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]

[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.]

[i_speak_softly]

[Don immediately rewards this response with a broad smile.]

[He then looks back to Robert's hand with interest, the same way he might watch the behavior of an unusual insect. What will it do next...?]

[The problem, from his perspective, is not at all what Robert thinks the problem is.]

[semper_cogitans]

[Meanwhile, Robert is trying to figure out what Don wants. Obviously he fulfilled something on the arcane list in Don's head, but what else does he want to happen?

Almost with the same curiosity - tinged with the probably annoyingly-familiar hesitance - he moves his hand slightly lower on Don's knee, then looks over at his face again. Is this still okay?]

[i_speak_softly]

[Progress! It's slow and painful and frustrating, but something has been communicated.]

[Don smiles encouragingly, and hopes Robert will make another move. In training like this, it usually only takes a few trials for the student to understand what is expected of him.]

[semper_cogitans]

[So far Robert has deduced that Don is perfectly okay with his leg being touched. So far. In fact this seems to be a good thing.

Well if this is okay, presumably Don won't mind so much if Robert goes to stroke the rest of it?

He doesn't just immediately go for broke, though. Still watching Don's face for hints on whether this should immediately stop or not, Robert exploratively goes to slide his hand down Don's leg. He hasn't really touched him like this in such a long time that it almost feels new again, despite Robert knowing everything about the limb he's touching.

If Don looks at all like he isn't comfortable with it, he'll stop dead.]

[i_speak_softly]

[Said leg is still sore from the Battle Dome incident, but the slow touches feel good. Between that and this small but significant communication breakthrough, Don feels like some weight has lifted off his shoulders.]

[He resettles against the back of the couch, giving every sign that he's comfortable with what's happening.]

[semper_cogitans]

[Having Don relax like that is just about the best sign he could give. Significantly less afraid that he will spontaneously do something wrong, Robert goes to gently massage the leg in question, soothing the sore muscles wherever he can.

Of course, he is carefully avoiding any injuries, but the carefulness there is very different from the blatant hesitance of earlier touches. Now that he knows that Don actually wants this, it's a very different matter to just make sure it isn't painful.]

[i_speak_softly]

[This was worth it. Don groans as tension he'd been ignoring eases from his bruises, and he shifts the blankets to subtly indicate how far Robert may go with his massage.]

[semper_cogitans]

[Right now Robert is very focused on this one leg; he's gone as far as to kneel to lavish attention on it. Truth be told, he missed being able to freely touch his lover, and this contact is something he had wanted but had been afraid to initiate after everything that had happened.

That, and it gives him a chance to see how Don's been healing. Luckily, he looks quite a bit better, even if he's still sore...

Robert makes a quiet sigh of contentment, stealing glances up at Don's face as he works.]