and then drained the rest of the water bottle. "Your mom smart. Teach you well. You smart. And good. Do not be sorry. You... okay. Fang like." He smiled broadly, showing off his little fangs.
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Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2022 10:31 pm
“Oh!” slipped out of Reiki’s mouth before he could think to stop it, right as soon as Fang flashed his grin. “Y’know, if you like guys? I could introduce you to some, sometime. I know a lot of guys who’d love to kiss someone with fangs like those.”
—and then his brain caught up to his mouth with a feeling like slow-motion footage of a car crash. Face erupting with heat, flushing bright red, Reiki dove into his palms. He groaned softly, but as always, this did exactly jack s**t to erase what he’d gone and said like a ******** idiot. “Sorry,” he whined. “I'm so sorry, that—that was so inappropriate of me. You have a really nice smile—I only wanted to say? To say that it’s nice? Like you? And then I wanted to promise I’d try harder to avoid hitting you with my attacks in the future, but that came out instead, and……ugggggh.”
With an exasperated sigh, he dragged his hands down his face and let them flop into his lap. “God, I was doing so well at just……keeping thoughts like that to myself? ’cause I’ve been thinking, since I first saw you, that you’re handsome, and some kind of wolf-man—or chrysocyon-guy, more accurately, and I didn’t want to make it weird, not while that dead spot needed investigating, and now, I just probably did make it weird by pointing out your cute fangs??”
Another ugh as Reiki cracked open the bottle of water he’d gotten for himself. Giving Fang a shaky, but earnest, smile, he added, “But…I like you too, so? I really, really hope I didn’t make it so weird that you stop liking me?”
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Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2022 9:45 pm
Fang's eyebrows knotted together in confusion as Muri... said something he seemed to think offensive? And scrambled to apologize in a way that had him reeling. He suspected this was some weird Earth custom that was just violated, but he wasn't sure. "Why would my fangs be good for kissing?" he asked, head tilted. "Isn't kissing... just lips? Biting hurt... Also, Fang fine, no worry about attack, okay?" He pursed his lips, squinting at Murikabushi as more questions clouded his mind. "You weird. Fang not handsome? Unless fuku is fancy dress on Earth? Handsome is for special times when look fancy, right?" Earth was weird. He chugged at his water, massaging his throat and breathing deeply to keep it relaxed. He had a feeling he would regret talking so much tomorrow.
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2022 8:31 pm
Dragging his hands down his face, Reiki gaped at the poor, confused guy sitting beside him.…… Oh. Oh, no. <********, he’s an innocent.… Oh, ******** me, right.… Okay, I can do this. I know I can do this. I do this all the time for kids at the library—maybe not……quite like this.… It was usually a lot less serious, with the kids at drag queen story-time hour, but……Reiki had started this, so he had to finish it.
“It……it’s not so much the fangs? Being good for kissing? It’s more like……I know a lot of boys from Earth? Who would think your fangs are pretty? But……don’t worry about it, okay?” Trying his damn best to smile, and mostly just feeling as awkward as he did filthy and sinful, Reiki waved a hand like trying to tell Fang he was okay to just……forget that Reiki had said anything. If that was possible. Because Reiki had just epic-level put his foot in his mouth. “And…‘handsome’ can refer to how people dress on Earth? But it can also refer to how people look overall? Like, someone who has a nice face, or pretty eyes, or gorgeous hair—like maybe if it’s all flowy, and long, down to the middle of his back, going from dark blue at the roots to a lighter, icy blue at the tips?”
Bringing up Levi right now was probably about the least helpful thing imaginable. Only made things worse for Reiki, distracting himself by thinking about how gorgeous and strong Levi looked in his own fuku, and how badly Reiki wanted to be a good senshi and impress the beautiful boy who’d brought him into the Dark Mirror Court (as if that made a difference when said beautiful boy was manifestly too good for Reiki). Still, he had distracted himself, and now, he was going to sigh wistfully, like a stupid, besotted teenager. “………That, on Earth? Could be somebody that you’d call ‘handsome.’”
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Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2022 5:00 pm
Fang squinted harder for a moment, but let it go, chalking it up to Earth's weirdness again. Who thought teeth were pretty? As long as none were missing and they were functional, wasn't that all that mattered? Hm. "Specific," he accused, waving a fry in Reiki's face as he chattered about the person with the cool blue hair, "You have a... spouse? Is that what handsome is also for?" He popped the fry he'd waved in Reiki's face into his mouth with a satisfied little hum. amorremanet on one hand this poor b*****d knows that people get married and such, on the other, he has no idea what that feels like or most of what it entails, so he can't even really tease reiki properly on this and it's fabulous
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Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2022 5:35 pm
All the words he could normally find to bullshit his way through any particular situation—they evaporated right out of Reiki’s mind at that question. As he fumbled around, trying to find them, and spluttered like an idiot, trying to get some kind of answer out there for Fang, his face positively erupted in red, and heat, and all of the heinous embarrassment that was literally going to kill him, was this dying, Reiki was going to ******** DIE.
Ultimately, before he could do anything else, he had to chew and swallow the cheesy fry. It……wasn’t unpleasant? Good for Fang that he was enjoying the fries. But they’d never been Reiki’s favorite food, and while he didn’t dislike them, eating this one was merely a necessary evil to clear up so he could bury his face in his palms like a gay, stressed out ostrich.
“I don’t have a spouse? Not……not like,” he said, with more than a slight whine creeping into his voice, making him feel utterly pathetic. “There’s just this guy, and I like him—like, romantically like him—and he’s just? He’s smart, and he’s kind, and he’s beautiful, and way too good for me?”
Not least since all of Reiki’s attempts to be a good senshi in a way that might impress Levi—or at least make him feel like he’d done the right thing by bringing Reiki into the Court—had so far mostly led to Reiki flailing around like an idiot, teaching cute alien senshi about human language and earthling cultures, and <******** traumatizing at least one person (probably two, if his growing suspicions about Kerberos were correct) who hadn’t done a single thing to hurt him.
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Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2022 6:34 pm
Fang beamed. "Not true," he said eagerly, "All just... People. You good. You help me after mistake. You kind. You smart. You important. Fang like you very much." He swallowed some water, tears gathering at the corners of his eyes from the burning pain in his throat now. But he had to get his message across, now. "Ask," he said firmly, "Because you good. No such thing as 'too good'." He nodded firmly, as if that was the end of it and Reiki was going to listen to him, and finished off his box of fries.
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Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2022 9:12 pm
While the eagerness on Fang’s part was somewhat overwhelming—which made Reiki feel like staying firmly behind his hands, thank you—the earnestness made him feel too guilty about hiding to do that. He peeked out slowly, yes, but at least he did drag his hands off of his face and deposit them in his lap.
Unfortunately for Fang and his faith in Reiki, the latter had exactly zero designs to ask Levi anything romantic. Several questions about dead spots, malfunctioning magic, why their Court seemed to be allies with a group of people who had so far seemed to be a bunch of unfairly good-looking violent lunatics and Toráin (who was beautiful and deserved so much better), why Reiki’s magic was apparently only good for traumatizing people, and what the ********, exactly, he was supposed to be doing………but nothing romantic.
Despite what Fang so clearly wanted to believe, Reiki couldn’t just ask Levi anything romantic. Rejection seemed a complete metaphysical certitude, in Reiki’s mind—because why would someone like Levi ever look twice that way at someone like Reiki? A borderline useless senshi with magic that didn’t work properly, who’d first caught anything like Feelings for Levi while he’d still been with his ex.
Obviously, Levi could do better. That wasn’t even a ******** question.
Still……Fang had had enough nonsense for tonight, most likely. And he patently did not deserve being subjected to Reiki’s horrifically pointless pining. So, for his sake, it was easier just to smile and nod. “Thanks, Fang.… Y’know, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
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Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2022 9:20 pm
"My friend," Fang said, putting his fist to his chest and bowing slightly. "My friend, Muri. Yes, good." He smiled, more softly this time, tail wagging gently and sweeping the dandelions behind him. "Fang happy to call you friend."
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