Some Legends Are Told, Some Turn To Dust Or To Gold [CEREALIA INBOX]

[zerotohiro]

'Busy, leave a message!
...oh, you've reached Hiro Hamada. Whatever. Still busy!'

Hamada art by D-Joel, found on tumblr

Comments

Text 7/24

[meowbel]

Superhiro, you there?

I think we might need to talk.

Text 7/24

[zerotohiro]

[Do we have to? Can we just pretend that this didn't happen?

There's silence for a few minutes...and then Mabel gets a text.]

Probably.

[He's definitely still trying to process that Dipper's gone again. He's not trying to make this difficult but he's also not sure how to handle this.]

Text okay?

text; 7/27

[coexistent]

SOS is the thing you say when you need help, right?

[hi hiro.]

text; 7/27

[zerotohiro]

[Oh my god he looks like he's going to cry in that icon :c But anyway, hi Roxas, Hiro's just. Going to stare at his CereVice for a sec.]

Uh. Yes? Are you asking me or are you sending me an SOS?

text.

[manolia]

It is becoming clearer to me that we need a workshop in the Sanctuary. [Read: "people keep gifting me alien robot shit."] Do you know who I could speak with to make this happen?

text.

[zerotohiro]

I dunno, I might know a guy.

...me. That guy is me. You busy? I could meet you there and we could run some measurements and stuff.

[And speak privately, at least.]

[bropane]

[ he'd been planning this for a while, really. the video is probably at least a month old by the time hiro will see it. but one night while hiro was asleep, tadashi may have fiddled with baymax's healthcare chip. he's upgraded it a bit, to add some data about certain alien lifeforms just in case the need to heal any non-humans ever comes up. with how dangerous cerealia is, it probably would at some point.

and that's why when tadashi does disappear, when he winds up in the nexus, baymax approaches hiro to tell him that there's something tadashi left for him. it's hiro's decision to find out what it is or not, but if he does ask the robot what it is, baymax will back a few feet away and project a video.

it's set in tadashi's workshop, and judging by the two moons behind him, it's nighttime. he definitely took baymax out for a walk while hiro was asleep, yeah. ]

Hey, Hiro. [ he rubs the back of his neck then, smiling at the camera. ] You're probably watching this because I'm probably at the Nexus now, but don't worry, alright? I'll be fine.

You've done so much for me here. You gave me life when I thought it already ended. [ there's a pause here because he can feel something in his chest twisting, but he bites that down easily enough. ] But... I don't think it'd be a good idea to bring me back to San Fransokyo, even if you found a way.

It's probably selfish of me to say that, especially when I shouldn't have left you and Aunt Cass in the first place, but it just makes sense that way. You wouldn't be who you are now if things didn't happen. You've definitely changed, Hiro, and I mean that in a good way. I'm proud of what you've become. I'm proud of what you're going to be.

I know this isn't the end, though, if being here is anything to go by. I'm sure we'll meet again, Hiro. Whether it's here, or in some other alien world, it'll happen. [ his smile turns crooked now, and he can't bear to look at the camera anymore. ] I'll be waiting.

One last thing, though. A favour. Don't ever lose sight of who you are. You've got a good heart, and I don't ever want you to lose that. Be happy and surround yourself with your friends, all of whom care for you a lot. It might be difficult to do at times, but more than anything? I'm sure you can do it.

You're going to go far, Hiro. And I'll be with you every step of the way, alright? I'll always be with you.

[ he sniffs, unable to hold back a tear now, but that's also when he ends the recording. ]

[zerotohiro]

[Truth be told, he'd grown too comfortable. That's why this went wrong. He'd grown too comfortable with Tadashi being here and worked under the idea that they had time together. As far as Hiro was concerned everything would be okay so long as Tadashi was here with him

It's for that reason when he hears the ping from Tadashi's app on his CereVice he doesn't immediately check it. It straight up doesn't occur to him what it might mean. He'd just come home from a beach trip, checked in with his brother and decided they'd hang out in the morning to make up for Hiro being gone a week. Of course, by the time he sleepily rolls out of bed he realizes that their apartment's quiet. He wanders from his room, one end of the apartment to the other to see where Tadashi was. There was no sign of the older boy.

...in fact, there was no sign at all. It's only out of morbid curiosity that he checks the CereVice, half with the mind of texting Tadashi and half tempted to see who'd left. He doesn't get far enough to even open a text message when he checks the notification and feels his heart crawl up somewhere in the middle of his throat.

What?

Scrambling, he barrels back to his room and hastily summons Baymax with a quick, choked sort of "ow", settling on his bed to face the robot with wide frantic eyes.]

Baymax, I need you to scan for Tadashi.

[The robot immediately obeys, scanners working perfectly and returning the results Hiro didn't want. There was no sign of life. Tadashi Hamada was no longer here. Baymax has seen this before, recognizes the deep in emotions and the way Hiro's entire face falls. Moreso, he knows that Tadashi prepared him for this and offers Hiro the reassurance that there's something left for him.

He doesn't know if he wants it. What the hell could Tadashi have left him before he was pulled back to the Nexus. But again, it's morbid curiosity that gets to him and he sits back to watch.

...heh. Don't worry, he says. I'll be fine, he says. It's a bunch of bullshit that Hiro doesn't believe and he's angry that this has happened, but...it fizzles out the longer he listens. Tadashi's always had that effect on him, capable of diffusing his little brother's foulest moods, encouraging him where it's needed and keeping him grounded.

"I'll always be with you." That's...true, isn't it? Even back home. It was true. He had Baymax which was like having Tadashi, and though he can't claim to understand why this is happening...it has.

It's about the point that he realizes Tadashi's cracking in the video that Hiro also realizes he's cracking a bit, turning away and asking Baymax to freeze it. With Baymax in place watching over him, he's powering off his CereVice for a bit and crawling back under the covers of his bed, staring at the freeze-frame of Tadashi's face until the images blur together.

'I'm not going to let you down this time. I promise.'

Everything else could wait. Everyone else could wait.]

voice;

[mieldelimon]

[Honey didn't want to believe it after the notification from the app came in, holing herself in her room while she cried. It took her longer to cry for real when the news of Tadashi's death broke out, only for her sadness to hit her completly after she had come home from funeral. She was looking through to one of her pictures with Tadashi on her phone when she raises her head up, looking over to her wall, sighing. She can't even begin to imagine how Hiro must be feeling. They both lost someone they love and care about all over again. After wiping her eyes and nose with a piece of tissue, Honey grabs her CEREVice, putting her smartphone down in order to call Hiro.] [clearing her throat] ... Hi, Hiro. [Honey realizes her voice sounds a bit raw from crying, making her think that she should have gone with a text instead. But texting now would be... impersonal and completely devoid of warmth. That's the last thing Hiro needs right now. She chuckles, which turns into a brief cough.] Oh gosh, I sound awful. [beat] But [she sniffs] I still wanted to call and see... well, hear how you're doing. [She pauses, taking a deep breath, her tone gentle and soft.] I'm sorry, cariño. I'm so sorry. It was just... amazing that we got to see him again and... I-I can't even begin to imagine how [Her voice starts to crack, making it difficult for her to speak.] ... haa, Dios mío... [She stops for a moment, trying to gather her bearings. She has to be the strong one and she's positive she's failing right now.] Ahh, y-you know that you're welcomed anytime to my apartment, right? [sniff] My door is always, always open for you, Hiro. There will always be a plate of brownies here with your name on it. [She can't help but chuckle a bit at that.] I'm here. I'll be right here if you need me. Okay? Remember that. [click. she would have normally said goodbye but more tears are definitely threatening to fall which would make it hard for her to continue. Honey Lemon puts the device away, picking up her smartphone again while laying her head down on her pillow.]

text;

[zerotohiro]

[The nice thing about Honey, he thinks, is that he doesn't have to say anything at all at first. He can just listen to her talk and he's quietly taking in what she's saying and reading between the lines. She's lost someone she cares about, too. They've both gone through this twice now, and it's genuinely a little upsetting to know that she's taking this pretty hard, too. He can hear the raw tone of her voice, hear the sniffling and it makes him feel even worse.

And yet Honey's the one reaching out to him just like last time. He owes her enough to try and not run away this time. They're friends. He can rely on her and he doesn't have to do this alone. It's not like Honey doesn't know where he lives either…

…she's right though. It was amazing they got to see him again. But that also meant it hurt twice as bad when he left again. He has a lot to update Honey on and he'd been stalling. It looks like he doesn't get that luxury anymore. The offer of being close by does make him smile a little, at least. It's hard to say what he wants to do…but he knows he has to get back in touch with her.

Even if it's impersonal, he's texting a response. He doesn't trust himself to actually speak at the moment, so text is easier.]

Hey Honey…doing okay? Heh. Sorry, I didn't want you to find out about him like this…I was going to call. But I guess you have his app too, huh?

[It's easy to pretend he's holding it together this way, he thinks.] I'll be okay. We've had practice, you know? [A cringe. Ughughugh.] …were you serious though? About coming over?

text; right after the intro log

[undaunts]

[It's Hiro's turn to receive a panicked text.]

pryhhas herre

[Someone's had better days.]

[zerotohiro]

I know. I'm already on my way to your place, unless you want to meet me halfway and come to mine.

ambiguously post-intro log

[covenantal]

Hiro, I have a very important favor to ask of you.

[zerotohiro]

???

text;

[undaunts]

[So Hiro is only getting half of this text.

Like.

The really alarming half]

microwave and the demons

ok???

text;

[zerotohiro]

Uh, no????

That sounds really, really bad for the microwave if demons are involved.

[...if you didn't expect him to just take this seriously then, well.]

text, Post Event

[faithfulflame]

Hiro, are you busy?

Can I come by? I have a really important favor to ask.

[zerotohiro]

Never too busy for you. I'm at the apartment today, is that okay? We're doing damage control here...

voice; event times

[immobileyes]

[ Well, she probably wants to check on him, like a good best friend, and that's very sweet of her and-- ]

Hiroooooooooooo!

[ oh dear. ]

[zerotohiro]

[In a really weird way, this is almost comforting. It takes him a few minutes to actually locate his CereVice but when he does he sounds a little amused.]

Maaaary? [...] That doesn't really have the same effect, huh? What's going on?

Action; During all that elemental stuff going on

[meowbel]

[Mabel tried, really she did. Ever since her brother left once again, she figured she try and make as many sweaters as she could. Now that Yu decided to help her with the sweater store, she needed to work harder than ever to make sure it'll turn out a success! Of course, with her having no idea how to control her powers...?

Well, it proved to be slightly harder than she thought. By that, it was a lot harder than she thought! Still, that didn't stop her from trying!

So when she came at the doorsteps of Hiro's apartment, he might hear a knock or two]

Hey, Hiro? You there? Because I know I got you and Honey Lemon a little something from me...!

[zerotohiro]

[Should he be worried? A little. He'd meant to check in with Mabel sooner than now because of Dipper's departure, but like usual Hiro got caught up in his own projects and his own emotions. It wouldn't do any good to be around Mabel if he was upset, too. Instead, Mabel seemed to catch him first. When he hears the knock she'll hear him drop something on his desk and head for the door, opening it shortly thereafter.]

Hey! [He lifts an eyebrow.] What do you mean you got us something?

text;

[mieldelimon]

Hey Hiro! I owe you gummi bear brownies and a birthday cake~ ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ And actually... I'm sorry for disappearing like I did. I can't believe that happened. I'll make it up to you, I promise! (｡•́︿•̀｡)

[zerotohiro]

[He's been tracking her name on Tadashi's app, but she happens to beat him to texting. It doesn't hurt that he's pretty bad with texting sometimes.]

Honey Lemon! You went back to the Nexus…do you remember? Are you okay?

I mean I wouldn't say no to brownies and a cake but are you okay?

post-event, voice;

[coexistent]

Hey, Hiro... do you have a minute?

[he realizes he hasn't spoken to hiro since well before the event effects started getting under his skin...

(and maybe he wants to talk about some of those things from mosley's post, too.)]

[zerotohiro]

Absolutely. Where are you? Or do you just want to talk?

[Hiro, personally, kind of wants to see him but that's because Hiro kind of wants to be around people again. The last few days have been brutal.]

voice;

[immobileyes]

Hey... Hiro? Um, do you... [ ... ]

Do you ever have dreams about the time where we were on that mountain?

[zerotohiro]

[That's a weird question. He hums in thought and seems to be in the process of putting down whatever project he's screwing around with.]

You mean about the griffins and stuff? Not really...I mean I had a nightmare a while ago that you and Ruby were carried away and Roxas and I couldn't find you but that was months ago. Why?

[manolia]

[Sometime before the final log, late at night, Hiro will get a text from Chibi:]

I have an idea.

[As though a late-night text reading 'I have an idea' has ever ended well, he continues in another:]

I mentioned before, briefly, the idea of a sustained nexus between worlds. I think I could actually make that happen. A little mechanical assistance with fiddly bits might be needed; my eyes are not as good as they used to be.

[Then:] It'll be fun

[zerotohiro]

[You know what? This is perfect. He's up and awake and he's already typing a response before he even really finishes reading Chibi's text.]

YES.

...I mean yeah. That sounds pretty cool...Ruby and I have thought about it before but I've never figured out exactly how. What'd you have in mind? Or is that a better question to ask in person?