zerotohiro | I'll be the watcher of the eternal flame [Eachdraidh IC Contact]

There are two. One involves getting the pair shard to the one I already got. We have plans for it. [That is, the plans are ones beyond what Morla had asked for. Naturally, the end of those plans involve turning it in, assuming that they haven't screwed it up too badly.]

And I can tell Loki. Not sure why you need it for shard training. I think he wanted leverage on you.

[If he's at all perturbed by what Jason's just told him he doesn't show it. Jason's doing what they've been asked to do. Jason's doing what people like Hiro can't and he's taking Grell with him. That's fair enough. There's a small sound of acknowledgment. He can agree to that. Jason can borrow the concealer without further question for now.]

Pretty sure Loki trusts me now about as much as you do. [He should be more upset by the idea, but he's been thinking about a lot of things in the last month. It makes sense. He shakes his head even if Jason can't see it and there's the sound of a pencil scratching on paper, little random doodles of ideas.] That's not what I was worried about. [He pauses, clearing his throat suddenly.]

I need to talk to you about something, too.

So it is leverage. [Naturally, Jason knows about Loki's lack of trust. He just confirms his previous statement.]

What is it?

[The rustling of the fabric of his hoodie is enough of an indicator that he's shrugged in response.] Considering he told me that back in February? Definitely leverage. [Not that Hiro realized it until fairly recently.

But now for the real heart of the matter. He's not sure how Jason's going to take this, but he also knows he can't exactly afford to be turned down.] I need to take a field trip of my own soon. Not that far! Just back out to Redgate for a little while and I'm not going out there to screw around. I--[He bites his tongue, clamping down hard around the word "promise." He's well aware of what Jason thinks of the word, especially when it comes from him.] I think it's really important.

Me using vague terminology like "field trip" is cute. [Tell him how you really feel about yourself Jason Todd.] But when you do it, you leave out half the information. I just specifically didn't want to tell you about the bat shit cat torturing shit head of a woman who tortures people underneath Caer Glaem. [The words roll off his tongue easily. All that said, he figures that by telling Hiro this, he can understand why Jason usually doesn't spell these things out.]

I doubt your trip to Redgate involves something like that, so spill. Unless you're drinking coffee with Clarke again.

[Sometimes Hiro thinks he can win against Jason Todd. Then Jason Todd opens his mouth. There's silence as he processes that, acknowledging the fact that it's better not to give out so many details.]

Maybe you didn't, but at least I know where you're going now. ["And what you're doing." He knows Jason and Grell are both highly capable people. They're still diving right into enemy territory and there's a strange weight in his chest that he bats away. He can worry about that later. There's a slightly indignant huff at the notion though.]

I'm not assassinating anybody, no, but. [Mm. Start over.] I don't know how, but a few days ago our new quartermaster found me. Dude named Graves. He wants me to look into something for him and put together a report for him when I get back. [He stops, giving Jason time to gauge that before he tries to continue.]

[He knows half of what Jason will be doing, which is why he told him that. It's the half that Hiro would be able to put together thanks to the audience. He doesn't point this out, just moving on, as he does. Better to let Hiro think he has the whole story.]

Use less vague words. You have this annoying habit of telling a story in pieces. [Jason does this, too, but he tends to hit a climax in his storytelling.

Hiro never quite gets there before he's pissed off Jason along the way.]

[Definitely better he doesn't have the whole story. It's less to worry about when it comes to Jason Todd. He's trying to get better at not pissing Jason off, but it's a learning process.]

Graves want me to go talk to the dwarves and put together a report about their customs and traditions so that we can start to build a stronger alliance with them. Redgate's the best place to go since it's near Troiche Beinn.

There you go. Now, was that so hard? [Jason doesn't even bother to hide the condescension in his voice.]

Any chance you know someone out there you can check with? I don't know much about the dwarves. Well, except that they're a very private sort of people.

[And he doesn't bother to call him on it other than a small sound of disgruntled acknowledgement. There are things that are more important than fighting with Jason Todd right now.]

I know a Seelie who's been working with the dwarves on an apprenticeship. […there's a long beat though.] But I don't know if I trust him enough. He'll ask me why I'm asking and I definitely don't trust him enough on that. He's told me a couple of things though. Figured I can start there, start asking around. And anyway…the dwarves are mining bloodgranite out there. I've been studying some of it out at Edgar's spire. Maybe I'll use that route. Manual labor for dwarf secrets or something.

[He's thinking though.] I might need to be out there for a couple of days. Not sure how long this is gonna take to build a decent rapport with these guys and get the information I need.

Don't involve the Seelie at all. If the dwarves feel as if they're being brought into something between the two of you, it could be costly. [And Hiro has a knack for using someone. He also shouldn't be talking to Seelie anyway, considering the circumstances. But Jason is framing it a different way, just to ensure that Hiro knows that it's a bad reason for more than just "I might lose my head."]

Other than that, you can't see it about a need. Sure, I mean, you need them, but you have to be less than ... yourself. Or be the you who seems to have other people believe you're just a kid and not a cunning brat. Don't go in thinking of how it's gonna benefit you. If they're private, they'll know how to turn that against you.

Not gonna. [The longer he thinks about it, the more it makes sense not to involve the Seelie. He likes Leo enough…but he has his own agenda to attend to.] And I wouldn't mention it to them either. We need an in since the Seelie have their own in over at the Cothromach with their smithing ring.

[He pauses, thinking back to what Jason had told him a month ago. 'Stop seeing the world as what Hiro Hamada needs. See it as what it is.' He's still having a little trouble keeping that in mind, but he's trying. Jason's words are enough to shut him up again, at least.] So play up being naive. Pretty sure I can still do that. Anyway I've been kinda curious for months about what they're really capable of since the Seelie contact told me about them. I've never had a chance to study the actual building techniques in this world before.

[There's another pause.] …I don't want to mess this up.

I can see how it could be useful, yeah. Absolutely useful. There's some information that the dwarves have that could definitely turn the tides for our side, but we don't exactly have a door open to achieve it. So, no pressure. [Jason knows Hiro's going to want to know more about that, but he won't tell him.

Maybe once he actually succeeds.]

Right. No pressure. [Of course he wants to know. He's not stupid; he knows there's something bigger that Jason's not telling him (but that's not unusual at this point.) He's already trying to think of what it could possibly be, working to pinpoint the information Jason has...

...but no. He can't let that distract him right now. Later. He'll use his success as leverage, maybe. There's a deep breath.]

So...is that permission for me to go?

I don't think I have a say so on quests, Hiro. [Well, he could force Hiro to fail at what he's being asked to do, but he's not stupid.]

Besides, we need this. We all do.

...okay. I'll send the concealer out to Diasbaile if I leave before you can grab it from me. I'll check back in in a few days, tops.

Got it. If I don't answer before the end of the month ... worry.

I'll be the watcher of the eternal flame [Eachdraidh IC Contact]

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