'Thank you for being born. Thank you for being by my side.'
Dear Myself EP.29 The first Deep Talk of "First Kanaphan" and "Khaotang Thanawat" with 7 years of friendship that has gone through both excitement. The day the fans' voice came to cheer up. The day when life was broken. The lesson from the word "Never mind" This is a conversation that has never been said anywhere. Through important photos and messages from the heart that both of them really have for each other
'Tis a date, Severino. Hopefully my Ulfberht and meteor hammer pleases you - may it pique your interest enough I won't have to threaten your character to keep your attention... but do not doubt me. I certainly will do all it takes for our swords to meet and a winner to be named.
To the mercy, or to the death -- whichever is chosen.
Until then, Ser.
- 🧸
Certainly, Ser, you propose an interesting challenge. I will await it with joy and patience. Always good to learn from more fighters, aye? Until then.
i keep seeing dhmis related posts on my dash you’re getting to me </3
I'm actually not the biggest fan of Don't Hug Me I'm scared! So, I'm not too sure where those are coming from? But good luck with that... Some things just never leave the dash..😅
Frida learned from the VIP elderly ladies who frequent the Battle Nexus. These elderly women taught Frida that knowing mahjong will introduce her to many people and create connections beneficial to Big Mama. One of them even met one of Big Mama’s patrons through mahjong, who then introduced her to the Battle Nexus!
I’d like to think Frida invited Casey Jr to play, despite being too young to understand. But F!Leo was there to help Jr :)
Word Count: 1.7k+
Fi sets up the table, a rickety old pile of planks lined on top of a tipped-over shopping cart, after shuffling the tiles. She aligns the tiles in a long two-tiles-high line, stopping at the eighteenth before creating the next line of tiles. She notices Jr’s eyes wide with wonder, a small hand reaching for a tile too far as he grunts in a little voice.
Fi leans over to hand him a random tile, to which he flips over to show her a red flower with the little number one on it. He waves it in the air and asks, “What is it? What’s it say?”
Fi answers shortly, “One.”
Junior raises a brow then waves the tile with much more force, nearly swinging his body off his makeshift chair—a wooden crate. His voice comes out in a growing whine as he corrects, “No! Tita Fi! What’s it say?!”
Fi look at it again, searching in her brain for the answer. She’s not fluent but she remembers the elders reminding her time and time again of the characters on the tiles. She needed to remember them in order to play, after all, the rewards they gifted were beneficial at the time.
“Spring,” she answers, pushing more tiles closer to her reach as she finishes the wall.
Junior lowers the tile to his face, staring so close that his eyes cross. “Is there a two?”
Fi shifts the wall she finished to start the foundation for the game as she answers, “Yes.”
She begins grabbing more tiles, stacking them and lining them to make the next wall. She ignores Junior’s expectant eyes, but waits for his next question.
The one thing she learned from Junior is that children are filled to the brim with questions about the world. Michelangelo often referred to them as sponges, but they’re more like parasites in Fi’s eyes. Leeching off those around them to grow larger and larger until they move to their next target… Michelangelo would disapprove of this idea if she ever corrected him on the sponge idea. She should keep it to herself.
Junior’s hand raises, the tile missing from his palm as he asks, “What’s the two?”
She answers stoutly, “Summer.”
Junior’s brows furrow before rummages through his pocket and slams the tile on the table. “Why not the flower?”
Fi hums in response, ignoring the glare the boy locks on her. When she shifts the third wall of tiles, she realizes his face won’t relax until she answers him. So she responds, “Because the flowers represent the seasons.”
“The seasons?”
Fi nods as she begins making the final wall of tiles, “Yes.”
“What seasons?”
Fi raises a brow at that. She remembers vividly the Computer teaching the boy about the weather, including the seasons and how the weather shifts according to the seasons that pass. But she answers regardless, the boy asked a question so she must answer him. “Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.”
“Oh! I know the seasons!”
She nods, pushing tiles closer to her one final time as she finishes the wall. “Indeed you do.”
“Why are there seasons in ‘jong?”
Fi shifts the final wall to the foundation, completing the square in the center of the table. “It’s mahjong.”
“Mah-jong,” Junior repeats, standing on his chair for a better look.
“It is part of the flower tiles,” Fi answers, rolling her dice in the center of the foundation. She counts out loud for the boy the number that she rolled before creating the flower pile. She gestures to the pile and says, “The more flowers you obtain, the more tiles you get from this end.”
“Why do I need the flowers?” He asks, reaching for the flower pile.
Fi looks up in time to see Leonardo slide into the room, silent and quick as ever. The slider swoops in, taking the boy’s seat as he scoops him into his arms in a single movement. The boy, caught completely unawares, releases a high-pitched squeal and bursts into a fit of giggles when Leonardo hangs the boy upside-down by the ankle.
“So you can make more money!” Leonardo answers the boy’s question with a full smile, laughing lightly at the boy hanging in his grip.
Fi ignores Leonardo as she divides the tiles from the foundation into her and Junior’s hand of tiles. “Good evening, Blue One,” she greets the slider, expertly divvying up the tiles with a swiftness and flipping her hand in one attempt.
Leonardo places Junior on his lap and copies her, almost fumbling the tile flip but saving it with the expertise of the renowned face-man. He winces mockingly as rearranges Junior’s tiles, “Aw, come on, FiFi, ‘Blue One?’ How long are you gonna call me that? You know my name—you call Mikey ‘Michelangelo’.”
Junior pokes at his tiles, distracted by their color and array of Chinese characters.
Fi flips over her flower tiles: two green dragons and one spring flower. She watches as Leonardo hands Junior each of his own flower tiles, a total of seven, and lets the young boy flip them over.
“You are the Blue One among your kin. I don’t see a problem with calling you as you are,” Fi answers coldly, watching as Leonardo lifts the boy over the table to grab seven tiles from the flower pile.
Leonardo frowns as he places Junior on his lap after the tiles are picked up and organized the tiles for him again. “Maybe I should demote you, huh, Masky?”
Fi organizes her own tiles, taking note of the pieces she has. “My answer remains the same, Blue One,” then she looks at Junior to answer his forgotten question, “I’ve been told that the flowers represent the long, spinal fin of the dragon.”
Junior’s eyes widen, sparkling with interest as he jumps to his feet, balancing on Leonardo’s thigh. “Dragon?!”
Fi nods, “Yes, Little One. The purpose of this game is to create a dragon. You create the body and the eyes, using your tiles to call mahjong.”
Leonardo raises a brow, making a light joke, “Why not a turtle?”
“Because turtles are often underappreciated,” Fi answers.
Junior gasps, “Can I make a turtle?”
Fi pauses. How can she make it so the boy is making a dragon instead of a turtle…?
She raises a flower tile, staring at spring, then at the boy’s flower tiles. Then the idea comes.
“Then instead of the fin, these will be the shell of the turtle. You will still make the body and eyes of the turtle.”
Leonardo smiles, poking Junior’s sides as he teases, “You need to get more flower tiles to protect the turtle, Junior!”
Junior immediately starts reaching for the foundation, little hands making grabbing motions as Leonardo holds him back.
Fi shakes her head, “No, Little One. We take turns picking tiles, you wait for the other party to make their move. And slowly, you build your turtle.”
Leonardo picks Junior’s first tile, letting the boy stare at his tiles.
But Fi’s focus shifts to Leonardo. She was meant to watch over Junior because everyone else was busy preparing for an ambush. Leonardo is the leader of the Resistance. Why is he here instead of the meeting?
“I thought you were busy,” Fi says softly, immediately picking her tile from the foundation after Leonardo discarded Junior’s tile. She immediately adds it to her hand to make a pair and discards a tile.
Leonardo helps Junior on the boy’s turn, he glances at Fi before discarding a useless tile to the center. “There was something I wanted to ask you.”
Fi raises a brow and picks up a tile before throwing it back in the center, deciding it’s not worth keeping. “And that is?”
Leonardo picks up a tile that makes Junior’s eyes widen. The boy points excitedly as he explains, “Uncle Lee! That one!”
Leonardo nods and discards a different tile for the boy. His smile doesn’t reach his eyes when he answers, “It’s about the—,” he stops when he realizes Junior is watching him with the happiest smile. He smiles back at the boy and ruffles the boy’s hair, “The mission.”
Fi picks up the tile Leonardo discarded and adds it to her hand. She stares at her hand for a moment, thinking over how to phrase her words that won’t capture the boy’s attention. “And how does that concern me, Blue One? I’m busy watching Casey’s boy.”
Junior’s head perks up, “My mom? What about my mom? Is she coming back?”
Fi discards a tile and answers, “No, Little One.” She raises a brow at Leonardo and asks, “Did it backfire like I said it would?”
Leonardo scoffs as he picks a new pile and discards from Junior’s hand, “No. But something’s come up, and it’s got your name on it.”
Fi pauses mid-reach for a new tile, her hand hovering over the table and the game’s foundation. Leonardo hardly reaches out for her in this way. And it’s usually for something the Hamatos themselves refuse to do themselves. Their morals wouldn’t allow it. But having been raised under Big Mama’s care, she hardly has any left over.
She sighs. She picks a new tile to find a white dragon tile and discards it among her other flowers, flipping it face up. Her finger lingers on the engraved surface, thinking over what it could be. She picks up a tile from the flower pile to find a character tile. Four…
Fi discards the ‘four’ tile to the center of the foundation, her finger lingering on the tile to look Leonardo in the eyes. “How soon do I leave?”
Leonardo picks up the tile she discarded and flips two other tiles to reveal a pair that matches said tile. He pats Junior on the head as he calls the matchup, “Pong.”
Fi narrows her eyes and repeats, “How soon do I leave?”
Leonardo picks a tile and discards another, he uses Junior’s hand to wave at Fi as he answers, “Immediately.”
Fi rises from her seat and takes the tile Leonardo discarded to flip her matching pair, a three-of-a-kind set of four-circle tiles. “I expect my reward once I return,” she demands coldly, then takes a step forward to pat Junior’s head.
“I have to go, Little One. I’m sorry I can’t finish the game with you,” Fi apologizes and turns on her heel before Junior can respond. “Send me the information, Blue One. I’m leaving.”
As Fi leaves, she hears Leonardo call after her, “Pong! And mahjong! Junior’s a winner!”
