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

I think that the cat's had his fair share of candy. Have you seen the size of Mochi? [But it's okay. He's definitely keep that happy candy face for a while because this is awesome.] It's not that I'm not noticing time, Jack. I just didn't realize it went by so fast already. What's wrong with that?

He's bigger than you, yes. Dunno if it says something about the cat or something about you.

[Teasing, teasing. The chocolate is dropped on Hiro's desk, and since he's at it, Jack decides to perch on it too, giving his friend a look-over.]

Time can get... a little funny after a while if you don't pay attention to it. [Tilting his head.] You didn't catch anything like the half of the colony did?

Maybe a little of both. Mochi's in good health though, so that's gotta count for something.

[He might already be inching a hand for one of the pieces of candy even when Jack settles on his desk. He leans back in his chair, apparently not bothered by the fact that he has a new desk ornament in the form of a winter spirit.]

The whole "seems to move slow and fast at the same time" thing? Because I can see that. [He shakes his head.] What do you think I'm researching? A lot of my friends got sick but I'm still okay. I haven't figured out how yet. If you're a winter spirit, does that mean you're immune to stuff like colds and flus?

[Unless Jack's sick and hiding it really well, but it doesn't look that way.]

More or less. It's more about your own perception of it.

[Jack is sounding his real age, time talk can get him like that. And Hiro can inch away, that's what the chocolate is for! When he explains what he doing, Jack takes a closer look at the desk, trying to understand anything of what's on it.]

I don't get sick at home, but I don't do a lot of things there that Ceres pulls here anyway. [He sounds frustrated and a bit angry at that, but the frown that appears barely lasts, being replaced with that gentle older brother expression that goes with the ruffling of Hiro's hair.] Good too see you're ok though, I thought I wouldn't find anyone out of bed today.

[So he pops a piece of candy into his mouth, and he allows Jack to try and make sense of his notes. It's mostly a list of names and symptoms and possibilities, nothing that's really too remarkably helpful just yet.]

You're not the only one. [Not himself, of course, but Tadashi. Even if Jack doesn't know that yet. He doesn't like that CERES keeps messing with his friends and he's scowling at his notes before registering that Jack's ruffling his hair. He grins slightly, ducking his head and nodding.] Tadashi and I both managed to avoid whatever's going around. That's what bugs me. I don't know what the pattern is yet.

[He's starting to notice that, yeah, and after the third or fourth line he'll just take a quick look at the rest of the text before giving up. So basically they have nothing except "Ceres is being an asshole again". Great.]

I know I'm not, but how are you working differently, kiddo? [Nope, he doesn't know that, so he arches an eyebrow at Hiro, completely forgetting about his lack of power control. There go the trails of frost on the table.] I don't know if the pair with the robonurse is allowed to speak of a pattern. [Teasing, teasing!] Do you really think there's a pattern and it isn't just... sickness?

[There's a short pause.] Don't exactly mean me, Jack. [And that's all he says for now. He's not sure how to proceed with the "dead brother" bomb especially considering the fact that Jack's a spirit. He watches the frost spread over his desk, index finger swirling a pattern in the ice.]

We're still scientists, you know. We're supposed to study patterns and yeah, I think there is one. It's way too sudden and it seems random but it's still a lot of people. I can't just believe it's a coincidence.

[Blink. Blink. Frown.] Hiro? What's the problem, buddy?

[He isn't a social expert but that was weird, even for his standards. At Hiro's explanation, Jack looks at the papers again... but yeah, still nothing.]

I don't think it's contagious, if that helps for anything. Would a pattern help find a cure? I'd have thought your marshmallow friend would already know what's going on.

[He shakes his head. He doesn't want to give a verbal response because he knows Jack will know he's bullshitting him. Science is easier to talk about.]

That's the problem. Baymax is picking up on people's symptoms but not a fever. He's reading everybody's body temperature as the same. At least if we knew why certain people were getting sick and others weren't we could figure out some kind of cure. Maybe something from the people who aren't sick or something. There're too many possibilities.

[Squinting his eyes at you, buddy. How dare you to ignore his question! He's so onto you now! But it's not like he's a social expert either, so he has to think and come up with a way to make Hiro talk.]

Yeeeeeah, still gonna blame Ceres for this one. A glitch, was it? We are all different species from different universes. I wish him good luck with my body temperature.

[Good luck buddy. Hiro just makes a face.]

Everything could be explained as a glitch, but that almost seems too easy for this one. Do you even have a body temperature when you can make frost?

I do have a body temperature - it's ice cube fahrenheit. Wanna give it a try?

[He likes messing with scanners, though he feels he shouldn't tell Hiro that.]

[Don'tfallforitdon'tfallforit...]

Yeah. Yeah, I do. I don't think Baymax has ever really scanned you before, has he? I wanna see what he comes up with.

Then have at it. [A shrug. Someone isn't thinking this through.] Computers at home never were lucky, but he's more advanced, right?

Of course he's more advanced. Tadashi and I made him. Come on, stand up and stand still so he can look. [It's only when Jack's in the right position that Baymax will scan, trying to pick up a reading on the winter spirit.]

You mean he made it and you taught him karate, right?

[Just some teasing, don't mind him. -jack jumps off the desk and stands in front of Baymax, extending his arms and everything but never letting go of the staff. The reading will be... interesting, to say the least. Because a person is definitely there, but there is no breathing, or pulse, or any vital sign at all. Does blinking count? His body temperature is, like Jack said, ice-cube. There is also the blueish tone of some parts of his skin. For anyone (or anything, in this case) with medical knowledge, he pretty much reads like a frozen corpse! Haha... haha... ha...]

[He ignores that quip. He ignores all of that as he stares at the reading Baymax is projecting on Jack and his eyes go back and forth between the spirit and the robot as he takes it all in.]

...I thought you were a spirit. [Spirits shouldn't have readings like these unless they were somehow specially created.] Jack...what happened to you?

[All the staring and eyes going back and forth are getting on his nerves, so when he answers, he's a bit snappy without meaning to.] I am. What--

[...oh. Well. Baymax is definitely advanced, there is the proof. This was a terrible idea. Jack looks away and sighs.]

I was a human boy, like you. Then I became a spirit. Can you connect the dots? You're smart enough.

Edited 2016-02-14 23:20 (UTC)

...why didn't you tell me this before?

Would you really go around announcing out of nowhere that you died to everyone you know?

Well no but...[There's really no excuse. He's quiet again, frowning at Jack as he scrambles for a response.]

Sorry. I'm just surprised, okay? They keep bringing dead people here and I don't know what their game is. ["And it's not fair to those people."]

[Jack sighs, knowing about that little bit, and rubs the back of his head. This is a depressing topic of conversation to have while having Easter eggs. Easter is about life, Bunny said.]

I'm not-- I'm not the same as them, Hiro. I was brought back in my world. I died but... I'm not a dead person? I'm a spirit. What Ceres does to the others, the ones that... moved on... [A pause as he thinks, frowning at some memories only he knows of.] I don't know. They look and act alright, I guess.

They're perfectly fine. [That was oddly firm, but he doesn't like the idea that something may be wrong with the dead revived here.]

Do you remember everything about your old life, Jack? [Life. Life is important.]

[Oddly firm indeed. Jack squints his eyes at Hiro, but he's distracted by that question. Oh boy. With a shake of his head, he goes back to sitting on the edge of the desk.]

Only some stuff. I didn't know anything about it until-- I don't know, a couple of weeks before coming here, give it or take? All my life, I've lived it as a spirit.

How'd you finally remember some of the stuff? [There's...a very specific reason he's asking, and judging by the fact he's not really looking at Jack while he's asking that's evident. It's a very calculated conversation.] Did it bother you to really learn everything after all that? Three hundred years is a pretty long time to be a spirit.

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