A store. [ That much he figured out, said before he seems to look up at where the top of the counter sits, an involuntarily need to confirm it. ] I don't know which one. I was in my apartment. District 1.
[ There's a small beat before each detail, the facts as he knows them--if they could be even called facts. ]
You came all this way from your apartment? [ Kim says, a look of keen dismay briefly crossing his face. Robby must have been caught in it for longer than he'd thought. But more than that, he'd stumbled all the way here in some form of puzzled agony; it's a small wonder he hadn't managed to trip down some stairs, or run into someone else on his way over. Thank god there's no such thing as traffic here. ]
That's... you must have been affected by this for a long time now. No, I didn't see anything. Just you, in here. Right now, you're in a convenience store. The one between the liquor store and the fruit stall. What is it that you saw? [ A beat. ] Are you hurt at all?
[ He won't trust Robby's word for it anyway, not with such adrenaline still pumping through his body. He'll look him over himself once he turns the lights back on, but he won't subject the kid to the harsh fluorescents until he's had some time to settle down. ]
[ Robby's mind stalls. There's questions asked, but it's only one that holds his tongue and makes it hard to answer any than an accumulation of both; a point bafflingly repeated that itself needs a response, but--
What is it that you saw? Robby's throat closes, and he looks down from Mister Kitsuragi for longer than it takes for his mouth to finally work, to answer him.
... ] I-- no, but-- I don't remember walking here. I didn't walk here, [ he fixes. Swallows. ] It got dark, then I saw-- I didn't wanna get close to her. My mom. I know it wasn't real, I didn't wanna get close.
[ His words are rushed, but his voice doesn't rise; backing out of explaining the process entirely, and wanting to get to the point. What he saw, what he was doing. Why he's crouched, hiding behind the counter of a convenience store, and feeling stir in him a ridiculousness doused by an anger that he's here at all. He bites on his bottom lip, and then mutters for nobody but himself: ]
[ There's not much more to be said about that, is there? Robby was a victim of the City, as they all are again, and again, and again. It is as profoundly unfair as anything else Kim can consider, though in fairness, so is life as he knows it. If he could protect Robby from it, he would. But he's never successfully protected anyone in his life.
There is an unspoken trauma here, that he saw his mother and his first reaction was fear. To flee, to hide, to cower. What the hell had she done to him? ]
So... you saw, or perhaps heard, something like your mother and you wound up here. [ He glances around them, the dimness of the empty convenience store stark and eerie, a liminal space caught within a liminal space. ]
Your instincts were good, to stay away. Being haunted by the past is this place's go-to, and not everyone escapes unscathed. [ Robby didn't either. But it's an injury of the heart, and those are injuries that are beyond Kim's capabilities. ]
...is there anyone you'd like to call? Who you'd like to stay with you, after this?
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no subject
[ There's a small beat before each detail, the facts as he knows them--if they could be even called facts. ]
...You saw nothing?
no subject
That's... you must have been affected by this for a long time now. No, I didn't see anything. Just you, in here. Right now, you're in a convenience store. The one between the liquor store and the fruit stall. What is it that you saw? [ A beat. ] Are you hurt at all?
[ He won't trust Robby's word for it anyway, not with such adrenaline still pumping through his body. He'll look him over himself once he turns the lights back on, but he won't subject the kid to the harsh fluorescents until he's had some time to settle down. ]
no subject
What is it that you saw? Robby's throat closes, and he looks down from Mister Kitsuragi for longer than it takes for his mouth to finally work, to answer him.
... ] I-- no, but-- I don't remember walking here. I didn't walk here, [ he fixes. Swallows. ] It got dark, then I saw-- I didn't wanna get close to her. My mom. I know it wasn't real, I didn't wanna get close.
[ His words are rushed, but his voice doesn't rise; backing out of explaining the process entirely, and wanting to get to the point. What he saw, what he was doing. Why he's crouched, hiding behind the counter of a convenience store, and feeling stir in him a ridiculousness doused by an anger that he's here at all. He bites on his bottom lip, and then mutters for nobody but himself: ]
Stupid fucking city.
no subject
[ There's not much more to be said about that, is there? Robby was a victim of the City, as they all are again, and again, and again. It is as profoundly unfair as anything else Kim can consider, though in fairness, so is life as he knows it. If he could protect Robby from it, he would. But he's never successfully protected anyone in his life.
There is an unspoken trauma here, that he saw his mother and his first reaction was fear. To flee, to hide, to cower. What the hell had she done to him? ]
So... you saw, or perhaps heard, something like your mother and you wound up here. [ He glances around them, the dimness of the empty convenience store stark and eerie, a liminal space caught within a liminal space. ]
Your instincts were good, to stay away. Being haunted by the past is this place's go-to, and not everyone escapes unscathed. [ Robby didn't either. But it's an injury of the heart, and those are injuries that are beyond Kim's capabilities. ]
...is there anyone you'd like to call? Who you'd like to stay with you, after this?