BREAKDOWN
PLANSBreakdown 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.
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zerotohiro) wrote2014-01-31 08:35 pm
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Anyway ... I went on to train. [It's more complicated than that, but Jason isn't going to spell out all of it. The psychological complications compounded the living situation complications, but he learned.] I had to pick up about four years of education to catch up, and then some. I had to be at about a high school graduate level before I even hit the streets. I became his sidekick. The second of them, actually, taking up the name Robin. [He's careful with his words. He doesn't want to sound too attached, but at the same time, he sounds utterly ... removed from it.]
I was crap at it. [This is bias. His voice maintains that detachment, but it sounds ... forced.] I nearly killed people. I didn't believe ... in some weird antiquated sense of right and wrong. I saw monsters screwing over everyone, and I was supposed to just swallow that it we would just lock them away and hope they never got out. [His voice shakes here. Remaining detached is too hard.]
After I nearly killed a guy or three, I got benched. [Nearly. In one case, he regrets not doing it.] I set off to find something to live for that wasn't that, and I found out about my actual mom. Turns out she was alive somewhere, so ... I found her. But nothing ends well. Finding her killed me. I died covering her body with my own from a blast. [At this point, he's staring upward at the sky.]
Don't know how I came back. Don't have much of a story beyond training after that. But I played hero and thought I could do anything, and it didn't work.
Like I said, I was crap.
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Not that it matters though. What matters is the fact that the evidence is right in front of his face. Jason's managed to dig himself into this world and adapt enough to make people fear and respect him and make it known he wasn't going to go down that easily.
The nice thing about Jason finally telling him this story is that Hiro has zero room to argue or interrupt, and actually zero desire to do either thing. There's a small murmur of "Robin" under his breath like he's making the name sink in. There's the question of "what happened to the first Robin?" but he doesn't ask. He recognizes that if he blows this now he's never getting another chance to learn. Jason's almost robotic in the storytelling as it is.
Strangely (and perhaps a bit scarily) he could totally see that. Knowing who Jason is now and learning what he used to be and how he started out, he can see how the pieces fell into place. Even moreso, he can draw his own connections and he doesn't realize that he's practically holding his breath as he drinks in every word. This...this is why Jason doesn't believe in heroes. It makes so much sense.
And this couldn't have been long ago. Jason's not that old (he thinks. He's never actually asked the guy for his age before) and the memories are too fresh for this to have been more than a few years. It's a typical origin story as Fred would say, but it's an origin story gone wrong. It's the origin story of a hero who started on a bumpy path, fell from grace and had to find another way out.
And in the end? Jason still ended up sacrificing himself anyway. And that just sort of really, really doesn't sit well with him.]
And if I keep doing what I'm doing you think I'm going to end up like you. [Well he can certainly see why. Play the hero, pretend you can do anything and everything, get screwed and die anyway.
He doesn't even realize the fact that his fist is clenching the inside pocket of his sweater and he shakes his head.]
...I think I need to tell you some things about home. [It's a test, just like everything else. He's trying to understand and he's trying to really listen, but it gets complicated when mixed with his own conflicting thoughts and emotions and memories and suddenly wondering what would have happened if he didn't have his own "benched" moment. There's still one more thing though and it's like he's forgotten he's just admitted there's more to his own story. After all, Jason's isn't done yet.]
If you're not a hero anymore, what are you training for back there?
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Of course, the need there is fluctuating. He has a different purpose here, and he recognizes that in many ways, it suits him more. He isn't in a world weighed down by morality that doesn't see things outside of black and white. With that, he feels different.
But so much of his life has now been dedicated to this. Can he give up so easily on that goal?]
If the world ends. If existence ends. We've got to finish our work here first.
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It's pretty obvious.
Granted this comes full-circle right back to the work that's needed here and, in Hiro's opinion, how people like Jason know exactly what they're here for and what their clear goals are. Yes Hiro agrees with the idea of, you know, the world not ending but he's been shooting off in so many directions trying to meet that goal that somehow he's not even sure if he's really working toward it at all.]
I already told you I don't know what my work really is. Saber put me in charge of this really big project and I still don't know if it's going to work. [A beat.] Not the spire. Something else. And Lemina has the Guild and I--[Hrm. Be less selfish. Focus on something else.] And that's what you've been doing the last month, right? The work here to meet the goal of making sure everything isn't destroyed.
[He continues clenching and unclenching the fabric of his sweater before he finally blurts out--] How do we know what work really needs to be done here if we're not even supposed to be here in the first place? This is unbelievable. I didn't ask to come here, they just sort of dragged us here and expect us to figure it out without giving us everything we need to figure it out. All I can do is work with anything possible and it's still not working the way it's supposed to. [Fixated on "supposed to", like he has a set idea of how everything should be. It was different at home where he could look for new ways around the problem but the new problem here that he hasn't solved is how to work around these problems. He's not used to failing.]
I'm pretty sure they made a huge mistake.
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At the end of the day, we do have a basic goal. Our work is to stop existence from ending. We do it in different ways. We make the Unseelie stronger. But you're partly wrong. I spent most of last month losing my mind, and I'm working on a goal to assassinate some higher-up Seelie who are monsters. And not because of their species. [One of them does happen to be a monster by the textbook definition, but she isn't even as bad as her employer. Jason isn't looking forward to killing her, but that she's friendly with the other guy will drive him to do what's necessary.]
If Saber gave you a goal, it's probably important. But you can't go risking yourself before you accomplish it. By wearing yourself thin, you're gonna end up doing exactly that.
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He doesn't react at first and it might seem as though he's going to blow Jason off again before he responds.]
You mean I need to slow down before I completely mess up and fail. [It seems so obvious but knowing what he knows now it makes a lot more sense and holds a lot more weight. He waffles on something before he turns his back on Jason completely, staring to pace a little. He's not fixing to walk away, but he needs to move as he broaches this topic.]
...remember how I said I almost killed Callaghan? It's because I didn't slow down. I didn't want to slow down. I wanted to kill him. I wanted him to know what it was like to watch your own life being ripped away from you and not being able to stop it. I wanted him to think about what my brother did for him and regret the fact that he didn't even care. Everybody else had to stop me. Baymax finally got me to listen though.
[That is to say this isn't the first time something like this has happened and he can recognize his own faults.] I almost missed the real goal because I wanted to do everything myself and make things right. It wasn't the right way. Killing Callaghan wouldn't have brought Tadashi back and Tadashi wouldn't have wanted me to kill him out of revenge.
Can you keep a secret? I don't really know if I'm supposed to tell anybody what I'm doing for her, but...Saber put me in charge of something really, really big. Like something that's going to change the entire war if it works the way I want it to. That's my goal.
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There's no changing it, though, and it doesn't make Jason's words any less true.
He has more to say on the matter of secrecy and Hiro's importance. It's not just a matter of the kid wearing himself thin.
But he wants to hear what Saber has him doing before he carries on with that point.]
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Saber started a research and development team to advance the Dorchadas. Technology and magic together. And...she asked me to be the head of it.
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It's also why he hasn't listened. They took his genius for granted, never caring to look at the bigger picture.]
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I'll get better with my magic. [That's exactly why he's learning and that should be clear to Jason now that he has more pieces to the puzzle.] I'll get better but I can do the technological research. That's what I'm good at. That's what I can do to help. [He has zero idea what he's doing. Genius though he may be, he's still a 14 year old boy who's prone to making stupid decisions sometimes based on his own emotions. It's a recipe for disaster and it's going to go one of two ways: he's either going to grow from this, or he's going to fall apart and tear them all down with him.] You're missing the point. She asked me. I have to do this.
[Wants to. Has to. Same thing.]
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[The truth is, he regrets it to some degree. At the same time, he doesn't think he'd be able to do the mission he does want for himself with that team. Maybe later, but the idea of going after Seelie creatures seems unimportant. It also seems more threatening, and he'd prefer to stay in the arena of human beings.]
Point two: you aren't good at magic. I don't know why you think you can figure out something like that in no time. I'm picking it up quickly, but I'm no expert. And I sure as hell am not gonna stick fire somewhere unprepared because I know how to build explosives back home. [Of course, he figures that's new information to Hiro. Hiro thinks he's so damn smart that Jason figures he discounts any skills that Jason may have.]
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[Actual confirmation of the problem right there.]
…you're not the only one Loki's teaching things to. Lemina's still teaching me, too. I'm getting better. I can learn and apply at the same time can't I? [Nope. Nope, he 100% zones in on that though.] Are you trying to tell me you're some kind of bombs expert? [Jason what?] That's not the same thing.
[It's totally the same thing, but he refuses to give up his title this soon in the game. Saber had to know what she was doing. He had to believe that.]
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Jason just doesn't intend to waste his effort if Hiro's going to find a way to worm out from his protection. It is what he's offering, even if Hiro seems as if he's stubbornly trying to deny that truth.]
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He finally stops talking. He flat-out stops talking and looks at Jason with wide eyes as his brain flips into panic-mode. No way. No way, he's not allowed to just walk away, not when Hiro just risked a lot to find him.
'When I find out you died, I won't give a damn.'
It's a harsh ultimatum and it's a direct hit. He doesn't respond at all. All the fight and all the arrogance sort of dissipates from him and he's left staring at the top of his sneakers instead of at Jason directly.
He doesn't like it. He doesn't like being proven that he's wrong, nor does he like admitting to himself that Jason's right. He can't actually protect himself here. He doesn't know enough to really get himself out of everything in a clean fashion. He's been finding loop holes since day one because he's good at it, but if he's being honest he's going to find the wrong loop hole and walk right into a trap.
There's a small sniff and he settles for the smallest of nods, still not verbally agreeing to anything but making it very obvious that he doesn't really want that. It's not going to stop him from thinking he still has a point (and later down the line when he realizes Jason was right all along, he's going to feel worse), but for now he concedes.
And that should have been the end of it. But...]
I just need to get to spire 10 and then I'm off your hands. [The words are barely above a low whisper, but solid. If he's in the spire, Jason doesn't have to worry about if he's dead or alive. That's the point he's getting at.] I'm only going to leave the spire when I have to until things settle down. Fair?
[This whole conversation, while necessary, was starting to prove to be too much for him to mentally and emotionally handle. He lost. He has to deal with it.]
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It's just too much of a temptation.]
We'll ask Ariadne for a ride, [he says, and he starts to walk purposefully in the direction of his borrowed horse. Jason assumes that Hiro will follow him.]
Who else is working on this project with you? [Jason would never be a part of technological advancements, but someone else might be.]
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He follows, still feeling that lump of dread weighing on his chest as he moves through the dark.] Okay...how? We're going back to three?
[...oh. Well. He's not gonna like this answer, is he?] Couple of people. Uh. Loki and Lemina are...I don't know if you've met Howard yet, but he's part of the tech side. And we have a medic? Clarke. [He's racking his brain for other things.] There's a couple of other people but it's not just me.
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It also helps him.]
I might see if any of them can make sure you keep your word.
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Whoa, what? Dude, no! I don't need a babysitter. [Because fuck you, that's why.] I just told you I'm not going to leave unless it's necessary, can't you just trust me?
[Considering the fact that Hiro's already disappeared a few different times in the future of the timeskip no it's probably not wrong for Jason not to trust him.]
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Whatever. You know everybody else is going to be busy, too, right? I don't need a babysitter and nobody's going to have time anyway so…it's sort of pointless. [But it's clear. It's clear that he's actually going to (mostly) listen this one time.]
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Jason wasn't supposed to be Robin anymore by then, and he had intended to be with his mother and give up the ghost.
But things happened. He died.
If none of those names listed care, Jason will have to think up a different plan. If it means shoehorning himself in to R&D, he's game.]
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Fine. Do whatever you think is best. [The tone indicates that he thinks the idea is stupid and that he's so certain he's right, but go ahead, Jason.] I can take care of myself though if I'm in the stupid spire.
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[And that seems to be the end of the conversation because he's already turning to head back to the tavern. Come on, Jason. Just pretend he's not sulking in defeat.]
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Of course he ran out of food.
It's a wonder that Jason isn't just following him back to spire three.
For the moment, he follows him into the tavern, ensuring that he keeps himself just behind Hiro. There's no point in risking any of those tavern-goers thinking they can mess with a kid like him. And odds are, they would without Jason there.]