dinohouse | [Fourze characters/Liveman family/anyone really/go wild]

"Shame. If they're anything like you ..." I leave the words hanging, then step down off the wall, "I take it you'll be wanting to keep the Switch, then?" No point ending the show prematurely.

I frown at him, consider taking a step back, taking a step forward, circling him, running away, but I manage to simply stand my ground and set my hands on my hips. "I thought you said it was mine now, anyway?" This could be potentially dangerous. "That it wouldn't work for anyone else."

"All of that's true, but you seem to be more ... separate from this Switch than would typically be the case. An advantage of having no humanity to surrender, perhaps?" Or perhaps some secondary effect of bypassing Ursa Major completely. At this stage I think I'll watch. Performance criticism has a time and place.

I nod, though I'm not sure how I feel about his words. I don't intend on being entirely sufficient on something external or easily stolen from me ever again, but that doesn't mean I want to give it up. "I'm just an experiment to you, aren't I?"

"Who said that? We're two of twelve generals. That makes us equal, right? The veteran may try to push his age over beauty, but the audience doesn't care." A concept that dear Hayami-sensei has repeatedly and embarrassingly failed to grasp.

"You and I are of one mind, then." I'll give him that. I already learned my lesson about trying to be better than my equals.

"Two of twelve?" He did mention that, but it hadn't quite occurred to me until now. "How many others are there?"

"Five, counting us. Or there were five, until one of them had ... a misfortune. It doesn't really matter. The power of that Switch has been unleashed." I bet that ridiculous ape in the braces still cries over her picture every night. Maybe I'll tell him. Having it be the last thing he hears would be the perfect fall of the curtain for him, "but ultimately, there must be twelve."

Sounds familiar, at first. I wonder what ultimately means for him. His human form can't be any older than mine appears to be. I wonder if he even ages, or how long this grand finale of his is going to take to come about.

"Twelve's a big number. Quite a lot of room for skulduggery and backstabbing." And I don't like the idea that normally this stage is a form of evolution. It would be like a Yummy becoming a Greeed by sheer force of will.

"There is. But, if someone's trying to snatch more than their fair share of the spotlight ... as long as the Switch's power is activated, they can be removed from the stage." He should probably be filled in at some point about Sonoda and Virgo and the others, but not right now.

I don't like the sound of that.

Probably still better than an arm through the chest, though, falling to pieces, surrounded by oblivious humans but completely alone.

Bitter? Me?

"I'll keep that in mind." I don't intend to try and usurp anyone's position. Not again.

"I shouldn't worry too much. Libra will be the next to take a bow, I'm sure of it." Especially when it's revealed that I, not he, was the one to discover someone who can evolve straight to a Horoscope.

I know that face. "You don't like this Libra, do you?" I'm not sure which of them I should side with, if there's a schism going on. Perhaps neither. Perhaps I should continue to operate independently. "And the twelve will supposedly be equal? That seems inefficient." I think he's withholding information, but I'm not sure to what end.

"We're generals of the commander. And he rewards achievement ... but, in theory, we are equal. Some are more equal than others, you understand." Perhaps the truest line ever spoken, "Libra has not been living up to expectations, so some of us are more equal than he. You were able to become a Horoscope straight away. Perhaps you'll be more equal than I am."

Ah, of course. "There's a commander, then."

More equal than others. That's familiar too. Ankh thought he was the most equal of us all, I think, that was why he kept siding with OOO, no matter who took the mantle.

I like that last part though. I smirk. "More equal than you?"

I spread my arms and shrug. "You're probably safe from me." I'm not looking for another fight.

"Maybe ... but we can't always follow a script. Even the best performers must face the unexpected." Perhaps I should return to his first point. That's a safer topic of conversation, "our commander is the founder of the school. He discovered the Switches in space."

"And he wants to wake these twelve commanders?" That much is easy to piece together.

I have a brief flash, a memory from eight centuries ago. The King, all of our Cores... To become a God, he would destroy us.

I wonder if I'm going to be part of a grand sacrifice again.

"Why?"

"I don't know." I think he deserves an honest answer, "I was bored. I used my Switch because I enjoyed it. That simple. Could we be disposed of once he's achieved his purpose, probably, but I've always preferred it when the ending isn't spoiled for me."

Some urge somewhere compels me to add, "... sorry." It's probably not genuine. I don't feel anything any more, but it's been a while since I ever even contemplated the idea of trying to be sorry for something.

"You are certainly special." He's one of those odd cases where he would have either made a wonderful Yummy or a truly abysmal one.

Not that it matters now.

"Don't bother," I can tell he could actually care less, which is perplexing in it's own way. Does he not care that he could be destroyed, even if he doesn't consider himself alive anymore? "I don't intend to be destroyed for some overzealous human's dark plot again."

"Human?" That elicits a laugh, one that is at least genuinely amused, "He's no more human than you or I. And plot or no plot, you still have that Switch."

This catches me off guard. I frown a bit, turn a bit to pace a few steps. Restless.

"Not human?" I fix him with a steady stare. "But never human, like me? Or... evolved human, like you?"

I'm keeping the Switch, certainly. No matter what.

"He wants us to think he's an evolved human. I'd place a guess on never, myself. Audience participation is always fun," I say, with just enough hint of a smile to grate on his nerves.

He's not going to give up Leo. I think our esteemed school chairman will have a struggle to wrench it from his claws.

He is obnoxious with his obsession with theatrics. Still, at least the jokes are better than Maki's constant insistence on the end.

"I don't suppose it matters, in the end." I shrug one shoulder, and try not to let on how annoyed I am at the idea that I will be perpetually fighting to hold the form I belong in.

"And where do you stand? Do you really have so little care for your own existence?"

"What are any of us worth? All the world's a stage. I just don't see why I have to be bored while I wait in the wings." I'm not stupid enough to get sent to the Dark Nebula, or to be defeated by one of our friendly neighbourhood Kamen Riders. I'm also not naïve enough to think I'm indispensable.

"I like to think I'm worth more than I seem." I shrug. "I don't intend to stand in the wings, but I'm not particularly fond of being a prop either."

I pace a bit more. "So you have no intention of defending yourself, should this commander of yours decide to sacrifice you?"

"Of course. Survival of the fittest. He took that risk when he brought the Switches to earth." Age and treachery may triumph over youth and enthusiasm, but what about youth and enthusiasm and treachery?

[Fourze characters/Liveman family/anyone really/go wild]

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