[Semi-Closed]

[microbrobotics]

WHO: Hiro + CR (Semi-closed - you're welcome to come if you know Hiro/Aunt Cass/Tadashi)
WHERE: Heropa Residence #016
WHEN: July 5th
WHAT: Final resolution for Hiro's Crane influence troubles.
WARNINGS: Discussion of suicide, disturbing (and unpleasant) imagery, violence, Crane.

[ If you're at all close to Hiro (or are coming along with M'gann), you received a message to come to Heropa Residence #016 to come help sort out the poor kid's brain. The entire log will take place ICly on July 5th; however, the post itself will be open as long as necessary to allow everyone who wants to participate enough time to do so.

Skip to the appropriate starter comment:

Pre-Dive

Hiro's Mind
(Expo Hall)
(Red Door)
(White Door)
(Indigo Door)
(Gray Door)
(Darkness)

Waiting Outside

Aftermath

OOC Interest Gaging (in case you can't comment right away) ]

Comments

WAITING OUTSIDE

[microbrobotics]

[ Meanwhile: unconscious people all over the floor. ]

cass // ota

[lasthugs]

[All of those unconscious butts are getting moved somewhere not the middle of the floor. Leaving seats for anybody who's here and awake with her, Cass moves about, pulling some people to lean against unoccupied armchairs and the wall. She readied the room with blankets and cushions, too, so those get utilized as well. On a table to the side, she sets out all the cookies she ended up baking out of stress waiting for this day, and there's also juice and chocolate bars -- who knows how exhausted these kids will come back? Sugar's good to have on hand.

But Hiro and Tadashi? Hiro's on the couch, and she plants herself on the floor right by it, his hand in hers. And she keeps Tadashi close, too, laying him down so his head's in her lap and she can drape an arm over him. They'll come back, she tells herself, and they'll be okay. For now, what she has to do is wait. She'll be quiet unless spoken to.]

[kreiastophe]

[Krei lends a hand where he can, shoving cushions under heads and covering a few bodies with blankets, and once they're all comfortably arranged, he makes a few rounds of the room, stepping between the prone bodies to examine each of their faces for movement.

He can't help but notice how young they all are. It's probably for the best that kids are the ones to go into a kids mind, but he feels more than a little apprehensive about them being alone in there.]

...How are you holding up? [He turns to Cass as he asks this, stepping over to her to take a seat on the edge of the coffee table.

This must be incredibly stressful for her. Her only family is somewhere she can't reach them.]

[lasthugs]

[They're all really, really young. A lot of them younger than the Big Hero 6 kids. It's hard to think about, so she deliberately doesn't, telling herself that everything will be all right, and then she won't have to think about how, once again, as it much too often is, things are left in the hands of children. So much for adults, really.

She doesn't take her eyes off Hiro's face. She runs her thumb over his knuckles, wonders when he'll open his eyes again, and takes a breath that's only a little bit shaky.]

... I'm better than I thought, to be honest with you. But I'm glad -- I'm glad I can be here, this time. With them.

[khajidont]

[Jaime decided to stay well out of Hiro's mind. Khaji would wind up coming along, which would raise a whole lot of questions for everyone involved, and that aside, Khaji's not really... the best influence in the world. If their words can impact Hiro's psyche, the cheerful proclamation that Callaghan is a threat and did, in fact, deserve to burn can't be a good thing.

So he defers, tells everyone that he's going to stay back and help look after them and, should Hiro or Tadashi ask, try and help poor Cass from going crazy while she deals with a room full of unconscious kids in her house. He helps move them around, drapes blankets on top of them and makes sure they won't wake up with cricks in their backs before straightening and looking over at Cass, sympathy in his eyes. He's worried too. Of course he is.

But it must be nothing compared to what Cass is feeling right now.]

They're in good hands, you know, [he feels moved to tell her.] Miss Martian -- or, uh, M'gann? Everyone knows her in my world.

[lasthugs]

[Cass is still like she might be one with the couch. She's holding Hiro's hand in one of her own, her other arm draped over Tadashi. Mochi the cat is also present, curled up close to Tadashi's stomach even while looking unconcerned in that way cats always do. Until Jaime speaks, her expression is blank, a frighteningly quiet void compared to how she usually is as she watches Hiro's face.

But she blinks, Jaime's voice bringing her out of her sort-of trance, and she looks at the source of the words speaking to her, almost unsure what he said before understanding dawns on her. Ah, he's trying to reassure her. She smiles, a genuine one that still reaches her eyes even if it may be heavy with worry.]

Is she now? [She casts a glance over at the one in question, making sure M'gann is as comfortable as she can be.] She came all this way to help them... I trust her. Thank you, Jaime.

[khajidont]

[He hadn't, in truth, expected the easy acceptance. He'd thought that he could at least provide her with a little solace by telling her some of the other things M'gann and people like her have been capable of achieving in the past, but it seems that that's not necessary.

Which is too bad, because that's about all the reassurance he could think of, seeing all of his friends lying around him, eerily still. A part of him feels guilty about not going too. Maybe he should have. Maybe he could have helped, but... no, no. He wouldn't have been helpful at all, not with Khaji in tow. So instead, he just gives her a little smile back and says,] Oh, well... I'm glad. Let me know if you need anything else? Like, water or anything? I don't want you to have to leave 'emm.

[He knows Cass won't want to. What mother would?]

[lasthugs]

[Cass isn't the sort of person to doubt others, especially not when they've gone out of the way to offer to help her family. If anybody else in the room had raised any objections, she would of course be cautious, but there had been none of that, and to Cass, these people are now her only hope. What right does she have to go doubting them, is her question, really.

It might have thrown Jaime off a little, though, from the blandness of his answer. That too reflects the sort of conversations he must be used to, in a way.]

Yeah, I'll let you know... I'm surprised, though. That you stayed behind.

[Jaime, from what she knew, seemed like the sort of guy who would want to jump right in even if only to offer moral support]

[khajidont]

[For his part, that comment's got Jaime looking a little bashful -- a little ashamed, in truth, but that's only clear to someone who's either got a keen eye, or knows Jaime very well. He wears some of his emotions on his sleeve, but in other ways, he's a hard nut to crack, especially when he's focused on something in the way he is right now.

He's just not sure how to answer her. And, even though the floor is covered with people who had been willing to take the plunge, he feels the ludicrous urge to apologize, like he ought to have done more, ought to be doing more. Instead, he just shifts on his feet, shrugs, and gives her at least a version of the truth.]

I don't think I'd be that useful in there. [There, like he's talking about a place instead of inside Hiro's mind.] So might as well help hold the fort, right?

[lasthugs]

[Cass' eyes are usually keen -- it's what happens when you're around as many people as she is, all day every day -- but she is well-distracted, and understandably so. She misses any sort of shame Jaime might be feeling, and even if she could catch it, it isn't something she would think too much on. Jaime would feel bad because he didn't jump right into the fray because he's that sort of kind person. Him trying to avoid exposing the AI in his spine? Last thing she would think of.

He showed up. That's more than she would ever have asked from him. That's more than Hiro or Tadashi would have, because ultimately, the Hamadas always tended to try to solve everything themselves. Awake or asleep, she almost cried when she saw how many people arrived at the door.

She shifts so that to make sure Tadashi and Hiro are both lying more comfortably where they are, nodding. Does her smile change at all? Of course not.]

We have things that we can or can't do... or are better off not doing, even if we can. It means a lot that you showed up at all, Jaime. Thank you so much.

[khajidont]

[The more Jaime gets to know Cass, the more he winds up respecting her. She's still smiling in the face of all this, and knowing what he knows about the Hamadas? She's smiled in the face of a lot more, too. Hiro wouldn't have been an easy child to raise, not after the loss of... her brother or sister or cousin, or god knows what; Aunt can mean so many things at the end of the day.

And, he knows, she's got to live with the idea that her time with Tadashi is limited, just like everyone else's. The least he can do is try to smile back.]

Really, being here's the least I can do. They're my friends. Even if I'm not in there with them, I wasn't about to just sit at home while they're doing something so important.

[lasthugs]

Yeah. I'm sure they appreciate it, too. [Smiling isn't easy, but it's one of the easier things to do. It keeps her head clear, and she doesn't really think to do anything else. Not when there is a room full of kids that need to be looked after and there are so, so many of them here to help them.]

I'm glad I can be here, too. I might not be help out in there, but I can at least be here with them. Do you need anything, Jaime? Feel free to take any of the food if you're hungry, okay?

[khajidont]

Oh no, don't worry about me! I'm fine. I'm just gonna...

[He glances around the room. The couches are filled up with people lying around like big old lumps, and so is the floor. It's easiest for Jaime to just plop down on the floor too, elbows resting on his knees.]

...wait for them to wake up too. Do you think they can hear us from in there, at all?

[honeyxlemon]

[ Like Cass, Honey Lemon is also hanging back to watch over everyone. Knowing how stressed the other must be, Honey is doing the very best she can in order to make this experience at least somewhat less nerve-wracking.

She had been towards the other side of the room for a bit, eyes moving from person to person to ensure that nothing appears out of the ordinary. With the silence dwelling, perhaps, a bit too long for her comfort, she moves from her place and carefully makes her way across the labyrinth of unconscious bodies until she reaches Cass. ]

It's good that this is going to help Hiro. [ She comments, no room in her statement for ifs and buts. The light smile also suggests that there's no doubt in her mind that everything will be fine. ]

[lasthugs]

Hey, Honey. [With this nickname, there's no telling whether she's actually saying the name or calling her by an endearment, but let's face it: with Cass, any name she could call someone by is an endearment. She matches Honey's smile, though hers has a practiced determination behind it; she's learned to smile to reassure others, too, but she's also learned to smile for her own strength. She briefly takes her hand off Tadashi's shoulder to gently touch Honey's arm, seeking and also to offer some connection.]

Yes, I agree. It'll help him... it'll help them both. I'm so glad that someone -- it's very touching, how many people showed up today.

[hypnotherapy]

[ He's assisting as best he can, but mostly all he can do is sit and wait for everyone to wake up.

And, okay, he's basically spoiling Mochi (and Koromaru too, when he sees him). Therapy pets are a thing, right? He's pretty sure they're a thing. But right now he has a lapful of cat and he's determined to make the best of it. ]

[khajidont]

[Hey, Magicman. Guess who else is waiting? This guy right here. As it turns out, there are two AIs around who don't fancy having a poke around in Hiro's head. The couch has been taken up, and so have most of the pillows, so Jaime's just sitting on the ground, back up against the couch, watching everyone's bodies as they go on their excursion into Hiro's psyche.

Yikes. It's not a comfortable thought. He hopes everyone's okay in there, and honestly, it drives him a little crazy that there's no good way to tell.]

...Wonder how long this is gonna take.

[hypnotherapy]

...It could take a while, if it's anything like those shared dreams.

[ Time passes strangely and distorts in a mental world, he'd assume. Navis have a strong internal clock, but humans don't really have that kind of thing.

He shifts a little; Mochi rolls around in his lap, perfectly content to be petted. ]

I hope everything will be all right. But I suppose that's a little redundant to say, when it's what we're all hoping for.

[khajidont]

S'not redundant. But it will be all right.

[Okay, so maybe he's saying it to convince himself of the fact too, but having persistent optimism hasn't hurt him too much in the past. There's no use in acting like it's not going to work. That's just torture, plain and simple.]

I can't imagine it taking as long as the whole dreaming thing, though. That was meant to hurt us, not to help us, and -- [his gaze scrapes across the floor, and all of the bodies around them] -- he's got a lot of help.

[A lot of people must really love Hiro.]

I didn't know you got caught up in the whole dream stuff too.

[hypnotherapy]

[ His expression softens, perceptibly, as he looks at everyone unconscious. ] He does, doesn't he?

He has a lot of friends. I'm sure this experience will strengthen things, even if it becomes difficult...though I admit I have no expertise in dream diving.

I entered in my normal state, so I was perfectly aware of my surroundings...It was strange. [ He scratches Mochi behind the ears and earns himself a louder purr. ] Humans have such disjointed dreams.

[khajidont]

So you don't dream.

[That's not a surprise. What is a surprise is the fact that Magicman actually managed to get sucked in too, while Khaji had been notably absent for the whole thing. That's the one consistency that he remembers, that he had panicked about the entire time: Khaji's voice had completely vanished.]

That means that you just visited others' dreams instead of having your own?

[hypnotherapy]

Navis don't dream like human beings, I should clarify. We recall and review memory data.

So I did have my own dream, in a sense. But it was just a projection of memory data, taking a different form.

But I did visit other people's dreams, yes. It was an interesting experience.

[khajidont]

...well, interesting's better than just flat out bad.

[Jaime stretches his legs in front of himself, recalling the seemingly endless dreams he had seen. Did anyone have good dreams the whole time? He wonders. He doubts it. Nothing caused by some crazy guy going around calling himself the devil could be a good thing.]

Projections of memory is sort of what a dream is, anyway, only it gets all twisted up. Can't dream about anything that you don't already know about, y'know?

[hypnotherapy]

Oh, most of them were bad at first. But dreams are very malleable, it seems.

[ He shrugs. He remembers with clarity the way things had changed and shifted over time, though it's not as accessible to him in a human form right now. ]

It makes sense. But humans are...more abstract. Less organised. I have to admit, it seems inefficient and startling, but you seem to be all very used to it.

[khajidont]

Of course we're used to it. It's what we're used to.

[Khaji never dreams. He only sits, and waits for Jaime to wake up. There are several mornings where he's woken up by one bored AI, anxious to get the day started so he can do something beyond soak up all the information he can get from the Internet, several nights where Khaji was more than happy to keep him company while he can't sleep.]

Did you like it? Or, the good ones?