ONE HUNDRED EIGHT

[tehpuck]

Currently, there are a few pressing questions on my mind, like, what was I doing yesterday? Or, why was I doing it? Or, better, why wasn't I doing something more interesting?

And the answers I received-- what it is truly like to torture oneself to the extent of continual stoicism-- hardly compensates for the time wasted

Comments

[ishiah]

The options lie between my collecting him or your walking him here.

I will be there shortly.

[tehpuck]

I await, but I assure you if anyone's looking forward to it, it's the dog, and his breath definitely isn't bated; you can smell that mess from every side of the room.

[ishiah]

[No response. Ishiah is not in the mood for conversation, let alone repartee, but within twenty minutes there is a knock at Robin's door. A hesitant knock (Holly might be in) that gradually grows louder (it is still Robin's apartment, always best to give fair warning)]

[tehpuck]

[Robin, ever studious, throws a the clock radio at his bedside at the door in response. It hits with a dull thud, the dog may yelp in surprise, and he rolls over, back to sleep, rapping the blankets around him.]

Unlocked!

[Ishiah may be happy to find-- or whatever that man experiences in substitute of happiness-- that Robin is alone in bed.]

[Save for the dog lying at its foot.]

[ishiah]

[Surprised, pleased, relieved, grateful, whatever the Peri may be feeling as he pushes open the door to Robin's room, it can only be read as indifference.]

[He holds out a hand to Rover, mutters a soft command, and turns to go.]

[tehpuck]

[Robin proceeds to snore. If this snore is aspecially loud for his recently gained audience, it's news to anyone except maybe the dog, who is all too happy to see Ishiah nice again, surely.]

[ishiah]

[The dog is happy, but tired. Robin's snores don't have to be exceptional for the noise of them to break the decibel limit, Rover is used to nothing more than the occasional rustle of feathers.]

[Only momentarily diverted from his task of leaving as quickly as possible by Rover's enthusiastic reacquaintance, Ishiah stops again in the doorway. He lifts his foot to revel a shard of something metallic and sighs, gathering up the fragments of broken clock and depositing them, useless, on Robin's bedside cabinet.]

[tehpuck]

[Through pillows and sheets,] Lock the door on your way out.

[And back to bed. If he's thankful for that, it isn't showing.]

[ishiah]

[Nor would Ishiah expect it to. But while gratitude is rarely part of the Puck's repertoire, blaming him for the broken glass later trodden on would be. No thanks, but one complaint saved.]

I don't have a key.

[He reminds, quietly. It took him a moment to find his voice.]

[tehpuck]

[He looks up, hair bedraggled and eyes unfocused,] Not the deadbolt, you idiot.

[And back to sleep he goes.]

[ishiah]

[Ishiah has seen him like that once too often in recent weeks for the sight not to twist at something not quite settled inside him. Best to go.]

[Without another word.]

[tehpuck]

[And Robin is content to let him go without a word-- the snoring doesn't count as one.]