2022-12-19: Cowboy in a Hospital
- Cast: Gai Kurenai, Access Code - Battle Tracto Max
- Where: Tsutsujidai - Inoue Hospital
- Date: U.C. 0096 12 19
- Summary: After a certain Hyper Devil's taunting, the wanderer Ultraman Orb visits the wounded Gridman, and offers some sage advice to one of his closest comrades.
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
Even in the quietest of times, a hospital hums with activity. The intensive care ward is certainly no exception. Conversations, the beep of monitors, even some sounds of distress... It's clear this is a drastic time. Every room is filled, some twice over. Yuta has been lucky (or unlucky) enough to be given a private room.
Within said room is a large hospital bed. The young redheaded boy asleep within it looks terribly small and fragile. A trio of tubes extend down his throat, while all sorts of monitors and IV lines are connected to his arms and chest. Padded restraints are loosely fastened around his wrists and ankles, to avoid him hurting himself /when/ he wakes. And it is a when. It has to be a when.
The second most important person in the room is an enormous man. He perches on a fold-up chair, clearly dragged in from somewhere. The unfortunate chair is clearly fighting for its life beneath the sheer bulk of the man. He's dressed sharply in a tailored suit. A metal mask covers the majority of his face. For the moment, he's reading a magazine -- "Popular Electronics" -- two months out of date, now.
<Pose Tracker> Gai Kurenai has posed.
The only name he has to pursue is Gridman, but that's more than enough - even a Being of Light can call out in distress if they're sufficiently wounded, and a Hyper Agent is no exception. The specific distinctions of the cries for help would be overwhelming and distracting for a newly-fledged Crusader of Light - but it's been twenty-thousand years since Gai was newly-fledged, and even then his experience on the O-50 Rescue Team gave him a keen instinct for telepathic distress.
This makes it trivially easy for a total stranger in a duster coat and cowboy hat to arrive at Yuta Hibiki's hospital room... And notice that the loudest sign of distress is not coming from the bed. His brow furrows, thoughtfully, and he gently knocks on the door before sliding it open. "Pardon me," he says softly, stepping inside the room and closing the door behind him after checking for possible eavesdroppers.
They're alone. Good. He stands patiently, waiting for Max's attention. Despite the state of things here, he radiates a warm aura of confidence and surety.
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
Truthfully, there wouldn't be much of any sort of signal coming from the young man in the bed. It's as though he's an empty shell.
"Please, come in." The large man says, greeting Gai with a smile. "Are you a friend of Yuta's? My name is Max, I am one of his comrades."
It's a little surprising to see a man dressed like this in a hospital, but really, what even determines a strange outfit these days? Max has seen everything from plug suits to school uniforms in the past few days, sometimes on the same person.
Max stands, pulling another folding chair from the wall and placing it next to his own. Should Gai wish to sit down, the invitation is implied. "Popular Electronics" is placed on a bedside table -- making it a fellow of a few other objects. A cell phone with a twinned music note charm dangling from one side, connected to a wireless speaker. An ecclectic set of music is playing, everything from ancient classical tunes to modern pop anthems. Perhaps most strikingly, a knitted red scarf is folded nicely and set in the corner of the table. Something reddish-brown has drenched half of it, making it appear crusty and really kind of gross.
<Pose Tracker> Gai Kurenai has posed.
Gai's gaze remains fixed on the redhead in the bed even as Max greets him, before turning to face the larger man. "No. We've never met. Alexis Kerib indicated Gridman had been wounded, and I felt it my duty to check on a fellow." He doesn't say how bad Kerib indicated the injury was, instead moving his right hand down to his hip, pushing his coat aside to reveal a strange lever-opened box, which he presses down to reveal a set of cards that emanate with power. Drawing the top card, he flashes it to Max - the unmistakable image of an Ultraman, with a ring-shaped colour timer on his chest and bearing a gleaming blade - before returning it to the deck as swiftly as he drew it.
"Call me Gai Kurenai in this form." He looks back to Yuta in the bed. "He's... Quiet." Obviously he doesn't mean verbally.
<poem>
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
Max stiffens. "You have been in contact with Alexis Kerib?" For a moment, he wonders if this is about to become a fight, but... a fellow? That earns Max's curiosity. Max tenses up again as Gai reaches down to his hip, but again, the revelation makes him more curious. An Ultraman... A fellow indeed.
"I see. You are welcome here, Mr. Kurenai. Thank you for the reassurance."
With a barely-audible sigh, Max steps forward to Yuta's bed. He reaches forward, brushing some of that red hair away from the young man's eyes. "He is. We have had Newtypes in to visit him, and they have found no sign of his spirit. I do not understand it. The doctors say he should be able to wake, and yet." </poem>
<Pose Tracker> Gai Kurenai has posed.
"That's... Concerning. To not have a psychic presence at all..." He stands over the bed, removing his hat and placing it next to the young man. "He is Gridman's host, correct? May I try something?"
If Max permits him, Gai reaches out a hand and places it on Yuta's chest, closing his eyes and focusing. "Gridman..." he whispers. There is a shimmer of light under his palm, for a moment, and then it subsides.
"I've gifted him a little of my light. Hopefully it helps... guide him." He shrugs. "I am hardly an expert in this kind of thing."
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
"Yes. He and Gridman have been partners for several months now, since we arrived in Tsutsujidai." Max gives Gai a nod, and watches the other man quite closely as he moves. When that light appears, his eye widen in surprise. Ultras are certainly beings of miracles and Light, but this is something new.
The gifted light seems to shimmer on Yuta's chest like a leaf above the water, and then it sinks into his form, submerging. A gentle radiance runs just under his skin before vanishing. Clearly, this has had some effect.
Staying quiet through the exchange of light, Max inclines his head in thanks once Gai speaks up again. "Thank you. I am certain your gift will help guide him home. He is missed by many."
"Mister Kurenai," Max speaks up again, after a quiet moment. "Is this technique one that may be taught? I would wish to learn it, if I may. Anything to be better prepared to aid my comrades, now and in the future."
<Pose Tracker> Gai Kurenai has posed.
Gai pauses as Max approaches him - in twenty-thousand years, he has never been asked to teach before. He takes a moment to think.
"I don't believe I can teach it as a 'technique'," he says, after a moment. "Nothing of what I've done as an Ultraman has been an act of specific guidance - I have simply felt my own power respond to my intent and my need and show me how to use it."
He reaches up to put a hand on Max's shoulder. "A desire to protect another from herself let me form a shield around her. Responding to my dearest friend's insistence that I should not defeat myself let me fight off a mind-controlling poison long enough for him to save me."
"... I believe that you should trust yourself and your friends' strength, and when the time is right and your purpose is clear, the Light will make itself known to you in the form you need of it."
He smiles ruefully. "I am sorry I can't be of more help."
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
How strange it must be, for such an ancient being to come face to face with such a young one.
"Yes, it has been much the same with Yuta and Gridman. They bonded through necessity, and so it has gone on, rather chaotically, until now. Perhaps... That may be the answer to bringing both of them home, once more."
Max considers this, looking down at Gai, accepting the hand on his shoulder. A look of surprise comes to the large man's eyes -- the rest of his face obscured. "Truly? That is remarkable, Mr. Kurenai. I did not know such abilities were within our reach. There is much I have yet to learn."
"The Light, as you say." Max rumbles, looking down to Yuta again. "I would like to have faith in such a thing. Day after day, Yuta's companions come in and speak to him. There must be Light in such devotion." Shaking his head, Max allows his shoulder-length teal hair to brush back and forth. "No. You have taught me much, in just a few sentences. That is more than anyone could ask for."
<Pose Tracker> Gai Kurenai has posed.
Gai's smile broadens, just a little, and he nods his head.
"If you like, I can take over standing vigil over Yuta, for a while. You could use the opportunity to rest, and be at full strength when the time comes to unravel this twisted heart and save its bearer - plus, I'm sure your comrades feel your absence deeply."
He looks wistful, for a moment. "Sometimes the opportunity to express what your friends mean to you slips away before you have the chance to notice it."
<Pose Tracker> Banagher Links has posed.
Max hesitates for a moment. Gai is practically family, being a fellow Giant of Light... but it's still difficult to think of allowing him to take the responsibility from Max's shoulders. A few seconds pass as he considers.
"...yes. I would appreciate that. It has been quite a while since I have slept." Max speaks quietly, glancing over his shoulder as though wary of someone appearing to scold him for this admission. "I will return after a few hours, I do not wish to burden you too much."
There's a hint of a smile behind that mask, something warmer in Max's eyes. "You are a good man, Mr. Kurenai. I am grateful you stopped by. I will take time, during my rest, to speak with each of my companions and tell them how much they matter to me."
Gai is clearly speaking from experience... Despite his trust in the other man, Max doesn't feel ready to ask what happened. It would be presumptuous.
<Pose Tracker> Gai Kurenai has posed.
"My Ultra comrades have helped me shoulder my burdens time and again," Gai says with a smile. "It is no trouble to help you shoulder yours in turn. Take all the time you need."
Once Max leaves, Gai picks his hat back up off the bed, nestling it comfortably on his head as he sits down, one leg crossed over the other. Tucking it down so it shades his eyes, he reaches into the breast pocket of his coat and pulls out some kind of harmonica of ancient, alien design, lifting it to his lips.
The song he plays is equal parts sad and hopeful, a bittersweet melody that acknowledges the torment in struggling souls, yet reminds them: There is yet hope. It echoes throughout all of Inoue Hospital, bringing solace to the wounded and strength to those yet labouring to save them.
((Gai's Orbnica Song))