Luceti Appointments

[i_speak_softly]

Need a thread with Don, but don't have a post for it and don't feel like starting one? Stick it here. Please note date, time of day, location, and any relevant circumstances.

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[semper_cogitans]

[Looking away is never a good sign to Robert when someone asks a question, especially an important one. But he is trying to trust that Don's response will not necessarily be some scathing critique of him as a person, and so he is willing to wait quietly while this question is processed.

His expression is carefully neutral - or as much as his can be, anyway - but his hand-kneading suggests he's less comfortable than he might be trying to appear.]

[i_speak_softly]

[Don taps the back of Robert's hand - maybe someday he will break the Terran of these fidgeting habits - then makes a "wait here" gesture. Disentangling himself from the blankets, he pads away to his room. He'll be back in a minute.]

[semper_cogitans]

[Ffff, Don.

Of course, the moment Don gets up and heads off to his room, Robert starts the hand-fidgeting up again in earnest. Left alone with all his thoughts (which have tended to turn dark very quickly as of late) is a recipe for anxiety.

... Everything will be okay, he tells himself. Or tries, anyway.]

[i_speak_softly]

[Don returns after a moment, and before doing anything else, he folds himself back into almost exactly the same position he was in before he left. It seems he's about to tell Robert something, but then he blinks at the ongoing fidgeting. Are you sure there isn't something you want to say?]

[semper_cogitans]

[No, just anxiety and worrying about... well, practically everything.

He'll calm down in a moment, though, mostly because Don is back and doesn't seem to be upset.]

[i_speak_softly]

[Don looks down and refocuses, drawing a piece of paper from under the blanket. He unfolds it, smoothes it out a little, and hands it to Robert.]

[The man should recognize this as the calendar they drew together on the day Don returned from his death.]

[semper_cogitans]

[He does. Recognition passes over Robert's features as he looks at the calendar.

He looks silently, questioningly, at Don. There's an idea in his head - Don is tracking the time until he can get his penalty dealt with? - but he's not certain.]

[i_speak_softly]

[Yes, exactly.]

[Don offers Robert a pen. Can the man answer the unspoken question?]

[semper_cogitans]

[Let's see if he got this right.

Hoping he's not assuming the wrong thing, Robert takes the pen and delicately circles the seventh of November. This is when you can be free.]

[i_speak_softly]

[That's half of the right answer.]

[Don traces a finger over October. Where are we now?]

[semper_cogitans]

[In response, Robert heads back to find October 18th. He circles it with a small flourish.

This is where we are now. He feels a little proud for being able to answer these unspoken questions.]

[i_speak_softly]

[Don looks back and forth, comparing the circled dates. He's closer than he thought; it's a relief to know he won't have to wait much longer.]

[He takes the pen back from Robert and re-circles November 7th. I'll go as soon as I can.]

[semper_cogitans]

[Good. Robert may not see what Don has as insurmountable, anymore, but he'll still be glad when Don no longer has to struggle to vocalize or otherwise word himself.

He's also glad that the Turtle has something to focus on that's positive.]

[i_speak_softly]

[Don shifts again - it's clear some of his injuries are still bothering him - and produces a small spiral-bound notebook from under the blankets. He turns to a clean page, and looks at it, not yet writing anything. "What have you been thinking" is a question with many answers, and none of them will be easy to convey.]

[semper_cogitans]

[Robert is willing to wait. In the interim, he chooses to sit close enough so that his side is almost touching Don's - not quite leaning into him, but reassuring, hopefully without being too close. He's learned from the last couple of days that Don doesn't always want him that close, and he's still too wary about pushing it.]

[i_speak_softly]

[Maybe Don should start with that subject, then. But how to draw it without the result being horribly misinterpreted?]

[After some consideration, he sketches a series of graphs and formulas representing skew lines and tangents. Please think abstractly about this, Robert...]

[semper_cogitans]

[Asking Robert to think about graphs and formulas abstractly is like asking a fish to jump out of the water on purpose. It goes against everything he instinctively wants to do even if it makes more sense.

Still, he's not commenting on it yet. Just... letting Don do this at his own pace.]

[i_speak_softly]

[Well, at least he's thinking something.]

[Don searches for another comparison, and settles on drawing an asymptote. Making sure Robert sees this, he then indicates the few inches between them. He gives the Terran a moment to consider the similarity, then makes a big X over the graph. None of this.]

[semper_cogitans]

[Robert could handle the wordless questions before, but this one has him a little confused. Does Don not want him to be sitting this close...?

Giving Don a look somewhere between confusion and surprise (with maybe the barest edge of hurt), he nonetheless makes to back off somewhat. Perhaps he's misunderstood, but he doesn't know what else that might mean.]

[i_speak_softly]

[Robert, what are you doing.]

[Dropping the notebook, Don makes a gesture that echoes the feelings in Robert's face, only more emphatically. Could you for once not interpret things so negatively?]

[semper_cogitans]

[It's so hard not to when everything that can possibly go wrong has gone wrong in the past few days. Nonetheless, Robert stops trying to get away and just sits there instead.

What does this mean, then? What did he do wrong this time?]

[i_speak_softly]

[Don hates - honestly hates - resorting to this level of communication with Robert, but he's out of patience and doesn't know what else to do.]

[Reaching over, he not-very-gently grabs Robert's wrist, and slaps the man's hand down on his own knee.]

[semper_cogitans]

[... Oh. Robert doesn't resist or anything... he almost detachedly watches as Don puts his hand on the Turtle's knee.

... But he's still left feeling confused. Okay, so Don does want him to touch? Why his knee? Or was that just the closest thing?

Yes, being blunt isn't really always enjoyable, but when it comes to this Don is going to have to be really obvious.]

[i_speak_softly]

[This is so bizarrely contradictory. Don wants Robert to touch him, except that the Terran's failure to understand this makes Don NOT want Robert to touch him. What is a Turtle to do...?]

[Don gives Robert an emphatic look - note this state of affairs, scientist - then removes his hand and places it back on the couch cushion. After a brief glance to see whether any of this is registering, Don stares at that hand as though he's about to demonstrate previously-undiscovered telekinetic powers.]

[This would be the part where you do something.]

[semper_cogitans]

[This, at least, is pretty hard to get wrong. It takes almost no time for Robert to get the hint and put his hand back where it was - in the exact same position, no less. It's not nearly as forceful as Don's touch, but it's not the hesitant kind that Robert would have given, were he initiating the touch himself.

This might be a hint as to what the problem really is, here.]