On the seventh day of Christmas
my true love sent to me
Seven secret messages
[Title] Someone to Hold Onto
[Fandom] Death Note
[Rating] PG
[Word Count] 1129
[Notes/Summary] Raito/Matsuda. Matsuda’s always liked hugs. Sometimes you need someone to hold on to.
You’re so dumb. You’re so adorable
[Title] Second Languages
[Fandom] Death Note
[Rating] PG
[Word Count] 2388 (in total)
[Notes/Summary] Rester, Hal and Gevanni all learnt Japanese in different ways. All of them lost, too.
Rester (Listening)
Hal (Speaking)
Gevanni (Memorising)
[Title] Locked-Room Language Lessons
[Fandom] Detective Academy Q
[Rating] PG for implied miserable childhood
[Word Count] 1059
[Notes/Summary] Ryu knows a lot of languages. Kyuu finds out why.
Kyuu tries really hard not to get mad at Ryu’s grandfather. Like, Ryu doesn’t get mad about him, and Kyuu doesn’t want to become that friend I have to spent hours calming down every time I mention anything about my childhood, and Ryu hates people getting overly emotional anyway (except when he’s trying to get them to reveal a vital clue in an investigation, but not when he’s just hanging out watching cartoons with them -)
Actually they’re watching a dumb movie this time, one where the heroes are meant to be solving all these really difficult puzzles in order to find a secret temple (or something - they may have been talking over some of the dialogue) and all the puzzles are either super-easy even if you haven’t been to detective school or rely on facts that aren’t actually correct. Ryu is getting more of those ones than Kyuu is, and when he’s managed to point out the flaws in clues that rely on a working knowledge of Sanskrit, Mandarin Chinese, and Finnish, Kyuu groans and throws a cushion at him: “Okay, now you’re just bluffing -”
Ryu catches the cushion, gives Kyuu a look: “Why would I want to convince you I know Finnish? At worst, the lie would be revealed right in the middle of a case when I mistranslated a key witness statement or something. Besides, it’s only written stuff and facts about the grammar that I can really figure out.”
“It is?”
“It is. If we went on holiday to Finland… or, I suppose, knowing us, if we went to solve a series of weird murders in Finland… I’d probably be as clueless as you when it comes to talking to actual Finnish people.”
Kyuu’s mind wanders onto what it would be like if they had to go solve a mystery in England or America or someplace like that, where they speak a language he has actually studied. He doesn’t fancy the idea, really. You can work out a lot from how people say things, the words they use, the things they don’t say. If he were trying to figure it out in English he’d be stuck at wait, let me check the dictionary. The only way he’d solve the mystery would be if it were like this film, with really easy clues deliberately written for him. And if someone was doing that there’d likely be a whole other set of problems going on. Distracted by that, he asks, “So how’d you learn all those languages, anyway?” without thinking that he’s not going to like the answer.
(But it seems hard if Ryu’s never asked about his life before DDS, like they’ve decided to pretend it never happened. People should get to talk about their lives if they want to.)
Ryu says, “Well… my grandfather taught me.” Glancing sideways at Kyuu a little like he knows Kyuu’s not going to like where this is going. “I learnt a lot of languages as a child. It’s the best time to learn. Your brain picks up new words really easily.” Kyuu’s nodding like this conversation is going to be totally normal, even though he knows it isn’t. Ryu’s resting his chin on his hands as he says, “He always said it was a pity that - that he hadn’t brought me up from birth. Babies can be taught two or three languages at once easily. I didn’t find it so easy but… like I said, it was mostly just about remembering words and how they fit together.”
“Like in English classes at school,” Kyuu says, feeling himself grinning too much, “just learning a bunch of vocabulary and, and doing worksheets, right?”
“Well. No. More like solving puzzles.” There it is, the blankness creeping across Ryu’s face, like he’s bored with the subject, but he carries on, “A bit like these.” Waving a hand at the movie. Kyuu can’t remember what’s going on in it any more. “Lots of locked-room mysteries. Finding escape routes. With the clues in the language under study.”
Kyuu says, knowing the answer, “Not the fun kind… right?”
“Not really,” Ryu says, still blank and bored.
Kyuu takes a deep breath and he’s trying, he’s really trying (but what can you say? You can’t just say, wow, that sucks, anyway, about this dumb movie and he’s not going to ask for more details, every time he gets more details it makes his skin crawl -)
He takes a deep breath and tries to think of something to say but what comes out is, “I hate your grandfather.”
Ryu blinks and begins, “Well, of course you would -”
“Not because of Pluto, not because of all the murder stuff - though that stuff’s awful too, but just, I just, you’re the smartest person I know. I bet you were the kind of kid who loved learning loads of facts, I bet you would’ve thought it was really cool being able to speak other languages. I think it’s really cool. We should go to Finland. Why’d he have to - to make all that stuff bad? Why’d he have to be mean to a kid who would’ve learnt it all happily anyway? And don’t say it was to make sure the lesson sticks or something. That’s - stupid and awful. And - and I know you don’t need to hear me say this and I’ll shut up about it after this but - it sucks. Okay?”
He’s really worried Ryu’s going to freeze him out. Or look even more miserable (blank, bored). He’s rubbing the back of his head and quickly turning to focus on the movie, find something goofy to remark on, when Ryu says, “Okay.”
“Okay?” Kyuu looks round at him.
“Okay,” Ryu says, staring him out.
“Is… is it really? You can tell me if… I mean, I know I always blurt out stuff I shouldn’t. If it’s…”
“It’s really okay,” Ryu says. He’s actually blushing a bit. “I… I can’t really get angry about it. You know that. Sometimes - it’s helpful to hear someone say that it was… that it was an odd way to treat someone.”
Kyuu feels himself scowling but he manages to limit himself to muttering, “Yeah. Well. It is odd.”
“And you’re right,” Ryu says. “I’d like to go to Finland with you sometime. Even if there are murders involved.” And smiles, almost nervously.
[Title] Ageless
[Fandom] Death Note
[Rating] G
[Word Count] 241
[Notes/Summary] Mogi isn’t sure what to make of Los Angeles.
It’s the first time Mogi’s been to America. Of course, he had a patched-together idea of the country from books and films and music - guns and hot dogs and eagles and high schools and surfing - but he knew that wouldn’t be much use; half-thought stereotypes rarely are.
Los Angeles doesn’t feel real to him even when he’s there, too warm in the clothes he set off in, the sky wide and light above him, the air hazy. Palm trees. Spray tans and dyed hair and people who look as though they’ve dressed to be stared at. And every road jammed with traffic: the blare of horns, the sunlight blazing off windowframes and mirrors.
No doubt it’s partly sleep deprivation, that and worry about why they’re here, which makes it all feel as if he’s in a dream. Long-haul flights and the shifts in time will make anyone feel strange. But the endless sunny weather, and the sense of sprawl, and the way that they have to watch it all from behind thick hotel windows… it starts to feel like it’s sending a message, but if it is, he can’t work it out, because this place feels as though it grew from the modern-day and if there’s any history behind it he doesn’t know what it is. It’s almost a relief to go to New York, even though he has no idea what he’s walking into. In New York, it rains.
[Title] Message Left Last Night
[Fandom] Jet Set Radio
[Rating] G
[Word Count] 493
[Notes/Summary] Mew’s friends don’t get why she does it.
Mew’s been washing her hands over and over but there are still tiny half-circles of blue paint under her nails and smears of it ground into her cuticles. Soon as she’s in homeroom she puts her hands in her lap like she’s just so good and sweet and super-keen to be in school and learning, yay! But you can’t keep that up forever. In Maths her friend Kuniko asks to borrow her calculator and Mew’s handed it over before she can think. Kuniko’s eyes widen and at the end of class she scoots her chair close to Mew’s and whispers, “You actually did it?”
“Did what?” Mew says, trying to look innocent.
“You know what.” Kuniko glances around, lowers her voice even further, which is a great way to make someone look like they have juicy gossip but Mew tells herself she doesn’t care any more. “Graffiti-writing. Rudie stuff.”
Mew sort of shrugs and stares down at her desk. If she says No way that’ll just turn this into even more drama.
“I just… I didn’t think you were actually into it,” Kuniko says at last. She sounds kind of forlorn, like Mew’s broken a promise. “I thought you were just, like, kidding around. I mean the skating is cool but… I don’t get why you couldn’t just do that. You know, just go to the park and have fun.”
Mew doesn’t know what to say. Like, whatever she says, Kuniko will probably be like but it’s dangerous and messy and illegal, and… it is, so Mew’s not got a leg to stand on there, and… Kuniko thinks the figures they see on skates in the distance sometimes in town, she thinks they’re scary, and she said graffiti’s not real art anyway, it’s just words and weird pictures, she said Mew’s manga-style pics she does on her notebooks are way prettier.
But landing a tag on the top of a building, somewhere you absolutely shouldn’t be, is kind of saying This is me, and I’m here, and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it. Even if only a few people will know who you are, and you’re only here for this second, and someone else can paint over your sign tomorrow. Hey, the way it’s only a few people will see or care makes it better. It’s a secret second city under the skin of the real one, and the people living there understand about pushing yourself to jump higher, dash faster, make your lines sharper and crisper or come up with some design no one can tear their eyes away from. You’ll never do it, of course, you’ll never be some big-shot legend, you’ll just be painted over tomorrow, but you keep trying anyway, just to say, This is me, and this is who I could be, one day, maybe…
No point in trying to explain any of that. She shrugs again. Kuniko sighs and moves her chair away.
Seven secret messages
[Title] Someone to Hold Onto
[Fandom] Death Note
[Rating] PG
[Word Count] 1129
[Notes/Summary] Raito/Matsuda. Matsuda’s always liked hugs. Sometimes you need someone to hold on to.
You’re so dumb. You’re so adorable
[Title] Second Languages
[Fandom] Death Note
[Rating] PG
[Word Count] 2388 (in total)
[Notes/Summary] Rester, Hal and Gevanni all learnt Japanese in different ways. All of them lost, too.
Rester (Listening)
Hal (Speaking)
Gevanni (Memorising)
[Title] Locked-Room Language Lessons
[Fandom] Detective Academy Q
[Rating] PG for implied miserable childhood
[Word Count] 1059
[Notes/Summary] Ryu knows a lot of languages. Kyuu finds out why.
Kyuu tries really hard not to get mad at Ryu’s grandfather. Like, Ryu doesn’t get mad about him, and Kyuu doesn’t want to become that friend I have to spent hours calming down every time I mention anything about my childhood, and Ryu hates people getting overly emotional anyway (except when he’s trying to get them to reveal a vital clue in an investigation, but not when he’s just hanging out watching cartoons with them -)
Actually they’re watching a dumb movie this time, one where the heroes are meant to be solving all these really difficult puzzles in order to find a secret temple (or something - they may have been talking over some of the dialogue) and all the puzzles are either super-easy even if you haven’t been to detective school or rely on facts that aren’t actually correct. Ryu is getting more of those ones than Kyuu is, and when he’s managed to point out the flaws in clues that rely on a working knowledge of Sanskrit, Mandarin Chinese, and Finnish, Kyuu groans and throws a cushion at him: “Okay, now you’re just bluffing -”
Ryu catches the cushion, gives Kyuu a look: “Why would I want to convince you I know Finnish? At worst, the lie would be revealed right in the middle of a case when I mistranslated a key witness statement or something. Besides, it’s only written stuff and facts about the grammar that I can really figure out.”
“It is?”
“It is. If we went on holiday to Finland… or, I suppose, knowing us, if we went to solve a series of weird murders in Finland… I’d probably be as clueless as you when it comes to talking to actual Finnish people.”
Kyuu’s mind wanders onto what it would be like if they had to go solve a mystery in England or America or someplace like that, where they speak a language he has actually studied. He doesn’t fancy the idea, really. You can work out a lot from how people say things, the words they use, the things they don’t say. If he were trying to figure it out in English he’d be stuck at wait, let me check the dictionary. The only way he’d solve the mystery would be if it were like this film, with really easy clues deliberately written for him. And if someone was doing that there’d likely be a whole other set of problems going on. Distracted by that, he asks, “So how’d you learn all those languages, anyway?” without thinking that he’s not going to like the answer.
(But it seems hard if Ryu’s never asked about his life before DDS, like they’ve decided to pretend it never happened. People should get to talk about their lives if they want to.)
Ryu says, “Well… my grandfather taught me.” Glancing sideways at Kyuu a little like he knows Kyuu’s not going to like where this is going. “I learnt a lot of languages as a child. It’s the best time to learn. Your brain picks up new words really easily.” Kyuu’s nodding like this conversation is going to be totally normal, even though he knows it isn’t. Ryu’s resting his chin on his hands as he says, “He always said it was a pity that - that he hadn’t brought me up from birth. Babies can be taught two or three languages at once easily. I didn’t find it so easy but… like I said, it was mostly just about remembering words and how they fit together.”
“Like in English classes at school,” Kyuu says, feeling himself grinning too much, “just learning a bunch of vocabulary and, and doing worksheets, right?”
“Well. No. More like solving puzzles.” There it is, the blankness creeping across Ryu’s face, like he’s bored with the subject, but he carries on, “A bit like these.” Waving a hand at the movie. Kyuu can’t remember what’s going on in it any more. “Lots of locked-room mysteries. Finding escape routes. With the clues in the language under study.”
Kyuu says, knowing the answer, “Not the fun kind… right?”
“Not really,” Ryu says, still blank and bored.
Kyuu takes a deep breath and he’s trying, he’s really trying (but what can you say? You can’t just say, wow, that sucks, anyway, about this dumb movie and he’s not going to ask for more details, every time he gets more details it makes his skin crawl -)
He takes a deep breath and tries to think of something to say but what comes out is, “I hate your grandfather.”
Ryu blinks and begins, “Well, of course you would -”
“Not because of Pluto, not because of all the murder stuff - though that stuff’s awful too, but just, I just, you’re the smartest person I know. I bet you were the kind of kid who loved learning loads of facts, I bet you would’ve thought it was really cool being able to speak other languages. I think it’s really cool. We should go to Finland. Why’d he have to - to make all that stuff bad? Why’d he have to be mean to a kid who would’ve learnt it all happily anyway? And don’t say it was to make sure the lesson sticks or something. That’s - stupid and awful. And - and I know you don’t need to hear me say this and I’ll shut up about it after this but - it sucks. Okay?”
He’s really worried Ryu’s going to freeze him out. Or look even more miserable (blank, bored). He’s rubbing the back of his head and quickly turning to focus on the movie, find something goofy to remark on, when Ryu says, “Okay.”
“Okay?” Kyuu looks round at him.
“Okay,” Ryu says, staring him out.
“Is… is it really? You can tell me if… I mean, I know I always blurt out stuff I shouldn’t. If it’s…”
“It’s really okay,” Ryu says. He’s actually blushing a bit. “I… I can’t really get angry about it. You know that. Sometimes - it’s helpful to hear someone say that it was… that it was an odd way to treat someone.”
Kyuu feels himself scowling but he manages to limit himself to muttering, “Yeah. Well. It is odd.”
“And you’re right,” Ryu says. “I’d like to go to Finland with you sometime. Even if there are murders involved.” And smiles, almost nervously.
[Title] Ageless
[Fandom] Death Note
[Rating] G
[Word Count] 241
[Notes/Summary] Mogi isn’t sure what to make of Los Angeles.
It’s the first time Mogi’s been to America. Of course, he had a patched-together idea of the country from books and films and music - guns and hot dogs and eagles and high schools and surfing - but he knew that wouldn’t be much use; half-thought stereotypes rarely are.
Los Angeles doesn’t feel real to him even when he’s there, too warm in the clothes he set off in, the sky wide and light above him, the air hazy. Palm trees. Spray tans and dyed hair and people who look as though they’ve dressed to be stared at. And every road jammed with traffic: the blare of horns, the sunlight blazing off windowframes and mirrors.
No doubt it’s partly sleep deprivation, that and worry about why they’re here, which makes it all feel as if he’s in a dream. Long-haul flights and the shifts in time will make anyone feel strange. But the endless sunny weather, and the sense of sprawl, and the way that they have to watch it all from behind thick hotel windows… it starts to feel like it’s sending a message, but if it is, he can’t work it out, because this place feels as though it grew from the modern-day and if there’s any history behind it he doesn’t know what it is. It’s almost a relief to go to New York, even though he has no idea what he’s walking into. In New York, it rains.
[Title] Message Left Last Night
[Fandom] Jet Set Radio
[Rating] G
[Word Count] 493
[Notes/Summary] Mew’s friends don’t get why she does it.
Mew’s been washing her hands over and over but there are still tiny half-circles of blue paint under her nails and smears of it ground into her cuticles. Soon as she’s in homeroom she puts her hands in her lap like she’s just so good and sweet and super-keen to be in school and learning, yay! But you can’t keep that up forever. In Maths her friend Kuniko asks to borrow her calculator and Mew’s handed it over before she can think. Kuniko’s eyes widen and at the end of class she scoots her chair close to Mew’s and whispers, “You actually did it?”
“Did what?” Mew says, trying to look innocent.
“You know what.” Kuniko glances around, lowers her voice even further, which is a great way to make someone look like they have juicy gossip but Mew tells herself she doesn’t care any more. “Graffiti-writing. Rudie stuff.”
Mew sort of shrugs and stares down at her desk. If she says No way that’ll just turn this into even more drama.
“I just… I didn’t think you were actually into it,” Kuniko says at last. She sounds kind of forlorn, like Mew’s broken a promise. “I thought you were just, like, kidding around. I mean the skating is cool but… I don’t get why you couldn’t just do that. You know, just go to the park and have fun.”
Mew doesn’t know what to say. Like, whatever she says, Kuniko will probably be like but it’s dangerous and messy and illegal, and… it is, so Mew’s not got a leg to stand on there, and… Kuniko thinks the figures they see on skates in the distance sometimes in town, she thinks they’re scary, and she said graffiti’s not real art anyway, it’s just words and weird pictures, she said Mew’s manga-style pics she does on her notebooks are way prettier.
But landing a tag on the top of a building, somewhere you absolutely shouldn’t be, is kind of saying This is me, and I’m here, and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it. Even if only a few people will know who you are, and you’re only here for this second, and someone else can paint over your sign tomorrow. Hey, the way it’s only a few people will see or care makes it better. It’s a secret second city under the skin of the real one, and the people living there understand about pushing yourself to jump higher, dash faster, make your lines sharper and crisper or come up with some design no one can tear their eyes away from. You’ll never do it, of course, you’ll never be some big-shot legend, you’ll just be painted over tomorrow, but you keep trying anyway, just to say, This is me, and this is who I could be, one day, maybe…
No point in trying to explain any of that. She shrugs again. Kuniko sighs and moves her chair away.