[Closed] Two can be as bad as one

[believing_heart]

Who: Lucy and Tsukasa Kesswick
When: 4/15
Where: Tsukasa's house.
What: A day after her brother posted to the network, Lucy plans on telling her brother she's one of the Numbered, too.

Lucy and Tsukasa didn't get to eat dinner together every night. There were some evenings where Tsukasa had to work late or had plans with his friends. Lucy didn't mind, though; she was used to eating alone most of the time back at her parent's home in Vegas. Being able to eat dinner with someone even some of the time was still better than always eating alone.

It was during one of these meals that Lucy finally took it upon herself to talk to her brother about it. About him being a Numbered -- and her being one, too. She had been thinking about it all day -- how she'd finally ask him about it. But when she finally dredged up the courage to say something, the words just slipped past her lips before she could stop them:

"You're one of the Numbered, aren't you?"

Comments

[thekingofkamenriders]

Tsukasa enjoyed spending time with his little sister. He really cared a lot for her, and wanted her to be safe. As of late, he's been a little distant from her, however, trying to keep her safe from whatever it was that he found himself involved in.

Of course, the exact second that Lucy asks him about his status as a Numbered, Tsukasa is taking a drink. Of course, that gets him to choke a bit on his tea.

"H-how do you know about that?"

He looks white as a sheet.

[believing_heart]

Anais had convinced her not to say anything. The last thing she wanted was to get her older brother involved in all this. And he'd almost certainly involve himself if she was involved. But... now that she knew he was a Numbered too, she had to tell him.

She didn't want him to find out from somebody else.

Lucy takes a deep breath before she continues.

"Because..." Lucy says, staring down at her curry. "Because I saw your post on the network."

It's probably not the best way to tell her brother, but it's the only way she can think to let him know.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner," she says. "A friend of mine... she told me it was probably better if you didn't know. I didn't want you to get wrapped up in my problems."

[thekingofkamenriders]

Tsukasa sets his glass down and looks at the ground, shaking his head. He then looks up at his little sister.

"Saw it on the network?" He doesn't seem to like the sound of all that.

"No, no, I understand. I...wasn't sure how to tell you either. I felt kind of the same way."

He looks into his own curry, trying to see into the future in the dish.

"Did you remember something, then?"

[believing_heart]

"Yeah!" A huge smile tugs its way across Tsukasa's kid sister's face. "I even got to talk to two of the people from my past, too! They're both really nice!"

She gives her brother two firm shakes of the head. But that smile quickly turns upside down.

"But... the two of them don't get along at all," she says, glumly. "I was really hoping that the three of us could be good friends since we all traveled together in Cephiro."

[thekingofkamenriders]

"Huh, well that must be interesting." He had met someone from his past...sort of.

"Well, from what I understand, we're...not really the same as we once were, so it's understandable if we don't always get along the way we used to." At the very least, she didn't find out that her old college roommate is the world's deadliest Kamen Rider, whatever that is.

"What's Cephiro?"

[believing_heart]

"But isn't that sad?!" Lucy protests. "The three of us had to have been friends back then! And if we were friends then, we should be friends now, too!" She's making all sort of assumptions about the nature of her relationship with Anais and Marina in the past, but she can't help it. She wants to believe that the three of them were friends, because that is exactly how it would happen in one of her fantasy novels.

"Cephiro is the world that we were transported to," she explains. "It's actually the first memory I had." Her expression turns sheepish. "The only memory, actually!"

[thekingofkamenriders]

"Lucy, people change." He smiles a bit as he looks at her, "Even a lot of the friends that I had in High School and College I've drifted away from, save for one or two. You have to remember that...well, this is a much bigger barrier than people you used to know. Remember...we're still learning what all this means." He thinks about his conversation with Hajime, "And everything might not be like it appears."

When she explains Cephiro, Tsukasa will nod, "I've only gotten one memory back so far, and it wasn't a pleasant one. Got it in a secondary echo."

[believing_heart]

Lucy knows that what her brother is saying is perfectly reasonable. She knows that she shouldn't expect that all of them get along just because they might have a long time ago. But that doesn't stop her from wanting -- badly -- for all of them to be friends.

Still, her brother's last few words manage to pique Lucy's interest. She wants to know what kind of person her brother was in his past life.

"What was the memory?" Lucy takes a bite of her curry.

[thekingofkamenriders]

"A name." He pauses, "And a warning." He looks back at Lucy, with a bit of fear in his eyes. "Lucy, how deep into this have you gotten? I...I'm worried about what this might be. A friend of mine reminded me about the giant snake and everything, and...well, I don't want to see you get hurt."

He knows that his words may fall on deaf ears, but he feels like he needs to say it.

[believing_heart]

Seeing fear in her brother's eyes is enough to unnerve Lucy. Her brother was one of the bravest people she knew.

But she was determined to stay strong.

"There's no need to worry," she says. "You know, I just got some armor back after I watched those aliens on TV."

She should probably show him, shouldn't she?

"It'll keep me safe when you can't -- I'm sure of it!"