Fire?!?

[smallspot]

Who: Diarmuid Ua Duibhne (smallspot ), Cu Chulainn (beforetights ), and anyone who wants to respond to the fire alarm/sprinklers.
Where: Room 2-17, Building One
When: Afternoon on 10-18
Format: Starting in prose, but please use whatever you want to reply!
Summary: Two little boys, two puppies, and a stove. What could go wrong here? (Please note that the fire will be small and quickly put out by the sprinklers, but there will still be smoke and the alarms to deal with. Oops indeed...)
Warnings: Cuteness, puppies, fire?

Edit: Lotus (beforetights ) is having some net issues currently thanks Murphy so she has asked that we have the boys responding separately instead of in a rotation like we originally planned. That way threads aren't held up. Sorry for any confusion!


It's a perfectly innocent scene. Two little boys who just recently adopted each other as brothers--one black-haired and one blue-haired. Two puppies--one grey and one white. They are playing in the living room of the apartment as little boys and puppies do. They were doing something earlier, but whatever it was has been forgotten in favor of playing with the puppies who are more fun than anything else could be.

What is this thing that has been so thoroughly forgotten? That would be lunch. To be specific, it would be the soup sitting to cook on the stove. Diarmuid has been shown how to make it in both the microwave and the stove, but he had opted for the stove even if the microwave would have been safer for two little boys. The microwave has no fire, after all. What is fun about watching food cook in a metal box? Not that even having the fire to cook food over had stood a chance against the appeal of a pair of puppies.

Unfortunately, having been forgotten means that the soup is boiling on a burner that is turned up too high without anyone to realize something is wrong. That is, until the smoke alarm goes off and, immediately after, the sprinklers in the apartment follow suit causing Cu Chulainn to yelp in surprise and Diarmuid to look up from his playing with wide, startled eyes.

Oops...


(OOC: Please post who you would like to respond to your reply--either Diarmuid, Cu Chulainn or both. If you don't put anything both boys will respond by default. Feel free to include event shenanigans if you would like!)

Comments

[swordofzero]

"You are not a knight yet." Suzaku's voice was still stern, though not angry. Different than Diarmuid would have heard him before though. "And trainees knights must learn to obey orders, I'll get the others, you go downstairs."

[smallspot]

Diarmuid starts to object again, but the tone of Suzaku's voice stops him short. It sounds a lot like his father during those few times Diarmuid had really pressed Aengus to let him do more than he is ready for. The boy stops pulling on his hand and looks down, nodding slowly, "Yes, Suzaku. Please just make sure everyone is okay. I will wait for you out here."

It's not downstairs he's agreeing too, but at least he isn't trying to force his way back into the room anymore.

[swordofzero]

Suzaku looked like he was about to argue but they really didn't have time so he nodded. "Wait right there." He went off into the house to look for Cu or any puppies he could find.

[smallspot]

It won't take much for Suzaku to find Cu Chulainn and the puppies because the smoke has driven them all close to the door. Since it's bothering the little boy's eyes so much he doesn't argue about being lead into the hall. Diarmuid rushes up to meet them, his wide eyes wet almost if he is about to cry because his brother is hurting.

"Can you get rid of the smoke, Suzkau? And the shadows? Please?"

[swordofzero]

"We are going outside." Suzaku's tone brooked no argument. "Together. They have special people who come when those alarms go off, they will get rid of all the smoke, and then I will come and sort out the rest." Shadows... like the one's he had been seeing. He squeezed Diarmuid's shoulder in what he hoped was a comfort gesture, much like Toudoh might have once done for him.

[smallspot]

Diarmuid looks back at apartment. It's obvious he doesn't want to leave things in the hands of other people, but he doesn't argue with Suzaku. Instead, he just lets himself be led away from the room, making sure his brother and both puppies follow along too.

"How long will it be until we go back? Do you know, Suzaku?" He sounds worried, but the hand on his shoulder is comforting, "If it takes a long time, where will my brother and I spend the night?"

[swordofzero]

"They should be able to sort it out quickly." Suzaku told him, "But if there are any problems you can stay with me." Lelouch wouldn't mind.

[smallspot]

Diarmuid nods, looking down solemnly. Grey wines sadly and rubs against his leg, "Thank you, Suzaku. I'm sorry for causing trouble. I am going to have a big mess to clean up..."

[swordofzero]

"Don't worry," Suzaku led them outside to a safe distance. "We will help you clean everything up. Do you want to tell me what happened?"

[smallspot]

"I don't know what happened. We were cooking lunch and playing with the puppies, and then suddenly smoke and wet and..." Diarmuid's voice trails off and his eyes get wide. "I forgot lunch! I forgot lunch!" Tears wet his eyes and buries his face in his hands, ashamed, "I did this!"

[swordofzero]

"Hey." Suzaku knelt down and reached up to take Diarmuid's shoulders. "It's alright. Don't worry, no one was hurt. It was just a mistake."

[smallspot]

"Knights don't make mistakes!" Diarmuid's words are muffled by his hands, but it's obvious he's crying now, "My brother could have been hurt and the puppies... Even if they weren't hurt, they were scared! I scared them!"

This is the first time he has failed to in something so important to him. He's obviously taking it very, very hard.

wow this is creepy role reversal

[swordofzero]

"That's not true." Suzaku told him softly, "Knights make mistakes all the time." He put a hand on Diarmuid's head, "The important thing is that you try and fix them."

Suzaku is a hypocrite because he takes his own mistakes incredibly hard. But he doesn't want to see Diarmuid doing it, he is so young and shouldn't take on such burdens.

And I think I just inadvertantly made that worse...

[smallspot]

"But if a knight makes mistakes people could get hurt or killed! You can't fix that!" Diarmuid's words are hard to make out, since he's crying and sniffling so hard. "I know people have to die sometimes, but I don't want..."

Here he just breaks down crying, words completely lost. Diarmuid's not a knight right now. Just a scared little boy.

[swordofzero]

The words stung in their truthfulness and the tears took Suzaku aback. He wasn't sure what to do, not sure how to handle crying. Not sure he had authority to tell this little boy about knighthood when Suzaku had definitely failed in being a knight.

Mistakes didn't even cover it.

"Don't cry..." He stared at Diarmuid, lost for what to do, not sure how to help him. "No one died. It's alright."

[smallspot]

"But they could have!" Diarmuid breaks into a new wave of crying and suddenly throws himself at Suzaku.

A hug would be very helpful right now.

[swordofzero]

Okay... He could do that at least. He wrapped his arms round the boy, holding him, still unsure what to say or do.

[smallspot]

Diarmuid doesn't say anything either. Instead he just cries into Suzaku's chest, every so often hiccuping from the force of his cries. Finally, he starts to quiet, probably because he is exhausted from all his tears and the excitement of the day. His fingers curl and uncurl unconsciously in the material of his shirt sleeves.

"I have to do better," He finally whispers so softly Suzaku will have to strain to hear it.

[swordofzero]

Suzaku stands silently, holding the boy tightly as he cried, feeling helpless. When Diarmuid whispered he blinked before replying. "You are still learning, there is always room for improvement." He drew back a little so he could look the little boy in the eyes. "I make mistakes all the time."

[smallspot]

"Mistakes that put people in danger?" Diarmuid sniffles and rubs at his eyes, trying to stop the tears. "I know you keep learning always, but...I don't like learning if it means people are in danger because of me. I'm suppose to be keeping them safe!"

For a moment, it seems like he is about to start crying again, but then Diarmuid closes his eyes and shakes his head, "I need to stop crying! I can't fix things while I am crying!"

[swordofzero]

Suzaku nodded sadly, "Yes, mistakes that put people in danger." Suzaku looked down but nodded, "You are, but it shouldn't make you stop learning, because you will save a lot of people as well."

[smallspot]

"I don't like not saving people..." Diarmuid looks down, twisting his fingers together. "What if the person I don't save is my brother or someone else I love? What do I do then, Suzaku?"

[swordofzero]

"No one likes not saving people." Suzaku said softly, another question he couldn't answer. Because he didn't know what to do in that situation, even though he had been in it. Destroy everything that hurt those you cared about was not good advice to give a child.

"That's something only you would know, if it ever happened. Hopefully it wont."

[smallspot]

"I hope not! I just have to work harder to make sure it doesn't!" Diarmuid wipes at his eyes one last time and then looks up at Suzaku, "Thank you. I'm sorry I cried so much. Do you think it's safe for me to go back up now and start cleaning things up?"

[swordofzero]

"It is alright to cry, especially when frightening thing happen." Suzaku told him and then shook his head, "They need to check that everything is alright first, they will let us know when it is safe to go back in."