[honestly mob should probably be concerned, this had that 'we need to talk' air but the boy cannot read a room let alone the tone of a text, so there's no worry whatsoever as he replies.]
okay sensei you mean now?
[maybe daniel needs help with something? either way he's already getting ready to go, just in case.]
[ Thanks for being such a no thoughts, head empty, only vibes type, Mob. It really works out in situations like these, clearly. ]
If you're able.
[ Not like he's going to make Mob drop everything he's doing. Though.. ]
There is a bit of urgency to it. [ Daniel can't fully deny that. Especially when Daniel's own mind is so good at imagining disaster scenarios of what could be happening during every moment Daniel hasn't warned the poor boy yet.. ]
[well now he's a little worried, though he assumes immediately daniel needs help with something.]
okay
[just that simple answer before he takes off towards miyagi-do and daniel's house. by the time he gets there he's wheezing a little- hey, he didn't pass out! he's come a long way on the running front, but give him a second to rest his hands on his knees and recover, before he's going to the door and knocking.
hm yup, still a bit worried but mostly just waiting patiently. this probably isn't a break the door in sort of urgency. right? probably. hm.]
[ Did Daniel think that just saying that would make Mob run all the way here?
Of course not. It's the explanation as to why his eyes grow a little wider when he spots the boy wheezing a little on his doorstep.. There's at least a feeling of fondness that Mob cares enough to race over at the idea of an urgent matter, but also just a touch of guilt.
Not too much guilt to linger on though. Instead Daniel greets the boy before guiding him inside - not over to the indoor dojo, but instead over towards the living room. Luckily it seems like no one else is home right now, since the room is empty. The only being there right now is Daniel's Omen - back in its usual cute puppy form - who will promptly climb onto Mob's lap and nestle there the moment the boy sits down. It has claimed this lap. It's his now. ]
Sorry for making you rush. [ Daniel says, that touch of guilt now visible in his expression as he moves to sit down himself. ] I just wanted to talk with you about something I heard from Sunny.
[ Sorry, Sunny, Daniel is just announcing your snitching to everyone.. He's too much of an honest man.. ]
He told me that you and Makima have made a.. contract. [ At least Daniel is trying to sound relatively calm about this. Much calmer than he's actually feeling.
Even if some of his uncertainty shines through in the way he says 'contract' right there at the end. ]
[it's good exercise. the same kind of running he used to do with robby sometimes but- well. that doesn't happen anymore. he doesn't think about it. (23%)
either way he's happy to follow, taking a seat and giving a faint smile when daniel's omen comes by.] Hello. [he greets the good boy, settling in for pets as his gaze goes back to daniel. he didn't look hurt, so that's good. maybe a couch needed moving? again?
sunny. ah.] It's okay.
Yes. Sunny doesn't like it, but I trust Miss Makima. Now if anything like that happens again someone can stop me without anyone getting hurt.
[like daniel. like daniel. he thinks about daniel on the ground a lot when he can't stop himself. surely daniel understands how important this is.]
.. yes. [ Daniel says, slowly. It's like he's walking across ice here, trying to avoid stepping anywhere too hard that could make it crack.
Not even because of what anyone might assume would be the obvious reason - him being afraid of Mob's powers, especially considering what happened to Daniel personally. No, he isn't really worried about that at all. He's just worried about hurting Mob's feelings the way Daniel is worried about hurting any of his kids' feelings. ]
I understand that it must be a little reassuring for you. I know how worried you are about your powers. I don't think getting help with that is a bad thing.
[ There. Reassuring, hopefully. Daniel smiles over at Mob - a genuine smile, but there's something sad peeking out from the edges. ]
But-- did I tell you before, Shigeo? I run a car dealership back home. It means that I've dealt with a whole lot of contracts, I can assure you. [ He laughs, like it's something light. A faint joke. ] But there's always two parts to those, right? Both parties get something out of a contract, that's what they're for.
[ God, he hopes this goes better than Robby.
It probably will, since Mob is a whole lot less prickly than Robby, but.. you never know. ]
Do you know what she is getting out of it on her end, if what you're getting is help with your powers..? Have you asked her?
[that is reassuring, mob glancing over from where he's idly petting shisa, listening. sunny was so against it from the start, and jun's worried now too. he's not so dense he doesn't understand this is probably going to be able that worry everyone seems to have.
sensei clearly wants more information though, so that's reasonable. maybe if he can explain it well daniel will be able to ease jun and sunny's concerns about it in a way mob hasn't been able to. assuming he doesn't just worry him more, of course. he's never been very good with this sort of thing.
he almost mentions robby told him about the car dealership, stories about it, but it's better not to think much about robby right now.]
I did. She said she'd have me. [this alarmed sunny, so he's quick to add] All she's asked me to do is be myself. Not much has changed, really.
[except he can always kind of feel her now, like she's there. he finds that comforting.]
Yeah, I am. [ No use denying that when Mob is calling him out, huh. It's in that typical Mob way too - being so blunt without necessarily intending to be.
Besides, there's absolutely no way in hell he wouldn't be worried right after hearing a kid say 'she'd have me.' What Mob says after doesn't even really matter, because couldn't Makima then just only have said that last part? What adult would just say that first part to a kid, let alone actually put them in a contract where you just.. own a kid??
There's so many Terry Silver-shaped alarm bells going on in Daniel's head right now. He reminds himself to breathe, just to keep himself from slipping away into certain memories. He has to be there for Mob right now. This is too important. ]
Especially since she.. well, I have to admit I don't know much about her powers. [ Daniel is being honest here. It feels important to do that with the kids right now when everything is so fragile. When he already has one kid mad at him over all of this. ] But like you overheard..
[ Because no one in the dojo wouldn't have heard all of that going on if they were still lingering there, honestly. ]
[it's good to confirm that, he appreciates daniel just admits as much. he's a lot like sunny in that way, and jun really, being frank about things rather than dancing around them. even if the topic isn't one mob particularly cares for he prefers it this way.
he pets shisa idly still, quiet as he listens. the mention of robby makes him glance over, hesitant before he says,] Is Robby wrong about what he said?
Some of what he told me was wrong. He thinks you guys didn't help me at all, but you did. [he glances away again, ahead.] I hope you know that, sensei, since he doesn't. You did help.
[another beat and he blankly continues,] I don't think he was wrong about the rest though. So I guess I don't really see why Miss Makima would be involved. [he struggles to see it as cruelty when there's a lot he agrees with. that and how much he wants to trust makima.]
[ God, talk about feeling like he's getting punched in the stomach with words over here. Almost makes him miss the day people would just pick him up and physically throw him around, that felt easier to handle than this - than sitting here and listen to one of his students blame himself so hard that he thinks the idea of getting chewed out by a friend is somehow okay. ]
Shigeo, let's.. imagine for a moment. Alright?
[ Daniel is trying hard to not look as awkward as he feels right now - instead trying to continue to give Mob a small smile as he speaks. Not entirely hiding his concern, but still trying to keep things warm here. ]
Imagine that Robby had some sort of power that went out of control instead. That he had hurt me like that. [ Look, it's probably obvious where Daniel is going with this, but he's going there anyway. If Mob refuses to believe things about himself so easily, then Daniel just has to flip it around the other way for the boy to see it. ] Would you then have gone up to him to tell him all the things he said to you..?
[ He believes Mob is so close to the realisation too, if he at least knows that Robby was clearly wrong about not having helped Mob.
He just has to know that the boy was wrong in a lot more of what he said, and why that was happening. ]
Alright. [he can try, a little nod before he sets himself to do just that. imagining.
ah, he already doesn't like this scenario, but he's trying.
it's... difficult. because no, he wouldn't have. there's no way around it, he wouldn't have, he'd be more worried about how robby was doing than anything else. that's the simplest way of putting a very complicated situation, and he stares down at his hand in the omen's fur as he lets it all settle.]
No. [he'll admit that, glancing over again.] But I don't think Robby would make the same mistakes I did. He was right, I wasn't careful and got attacked, and then I didn't fight the way I should have. Robby would never let that happen to him, he's too smart for that.
[even so the point isn't necessarily wrong, he can register that. maybe it wasn't okay for robby to have been so harsh he almost didn't come back to karate. or, at least, he would never have thought robby would react that way before, but this sort of thing was messy, wasn't it? it was between him and ritsu, the first time it happened. ritsu said harsh things to him too.
(ritsu also didn't mean a lot of them and he knows that now. ritsu was also dealing with a lot of things mob didn't know about that warped his behavior.
[ It's not exactly the sort of answer Daniel expected. Daniel did expect the boy to deflect somehow, but he thought it'd end up going more in the direction of how Robby shouldn't be blamed for such a thing, while Mob himself somehow should.
He supposes this angle is a little different, but there's still a core of something similar in it, isn't there. Mob holding himself to different standards than other people, or having different ideas about himself. Even though Daniel is pretty sure he knows what Robby would have to say about the words Mob just spoke, and it wouldn't be agreement.
(Then again, what does he know anymore about what Robby would or wouldn't say, with everything that's going on now.
Daniel shoves the thought down, letting it sit uneasily in the pit of his stomach.) ]
Well.. I do think you're onto something. Robby is a pretty great kid. [ Despite all the awkwardness going on between the two of them right now, Daniel can admit to that. It's true no matter what, after all. It's an opinion no one or nothing could shake. ] He is smart. And he's sweet. I always see him worrying so much about you guys. About a lot of people in this place. Every single day I find myself being so proud of his kind heart.
[ Daniel pauses for a moment, exhaling as he glances at a point in front of him rather than at Mob directly, before turning his head to look at the boy again. ]
.. that's why I know, Shigeo. Robby would never be unkind to you. That's just not who he is. And I think that when you really think about it [ when Mob moves past all of his self-blame, that is-- ] you know the same thing.
[mob keeps his gaze down because he can't deny that. robby is one of the kindest people he's met. he came to find him in the woods when he got lost, he gave him shoes and clothes when he first came here. robby's the one who got upset when mob told him about staying in the other city to keep everyone safe, who insisted on helping, who went on runs with him and made this daunting place feel survivable that first month. (24%, 25%)
maybe more than anything daniel knows robby best, doesn't he? if he's worried mob needs to listen to that. even if none of it is easy or clear.]
It's just- [his jaw works a moment, fingers curling and uncurling, little aborted movements of unease.] Things like this, when people get hurt, it gets complicated, doesn't it? I hurt him- I hurt you, and he had to watch, and he had to take care of it all.
Isn't it unfair to expect him to always be kind when he was hurt like that? Ritsu- he had complicated feelings too, when something like this happened. [and wasn't so kind. maybe that's something he clings to because if it's anything like ritsu then maybe one day robby will be willing to forgive him. just... with time. time and distance.]
.. yeah. It gets complicated. And people can have complicated feelings about it.
[ Another thing Daniel knows well. It's not like he has never seen Robby unkind before, after all. But that was aimed at him, and it was during a time where he deserved it, where his actions made it make total sense that Robby would react like that.
It feels much easier to justify than anything he's heard about here. ]
But.. Robby never blamed you for this. He was so worried that you'd blame yourself, Shigeo. [ Daniel says it softly, because.. well, Mob did blame himself, and Daniel doesn't want to put pressure on the poor boy over it.
But he believes it's this knowledge that makes Robby's attitude afterwards baffling. Unexplainable, unless there's something more going on. ]
He was basically begging me to go do something together to keep you from blaming yourself over all of it, even when I couldn't really move. [ Because Robby had been so out of it that he hadn't been able to think logically.
But even without that, he still didn't blame Mob. From the start, from instinct, he never blamed the boy. ]
Does that sound like a guy who'd then later turn around and say all those other things to you..?
[this is new information. mob goes quiet as he considers it compared to what happened. it's undeniable robby blamed him in some way when they spoke, and maybe more so mob felt a lot from robby during everything that happened, back when their bond was still open. even then, between all the fear and horror, robby was still worried about him.
robby even reached out when sunny was upset and in mob's body. maybe he was selfish at that time because part of him was happy, like maybe robby would change his mind, give him another chance.
he glances to daniel from under his bangs, tone a touch unsure when he says,] You really think he doesn't hate me for this?
[maybe that's a harsh word, a strong word, but he's tired and fourteen and he misses his friend. now he's a bit worried even. regardless of what's going on between him and robby, if sensei is worried about robby then something must be wrong somewhere.]
[ Daniel exhales, but more because it hurts to think that Mob genuinely thinks Robby hates him. This entire thing is-- it's such a mess, and none of it should even have happened in the first place.
He hates seeing kids sad. Hurting.
So he reaches out, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder. ]
Of course he doesn't hate you.
[ No matter what exactly is going on here, that much is firmly established in Daniel's mind. There's no way in hell that Robby hates Mob. That he could ever do so. ]
He cares about you so much. He's been so invested in helping out, constantly. That's exactly why this entire thing is so strange to me.
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okay sensei
you mean now?
[maybe daniel needs help with something? either way he's already getting ready to go, just in case.]
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If you're able.
[ Not like he's going to make Mob drop everything he's doing. Though.. ]
There is a bit of urgency to it. [ Daniel can't fully deny that. Especially when Daniel's own mind is so good at imagining disaster scenarios of what could be happening during every moment Daniel hasn't warned the poor boy yet.. ]
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okay
[just that simple answer before he takes off towards miyagi-do and daniel's house. by the time he gets there he's wheezing a little- hey, he didn't pass out! he's come a long way on the running front, but give him a second to rest his hands on his knees and recover, before he's going to the door and knocking.
hm yup, still a bit worried but mostly just waiting patiently. this probably isn't a break the door in sort of urgency. right? probably. hm.]
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Of course not. It's the explanation as to why his eyes grow a little wider when he spots the boy wheezing a little on his doorstep.. There's at least a feeling of fondness that Mob cares enough to race over at the idea of an urgent matter, but also just a touch of guilt.
Not too much guilt to linger on though. Instead Daniel greets the boy before guiding him inside - not over to the indoor dojo, but instead over towards the living room. Luckily it seems like no one else is home right now, since the room is empty. The only being there right now is Daniel's Omen - back in its usual cute puppy form - who will promptly climb onto Mob's lap and nestle there the moment the boy sits down. It has claimed this lap. It's his now. ]
Sorry for making you rush. [ Daniel says, that touch of guilt now visible in his expression as he moves to sit down himself. ] I just wanted to talk with you about something I heard from Sunny.
[ Sorry, Sunny, Daniel is just announcing your snitching to everyone.. He's too much of an honest man.. ]
He told me that you and Makima have made a.. contract. [ At least Daniel is trying to sound relatively calm about this. Much calmer than he's actually feeling.
Even if some of his uncertainty shines through in the way he says 'contract' right there at the end. ]
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either way he's happy to follow, taking a seat and giving a faint smile when daniel's omen comes by.] Hello. [he greets the good boy, settling in for pets as his gaze goes back to daniel. he didn't look hurt, so that's good. maybe a couch needed moving? again?
sunny. ah.] It's okay.
Yes. Sunny doesn't like it, but I trust Miss Makima. Now if anything like that happens again someone can stop me without anyone getting hurt.
[like daniel. like daniel. he thinks about daniel on the ground a lot when he can't stop himself. surely daniel understands how important this is.]
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Not even because of what anyone might assume would be the obvious reason - him being afraid of Mob's powers, especially considering what happened to Daniel personally. No, he isn't really worried about that at all. He's just worried about hurting Mob's feelings the way Daniel is worried about hurting any of his kids' feelings. ]
I understand that it must be a little reassuring for you. I know how worried you are about your powers. I don't think getting help with that is a bad thing.
[ There. Reassuring, hopefully. Daniel smiles over at Mob - a genuine smile, but there's something sad peeking out from the edges. ]
But-- did I tell you before, Shigeo? I run a car dealership back home. It means that I've dealt with a whole lot of contracts, I can assure you. [ He laughs, like it's something light. A faint joke. ] But there's always two parts to those, right? Both parties get something out of a contract, that's what they're for.
[ God, he hopes this goes better than Robby.
It probably will, since Mob is a whole lot less prickly than Robby, but.. you never know. ]
Do you know what she is getting out of it on her end, if what you're getting is help with your powers..? Have you asked her?
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sensei clearly wants more information though, so that's reasonable. maybe if he can explain it well daniel will be able to ease jun and sunny's concerns about it in a way mob hasn't been able to. assuming he doesn't just worry him more, of course. he's never been very good with this sort of thing.
he almost mentions robby told him about the car dealership, stories about it, but it's better not to think much about robby right now.]
I did. She said she'd have me. [this alarmed sunny, so he's quick to add] All she's asked me to do is be myself. Not much has changed, really.
[except he can always kind of feel her now, like she's there. he finds that comforting.]
You're worried about it too, aren't you?
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Yeah, I am. [ No use denying that when Mob is calling him out, huh. It's in that typical Mob way too - being so blunt without necessarily intending to be.
Besides, there's absolutely no way in hell he wouldn't be worried right after hearing a kid say 'she'd have me.' What Mob says after doesn't even really matter, because couldn't Makima then just only have said that last part? What adult would just say that first part to a kid, let alone actually put them in a contract where you just.. own a kid??
There's so many Terry Silver-shaped alarm bells going on in Daniel's head right now. He reminds himself to breathe, just to keep himself from slipping away into certain memories. He has to be there for Mob right now. This is too important. ]
Especially since she.. well, I have to admit I don't know much about her powers. [ Daniel is being honest here. It feels important to do that with the kids right now when everything is so fragile. When he already has one kid mad at him over all of this. ] But like you overheard..
[ Because no one in the dojo wouldn't have heard all of that going on if they were still lingering there, honestly. ]
I think she has done something bad to Robby.
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he pets shisa idly still, quiet as he listens. the mention of robby makes him glance over, hesitant before he says,] Is Robby wrong about what he said?
Some of what he told me was wrong. He thinks you guys didn't help me at all, but you did. [he glances away again, ahead.] I hope you know that, sensei, since he doesn't. You did help.
[another beat and he blankly continues,] I don't think he was wrong about the rest though. So I guess I don't really see why Miss Makima would be involved. [he struggles to see it as cruelty when there's a lot he agrees with. that and how much he wants to trust makima.]
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Shigeo, let's.. imagine for a moment. Alright?
[ Daniel is trying hard to not look as awkward as he feels right now - instead trying to continue to give Mob a small smile as he speaks. Not entirely hiding his concern, but still trying to keep things warm here. ]
Imagine that Robby had some sort of power that went out of control instead. That he had hurt me like that. [ Look, it's probably obvious where Daniel is going with this, but he's going there anyway. If Mob refuses to believe things about himself so easily, then Daniel just has to flip it around the other way for the boy to see it. ] Would you then have gone up to him to tell him all the things he said to you..?
[ He believes Mob is so close to the realisation too, if he at least knows that Robby was clearly wrong about not having helped Mob.
He just has to know that the boy was wrong in a lot more of what he said, and why that was happening. ]
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ah, he already doesn't like this scenario, but he's trying.
it's... difficult. because no, he wouldn't have. there's no way around it, he wouldn't have, he'd be more worried about how robby was doing than anything else. that's the simplest way of putting a very complicated situation, and he stares down at his hand in the omen's fur as he lets it all settle.]
No. [he'll admit that, glancing over again.] But I don't think Robby would make the same mistakes I did. He was right, I wasn't careful and got attacked, and then I didn't fight the way I should have. Robby would never let that happen to him, he's too smart for that.
[even so the point isn't necessarily wrong, he can register that. maybe it wasn't okay for robby to have been so harsh he almost didn't come back to karate. or, at least, he would never have thought robby would react that way before, but this sort of thing was messy, wasn't it? it was between him and ritsu, the first time it happened. ritsu said harsh things to him too.
(ritsu also didn't mean a lot of them and he knows that now. ritsu was also dealing with a lot of things mob didn't know about that warped his behavior.
hm.)]
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He supposes this angle is a little different, but there's still a core of something similar in it, isn't there. Mob holding himself to different standards than other people, or having different ideas about himself. Even though Daniel is pretty sure he knows what Robby would have to say about the words Mob just spoke, and it wouldn't be agreement.
(Then again, what does he know anymore about what Robby would or wouldn't say, with everything that's going on now.
Daniel shoves the thought down, letting it sit uneasily in the pit of his stomach.) ]
Well.. I do think you're onto something. Robby is a pretty great kid. [ Despite all the awkwardness going on between the two of them right now, Daniel can admit to that. It's true no matter what, after all. It's an opinion no one or nothing could shake. ] He is smart. And he's sweet. I always see him worrying so much about you guys. About a lot of people in this place. Every single day I find myself being so proud of his kind heart.
[ Daniel pauses for a moment, exhaling as he glances at a point in front of him rather than at Mob directly, before turning his head to look at the boy again. ]
.. that's why I know, Shigeo. Robby would never be unkind to you. That's just not who he is. And I think that when you really think about it [ when Mob moves past all of his self-blame, that is-- ] you know the same thing.
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maybe more than anything daniel knows robby best, doesn't he? if he's worried mob needs to listen to that. even if none of it is easy or clear.]
It's just- [his jaw works a moment, fingers curling and uncurling, little aborted movements of unease.] Things like this, when people get hurt, it gets complicated, doesn't it? I hurt him- I hurt you, and he had to watch, and he had to take care of it all.
Isn't it unfair to expect him to always be kind when he was hurt like that? Ritsu- he had complicated feelings too, when something like this happened. [and wasn't so kind. maybe that's something he clings to because if it's anything like ritsu then maybe one day robby will be willing to forgive him. just... with time. time and distance.]
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[ Another thing Daniel knows well. It's not like he has never seen Robby unkind before, after all. But that was aimed at him, and it was during a time where he deserved it, where his actions made it make total sense that Robby would react like that.
It feels much easier to justify than anything he's heard about here. ]
But.. Robby never blamed you for this. He was so worried that you'd blame yourself, Shigeo. [ Daniel says it softly, because.. well, Mob did blame himself, and Daniel doesn't want to put pressure on the poor boy over it.
But he believes it's this knowledge that makes Robby's attitude afterwards baffling. Unexplainable, unless there's something more going on. ]
He was basically begging me to go do something together to keep you from blaming yourself over all of it, even when I couldn't really move. [ Because Robby had been so out of it that he hadn't been able to think logically.
But even without that, he still didn't blame Mob. From the start, from instinct, he never blamed the boy. ]
Does that sound like a guy who'd then later turn around and say all those other things to you..?
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robby even reached out when sunny was upset and in mob's body. maybe he was selfish at that time because part of him was happy, like maybe robby would change his mind, give him another chance.
he glances to daniel from under his bangs, tone a touch unsure when he says,] You really think he doesn't hate me for this?
[maybe that's a harsh word, a strong word, but he's tired and fourteen and he misses his friend. now he's a bit worried even. regardless of what's going on between him and robby, if sensei is worried about robby then something must be wrong somewhere.]
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He hates seeing kids sad. Hurting.
So he reaches out, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder. ]
Of course he doesn't hate you.
[ No matter what exactly is going on here, that much is firmly established in Daniel's mind. There's no way in hell that Robby hates Mob. That he could ever do so. ]
He cares about you so much. He's been so invested in helping out, constantly. That's exactly why this entire thing is so strange to me.