moonblades | week 1 curfew

[ He feels like he's a mom chaperoning two teenagers on a date...

Anyway.

As Noah and Mio get settled, Kurapika is busy picking through the films on hand, his brows furrowing more and more with each title he flips through. ]

Hm. I've never heard of any of these films.

[THEY ARE...THE SAME AGE?? bruh.

Mio isn't sure they originally intended to have someone else come along to the theater with them, so Kurapika joining them for a showing ended up being more like a happy accident for her. The more the merrier! It's a little late to be eating, but the food from the concession stand just smells so good... and that's how she came to have a footlong churro and no shortage of savory snacks piled up by their seats.]

They'll be new to all of us, then. I should have asked Sora for more recommendations... he might have had a better idea of what we might enjoy. I trust your judgment, though.

[I will make this Kurapika's fault.]

Kurapika is the knowledgeable sort. We can trust his choice.

[Surely this man/teenager would not put them through Brokeback Mountain. Surely not. Settled into his seat, Noah is content to take the occasional bite of whatever snacks Mio has gathered in preparation for the film.

Noah glances over at Kurapika.]

So, which did you choose?

[ He sighs. ]

I really don't know what I'm picking, you know.

[ Which is why he picks the next film that his fingers land on, holding up the case to the other two. ]

Let's do this. It looks like it might be about camping or farming.

[ How topical! ]

That sounds appropriate. We've done our share of the former, and we're probably going to end up doing some of the latter if we want to have fresh food.

I was a little distracted the last time I was in here... I'm looking forward to watching one of these from beginning to start.

[She pulls her legs up onto the cushion with her, laying out a piece of paper - clearly overly cute stationery from the Jojamart - on her knees.] You can start whenever; don't mind me.

[Oh? Is Mio going to take notes, perhaps? Noah smiles to himself before turning back to Kurapika.]

Shall we? I'm sure we'll learn a lot.

[Time to learn about homophobia!]

[ Notes, huh? She's really serious about learning, isn't she?

Well, it's like Kurapika's nerdy ass can judge her for that at all. ]

Let's hope so. Don't be too surprised if it ends up being about the drama of farming over any actual techniques, though. Films tend to be more about drama over anything else.

[ So don't get your expectations up where they shouldn't be...

Without another word, Kurapika gets up and fiddles with the equipment. Before long, the movie starts to roll on the big screen. ]

Edited (BECAUSE NOAH CAN'T OPERATE A DVD PLAYER) 2024-03-08 21:16 (UTC)

[Mio idly writes a few lines even before the opening credits are lining up and the film itself begins mostly in silence.

Her ears swivel in response to dialogue from the speakers, straining to pick meaning out of it. The landscapes aren't entirely foreign - greenery and dirt and a blue sky with clouds that look like small tufts of fur - but the strange technology and the way people dress and speak and act might as well make it set on an alien planet.]

I guess you were right about camping. They're all alone. [It's more familiar than a plush bed in a farmhouse might ever be to her. She writes a little bit more.]

[Ah... Their accents are a bit hard on the ears, but Noah is more or less following the plot so far. Two men alone out in the wilderness? That's not a hard scene to imagine.

Every now and then, Noah steals a glance at what Mio is jotting down on her paper.]

I guess camping is a universal thing.

[And sharing a tent? Also normal! Except, um.]

...Are they arguing? Fighting?

[No. They are, in fact, rucking on that very dimly lit screen.]

[ It's been a very long time since he's felt embarrassment, but he sure can feel it burning right through him right now. Kurapika bites back a sigh. While he could pick apart the tension between the two main characters right from the beginning, he thought it would develop into friendship rather than... this.

Hopefully Kurapika's the victim this week. ]

They were. Not anymore, it seems.

[Mio doesn't know what they're doing, but she's starting to get a sense for the why of it.]

They're struggling to voice their true feelings, aren't they? Those emotions they've started to develop aren't so easily put into words. So it led to this.

[She's stopped writing, but the layout of the page will be recognizable to Noah, even if maybe he shouldn't look long enough to read it because that's rude???? ~~Also he might be distracted by the screen.~~ A line of several diamonds blocks out the top of the stationery page; several of them have been struck through. Beneath that the day is listed, then some lines in Mio's handwriting. Kurapika will see this layout if he looks, too, and he might be wanting to look anywhere by the screen.]

...

[But are they really fighting? Something about that explanation doesn't fully fit the scenario. Noah is right on the cusp of an important discovery, but..........]

Right. Something like that. It seems complicated, much like the relationship between the busy businesswoman and the farmer from the last movie.

[But that was a different sort of relationship. The busy businesswoman and the homely farmer kissed at the end. This is more like—]

Kurapika. What exactly were they doing?

[ Why why why. He'd rather be on a boat with a different death game than right here. ]

Having sex.

[Mio's starting to sense that this is even more uncomfortable than her perception's led her to believe, not just something culminating from the two men's failure to express their feelings but something, maybe, that she shouldn't be watching right now.

So she's acutely aware of Kurapika's growing discomfort, too, and she steers herself away from the too-obvious, clearly uninformed questions that she wants to ask first. Her curiosity can't stop her from settling for another probe for information, however.]

Is it always like that?

[turning to pika, vaguely panicked,]

Is isn't always like that, is it? Kurapika?

[Please tell him it's not???]

[ Is it too late to go back and not show up at the theater? To pick another movie? He wonders if they would be mad if he turned it off. ]

I wouldn't know. Probably not.

[What's got Noah so concerned? She's still trying to to wrap her mind around everything. But there's one thing she's sure of. Because Mio isn't so deep into her own head that it's up her arse, she can definitely tell that Kurapika's on edge now.]

Right. I'll drop it, then. [All her basic, ignorant questions unasked...but that's for the best. Just wait until there's a baby on screen and she'll be controlling the line of questioning again.]

[There's nothing for it, is there? They're going to have to spend the rest of the movie in agonized silence, because even if Mio isn't picking up what they're putting down, she can most certainly feel their concentrated manpain.

Noah remains silent, glancing between the screen and the floor, until the unfamiliar squalling of babies hits his ears.]

Are those...? They look like tiny people.

[ Now that? That's an easy question. A much, much better question. ]

They are. They're known as babies where I'm from. They'll grow and mature into an adult over a span of two decades.

They're so little. [The awe Mio feels is slightly tempered by the fact that said babies on screen are wailing at the top of their lungs, yet she still watches them like they're some kind of marvel.

She presses a hand gently to her breastbone as if suppressing a pang she didn't anticipate. Two decades...]

I wonder what it'd be like to hold one.

[Noah's curious mind would really like to know how babby is formed, but the wonder on Mio's face is distracting enough to whisk that thought away. Consider yourself lucky, Kurapika.]

They're quite cute. A bit noisy, but certainly charming. Do you have any babies, Kurapika?

you know what this is

I don't have children, no.

[ He will consider himself very lucky, thanks. ]

They're soft and warm. It's like holding a little bundle of life in your arms. [ ... ] It's the kind of warmth that fills your chest. It's hard to explain, but they're nice to hold.

[She's positively lighting up as Kurapika describes it; Mio doesn't need to say anything for it to be apparent on her face that she's imagining what it would be like to experience something like that.]

Maybe one day you will if that's what you want. [ Getting one's hands on a baby can't be too difficult. Despite the joyful experience Kurapika described and the one that she's imagining, Mio doesn't feel like their subject matter shares the joy.] But they don't really seem happy together. I suppose they really shouldn't be together.

[The baby is cute, but Noah can only imagine that all that crying is a sign of discontent. Poor thing... but what Mio says has Noah wondering if there may be some connection between unhappy babies and the unhappy people who care for them.]

No, they shouldn't. Those two men... Their relationship is fraught, but they seem to have some sort of genuine connection that they don't with those two ladies.

You're both right. They shouldn't be together because they're unhappy.

[ And take that as a lesson, you two. Don't be with anyone who doesn't make you happy! Another fun lesson from Kurapika, who has no experience with relationships.

He turns his gaze towards Noah. ]

It's incompatibility due to their sexuality. On a base level, they aren't attracted to the women they're with.

[When do we get Kurapika telling us it's "human nature," hm? Mio nods.] It makes perfect sense that someone would feel that way only for certain people.

[She's not avoiding looking at the screen so much as she's avoiding looking at the faces of other people in the room, only stealing a couple of long-sided glances that she quickly retracts.] At the very least, wanting something you'll never be able to have... I understand that much.

week 1 curfew

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1/???

jk i'm done

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:3

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