I'm still comparing your past [TIMESKIP INFO]

[zerotohiro]

Hiro Hamada mechanist NAME. Hiro Hamada COURT. Unseelie OCCUPATION. Junior Premier/Head of Unseelie R&D ABLE TO FAST-TRAVEL? No; has teleporting CR though RESIDENCE IN 2701. Caer Scima/Spire 10/Station RESIDENCE IN 2702. TBD MAIN BREAKDOWN SPRING 2701 SUMMER 2701 AUTUMN 2701 WINTER 2701 SPRING 2702 BREAKDOWN PLANS Breakdown of things I hope to accomplish at various points in the year: ✖ I'm hoping to use this timeskip to develop Hiro's CR and also have him get involved in the Unseelie aspect of the Drabwurld, specifically trying to get involved with the R&D department that Saber's setting up. Update - post-timeskip: busy with R&D stuff from April until about Yule, then disappeared to fulfill the task given by Black Shuck. ✖ I want him to help with the spire projects (specifically spire 10 thanks to his quest) and also spend a lot of time at the Station, building technology that will work outside of the station that he can sell for profit/possibly be building things for Lumina's chocobo ranch. (Also building cat toys for Shijima. This is important.) Update - post-timeskip: the team of natives and sorcerers Hiro recruited during his quest helped finish Spire 10 and he spent very little time at the Station during timeskip. He built a few things for Lumina and Shijima. ✖ He'll also be building up his magical ability by acting as Lemina's Junior Premier, learning how to control his magic and also recruiting for her. He's going to spend a lot of time to effectively wield his magic. Going to learn how to use his crossbow too. Also depending, he may be learning some mild sorcery from Loki. One of his boons will be healing magic so he'll be attempting to be Tadashi be Baymax help that way. Update - post-timeskip: After their fight in June, Hiro hung back on the Guild and just acted as Junior Premier whenever Lemina needed him. He had a few students he checked in with but was largely hands-off while also learning how to control his fire magic and his wind magic. Learned to use a dagger instead. Has mastered level 1 illusion spellwork from Loki and will be looking into runic magic. ✖ If he behaves and proves himself, he will be playing a very large part in the R&D that Saber's setting up in Spire 10 acting as the Head of Project. Once that starts he will begin questioning how to make off-locket communication devices and teaming up with Rin, most likely. Update - post-timeskip: Saber named him head of project at the end of March 2701. When Rin didn't teach him right away, he circumvented her and learned to make the devices himself (accomplished by June 2701.) He's been working and will continue to work with Rin to further develop their partnership and create more tech to sell. ✖ Notable dates include a certain unhappy anniversary in the spring (sometime in the first part of April) that will cause him to basically shut down, along with his 15th birthday (headcanoned August 22nd) Update - post-timeskip: Both of these were acknowledged. ✖ CR-wise he'll be going to extreme lengths to keep in contact with Jason Todd and Loki until the three go their separate ways over the timeskip (possibly developing a friendship with Billy Kaplan via Loki as well?) Around April he'll most likely meet Joshua Kiryu and learn some very important things about him and gain a troll-guardian. Around March most likely he'll also meet Leo Valdez while unfreezing people via fire magic (tentative?) and also he will officially meet Nico di Angelo and soothe the tensions between him and Lumina, who he will also occasionally pop in and visit. In July he'll take a month off to go explore the northlands with Thrall. He'll be in contact with various people he's assisted so far and just let them know he's available if necessary but otherwise he'll be mostly exploring on his own. I want to also use this time to send him to some of the neutral territory (maybe Redgate) and also maybe make some Seelie CR since right now he kinda hates all of them. Update - post-timeskip: Jason and Hiro have had a turbulent year that ended with them splitting up for good until Hiro gathers the nerve to crawl back and apologize. He's developed very close friendships with Loki, Billy, Shijima, Eren, Lumina, Lemina, Thrall, and Howard. He's developed an extremely close friendship with Nico di Angelo as well and has since realized he has romantic feelings for him that he's yet to act on. Joshua Kiryu continues to act as a guardian angel and one person Hiro can be about 95% open and honest with and receive real answers. He developed a friendship with Leo Valdez as he assisted him thawing the Station in March and they spoke of developing secret meeting places during Samhain, along with talks of Leo's apprenticeship. In July he explored the northlands with Thrall to heal the earth and during Yule Thrall made him a member of the Frostwolf Clan. During Samhain, the Black Shuck sent Hiro on a mission with Nico to lay the dead to rest so January-April has been spent traveling. ✖ Other people to meet/build CR with: Rin, Eren, Sakura, Katsa, Shijima, Vol'jin, Saber, Sakura, Merida, Ellie, Colette. Update - post-timeskip: Has built better CR with Rin, Eren, Shijima, Saber, Merida, Ariadne, Colette, Prince Edgar and Katsa. Has met Sakura, and Ellie. Has also met and built decent with Grell Sutcliffe, Wan, Johnny Storm, Teresa, Clarke Griffin, and Lia de Beaumont. SUMMARY OF KNOWN DETAILS So far Hiro's only participated in the battle and also tried to play with the jabberwock. Also will soon discover he cannot, in fact, rebuild a special robot friend and will be very upset about that. Otherwise whatever! Update - post-timeskip: Haaaaaaaaaa. SPRING 2701 SPRING IN 2,701 (Mar, Apr, May) MARCH - The new King of Birds, the Roc, brings late snowstorms across the drabwurld; shardbearers must combat its magic to un-freeze each other, natives, and whole areas. Monarchs are still around and boons still occur. HIRO'S MARCH PLANS - Hiro will be using his newly learned fire magic to help unfreeze people (team up and meet Leo? Also team up with Merida at some point.) He will also be spending time between Spire 10 and the Station, most likely trying to set up residence in both places. He will also be recruiting for Lemina's magic guild and attempting to learn more about the R&D sanction of the Unseelie that will be housed in Spire 10. Update - post-timeskip: All true save for teaming up with Merida. Hiro worked with several people this month during the freeze (Leo, Johnny, Howard, Wan, Lemina, Katsa, etc.) APRIL - Shardbearers shall be struck at various moments by the sound of harp-playing which inspires distractingly, disablingly intense and wild emotions, but be unable to determine the source! Shardbearers will discover that they can follow the sound only in their dreams to the dream-image of a harp which magically plays itself. Smashing the harp in their dreams will disable the spell which affects their waking moments. This is the last month monarchs will be visibly around and which boons will occur. HIRO'S APRIL PLANS - Hiro will be hearing the harp and stuck struggling with keeping said-emotions under wraps and will probably explode on someone. Once he figures out how to smash the harp it will be done so. Update - post-timeskip: Had a near panic-attack about his harp and had a loooong talk with Joshua about how the harps worked and also a long talk about death and morality after Hiro smashed the harp. Spent the entire month of April locked away doing research and hiding from everyone/ignoring his CR. MAY - Golden swans will migrate to the mainland from the southern coast, devouring newly-planted crops and seeds; slaying them turns them into solid gold swan figurines. (also the Monarchs will be gone, lockets stop working, people opting out go to sleep.) HIRO'S PLANS FOR MAY - Once he finds out that the swan figures can become money, he'll most likely be taking his newly-booned cat and chasing/terrorizing the swans to get money. When Mochi won't have any of it, Hiro will team up with Shijima to kill swans and get money. Update - post-timeskip: The first of May was spent hunting down Jason Todd. Afterwards he made his way to Lumina's farm and started building automatic feeding stations for her chocobos. He also hunted swans with Shijima without Mochi (did not boon the cat.) Also researched in the background and worked on his communication devices. Worked with the Guild when he could. SUMMER 2701 SUMMER IN 2,701 (Jun, Jul, Aug) JUNE - It becomes clear that the areas the Jabberwock spent too much time in will grow nothing and have become barren; includes areas around Caer Glaem, the Cothromach, the Station, other parts of the map. Shardbearers may attempt to heal these areas. Treun holds its famous summer tourney! The purse is 5,000 gold marks for each of these competitions: Magical Duelling, Mounted Joust, and the Melee! The competitions go over the day, featuring many famed individuals participating in secret, and the revels continue over nights. A mod post will go up for this event. HIRO'S JUNE PLANS- He's not going to participate in the tourney but he IS going to set up a giant betting pool for non-participants to get involved. Since a lot of his friends are also competing he will most likely spread a few rumors about the stats of the fighters to mess with the odds. His healing plans will take place in July instead. Update - post-timeskip: Betting pool still happened and he almost got his ass kicked for it. Nico di Angelo saved him and his friendship with the boy started. Also handed out communicators to his very close CR. And also found out Lemina was offering the Guild to Seelie shardbearers, got pissed, and stopped talking to her. Hiro's work with the Guild went on pause. JULY - Violent anti-shardbearer demonstration in Daonna results in the hanging of a dozen Seelie and Unseelie shardbearers in the city square. Whispers insist that ancient shardbearer Martin Maskmaker is behind the clever fox-masks which magically hide the identities of the killers and help them leave no trace. HIRO'S JULY PLANS-If Hiro gets IC word he's going to start trying to work on solving the mystery despite not having clues about the killers. However he will be spending the entire month of July traveling with Thrall into the northlands to assess the damage of the area and start trying to heal them on their own. Update - post-timeskip: Did not do anything about the anti-shardbearer demonstrations but instead spent the whole month with Thrall traveling to the northlands to heal the destruction from the jabberwock. AUGUST - Leathann's Festival of Lights is the second week in August, a curious local celebration timed to the arrival of fireflies which will this year mark the induction of the new Oracle; overnight the boats which comprise the Water Market all seem to have vanished, and natives float candles on the river out to sea and let paper lanterns fly, while in the distance the Tower of the Oracle glows golden through day and night. HIRO'S AUGUST PLANS- Depending on if he can get there, he might go down and check it out because pretty lights and fireflies and stuff. Around the 19th or so, he'll be organizing a beach trip with friends as a guise to celebrate not only his birthday (August 22nd) but also Jason Todd's (August 16th.) Update - post-timeskip: Came back from his journey with Thrall and immediately was whisked away by Nico to Leathann for the Festival of Lights. Celebrated his/Jason's birthday on August 20th. Background research. He apologized to Lemina this month as well. Guild work is still less but he's helping where he can. R&D research goes back into full-swing at the end of August. AUTUMN 2701 FALL IN 2,701 (Sept, Oct, Nov) SEPTEMBER - The magical power which allows shardbearers to understand Drabbish and each other goes haywire; affected characters will be heard speaking their native tongue! All their writing, however, will still be seen as Drabbish. The annual Treun wreath festival! Harvests are very poor, but the spectacle and scope of the dancing, grain-giving, and public drunkenness are as riotously whole-hearted as ever. The festival ends in drunken bread-riots, however, and fires set in the garden district. The public calls for Fortuna to abdicate his position HIRO'S SEPTEMBER PLANS- Language shenanigans! Let's see how many people he no longer understands. Hiro speaks and understands English and Japanese fluently. No other plans thus-far. Update - post-timeskip: He pantomimed stuff with Wan to learn meditation methods better! He also started learning how to write and translate things in Ancient Greek for a certain present for a certain demigod. Month was spent heavily doing research and development and mostly stuck to the Spire save for his time with Wan at the Station near the end of September. OCTOBER - 25-30 - SAMHAIN! Sun does not rise; characters can go wherever they please; Black Shuck makes another appearance; giant party on the Cathraon. Mods will post logs for this. HIRO'S OCTOBER PLANS- - Samhain! Hiro's going to attend Samhain and probably get into a lot of trouble because it's a giant party. He's going to try to approach Black Shuck with Nico di Angelo and force Eren Yeager into a suit because it's hilarious. He'll probably also be easier to trick into dancing with his CR and he'll be mingling around to meet new people as well. October otherwise is completely open and planless. Update - post-timeskip: Early October he researched blood granite with Edgar, but otherwise pretty much nothing about this has changed other than the fact that approaching Shuck was a Bad Idea and he and Nico were tasked with traveling the Drabwurld to lay the dead to rest. Hiro's secrets about Nico were revealed to Loki after he stopped the fight between Nico and Lumina. Loki also gave him his first kiss to prove it was no big deal. Hiro pushed him in the face a lot. Also began planning secret clubs/safehouses with Leo Valdez and made a lot of new connections. NOVEMBER - Inmates from a magical island prison-colony of Leathann have escaped, and some manage to reach the mainland and begin causing havoc! The government of Leathann posts rewards for the return of these criminals, dead or alive. Many are legitimately dangerous mages and sorcerers; others are simply individuals who are debtors to the state and couldn't pay their taxes! HIRO'S NOVEMBER PLANS- He may try to team up with some people to go after some of the criminals but for the most part he'll be using the month of November to research High Queen Morla and complete a quest for Ariadne. Update - post-timeskip: First two weeks of November alternated between working on the quest for Ariadne and researching stuff for R&D. The end of November was spent with Lumina traveling to Spire 9's city to work with the vampires to make copies of her chocobo books. WINTER 2701 WINTER IN 2,701/2,702 (Dec, Jan, Feb) DECEMBER - YULE! Giant hunting party with both courts trying to catch the White Hart! Mods will post logs for this. HIRO'S DECEMBER PLANS- He's going to wind up building an army of snowmen and one very special Snowmax at the Station if he can get there. Otherwise no real plans. He'll be celebrating Yule/Christmas and provide presents to a lot of his close CR. Update - post-timeskip: Haha he basically exchanged presents with people, argued with Nico until Nico agreed to take him on Shuck's task, ventured on an overnight trip with Thrall to become a tiny Frostwolf, argued with Jason about Nico and cut their ties temporarily and ditched the spire to head out. Last month he researched stuff for R&D. Last month he actively worked with the Guild. JANUARY - Caer Scima is at last entirely rebuilt, and grander than ever! HIRO'S JANUARY PLANS- Definitely going to return to CS to see how it's been rebuilt. Otherwise he's pretty quiet this month. Update - post-timeskip: Definitely did not return to CS and definitely did not remain quiet this month. Spent the month traveling and training with Nico. FEBRUARY -Parrais holds its Ostara Feast! A local celebration of and competition in the arts, chalks harvested from the coast are all dyed and given to local children the full week before, and the whole city is mostly covered in their murals. By the feast's end, several famous elven artisans and musicians are found with their throats slashed. HIRO'S FEBRUARY PLANS- He's going to end up bouncing off to Redgate with Billy Kaplan to crash in Loki's dorm and also try to break into the fancy-schmancy library. May also end up meeting a handful of the Seelie in Redgate. Update - post-timeskip: Went to Redgate with Billy to research more/bond with Billy/crash in on Loki. Billy and Loki figured out his romantic feelings toward a certain son of Hades that Hiro adamantly denied. Hiro gained access to the Redgate library for research. In addition, he traveled to Mair and met Grell who spoke with him of death, magic, and runes as she helped him with the next leg of his task for Shuck. SPRING 2702 SPRING IN 2,702 (Mar, Apr) MARCH - The skeletons of unburied soldiers killed in battle begin to rise, devouring whatever living beasts or people they come upon until their skulls are struck off. HIRO'S MARCH PLANS- Gonna double-check that this isn't Nico's work and then use a combination of magic and other skills to kill the skeletons. Update - post-timeskip: Rejoined Nico! This probably was tied into their initial task anyway. Also met Jason again at the end of the month and it went as poorly as one would expect. Jason told Hiro how to fix it ("come home", basically) and Hiro shied away from the idea. APRIL - Great numbers of imps and fairies begin to go missing in both castles, to the point where many everyday tasks go unfinished! HIRO'S APRIL PLANS- Start devising ways to accomplish the daily tasks with inventions while hunting for the missing imps. Update - post-timeskip: He's lost Jason and it's that time of year again. During Yule he set up a meeting with Joshua on the anniversary of the harp-smashing so they could chat and review everything wrong with the world. He also had a friend-date with Merida where the same sort of things were discussed. Lastly, he received a quest from the Unseelie monarchs just as he was getting ready to go find Jason to apologize one last time. MAY - End of timeskip. ADDITIONAL. Info • Inbox • Timeskip Threadtracker

CODE BY WEARESTARDUST @ SUPERSUITS

original calendar here

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SPRING 2701

[zerotohiro]

April - Harp Event

[prissykid]

[There are a lot of things Joshua can appreciate about the Drabwurld, other than his new-found freedom to roam the world as he pleases. With exception to enemy territory, but he has no plans on doing anything of the sort. Really, it's only one thing that he doesn't appreciate, and it's the harp music. Regular harp music he enjoys, but this music brings out emotions in a way that he doesn't like. He wants to be in control of his own emotions as much as possible, thanks. That determination to make it stop does lead Joshua to following the music in his dream the night following, and quite cheerfully smote the foul harp with divine light.

One perk to being a god: divine retribution in a very literal sense!

It's not very long afterwards that Joshua decides to check in on some of the people he's met thus far. One of them is Hiro, who...is difficult to track when he doesn't know anyone to ask about his whereabouts. Joshua does make a guess that for a scientific mind like Hiro's, the Station would be a very appealing place to be. It'll certainly be the most familiar to Hiro in a time when his emotions are running rampant.

Brain, don't fail him now.]

[zerotohiro]

[Well, Joshua's not wrong. Joshua's not wrong in the slightest because even prior to this Hiro had been making use of traveling back and forth between some of the spires (spire 10 mostly) and the Station. He still had a room at the Station that he was using on occasion that housed a very special item and it was a room he used sometimes to go brainstorm away from everybody else, when he couldn't think at Spire 10.

Of course, it was also a place he used to hide whenever he felt like it even knowing that there would be people wondering where he disappeared to.

He'd taken off for the Station one day in early April and it was only when he arrived at the Station that he heard it. The harp. A harp? He'd assumed that it was just something from one of the computers or something and thought nothing of it as a slight jumpiness crept upon him. He grabbed what he needed for Spire 10 and hopped back through the fairyring back to his new headquarters. The music didn't stop as he left the Station though. In fact it just grew louder and his irritation with some people also grew. Seriously, how hard was it to be able to understand such basic concepts? He felt him progressively grow angrier and angrier and eventually he'd thrown up his hands and left, frustration overriding him and causing him to retreat back to the Station and deal with that music.

That had been a few days ago. He hadn't returned to the Spire yet because that music wouldn't leave him alone and Hiro was self-aware enough to realize that something was wrong. He didn't understand what, exactly, but he could tell. He was jumpier than usual, quicker to snap at people and the first time he snapped at someone who'd simply asked him a question he'd decided it was best to grab enough to hole up in his room for a while until the music stopped. It was even affecting his sleep though, louder than in his waking moments and it drove him crazy.

It didn't help that it was the spring. It didn't help that a certain day was fast approaching and it bothered him. It bothered him a lot and he refused to be around anybody until he could get everything under control and he refused to sleep longer than he had to because the harp bothered him. He'd made the connection that the harp was doing some sort of magic and playing with his feelings, but it's magic. How could one control that kind of magic?

It's late in the evening when the Station's at its quietest that Hiro ventures out of his room. It's evident that he's been in hiding for a while and generally not taking good care of himself, but what else is new? He's still functioning and that's enough for him. On the bright side he's made progress with a lot of his ideas. He'd ventured out to get some mineral water from the kitchen, not entirely paying attention to the people that were still out. Actually, he's busy looking down at his tablet when he happens to run right into Joshua, bouncing back a little as he looks up, bewildered by his (according to Hiro) sudden appearance.

His face quickly rifles through a few things, surprise, confusion, and finally annoyance settling in. This? This was one of the last people he wanted to see.]

What are you doing here?

[prissykid]

[Y'know, Joshua's feeling generous today. He'll let being bumped into slide. It definitely saves him the trouble of trying to find Hiro in this place.]

Oh, my, so aggressive this lovely evening. And after coming all this way to see you, I don't even get a simple 'hello.' Whatever did I do to deserve your ire?

[He may seem very light about this, but he hasn't survived as Composer this long by not learning how to get a read on a situation. While Hiro seems the type to look like this on a regular basis, in light of what Joshua's experienced, he's willing to bet that this isn't strictly 'normal' for the teenager.]

[zerotohiro]

[Not in the mood, Josh. Severely not in the mood and it shows as he holds his tablet closer to his chest and carefully works on trying to close off the expression on his face. Normally that works fine, but today he's having difficulty keeping the irritation under wraps.]

Okay, let's try again. How did you know I was here?

Early May, after ignoring Jason for the entirety of april

[zerotohiro]

[…April was awful. Aprils usually weren't awful but given the fact that it was still April back home (nearly May), and given what happened that April? He's not a fan. If that weren't bad enough, there was that stupid harp that nearly destroyed him until he let Joshua talk him into smashing it himself. Even after he smashed it he isolated himself for the remaining two weeks of the month. Even without the haunting music he found that it was hard. It was hard to cope when he didn't have people in this world that knew about Tadashi and really, everybody else had other things to do.

So he ignored everyone. Save for select people for very limited conversations, Hiro made himself very scarce and buried the locket in his backpack. He heard it chime every couple of days and part of him was tempted to check it but he could never bring himself to do it.

April 30th, however, he's checking it out and hoooly crap that is a bunch of missed calls from Jason Todd.

...crap.

He watches all of the videos and by the time he reaches the last one he realizes that he just messed up pretty badly even though he knows he’s justified. That doesn’t stop him from immediately packing up his stuff from the Station and using the fairy ring to head out to Spire 10. Dropping everything at Spire 10, he takes another moment to re-watch the messages before deciding to jump through the ring again to get out to Spire 3. Even if Jason wasn’t there, he had to check.

Predictably so, Jason’s not there. Jason’s not there and Hiro’s annoyed but he’s stubborn. If he just waits, Jason will show up. It’s what he tells himself anyway and as he settles down for the night on the campgrounds just outside of Ariadne’s spire he keeps watch and waits. At some point he falls asleep though because it’s the morning of May 1st and the sun’s shining in his face. He wakes up and realizes that no, Jason never came back. Fine. Whatever. He’ll just text him.

…the text isn’t going through though. It’s an error Hiro’s never seen and he’s confused for a moment, shaking the locket and even flinging it across the camp before trying again and receiving the same errors. There’s a growl of annoyance. Dumb thing must be broken. Whatever, he can figure out how to fix it back at Spire 10. He heads into the spire to take the fairy ring back to the tenth spire, but once he’s inside and announces the name he finds a new problem. He’s not going anywhere. He’s not going anywhere and even as he jumps around, stomping his feet and even yelling and attracting the attention of some of the natives he’s still stuck in Spire 3.

…double-crap.

Okay. Okay fine. He’ll just head out to Spire 10 the hard way. Stomping out of the spire, he hitches his backpack higher up on his shoulder and grabs a bag of cereal he stole from the Station out of his backpack to munch on as he makes his way off toward the mountains. He has his map somewhere, but how hard can it be? He’ll be there in no time. It’s not like the mountains are going anywhere.

…hours later Hiro finds himself in La Llorona still. This is after hours of alternating between running from monsters and tripping over roots. He eventually stops to sit against a tree in a clearing to catch his breath, pulling out his map and staring at it for a brief moment. None of this looks familiar to him though and his eyebrows furrow together. Eventually his head tilts back and smacks against the trunk of the tree, each smack punctuated with a word.]

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

[He’s busy cursing the forest (and also Jason, for that matter) before he crumples up the map and shoves it back into his bag. Whatever. The mountains still aren’t going anywhere and he can make it out there.

As the sun starts to set, Hiro comes to the sinking realization that he is absolutely and completely lost. He has no idea where the hell he’s going, and he has no idea where he even is for that matter. He knows the subway system back home like the back of his hand but this? Forget it. It’s going to be dark soon and he knows he doesn’t stand a chance out in the forest at night by himself totally unprepared. And so? He starts running. He’s good at running, running is a skill that he’s honed for years and in fact he’s so focused on running that he almost blows right past a little path in the forest that splits off that’s lit up. He skids to a halt, slipping on a wet patch of leaves and promptly falling on his ass before scrambling back up to stare down the path.

Either he somehow walked his way out of the forest entirely, or there is, in fact, a tavern in front of him. Either or is completely possible. But beggars can’t be choosers and he immediately makes up his mind that he has to go there. Drawing himself up to what he hopes is more impressive than his five foot tall stature, he follows the path and lets himself into the tavern, door banging shut behind him and all eyes suddenly on him.

…triple-crap. He lifts a hand, waving just slightly before hunching his shoulders and slinking his way through the crowd. If he can just get by unnoticed and get to the bar, maybe he can get something to eat and put together a new plan. Even if he can’t spend the night here, he can buy a few hours and at least maybe leave on a full stomach.

Hauling himself up onto a stool he folds his arms on the countertop, resting his head on them.

This was such a bad idea. He’s aware that he’s pretty screwed but if he just has a few minutes to himself, he’ll figure something out.

If he were Jason Todd on a mission, where would he go at night? The funny thing is that he doesn’t even realize that the answer’s right in front of him.]

[uneulogized]

[The loss of the fairy rings, along with the loss of communications, had really screwed him over. He's already noticed that he can't do much without either of them, and he has contacts to meet and no way to get to them. What does he do? What can he do? Now stuck with a useless locket and nowhere to go, he rides as long as he can over night until he comes across a familiar tavern. There's an old man there who always likes to talk, and Jason likes to listen. From what he's found, most of what the man says is true. Sometimes there's some fabrication thrown in for the sake of embellishment, but who doesn't tell a story that way?

Jason generally likes that.

He found him early in April, jumping from fairy ring to fairy ring to clear his head. The absence of Hiro, combined with his own burgeoning responsibilities, had led him to seeking out freedom. He had been in an emotional haze then, and he had been trying to run from the noise. When he found the old man, the noise continued, but he settled in and listened. Something about it had been comforting.

Now at a loss of resources without anywhere to go, he listens again, a pint of something thick and dark in front of him. He's intent on hearing the end of this story about the Seelie bastards when he notices everyone else turning toward the newest entrant. The only one who doesn't seem to give a damn about him is his old man, and that's because he's still talking.

Of course, Jason would normally be keen on continuing to listen, but he knows that face. He knows that face.

Torn between two decisions, he finally lifts a finger up.]

An obligation just walked in. Can I get a rain check?

[The man looks at him uncertainly.]

I wanna hear the rest later. That sound good?

[Toothily with a wide grin, the old man agrees. Jason shoves over his beer in way of payment for that, and he gets up to greet Hiro as he approaches the bar.]

Don't worry, guys. He's with me. [He waves the natives off as they look at Hiro curiously, like he might have walked into the wrong place. While this tavern is mostly Unseelie-based in its loyalties, the occasional bandit walks in from time to time to cause trouble. They want food, but they get greedy, especially when they spot a shardbearer. There are a couple seated by the door right now, but they know better than to mess with Jason. Now that he's laid "claims" on Hiro? They know not to mess with him, too.

Jason's made it clear what happens when someone tries, after all.

He closes off the rest of the distance between him and Hiro, hand planted firmly on Hiro's head as he finishes moving him to the bar.]

Long time no see, old chap. [The words are slightly accented and mocking, too.

He doesn't want this to be a big deal.]

[zerotohiro]

[He doesn't say anything at first even with Jason's hand on his head, eyes wide like he's seeing a ghost. Granted he knows that he's the one who turned tail and ran off for a month without contact but Jason doesn't even seem to care.

Whatever. He's too exhausted to really fight it so once they're at the bar he just settles in and props his head up with a hand, staring at him for a minute. It's a long minute full of a strange indecisiveness like Hiro's unsure of what he wants to say first.]

Everything's broken. [He blurts out. That. That wasn't exactly what he meant, but it's a start and he continues staring at Jason, trying to analyze his facial expressions and get any kind of read on him that he can. It could also be interpreted as "I had no idea how to find you" and "this is why I didn't call back" or "I am so confused."] What are you doing here?

[uneulogized]

[There's a long stretch of silence as Jason makes a very purposeful glance around the room. He's already marked everyone there. He knows who poses a threat to Hiro and him. That's not why he's doing it. It's to make a single point: he's not the guy who stands out here.

It's Hiro.

Jason leans forward when he finishes, elbows on the bar counter. While he did a ton of trying to find the damn kid in the previous month, he's not here because he thought that Hiro might stumble across a random tavern that he hasn't bothered to mention to anyone. This place is meant to be Jason's little oasis, a source of various people who aren't necessarily associated with the courts who like to talk.

Especially his old man off in the corner, who's currently greedily sipping the drink that Jason left behind.]

What do you think? [he finally asks, giving Hiro an inquisitive look. It's far enough from spire three that it can't be associated with it, but it's close enough that he can travel there and back easily. That's why he figures Hiro is here. He's making presumptions, he knows that, but they aren't necessarily wrong ones. Hiro must have been there recently. Was he looking for Jason? That's a distinct possibility.

Either way, he's definitely finally come up for air.]

MARCH; I'll Be The Watcher of the Eternal Flame

[zerotohiro]

The new King of Birds, the Roc, is well-known for his hate of shardbearers and their courts, and is incredibly warlike in all his doings! Birds owned by shardbearers show clear distress on the first and attempt to escape their masters. As of the 1st, the Roc begins flying over the drabwurld, using his weather-magic to cause intense blizzards and ice storms: more than enough to begin freezing individuals in their steps!

The monarchs give handwaved proclamations offering rewards to those of their courts who help unfreeze the drabwurld.

By the 25th, the effect of this second-winter are mostly gone, eradicated by the efforts of shardbearers and others with the power to undo the frigid cold.

Lemina

[zerotohiro]

[Maybe it was a little serendipitous that Lemina had been teaching him how to use fire as the first segue into magic. He'd effectively mastered the art of summoning palmfuls of flames without bursting into a complete panic and as they continued to train he became more confident with his power.

Of course all of that changed the first day the big free set into the Drabwurld. He'd seen the giant bird fly overhead and he found himself locked in Spire 10 for a few days until the blizzards and storms settled down. Once the winds stopped he started making calls to the people he knew, Lemina being one of the first. They'd agreed to meet up and take this on as their first real application of magic as Premier and Junior Premier and by the time Hiro joined her Lemina was already working on wielding a bit of flame to keep herself warm. At least he was wearing long pants today. That was a start.]

I've never really liked birds that much anyway. Look at this mess.

[fliesbynight]

[Lemina really had to wonder how he managed in those clothes. Then again, her robe was enchanted to be warm. It felt like a nice, snug blanket with hot chocolate as a side. Basically, she was only fine because of magic.]

Seriously, birds annoy me. The ones back home like to divebomb you and suck out some of your blood.

[Living the RPG world life sure was something.]

All right! We're going to be precision on this one. Do you know why?

[zerotohiro]

[Not very well, Lemina, but he'll manage. He's a little too distracted to think about just how cold it is.]

...okay ours are just really loud. Remind me never to piss off the birds in your world.

[There's a short grin and he nods in response.] I'm gonna guess it has to do with not wanting to light people on fire while we're trying to help them? I'm pretty pro-not-frying-people.

Leo

[zerotohiro]

[With the blizzards continuing and the snow drifts growing higher and higher Hiro knew it was time to start moving his stuff from the Station to Spire 10, just in case things got so bad he wouldn't be able to travel. It was a slow move at first, hopping the ring at the Station to the one in Spire 10 and taking supplies back little by little until the last thing that remained was Baymax's arm and Hiro himself.

Due the Station's destruction thanks to the jabberwocky's game, snow made its way inside and started to pile up and effectively creating a blockade from the inside of the Station out to the fairy ring on that last day. It also had spilled right into his room and frozen Baymax's arm to the ground. It was annoying, frankly, but if Hiro was anything he was resourceful.

He hated to do this to his friend, but metal heated up pretty fast and he needed to get out of there and start checking for people again. Crouching down, he placed a hand on the metal and allowed his palm to grow warm, flames sprouting up to heat the robot's arm. He thought the snow and ice had melted enough and he moved to grip on Baymax's arm, giving it a tug--

--and promptly falling back into a pile of snow and landing at the feet of a native who'd been frozen in place. There came a yell and Hiro scrambled up, staring for a moment as he tried to think of the best way to tackle the situation. Fire still licked the palm of his hand as Hiro tried to will it away, trying to explain to the native that he wasn't a fire user and that lighting them up would probably be a bad, bad idea. Anyone walking by might notice the boy with one hand on his robotic arm and the other still shaking away flames and hear one last protest.]

No, seriously, you do not want me to actually do that.

[commandertoolbelt]

[ True to his word, Leo had brought the Archimedes sphere to the Station with him, taking it from his rooms in Caer Glaem for the first time since that trip with Ryan and Korra and the others. He knew it wouldn't work outside that one fairy ring, but he hadn't liked the idea of leaving it there, either, especially when there was no way to guard it while he was away.

Since the snowstorms began, he'd tried to hook it up the Station computers and see if he could wire it to keep things warm here, to make sure it wouldn't all freeze, but it turned out that there was too much damage from the Jabberwock. Any other day, and he'd stay to fix it, but there were special circumstances here, and the work would take too long to complete. By the time he did, everything would be frozen solid, and while Leo knew his Blessing was enough to fight off a snow goddess, she didn't qualify as a full-blown storm.

Tl;dr: everything sucked, and it was a day ending in Y.

He kicked the console he'd been trying to get into as he stood, sphere in hand, ready to take it back underground and make sure it was secured before he started fighting the snowstorm himself. The last thing he needed was a priceless ancient artifact like this one getting irreparably damaged just because the place wasn't air-tight. It wouldn't be an issue of it could fit in his belt, but the Archimedes sphere was just big enough that it was a problem. He had a good box stowed in his room here, though, the same one he'd kept the sphere in at Caer Glaem for so long, just in case.

Before he could get downstairs to put it away, though, he heard a yell, and immediately turned to follow the sound. Leo hadn't known there was anyone else here - well, anyone that wasn't already frozen. He definitely wasn't expecting to find a kid with flames in his hand, slightly freaking out, and the sight made him pause in surprise. He was still getting used to the idea of other people being able to do that. ]

You know, fire might actually help thaw the place out a little, [ he called out, stepping closer. ]

[zerotohiro]

[Great. What a perfect time to have an audience. He looked up suddenly even though the fire's still burning in the palm of his hand, expression much like a deer in the headlights as he squinted a little to see who the hell is talking to him.

It was an obvious statement but there were plenty of reasons why he wasn't ready to pursue such an avenue. He shook his head though, half-thinking of sticking his hand in the snow to extinguish the flame.]

Well unless you've got a blowtorch stored somewhere, I can't do much. [Said like he wasn't capable of fire magic.]

Katsa

[zerotohiro]

[How Katsa and her men got to Spire 10 in this mess Hiro didn't know but he'd learned it was probably best not to ask Katsa questions like that and just focus on what they were here to do. They'd made arrangements to trade the indigo and that was it, but with the weather the way it was Hiro sneaked the woman, her direwolf, and her small troop into Spire 10 to wait it out. He didn't have a lot of resources available but he set Katsa's troops up in a large commonroom on one of the floors of the spire and went around lighting up his homemade space heaters to keep them warm, escorting Katsa and her wolf up higher to where another smaller common area and his own bedroom were. Disappearing into his room he soon came back with just the smallest amount of indigo that, thankfully, hadn't frozen.

He held the plant carefully as his free hand swept over the heaters in the room to warm them before he turned to her and held out the plant.]

Kinda seems like a lot of trouble just to turn him blue, doesn't it?

[survivra]

[ Katsa was more interested in Hiro and his space heating than she was in the spire itself. The weather had only begun when they were already within sight of the spire and the hardest of their work had been done; plus, as Katsa had told them, they'd just spent days among burning trees, so relatively the freeze should feel like a relief. It was familiar, walking through this freeze, and she felt an odd sort of pang for the misery of the months she'd spent stranded in the mountain snows with Bitterblue.

But it did no good to dwell. So she focused on the boy and the heat that came from his hand and extended her own to take the plant from him.

Katsa's mouth twitches in a smile. ]

I hadn't even thought it would get this far. But you offered, so now it seems like more trouble not to do it.

Howard

[zerotohiro]

[It was back to the Station for Hiro. He'd figured out by now that they needed something big if they were going to combat the Roc's magic and return the Drabwurld to something normal and though his fire magic was doing well to try and unfreeze people he knew, animals, and other natives and creatures it wasn't enough. It was about that point that Hiro started reaching out to other people for ideas and one of those people was Howard Stark.

Hiro wouldn't openly admit it just yet, but he was far too curious about how Howard's mind worked and also about what kind of ideas the older man could create. When Howard told him he had something of a plan but could use Hiro's help, he didn't hesitate to reappear at the Station and seek him out. It took a little longer than he intended due to stopping now and then to assist someone with just a little bit of a melting boost but eventually he found Howard and appeared in front of him, eyebrow arched expectantly.]

So. What's this amazing plan you've come up with?

[stickseller]

(At first Howard had thought that maybe this whole big freeze thing was something that just happened. Like a cold front coming in from Canada, he'd experienced frigid winters in New York, 1934 had been a particularly frigid year when he was still in school and hadn't yet come to economic wealth, so to begin with he had bundled up to try to make the best out of it. It would pass, wouldn't it? But as with everything he'd experienced so far in this world, there was always something more to it than what met the eye. The Roc, he learned, was a large and terrifying beast of a bird, the master of them of sorts, taking over after the Jabberwock he had missed while out cold. And people were wondering whether it could be combatted at all.

Traditional methods had been used. The Station was warm enough in some places, large bonfires constructed where those who were there gathered, most sleeping together closely for the shared warmth of both fire and multiple bodies. But even with the fires roaring, the ice and the cold came creeping ever closer, and he worried it would soon give them less and less space, and in the end freeze them all. (He remembered seeing frozen corpses in in the streets of New York then, those poorer than even him left out in the cold with nothing but fraying clothes. It wasn't a pretty sight, he didn't want to witness it again.)

And so he had begun to think, pacing back and forth for what felt like days as he tried to comb through his brain for ideas, but all of them were too complicated. All of them relied too heavily on access too materials he didn't have. Until, of course. One day it dawned on him as he sat tossing and catching a mobile phone in the air. It had gotten away from him and come crashing apart on the floor, and it was the metal shining up at him that opened his eyes.

He had scrambled for his locket, alerting Hiro who he knew was there too, telling him to find him as soon as he could. He had an idea that just might help them combat and keep the ice at bay. He had lost track of time, really, and so for him Hiro may have taken hours or just minutes to appear. Either way, when he did, he found him surrounded by computers he had gathered from around, now hunched over slightly as he tore them apart.

His gaze flickered up, the wild sort of I haven't slept in days look bright in them.)

Magnesium.

(He gestured at the pile of metal on the table. It wasn't much, yet, but powdering it finely enough it could be spread over a large area. Sure, it burned quickly, bu tthe intensity should make up for it.)

Grind it up, spread it out. It might just help.

Johnny

[zerotohiro]

[While it was all well and good that Hiro was working at the Station and Spire 10 to help combat the snow and ice, the blizzards weren't stopping and the Dorchadas…well, frankly it was a mess. Now that he had a thicker jacket thanks to a certain asshole of an older brother figure he ventured out into the open wilderness known as "the area between the spires" and began trekking through the snow, blazing tiny walkable paths with flames from his hands and occasionally stopping to help melt blocks of ice preventing people and animals from moving.

He'd just popped out to Spire 3 to see if Ariadne needed help with anything when he saw it.

What it was, he had absolutely no idea, but it looked like an actual burning man with flames covering his entire body and the look of pure horror on his face was pretty evident within seconds. Part of him wanted to turn and run and the other part (the part that sounded strangely familiar) told him that someone had to help.

He didn't want to get anywhere near the guy so he did what seemed like a good idea. He quickly crouched down, packing a large snowball, winding up and throwing it directly at the man's face to see if that would help quell the flames any.

Sometimes…for being a genius, Hiro Hamada lacked basic common sense.]

[fulminants]

[ So, you know, Johnny Storm had been hard at work at Spire 3, keeping the refugees warm and toasty, helping to heal frostbite and thawing the ones who practically seemed like they were ice-cubing over, and so the last thing he's expecting is a faceful of snow.

Which, by the way, ow.

The kid's got pretty incredible aim, and an even more incredible throw, because Johnny yelps, distracted from building yet another bonfire, and heating the vats of water the others were supposed to bring in for the others to use to care for the refugees once he's done. ]

Wh-- hey!

[ It doesn't take long for him to figure out just which bright spark beaned him in the face with a snowball, and it's fortunate that the fire melts it off just as quickly, although Johnny looks quite affronted. He recognizes the kid from their conversation, although, really, is this a game or something? ] What was that for?

[ He forgets that Hiro hadn't actually seen him lit up yet. ]

march 2nd.

[andallbite]

[ Hey there, Hiro, you're getting a message on your locket suddenly— ]

You there? [ Without the preamble of a hello or anything, how pleasant. But the image does, at least, show the modern architecture of the Station hanging around in the background from where Eren is standing. ] I'm around. Where are you?

march 2nd.

[zerotohiro]

[Eren you should just be happy he's paying attention for once. There's almost a comfort in knowing somebody besides him goes around greeting people with "hello." Seriously, ain't nobody got time for that.

He grins though because he recognizes exactly where Eren's at. Unlike him, Hiro's background shows he's in the middle of La Llorona. Excellent timing.]

I'm like ten seconds away? [He directs the camera of the locket to show the fairy ring in the forest.] Stay there, I'll be there soon.

[And true to his word he's disconnecting the call and popping through the fairy ring to land just outside of the Station, making his way into the mildly destroyed building. Damaged or not, the Station's still functional enough and that's what counts. It doesn't take him long to find Eren and it occurs to him that he never...actually got his name.

Oh well. He knows what the guy looks like, that's good enough, and soon enough Hiro's approaching him with his backpack dangling off of a shoulder. Thankfully the freeze had just begun and though snow was everywhere the Station was relatively sheltered.]

Your timing's incredible by the way. [That's kinda the same as "hi."] I was just coming back to collect stuff to take back to Spire 10.

[andallbite]

[ Likewise, Eren recognizes where the other boy is at almost the second he sees what's going on over the locket; for a second, he nearly thinks he's missed Hiro (a minor inconvenience, but still), though luckily, that ends up not being the case. ]

Alright, I'll wait.

[ Sure enough, Eren is propped up against a wall, arms crossed underneath a short, olive green cloak wrapped over his shoulders (since, well, it's cold). He appears decked out more than usual today, especially with his maneuvering gear strapped on—something Eren usually has whenever he's out, but the Station is a convenient area to drop by, it being the one place he can actually refuel his gear at.

The contraption aside, Eren lifts his chin when he hears Hiro approaching. ]

Good thing. [ He pulls a hand out from underneath the garment, lifting up a broken, jagged rock that fits neatly into his palm. ] I got what you wanted, too.