Another untitled Gaim ficlet, Kappa universe

[estirose]

Kouta has gotten used to a diet of Helheim fruit and nothing else. He's even gotten used to gardening - though it's less gardening and more convincing a bunch of alien plants not to grow outside and not to grow any fruit. It's bad enough that every so often he opens up the door and has to prevent tiny Elementary Inves from escaping and causing a panic.

Someday, he knows, he'll have to move before someone realizes he's not aging. And the garden will have to move with him. This will be a while; he's working with Takatora as they try to get Mitsuzane a little closer to sanity. Kouta thinks that they might be on the way to convincing him that Takatora is Takatora and not Kouta.

He'd let his sister near the garden - she knows it exists, he had to tell her that there's enough Helheim flora there that he won't starve to death - but it's far too dangerous to humans. There's always the possibility that a human will find it and its fruit, and then everything will spiral out of control.

There's a commotion in the shed, and Kouta internally winces. Is he going to find a full-sized Inves in there? Is he going to have to kill another human that was in the wrong place at the wrong time?

He opens the door, and the vines are waving. There's a shape in there, a dark shape, and he realizes after a moment that Mitsuzane found his way in and now he's almost completely wrapped in vines. The vines aren't harming his old friend, but Mitsuzane is struggling. "Teleport," he says, hoping that Mitsuzane is coherent enough to go back to the dock. It isn't Kouta's top choice, but the plant can be overwhelming if one isn't used to it. He himself has to mentally force vines away from his body if he's been gone for too long; he thinks, sometimes, that the plant considers him part of it.

Mitsuzane teleports out, and Kouta takes a deep breath. He looks among the slender vines for a fruit and sees one, probably generated when Mitsuzane came in. He fishes out a bag and seals it, knowing that Mitsuzane must have been hungry enough to find his way there.

Maybe Mitsuzane will eat without being prompted or commanded this time. Kouta always hopes that he will. But that's in the future, and this is now. He must make do with what he has.

Comments

[reka]

They have some extra time to figure things out in this universe, so Kouta might well get a chance to convince Takatora that he needs some autonomy to grow. Micchy unfortunately won't benefit the same way because he's 14 and cannot developmentally reach the same level of maturity that Kouta can, but Kouta and Takatora can do things to hopefully give him a better and more supportive environment to grow up in. Until everything goes to crap, at least. Hopefully Micchy won't feel like it's an empty gesture.

I'm not sure Takatora would quite think it's sour grapes, since Takatora's grasp of other people's motives can be poor and influenced by personal opinion, but Kouta's judgement isn't beyond questioning. I mean, he did run away from home.

(I have a setup that puts the text of my to-do list on my desktop, but I have a terrible habit of no longer noticing things when they've been in the same place for a while. So sometimes I end up with things I've done staying on the list for a week or so.)

[estirose]

Yes. If Kouta is lucky, he might be able to convince Takatora to let him live on his own for a while and understand the world that they're supposed to be protecting. (Takatora might go for it if Kouta went to university or something like that.) Kouta's still kind of irritated at his younger brother but he's not someone who bears a grudge at least.

(If I forget, it's staring me in the face and sometimes requiring me to scroll, so at least I'm not forgetting this to-do list.)

[reka]

Yeah. Many countries don't have the same tradition of going away to university, but if Kouta goes somewhere outside Zawame, it might be easier to have a small apartment closer to school as long as he stays in touch with his family. I can see Micchy nurturing a serious grudge against Kouta for that, though. Poor kid. He's in the age range where he's separated from both of his brothers.

[estirose]

I'm thinking Kouta's probably going to end up going to the University of Zawame (or something like that), but negotiating with Takatora to let him have his own place so that he can concentrate on his studies. (This would also allow Micchy to have a tiny bit of breathing room in terms of someplace to spend time that's not the house. Kouta might be a little bit irritated at him, but he recognizes why Micchy has issues.)

[reka]

And that fourteen-year-olds all have issues, and that what Micchy needs is space so his issues don't eventually blow up in his face. I don't think Micchy would necessarily talk to Kouta about his feelings, but it would be an outlet with someone who kind of understands. I don't think Kouta having his own apartment that Micchy could go to would completely replace Gaim's role in his life, but having a place where he doesn't feel he has to lie would be really good.

[estirose]

Yes. Micchy can join Gaim (Kouta will keep it a secret for him, let him stow his gear, etc) and that would still get Kouta semi-involved, though he'll know about the Drivers and when Yuuya gets his, Kouta will know something bad's happening. But he still might take it on because it gives him a chance to do something to save the world other than Project Ark.

[reka]

Kouta might not get a chance to get a driver if he's not directly involved in Gaim, but if he knows the team it's possible that something similar could happen. I think that Kouta would kind of be expecting something bad to happen because of what he knows about Project Ark, but he probably didn't expect it to happen to his little brother's social/creative outlet. I agree; Kouta will definitely want to do something.

[estirose]

I could see Yuuya texting the image to Mai while she's out to eat with Kouta and Micchy, and Kouta realizing what the heck it is and immediately drawing Micchy aside with a warning on what's going on. He might take it on himself knowing the consequences if he goes into Helheim with Mai and Micchy trying to find Yuuya. If that makes any sense.

(Of course, given his luck, Mai takes on the driver and becomes Gaim without intending to.)

[reka]

Poor Kouta. He'd feel like he was responsible, too. Would Kouta know about Helheim fruit? Then he'd feel really responsible. I think knowing that Yggdrasil is involved from the beginning would horrify him.

[estirose]

Kouta knows the dangers of the Helheim fruit and would know what happened to Yuuya. He'd probably take on the belt because of guilt (or sit Mai down and tell her what the belt is if she put it on before he got a chance.)

[reka]

Or would suspect. Kouta's an optimist, so I don't think he would be willing to immediately assume the worst. But he's not stupid either, so he'd figure it out. I'm sure he'd tell Mai and Micchy not to eat them, but he might not want to say Yuuya probably did. Especially if Mai took up the belt, but maybe even if she didn't. I'm sure they'd both notice that Kouta was hiding something from them, though.

Would Kouta confront Takatora about it? Before or after Micchy decides to strongarm Sid?

[estirose]

Kouta would definitely come home and have words with Takatora about the belts being distributed. How he does it exactly depends on who got the belt, I think. He's going to be a bit more cautious about it if he got it and more confrontational if Mai was the one who got it. This might not stop Micchy from getting Gaim's second belt from Sid, though.

And yes, Kouta practically holds up a neon sign when he's trying to keep a secret from close friends.

[reka]

No, it wouldn't. Micchy is a fount of poorly-considered decisions.

I don't think Kouta would mention that Micchy was in Gaim, but if it was Mai maybe he could say that it was someone he knew from somewhere. I don't know. Kouta has a lot of options for confronting Takatora about it. And likely wouldn't take "focus on your studies" as an answer.

[estirose]

Yes. Micchy would definitely get the belt regardless. Assuming Mai got Gaim's, Kouta would just say she's a friend of a friend.

If he got the belt, he'd probably give it to Takatora. If it was Mai, he would not be happy if Takatora told him to concentrate on his studies and insist on being involved.

[reka]

I think whether he'd give the belt to Takatora would depend on what he thinks Takatora would do about it. The Drivers are needed for the Beat Rider teams to survive and defend themselves now. If Kouta had the Driver and gave it up, Micchy would be so pissed. I think Mai would understand, but Micchy definitely wouldn't.

[estirose]

"You can't do that!" Mitsuzane's exclamation made Kouta turn, and he faced his little brother. All that he'd proposed was turning the driver that had locked to him over to Takatora - after all, it wasn't like Kouta was a Beat Rider.

"Huh?" he asked. "I'm not a Beat Rider, Mitsuzane."

His younger brother looked at him, blinking, with a frown that threatened to turn into a glare. "Yes you are. The rest of the team's accepted you, Mai adores you, you're called 'Kureshima Kouta of Team Gaim' by Sagara, and people recognize you as part of Gaim. And it's 'Micchy' here. We're not at home."

That kind of explained how Mitsuzane - Micchy - was so cranky. Calling him Mitsuzane reminded him too much of Takatora, and Gaim meant a lot to him. Maybe more than it should.

"Right." He sighed. Micchy had a point. Even if he'd never intended to become part of Team Gaim, he was par of it now. "But I don't like putting people in danger. These are Yggdrasill's devices, and I can't get a straight answer out of Takatora about what's going on." Takatora had basically told him to go back to his studies when he'd asked generically about the things.

"That's why we have them." Micchy crossed his arms. "You and me, we're Kureshimas after all. We have an obligation to the world to put ourselves in danger. Besides, Gaim will be safer with its armored riders. You protect where you can, and I'll protect where I can. It's simple."

He had a point. But Kouta didn't like it. He didn't like how little they knew about the devices, other than they tied somehow to Project Ark. He didn't like how they were distributed to teenagers who didn't know any better.

Kouta hadn't told Takatora that he had one of the Drivers, and he doubted that Micchy would say anything either. It was going to be an unpleasant conversation down the road sometime, but he didn't think that just handing it over would make it any more pleasant. And Micchy had a point. He was needed.

And if he was needed, he'd do all he could for those who needed him.

[reka]

Oh, Kouta. Letting yourself get talked into things as usual. ♥

It's a little unclear when exactly this is set. How did Kouta know the drivers were Yggdrasil technology if he doesn't know much about them? Did he see designs or something that he remembered? Is Takatora not telling much because he has a feeling that Kouta will feel he needs to get involved or just because he doesn't want to talk about it?

[estirose]

I have a sense that Kouta's seen Takatora's driver (though Takatora told him the Project Ark ones aren't going to have the transformation capability that these do), but deflected any more questions because he wanted Kouta to concentrate on his studies, dangit, and not get sidetracked.

(In other words, I kind of wrote this down so that the muses would stop bothering me when I had stuff to do, so it's a bit fuzzy.)

[reka]

That makes sense. Takatora's had it for a while, and they did spend a little while talking seriously about stuff after Kouta came home. But getting Kouta involved would be bad.

(Makes sense! Sometimes you just have to write by feel.)

[estirose]

Yes. He didn't realize that since Kouta didn't have the details, he wouldn't know things like, say, his Driver would lock to him. Because that would never come up, of course. But Kouta does know the basics of Project Ark.

As Kouta points out, Takatora will not react well to both brothers having Drivers. Which is why he intends to keep Takatora from finding out (or at least keep him from realizing and hope he doesn't find out from work) what happened.

(Yeah. My muses have jaws of steel.)

[reka]

Takatora figured it was far enough removed from his brothers' lives to be a non-issue. I imagine that he'd be alarmed if Kouta told him he knew someone who'd gotten a driver because he thinks of the Beat Riders as irresposible good-for-nothings.

I assume that Micchy still wouldn't tell anyone that he got a belt before he uses it, since Kouta and Mai would still be unhappy about it. Sid would know that Kouta had one and was a sibling when Micchy got his and could give Micchy a hard time about following his older brother while being ambiguous. Does Micchy know Takatora has a Driver, or is that something Kouta's trying to hide?

(If you ever need to pause/stop replying so muses don't get excited, that's 100% okay.)

[estirose]

Kouta told Micchy when he or Mai got the belt that Takatora had one. If Mai was te one who got the belt, then Kouta would pass it off as he's been studying near an open stage and he got to know at least one of the teams, so he recognized the belt when she (the owner) got hers.

(He would, of course, not say anything if he got the belt because he doesn't want to alarm Takatora and he's hoping his brother doesn't notice. If Takatora behaves the way he does in canon, he might find out when he goes to help collect driver wearers.)

[reka]

That doesn't sound like the best place to study, but Kouta presumably knows what works for him or something.

So Micchy would know that the thing he wanted to take charge of his own life was connected to Yggdrasil from the beginning. And that the person who he feels is controlling his life has the same thing. That adds a bit more obviously sibling antagonism to Micchy's early actions, I think.

Whether Mai gets the Driver or not, I don't think Kouta will be able to keep that they're Yggdrasil technology from her for long. Especially if she had it and Zangetsu attacked her. That would probably not end well for Takatora after his siblings heard of it.

[estirose]

Yeah. Takatora would probably find neither of his brothers talking to him at the very least. Kouta told her that they were Yggdrasill's tech and he dudn't know they were in the wild.

(As far as Kouta's studying habits, Takatora was a bit concerned, but Kouta's grades are consistently high so he's not about to bother Kouta about study habits that are apparently working. )

[reka]

I can see Micchy actively fuming about it and never really getting the distance to calm down. Having Kouta's place to go to might help, though. Would Mai know that they have a clue who that rider is?

(I wondered if Takatora would have access to Kouta's grades before realizing that Kouta would probably share if he didn't.)