This is fine. It's fine. We're fine.

[sharpasanarrow]

[Well that was.

Something.

Underneath everyone’s door they’ll find a slip of paper, in shaky calligraphy, that reads:

INVITATION

Meet in the Dining Room.

Do not bring alcohol of any sort.

Upon arrival into the Dining Room it’s clear that this is very much...not a party.

The center of the room is cleared of all tables, and instead has all the chairs arranged in a circle, facing inwards. On the tables pushed to the side are jugs of water, cups, plates of saltines, and several hastily-made pamplets that read on the front ”How to cope with Child homicide” that contains an advisory list:

1. Try not to think about it.
2. Do not get hysterical.
3. Crying is permitted, but keep it within a reasonable volume. (For the consideration of fellow mourners)
4. Maintain civility
5. Do not plunder the belongings of the deceased.
6. No drinking or gambling your sorrows away. Set an example.

Standing in front of one of the chairs already is Mr.Arrow. He clears his throat as people start to slowly come in.]

I gathered you all here because I believed it would be conductive to group morale if we all worked through our feelings regarding recent events. Talk about your feelings with one another, but not with me.

[He steps back a little, out of the circle of chairs, in what seems to be an invitation for people to sit down and discuss with one another.]

Comments

[upgradeit]

[His day has been so bad that he doesn't understand what Tadashi is telling him at first. At best, he hoped that he'd be able to talk to Tadashi.]

How - [???] That's not possible. You - the fire. We had a funeral for you and Callaghan said - he said he left you there to die.

[That's not really what he said, but it's what Hiro took away from their exchange. All he can remember about that moment is being so angry that Callaghan was alive and Tadashi wasn't.]

[tadaishi]

What? Callaghan? I don't remember any fire.

[This is complete nonsense Hiro. Either way...]

I'm not right now, I swear. I--I don't know, it's a second change or something, but I'm here with people who went through the same thing you're in right now. We're...looking for a way to help you guys.

[This is only half of a lie; they've found one way, they just need to try it.]

[upgradeit]

No, you - you died! You died and you left me and everyone else behind!

[Sorry to everyone else that's hanging around this party. Hiro's clearly upset all over again, because?? His brother is alive??? But he can't hug him????? He hates it, thanks.]

How - how do I know you're really Tadashi and not some dumb trick that guy came up with?

[Because he wants to believe it's true. He does, so badly, but Tadashi has been dead for months and after the rest of the day, this seems like a particularly cruel trick cooked up by their shitty host.]

[tadaishi]

I--whatever happened, I'm sorry, I really am. I know that doesn't make up for anything, especially death, but...I'm sorry.

[Is he really apologizing for his own death? He's going to fail to keep track of his own life one of these days and have a breakdown.]

I don't know how to prove I'm really...me. [This situation has never come up and he never expected it to.] Ask me something he wouldn't know?

1/2

[upgradeit]

[He thinks about that for a second, because there's so many things he could ask. Stupid little things that a copy shouldn't know, but none of them seem good enough. Then, he realizes that the correct answer isn't to ask Tadashi something, but to tell him something.

Even if they scanned his memories, created some perfect AI of his brother, they probably wouldn't be able to get his reactions right. That's. That's always the hardest part about synthesizing voices.]

[upgradeit]

. . . Yama dangled me off a building a few weeks ago. [He says it almost casually, like it's no big deal.] He was mad about that night you came to get me and we all ended up in holding.

[tadaishi]

[BUH. That's not something you say casually!

He looks startled at that and really wishes he could reach through the television/mirror and smack his brother.

...It is Hiro, though. The same kid who got arrested, went home, and promptly went out to do the very thing that got him arrested in the first place.]

Dangled you off a building? How did you even--what were you doing that you encountered Yama anyway?

[upgradeit]

It was nothing! I just - there were some problems when I was rebuilding Baymax and I ended up running into Yama. [Perfectly Normal Teenage Things.] And then I had to steal some kind of weapon for him - don't worry, I stole it back - and save San Fransokyo from certain destruction again.

[He learned his lesson, though!!!! Probably, anyway.]

Fred keeps wanting us to be like one of those teams in his comics. He came up with a name and everything.

[tadaishi]

That sounds like Fred.

[He's laughing a little about Fred starting up a superhero team. That's not surprising in the least, and doing that would probably fulfill several of Fred's life dreams.

But...]

Hold on, 'rebuilding'...what did you do to him? He was a prototype, but he was perfectly functional last time I checked.

[upgradeit]

[Hiro goes silent for a few moments, because he's not sure - it's easy to explain what happened to other people, because they don't know anything about his life. It's harder to explain to Tadashi, because if he doesn't word it correctly his brother will know he's leaving something out.]

. . . You know how Callaghan and Krei don't like each other? And Krei offered me all that money? It's. I guess Krei is in the habit of messing around with technology that isn't really ready for human testing or mass production and . . . and Callaghan's daughter was the test subject.

[He's leaving out huge chunks of what happened, because it's not really a thing to say over a video call. Later - when they're both in the same place again, Hiro will explain from the beginning.]

She got stuck in a . . . a pocket dimension of some sort? Stuck in cryogenic stasis, and the portal was collapsing, but we - Baymax said we had to go get her, so we went in but the only way to get back out was if he . . . if he stayed behind and used the rocket arm upgrade I gave him to. To propel us out.

[tadaishi]

Ah, so the original Baymax got left in the pocket dimension and you had to rebuild him from scratch.

[Which was probably pretty easy for Hiro. Tadashi's not mad about this revelation; if anything, he's proud of Hiro for rescuing Abigail, and knows Hiro's smart enough to build a better Baymax 2.0]

I knew they used to work together, but Callaghan never mentioned that his daughter did, just that she used to be involved in testing some experimental technology. Then he'd clam up and refuse to say anything else about it. Guess their dislike is deeper than 'we went our separate ways'.

[upgradeit]

Yeah, he's [a murderer.] behind bars now, but his daughter seems to be doing okay. I visited her once, in the hospital, and I hope she doesn't hold the things her father did against him.

[Because, in a similar vein, he hopes Tadashi won't hold the things he did against him.]

I think grief makes people do some . . . messed up things.