[Special 007] Going our separate ways

[no_use_running]

[Ami is not happy, and the voice over the journals has trouble keeping itself firm. Somehow she manages to speak clearly, but there's a noticeable tremble.]

Um, everyone? I know... we were just planning her party, but Usagi-chan has gone home. [She bites her lip, and then nods firmly as if to steel herself to go on.]Hinata-san, I have your

Comments

[semper_cogitans]

[Cutting short? Oh no. This won't cut it short at all. It'll just cause awkward staring for a completely different reason.

Case in point - when Ami opens the door, Robert looks in, smiling gently at her.] Ah, salutations, Doctor Mizun -

[And then he notices Mike.] ... oh?

... Er, my apologies. Was this a bad time? [And now he's just looking uncomfortable. He knows Mike... is not very positive towards him.]

[the_mikester]

[Oh, Mike isn't very positive towards Robert at all.

But he'll be polite. Well, as polite as he can be. What he'll end up doing is sitting stiffly, eating his ice cream and staring at Robert like he's something Mike stepped in. So, you know, a lot more polite than he could have been.]

[no_use_running]

[Did someone just dial up the awkward in here? It feels pretty stifling. Ami tries to make the best of it and smooth over the pause.]

No, not at all. We were having ice cream. Would you like some?

[semper_cogitans]

If neither of you would mind. [It's a good thing Robert is terrible at reading emotions, because he's only barely aware of Michelangelo's disapproval of him; if he knew the entirety of it, he'd probably be leaving already.

As it is, he sits formally down, maintaining some distance from Mike. It's not that he doesn't like Mike - doesn't want to like Mike - but... With the reaction before? It's kind of difficult.

Robert holds the books to his thin chest like they're a defense mechanism.]

[the_mikester]

[You. Have. No CHI.

Mike is staring at you? Because you're the creepiest thing he's ever encountered, and this is the kid who watches horror movies all the time and LAUGHS at them.

Mike has never eaten ice cream with this much disinterest.]

[no_use_running]

[Ami meanwhile has very nice, strong, watery chi. :D]

Ah... So... then....

[What does she say?]

It seems like you two know each other, is that it?

[semper_cogitans]

Yes, I know Michelangelo. [Robert is blunt, matter-of-fact. He has nothing to hide from Ami.] He is one of Donatello's three brothers.

[And I thought he was nice, until he acted like I was some sort of horrifying abomination.]

We... met a few days ago. [Robert will elaborate on this half-truth if asked.]

[the_mikester]

Yeah.

[get a grip mikey you're acting like spoiled brat]

We, uh... helped him out of a tight spot.

[no_use_running]

Then, let's all get along together.

[Please? No, really. Please?? Ami could almost feel the start of a headache.]

[semper_cogitans]

[Robert wants to get along. He really does.

If not for his own sake, then for Donatello's.

Still, it hurts knowing Mike... feels like that. Mike feels things towards him that his family had other people feel towards them. And somehow, that didn't strike Mike as hypocritical.]

... I would like to. [Robert says this while staring very intently at his ice cream and trying to ignore the death stare Mike has fixed on him.]

[the_mikester]

Sure.

[Mike loves to get along with people. But this... this void in front of him barely registers as a person, and if that's hypocritical, then he has no notion of it on his own.

Never have three people so in verbal agreement with each other been so awkward.]

[no_use_running]

[Ami's day is quickly going from bad to worse. She's not good at dealing with tension at the best of times, and when she's just lost Usagi...

It feels like prying to ask what happened to make things like this. So she settles for finding a bowl and spoon and serving some of the ice cream to Robert.]

It'll make you feel better.

[semper_cogitans]

Thank you very much, Doctor Mizuno. [Robert takes it gratefully. At least Ami likes him.

But Ami must like Mike too, or he wouldn't be here. And it hurts Robert a little, because he doesn't know if that hatred towards him is going to rub off.

Quietly, to Ami:] I am sorry... I hardly meant to make things worse for you.

[Even if it hurts, if Mike will make Ami feel better, and leaving will make Mike feel better, Robert will leave for Ami's sake.

It's the only thing he knows how to do.]

[the_mikester]

[Mike is still sullenly eating his ice cream the drama queen. He's almost forgotten why he even came over, forgotten that Ami needs comforting.

But at least he'll look away from Robert now. Though whether ignoring him is any better than staring at him remains to be seen.]

[no_use_running]

[Ami glances between both.]

I'm sorry. I didn't intend to create an uncomfortable situation.

[semper_cogitans]

[Okay. Robert doesn't normally get upset by this kind of thing. Normally he thinks people are entitled to feel how they want. Normally he wouldn't care if somebody didn't like him.

But he isn't thinking about himself much in this case. He's thinking about Ami. Even if he can't tell much about how anybody feels, he can tell enough to know Ami feels terrible already and this is not helping.

Ami's last sentence is, really, the final straw.

So, for once in his life, he turns to Mike and snaps. It's not loud, but compared to Robert's usual tone, it's vehement.]

... Michelangelo. I understand that you do not care for me for whatever reasons you have. Apparently you think it is completely acceptable for you to treat me in the same way people have always treated you back at your home, from what I have managed to understand from Donatello - that is, like a monster. I don't know if you simply think yourself exempt from that sort of decent treatment of a fellow sapient, but where I am from this would be considered hypocrisy.

[He glowers -