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]

"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?"

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"And yet no one is being guided at all," Adam says, softly, frowning. "It is all chaos, still. No one has achieved anything."

He moves back, squatting near Hiro, eyes earnest. "Don't you see, carp? It would have been our world, a world where we didn't have to hide, didn't have to fear. You would have understood that, been taught that for all your life, to appreciate what it was you would one day do. There would have been no need to cage you, because you would understand."

"It was never meant to be a dictatorship. It was meant to be a concerted effort of individuals. A collective working...together."

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"Our parents have prevented that. By keeping us all apart, we never knew each other. Never learned what we were and never learned to cooperate with each other. Your dream fell apart and I can understand your frustration. You chose because they had ambition, but they had much more than you ever thought. So, with the exception of Nathan, none of us were allowed any because they were afraid we'd become you."

He meets Adam's eyes. "And what about the people without abilities? Would they have truly been our partners or would they have merely served us? They would have feared us. It is human nature to fear the predators, the superior, the gifted. And that is how they would see us."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"Yes, I am well aware of my failings in ever trusting your parents, carp. They were fools and not worth the time I spent on them."

He shakes his head. "Not if we showed them that we were the future. If we showed them how our gifts made the world better. Healed the Earth, and made it better, for everyone."

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"But at the same time, you must have seen something in them that made you bring them together. People change when they have children. You should have thought of that when you brought them together."

"It's a beautiful dream, but reality has a way of destroying dreams. It makes me wonder what my father was like as a young man. Did he have dreams like mine?" He writes "chichi" under "yabou". Yes, his father obviously had much ambition. "I believed he never dreamed of greater things, only ambition."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"I did, once. And I did think about it. I thought about the children all the time. I just only got to see Nathan born before they locked me away."

He frowns a bit more. "What do you dream?"

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"You never met Parkman's son? He is old enough. But the rest of us are younger. Did you ever meet Dr. Suresh's father, the one who wrote the book?"

Hiro gives a brittle laugh. "You and I have the same dream, Kensei. We with power help people heal the world and make it a better place. We with power do not live in fear of being found and killed or worse. That children live happy and safe in a beautiful world that we have had a hand in making. I am an idealist. I have always known this."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"Not that I care to remember. He wasn't as...planned. Nathan was the plan." He glances away, staring out to the ocean, but then looked back at Hiro. "I met him, once, yes."

A small frown tugs at his brows again, then he slowly reaches out a hand. "Then why can't we work together to make that dream come true?"

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"But he was a child of your friends. Did he not have any purpose? Wasn't this about all the children? Why pin all your hopes on only one? What would have happened if he'd drowned in the ocean in a sailing accident where you couldn't reach him to save him?"

"Not with your methods. It has to be with consent. It has to be done with compassion or we are only dictators." He takes Adam's hand.

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"He was, yes. Though he wasn't planned nearly as carefully as Nathan. Parkman..." He shrugs. "I would have found a use for him. Maury had his, after all. But we needed one of your generation to have a vision, and Maury never had one of his own. He was a follower."

Adam's fingers curl tight around Hiro's, almost like a lifeline. "Then how? It hasn't changed, carp. Not since I was a child. Nothing...ever changes. If we have these gifts for any reason...something drastic is the only thing that will ever bring about change."

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"But his son could have fulfilled the same purpose since he has the same ability. The purpose of helping him keep safe, of knowing who to trust." Hiro's eyes go wide. He's not supposed to be giving him ideas like this.

"But not the deaths of thousands or millions. There has to be a better way." His fingers curl around Adam's with equal force. He's never been ambitious and it scares him to see he's capable of it.

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"When he grew, yes. And manifested. Undoubtedly that's where I would have slated him. But even Nathan...he wasn't manifesting as a toddler. We worried it had failed."

Adam's eyes widened a little at Hiro's suggestions, at the strength of his grip. "Like what? You think I haven't considered it from every angle for centuries?"

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"We don't know why we were so late. I still say our parents had something to do with it. Fear. Parents will do awful things to their children out of fear."

"I know you've thought of it, but perhaps we have more advantageous ways now. After all, think of how long it would have taken to get news to everywhere. Now it's instantaneous. Technology can be good and bad, but it's a powerful tool." Hiro looks confused. Why is he doing this? He shouldn't be doing this.

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"Yes," Adam says, looking away again. "They really will."

He nods a little. "But what sort of news? Going forward just as Nathan did could lead to us being hunted, feared. People need a rallying point to ever pull together."

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"I'm not sure. I haven't been able to think this through. I'm just throwing ideas out." He looks at their hands. "People never ask for my opinion."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"I listened," Adam reminds him, quietly. "For a time, at least. I listened."

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"Part of the reason I fell in l..." He looks away, knowing he's revealed too much. "I hoped you would. I hoped it would help."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"And then...there was no one to listen to," Adam says, watching him closely.

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"You were always meant to be a leader. It was always your destiny to lead others. Had I stayed I would have weakened that destiny. And I was not a very good teacher."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"I found it, eventually. It took a while, though," Adam confesses quietly.

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"At least you had the time to find it. Many people never do."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

"A blessing and a curse..."

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

Hiro nods. "You fared better than I would have. I would have gone insane long ago."

[changehistory.livejournal.com]

Adam's smile twists again. "And you think I did not?"

[powered-otaku.livejournal.com]

"Are you mad, then, Kensei?"