#Punk Ikebana

[fashionbooksmilano]

Punk Ikebana

Reimagining the Art of Floral Design

Louesa Roebuck

Foreword by Obi Kaufmann  Photographs by Ian Hughes

Harry N. Abrams, New York 2022, 256 pages, 24.38 x  32.26 cm, Hardcover,  ISBN  9781951836641

euro 56,00

email if you want to buy booksinprogressmilano@yahoo.it

Floral designer Louesa Roebuck shows you how to make transcendent eco-luxe compositions with seasonal flora foraged from the West Coast

"The way of the flowers” has been studied for centuries, but as acclaimed author, artist, and floral designer Louesa Roebuck demonstrates, one needs to understand the rules in order to bend them. In Punk Ikebana, Louesa composes stunning arrangements and installations that unite the cultural traditions and elegance of Japanese perspective with exhilarating freedom from convention. Working with seasonally foraged, gleaned, and sourced flora from various regions of California, Louesa reveals how cinematic floral sculptures can be created by embracing the abundance right outside your door. Inviting nature’s often-overlooked treasures into your space means improvising in a moment of time, in a particular place. Exuberant compositions are created with what is on hand, establishing a harmonious dialogue with the flora, space, color, vessels, and textiles readily available. Aligning her deep commitment to the environment with her love of foraging, gleaning, and sourcing regionally, Louesa inspires you to cultivate your own vision and invite the wonders of the natural world into your home.

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04/02/22

[liecomj]

Girlz + Sora kekw Please consider to support me on Patreon <3

[hyperforcereignition]

OC Evolution is... funny.

So, once again I found Mila’s old Picrew ref and... boy, did she change a LOT from this.

Course if we wanna go even further back, there was when she was a twin OC back when I was 11 and in recent years, it’s been fun going back to OC’s, I used to have and revitalize them into well... proper characters. Which is how she got her start, down to changing her name from Melody to Mila because it suited her better.

First we had this, where she was more soft spoken, still had some of her punk origin with the ear piercings... This was in 2020, when I was trying to and initially could not get a beat for the kind of story I wanted to tell. I had ideas... boy did I have a LOT of ideas. She was honestly more of a girly girl and while goth, was more gothic lolita... and than I realized, that didn’t really work with her profession and it didn’t suit her. I also wanted to do other things with her but talked myself out of it...

Then came 2022, when Aileen visited and we binged season one of SRMTHFG and she kicked me to give writing a fict for it a try and I wanted Mila along for the ride again.

And that’s how we got THIS version of her.  This is where her real personality, started to come through. She was no nonsense, still knew how to have fun, but she also had that gentleness to her still... at this point I was using a base and decided...

This ain’t her. Because once again her personality made the deciding factor and after awhile of writing ReIgnition, THIS wasn’t it.

Thus, we get to this.

Embraced her gothic side, with declaring she was never going to fully outgrow it. Brought back the piercings. Probably had too much fun picking outfits for her, buuut that’s the fun of vroid studio. This is, what I can confidently say is her.

Mila is a no-nonsense, snarky, fiery young woman who doesn’t put up with crap from anyone and I mean ANYONE. Passionate for her job as a florist and working hard to upkeep her parents legacy, she runs Hanamura’s Botanicals with an iron fist. She’s skilled with flower language, ikebana, basically if it involves plants, it’s in her wheelhouse. 

A former singer, who’s band Cosmic Void disbanded after a certain incident on Shuggazoom, she still practices and plays guitar in private but it’s a hobby now. She’s never sure if she’ll ever get to perform again, but she still uses her vocal training... Sometimes to others’ chagrin. (She can belt out a death metal scream, that’d wake the dead)

She takes care of the family home and makes sure Chiro has a place to always return to. She’s had a hard time finding the balance between being “Big sister” and “Mom” and she’ll be the first to tell anyone who asks, that she has one kid already. It wasn’t easy, none of it ever was, but she has no regrets...

Well, except maybe letting him go out on a certain fateful day to the outskirts of the city...

It’s kinda funny how figuring her out, also helped in figuring out what kind of story ReIgnition was going to be, as while she’s a main driving force... she’s not the main character. That, belongs to Chiro. Mila is just along for the ride, albeit mostly against her better judgement or outright determination to get involved. 

So yeah, just my rambles about my girl and what went into figuring out what I wanted her to be.  

Honestly, I just like to think that my childhood self would be happy to see where I’ve gone with that first OC.

[zappak]

Vital Weekly reviewed latest three releases on zappak.

Takashi Masubuchi & Yosuke Morone – Particles and Waves Kaori Komura & Yutaka Hirose – Diastrophism Dance p.o.p. (psychology of perception) – Alien Stewardess

The Japanese Zappak label is always surprising, with music on the fringe of improvisation, sound art, and conceptual art, plus it usually introduces new names. New names such as Yosuke Morone, who plays electronics and prepared sounds in duet with Takashi Masubuchi on acoustic guitar. I know him from various releases on Ftarri, which is also the location where they played on January 28, 2023, and it’s the first time they played together. Radical music is a perfect example of what the label stands for. Two pieces on this CD are named after their duration, ‘[34:18]’ and ‘[33:02]’. The first opens with a high-frequency sine wave sound, which is piercingly loud (and I can’t imagine what it sounds like to someone thirty years younger than me), and the guitar plays individual notes, very quiet and sparse. Think Taku Sugimoto but with a backing of sine waves. Slowly, these sine waves (created with function generators) alter in white noise and, towards the end of this piece, intense bass sounds. The high piercing tones don’t return in the second piece, in which Morone’s contribution is quite different. More like obscured tape hiss, being slowly amplified. In both pieces, there is a gradual build-up towards something much louder (but not noisy). There isn’t much interaction between both players, but that’s the idea of the music here: no responding to each other. The guitar sounds clean, while the electronics are deliberately vague and strange. This works better in the second piece than in the first piece.

The name Kaori Komura popped up in Vital Weekly 1393 when she worked with Kazumoto Endo on a track for a compilation, and she plays Korean percussion instruments. In the 1980s, she was a hardcore punk band GISM member. Yutaka Hirose is a tuba player from Tokyo. He’s also “a member of some bands and ensembles such as “tail”, “Zayaendo”, “Aosaba” and “Itsuki-Hirose”. This CD shows a more traditional side of Zappak’s interest in improvised music. The two pieces were recorded a year ago at Permian in Tokyo. Both instruments sound the way they are supposed to, even when I haven’t got a particular notion about the percussion; it sounds percussion, drum, and cymbal-like. I think their music is all about interaction, and they cleverly play with the notion of loud versus quiet. Sometimes, they are both quiet or loud and sometimes, there is that distinction. In ‘Roaring Pulse’, Komura plays an ongoing rhythm at various points, which you do not often see in improvised music. It’s something I somehow enjoy, maybe as something to hang to in what otherwise may come across as slightly more chaotic. At just under an hour long, this is quite a ride, perhaps better enjoyed with one piece at a time. Let this be my choice of improvised music for this week.

And lastly, p.o.p. (psychology of perception) is preferred in lowercase; I am not sure why you would write between brackets what p.o.p. stands for. Why not use one or the other but not both simultaneously? This is the CD that is not by Japanese musicians, and also to have more than two pieces of music, and is a double CD. I reviewed their ‘Tabriz’ CD in Vital Weekly 888 when p.o.p. was a duo of Reinhold Friedl (piano) and Hannes Strobl (electric bass). With their second release, ‘Ikebana’ (not reviewed in Vital Weekly), they were a quartet, adding Nara Krahl (cello) and Elena Kakaliagou (French horn). The information says, “Alien Stewardess”, concentrates on the question: What do the musicians’ bodies know? Four individual musicians, each with his/her own sound and body memory, create a network of interferences and thus a multiplication of the sonic-kinetic perspectives: sensual, three-dimensional, and organic. Let yourself be guided by the alien stewardess in and out of time and space! Enjoy the journey…” This is the sort of text that is too cryptic for me. It reads well, but what does it mean? As with the previous Zappak release, this is all very nicely improvised, albeit of a much different kind, but two discs spanning some 150 minutes of music is a bit much. In their common approach, they like their sounds to be close together, like an acoustic (almost, that is) drone, out of which small sounds pop (pun intended) up. Because their pieces are long, twenty to thirty minutes (except the first ten minutes), playing this music must sometimes be an endurance test, with full-on concentration. Each piece is like a massive and dense cloud; if you look closely, you’ll see the more minor changes. Maybe there is some chaos, too; if you listen closely, it seems as if not much of this makes much sense, and at the same time, there is that tranquil feeling, almost spacious music. Maybe it’s not strange to think of this music as a fruitful meeting of improvisation and modern composition. Great release, but very long. (Reviewed by Frans de Waard)

[skywingknights]

"Anything, But" by Rena Redhead (For RobStar Week 2021)

For @robxstar 's RobStar Week 2021. I decided to revitalize an old, unpublished piece for Day 7's prompt "Together". Previously did “Ikebana” for Day 1, “Pretty” for Day 3, and "Slow Dancin'" for Day 6, all with their intros posted on my tumblr. All 4 stories will have writing insights on my blog on my website (www.skywingknights.com) hopefully soon too! ("Ikebana"'s is already up! :D) .

So sad that the week is over. Was really happy to have caught word of it early this year so as to prep a bit and be able to participate. Major thanks to robxstar for putting this together - was a REALLY welcome break from my chaotic life.

Took a bit of a different approach with this last prompt. So get ready for feels. Ultimately, I really hope you like it. I think it's my favorite of the 4 I've posted. There's also a little bit of BBRae in there for those of you who enjoy that ship too. ;) Much love and looking forward to RobStar Week 2022!

Later,

~Rena

-DC-

Anything, But

Her favorite memory wasn't really one moment. It was a collage of moments. All strung together. Of him. Smiling. He had the most genuine smile. And when he smiled at her, when they were together... she knew.

She knew he was her home.

That's why, when he said good bye, it hurt.

It hurt so much...

-DC-

It hadn't occurred to him that he'd be stopping a gang war that night. Nor had it occurred to him that it would be on his way to New York City and on the outskirts of Gotham. Furthermore, it hadn't occurred to him that he would end up fighting alongside one of his hottest friends this side of the planet.

Red Hood couldn't be happier.

Or more trigger happy.

"Nice of you to show up, Star!" He called up to his alien friend, who seemed intent on blasting every gun into a melted mass of indiscernible material.

"I am surprised you showed up at all," She said, her voice abnormally monotoned.

He momentarily raised an eyebrow before finding himself dodging an attacker with a knife in hand.

"That was rude!" He yelled, kicking the knife out of the thug's hand and smashing the back of his heel into the guy's face.

He half expected Starfire to correct him. Saying that if anything, he was being the rather 'rude' one. But there was nothing. Just silence from her as she continued to focus on the task at hand and blast away.

Shrugging off the indifference, he picked the guy up and shoved him into another one of the no-good punks coming at him. He always found it amusing how he would call these kinds of criminals 'thugs' or 'punks' when he was pretty sure that's what Tim and Dick would call him 99% of the time. They needed to lighten up a little. In fact, everyone here did. Jumping up onto a crate, Red Hood let loose a couple rounds.

"So what brings you out this way?" He asked.

Starfire said nothing and Red Hood groaned in annoyance at their attackers before jumping off the crate and knocking out a few guns from the hands of several more goons.

"Hey, I'm talking to you, gorgeous!" He specified, noticing she hadn't replied, possibly not noticing he was talking to her, and trying to get a light hearted answer out of her.

Looking at him quickly before letting loose a couple starblasts from her eyes, it appeared he was right as Starfire seemed to just now realize he had been talking to her, "Cyborg asked me to check in on this place on the way back from San Francisco."

Red Hood kneed a guy in the jaw before replying, "Coming back from the West Tower?"

"Yes..." Starfire told him, "It was just an errand, dropping off some of Beast Boy's things."

"Can't Raven teleport him there to get it himself?"

"He did not," She punched a guy jumping up towards her into the ground hard and continued, "Want to ask her."

"Geez, are they fighting again?" He said, dodging another round of bullets.

"No, I..." She replied, "I do not know what is going on."

Red Hood kicked a trash can over and down in front of him, sending garbage flying into the air long enough to create a distraction to get to the three that were wielding the machine guns that had just entered the fray.

"You okay?" He called up.

"I am fine," She said. But her tone was blank, without any hint of joy, which he was so accustomed to hearing in her voice. It seemed eerily unnatural to him.

Red Hood pulled the triggers on his two hand guns and effectively disabled several of the machine guns.

"You don't seem fine," He said, rolling over, "Something happen?"

Starfire continued to focus on the targets in front of her. But her eyes seemed to be glassed over, like her mind was off somewhere else...

-DC-

The story continues! Read the full story here:

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13922358/1/Anything-But

[mythcsborn-a]

MEET THE MUSE.

BASICS

NAME: annarose melanie orchard. NICKNAME(S): anna, rosie. ALIAS(ES): none. AGE: twenty-four. BIRTHDATE: second of april, 1994. BIRTHPLACE: most likely somewhere on olympus / officially north country hospital in newport, vermont, usa. GENDER: cis female. ORIENTATION: pansexual. SPECIES: demigod, greek side. OCCUPATION:  owner of greenhouse-flower shop persephone’s garden / ex-head of cabin four in camp half blood / owner of a “safehouse for demigods and mythical beings”, as some called it. SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS: middle class / inherited a large sum of money at her grandmother’s death a couple years ago. CURRENT RESIDENCE: somewhere near ringwood, new jersey.

FAMILY

PARENTS: hunter orchard, estranged father / demeter, goddess of agriculture, mother. UPBRINGING: left in her paternal grandparents’ care during infancy, they raised her until the car crash that killed her grandfather and caused her paraplegy. as a consequence, she was taken away to camp half blood for her own safety, where her maternal siblings and older campers educated her as best as they could. BIRTH ORDER: eldest of her father’s children. SIBLINGS: numerous / persephone, goddess of spring / christopher “chris”, jill, alicia “ali” and holden orchard. PETS: as of now, three dogs (bahij, boxer / hestia, bullmastiff / hector, great dane) and two cats (soteria, british longhair / apollo, abyssinian).

PERSONAL

MORAL ALIGNMENT: lawful good    /   neutral good   /   chaotic good    /    lawful neutral    /    true neutral    /    chaotic neutral    /    lawful evil    /    neutral evil   /   chaotic evil RELIGION: hellenic polytheist. PHILOSOPHY:    cynicism    /    idealism    /    realism    /    apathy SINS:   greed    /    gluttony    /    sloth    /    lust    /    pride    /    envy    /    wrath VIRTUES: chastity    /    charity    /    diligence    /    humility     /    kindness    /    patience    /   justice SECRETS: her relationship with zeus, which is basically an open secret / despite the years and numerous reassurances from her grandmother, she still feels like she caused her grandfather’s death in a way ; if she hadn’t insisted on going to her dance lessons, despite the terrible weather and the slippery roads, he would probably still be alive. STRENGTHS: patient, generous, discreet, responsible. WEAKNESSES: stubborn, pessimistic, melancholic, finicky.

MENTAL

KNOWN LANGUAGES: english (first language) / ancient greek (learned) / latin (a little) / french (a few words only). EDUCATION: left school during second grade since she moved to camp half blood. didn’t go back until recently, when she decided to get her GED. most of what she knows is self-taught, the rest has been taught to her by older campers or chiron. she has an extremely good knowledge of plants, being a daughter of demeter, as well as reasonable first-aid abilities and a good grasp on various mythologies. MENTOR(S): her grandmother, mostly. INTERESTS: gardening, cooking and baking, history, ballet, video games, genealogy, floral arrangements (especially the ikebana style), reading, music, theater.

PHYSICAL

FACECLAIM(S): nicola peltz (main) / naomi watts (older verse). HAIR: golden blond, (mostly) straight, reaches down to the small of her back. EYES: green. SKIN: rather fair, with a light splatter of freckles across her nose and her shoulders. numerous scars all over her body. BUILD: scrawny    /    bony    /    slender    /    fit    /    athletic    /    curvy    /    full - figured    / herculean    /    pudgy    /    average  HEIGHT: five feet two inches. WEIGHT: 103lbs. SCARS  /  BIRTHMARKS: plenty of scars ; the most prominent ones are located on her left side (empousa), and running the length of her spine (car accident). CONSTITUTION  /  FITNESS: she’s rather fit ; she enjoys swimming, she does ballet at a fairly medium-high level, and does train with blades and in hand-to-hand combat even if she doesn’t enjoy it much. she favors a healthy diet mainly consisting of home-grown vegetables and organic products — her main health problem lies with debiliating back pains that occur on a semi-regular basis, and it’s something she cannot get rid of : she wished for the ability to walk freely again, and it was traded against such pain.

FAVORITES

DISH(ES): anything with vegetables, honey-glazed chicken, new england clam chowder, lemon-poppyseed cupcakes. DRINK(S): jasmine tea, lemonade. PIZZA TOPPING(S): any cheese, bell peppers, onions. COLOR(S): green, gold, sky blue, sunset-purple. MUSIC GENRE(S): alternative rock, pop punk, symphonic metal. BOOK GENRE(S): sci-fi, fantasy, thrillers. MOVIE GENRE(S): ^^, history, horror. CURSE WORD(S): she doesn’t swear much, but her go-to is fuck. SCENT(S): freshly cut grass, ozone before a thunderstorm. QUOTE(S): 

FUN STUFF

TOP , BOTTOM , OR SWITCH: bottom all the way, ngl SINGS IN THE SHOWER: it happens sometimes but not really often ; she has a terrible singing voice and she knows it. LIKES PUNS: she's quite neutral about them. HOGWARTS HOUSE: hufflepuff. MBTI: isfj. TEMPERAMENT: phlegmatic. ENNEAGRAM: type 9, the mediator. ABILITIES  /  POWERS: aside from being an excellent cook and an even better baker, she holds the ability of chlorokinesis that allows her to manipulate plant life at will ; she’s able to make plants grow from simple seeds, make existing plants decay in a matter of seconds, and even freeze them in time so they never die. she also has the ability to manipulate the very genetics of plants surrounding her, which allows her to change their colors, turn them toxic or, on the other hand, make them harmless.

tagged by: @seaprofound tagging: anyone just steal it

[sparkleinyoeyes]

Caitlin Dai

Punk Ikebana/Ikepunka, 2015

Photography

[loudgothbf]

{I'm not exactly capable of lying, so don't worry about that! I know you were an Ultimate Student some time ago as the Ultimate Ikebana artist, and I know you enjoy gothic fashion, what makes the Ultimate Ikebana artist become a goth? Not that I have any problems with the style, it's really neat!:) I'm just curious why you chose it for yourself, what aspects of the culture and scene speak to you? Would you consider yourself the stereotypical mopey goth dude or would you say you lean more towards the punk roots that goth stems from?}

He scoffs, squeezing his eyes shut and shaking his head. “I don’t...” Part of him couldn’t even begin to process how different it was from what he was expecting. It could just be a trick, of course. Something to lull him into a false sense of security. After all, the messages to this point had been nothing if not unsettling. How did he know he could trust this? “I was goth before I was the Ultimate Ikebana artist. I was a bit more punk as a kid, but I always wanted the long hair, black clothes and spiky jewelry. If you wanna know the opposite, how a goth got into ikebana, you can thank the excruciating monotony of the public hospital system.” He sighs. “I like standing out. It feels comfortable for me. It’s empowering for me to feel like I’m dressed like myself and knowing that other people are going to make certain assumptions about me. I’m not exactly the mopey goth type, no. I, uh... I like getting into trouble, so I lean more toward that.”

[kapitoshca33]

25 favorites

Thanks for tagging me @avriel-de-vir

5 favorite websites/apps: 5 любимых сайтов/приложений:

streema (listening to the Radio Cidade) // слушаю Radio Cidade

kino-dom

garic-che.narod

tumblr (ха-ха само собой)

audioknigi.club (audiobook saves young moms when there is no time to read) // аудио книга спасает молодых мам, когда нет времени на чтение

5 favorite business (all of life/everyday): 5 любимых дел (всей жизни/повседневных):

Training (I am an eternal student) // Учёба (я вечный студент)

Superficial teaching of many things … from dancing to ikebana (for entertainment and distraction) // Поверхностное обучение всему.. от танцев до икебаны (для развлечения и отвлечения)

Walking in the park or better at the beach // Прогулки в парке, а лучше на пляже

Concerts (without live sound, I’m starting to feel sad)) // Концерты (без живого звука я начинаю ханд��ить ))

Drawing // Рисование простым карандашом, в простом альбоме

5 favorite movies/cartoons: 5 любимых фильмов/мультфильмов:

Equilibrium!! 🎬 but I like to watch series.. // а вообще, я больше предпочитаю сериалы:

Doctor Who

Supernatural

Gotham

Psychoville

5 favorite genres in music/songs/books: 5 любимых жанров в музыке/песен/книг:

Indie rock

Pop Punk

Horror film

Comics (!DC)

Scientific literature (I don’t like fiction) // Научная литература(художественную не люблю вообще)

5 favorite actors/Actresses/singers(performer)/writers: 5 любимых актеров/актрис/певцов(исполнителей)/писателей:

Paul Bettany

Anti-Flag

Anacondaz 

Мультfильмы

Dick Grayson! he’s fictional .. but I love him :)) //  ааа, он вымышленный.. но я всё равно его люблю ❤

I’m tagging you: @foulballoonkid @liliyabonya @shooflee-sims @alexsh-19 @zmeevik @marfuhenka82 @a-century-of-fakers @joannebernice @alisanda330 @serenasims @bunnymoon @silverspringsimmer

[fallingdarknesswarrior]

Repost this and fill in your muse’s own information and answer the questions. Tag 8 people to fill it out once you’re done. Feel free to skip certain questions!

Tagged by: @spiritodellaria Tagging: -

Name: Kouichi Kimura (木村 輝一)

Name meaning:  木村 (Kimura) literally means “tree town” and 輝一 (Kouichi) is a combination of “radiance” (or ‘sparkle’/ ‘gleam’/ ‘shine’/ what have you) and “one” which approximately could theoretically translate to “first light”

Age: idk I write him anywhere between ages 11~21 accordingly

Gender: cis-male, fluid masculine

Ethnicity: East-Asian (?)

Nationality: Japanese

What time do they usually get up in the morning?: Kouichi doesn’t get up until afternoon

What is their morning routine?: check his phone, go back to sleep, finally wake up because he needs to pee, drink (black) coffee and other usual morning things

How long does it take them to get ready in the morning?: too long - he can never wake up enough which usually makes him run late for whatever he’s doing

What time to do they usually go to bed?: never you can’t make him

Do they fall asleep easily? Do they stay asleep easily?: yeah I imagine it’s pretty easy for Kouichi to fall asleep (haha get it?) and I headcanon he sleeps like the dead (HAHA GET IT?)

What position do they sleep in?: curled up like a cat, very closed-up

What is their handwriting like?: dark, scratchy and hard to interpret unless its calligraphy

Do they prefer typing things or writing things?: writing cause he doesn’t have a laptop? and/or cause staring at the screen hurts his head /eyes 

What form of art (i.e. sculpture, embroidery, painting, etc) do they like?: ink illustrations, calligraphy, and watercolor; basically any kind of elegant visual art, as well as Japanese theatre (Kabuki, Noh) and sometimes flower arrangement (ikebana) for stuff he can stare at

Are they an artist themselves? What kind of art do they do?: he probably does some black-and-white sketch scribbles sometimes, but I imagine he’s very good at calligraphy otherwise

What are some of their favorite books?: Haruki Murakami novels and the like

What genres of movies do they like?: mystery, crime, and drama probably

What music genres do they enjoy?: emo, orchestral, and rock

What are some of their favorite musical acts?: his brother’s(????) 

Do they prefer their music to sound a certain way?: sad and/or angry

Are they a musician themselves?: no

Do they enjoy music from certain decades? If so, which decades?: idk

What are some of their favorite pieces of clothing/outfits in their wardrobe? If not applicable, what do you think would be some of their favorite pieces of clothing/outfits?: long sleeved shirts, his favorite green over shirt, and all the hats. whatever fits

How much are they willing to spend on clothes?: not a lot at all, he’d rather wear hand-me-down stuff than break the bank on a nice fitting outfit

What colors and patterns are prominent in their wardrobe? What colors and patterns do they wear the most often?: dark, lots of red, also just. color mismatch. patchwork. yeah

What kind of clothes do they like?: sweatshirts, and punk street style I suppose

Do they wear makeup? What type do they wear?: he steals his mom’s rogue to make himself look alive

Do they wear/do you associate them with clothes from a certain decade? If so, which?: uh

What font/fonts do you associate with them?

What colors do you associate with them?: red, purple, black and gold, ocean blue

What natural elements (geographical features like mountains, animals, seasons, locations, plants, etc.) do you associate with them?: darkness, lions, forget-me-nots (?), starry skies

[dreadnought-despair]

[FREE TIME - Jurou - 1C]

"Do you have a really large family or something?"

"Yuh huh! There's Momma and Poppa and my nine older brothers and a little babby sister!" He spoke so casually, it took me a few moments to process just what he’d said.

"NINE brothers?!" I gawped. I could barely imagine having a brother in the first place, let alone NINE.

"Hahaw! Yup, lessee, there's Ichirou an’ Jirou, an’ Saburou, an’ Shirou, an’ Gorou, Rikurou, Shichirou, Hachirou, Kurou..." He held up a finger for each name, as if he had trouble keeping track of them himself. “An’ I’m Jurou! Number ten!”

"Nine brothers…"

"And then there's little babby Chou, we can't forget her! She is just precious, I oughta show ya pictures sometime…"

"I'm sure she is!" I tried to imagine a baby Jurou, but it was hard to mentally remove the bright green hair and hardware store's worth of piercings in his face. "Why are you making all the food though, can't they make their own lunches?"

"Well yeah, they ain’t bums or somethin’! But they're workin' out on the farm all day! I'm the runt of the litter, so when I'm there I stay home and help Momma cook an' stuff… and take care of the babby…"

His voice trailed off as he stared at the last roll on the cutting board.

"…I hope they're all okay…"

"Me too… they sound like nice folks, if they're anything like you."

"Oh gawsh... They're all great, yeah! Even if they get a lil, uh… rambunctious!"

"I can imagine! Rambunctious is probably an understatement…" I was still pretty hung up on the whole ten siblings thing.

"Hahahaw! Boy I should tell ya ‘bout summa the shenanigans they get up to! But mebbe later, looks like lunch is all ready...” He chopped up the last roll and drizzled some eel sauce expertly over the top.

I helped him carry the sushi out to the buffet bar in preparation for lunchtime. All of his dishes looked like they belonged in an art museum... Guess some aspects of ikebana apply to plating food too. I went back to pick up my dish, and looked down at my miserable-looking tube of rice with a rueful laugh.

“Hey now, what’s that face about? Looks great for yer first roll! C’mere, lemme have a piece...” He reached over with his chopsticks to pluck a piece from my plate, and stuffed it in his mouth.

“Still tastes great!” he mumbled with his mouth full. “And you’ll get it lookin’ purty with practice, yeah?”

“Y-yeah, I’ll, um, keep working on it...”

“C’mon buddy, that all ya got? Where’s yer conviction?! Lemme hear ya say YEAH!”

“Yeah!”

“Hahahahaw! I better see ya ‘round in the kitchen, y'hear? Thanks fer keepin’ me company!” With that he bumbled off to the other rooms to loudly announce the sushi he’d made for lunch, first come first serve.

I sat down at a table with my homely creation, and tried a piece for myself. He was right, it still tasted great, no matter how it looked on the outside. That was definitely due to his skill at preparing the ingredients, but still...

Jurou was a little like that too, wasn’t he? He might look kinda intimidating and aggressive on the outside, but once you get to talking to him he’s such a pleasant person! And it sounds like he cares a lot about his family... man, nine brothers, holy cow. He said he has pictures, right? I wonder if they all dress as punk as he does... I’ll have to ask him about them sometime.

[BACK]

[loudgothbf]

“New muse, huh?” He smirked good-naturedly. “And where do you suggest I look for one of those? Man, it was so much easier back when it was just us jamming out in the junkyard, before we got big…” The more he drank, the looser he got. He didn’t usually wax nostalgic with anybody, no matter how drunk or high he got at parties, but this kind of atmosphere with Hibiki was different. It almost felt like friends talking. “You’re right man. Nobody’s in it for the music anymore. It feels so fucking plastic, you know? Yeah, rock and roll, talk about fighting for the oppressed, talk about rebellion, about nonconformity, about being poor, about being different, about having it tough. Then turn around and sponsor ads, promote products, do publicity stunts and photoshoots and mainstream talk shows, exploit all of our fans by slapping our band name on any kind of merchandise we can get, then our PR people are always pushing us with how rockstars should dress or act. We have to conform to what people think a ‘rockstar’ should be. And we’re doing it all for the money and the fame, all the time, that’s all any of us care about. And I’m not different. I’m still in it for the fame. But I guess…that’s why I don’t write anymore. What’s the fucking point of making music? That’s not what people want from me. They want products and it just so happens those products have vocals and instruments and beats. Nobody listens to the lyrics. Nobody cares. And if they did, they’d see we’re all a bunch of liars anyway. Being a rich famous star is the exact opposite of what punks are supposed to be. I have nothing to write about anymore.” He rolled his eyes and kicked back another drink, his eyes started to get a bit bleary and his words running together the more he talked.

Hibiki’s eyes narrow at him as he speaks, mind wandering before he snaps it back against its will. The bar is loud, and he, as he’s beginning to realize, is drunk. Makes the concentration this pretty difficult. But he blinks a few times and focuses in on a few words here and there, building the sentences backwards and trying to make sense of them. “Jesus, that’s infuriating.” He sighs, tipping back a bit more alcohol. Just a bit more. Last glass. He intentionally ignores the fact that that’s what he said last time. “It sucks to have to sell yourself. I love your music, I think it’s really interesting.” Reluctantly, the ache in his wrist forces him to drop his head and let his arm fall against the bar, brushing Kyoshi’s shoulder on the way down. “I mean, I sell myself, but I just do it for money. You actually have things to say, and like... reasons, y’know?” Very eloquent. “I mean, like... you’re a stripper but for music and fame I guess.” Very eloquent. “I guess it’s nice to, like, have an impact on the world or whatever, but if people force you to sell out, you’re not even getting a chance to do that. Sure, you’ll be remembered, but like, what for?” He sighs, throwing back another long swig. “People used to call me the ‘rebirth of ikebana’-- beyond generous, definitely, ikebana is dead in the ground, but flattering nonetheless. Anyway. I’d feel like shit if I spent the rest of my life as a stripper, y’know? Because ikebana doesn’t pay well. And I keep putting off looking for a different job because I need the cash. But I’m just gonna keep putting it off and then what? I’m gonna be a stripper until I get murdered or overdose or something, and that’s what I’ll be. Ugh. Selling out’s no fun.”

A text pops up on Hibiki's phone from Kyoshi. "Sup? Just got back into town off tour. Wanna get some drinks or something?" - 💀 @ultimate-anarchist

Hibiki gives a slight laugh. Things hadn’t exactly been smooth between them before his tour, and from what he knew, things hadn’t been smooth since then for either of them. But fuck it, maybe both of them needed a distraction from that very thing. It might do them well.

Love to, as long as you’re paying, babe 🖤

Good to hear from you again, rockst⭐️r

@ultimate-anarchist