mylittlejamjar | 2nd Idea [Accidental Visual]

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2nd Idea [Accidental Visual]

[With everything settling back down again, it should be the best time to relax. But it apparently was the opposite for Tadashi, who could be seen pacing around his room at the commune. His tail flicked with every turn, and the expression on his face was more agitated and troubled than normal for those who had seen him before.

Another passing turn had him pausing, finally noticing the scroll was open. And for a moment he almost seemed to glare at it, his hardened expression persisting as he debated whether to simply roll it up.

But it only lasted a moment before his expression softened, and he managed a small, if somewhat weary smile.]

Anyone feel like grabbing a drink?

...Or taking a walk. Or...something.

[It just seemed like he could use the company.]

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[Judging by the way his ears flattened against his head, he'd caught her tone as he sighed. Though he didn't move as she came closer, he didn't look at her.

Then with a small sound that was more a short breath than the laugh he hoped it'd be, he shrugged a bit.]

Turns out...running into a burning building isn't the smartest idea in the world...

[There's the blankest of stares in response to that sarcasm. It was hard to comprehend what she was hearing.]

I don't...

[She trailed off, genuinely unsure of what to say. What could be said? What do you even say to somebody who knows they're going to die when they go back home?

She side-stepped a little closer, trying slightly to make eye contact with him, mostly because of what she was about to do.

It was so hard to just hug somebody in these ridiculous pony bodies but she was sure going to give it her best anyway.]

[He couldn't help stiffening just a bit, but less from the actual hug itself and more from memories the hug pulled to the forefront of his mind.

Honey Lemon would always give him a hug when he was feeling down too. And now...he might not get to see her again.

He might not get to see any of them again.

The pony body didn't seem to stop him from returning the hug. Compared to the sudden surge of emotions threatening to overtake him, being a pony didn't seem to matter as much.]

Edited 2015-04-23 08:40 (UTC)

[Yang still couldn't think of a single thing to say in comfort, so the hug would have to suffice.

On some level it made her vaguely uncomfortable, to think that she was essentially hugging a dead man. It was different than staring down death in the face like she did when fighting Grimm. This felt almost personal...

Squeezing him in a little with a saddened exhale, she stared wordlessly over his shoulder for a long moment. Then her ears went up a bit as something else belatedly occurred to her.]

Wait...Hiro... ...Who's been looking after Hiro then?

[Tadashi's parents were dead. She remembered that much. And sure, he'd said his little brother was doing alright, but... Was he just...living at the school now?]

[He gives a soft exhale.]

Our aunt Cass...She...She's been taking care of us since our parents died.

[But thinking how this must have affected her along with Hiro was something that hurt him even more.]

Mmm...

[Something in the way he'd answered must have given her some inkling of what he was feeling, because after another moment she spoke up again, although her voice was far softer.]

Look it...it's not...you didn't mean for things to turn out like this. You were just trying to help someone...

[It was a lot like what she felt must have happened to Summer. Something just went wrong.

...And rushing in to save somebody without a second thought was the sort of thing she could see Ruby doing too, which was unnerving in its own way.]

[The breath he took this time was a bit shaky, even as he nodded.]

I know...I know, but...

[There was a frustrated noise in his throat as he pulled away from her.]

This whole thing...the fire...ugh, it's all such a mess!

[He had mentioned to someone earlier how he had a difficult time getting angry. But now...he might be starting to.]

It's bad enough knowing that I - ! That that happened...But it didn't have to! It didn't...

[He didn't have to have died.]

Edited 2015-04-23 10:40 (UTC)

[She let him pull away, dropping back down onto all fours and simply staying where she was so that he could have his space, watching him sympathetically.]

You couldn't have known this was going to happen, Tadashi. Nobody ever does.

...It was just an accident.

[He shook his head with a frustrated sound.]

That's just it, though. It wasn't an accident.

Someone....Someone started that fire.

...

...What?

[She heard him perfectly fine.

But what?]

The fire...the whole thing had been a set up...

C... [He had to swallow hard to speak past the lump forming in his throat.] Callaghan...the professor I had run in to try and help?

...He started the fire.

Your professor set that fire on purpose?

[...Give her a second to fully process that, Tadashi.]

...That...that bastard!

[There we go.]

What was he thinking???

[A sigh.] Apparently it was part of this whole...thing.

The night of the event, Hiro had built these things called nanobots. Like they sound, they're tiny machines that can't do much on their own, but can do pretty amazing things when you get a few thousand of them. And all the nanobots were connected by this band you where on your head, so they respond to your thoughts.

[Even now, talking about the nanobots, he couldn't help still feeling insanely proud of his brother.]

He'd built them to show what he can do, so that Callaghan would accept him into the school. And he did...but Callaghan wanted to use Hiro's nanobots for...something else.

So he started the fire...grabbed the controlling device, and used the nanobots to escape free from harm, while faking his own death.

Edited 2015-04-24 07:54 (UTC)

And killed you in the process!?!

[She really didn't need to remind him of that but she couldn't believe what she was hearing. All that stuff about nanobots and whatever aside, this was absolutely disgusting.

She stared at him, completely appalled, ears back as she stamped a hoof into the ground.]

That's awful, Tadashi!!!

[He was surprisingly calm as he nodded, though his focus seemed to be farther away.]

Yeah...I know...

[Honestly, the fact that he was so calm about it was almost more unnerving than the confession he'd just made.]

What's the matter with you?? Some teacher you cared enough about to risk your own life for completely betrayed you! Just to steal some technology from your little brother!?! You're acting like it's not even that big a deal!!

[That wasn't really fair. She'd seen him start to get upset earlier, when she'd thought it was just because he'd accidentally gotten himself killed.

Maybe Tadashi had already had time to come to grips with all of this, but his demeanor still had her dumb-founded nonetheless.]

You think I don't know that? [Some of the earlier fire was back as he looked up at her with a hardened look.] Of course it's a big deal!

This whole thing is a nightmare! Callaghan, someone I trusted, risked a lot of people's lives by starting the fire at the expo that night. It's lucky that no one else had gotten hurt, or worse!

And he did all this...He put my friends, my family...he put Hiro...through all this pain...for what? To steal Hiro's work? For revenge?

[The anger started to ebb again, but this time replaced with something else...something quieter as he tried to pull his cap down further over his eyes.]

I...I-I wasn't...I wasn't done yet...I hadn't...I hadn't finished...what I wanted to do...And now I...

...I never will...

[There was a slight tremble in his breath as he exhaled, turning away from her again.]

[She probably shouldn't have been goading him, but it honestly concerned her to see somebody appear so passive about a betrayal this deep. So she met his gaze evenly, her ears drooping only when he started to retreat under his hat, staring at him a little crestfallen.]

Tadashi, I...

[She felt so sorry for him.

It was bad enough they were all trapped here, but Tadashi was doomed to die when he finally managed to make it back home. He'd never get to see his little brother again. Not unless Hiro came back here, which was less than ideal for obvious reasons.

This sucked.

She watched him sadly for a long moment...

And then her expression steeled.]

No.

No, there has to be someway to fix this.

[How do you fix being dead?]

It...I-It's fine...When uh...When Hiro was telling me about it, it turned out the whole thing set off this big chain of events, and it ended up saving someone else. I dunno if that would have happened if...if I hadn't...y'know.

[Thinking about it that way - .that with his life, someone else's had been saved - made the whole thing a bit easier to bear.]

Edited 2015-04-24 19:08 (UTC)

It's not fine!!!

[It genuinely bothered her how resigned he seemed about this.

This was as bad as when Blake had started to give up on herself during the blizzard a few months back only there were no Windigos to blame this time.]

You don't know if those things wouldn't have happened anyway somehow!!

[Her tone softened.]

...You just said it yourself. You had things you still wanted to do back home.

[Another shrug.] I'm pretty sure those events were really circumstantial.

[Believe him, he'd been trying to think of ways for them to happen without him dying, but...he couldn't figure it out.

Her repeating his words had him wince just a bit.]

Yeah...but what can I do?

[She frowned hard at him at the shrug, one ear flicking in slight irritation. Then she slowly trotted over to stand beside him again, bending her head a little to make sure she could catch his gaze whether he wanted to look at her or not.]

You can start...with not giving up on yourself.

[Something about her words has him glancing up at her with a start.]

I'm not...

[Was he?]

I mean, if I thought there could be any way out of it, that'd be great...but my brother's from a later time...He went to my funeral.

What else can I do?

[She fixed him with a look, but this time it was more amused than frustrated.]

You're currently living in a world full of magic and colorful ponies, and some of them have like 3 copies of themselves or something.

[The corner of her mouth quirked into a confident smile.]

We'll get creative.

[There was emphasis on that "we'll". Whether Tadashi wanted her help or not, he was going to get it.

Her expression softened again.]

You're not dead yet, Tadashi.

[That was important.]

[That earned a bit of a chuckle.] That's true, I guess...

From my understanding, though, stuff we do here doesn't have much bearing when we go back.

As long as I'm here, I'm alive. But once I go back...

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