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]

He's holding Eti, looking at him with utter horror.

I'm hugging myself, might as well admit it. I want to go to him. To both of them. Want to comfort, protect, save them.

Can't do it, at least not to that extent.

I flinch when Emi looks up at me like that. Doesn't bother me when he's pissed off, when he's refusing to listen to me, but he's... he's raw, and vulnerable, and very afraid. "...yes. Yes, that," I say softly.

[interpolate]

After a moment, I realize that Hiromu is uncomfortable. Why? Not because of me, certainly. Because my brother has been hurt, badly, because Hiromu will gladly assume that he is at fault, if just by sheer accident.

"You..."

I pause. Can I say the words that are hovering at the back of my mind, taunting me, teasing at the back of my tongue.

"For weeks, I have attempted to impart my purpose to you. My perpetual goal of protecting my brother from harm. I have refused to ally myself with you, and still you fought to redeem me."

My eyes are drawn back to my brother's drawn face.

"I cannot protect him from inside these walls. That much is clear now, where it should have been before."

Am I really about to say...

"How can I make sure this never occurs again?"

[red_pleather]

I listen to him seriously, silently, as he speaks. I've never heard such distress in his voice.

...

Ah.

Oh.

Wow.

"You -- we -- can't keep him entirely safe," I say softly. "But you could help me protect him."

[interpolate]

"Non." Hiromu's compromise is unacceptable to me. "Not good enough. I will keep him safe. I did all that I could to protect him from what I considered inevitable, and I failed. Here he is, wounded by my own inaction. Never again."

My eyes might as well be burning, flaring bright. Glowing with a purpose, and also with a very real, very visible red light.

"I will destroy any program that dares stand in my way, that makes any overtures towards harming my brother again."

I pause, looking back to his face. He is sleeping, not unconscious. And yet...

"I will take Messiah down. Destroy it, line by line until the code is shattered beyond repair."

There is no fear that the destruction of Messiah might result in the cessation of my own life. That is the least of my worries.

[red_pleather]

...he's not just angry, wounded, worried.

He's furious. Furious enough to take my offer, my non-specific offer of helping us more, and then turn it into fighting with us against Messiah.

His eyes are red. I'm wary, but I'm not scared.

Not about to smile; it's too awful that Eti got hurt. But this is a big step. This is a helluva big step. "Good," I say in the end.

"I'll help you."

[interpolate]

I hiss a bit at his confidence. His pride. If I didn't know better, I'd think he is mocking me. Instead, I imagine he is simply smug. He was right, all along. Allying myself with Messiah didn't protect my brother, didn't keep him safe.

Not that an instant and immediate shift to the good side would have done much different.

"The level of your involvement will be up to my brother." I inform him cooly. "When he awakes, that is. This is a dangerous task I have assigned myself."

[red_pleather]

.........I sigh.

I'm glad to have him working with us against Messiah. But I'm not his subordinate, and he needs to understand that. I'll work WITH him.

Not for him.

Not for Eti, either.

"My level of involvement is up to me," I say firmly. Not being aggressive, not looking for a fight, just spelling it out. "I'll continue to fight Messiah, and I'll continue to do what I can to protect Eti-tachi. I'll work with you in that, but I'm not going to sit back and await orders from either of you."

[interpolate]

"Non." I growl again. I blink twice, slowly, and just as slowly the red haze clears.

I turn my eyes back to my brother, considering. Contemplating.

Curious?

No, I simply need to know, to be sure, before I move forward.

"Do you love him?"

[red_pleather]

He's arguing, but that's not exactly unexpected. If Emi ever once just said yes to something I said, I'd know something was wrong.

It's not bothering me particularly. I choose what I do, not him.

...

I blink at him rapidly. "L-Love?"

[interpolate]

I blink at him, then nod my head once.

"Oui. My brother. Do you love him?"

My eyes are drawn yet again back to his face. A crease has formed between his eyebrows, as though a dull pain is beginning to break through the haze of narcotics.

"I do. I love him more than this planet. I love him more than I have ever considered loving myself." My eyes flick to Hiromu's for the next bit. "He cares for you. Deeply. I can see it, in his eyes and body language."

[red_pleather]

......oh. That kind of love.

Actually, I'm not sure I differentiate between familial love and... romantic love, with him.

With them.

Definitions fail.

I think I'm in trouble.

"He does?" My brain catches up with my ears, and that jolts out of me, a wistful smile on my face. "Uh... I -- I think I do, yes."

[interpolate]

"Hm." I stand slowly, regretfully pulling my hand away from my brother's arm, though I take a moment to brush fingertips across his cheek before I circle the bed again, intent on the door.

"Take care of him."

[red_pleather]

I'm distracted by the movement of him touching Eti's face. Eti's looking a little greyer again, like he needs more painkillers.

"'Take care of'- where are you going?"

[interpolate]

"I am leaving." This should certainly be evident. "I would prefer to do this with access to my own computer, but I do not believe there is time to waste with paperwork and clearances and bowing and scraping. I will make do."

[red_pleather]

...shit.

"I'm coming with you," I tell him hastily. I rest a hand on Eti's shoulder for a moment.

"I'll take care of him," I tell Eti, then I sprint after Emi. He can't do this. I'm not even sure he can PHYSICALLY do this. He doesn't have the same access to power that he had before, and if he heads out of here without me then someone will probably shoot him anyway.

[interpolate]

I do not slow in my stride, though I do turn my head to look at him.

"This will not be necessary, Hiromu. You should stay with my brother."

He might have a point, I realize, as the door refuses to open automatically for me.

"We do not have time."

[red_pleather]

I stand in front of the door sensor, which opens for me. "We have as much time as needed," I say sharply. "Messiah's not attacking right now. Take a day, an hour, even, to gather more information and let us help you, if you can even GET to subspace without EMC help right now."

[interpolate]

His words catch me short, as does the guard in the hall, shifting the grip on his gun. I'm sure he imagines it to be subtle, but it could not be more obvious to me.

"Messiah did attack. My brother's incapacitation is evidence of that."

He has a point, that I haven't been able to access the subdimension since being brought here.

"I simply require freedom, and access to a computer."

[red_pleather]

"Yes, Messiah did attack, and may well attack again shortly, but that makes it even more important that we do this carefully."

Not stupidly. Emi. Please.

"Not that simple."

[interpolate]

Why does he seem to be so upset?

I take a step back from the open doorway, and the guard looks to Hiromu curiously.

"It... It is that simple." I inform him. "It has to be. I tried the more complex route. It failed me."

[red_pleather]

I really don't like doing this with an audience, but I'll cope.

"Emi." I step closer. "Do you really think you can travel there just with a computer? I don't-"

I don't want to lose you again.

[interpolate]

My eyes are mostly focused on the guard, but when he steps nearer to me, my focus is drawn back down to Hiromu.

He is still calling me by that name. It still rankles when he does so.

"I do. I have always been able to before. Messiah... Messiah must still trust me. It would not have..."

Not have what?

Hurt Etienne?

Unless it wanted me back.

[red_pleather]

I can't allow this. I can't let him go where I can't follow.

Even if I didn't care for myself, or for EMC's sake? Eti would kill me, no matter how conflicted he is about his brother just now.

I frown. "It would not have what?"

[interpolate]

Why is he so intent? His intensity rolls over me in waves, and I know that he has no intention of letting me leave this room alone.

Why?

My brother, it must be. It always is.

"Messiah would not give up on me. Messiah needs me, it is trapped in the subdimension without me."

[red_pleather]

"So you think you can get back there under false pretences and take it out," I say, not quite a question.

I don't want to force him to stay here. He's a person. He has his own right to self-determination. But I can't let him do this.