Robert Callaghan // ʏ๏кคเ (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
pushtheboundaries) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
san_fransokyo2014-11-27 08:28 pm
pushtheboundaries) wrote in san_fransokyo2014-11-27 08:28 pm
and i'm feeling like a ghost (openish?)
An overcast sunset. Perhaps not the best time to visit San Fransokyo's burial grounds, but it was a time when there were few if any visitors. Which meant it was at least a good time for someone still dead in a sense, even if his original 'death' had been revealed for the falsehood it was.
They hadn't yet removed his memorial, though. It was starting to run down from time, but it was fitting that it still remained in place.
He certainly didn't feel alive.
Robert Callaghan gazed down at the plaque with an unhappy expression. It wasn't so much the fact that it was present as how useless it all felt. Pointless. Abigail's, at least, had held some actual meaning...even if it, too, paid homage to a soul who wasn't actually lost.
And wasn't that a thought that brought mixed feelings. He shook his head and turned away, the few microbots with him pressing a bit deeper in to the back of his neck. He reached up to push away at them irritably, wholly unsurprising when their response was to skitter on to his hand and up his loose sleeve.
He was getting used to them, at least, and the thought necessary to keep the mass away.
They hadn't yet removed his memorial, though. It was starting to run down from time, but it was fitting that it still remained in place.
He certainly didn't feel alive.
Robert Callaghan gazed down at the plaque with an unhappy expression. It wasn't so much the fact that it was present as how useless it all felt. Pointless. Abigail's, at least, had held some actual meaning...even if it, too, paid homage to a soul who wasn't actually lost.
And wasn't that a thought that brought mixed feelings. He shook his head and turned away, the few microbots with him pressing a bit deeper in to the back of his neck. He reached up to push away at them irritably, wholly unsurprising when their response was to skitter on to his hand and up his loose sleeve.
He was getting used to them, at least, and the thought necessary to keep the mass away.
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Even without the mask Robert's still trying to hide, but Tadashi's smiling, cautiously hopeful.
"However much it might mean, I'm still here."
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Robert's not smiling. He looks tired. And he doesn't say anything for a few moments, because short of reiterating how confused he is as to why Tadashi's still here - what is there to say?
"...it wasn't supposed to be like this."
Other than a murmur that sounds childish even to his own ears.
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Remember that hug Tadashi tried for the night Callaghan saved him? Well he's trying for it again, and this time without microbots holding his feet in place.
"I know."
No one could've known how things would end up.
keywords, and throws the song on youtube for the heck of it
And though he stiffens at first, he doesn't pull away. Though his free hand comes up to Tadashi's shoulder...it doesn't push him away, either, though there is the pressure of his weight as he leans upon it for a few moments and allows himself to wallow in this grief.
He doesn't know what to do. Everything seemed so deceptively simple, at the trade show, and yet it all went to hell and back.
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Tadashi still a young man, but he's spent the majority of his short life teaching himself how to care for people. He's practically stuffed his head with a whole extra profession and channeled that knowledge into a robot meant to revolutionize healthcare and better mankind. He could code 10,000 different medical procedures in 10,000 different ways, but sometimes? The simplest ways are best.
This isn't happening because they're out of words for the situation, but because the most important thing for Robert to know right now is that he doesn't have to be alone. The situation is complicated, maybe almost impossible to deal with, but he still has a lifeline left should he choose to reach for it.
Tadashi's voice is quiet when he finally speaks again, as if he's afraid that too loud a sound will destroy this strange progress that they've made.
"I can't tell you what to do, but I want to help."
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Maybe some part of him is actually in his.
His silence stretches on, dull eyes staring at Tadashi for another set of moments before they close. And this time, when he reaches for them, it's just to wipe away some of the moisture that's collected there and give him a moment to collect himself as he speaks, voice only hitching a bit-
"All right."
He feels as though he should set some boundaries on that, but he can't quite bring himself to say anything more, yet. It already feels as though he's lost some great battle, just allowing any of this, but how can he have fought it in the first place when he's already leaning so heavily on someone who has every right to let him fall?
"If it helps-" he adds, a sad little humor in his voice, "I can't tell you what I'm doing, either." Not from hiding it- but from not even really understanding it, himself.
...to be fair, there is a little of the former, but it's mostly the latter.
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Most people (including Robert) would say that this particular young man doesn't owe Callaghan anything, and maybe he doesn't, but Tadashi can't just use the fire and the mess that followed after as his only measuring stick. Callaghan's done more for his students than he knows (more than he probably even wants to hear), so even if all Tadashi can do is be there? If he can, he's going to do it.
"We're pretty smart guys. I think we can figure it out eventually."
i feel bad mixing yokai icons when he's not in the getup but man there is a distinct lack of choice
But he does begin to straighten, pulling away. Not stepping back, just...collecting himself. Anyone watching might think they're a pair of bereaved, perhaps mourning a loss, and that he was just lingering upon it to the point of needing that support.
He hopes.
"I hope you come up with new ideas faster than I," he mumbles, still avoiding Tadashi's gaze. "All of mine seem to involve digging down to bedrock."
After all, once he hits solid ground, the only way he can go is up. Right?
eventually the movie will be released and there will be icons EVERYWHEEERE
The idea that anyone could come across them at any time, including people who might recognize the older man for the wanted felon he actually is, never crosses Tadashi's mind, but he lets Robert have the space he needs to pull himself back together.
"We can work on it. Sometimes all a problem needs is a fresh perspective."
And you don't actually have to hit rock bottom before changing direction.
do want
"One of your 'new angles'?" he can't help but drawl, finally lowering that hand. "I'd love to see if you've something I haven't yet considered, most of which we've already gone over."
Go to jail, go on the run, or...deal with things, locally.
i hear dvd release is supposed to be february-ish
But that's obviously not acceptable for Callaghan.
"Yes, one of those." Tadashi manages a small laugh, more lively this time around. "Not just yet, but you know I don't give up easily."
i saw that too, i might end up pre-ordering if there's any decent offerings w/ it
(And yet he plead 'guilty' to all charges, including manslaughter. That, at least, they were able to manage, with only attempted murder in the case of Krei. Much of the fight to argue any of that had left him with what little glimpses of his daughter that he was able to have before being carted off.)
"Fine. Get back to me when you do, and I'll listen." He...can't right promise he'll take the angle, but he can at least promise that he'll hear what Tadashi has to say, assuming he can come up with anything.
*_*
It's something he should probably consider putting a little research into, though. More than a little, but for now he'll smile, just glad for the chance.
At least until he realizes something kind of important.
"... I don't have a way to contact you."
baymax-shaped dvd case yespls
Well, if he's going to use it...
"Cell phone," he finally says, reaching in to his jacket. "I have a 'burner', and while I can't say it's the most secure method, it's the only one I have right now."
Short of email, but there isn't exactly a yokai at underworld dot net address.
(Funny thing is, he wouldn't be surprised if that domain existed.)
we can hope
(After all the press he got and the nickname the papers gave him? Of course there's a yokai at underworld dot net address.)
"I'll be careful."
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And he did mention it's not secure.
He does have to glance down through the settings to remember the numbers, though, which he rattles off quickly enough before adding, "that may change. But I'll see what I can do to update you if it does."
A pause.
"I won't always be able to respond. You...understand this."
Possibly he doesn't, but if they're going to have this...arrangement...then this is the time to set the ground rules.
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Tadashi nods and tucks his phone away again.
"I understand." Or so he tells himself, anyway. He doesn't like it, but Callaghan's moving in dangerous circles now.
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He pauses, to make sure he has the boy's attention, then continues.
"I'm serious. Don't contact me unless you have something I can use, or if it's important."
He's- not sure if this is the right decision. There are many parts of him insisting it is a very bad decision, giving himself an opening like this, but-
If nothing else, maybe it'll stop Tadashi from trying to find him downtown, again. He clearly hasn't given up, and short of Yokai making another outright assault on his friends, there many not be many things that could force him to do so.
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"I understand, Professor. Really."
He sounds sincere enough and, as an afterthought, he pulls his phone back out, tapping the screen maybe half a dozen times before quickly pocketing it again. Callaghan's phone should be going off shortly. A number with a nearly empty message attached. Just a few periods to fulfill the content requirements.
"In case you need something."
one day callaghan renames tadashi's entry as 'rubber duckie'
And then a bit of surprise, not so much from his phone going off...as Tadashi's comment on it. A bit taken aback, a bit uncertain- and then clouded, as the proverbial mask returns with an exhale of breath.
If it'll make Tadashi feel better- fine. And he'll at least be able to identify who it's coming from.
"All right."
Not that he expects he'll be the one to send the first message often, if at all.
he would be so strangely proud
Tadashi glances down at the hat still in his hand, the bend on the brim rather more extreme than it was at the start of their conversation, and then fixes Callaghan with an only slightly awkward smile.
"... I should go. Hiro's still at home."
And probably wondering why his big brother's been gone so long.
dear duckie he may have made a terrible mistake and may need some assistance in fixing it
"You should head back, then."
A beat.
"...he's a good kid."
Hiro, that is. There's a hint of something else there, a note hard to read- regret, apology maybe? Perhaps even admiration.
They're all good kids.
"may have"? :|
"Yeah... he really is."
The best, though this big brother may be a little biased. Or a lot.
Yep, definitely a lot.
Tadashi hesitates for a few short moments (watching Callaghan's face,maybe searching for meaning in that hard-to-read expression) before he finally turns away, offering a brief wave of one hand before he settles his hat back on his head and starts off down the path toward the exit.