Month 2: Enter the Meme King

[thequestgiver]

In a secluded, shadowy, disused location, the select few of a newly formed organization come to meet.... What dark and--

"Oh for gods sake, do you have to narrate every damned time?"

"Look, I'm trying to build the atmosphere here! How are we to be proper about this if we don't even go that far?"

"Who cares about being proper!" a third figure, noticeably smaller than the first interrupted. "I wanna know who's gonna be fighting this week!"

"Ug, seriously? We don't even have everyone here yet!"

"So???"

"He does have a point, you know..."

"Oh, don't you start too."

"Hey, I'm just saying..."

"Fight! Fight! Fight!"

"All right, all right! Eesh! Make your report already!"

There was the distinct sound of glasses being adjusted, a glint of light reflecting in the darkened room. "Currently over 25 individuals of note have been recorded. Not all of them are of significance, however, as a few... supporting individuals seem to have been connected as well. Of these, the Rider franchise seems to be the most represented, with Ultraman coming in second. More research is needed to determine how to create connections in a more targeted way before phase two of our operation can begin."

"And I can fight them!!" the younger voice piped in excitedly.

A deep sigh from the glassed figure answered. "After they fight each other first," he corrected. "We've been over this..."

"Ha! You just think they need to be softened up first, don't you?! Don't you believe in my power??!"

"... don't make me answer that."

"Hey!!"

"And that's enough of that, I'd think... Fade to black, everybody!"

"...drama queen."

---

Any Displaced individual prone to visions, premonitions or other plot sensing type skills may have had a variation on the above scene in a dream, vision or just felt like someone was watching them. Even those without a plot speaking skill may start getting a strange feeling of being watched when they're out in public....

Not that it will be foremost on their mind very long, as suddenly, every single TV screen or similar nearby flashes white, before a short clip begins to play:

Comments

[powertotearer]

Eiji is very used to random sidetracks that divert away from answering a pointed question. He does it all the time himself, when he doesn't want to tell anyone he's not okay.

So he tries to run with it, although it's just so MUCH of a tangent that he blinks, not really understanding.

"Okay?"

[triggerhappytraitor]

For Tachibana, changing the subject was a fairly standard response to most situations. That and just leaving. But for once, his seemingly random topic switch was not avoidance, but an attempt to connect the scattered points of data he'd been staring at since this whole mess stated.

"With a world that's seen more than one set of Riders be pressed into action, I can't help but wonder if a similar excessive energy signature might have been left behind... and if that could be a complication, if not a possible root of this odd displacement."

[powertotearer]

It's still going over Eiji's head, and he stares on in confusion.

"I...don't think I understand?"

[triggerhappytraitor]

Tachibana hesitated a moment, looking over. "...you don't measure the energy signatures that your Systems produce when you transform?"

The thought that Eiji might not be as up to his elbows in the technological details of how his system worked as he had been somehow had not yet occurred to him. never mind that even Kenzaki would still have been mostly lost here, never mind the other two of his fellow Riders from his home universe

[powertotearer]

"The Kougami Foundation probably does, but I don't exactly specialize in that..."

Technically, he didn't specialize in anything in particular. He just happened to be doing mostly archeological freelance for the last seven years or so, and before that, he waited tables and dressed in costumes.

[triggerhappytraitor]

"Your parent company?" Tachibana asked, curiously.

[powertotearer]

"Kind of?" Eiji shrugs. "I'm working with them for now, but not really for them, if that makes sense."

[triggerhappytraitor]

Tachibana was silent a moment, lips pressed together as he tried to remember more of what they had chatted about on the message board.

"So you were freelance, rather than officially hired by them? Since you said you wound up pulled into your position by improbable coincidence."

Which would be why he didn't really know the specifics about how the System worked, since he wouldn't have been on the development team for it. A bit more like Mutuski, than like himself or Kenzaki.

[powertotearer]

Eiji nodded. "I'll be honest, there were a few more things they did with me that were probably huge ethical violations. But they're happy enough to pay my travel expenses and help my research if I don't bring them up."

He's not nearly as dumb as he looks, even if things like this are beyond his understanding.

[triggerhappytraitor]

A small, almost bitter huff escaped Tachibana. "Seems to be a running trend..." he reflected ruefully. "The Humanity Foundation was BOARD's parent company. Though by the end of everything, there really wasn't anything much left of either of them, between the accidents and... non-accidents."

Since he was fairly sure that nothing Tennouji had perpetrated had been anything accidental...

[powertotearer]

Eiji's eyes widen at the comment about "non-accidents," and he nods.

"I'm just glad it never got that bad. Kougami has morals, even if we don't always agree with them."

He'd been proud of Eiji for standing up to him too, even if Eiji had been half-crazed from misinterpreting his own desire and the purple Medals still inside him.

[triggerhappytraitor]

"Far more than I can say for Tennouji." Tachibana's smile was grim as he looked away. "He pretended his actions were for a greater good... but in the end, it was all for his own ambition. One he was willing to sacrifice the entire world to achieve."

[powertotearer]

Eiji gives a wry smile. "Mr. Kougami always says that the world is made up of desires, and it's what makes evolution possible. I'm not sure how much I believe that, but I know it's important to maintain a balance between wanting something enough to have a reason to live, and making sure you don't impose your will on others and make them suffer."

[triggerhappytraitor]

"Evolution, huh?" Tachibana repeated, expression growing a touch distant as his mind reflect on a different part of what Eiji had said. Wanting something enough to have a reason to live...

Having a reason to live had been what caused him to be a failure as a Rider. When that reason had been taken... all that was left was a willingness to sacrifice what little he had left so that others could live without that loss....

"The hard-coded need to fight and survive is what determined what species dominated our world," he continued, almost as if talking about the weather or something inconsequential. "So in that respect, he's not wrong," he allowed with a hint of a wry smile.

[powertotearer]

"Well, yeah, but...surviving and living aren't the same thing. I should know."

It's honestly more than he should say, and part of him just wants to close himself off and avoid the issue. But he's recovered enough from his trauma now that if asked, he's not going to stay quiet.

[triggerhappytraitor]

Recovering from trauma required both to acknowledge and deal with said trauma, rather than attempting to just bury it and pretend it doesn't affect you.

Tachibana was quiet a moment, expression growing distant once more.

"...sometimes just one of them has to be enough," he finally responded, voice soft and almost distracted, as if the words weren't intended to be heard.

[powertotearer]

Eiji shook his head with a sad smile. "I tried that once. Just surviving. Pretending I was okay when I wasn't. I just did everything because I felt like I had to, instead of because I wanted to. Being OOO gave me...it made me feel like I wasn't helpless anymore. Even if I know it was still just another way I was denying myself. What really helped, though, was having other people around and finally letting them help me."

[triggerhappytraitor]

"...and when there's noone left?"

The words came out unbidden, and Tachibana looked away, pressing his lips together tightly, as if that would somehow make the words not have been said.

[powertotearer]

Eiji's smile is soft and sympathetic.

"That's what I thought too. I can't say that what worked for me will work for everyone else, but... But there's always another hand to reach out for. If you can at least remember that, it'll give you more so that you can help others."

[triggerhappytraitor]

There was a small, bitter huff. "You really would get along well with Kotaro. You're both fond of that same sort of nonsense."

Almost everyone he'd ever reached out for help from had died because of it. And the only reason Karasuma hadn't is because he had run. Even if the Fight was on hold, with Kenzaki's sacrifice.... there was no way he would risk pulling anyone else down into that cursed fate he hadn't been able to fight.

[powertotearer]

"If it weren't for that nonsense, I wouldn't still be human. I might not even be alive."

[triggerhappytraitor]

Tachibana stiffened, the words feeling like salt rubbed into his greatest failure.

"Lucky that it worked for you," he returned, voice suddenly so much colder and harder than before. He glanced over at the traffic going by, debating if he could just simply. Stalk way over to his bike and drive off.

[powertotearer]

Eiji knew that shut down. It was how Ankh always told him a conversation was over.

Good thing he rarely listened.

"It wasn't. I lost someone because I couldn't see that in time. If I'd listened to him earlier, maybe it wouldn't have gotten that bad."

[triggerhappytraitor]

Tachibana tensed further, fists tight as his side, knuckles turning white. He should just leave. He should just be somewhere else before he--

But the logical part of his brain always was very swiftly overpowered by the emotional part, and Eiji's words had hit far too deeply on a wound that even after 10 years, was still far too painfully raw.

He turned, eyes blazing with anger. "The most important person in the world to me was murdered because I reached out to her! And the second most important person, the one who had those same stupid ideas, sacrificed his goddamned human existence and every goddamned thing he had to make up for my failures because I wanted to believe that his way of looking at things was right! I have lost almost every goddamned thing that mattered to me in this world, so save your goddamned advice for someone else!"

[powertotearer]

Eiji generally tries to get along with everyone. But he has a limit to his patience.

"So now what? Are you just going to push everyone away so you don't get them hurt, or so you don't get hurt? Because it doesn't help anyone else you care about if you do this to them."

He takes a breath, trying to keep himself from completely losing his temper. "I'm sorry that you lost someone. And that horribly. But as someone who almost did give up his humanity, I know your other friend would have wanted to do everything within his power to keep anything like that from happening again--to keep you and everyone else from ever feeling that kind of pain again!"