Christmas "Meme"

[snakewithbaggage]

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!

Comments

[red_pleather]

I blink at him, horrified. "Dispose of- No. No, I haven't been ordered to kill you." I deliberately use blunt words, because that'd have an impact on me, it wouldn't be 'disposing' of him like taking a soda can to the trash, sheesh.

"I wouldn't do it anyway. I came to say Merry Christmas."

[interpolate]

I'd hoped to get to him with that. I smirk at him and shake my head. "A shame. I'm beginning to grow weary."

I pause at his assurance that he wouldn't anyway. Of course, that isn't what surprises me.

"Christmas?" I turn my head as though there's a window in this underground prison. "Have I been here that long?"

[red_pleather]

"You're not that weary," I say, intending to tease, but there's a hint of sharpness in my tone. I don't want him talking like that. I don't want... to lose him.

Not just the memory of Emeric. Or Eti's brother.

I don't want to lose him. The man in front of me.

"...yes."

[interpolate]

I squint at him quizzically. What would he know about how I feel? Or, whether I feel at all?

Not that it matters. I roll my eyes and look away from him again. "I suppose it is. And what do you expect from me? This all happened on Christmas, you parents, everything. I'm surprised you can enjoy it."

[red_pleather]

"I don't expect anything from you," I say seriously, standing straight again, present behind my back. "And we've all made efforts to keep Christmas fun. Neesan did it, and so did everyone here."

So.

I hold out my hand, with the carefully wrapped (thanks, Nick) framed photo of him, Eti, and me, back before it all happened. When we were small.

[interpolate]

"Fun." I repeat with a little scoff. Seems unimaginable to me. Christmas was the day they lost everything, their lives ruined. They were only children. Christmas should be a time of terrible saddness for them.

Fun.

The anniversaries were hard, in the subdimension. I rarely had any awareness of the passing of time, but I always knew when Christmas came around, because Majesté counted the years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, seconds until freedom. Rule. Every anniversary was another year of failure.

He is offering me a gift. I stare at it blankly for a moment. "What is this."

[red_pleather]

He's either going to cry or punch me. Or maybe both.

I'm more inclined towards the violence option.

But it has to be done. I smile, and shake it at him insistently. "A present. For you."

[interpolate]

I roll my eyes at him, but I'm quite sure he's not going to leave until I open the damn thing, so I snatch it out of his hands and tear the paper off.

A picture frame...

A picture.

"Oh." The soft sound of disbelief escapes me without my consent.

Children. We were...

Children.

[red_pleather]

I'm not sure what he's thinking.

He's frozen, staring at it.

"Do you remember that day?" I ask casually.

[interpolate]

His forced calmness gets under my skin in a way the picture never could.

My head snaps up and I glare at him with teeth bared.

"Where did this come from."

[red_pleather]

"It's a print of one that I have," I say, tensing a little harder, but not shifting. "My father gave it to me. Many years ago."

Thirteen, in fact.

[interpolate]

The picture is... damning, isn't it? Little mirror images, framing his smiling face. He was too young. We were too young, too, of course we were. But still...

Still.

"Merde." I mutter, caught up in the image and more distracted than I've been for... some time, now.

"Why, Red Buster. Tell me why this matters so much to you."

[red_pleather]

"Because you matter to me," I say, voice growing a little hoarse. "So does your brother. I..."

I sigh.

"I don't expect this to fix everything. It was just a good memory."

[interpolate]

"Does my brother know you've done this?" I hold the picture up, still unsure as to his motive... The meaning behind it, the purpose.

Damn it, will he never cease to be so thoroughly confounding, so flawed, so imperceptible?

So damnably human?

"You remember this day, specifically?" I ask softly, looking down at the image again.

I do not. I wonder if my brother does?

(moving ahead with what we talked about ages ago if that's okayyy)

[red_pleather]

"I do," I say softly. "And no, he doesn't know I'm here."

I sigh. "He'll be all right, understand that, please? He just got hit quite hard when we were fighting today, and he's sleeping, with the help of painkillers."

(OH MY GOD YOU MEAN *THAT* YOU'RE A DEMON I LOVE YOU)

[interpolate]

This does not surprise me. Despite my brother's resistance, Hiromu has been making many overtures towards convincing me to renounce my position in Vaglass, if not outright align myself with the Busters. Impossible, of course, as I have told him countless times before. But still he tries.

His next words catch me cold, however, and I look up from the picture again, look into his eyes even as my hand clenches compulsively against the edge of the frame.

"He... What happened?"

(ilu2 and it was your idea in the first place XD) (tossing out random stuff, lemme know if you like)

[red_pleather]

I'd much prefer to talk about the photo, even if he hits me, even if he screams at me, even if he refuses to talk to me for the next month.

But I can't keep this from him.

"Two Metaroids. He was ambushed," I say quietly. I suspect, in fact, that the second was trying to kidnap him. Given what was happening when I arrived, nearly too late. But I don't know.

(I LOVE IT I LOVE YOU YOU'RE THE BEST)

[interpolate]

His voice is soft. This is a tender wound for him, apparently. He cares for my brother. There is a certain amount of concern in his voice that indicates more than a simple wound.

"Ambushed? He was alone?"

I don't realize I'm moving closer to him until I'm standing right in front of him, face to face, or nearly so.

"Is he... going to be alright?"

(lmao)

[red_pleather]

I give him what's meant to be a reasonably encouraging smile, but probably shows far more of my tiredness than I want it to.

"We were fighting Buglers -- more than I've ever seen before. Working our way back towards each other because we got swamped. I realised Eti wasn't with us," which was not the most enjoyable realisation of my life, "and sped off around the corner to find him."

Emi's in my face, and I touch his shoulder in reassurance, automatically, like I would for one of the others.

Huh.

"He'll be fine. I promise. Just a couple sprains, some burns, but he's been bandaged up properly and he heals quickly. He's on some heavy duty painkillers, so he's asleep. He's not in any pain just now."

I'm not exactly unaffected by Eti being hurt, and I wish I'd gotten there a few minutes earlier. But I'm aware that it could've been considerably worse. If I'd arrived later...

[interpolate]

I listen to his explanation stoically, not moving any closer to him but not moving away. Not shrugging off his hand where he touches me, either.

Buglars. A flood of them. And Metaroids. Not one. Two. Who would expend such firepower, waste such Enetron?

And why?

Sprains, burns, heavy duty painkillers.

My teeth grit together against my will and I hiss in his face, though my anger is not directed at him.

Yet.

"I need to see him."

[red_pleather]

......I'm not sure if this is good or bad.

I don't step back when he hisses at me. I'd be angry about my brother, too, and I'm almost... almost... glad that he's affected.

I want to reach him. So badly.

Keep cool.

I nod. "I'll let people know."

He doesn't leave here often, but his abilities are so lessened, and he's done no damage. We are still vigilant. But more comfortable, more willing to allow him some freedoms. Which probably grates on him.

As long as I'm with him, and the correct protocols are activated in terms of surveillance, both passive and active, this is allowed.

[interpolate]

For once, I could care less that they, as a collective, are treating me as less than a threat. That they will allow me to leave this cell, this room that they have kept me in.

For once, I have no intent in my mind to escape, no desire to reach for the power that I have practically forgotten the feel of, it has been so long that I have been disconnected from my origin point.

I need to see my brother. I need to assure myself that he is going to be alright. And, if possible, I need to find out more about why this happened. What caused this sudden, overwhelming, apparently very well orchestrated attack.

Who is summoning Metaroids without me?

I stand and move to Hiromu's side, avoiding his eyes and waiting for his indication to move.

"This is unacceptable." I say softly under my breath, mostly to myself.

[red_pleather]

I do what I have to do, and we're given clearance.

"Agreed."

We begin walking towards the infirmary. I don't like going here. I don't like reminders that we're not unstoppable, that we can get so seriously hurt that we can't just get up again and fight immediately.

It's unavoidable, and it's happened to me, too. Doesn't mean we can't get up again ever. Just takes a while to heal, sometimes.

I still hate it, though.

I especially hate when it's any of the others, because it's a reminder of how I failed.

Nearly there. The guard outside the door nods to us.

[interpolate]

I wonder again at the depth of his relationship with my brother. His concern seems excessive unless either he is more concerned about Etienne than necessary, or...

Forbid it, but perhaps Etienne is more gravely wounded than he has let on.

I curl a lip at the guard that simply nods as though Hiromu is walking his faithful Buddyroid, and not moi. A month ago, any one of these non-Buster peons would have cowered in terror before me, and they would have been smart to do so. A month ago, I could tear any one of them limb from joint.

Now I am a mere curiosity.

The infirmary is stifling, quiet, makes my head feel light. Makes me feel ill.

My brother--

I tear away from Hiromu's side and fall to my knees beside the bed before I even realize what I'm doing, reaching to take his hand and hesitating when I notice the IV there.

"Non. How did this happen? Why?"

[red_pleather]

"I'm not sure," I say reluctantly, folding my arms. Hate this. Hate this so much.

But he's asking, and he's Eti's brother, so... "I think they were trying to... to take him. I don't know, though."