Filled in

Movie Night || Dai Fukou || Closed for Moko

Dai figured it was in his best interest to drop the subject. Moko seemed to be out of explanations, and he understood it as well as he was going to regardless. [REDACTED] She was rambling now… Even more than before. At least when it was about anime, she could stay focused on the message she was trying to convey. “Mangaka Assistant?” He raised a brow. “Sorry, you’re gonna have to explain that one to me. Why is an assistant the Ultimate here? Like… What do you do? Get coffee really well?” Oddly enough his tone has remained entirely casual, it doesn’t sound like an insult in the least despite the words he’s saying. “Because you’re here, and you were just saying kung-fu flicks were bad, and that live-action can’t pull off CGI and magic. Kung Fu Hustle is a fantastic work of art.” Overselling it there bud. “I’ll get us into the auditorium, and get it on the projector. Bring some booze if you want.” I mean… at least he sounds like he’s just planning a nice movie night?

[REDACTED]

She tilted her head inquisitively. It was pretty interesting, for sure, and, well... Moko got the feeling that maybe things would be going smoother along that front, instead, but, she, uh... Eh. It didn’t matter. She let out a yawn as she finished putting away the mess her made before and dusted her hands off.

Before she froze, scowled, and whipped around to look at him. Seriously? Fucking seriously? Dude, you... She huffed and balled her hands into fists again. Why were people like this? Just... so much? She lowered her voice to a frustrated mutter.

“No. I’m not a glorified fucking intern. Don’t be an asshole.”

She stomped once before turning around to grab a volume of a random manga and flipping to a page. She flipped the book around and displayed a page for him to see, pointing to each subtle detail as she went along with her explanation.

“Here. Look at this background. Pretty, right? And this background. And this one. All of those backgrounds? Most likely drawn by an assistant. Now these little dots the provide texture and shading to a specific things? That’s called screen tone and comes in sheets that you glue on and apply manually. And look at this inked black hair here? That’s all done by assistants. Do you know what a mangaka does? Draws the outside of the panels, the sketch and position of the characters, usually inks the line work but not always, then gives the rest of that blank canvas to people like me. Do you have any idea how boring a manga would look without people with my skills? Dull as fuck. This is what I do. I finish things that someone else started and make them even better. And I’m fast.”

She slapped the volume shut and placed it back on the shelf where it belonged.

“Don’t you dare look down on me.”

Moko sucked in a breath and covered her face. She wouldn’t let herself be smacktalked, but she also wondered exactly what line was too far. At the very least she didn’t feel the need to get physical here, but. Well. She dropped her hands, scowl gone.

“Fine. I’ll go. I’ll bring vodka and soda. Invite other people if you want to.”

She would too, but, well... she didn’t really have anyone she’d want to bring.

Movie Night || Dai Fukou || Closed for Moko

“Sorry, unless it was on one of the old arcade machines, I probably didn’t play it really… Rally X had flags… You had to collect them before time ran out…” He’s honestly trying to hold a conversation here, but he’s fully aware that he’s failing. The sudden change in Moko’s demeanor was enough to clue him in on that. [REDACTED] “Anime is just a medium for storytelling, stories are supposed to be relatable, yeah? And that was a joke anyway…” Now he’s feeling all self-conscious, good job Moko. “Yeah… I have no idea what you’re saying anymore. Sounds like Japanese, but pretty sure you’re in another world at this point.” “I… Look, I already have to dress up ridiculously in real life to maintain image, I probably don’t need to start getting into costumes or whatever too.” He pauses a moment. “Actually… You know what? Fuck it.” He turn away from her and stopped perusing DVDs to look through his yes pile for a moment. “Kung Fu Hustle. We’re watching it. Kung Fu flick done right, awesome CGI, good fight scenes… Good enough story. Movie night.”

Rally X? Damn, how old was this guy? This guy. Oh. Names. Aha. Fukou. Dai Fukou. He mentioned it a little moment ago and her brain sort of glossed over it somehow. She was like that, she guessed. Needed to try harder to pay attention.

“No, not that kind of flag. The flags are in the coding, so they’re not physical. Think of it more like points that you can’t see, and if you earn enough points, you can advance to the next scene! Like that. Uh... if that makes sense. Sorry, to be honest I don’t know much more than that. I’ve never coded a game in my life. But, uh... [REDACTED].”

Ah, shit. She needed a decent segue to introduce herself, but there weren’t any proper opportunities that didn’t sound weird and out of place. She chewed on the inside of her cheek. Well, she already failed at appearing to be any sort of normal at this phase in the conversation, what with her relative grumpiness and enthusiastic interest in selective topics, so there was no real saving herself in this conversation. Besides, she was uh. Not really able to be a closeted weeaboo in a place that recognized her weeaboo glory.

“I’m Moko. Ultimate Mangaka Assistant. Uh. Moko’s obviously not my real name, but just call me that. It’s Brittany Smith, technically. Moko’s fine. Ah... that’s a bit too much information for a simple introduction, I guess... Another world. I guess.”

She, too, was feeling self-conscious now. Mmm, well, there were worse responses she could’ve gotten from being in her head the way she often was. It only stung a little bit. She resumed putting cases from the ‘no’ pile into their places.

Unsurprising that the cosplay got turned down, too. That was a little bit too far for most people? Though she perked her head up at the offer of a movie night.

“Huh? Me? Why me? I’m not exactly uh.... The greatest company.”

She swallowed. Was this a set-up or something? Did she press too many buttons? The flicker of anxiety visibly flashed on her face. She wasn’t exactly sure if offering to invite more people would make it better or worse, though.

Movie Night || Dai Fukou || Closed for Moko

“Flags? I’m sorry, is that a reference I’m missing or just… Nevermind, I’m going to assume that’s just how you talk.” “What? Kung fu flicks are great, throw them on in the background, no real story to pay attention to, just bad acting, decent fight scenes, and cheesy sound effects… Typically just enough to distract you from whatever else you’re supposed to be paying attention to.” He shrugs. “And the Godzilla movies are classics.” He glances down at the fist, not a fan of being called a nerd? Was that still an insult? I mean… The guy’s talent is playing a game, he is by definition, a nerd himself. Just not the same kind. “Oh my god… What have I done?” Dai’s widen as she continues going. “Did you breath at all during that? Need to sit down?” “I don’t know. It’s just good. Some kid walks in of the street, beats a yakuza rep player in his first game, and gets pulled into the underground gambling rings? I mean… Hey, relatable, right?” He jokes a bit. “But nah, it’s just a good story in general. I don’t have anything against the manga or anime or whatever, but with the company I keep, reading the manga would seriously harm my image. The live action is just the most accessible, and frankly is the best rendition of the story.” “Yeah, I’m the Ultimate Mahjong Player… At least according to the university.” He gives a small nod in place of a proper bow. “Dai Fukou.” “And yeah… they’re just fashion glasses. Got them custom made to look like the 2 of dots tile.” “No.” That seemed to be an abrupt denial… Huh. Hiding something Dai? Your wardrobe isn’t inspired by an Akagi character is it?

“Flags? You know, like... in video games... when you raise a character’s affection enough to trigger events with them. That kind of thing.”

Moko sweats. Ok. He’s apparently significantly less of a nerd than she jumped to the conclusion of, but flags in video games were a pretty commonly known concept, so... did he just not play video games ever? Her energy level almost immediately drained back down to her previous exhaustion. Uh. Guess this was not the nerd talk she was expecting, so... She tugged on the end of one of her braids in relative silence.

“No, I didn’t mean the movies, I meant... The uh. Nevermind. It doesn’t matter. Though I do think Kaiju and Kung-fu flicks tend to be pretty uninspired and bad... it’s just not always the case. I guess if it’s just for background noise then that’s a fair enough point...”

Action isn’t something you have to pay a whole lot of attention to to digest. It’s just cool kicky flippy punchy and sometimes explosions and car chases or whatever.

“Relatable? So not only do you look like you came straight out of an anime, apparently your life history is one, too? I guess stamp the words ‘Seinen co-protagonist’ on your forehead. You don’t exactly look like the main character, but maybe a mentor or a best friend.”

She thought about that for a long while. Ah. She shouldn’t really be assigning roles to people like that. Yet there she was, doing that again. At the very least she shouldn’t be assigning roles out loud. That kind of thing should be kept to her own internal fantasies that no one cared about but herself.

“I’ll buy that. It’s not like there’s magic that’d need to be transferred into live-action, that’s always the worst part about a live-action rendition. CGI effects are almost always terribly done. But if you’re ever interest in cosplay... I, uh... know someone online who takes commissions, so. I’ve bought from them before. It’s uh. Pretty fun. So... Uh. Well, no, you probably aren’t the cosplay type, I guess. More of a normie.”

Movie Night || Dai Fukou || Closed for Moko

“Ah, my sympathies, that must be hard for you.” He chuckled at the resting bitch-face comment. At least this girl talked back. Didn’t really look like the kind of person to do so either, so it was a fun surprise. Actually… She’s kinda going after him isn’t she? Wait… Did she just- And she couldn’t keep a straight face. Dai let out a loud laugh without intending to, clearing his throat afterwards. “Okay… That was adorable.” Really, he didn’t mean that as an insult, but it would likely be taken as such. He just found this nerdy girl trying to be “hard” endearing. Oh… She was suddenly on a completely different topic. “Oookay. Neeerd.” He holds his hands up in surrender. It seems to be joking more than an insult. “Okay, first off… Rurouni Kenshin is based on an anime?” He picks up the case and examines it for a bit. “I figured it was just a kung-fu samurai movie.” With that, he tosses it into the “no” pile. “At least we can agree that most live-action anime stuff is cringe-worthy and terrible.” He pauses a moment. “Ah fuck it, you showed me your ‘hard’ side, I suppose I’ll return the favor by being a nerd for a moment. Fuck you.” That was… abrupt? “Live-action Akagi is better than the anime, objectively. I’ve seen both, Live-action is actually more true to the manga or the ‘artist’s intentions’ or whatever. The anime tried to sensationalize it, and make it more interesting for a broader audience. The anime cut out entire games because they weren’t interesting enough or something. And I mean… yeah, after Washizu it kinda dies off, but… let it happen, that’s literally one of the biggest points of the series., that in gambling, life, or whatever, you peak at some point, and nothing really ever stands up to it. Doesn’t mean you just stop.” Oh damn! Dai getting deep over here!

“Ahh.... I wasn’t born with it. I developed it after years of-- ha. No. You haven’t triggered enough friendship flags to earn my backstory yet. The secret is in the eyebrows, though.”

She held up her index finger and tapped her eyebrows, thick with a pretty strong downturn to them.. Nerd might be underselling it a little bit. On the exterior she could pass for pretty normal, maybe. Her foreigner features were hard to obscure, but her manner of dress was both trendy and practical. It was just once she opened her mouth, that was out of the window, it seemed.

“??? ????? Your tastes are??? Confusing? I’m sorry?”

First adorable, and then nerd right in a row. She needed to think on that for a moment, before she concluded that ‘adorable’ was likely intended as a sarcastic insult, as well. Like ‘ aw you’re so cute you look like you could snap in half when punched’ kind of adorable. She clenched her fist and held it at her side, ready to deploy her defense mechanism if she felt like she needed to. She was just having a very, very hard time reading exactly what he meant with his words so she’d hold off a little.

She wasn’t even sure if she should be insulted by him putting Rurouni Kenshin back since it was originally an anime or pleased that he listened to her opinion. She was leaning to the latter, and felt rather relieves when he openly agreed.

“... Oh?”

She raised her eyebrows and leaned in, her posture brightening up noticeably.

“I’ve never watched the live action of it. I usually just throw them out because of how much they ruin the original aura of a series after I’d seen enough live action adaptations. I always thought the Akagi anime was one of the lesser adaptations, and I know cutting and changing content in shows became less of a trend later on, like in the 2010s anime era, with the exception of video game adaptations. The Akagi manga was fascinating. It’s an underappreciated series, in my honest opinion. Why do you think the live action is good, then? I’m curious. I can’t input a direct opinion on that myself. You’re the Mah-jong guy in my class, right? I don’t remember your name, but that fact just hit me. Your glasses... are they supposed to be tiles? Are they fashion glasses? Are they prescription? Have you done any cosplays?!”

The can has been opened.

#prologue #dai

Movie Night || Dai Fukou || Closed for Moko

Dai noted the girl approaching, she seemed notably upset… Which was fair, he was fully aware he wasn’t exactly being courteous or respectful, but he failed to understand how it became her problem. He continued going through videos as she continued replacing them for a few moments before. “So… someone piss in your cheerios this morning, or what? You know you don’t gotta do that. This library has employees, and seeing as you were in my orientation group, you probably aren’t one of them. You the ultimate librarian or something?” He shrugged, and continued. If this was how she wanted to spend her time, good for her, but that wouldn’t necessarily influence him, he just continued adding movies to the piles. His “yes” pile primarily consisted of Godzilla movies, and Kung-Fu flicks. He had grabbed the live action Akagi series, and the live action Rurouni Kenshin movie, but those were the only anime related things in his “yes” pile.

Click. Click. Click. The sound of plastic hitting metal was rhythmic and familiar. If Dai hadn’t opened his damn mouth to speak, she could have gotten into a groove and totally forgotten about the slight, but, you know. Talking in libraries is apparently incredibly normal, if that’s one thing she learned from her year so far. At least the first time she held a conversation in the library, it was about the damn books. She sucked in a breath. Nah. She wouldn’t even have been that mad were this any other place on campus and had he not addressed her so... rudely. Gosh. She frowned.

“No, my face is just always like this. I’ve been told I have resting bitch face disease, don’t take it personally.” Click. “And no, but it is book-related. You just already passed up my section.” Click. “Rather, I just think libraries are sacred.” Click. “And books as a whole are wonderful.” Click. “But it is really, really really really easy to just put the movie back where you got it from if you’re not taking it, so this goes a bit beyond just being lazy, don’t you think? You’re entirely going out of your way to make this harder on the librarians, when you could just leave it on the shelf. Did someone piss in your cereal?”

... Oh my god, now that, she couldn’t say with the straight face. She covered her mouth to hide the smallest fraction of a grin and muffled her snickering. How on earth did he just say that without batting an eyelash? There’s some really creative insults going around these days, huh?

She paused a moment from putting things back as a title flashed in her sight going into the ‘yes’ pile. Really? Huh?

“Akagi? Rurouni Kenshin? Why live action? Don’t you think that takes away from the original flavor of the series? Admittedly, Akagi’s original art is, uh.... stylistic leaning on the edge of fugly, but taking something animated and making it live action is a lowbrow marketing tactic to bring normies into the scene and sell more merchandise. It just takes so much away from the imaginations that brought it into being. Sure it means more money, but that betrays the artist’s intentions, so it’s just a cheap sell-out that doesn’t even look good.”

.... Oh. Comin’ on a bit strong there, huh? Not one to start the conversations, maybe, but she had plenty to say once it was started.

#prologue #dai

Movie Night || Dai Fukou || Closed for Moko

The library… Not really someplace Dai intended to frequent. He was honestly a bit in awe of how big it was… So many references and resources… He doubted he’d ever touch any of it… Though he wasn’t above taking something if it looked interesting… And besides, a lot of libraries carried a movie section… Surely not all of them would be horribly boring documentaries right? It took a little asking around, but eventually he found himself in front of a shelf covered with Blu-Rays. They seemed to lump a lot of the more entertaining stuff in one place. DVDs, Blu-Rays, Manga, and Magazines. He might actually visit the library fairly often… It was cheaper than Netflix. The man began perusing the movies, starting at one end, and working his way down… His system for picking a movie seemed unnecessarily disruptive. He pulled the case from the shelf, looked it over, and rather than returning it to its proper place, tossed it to the side. He continued doing this down the shelf, forming two piles, though one was rather small compared to the other… It seemed he was separating movies he was interested in from the others… Dai, this isn’t how you library.

There were... things in this library. A lot of things. Despite having spent time there every day since she arrived so far, she hadn’t seen all of it. It was arguable if she ever would, if every single book counted... Ah. That kind of sounded like a fantasy dream: read every single book available in this library. She’d never catch up, nor would she have enough time due to work.

She ended up in the manga section again, despite her appreciation for all mediums of book. There was no way she could get to the other books if she didn’t follow her weeby dreams and tackle the manga section first and foremost, and, well... she had already gone through a sizable amount of volumes at this point. It wasn’t like class had started, and she asked for the days off of work, so... hell, she could use the time to catch up on things.

Heaven. Absolutely heavenly. Ehehehe....

Her appreciation was interrupted by the sound of clacking as movie cases were clacked onto surfaces nearby. She turned her head to the source and used every muscle in her face to frown. What a moron. Sure, Moko wasn’t cleanly or anything, but the also was... like, a library. This place is sacred.

With an audible huff, she set the volume in her hands back on the shelf and examined the two piles. she.... was going to assume the larger pile was the ‘no’ pile, so she quietly picked up the cases and slid them back into their places, making her judgement of Dai’s actions more of a visual than actually said out loud.

#ooc