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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[i_speak_softly]

[Don leaves without another word, and returns sometime later, as Robert will know by the banging in the kitchen. He doesn't sound as furious as earlier, but he's clearly still angry.]

[semper_cogitans]

[While Don had left, Robert had ended up drifting in and out of fitful half-sleep. He's too physically broken to actually get proper rest, but the banging shocks him out of the stupor he'd been in.

Tiredly, he straightens himself out, trying his best to adjust his mussed hair into something approaching normalcy. He doesn't know whether Don wants him to approach or not, and part of him would honestly rather hide in his room. But he's also been doing too much hiding for the past while to justify that.

So he gets up, with some mental pretense of maybe not going into the kitchen. Still, it'd be obvious to a ninja that there were footsteps nearby.]

[i_speak_softly]

[Don does notice, and without breaking his rhythm he gets a glass from the cabinet, fills it with water, and sets it on the table. Hydrate yourself, drunkard.]

[semper_cogitans]

[Robert practically slinks into the kitchen, immediately gravitating away from Don and towards the table. He takes the glass without comment, drinking it slowly in a way that belies his realized thirst.

He can't be silent forever, though. There's going to have to be some discussion on this eventually.]

[i_speak_softly]

[Discussion will begin once the perishables are put away. Even after three years in Luceti, Don still has a Thing about safe preservation of food.]

I talked to someone about you.

[semper_cogitans]

[Robert hesitates mid-swig, putting his glass down on the table.]

... Did you...?

[i_speak_softly]

I also signed you up for the social event he's hosting next weekend.

[Even though I know you'll hate it goes unsaid.]

[semper_cogitans]

[Unsurprisingly, Robert does not look thrilled.]

... Why...? What is it e-even for...?

[i_speak_softly]

Meeting new people. [He turns back to the non-perishables.] Since you apparently can't be left alone.

[semper_cogitans]

[This earns a slight wince from the man.] Generally I am more... s-self-sufficient than this...

[i_speak_softly]

[Don finishes putting away the groceries, gets his own glass of water, and comes to sit at the table.]

And other times you're not. Usually when I'm least able to do anything about it.

[semper_cogitans]

[Well, that he can't really argue. But...]

How would I be able to make friends at this venue...? [He doesn't even know what it is, much less what he's meant to do.]

[i_speak_softly]

Talk to people. Be charming. Employ other behaviors typically used in the pursuit of friendship.

[semper_cogitans]

[He's not good at that. Usually.]

... As you w-wish... [Still, he's not going to argue right now. Still not really mentally in a position to argue, honestly...

He sips more water, looking intently at the table like it's the most interesting thing in the world.]

[i_speak_softly]

[Don is quiet a while, drinking his own water. Finally, he says:] The Malnosso drugged me.

[semper_cogitans]

[Robert immediately looks up.]

... I presume said drugs were... not one's t-typical anaesthetics.

[i_speak_softly]

[Don shakes his head.]

Some sort of hallucinogen.

[semper_cogitans]

[That... hits a little close to home.]

I... [Hesitant pause:] I s-see...

... This experience was... t-traumatic, for you...?

[i_speak_softly]

It was... [He trails off, and draws a finger through the condensation ring on the table.] Every day they drugged me with something and then made me meditate. I had visions. Some of them were... beautiful.

[But he's clearly still upset about the whole thing.]

[semper_cogitans]

[Upset enough that even Robert can tell easily.]

It was... a-against your will. That... that alone would be t-traumatic. [Even Robert as a youth would not have enjoyed a high forced on him.]

[i_speak_softly]

You know how I feel about drugs.

[There's an accusatory tone in his voice. Robert isn't off the hook yet.]

[semper_cogitans]

[No, he isn't.]

Yes... I know you feel s-strongly negatively about them. And... I do not find your reasoning f-faulty, even if... the circumstances you describe are much different from m-many of the ones I have seen...

But this... this is s-something aside from even that. This was... forced upon you...

[In other words, it wouldn't really have mattered what it was - the sheer fact it was being forced on Don is what makes it bad.]

[i_speak_softly]

[Don is unimpressed by this reasoning.]

Don't change the subject.

[semper_cogitans]

What is your... i-intended subject, then? [Because he doesn't know how this is changing it.]

[i_speak_softly]

[ROBERT YOU ARE SO FRUSTRATING.]

We're talking about the things drugs do to a person, and how no one sane would ever take them on purpose.