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sakon76Well, finished binding one of the armholes, and then I wrote for the next hour and a bit as I promised ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hoshikage I would. The two resulting scenes below.
Oh, and the lemon meringue pie turned out quite nicely.
The sunshine wasn't any brighter on the roof of the Phoenix Nest than it would be on the outside grounds, but Mirai preferred the run up the stairs to the more secluded location. He also liked the way the cement radiated the day's heat all around him. He closed his eyes and soaked up the warmth, the solar energy /humming/ all around him to those with the senses to perceive it. He wondered if there was anyone else on Earth at the moment who could. Maybe Marina might be able to hear it, he thought, if she ever sat very still and listened. But it wasn't hearing exactly, he admitted to himself, it was energy-sense, which humans hadn't developed yet.
Behind him the door to the roof opened. Mirai almost felt like one of the fat, lazy cats around the complex that he and Konomi fed on the sly, too indolent to turn around and see who it was. But he did anyway and smiled to find it was Teppei who'd joined him.
Teppei came over and sat down next to him, not blocking the sunlight. "How's your arm?" he asked, nodding at where it was still wrapped in a white sling.
"Better, I think," Mirai answered, wiggling his fingers a little. That didn't hurt though the location of the break still ached literally bone-deep. But he could only pour so much energy into healing even this form before the natural processes refused to go any faster. Another day, maybe two, and he'd be fine. Three and no one would be able to tell he'd ever been hurt.
Teppei sighed. "I can't believe how fast you heal. If only we could...."
Mirai shook his head. "It's not technology, Teppei-san, it's evolution. Humans will get there eventually."
"It won't be fast enough," Teppei rejoined. "Not with people dying from cancer, leukemia... all these things we can't treat yet." He sighed.
Aside from the Ultra Mother, Mirai had never met a healer among his people. They so seldom needed it; once the body of battle was released, it was a simple matter to repair the injuries in a smaller form. Teppei, though, was a healer born, even if he'd subverted his path to remain in GUYS for as long as he was needed.
"Thank you," Mirai said, "for giving everyone instructions on how to fix my arm." That had been the most excruciating experience he'd ever had, George bracing his shoulder while Ryu pulled on his arm, the bone disappearing back into his body and being aligned /within/.... If he had the choice, he'd never want to repeat the experience.
"I'm just sorry I couldn't be there to help," Teppei replied. "Those x-rays, though...." They'd snuck into the infirmary as soon as Mirai was back and the doctors could be misdirected, and taken images of the inside of his arm to confirm that the bones were indeed aligned correctly. By the time they'd finished, the puncture in Mirai's skin had already knitted itself cleanly closed and gone to bruise colors.
"It's energy," Mirai said, feeling he owed some kind of explanation. "Our natural form, as Ultra, is energy. We can only shape so much energy into mass for battle. It's why we have that time limit. Smaller shapes, like this," he said, gesturing at himself, "don't take nearly as much. So we can direct the rest to healing injuries in our adopted forms."
Teppei whistled admiringly. "If only we humans could do that...."
"You will, someday," Mirai said confidently. Then he hesitated, before saying "I think humans are getting much closer."
Teppei blinked. "What do you mean?"
Mirai organized his thoughts. "From what my Ultra brothers said about their times on Earth... humans with special abilities used to be rare."
"Special abilities?" Teppei questioned.
"Things like Marina-san's hearing, and George-san's sight," Mirai clarified. "I think... I could be wrong, but it's certainly possible... I think humans are on the verge of the next stage of your evolution."
Teppei's face took on a wondering cast. "You think George-san and Marina-san are part of the next stage of human evolution?" he asked excitedly.
Mirai looked at him, at Teppei's enthusiasm for the idea, and smiled. "Wouldn't it be wonderful," he said softly, "if humans and Ultra could someday stand side by side in the stars?" If somehow he could have /here/ and /there/, his homeworld and his friends on Earth, simultaneously?
Teppei looked up, at the blue sky, the refraction of sunlight around the curvature of the Earth that hid the stars. "Among the stars," he breathed in wonder. "That would be wonderful," he agreed. He looked at Mirai and smiled. "But that's still a long way off for us," he said, a realist at heart with a rueful shake of his head. "Still, as a dream...."
"As a dream," Mirai agreed.
*
Mirai staggered half under the weight of Ryu as he guided his swaying friend down the hall to his room. Maybe the drinking tonight hadn't been the best idea, he thought, even though it hadn't been his idea anyway. They'd defeated a triple threat of monsters and everyone had been in the mood to celebrate, so off they'd gone to the local eatery which knew their team by now and had reserved the back room for them, for talking and laughter and stories and food and too much sake.
It wasn't that Mirai didn't /like/ sake, didn't find the smooth burning taste of it pleasant or the way it warmed him from the inside out nice, it was that somehow it had turned into a three-way drinking contest again between George and Marina and Ryu. Even Konomi and Teppei had been slightly drunk, giggling and leaning on one another to get to their quarters, by the time they'd all left. Marina and George had been singing loudly songs where they couldn't remember the lyrics as they all hiked back uphill to the Phoenix Nest, while Mirai quietly helped Ryu, not understanding again what effect alcohol had on real humans and why they seemed to like it. Especially not when he knew that the next morning George would be in a foul mood, Marina would be sharing a bottle of aspirin with Konomi and Teppei, and Ryu would just be sulking all day in a black mood.
Captain Sakomizu, Mirai admitted, didn't seem affected by sake at all. At the first drinking party he'd been at, the captain had quietly drunk all of them under the table and not shown any sign of inebriation or discomfort. Mirai had followed his example, thinking it was a normal human behavior. He'd only realized it wasn't later, when almost all of the rest of Crew GUYS had remarked on his "high tolerance" to alcohol, that he'd realized his mistake. He'd been more circumspect the following times, limiting his intake and imitating Teppei and Konomi's moderate drunkenness.
Now that they knew he was Ultraman, though, there didn't seem to be a point to pretending anymore. He couldn't get drunk any more than they could fly. And while that was a difference between them, it didn't have to be a fatal separation. And he enjoyed the food and conversation and, yes, the sake as well at their group dinners. He just didn't understand why humans in general and his friends in particular felt the need to make themselves sick on what was an optional drink.
"We're almost there, Ryu-san," he reported cheerfully. "Just a little further."
"I know where my room is, Mirai," Ryu said grumpily, just a little louder than he normally spoke.
"I'll make sure you have some water and aspirin before you go to sleep," Mirai continued. "That way you won't feel as bad in the morning, Teppei-san says."
"Teppei, what does Teppei know?" Ryu demanded. "I don't see you taking him back to his room."
"Teppei-san didn't drink as much as you did," Mirai countered reasonably.
"And you don't get drunk at all," Ryu groused. "And you were really bad at pretending to, you know."
"I was?" That was a surprise. Mirai thought he'd managed to be a convincing drunk.
"Normal people have hangovers the next morning," Ryu pointed out. "You never did."
Mirai grimaced. It was true, that was something he'd forgotten.
"Lousy morning person," Ryu grumbled. "All cheerful and 'Good morning, Ryu-san' and 'Have some coffee, it'll help,' what do you know?"
"I'm sorry," Mirai apologized. Three more steps and, ah, they were there. "Do you have your room key?"
"Yes, I have it," Ryu retorted. He fished in one pocket and held it out, dangling, as if to prove it.
"Thank you, Ryu-san," Mirai said with a smile and took the key, unlocking Ryu's door. He helped Ryu in, dropping the key on the table near the door as they both toed off their shoes to enter. And then it was a swaying stumbling dance to deposit Ryu on his bed. Ryu sat up straight, a certain rigidness in his posture that Mirai had come to associate with Earth military, watching as Mirai found a cup, filled it with water at the sink, and located one of the packets of aspirin he knew Ryu kept in his first-aid kit. He returned and set those things down on Ryu's bedside table. "There," Mirai said. "Good night, Ryu-san. Sleep well, I'll see you in the morning."
"Good night, Westley. Good work. Sleep well. I'll most likely kill you in the morning," Ryu responded.
Mirai blinked.
"It's from a movie," Ryu told him.
"Ah." Someday, Mirai swore, he was going to master Earth culture.
"I'll show it to you sometime," Ryu said. "Fighting, disguises, giants, evil geniuses, true love...." His expression changed slightly on that last word and he looked down at the floor, laughed softly. "Like that happens."
"Ryu-san?" Mirai asked, confused.
Ryu looked back up at him, something stark in his eyes. "Do your kind believe in love?" he asked.
"Yes," Mirai replied instantly. "As much as humans do."
"Ha." Ryu looked back down at the floor. "That's something, at least...."
When Mirai left, he stood outside Ryu's closed door for a moment, hand on the paneling. Somehow he felt more confused than he had been when he went in.
hoshikage I would. The two resulting scenes below.Oh, and the lemon meringue pie turned out quite nicely.
The sunshine wasn't any brighter on the roof of the Phoenix Nest than it would be on the outside grounds, but Mirai preferred the run up the stairs to the more secluded location. He also liked the way the cement radiated the day's heat all around him. He closed his eyes and soaked up the warmth, the solar energy /humming/ all around him to those with the senses to perceive it. He wondered if there was anyone else on Earth at the moment who could. Maybe Marina might be able to hear it, he thought, if she ever sat very still and listened. But it wasn't hearing exactly, he admitted to himself, it was energy-sense, which humans hadn't developed yet.
Behind him the door to the roof opened. Mirai almost felt like one of the fat, lazy cats around the complex that he and Konomi fed on the sly, too indolent to turn around and see who it was. But he did anyway and smiled to find it was Teppei who'd joined him.
Teppei came over and sat down next to him, not blocking the sunlight. "How's your arm?" he asked, nodding at where it was still wrapped in a white sling.
"Better, I think," Mirai answered, wiggling his fingers a little. That didn't hurt though the location of the break still ached literally bone-deep. But he could only pour so much energy into healing even this form before the natural processes refused to go any faster. Another day, maybe two, and he'd be fine. Three and no one would be able to tell he'd ever been hurt.
Teppei sighed. "I can't believe how fast you heal. If only we could...."
Mirai shook his head. "It's not technology, Teppei-san, it's evolution. Humans will get there eventually."
"It won't be fast enough," Teppei rejoined. "Not with people dying from cancer, leukemia... all these things we can't treat yet." He sighed.
Aside from the Ultra Mother, Mirai had never met a healer among his people. They so seldom needed it; once the body of battle was released, it was a simple matter to repair the injuries in a smaller form. Teppei, though, was a healer born, even if he'd subverted his path to remain in GUYS for as long as he was needed.
"Thank you," Mirai said, "for giving everyone instructions on how to fix my arm." That had been the most excruciating experience he'd ever had, George bracing his shoulder while Ryu pulled on his arm, the bone disappearing back into his body and being aligned /within/.... If he had the choice, he'd never want to repeat the experience.
"I'm just sorry I couldn't be there to help," Teppei replied. "Those x-rays, though...." They'd snuck into the infirmary as soon as Mirai was back and the doctors could be misdirected, and taken images of the inside of his arm to confirm that the bones were indeed aligned correctly. By the time they'd finished, the puncture in Mirai's skin had already knitted itself cleanly closed and gone to bruise colors.
"It's energy," Mirai said, feeling he owed some kind of explanation. "Our natural form, as Ultra, is energy. We can only shape so much energy into mass for battle. It's why we have that time limit. Smaller shapes, like this," he said, gesturing at himself, "don't take nearly as much. So we can direct the rest to healing injuries in our adopted forms."
Teppei whistled admiringly. "If only we humans could do that...."
"You will, someday," Mirai said confidently. Then he hesitated, before saying "I think humans are getting much closer."
Teppei blinked. "What do you mean?"
Mirai organized his thoughts. "From what my Ultra brothers said about their times on Earth... humans with special abilities used to be rare."
"Special abilities?" Teppei questioned.
"Things like Marina-san's hearing, and George-san's sight," Mirai clarified. "I think... I could be wrong, but it's certainly possible... I think humans are on the verge of the next stage of your evolution."
Teppei's face took on a wondering cast. "You think George-san and Marina-san are part of the next stage of human evolution?" he asked excitedly.
Mirai looked at him, at Teppei's enthusiasm for the idea, and smiled. "Wouldn't it be wonderful," he said softly, "if humans and Ultra could someday stand side by side in the stars?" If somehow he could have /here/ and /there/, his homeworld and his friends on Earth, simultaneously?
Teppei looked up, at the blue sky, the refraction of sunlight around the curvature of the Earth that hid the stars. "Among the stars," he breathed in wonder. "That would be wonderful," he agreed. He looked at Mirai and smiled. "But that's still a long way off for us," he said, a realist at heart with a rueful shake of his head. "Still, as a dream...."
"As a dream," Mirai agreed.
Mirai staggered half under the weight of Ryu as he guided his swaying friend down the hall to his room. Maybe the drinking tonight hadn't been the best idea, he thought, even though it hadn't been his idea anyway. They'd defeated a triple threat of monsters and everyone had been in the mood to celebrate, so off they'd gone to the local eatery which knew their team by now and had reserved the back room for them, for talking and laughter and stories and food and too much sake.
It wasn't that Mirai didn't /like/ sake, didn't find the smooth burning taste of it pleasant or the way it warmed him from the inside out nice, it was that somehow it had turned into a three-way drinking contest again between George and Marina and Ryu. Even Konomi and Teppei had been slightly drunk, giggling and leaning on one another to get to their quarters, by the time they'd all left. Marina and George had been singing loudly songs where they couldn't remember the lyrics as they all hiked back uphill to the Phoenix Nest, while Mirai quietly helped Ryu, not understanding again what effect alcohol had on real humans and why they seemed to like it. Especially not when he knew that the next morning George would be in a foul mood, Marina would be sharing a bottle of aspirin with Konomi and Teppei, and Ryu would just be sulking all day in a black mood.
Captain Sakomizu, Mirai admitted, didn't seem affected by sake at all. At the first drinking party he'd been at, the captain had quietly drunk all of them under the table and not shown any sign of inebriation or discomfort. Mirai had followed his example, thinking it was a normal human behavior. He'd only realized it wasn't later, when almost all of the rest of Crew GUYS had remarked on his "high tolerance" to alcohol, that he'd realized his mistake. He'd been more circumspect the following times, limiting his intake and imitating Teppei and Konomi's moderate drunkenness.
Now that they knew he was Ultraman, though, there didn't seem to be a point to pretending anymore. He couldn't get drunk any more than they could fly. And while that was a difference between them, it didn't have to be a fatal separation. And he enjoyed the food and conversation and, yes, the sake as well at their group dinners. He just didn't understand why humans in general and his friends in particular felt the need to make themselves sick on what was an optional drink.
"We're almost there, Ryu-san," he reported cheerfully. "Just a little further."
"I know where my room is, Mirai," Ryu said grumpily, just a little louder than he normally spoke.
"I'll make sure you have some water and aspirin before you go to sleep," Mirai continued. "That way you won't feel as bad in the morning, Teppei-san says."
"Teppei, what does Teppei know?" Ryu demanded. "I don't see you taking him back to his room."
"Teppei-san didn't drink as much as you did," Mirai countered reasonably.
"And you don't get drunk at all," Ryu groused. "And you were really bad at pretending to, you know."
"I was?" That was a surprise. Mirai thought he'd managed to be a convincing drunk.
"Normal people have hangovers the next morning," Ryu pointed out. "You never did."
Mirai grimaced. It was true, that was something he'd forgotten.
"Lousy morning person," Ryu grumbled. "All cheerful and 'Good morning, Ryu-san' and 'Have some coffee, it'll help,' what do you know?"
"I'm sorry," Mirai apologized. Three more steps and, ah, they were there. "Do you have your room key?"
"Yes, I have it," Ryu retorted. He fished in one pocket and held it out, dangling, as if to prove it.
"Thank you, Ryu-san," Mirai said with a smile and took the key, unlocking Ryu's door. He helped Ryu in, dropping the key on the table near the door as they both toed off their shoes to enter. And then it was a swaying stumbling dance to deposit Ryu on his bed. Ryu sat up straight, a certain rigidness in his posture that Mirai had come to associate with Earth military, watching as Mirai found a cup, filled it with water at the sink, and located one of the packets of aspirin he knew Ryu kept in his first-aid kit. He returned and set those things down on Ryu's bedside table. "There," Mirai said. "Good night, Ryu-san. Sleep well, I'll see you in the morning."
"Good night, Westley. Good work. Sleep well. I'll most likely kill you in the morning," Ryu responded.
Mirai blinked.
"It's from a movie," Ryu told him.
"Ah." Someday, Mirai swore, he was going to master Earth culture.
"I'll show it to you sometime," Ryu said. "Fighting, disguises, giants, evil geniuses, true love...." His expression changed slightly on that last word and he looked down at the floor, laughed softly. "Like that happens."
"Ryu-san?" Mirai asked, confused.
Ryu looked back up at him, something stark in his eyes. "Do your kind believe in love?" he asked.
"Yes," Mirai replied instantly. "As much as humans do."
"Ha." Ryu looked back down at the floor. "That's something, at least...."
When Mirai left, he stood outside Ryu's closed door for a moment, hand on the paneling. Somehow he felt more confused than he had been when he went in.
