IC INBOX; MoM

[pushtheboundaries]

"You've reached Robert Callaghan, Headmaster to the Heropa Organization for imPort Education. Please leave a message with your name, your phone number, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. As a reminder, my office hours are..."

Comments

[pushtheboundaries]

[ah. well, then. that explains a few things. Callaghan looks down at the shaking boxes, then, after a moment, reaches to undo the top and free them]

Not me; I was an only child.

[had he told Hiro that? he can't recall. he gives the box a push with his foot, just in case it's not in close enough range.]

[microbrobotics]

... Then maybe this is normal.

[ Maybe Callaghan did tell him, but he's forgotten if so. As for those microbots ... They spiral neatly out of the box and back towards Hiro; he lets the ones on his shoulder join up with them, so that they're all one seething. He glances over them thoughtfully. Then, he flattens a hand to send them into a complex geometric pattern, mostly triangular. When he's satisfied with that pattern, he twists his wrist and they take on a new, hexagonal one.

Ah - there it is. There's a small gap near the middle of the pattern, where a microbot should be but isn't. He glances back towards the box and tugs at the straggler that didn't come with its microbrethren. It sags visible due to fried servo motors. Much easier to count a mass of bots when he can just eyeball it like this. ]

[pushtheboundaries]

[Callaghan watches them go, a quiet admiration in his eyes. even knowing that Hiro's using an ability to control them, they're still a remarkable creation. they could do so much...]

It's normal for me. Not for you. And don't let anyone else tell you what is and isn't your 'normal'.

[Hiro never got to attend his classes, and receive his trace words of wisdom...so he'll sneak in what ones he can, when he can.

but for now, he reaches in to the box to pull out that straggler - and give it a toss towards the cluster. back you go, little one.]

You may lose sight of it, but you'll find it again, eventually.

[microbrobotics]

[ It's not as though he couldn't do this back home too. If he built neuro-cranial transmitters, he could get much the same effect. Well, minus catching that little fried bot. He tugs it into place once Callaghan tosses it over. Then, satisfied that he has all of them, he folds all of them neatly along his shoulders and back. He'll need to grab a backpack on the way home ... Otherwise he might get some weird looks walking through Heropa like this.

He pauses for a moment, fiddling with his microbot placement as he considers Callaghan's words. ]

Trust me, I don't care much about being "normal" anyway. The "normal" people always turn out to be the biggest jerks.

[pushtheboundaries]

Just keep it in mind, and make sure you take steps if you start to feel off again. For now...take care of yourself, all right? You've hard a rough month.

[both of them have, but Robert's always found it easier to focus on helping others than himself in this regard.]

[microbrobotics]

[ Ah. That's what he meant, then. Hiro's mind had gone straight to school, entirely skipping past the events of these past few weeks. In this case, normal would be just fine. Suddenly he just feels incredibly tired. He just wants to be home, in bed, maybe with one of his aunt's baked goods ... ]

Yeah. No more trouble for anyone else.

[ He's seen enough pain on his family's faces to last him a lifetime. ]

[pushtheboundaries]

No trouble for yourself, either.

[he meant a lot of things - this was just the strongest connection to it.]

Will you be able to get home all right?

[microbrobotics]

[ He shrugs a little. That self-destructive tendency is the last voice to go quiet, since none of that was Crane's influence. Just himself, reacting poorly to a spectacularly shitty set of circumstances. ]

I'll be okay. It's not far to walk.

[pushtheboundaries]

[lucky for Callaghan, his own is quiet as of late. but...he nods.]

All right. You'd better get going, then, before they start to worry about things going wrong here. [he smiles...no, this one isn't humorless. it's dry, but there's...a hint of warmth?] It might take a while for them to start to trust us with one another, but I hope you know that I have no interest in hurting you, either.

[quite the opposite.]

[microbrobotics]

[ And that wa the other reason why he wanted to walk. He didn't exactly tell his family he was coming to see Callaghan, just that he was going out to the barn. They would want to have him chaperoned for this meeting, and while he understands where they're coming from ... This was something he had to do alone.

So he nods a little, awkwardly. ]

Then - then I guess we're on the same page.

[ Not even. He won't use that word again. ]