McCrane (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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re_alignment2012-12-30 01:37 pm
mccrane) wrote in re_alignment2012-12-30 01:37 pm
Entry tags:
[Video][A friend lost and a strange light Shining]
[McCrane is on a late patrol, in the junk-yard at night. With the horrors of the Glyphless catastrophe over and all of the paperwork filed, he has been searching for two things: One, the materials to build a soccer-goal, and two...]
Has anyone seen Gunmax?
[He's worried. He's always worried, of course, but now he looks more worried than usual. He turns, and for a moment the camera catches a small ball of light hovering over a silver-wrapped box with a gold bow. Curious, McCrane approaches, and the light moves out of the video, as does the box.]
I am also wondering about Barricade, as he has been gone for several weeks now. I don't know if keeping track of the populace is part of our Law Enforcement duties, but...it should be done. [McCrane reaches down, and suddenly the silver box pops back into view while he holds it. It's still remarkably well-lit for this time of night, but that may be because there's that small ball of light, shining on it again.]
And now it looks like I'll have to add Whirl onto the list, too. [He fingers the nametag, turning it toward the camera. Today was strange enough, but it looked as if it was going to get stranger.]
Is anyone else encountering unusual lights?
[It reminded him of Drill Boy's mythical fairy.]
Has anyone seen Gunmax?
[He's worried. He's always worried, of course, but now he looks more worried than usual. He turns, and for a moment the camera catches a small ball of light hovering over a silver-wrapped box with a gold bow. Curious, McCrane approaches, and the light moves out of the video, as does the box.]
I am also wondering about Barricade, as he has been gone for several weeks now. I don't know if keeping track of the populace is part of our Law Enforcement duties, but...it should be done. [McCrane reaches down, and suddenly the silver box pops back into view while he holds it. It's still remarkably well-lit for this time of night, but that may be because there's that small ball of light, shining on it again.]
And now it looks like I'll have to add Whirl onto the list, too. [He fingers the nametag, turning it toward the camera. Today was strange enough, but it looked as if it was going to get stranger.]
Is anyone else encountering unusual lights?
[It reminded him of Drill Boy's mythical fairy.]
VIDEO;
[That does earn a small smile.]
Add to... there's more? [Why?]
What word? Hmm. How about "now"?
VIDEO;
...
Catch. To catch you.
[He totally meant that second word, and not that first.]
It is not much, Gunmax. But I was thinking of you. There are not many of us left, and...
It is important.
It is important that we spend the time we get meaningfully. [Before there is not any more time, at all. He knows you will understand that.]
Yes. Now.
Please.
[He sends coordinates, even if it was in the Junk Pile. He's missed you more than he realized.]
VIDEO;
[Catch. Right, he meant catch.]
I don't know if I'm meant for catching, but cuffs might be a good start, hm?
[He goes quiet. McCrane was thinking of him.
And he understands. In their short lives, how much they've been forced to feel, to change and develop. To experience.
What if tomorrow, McCrane disappears? Could Gunmax take it?
No. He couldn't.]
Well. Guess I'd better get going.
We'll talk more in a few minutes. Got it?
VIDEO;
Or if you are just in a contrary mood.
[He doesn't have cuffs on him. He'll have to try something else.]
I will wait here.
[And he's going to look for something he can use.]
VIDEO to ACTION;
Good.
[Eventually, Gunmax does make his way over; no doubt McCrane recognizes the sound of Gunbike's engine.
He puts the bike into park and slides off smoothly.]
Yo, McCrane.
VIDEO to ACTION;
[And this, he finally understands, may be what made Deckerd so good at keeping track of Gunmax.]
...maybe it is the chasing part that I enjoy.
[He was a police officer, after all. The urge to track came from somewhere--and Gunmax, strangely, satisfied it. He did not know what to think about that.]
[He has time to think on it at least, and...he does.]
[What was it he missed, when Gunmax was gone?]
....
[No.]
...
[No, that answer, he knows.]
It is good to see you again, Gunmax. [When he says it, he means it, completely, and with an honesty he does not hide. He's holding the plain brown Amazon box in his hand, with a large, folded envelope on top.]
ACTION;
[He leans back on Gunbike, folding his arms.] Wouldn't be fair if I was on Gunbike. You wouldn't stand a chance. Heh.
[There's a pause, and his expression softens slightly at the comment. How good it is to see him.
No one else in their right mind would say that of him.]
...You too, McCrane.
[He looks down at the box and envelope. Hesitantly, he takes both, then looks back up to the combat specialist.]
You get anything else for Christmas?
ACTION;
However...
I would prefer not to do that to Gunbike, so our chase will have to be on foot.
[It is amazing how serious he can sound while saying that.]
I just did not expect it to...hurt. When you were gone so long.
[When there is no hope of chasing, and no hope of catching, at all.]
Only this. [His fingers tighten on the rifle, before placing it back over his shoulder.] I believe I would like to see you open yours, though.
ACTION;
Much appreciated! I'd hate to see anything happen to Gunbike.
[He could probably fix it himself, but without Toudou. ... Hm.
He pauses, uncertain of what to say to that. McCrane missed him that much?]
I... hm. You're not usually this sentimental.
[He looks down at his hands, the contents he holds. Then, he sighs and opens the box first.]
Sure, sure. Hmm, not coal?
[Gunmax holds up the Japanese-English Dictionary with a confused look.]
What? Really? This some kind of bad joke?
ACTION;
[The threats...the very reason why everything had become complicated here.]
It is not sentimentality. [He states, knowing very well it that what it is...is close.] If we are going to continue to encounter danger after danger, here...
I.
Don't think it is tactically sound to do it alone.
[He can't say how he's feeling any better than Gunmax would ever be able to.]
[If it is a joke, however, he does not get it.] I thought you wanted to learn English?
ACTION;
[Not sentimentality, fine. Whatever he says. But he feels -- something like that. He sighs a little.]
No. Maybe not. But this place -- we can't play by the same rules as we did back in Japan, McCrane. We can't and expect to be able to keep anyone safe.
[Gunmax scoffs a little.] I know English! [Or so he thinks.]
ACTION;
No. You are right. [He cannot keep himself from wincing, hating how impossible it has been here to keep anyone safe.] But it is going to be so much harder without you.
Without someone I can trust at my side.
[That's as bare as he can get, for now.]
I...I don't know, then. It isn't from me. Perhaps someone else wants you to work on your pronunciation? [He secretly believes it is from the communicator, now, after how often its stumbled over Gunmax's words.]
ACTION;
...McCrane, I just.
[He wants to say it. The full and complete reason he quit. But he knows how no one would approve.
So he can't.]
This isn't for good. My leaving. It's just awhile, so I can get myself together. I haven't been the same since...
[Since everything? Since Deckerd disappeared, or the rest of his friends? McCrane and Kagerou getting murdered in front of him? Or Toudou going insane?]
A lot of things.
[He huffs at the dictionary. Whatever, he'll stuff it into some compartment into Gunbike.] How about the envelope?
ACTION;
[And now guess which gun he's going to use for the next forever.]
You've done so much, and put up with so much. You've earned a break, it is just...
[He reaches out toward Gunmax before his hand stops, uncertain.]
You don't deserve to be left alone.
[And, selfishly...he doesn't want Gunmax to go.]
Open it.
ACTION;
I... [Gunmax looks at McCrane for a moment, not sure how to read into that reach. McCrane is subtle, far more than Gunmax is; it's part of his nature and personality, the quieter, more polite of the Build Team.
Also the first of the Brave Police that caught his respect. It was the professionalism more than anything else. For all that he teases, he respects it.]
Tch. I can survive on my own, if I have to. [Yet at the same time, stupidly, he fears being alone. So he pushes and clings all at the same time.]
Fine, fine.
[Gunmax gets to working the envelope open, then.]
ACTION;
[Sometimes it was rushed work, but not this time.]
[The reach stalls where it is, though, and his fingers slowly close into a ball, and drop back to his side. It is always when he thinks he is getting close to Gunmax that there is this wall, impassable. Not so long ago, Deckerd had been the one to realize the wall had been erected out of pain--the fear of letting anyone close after Gunmax's partner had died.]
...
[And that, in a way, is mirrored right now. Gunmax had given in, and had let them close, and now Deckerd was gone and Todou was dead, and the number of people in Gunmax's life that he could rely on were depressingly few.]
I'm still here, Gunmax. [He says, softer.] You don't have to survive on your own.
I won't...
[This. This is the hard thing to say...but at the same time, it's the easiest part, as well, because it is the truth.]
I won't leave you.
[Inside the envelope...are silly things. Decals. Mostly, they are flames. Green flames. One has a flaming skull, and all of them are sized for Gunbike.]
ACTION;
[Deckerd said the same thing, after Breakdown disappeared and returned with no memories. To hear McCrane say that, he initially wants to snap at him. He flinches visibly, but he remains silent.
McCrane doesn't deserve his bitterness. But he has a point, too -- that with so few of them left, there's no point to being alone. Because he isn't.
Maybe McCrane is scared to be alone, too.]
Don't make a promise you aren't sure you can keep, you know.
[He stares at the decals. Silly, sure, but they suit him. They suit Gunbike.
There's a half-smile from Gunmax.] Hmm. It's a good match...
ACTION;
Well, shit, I sold my Gunbike to get you this new Shotgun!]]
That is good advice.
[He reaches out again, however, and with Gunmax standing close enough for this to work, this time, he loops the end of a chain around Gunmax's wrist, and padlocks it.]
But if either of us are going to go--then we're going to go together.
[He does the same with the other end of the chain and his own wrist--symbolic, and also the only thing he could find that remotely resembled handcuffs out here.]
I think either of us could survive alone.
...but I don't think either of us want to.
[He watches Gunmax at that, wondering. Hoping he felt the same way.]
ACTION;
Ah--?!
[Gunmax stares down at his wrist, then at McCrane's. He's both impressed and a tad flustered, tugging at the chain.]
Really? We're doing this? Tch!
[If one goes, the other goes. He could try to argue, but there's a wry sense of comfort in this as well. Gunmax peers down at the chain.
Then, like the jerk he is, he yanks hard to pull McCrane closer.]
How positively reckless of you.
ACTION; I have no icon for this damnit
His techniques seemed to work.
[When Gunmax gets flustered that way, it causes more of those...emotions. The really difficult to label ones. The one's he'd feel embarrassed to ask about, so he doesn't. It isn't as if they can blush anyhow.]
...!
[Which he would be doing, right now, as he stumbles forward.]
...Gunmax!
[It puts him torso to torso with Gunmax, his feet planted so he won't fall, his other hand gripping Gunmax's waist to steady himself. The reckless part...is that he leaves it there.]
Not at all. This was strategically planned.
[With plans that lie around him in failure. Still, he finds it difficult to complain, even if his chained hand reaches out to take Gunmax's chained wrist...and put it on his own waist.]
ACTION; true mccrane is rarely surprised
[Only one person can be Deckerd, after all. And he likes McCrane the way he is.]
Heh, something wrong?
[So here they are, terribly close, and he can't say, honestly, that he particularly minds. Gunmax holds still, glancing briefly at the hand on his waist. That's definitely more reckless than usual for someone like McCrane.]
How's that strategy working out for you now?
[It seems McCrane is able to adjust quickly enough. Gunmax goes silent as his wrist is taken, hand placed at McCrane's waist now.
Hm.
Eventually, he kind of leans forward, resting his chin on McCrane's shoulder, his antennae flicking back somewhat.]
ACTION; And even more rarely affectionate
[At the question, he can only answer truthfully.]
Everything has been wrong, since we've arrived here. We have had to cope in too many situations that we weren't programmed for, and without our full team we've not met with much success.
We'll just have to keep adapting.
[Adapting to everything. Adapting to this, which is one such situation he does not have programming for.]
[Nevertheless, he makes the last step forward, and just pulls Gunmax into a hug, holding onto him the way he's seen humans holding each other. The way he's seen Yuuta hugging his friends. His family. People he cares about.]
Strangely, Gunmax...this went exactly as planned.
[He's needed this contact. He's needed it, and he hopes that it will help Gunmax, too.]
ACTION;
All of this, though. The pain, the suffering, the loss -- it's been awful. He has no idea how to cope with it. He didn't do it well concerning Kirisaki, and he sure as hell hasn't been the same since everyone else.
Gunmax jerks slightly at the embrace, then leans into it more. No one's ever held him like this, no one's ever had to. It-- does something in his Super A.I. he knows he recognizes.
That could be very good or very terrible.]
You could stand to do reckless more often. I think.
[And he finds himself clutching the combat specialist, almost ridiculously fearful to let him go.]
ACTION;
...
[That changed. It changed almost instantly, and he could tell the change in the way Gunmax's fingers tightened on him, the way he, himself shifted protectively around the other, the way a second engine felt pressed up against his. Without a conscious thought to do so, his optics had dimmed, his senses focusing on the touches or armor against armor, the warmth of another body nearby, and the sounds of a chain jingling between them. It isn't familiar.]
You'll have to teach me how.
[He shivers just a little at the newness of it, and rests his head against Gunmax's.]
This is as close as I've come yet.
ACTION;
So despite all attempts to be on his own, he's really just meant to be with someone, in the end.
He quietly appreciates the helm resting on his own.]
Suppose between the two of us, I'm the expert, hm?
No worries. I'll make you a rebel in no time. [There's a slight hint of a joke in his tone.]
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