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

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[zerotohiro]

[DEFINITELY NOT A GREAT IDEA. Hiro jumps in alarm and Baymax immediately lets go as Leon's reading goes all over the place.

That was an overly strong reaction and it's one neither boy or robot quite understand despite the fact they're now both staring at Leon in--well. Baymax is worried. Hiro's mostly baffled. Baymax's vinyl squeaks and squishes under Leon's hands as the robot take a step back and Hiro looks between the pair of them for a second.]

...anything else? [Dude...? Please explain what that was all about.]

[discard]

[He needs a moment.

There's a deep breath, and then another, now that Leon has retreated a few steps away from Hiro, hair disheveled and expression still tense.

Sorry, Baymax. You never deserved a pain in the ass patient like this.

But eventually he does catch his breath, though his posture is still completely tense, and he looks at Hiro for a moment at the question before glancing away, tensely.

Talking about Hugo is never a thing he wants to do--and talking about that fact that he basically didn't have anyone else is just inviting pity, which is also a thing he doesn't want to do. So, naturally, he clams up.]

Keep-- him away from me. [H-hmph!!] Are you at all aware of the concept of personal space?

[zerotohiro]

[The nice thing is that he is a robot and he cannot be offended. But Hiro sure can, even if that's not what's happening here. There is something drastically wrong. Even he can see that, and while he would love to tell Leon off for freaking out he's not that much of a dick.]

Do I need to explain what Baymax's job is? Again? [...come to think of it did he ever fully explain? Ah well.] It's not really something he's trained for.

[discard]

[Yeah, Leon doesn't care what Baymax's job is, Leon just very much doesn't want anyone to touch him (and he doesn't know why he almost feels like he does, because that has to be false, absolutely false). He crosses his arms defensively at that, scoffing.]

Then teach him. He is clearly capable of learning. You should be capable of that much.

[Because Leon's personal space is Delicate for Reasons.]

[zerotohiro]

[Obviously Leon just needs to give into those feelings. But okay, okay, he gets it. He mimics the stance to try and make himself look taller (yeah that's not working…)]

You want me to teach my friend not to deal with you specifically. Like. Ever. Really? You're sure about that?

[discard]

I want you to teach him to respect my personal space!

[Because that freaked him out, it really did.

He can't help it.]

But if you are capable of teaching him to leave me alone, that would be acceptable, yes.

[zerotohiro]

I can just tell him never to talk to you ever again even if you're severely injured or need to be rescued. How about that? [The driest of dry tones. He's leaning against Baymax like he's defending the robot…but if Leon's not taking the personal warm-calm balloon, he will.]

[discard]

[If that's supposed to make Leon feel as though he should take it back, it's...not working.]

That is exactly what I asked for, yes.

[Oops.]

See to it that you do.

[zerotohiro]

[The urge to punch Leon in the face is rising...]

Fine. I'll even upgrade his chip to completely avoid you in public so this never happens again. [That's not happening.] ...are you okay? [It's. Baymax is a robot and a squishy walking marshmallow but he wants to be sure Leon actually wasn't hurt or anything. Being a protag is hard.]

[discard]

[He'd deserve it but it'd probably be a bad idea even so.]

I'm fine.

[You can't have expected anything else.

Though he knows he overreacted and.....]

... I was simply startled. [Bullshit.]

[zerotohiro]

[Stahn probably wouldn't like it either and it's something Hiro keeps in mind. You win for now, friendship mullet.]

I'd hate to see how you react when you're really startled. [He shakes his head, sticking his hands in his pockets so he doesn't have any more desire to punch him or other such things.] Where're you heading anyway?

[discard]

[He'd probably stab someone-- but yeah, this is fine, move on to hopefully less volatile conversational topics--]

That is none of your business.

[Oh.

... Admittedly the truth is that he was just wandering, in an attempt to stay away from...Stahn........]

[zerotohiro]

...you have no idea, do you. [Why you always lyin', etc etc.]

[discard]

Shut up.

[That's a yes, he has no idea.]

Naturally I have a destination in mind. I am not the sort who would wander aimlessly. [And yet.

Here he is.

Wandering aimlessly.]

[zerotohiro]

Then maybe you should start heading for that specific destination and don't let us keep you. [The way he's speaking says he's 90% sure Leon's bluffing but he doesn't want to call him on it.] How far is it?

[discard]

[Hiro is 100% correct but. Even so.

Uh.

.... ]

That is none of your business.

[But.

The way he's hesitating makes it pretty clear he has no idea what direction he should saunter off into. UH...]

[zerotohiro]

[All right, all right. He'll take some pity on him.]

Baymax and I were heading that way--[He points to the left]--to get food. Are you heading the same way? [He's giving Leon the choice to flounce off gracefully. What a helper.]

[discard]

[Generally, this would be where Leon would less-than-gracefully take the out and stalk off.

The problem is that...well, the effects from the month haven't been all too kind, and with the way he's avoiding Stahn (so that he doesn't do anything stupid, like hug him), he feels awkwardly lonely, too.

Lonely enough to spend time with Hiro...?

Absolutely not, of course.

... Probably.

.......Damn.]

That is-- I--

[...]

Just...for a short ways. [Oh.]

[zerotohiro]

[Oh, indeed. Hiro blinks in surprise because that's not really what he was expecting and he looks at Baymax uncertainly before he nods slowly. Okay. This is fine. Probably.]

...right. C'mon. [This became less funny and more worrisome again because Leon are you okay. Part of him kind of wants to nudge him along but Leon flipped out about being touched so let's not do that.] The place we're heading is sort of a ways from here. You don't think about it much, but the colony's pretty decently spread out. [Let's get going, buddy.]

[discard]

[Leon actually thinks about that more than he'd like to, honestly, seeing as how he can't take the trains without feeling motion sick--having to walk everywhere really makes it sink in just how spread out this colony is.

But he's not going to say that, naturally.]

Hm.

[Aside from the noncommittal, he doesn't say much at first, though after a beat he adds:]

Where, exactly, are you headed?

[zerotohiro]

[Hiro's used to walking everywhere if only because getting Baymax on the trains can be a pain in the ass sometimes. It's more conversational than anything, even though he doesn't expect Leon to really say anything. If he had his way, they could walk in total silence…but that's weird. Baymax waddles along, keeping his eyes open around the colony as Hiro leads the way.]

Burger place. Easy, fast, I can eat it with one hand while I'm working on some new sketches…it's basically the perfect food. [A shrug. If you just don't think about the fact it may not actually be a normal burger it's totally fine.] Baymax usually comes for the company. I might pick up something for my brother, too.

[discard]

[Burgers, huh.... it's not a food he's used to eating, but it's not something he hates.

Not that he's going to go eat with Hiro, obviously.

But... well.]

I see.

[It seems like a pretty lame response, and he's aware of that. So after a beat--]

...From what I have seen, your companion goes with you everywhere. [Baymax, that is.]

[zerotohiro]

[It's still a pretty good walk to the place. Who knows what will happen before then? In response to that though Hiro can only shrug.]

Baymax was designed to be a personal health care companion which means he's assigned to a patient that he sees needs to be treated. [He watches fondly as Baymax wanders just a tiny bit ahead, squeaking and waving hello to an alien or two that's staring at him] But when I activated him for the first time after our initial introduction he decided that patient should be me. Since then he's...pretty much become my best friend.

[All the more reason Leon angers him when he's mean to his robot, honestly.]

[discard]

[...Hm. Leon can't exactly say that he understands (but Leon, you're the one whose only friend forever was a talking sword), but Baymax really does seem harmless. The fact that he's a health care robot means that he's probably honestly not a threat.

... Aside from his penchant for hugging.

That's very threatening.

Still, there's an obvious question lurking there, and Leon's blunt enough to ask it.]

And why did you require a personal health care companion? [Hiro seems healthy enough, but they all know what this place can be like with hiding things like DEAD PEOPLE BEING DEAD.]

[zerotohiro]

[And the rocket-powered armor. Don't forget that. But the hugs are far more threatening for Leon and he's hardly surprised when the other boy asks the question. It's about that point he doesn't look at him at all, fixated solely on Baymax and on where they're going.]

I didn't require anything. Baymax just decided I needed him because...[...he doesn't want to tell Leon. But then again, maybe Leon will finally get why Hiro's conflicted about him in general.] Some things happened back at home that kinda changed my entire life, and when someone really, really important died Baymax responded the only way he knew how and that was to take care of me until I could start fixing everything, too.

[He cuts a glance at him.] Pretty weird, huh?