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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I don't know what's going on out here, but it needs to stop. Nick's shooing me towards the door.

I'd go anyway. No point in giving him a look, though, this is too important, I'm too focused, too worried and irritated.

I push the door open as Jin-san is in mid tirade. "You two need to calm-" I begin irritably, but then Jin-san finishes his sentence.

My jaw drops.

I hate it when he yells at me, it's even worse then when he grabs me and hauls me around. Now I really feel like a child, and I have no intention of letting him get away with it.

I stand up to him, putting my face right against his, but then he says the one thing I have been trying my absolute damnedest and hardest not to let slip anywhere that anyone else can hear.

"Ta gueule!"

My arm is moving before I even realize it, but my avatar is malfunctioning too much, my clenched fist flickers and passes right through his face.

It's enough to make his avatar flicker just a bit, though, which gives me a clear and gut-wrenching view of Hiromu standing there, looking...

Shocked? Hurt? Pained?

...Disgusted?

"Merde."

I glare up at Masato. Unbelievably angry, incredibly upset... But it's not like I can cry.

My voice falls into a mere whisper. "Look what you've done. I didn't want him- I didn't want anyone to know."

I take a step back, and then another. I can't concentrate enough to disappear, though. I'm going to have to face this.

Somehow.

Shit.

No one was supposed to have followed me. And if I expected anyone to, it would have been J, or Kurorin.

Not Hiromu.

I don't feel bad about about my words, they're things Emi needs to be reminded of, things he's not keeping in mind that are really important to his survival.

I wish this hadn't of had to happen on Christmas though, and in front of Hiromu. I know how Emi feels about him. How they no doubt feel about each other.

"Emi, I..." I'm about to apologize, at least for the timing, when J comes trudging through the doorway, no doubt alerted to the disturbances in both our Avatars.

He begins to speak, warning us of the the threat to Emi's avatar especially, but I hold up a hand.

"You need to go back for now. This isn't a punishment, Emi, this is a precaution." I'd never forgive myself if harm came to your body.

"J," I nod toward Emi, not really able to look my Aibou in the face right now.

"I'll be right behind you." I say, as J closes Emi's link to his marker system.

I wanted to run away anyway, to hide, but it certainly feels like I'm being punished, or at least taught a lesson, that Masato is the one initiating it.

I can't look at him either. I don't really notice Jueki coming into the hallway.

I can't keep my eyes off Hiromu's face. Trying to figure out what that look on his face means.

I should say something to him. Apologize, or try to explain, or... I don't even know. Is there anything I could say? I'm trembling, but it's just as much from the effort my avatar is going through to hold itself together and anchored to this side.

Masato's right. Of course he is. He's always right. That's why he's the genius.

And I'm the child.

I close my eyes and turn my head away as my avatar codes out of this world, and I drop into the subdimension.

Alone.

I smack the wall in frustration as Emi disappears, then just as quickly force control over myself again. The look on his face is seared into my mind. I didn't fix it. Didn't make him feel better.

He's doubting me. *Me*.

I should've said something, but I didn't know what...

"Jin-san," I say roughly. "Will he be all right?" I'm not sure if I mean physically, or emotionally, or both.

I adjust my jacket, wishing swallowing hard or taking a stealing breath would do anything for me. Steady my mood, elevate the ache I'm feeling.

I give Hiromu a long, hard look, wondering what he's thinking about all this. This new fragment of information.

"He'll be fine now that his avatar isn't straining to maintain the link over hear. He's still active over there, but, so close to his body... not quite the same level of strain. On the system or his body."

I look down, practically yanking at my hair when I scratch at the back of my head. "I should follow him soon. He shouldn't be all alone right now."

That's something, I guess.

"Good. I take it your body is really the age you appear, then? Does it put particular strain on yours, or his, because he's physically a child and you're not?"

I'm speaking urgently, possibly too fast, but I want to know while he's here and - possibly - answering questions.

I'm also thinking furiously underneath, trying to figure out the best way to get him to tell Emi something that'll calm him down about me, but I don't really know... May as well just say it. "When you see him, tell him this doesn't change anything important, okay? Please. It makes things more complicated, but it doesn't change... the respect I have for him or, um, how I feel about him."

"We haven't aged, not physically. I, uh." I sigh, I don't even know where to begin telling Hiromu the details, or if they're even mine to tell. I told Kurorin because of how close he and are were. Are.

"It's straining on both of us after a while, but... extra for him. It's why I was so... so upset with him. He should know better. Does know better."

I look at Hiromu, considering his request. Of course I'll tell him, but I'm not sure my Aibou will believe it coming from me right now. Then I get an idea.

"He should hear that from you." I grab Hiromu's wrist, and drag him off down the hall, J lumbering behind us.

I lead him to the room where Kuroki keeps his dimensional communications station. The one he used to first contact me before I and Emi came over in the avatar flesh. I boot up the machine - Kurorin might chew me out for this later, but it'll be worth it if it helps my Aibou - and make sure everything working properly before I call out to Emi, hoping he's paying attention.

"Aibou, please respond."

It's... weird being in the subdimension, alone.

Well, not alone. There's Masato's body, and my own. Locked away in... in caskets, unresponsive. Unreal, really. At least it feels that way. Not looking at Masato, I'm used to his face. I'm not even accustomed to my young face anymore, when I look at myself all I feel is shame and fear about what's going to happen, later.

"Je vous déteste." I mutter weakly at my own body, but it makes no difference. It's no different than talking into a mirror. Worse, since at least a mirror matches what I want to see. What I should see. What I believe myself to look like... Sure, the avatar was developed with Masato's help, aged every year to keep up with my mind.

But it's me damn it, the real me.

Unless it isn't.

Sometimes I think the best thing would be a glorious sacrifice, a game-changing moment where my life can buy the future of the entire world, and I don't have to try and face the reality of a future where I become one with this helpless child's body of mine.

"Je vous déteste!" I bring my hand, no longer flickering in this close proximity, down on the cover of the casket that protects it from the pressure of the subdimension.

"Aibou, please respond."

His voice echoes through the lab. Of course he's calling me aibou again, now that he feels bad. I scowl, wondering why he's bothering to contact me in this way. He said he was going to come down here.

I'm still mad at him. But I don't want to be alone.

I stomp over to the communications platform in the corner. He's taught me how to work it, and I put in the necessary commands to open real-time two way communications.

"Je suis ici. Is something wrong?"

It's stupid.

Jin-san yanks me into the room and starts up the communicator. I'm worried, focused, want nothing more than for Emi to be all right, especially now I have more information from Jin-san, and I know he's physically okay now, so it's stupid.

Really stupid.

But I break into a huge grin when I hear his voice anyway. "I'm here, too, Emi," I say quietly.

"I'll be along shortly, Aibou." I tell Emi, then gesture for Hiromu to come to the center of the base.

"This is how you shut it down," I gesture at a couple of switches, easy enough to remember, even for a non-engineer. "Take your time."

I give Hiromu's back a pat, and then quietly excuse myself from the room, dragging J with me.

I go a little still when I hear Hiromu's voice. It echoes oddly, everything does in cross-dimension communication. But he doesn't sound... upset. Or angry. Or hurt. Or anything but soft.

He's probably scared.

For me.

Stupid, adorable wonderful brat.

I care for him so much more than I do for myself.

"Salut." I respond softly. "Alright, aibou."

I hear him instruct Hiromu on how to deal with the machine, and I realize that he is going to leave us alone to talk for a moment.

I sigh softly, away from the receiver so Hiromu doesn't hear.

"So." I start, and then hesitate, because I'm not sure what to say. I want to make this right between us, somehow, but I don't know how. Or if it's even possible.

"So you know now."

It's oddly intimate.

I can't see him. I'm alone here. But the sound of his voice, even though it echoes strangely...

Oddly intimate.

"I do," I say calmly enough. "And it doesn't change anything important, Emi. Were you... were you worried I'd hate you?"

For all the things I was worried about-

he'll never look at me the same way, he'll start to think of me as a child, he might not want to touch me, what happens in the future, what happens right now

-none of those were anywhere near the word he uses just then, and I shake my head even though he can't see it.

"Non, non." I assure him softly, sure that the technology will carry my voice clearly to him anyway. "Not that, never that..."

I pause and try to put my thoughts into a more cohesive order.

"I was frightened that you might be... upset. That you didn't know. That I never told you... couldn't tell you."

I swallow, hard, though it doesn't do anything for me, really. It still seems right.

"I was worried about what you would think. How you might view me differently, knowing..."

Another pause, another little sigh, this one where he can here. "I was worried about what this could mean for the future."

I think about that for a little while, and nod slowly. "I do wish you'd told me earlier. But I can see how there would never be a good time for it."

...then I'm completely derailed, and he can probably hear the grin in my voice. "You think about us having a future together?"

"It's not-" I trail off, because I don't really have an answer to that. Of course there's no good time. There's no good anything about this. It's terrible.

I bet he's smiling as he says that next part, and I sigh again, weary at the rush of thoughts this brings on.

"I have." I admit. "I have thought about how much I would enjoy it. And I have thought..." My voice breaks and I wince. "I have thought of how difficult it would be. For you. For us. How I... I don't know. I don't know anything, 'iromu, about the future. What if..."

The thought had only occurred to me a few times before, I always quash it before it can get out of hand and destroy me.

"What if this state of stasis is permanent?"

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