Sixty-Seventh Theory [Accidental Video]

[i_speak_softly]

[Turtle Luck runs true to form, and Don crashes shell-first into the full bathtub in the winter room, Robert falling unceremoniously on top of him. The scientist, mildly stunned from the impact, pushes back and breaks the surface with a sputtering sound. Don fights down his panic reaction at being suddenly submerged, and simply sits up in the shallow water. He tries not to bang Robert against the sides of the tub, but the close confines ensure Robert's legs get squashed somewhat as Turtle and human attempt to suddenly coexist in an unforgiving ceramic tub.]

Don, are... are you a-alright?

Yeah. Just -- can you get up?

[Robert complies, scrambling out of the tub.] What an... unusual place to be returned. Perhaps the rogue Malnosso were... more interested in seeing our reaction to that than... "testing" us...

[Don coughs, and drags himself out of the water behind his housemate.] Typical. Give me a minute to convince my lungs they're fine, and then we can theorize about the Malnosso's motivations all you want.

[As the two talk, neither notices that Don's journal is transmitting video of their awkward return and private conversation.]



((Joint post! Don and Robert's conversation will be continued in a thread; feel free to assume your character can hear all of it. Specify who you want to talk to or you may get both. :) ))

Comments

[semper_cogitans]

[Carbon responds by delicately nudging her head into his hand, quite content to be scratched behind her ears for a good long while.]

... That is something we both need at the moment.

[i_speak_softly]

Do you want to talk about... anything?

[His tone is dull, implying that he doesn't really want to talk himself - but he recognizes that Robert likes to deal with things by talking.]

[semper_cogitans]

[Does he? Robert actually isn't sure, for once. And he can tell that Don would probably rather just sit.]

The only thing I wonder is... wh-why? But... who can presume to understand the M-Malnosso's motivation, at this point...?

...

Mostly I just... w-want to be here with you, now. [He wants the comfort, and shows it by leaning himself closer into Don.]

[i_speak_softly]

I certainly don't know what... what that's about.

[semper_cogitans]

[Helplessly:] Humiliation, p-perhaps...? Something about us...? [Don's fears, for instance. Or maybe they were poking at Robert's compulsions about staying clean. Or both.]

[i_speak_softly]

I didn't think it was funny.

[semper_cogitans]

It was not. [Even if a bunch of people made amusing jokes about it.]

... Regardless, I... c-cannot help but feel it was... easier, than it should have b-been... not as if kidnappings are ever easy, but... [They were surprisingly gentle. He hasn't felt anything out of the ordinary, besides the usual symptoms of being kept somewhere two days.]

[i_speak_softly]

[Just a politely vacant look. He's not really following.]

[semper_cogitans]

[It's a weird thought anyway. Robert just tapers off then, sort of staring awkwardly down at his hands.]

... I suppose it is... b-better that way. [Who is he to begrudge some occasionally-nicer treatment from the rogues? If anything he should probably be comparitively happy about it.]

Are you... feeling a-alright yourself, other than... the evident issues?

[i_speak_softly]

[Don looks like he might try to answer this, but then his head just flops forward loosely. He may not exactly be awake anymore.]

/just failed at this tag, yep

[semper_cogitans]

[That's okay. Robert will support him and make sure he doesn't flop too far.

What isn't okay is the fact he's asleep, though. Sun lamp is going off now - well, as much as Robert can do that when he has half a Turtle's body weight braced on him. The resulting flailing - and the planitive "ow" yowl of the misplaced Carbon - might do something to wake him if the immediate temperature shift doesn't.]

[i_speak_softly]

[Don startles awake and struggles momentarily, staring uncomprehendingly at Robert with a haunted look in his eyes. Where was he again...?]

[semper_cogitans]

[That look is enough to stab right into Robert's chest. The man doesn't quite clutch the Turtle, but he curls his fingers into him, trying to reassure him that he's not some kind of Malnosso-induced apparition.]

Don... are you a-alright...?

[i_speak_softly]

[No, he is not. Pushing Robert away, Don scrambles unsteadily to his feet and heads out of the room. This isn't a good place for him right now.]

[semper_cogitans]

[At first, Robert does not move; he only stares with a sort of forced rigidity to his body posture, like a deer caught in headlights, as Don pushes him aside and walks off. It's almost as if he forgets to react for a long moment, and is simply caught up in processing that it happened at all.

Eventually, he gets up, still slow and uncertain, and picks his way to the far edge of the room - just at the peripheral of the camera's view.]

...

[He's quite clearly torn, uncertain whether to follow Don or to simply stay here and let him do whatever he needs to do.]