Completely stolen from prometheusrise

[changehistory]

Because there needs to be something fun among the angst...



Because kissing under the mistletoe is an ancient and festive tradition... and because I feel there can always be more kissing about.

Two ways to play:

Request kisses.
If there's someone you'd like a kiss from, repost the picture above in a comment. Please be considerate--tag the muse's in-character contact post, or an old meme post, something like that. Don't tag a prompt response, a fic, or an RP thread. You may also post the picture to your journal, and mark the entry locked to whomever you want the kiss from.

Offer kisses.
If you're feeling particularly bold or adventurous, post the picture in your journal, note that it's open to all, and let people ask for kisses from you. Give them at least a sentence or two in response, though--none of this "*kiss*" nonsense, that's no fun.

When you post, kindly either repost these rules, or link to this post of Shelley's.

Consider this an open offer for kisses to anyone who would like them from me, and utterly and totally meta with no binding on either muse without full consent of both writers involved.

Comments

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

It's an honest answer and Hiro recognizes it as such. "Why did you have to kill my father? Was it because he was my father or because he betrayed you?"

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

That one is even more complex than the other, twisting around in him and making him question his own motives, his own reasons. "He locked me in a cell for thirty years, carp. He took everything I had built and everyone I had come to care for away. And he left me there to rot. I killed him for that."

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"Not because he was my father? You had to know the moment you heard he'd had a son." He looks sorrowful. "He knew it was going to happen. He knew you were coming for him."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"I suspected before you were even born. He was....fascinated with who I had been. Though I've wondered, since, why he told you the stories anyway." Adam studies the ocean, not looking at him. "Yes, well. I did warn him. I gave him a fighting chance."

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"He wouldn't let me stop you." Hiro crouches down, drawing kanji in the sand. His name. Others. "He believed in you. He believed in Kensei. Before any other heroes, I knew the story of Kensei." He writes "Kensei" in the sand. "I used to swing my little katana and tell people I was Kensei. I even did it to myself. So strange to see yourself that young. To see yourself with adult eyes."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"He knew what he had done. To me. To others. He understood there is a price for that sort of betrayal."

His smile twisted. "He believed in the idea of Kensei. Not in me. He believed in you."

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"At that point he had no idea of the part I would play. The fact that I had an ability came as a complete surprise to him. I think he was disappointed that his children seemed to have no ability whatsoever or perhaps he thought that Kimiko would be the one with an ability." He writes the kanji for "uragi" next to his own name. "I was a disappointment to him for so long."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"You all manifested so late," Adam murmurs, frowning a little. "We didn't expect that."

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"I wonder why we did. Did the our parents - my father - manifest so much younger than we did?" He writes "yowamushi" next to "uragi". "Did they all manifest at the same time?"

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"I didn't meet them until after," Adam says, eyes finally drawn from the ocean to the kanji. "But, yes. They were, for the most part, younger. Younger when they manifested. Younger when they came together. When I brought them together."

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"Perhaps none of us felt the need to manifest or perhaps we convinced ourselves that anything 'strange' that happened was caused by something else? Perhaps our parents kept us from understanding what was happening to us? Perhaps we frightened them?" He writes "baka" next. "Perhaps they didn't want us to have abilities."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"Oh, they wanted," Adam whispers. "They wanted, very, very much. Though the first thought is likely. Looking back...I was never ill. I always seemed 'lucky' to not get hurt. But nothing major ever happened like that arrow to make me face that it was more than luck."

The kanji made him frown at the sand, wanting to run his foot over them to erase them, and yet wanting to set them in cement at the same time. Everything was in shambles and it is easier to scowl at Hiro than question his own part in that.

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"Truly? After what they wrought? After what they did to you? You think they may not have decided it was easier if we never knew our powers? They never brought us into their circles. I only met a few of that group and it happened only when I was young. I looked at a picture of you and them before they locked you up. I remember only a few from my past. I could not place who was who." He writes "bakemono" next to "baka". He hasn't looked up at Adam at all as he's written. The kanji are getting larger as he moves farther on.

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"I was no longer in on their plans by the time you were born, Hiro. I was in the cage in the basement. But one of the goals...one of the dreams we all had, when I was one of them, was for a generation of powered children able to lead the world into the dawning of a new age." He's studying Hiro now, staring between him and the sand.

"Perhaps they thought it best to keep it from you, to prevent your becoming....me."

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"So, you have no idea if I'm right or not. You frightened them and in their fear they suppressed us. It would not be the first time that parents did something they disguised as 'for our own good', but was truly only meant for their own peace of mind." He writes "aho" in katakana.

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"No," he admits, looking away from words that might be self-incriminatory to Hiro, but strike a bit too close to home. "I have no idea how things changed."

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"Parents and children can be in such conflict over what helps them. It has always been so. When one makes plans to take over the world through their children, they need to be certain their children truly believe as they do." He writes "hitogoroshi" then stares at it. He reaches out and wipes it away. He looks at the sand he's cleared uncertain what to write now.

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"It's up to parents to teach their children, instill beliefs in them, not let them run wild forming their own," Adam snaps. "The entire cohesive structure of any plan has fallen to bits and chaos as they each pursue their own agenda instead of working as a group toward a common goal." Scowling down he resists the urge to kick the rest of the words away as well.

"And you all, your generation, all of you are floundering for it, without anyone there to guide you or form you into any sort of whole."

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"What of free will? Are we only meant to be the puppets of our parents' desires? Nathan was such a puppet and would have sacrificed his brother to do what his parents wanted. His brother! The person left to him when his parents leave him as parents inevitably do. I could not sacrifice my sister like that and we are not as close as they are. It would kill me to do such a thing. Their ambitions, their plans would have killed Nathan as surely as Peter's explosion would have killed him." He writes "killer" in katakana. Somehow English doesn't make it look quite the same as "hitogoroshi". It makes it look as alien as he feels about it.

"Perhaps we are, but at least it is our choice to do so."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"Their ambition would have given Nathan the world at his feet and Peter was never meant to be there. Sylar. Ted. Not Peter, and Nathan would have lost nothing." He's only gathered some of it, not all the pieces, bits heard here and there. "Nathan was meant to be the focal point for the rest of you. Nathan was meant..." He'd had a moment, just a moment and now he wants to hit something, and paces away from Hiro.

"Your choices are pointless. They lack no goal beyond reaction to things around you. No action. No greater purpose."

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"Sylar killed Ted. Sylar would have killed the cheerleader and taken her power and would never have been defeated. Peter was the true hero in all of this. Perhaps we should follow him. He is intelligent, compassionate. Heroes are meant to help people, not kill them to further their own ambitions." He writes "Ken", then draws a picture of a sword under it. "What would have been your company's ambitions for me? Live long enough to ensure your birth, then be disgarded like so much useless gomi? What use to your plans would I be otherwise?"

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"Peter is too easily swayed," Adam says, looking back at Hiro, finally. "Nathan should always have been your choice."

He stands there, watching him. "We had no idea what the children would manifest. Only Nathan had a specific destiny planned. The rest of you were to support him, as he needed. You...No. I would not have disregarded you. Not after waiting so long for you to be born."

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"Peter would listen to Nathan more than anyone else. Nathan would be the power behind the leader, the one who understands the sacrifices that need to be made, as any major domo would. A leader should be compassionate or he is a dictator." He writes "yabou". He wonders if he truly has any at all. Ambition has been the downfall of their parents.

"Are you certain they would have felt the same? If I had turned against Nathan for whatever reason, it was within my power to destroy all of you. Only Peter could have possibly stopped me. I was a liability after I ensured your creation."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"If they hadn't locked me away, carp, I would have had the power to say what happened to you after that. And liability or not...I would have protected you." He likes the illusion that he would have at least, still remembering the kiss.

"The world have been completely different, carp."

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"We need both of them. Compassion and ambition. The one who loves and the one who thinks. Balance. What we should all be attempting to achieve, rather than telling people what to do. We are guides, not bludgeons."

His eyes finally focus on Adam. "Would they have let you? They would have been too frightened to leave me free. And they could never have caged me. Even the opium would have ceased to be effective after I'd been hooked."

"And how would the world have been different? Time has shown that all dictators fall eventually. There would always be those who went against the established government. What would you have done to them?"