[…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.]
Early May, after ignoring Jason for the entirety of april
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.]