dinohouse | Christmas "Meme"

Entry tags:

Christmas "Meme"

Jingle Bells! Jingle Bells!
Suzu ga naru
Suzu no rizumu ni hikari no wa ga mau
Jingle Bells! Jingle Bells!
Suzu ga naru
Mori ni hayashi ni hibikinagara

Welcome to the Dinohouse Christmas "meme"! This is going to work a bit differently from most memes, but still free free to do what you want here!

The idea:
Following this post I will be making an assortment of Universe/Location "thread" comments. These will define the specific scene and universe being worked in. Comments by applicable characters will follow under that comment.

Example:
Mushverse; Shiba Mansion; open to Shinkengers

Comments following that would all be set in the Mushverse universe, be by any Shinkengers that want to participate, and take place at the Shiba Mansion Christmas party. Think of it sort of like every "top level" comment is its own post to the community.

Following that example, if your desired AU/Canon/etc isn't there, feel free to make a "thread" for it! Say there's already a Mushverse Go-busters "thread", and you want to do something in Aibouverse, or something more canon, maybe just between two characters? Make one!

Comments following the "thread" headings can be group setting free for all, or between individuals. Say it's a canon GokaiGalleon party, and Gai and Luka want to go off alone, or are on their way to the Galleon together? Their thread can be a separate second level comment thread beneath the main Canon Gokaiger thread.

I know that's a lot of information/qualifiers, but don't let it make you nervous to post, "rules" are fluid, and mainly set for added organization.

HAVE FUN. And enjoy the season!

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I jump a little when he stammers and drops the ornament, and I'm half bent to catch it before it gets caught in the tree.

I look up at him, blinking, and give him a weak, tentative smile.

"I didn't mean to cause any trouble." I apologize softly. I'm not sure what bad memories he has attached to Christmas, but it makes me sad.

I can relate.

"No, no trouble," I say immediately, leaving my hands hovering around the branch I just placed the ornament on. "It's just..."

...just what? Something I'm trying to forget? Something I regret? Something I want desperately to have again?

A sigh escapes me and I look towards the trunk of the tree. "It's just something I didn't ever expect."

I tilt my head. I'm not sure if he wants to have a talk like this under the Christmas tree, so I reach to take his arm gently in my hand and lead him to a less popular corner, reaching with my free hand to grab some cookies as we go.

I offer him one once we're in the corner. "Do you mean Christmas in general? A party like this?" I pause, hesitating a moment before I continue. "A home?"

Kurosawa-san's hand wraps around my arm, gently guiding me away from the tree when I still have an ornament dangling in my hand. He offers me a cookie to my free hand, once we're situated a little further away from the party proper, and I blink at him in startled confusion.

His third question hits the hardest, and I take the cookie with shaky fingers and stare at it contemplatively. "I didn't expect to belong anywhere else," I say quietly, my voice almost a whisper. "I don't...want to assume too much."

I nod understandingly at his words. I feel badly for him, really I do. Or, rather, I empathize with him. I don't think he desires nor requires pity.

"Well, in case you hadn't noticed, we're a bit of an island of misfit toys." I smirk at him lopsidedly. "You belong here as long as you want to be here."

"An island of..." The reference sails right by me, but I think I have an idea of what he means. I nod tentatively, bringing my eyes back up to his face, if not his eyes. "I'm...glad for that. To have something close to a home again."

Not home yet, though. If it ever will be.

"I can't guarantee this will ever be a home to you." I assure him. "It... It's not really much of a home, anyway, not a real one. For most of the general employees, it's... well, just that. A place of employment. But for us," I gesture around the room. The only ones in here, the Special Missions Department. "We live here. And we have made it as much of a home as we can. And you are welcome, in our close-to-a-home."

"Thank you," I say automatically, not at all sure how else to reply. "I've definitely felt welcome here."

Any awkwardness is pretty much my own fault, anyway. I know that much about myself.

A sudden idea strikes me and I shelve it away for future reference. If things go well, it might be a nice thing to do, later on. For now, I shove the cookie in my mouth and find that I'm not that bad of a baker after all. "I guess I'll just see how things go in time, yeah?"

"That's the spirit!" I encourage him, patting him gently on the shoulder and then nibbling at my own cookie.

"This is really good, you know!" I tell him, holding it up.

I shake my head at first, about to defer and mention I know a far better baker. But the words die before I can finish chewing, and by the time I swallow I'm resigned to accepting a bit of praise.

"Ah, thank you," I say awkwardly. "It was my first time at the recipe, so...I'm sure I can do better in the future."

I seem to keep saying the wrong thing. I duck my head and nod and then look up to give him what I hope is an encouraging smile.

"I'm sure you will, if you put your mind to it."

I finish my own cookie, then look back at the tree. "Shall we decorate some more?"

I nod as eagerly as I can manage, looking forward to focusing on hanging the ornaments. "Yes, let's." I give Kurosawa-san a smile and wait for him to lead the way.

In time, maybe I'll get comfortable here. But for now, I'm going to follow in others' footsteps. It's the only way to be safe.

I think it will take some adjusting on my part as well, to get used to him following my lead in such a way. As an engineer, I believe he answers foremost to Jin-san, if unofficially. As a member of the Buster's support, he answers to Hiromu as the leader, and in general he answers to Kuroki-san as the commander overseeing the entire operation. I'm not really... worth the respect.

The tree is beginning to get pretty well decked, but there's still plenty of surfaces to decorate.

I continue to follow Kurosawa-san's lead with decorating, making light chat as we go along. We'd decorated somewhat last year, but it was mostly simple things like garlands and hanging ornaments, and the EMC seems to take things a bit more grandly. Not that it's a bad thing, I just don't exactly know what needs done.

As time wears on I get the feeling that Kurosawa-san might be a bit uncomfortable with me looking to him for guidance, and I can't help but start fidgeting. I really don't want to be a burden.

I'm not the most... perceptive of people, but I'm not nearly as bad as... say, Hiromu, so I start to figure out fairly quickly that, despite what I'd hoped were encouraging and welcoming words, Don is remaining particularly tense... In fact, possibly growing more tense.

I'm surely at a loss for what to do. "We're pretty much done." I inform him helplessly. "With the decorating, anyway."

Kurosawa-san says we're done right as I'm adjusting a garland on the tree for the fifth time, and I pull back my hands to clasp them behind my back awkwardly. "Ah, okay!"

I give him a quick grin before looking around the rest of the party, unsure as to what to do next. Maybe it's time to give up and call it a night. Still, it seems early, and I don't want to duck out before it's appropriate. "Um..." I trail off as I look desperately for something to say. "...what comes next?"

I'm pretty sure he's adjusted that garland so much that it's done a full rotation around the tree.

At least he's grinning, even if it does look nervous.

"Well. You can stick around, since most of the... party type event will be in here. Food and drink and the like, if that's your predilection. Otherwise, well, you're free to do whatever you like. Technically speaking, we all have the day off today."

"Oh. Right then."

I'm still smiling, although I feel more like flailing and possibly running back to my room to work on something - anything - to keep me distracted. Too long standing around like this and my mind will start to wander. And I really try to avoid that these days.

I grab another cookie for the time being, wondering if I'm sticking a little too close to Kurosawa-san, if I'm too clingy.

I suppose he elects to stick around, and I grin at him and take another cookie for myself.

Well, might as well make some kind of small talk.

"Have you spoken any more with Jin-san?"

My eyes dart to the corner of the room where I'd stashed my present from Jin-san, tucked away as safely as I could manage before returning to decorate the tree.

"A little," I confess, toying with my cookie. "He gave me a present."

I wish I had more to give back than just cookies, but I'm fairly limited on funds. When Hiromu brought me in, I had just a few hundred yen in my wallet, after all.

"Did he, now?" I laugh at the idea. I'm sure he did, I think Jin-san is pretty excited to have another engineer he feels comfortably talking freely with. Ryuuji-san is not quite as practiced, but I'm sure once the most of the walls have been broken down, the three of them will be thick as thieves.

"Are you at liberty to discuss it with me? Or would you rather be playing with your new toy, it being Christmas and all?"

The tips of my cheeks flush at the implication of my childlike reaction to getting a gift, but it's so close to accurate I can't really accurate. "I-I wouldn't say that, exactly," I stammer, eyes darting back over to the present's hiding place. "He gave me the plans to a, a Buddyroid, and asked me to work on it. Her."

As badly as I want to sit down with them, I don't want to do so at the expense of what little social reputation I might have here at the EMC.

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Christmas "Meme"

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