deercountry | (closed) december catchall

Entry tags:

(closed) december catchall

Who: Ange (

entreats), Chizuru (

tealeafs), Daniel (

miyagimagic) and various others.
What: December shenanigans.
When: During all of December.
Where: Locations vary.

Content Warnings: Bullying, (mild) violence, will edit to add more later.

( starters in the comments! if you want to plot anything with me, feel free to either pm the journal or contact me at

queeningsquare, i'm always open to new ideas and threads! )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ A past in crime. ]

It's dark, a kind of night that doesn't feel like Trench as it settles over Daniel's vision. But it's familiar, and in ways that might be quickly recognised despite the obscurity of where the memory opens up. There's a blockade of bushes lining at one side of the lot, tiled surfacing that runs along the wall closer behind him, its upper portions larger blocks in design. Further shrubbery pokes out from the border created to separate the road from the building, only interrupted in its repeating line by a youth that Daniel's come to know well, his feet standing on top of the brickwork.

Daniel LaRusso might even say he can recognise Robby Keene as well as he can recognise his own business -- then again, both have a nametag, somewhere. Robby's is written on his grey LaRussos Luxury Motors shirt, the one he worked hard to get, on the opposite side of the logo. His head is bowed, one hand in the pocket of his work slacks, the other a fist tapping incessantly against the back wall. The strands of his hair still hang around his face as it once used to, his frame softer than what it will be in a year.

It's night in February, and the cold lingers less in Robby's memory than a trepidation for what he seems to think is to come. And there's someone - two someones - coming, that Daniel will know without asking.

Something is about to be given up, and the potential price scares him, but -- Robby's decided. Something's decided, for whatever that feels like to experience while in the memory of another who hasn't yet noticed your presence.

Who continues to knock his fist against the wall of your car dealership.

There's a brief moment where Daniel assumes it's his own memory. Who else would be remembering the dealership, of all places? Sure, it's not like he's usually there at this time of day - or rather, night - but it's not like it's never happened before either. It seems a little bit mundane compared to some of his own other memories he's witnessed, but he isn't going to question that too hard.

.. but then there's a weird sense hanging over this memory. An emotion that doesn't feel like his own, especially when coupled with the current location. A kind of deciveness, but with something more nervous at its edges. A sense that from this point on, there will be no way back.

Not an entirely unfamiliar emotion for Daniel, sure, but the way it comes to him feels.. strange. Foreign. Like reading a book, and understanding the emotions of the main character as you read about them.

That's when his eyes fall on the boy standing there. So familiar, and yet so different. Like seeing a photo of a time long past, the hair falling down further than Daniel remembers seeing in quite some while, the shirt he's wearing.

(When was Robby at the dealership at night? Did this ever happen? Is this his memory, his decision--)

".. Robby?"

Rather than paying too much mind to any of the questions moving around in his mind, Daniel instinctively first calls out towards the other. He's not even sure whether Robby or not can hear him, if this truly is the other's memory.

But there's never been a moment where Robby was standing in front of him, and Daniel didn't at least want to try and get his attention. To fuss about him, to take care of him.

Even if the full implications of this situation haven't hit him yet.

If Robby turns to look, he'll at least be able to realise this isn't some weird spin being put on the memory. It's certainly not the Daniel from back then - because he's definitely wearing his Trench outfit, rather than the more modern suits he wore back home.

Daniel speaks, and Robby looks up.

And it's confusion that seems to hit his expression, as if there could be any other response. A quick glance taken in the direction of the dealership's garage (or just the main lot, given where they stand), but Robby focuses on Daniel, already stuttering out from his mouth:

"M-Mister LaRusso, what are you doing here?" A dumb question, when it's his dealership, but Robby seems to know to follow it up, taking a step off from the brick edging. "It's late -- did you forget something?"

...it's not a great follow-up, and doesn't make sense with the actual circumstances: of this being a part of the past, the outfit that Daniel wears that Mister LaRusso wouldn't in the Valley. But this Robby either seems not to realise any of this, or isn't regarding it.

There's a moment of surprise for Daniel as well, though he manages to shove it further down before it's able to show up on his face. Most memories he's encountered so far had someone in it who remembered it - which is why he was assuming that Robby might know what was going on, despite looking like his younger self right now.

But what he's saying here seems to indicate otherwise. The emotion on the boy's face seems so genuine, and Daniel figures he's got no reason to lie to him here or prank him, so.. does Robby really not know? Is he so caught up in the memory of-- of whatever exactly this is that he doesn't realise?

There's a pause for thought, though Daniel manages to keep it brief before replying with: "I.. suppose you could say that."

Sure, let's go with that. It's not like he wants to confuse Robby when there's still that odd mood in the air, a certain tension. Like something is about to go down, someone about to arrive, a decision to be made - all radiating from the boy standing in front of him.

He doesn't leave it at that answer though. He's much too curious - and perhaps a little worried - about the situation here in this memory to not at least add: "I could ask you the same, right?"

Daniel is very careful to leave any hint of an accusation out of his tone. If this really is a younger Robby, the one who had only really known him for a little while (the Robby he didn't hurt yet--), then Daniel doesn't want to spook him. It's why he keeps his tone gentle, a thin smile on his lips, like he's not too fussy about this.

(Even though he's definitely fussing deep down. But not in suspicion of Robby, but due to worry for the other.)

This is where he comes up with the excuse. Any, when there isn't one he could make even if he wanted to -- when there's no good reason for a guy to be at his closed job near to midnight, lurking around its back for the same reason he's here. The same reason that two more will be here.

--The same whose voices can be heard behind them, shadows catching along the walls in the lighting if Mister LaRusso should look. Robby does, but only in the direction, not in a position to see anyone, but he knows; and his hands come forward in a pleading motion as he says with the same insistence:

"Please, Mister LaRusso--I promise I can explain, but you have to stay here, alright? It's not what it looks like, I'll get rid of them."

He's hurried, not waiting on a chance for Mister LaRusso to get any word out. The memory won't allow for it, even if none of what's occurring between them now is the memory. But Robby is torn between the reality and the past, if Mister LaRusso had showed up now, seen any of this. Would he have understood? That he didn't do this on purpose, this wasn't the plan.

(The plan was more personal, didn't have a price tag. It was spite. He should tell Mister LaRusso the truth.)

Robby's pleas don't matter, regardless of what Daniel might think to do, just as the man's own words won't matter for the boy who hurries around the corner, two voices heard ('Where the hell is he at?' - 'I dunno.') Because this is still a memory, and it's one that follows to the garage doors of the dealership, and two familiar faces turning at Robby's announcement.

'Wassup, bro? You got the code?'

There's so many things Daniel could say here. Things he'd like to say, but there's Robby rambling, and there's Robby already moving around the corner before Daniel can even get a single one of the things he'd like to say out of his mouth. It's not what it looks like, Robby says, and Daniel isn't too sure what Robby is assuming that Daniel is assuming.

.. or rather, what the Daniel from the past would have assumed upon seeing this.

Instead he listens. He doesn't even have to go around the corner right away himself, because he recognizes those voices all the same. Even if he might not have ran into those two very often, the times he has have been memorable enough to know exactly who they are - except Daniel never knew they also came to the dealership. He knows nothing could've happened or surely he would remember someone having broken in or things having gone missing way back then, but then..

You got the code?

Robby was supposed to let them in, Daniel figures, Daniel knows in this memory, the very memory itself blasting the information into his brain. Robby was going to let him in, but.. he doesn't want to.

Daniel's throat feels dry. Should he go out there? He has no idea whether those two thugs would see him the way Robby can. But if the beach incident was any indication, then he doubts those two are going to let Robby get away so easily with refusing. (Did Robby get beaten up? Daniel doesn't remember, surely he would have seen the result, he saw Robby so often back then--)

His heart beats so rapidly, rising all the way to his throat, but he tells himself to wait there around the corner just a moment longer, listening intently. Hands tightening into fists at his sides as his mind reels with this new information and all its implications.

"Yeah, I've got it."

Robby's voice is an easy one to hear, casual in its delivery, whatever implication that gives to the ears. The one who asked sound please - 'I told you my boy would come through' - but there's a pause, a noise that might be easy to miss.

If Daniel isn't looking, he doesn't notice the one not speaking watching Robby carefully. The one who spoke before is getting impatient, wanting to get on with the job.

'What are you waiting on, man? Let's do it, where's the code?'

There's a silence, Robby bowing his head -- this moment he's building himself up for, the crossing of a line.

"I can't."

A new voice, or one rarely speaking up before, speaks up now; there's intimidation in his look, though Robby refuses to buckle under it as he stares at him. 'You can't what? Remember the code?'

Robby just looks between the pair. "Sorry, I mean I won't. I always get those two confused."

'Robby, Robby, c'mon,' the more talkative speaks up, hitting a fist against a hand. 'Don't do this. Just open the goddamn door.'

"It's not gonna happen," he meets the rising challenge, and the older guy laughs, looking away, turning back to his other friend.

'He's really goin' to make me do this,' he falsely laments to them, before turning around with a punch swung for Robby's head -- that he catches with his forearm, so reflexively that even Robby is stunned.

'Oooh,' mocks the white guy, the other laughing, 'Ninja boy teach you some karate or somethin'?'

It's the last moment for speaking before a fight really breaks out -- heard, as much as felt, the rising adrenaline in Robby at what quickly becomes two-on-one.

Daniel would recognize that sound everywhere - the sound of a punch meeting a block. It's basically ingrained in his brain enough that he recognizes it for what it is despite not even seeing the scene, and he knows instantly what it means too. Robby must have blocked - maybe even instinctively, since Daniel can't imagine this was long after they first practiced karate together, judging by the fact that Robby is here in that shirt.

And he could just stand here. It's likely that he can't even interfere in this, since it's a memory. Things already happened a certain way, and Daniel obviously was not present here on this night. Technically there's nothing he can do to change it.

.. but he can't do that. It's still Robby. Even if this is a memory, and even if it doesn't matter-- he has to help the kid.

So Daniel lets his feet carry him, quickly turning the corner in a sprint--

(Because that's the thing, you see, this really has to be so early on, only a little while after Daniel actually met Robby, and yet here the boy is. Even though he should have so very little reason to stop these two, he still is doing it, even at the risk of his own safety. Protecting Daniel's dealership, and that thought is so terribly overwhelming.)

--and rushing into the fight. He grabs the back of the shirt of the thug that's holding onto Robby, then striking to push him off the boy and make him back further away. Daniel moves to cover Robby's flank, staring down the two who wanted to break in so badly. Getting so caught up in the moment that he doesn't even quite realise that he is intervering with the memory, rather than just looking like an idiot grabbing at empty air. He's way too busy glaring at the two to think about it.

"Two against one? And you two must think you're real tough."

Daniel could easily lash out, strike further. He knows he can handle these two. It doesn't even come close to the sort of threats he deals with in Trench.

But that's not what he's like. He's not here to pick a fight - scaring these goons off so Robby is safe is more than fine by him, even though he isn't dropping his stance just yet, just in case these two are itching for more. (He wouldn't be surprised.)

"Robby is with me now. So you better just get lost before I report you to the police for attempted burglary."

Robby doesn't even think about the way things went as the memory plays out. It is what it is, an event: a moment locked in time, and Robby does what Robby did before, all the thoughts that occurred back then. There weren't many, other than an instinct to keep moving, remember what he learnt; blocking when he can, to get out of grips when possible.

He gets pulled into one again, and none of them immediately realise what's going on when Robby is taken from the baseball-capped guy's hold, the other starting on a fist, but missing when Daniel pulls Robby back.

It's only then that everyone looks startled, even Robby, who's looking from his old associates and up at Mister LaRusso. The other two look pissed, but they hear the warning about police and know who this guy is, even if he's some middle-aged ninja man. Beating him up won't get them what they want. So they start backing up, both of them throwing Robby dirty looks, but the one in the cap giving parting words:

'We'll be seeing you around, Queen.'

And then they're running for it, bolting, Robby watching the pair disappear the way that they came. Dazed in his confusion, and he takes a few steps away from Daniel so he can turn around and look at him, his brow drawn.

"That's not what happened."

It's a better outcome, but -- he's stuck on that fact.

Daniel lets out a breath when he witnesses the two retreating. It's what he was hoping for, really, and it's preferable over him having to continue this fight when Robby is right there too. Even if it's just a memory.

.. a fact he's reminded of by the boy next to him, when Robby speaks up. The man turns his head to look over at the boy, his head slowly dipping into a nod.

"You remember, huh?"

That it's just a memory. That Daniel wasn't supposed to be here in the first place.

That he never was, completely clueless to the fact this ever played out.

It's a thought that sticks with him, even as he stands there, staring at Robby. He turns it over in his head a few more times before deciding to voice it.

"I.. had no clue," he admits. Something both of them know, considering Daniel never brought it up after it happened, the footage either ignored or erased. "You protected the dealership."

Edited 2022-12-23 19:19 (UTC)

Robby looks at Mister LaRusso, and then doesn't. There's something he's aware of, though it hasn't come to pass yet: the way Mister LaRusso can get, how he can jump to conclusions, not believe his intentions. Fairly, sometimes, but--

It's why he says nothing, doesn't even nod as he pretends to look out at the dealership instead, in the direction the pair left. Not ignoring the man, as he eventually looks back to him, but testing, waiting: what will he say? How will he react? Maybe it's unfair to think or wait on at all, but there's a brace waiting to exist in his chest. He remembers a door slammed in his face better than anything.

'You protected the dealership.'

It never comes.

Instead, there's something tight and thankful in his shoulders, mouth tugging into his cheek as he gives a tiny shrug, tips his head.

"I got the code," he admits, because he'd rather be upfront than not. "They were interested in the place after I started working here, but uh, it turned out - I had a pretty cool boss."

Robby looks at Mister LaRusso, a shy not-there smile. He then regards the building itself, trying to see through brick and metal to where a room of greenery sits. A desire that might just permeate the air, much like Robby's thoughts had before.

There's so much he could say here. So much to think about. It doesn't feel like he did all that much for Robby before he made this decision - not that Daniel can pinpoint the exact point in time, but he's pretty sure that this was even before they went out to the forest together. What did he do, other than treat Robby decently, like anyone should?

And yet Robby made the decision to stick with him, rather than those guys. To try something new, rather than stick with the old. (And then Daniel, he-- twice--)

He cuts off the thought as he can already feel the guilt setting in. He shouldn't be thinking about that now. Not for his own sake, but for Robby's, especially with that feeling that's basically filling the air at this point. Guilting himself won't change a thing for Robby, won't make up for what Daniel has done. Treating the other kindly - now that's something that does bring change.

(Still-- a pretty cool boss, no way. Daniel refuses to believe that it's due to him. It's just the inherent kindness in Robby that he saw, it just took someone to bring it out.)

Daniel sucks in a breath, and then suddenly takes a firm step. He grabs Robby by the hand, starting to tug the other along - though not too hard, more like a friendly suggestion - as he steps closer and closer towards the door.

"You know, we should take a look inside." It's said like it's a sudden suggestion by Daniel, rather than him just picking up on something the boy really wants. "If we're dumped into a memory like this by this place, we might as well take what we can out of it, right? If they're screwing us over each time, then now's our chance to get something out of it."

Even if it's just a visit to the bonsai room.

He turns his head to look at the other, a wide and warm smile on his face as he stares directly at Robby. "I mean, I did hear someone's got the code.."

Robby looks back when his hand is grabbed, startled, even when it's a simple tug; but the boy does follow him along, a look of confusion that sticks even after the explanation. Kind of, kind of not; his mind is torn between the then and now: where there's a Mister LaRusso who surely wouldn't be interested in checking out his own dealership, right? --but then give him a second, and he thinks, oh, it has been a while. Maybe there's a picture of his wife in there, his kids. Even Misses LaRusso's office might be nice, solely for the sentiment.

It's a simple conclusion to reach by the time Mister LaRusso adds his last remark, and Robby ducks his head. The man is being funny, isn't he? That's how Robby's choosing to take it, even if he feels bad, knows he should. He'll ask though, with his mouth tugged aside, "--Do you need me to?", as if Mister LaRusso should know the code himself.

But if he doesn't, then Robby will approach the door gingerly and bring his phone from out of his pocket, stabbing in the numbers after. The door opens, just like Robby knew they would, the interior of the back rooms and its connecting hall not at all an unknown to him.

(And there's a thought to the camera right above the door, its recording light blinking red, even if Robby doesn't look at it now. They can't know, once ago thought, the young panic of ruining such a good thing.)

Daniel doesn't seem to answer the question - like he wants Robby to punch in the code by himself, allowing the boy to do it. It's mostly because Daniel is thinking of all this for Robby's benefit. If he wants to see the bonsai room again, then.. well, this is his one shot at it, right? Daniel wants to give that to him, wants to extend this memory just so Robby can get a glance at something he wanted to see so badly that it hung in the air.

He didn't quite think of his own feelings. A mistake, really, because once the two of them step inside, they hit Daniel like a brick to the head. (Or perhaps a stapler to the head, considering the company he's in.) Every single room of the dealership feels so familiar, because it is. He's spent so much time here, day in and day out. For years.

And now he hasn't been there for practically half a year. It makes the nostalgia bittersweet, the way he can tell what's behind each door, a tightening in his chest. Would it hurt too much to look at his own office, to see the pictures there, all the small little memories that had accumulated? When he'd look at the spaces where Amanda is supposed to be, and Anoush, and even Louie--

Daniel swallows. Focuses. Speaks.

"You remember the way, right?"

He speaks like it's nothing, like there isn't a feeling building in his chest that he doesn't want to acknowledge in this moment. He puts a smile up on his face, instead leading the boy down the hallway, putting his hand on the doorknob of the door to the room he knows contains the bonsai, the room they spent time in only a little while before this memory must have taken place.

Daniel opens it, but gestures as if to let Robby in first.

"After you."

Robby watches Mister LaRusso, for more reasons than the absurdity of this situation. Some of it's inexplicable, walking along this way, a memory losing its way. They should be cloaked in darkness, are, until they're suddenly not; and the shift is somehow subtle for the fluorescent lighting above their heads, a shift from night to day that is both known, but not important. There's a murmuring, a blurred noise of activity that Robby's memories can't pick the nuances out of, but that he can recall. It's not too noisy in this part, but you can hear people sometimes, footsteps. And that's normal.

So was it normal the time Mister LaRusso led him to this space before, and when he walked into it last time. Robby repeats it, going on in first, looking around at the bonsais filling the shelving, the small seat and tools.

There isn't a clear voice, but there's the memory of Robby's first time in this room, of Daniel speaking. It lingers like a warm sun passing by a window, welcome to the skin; the sales pitch talk given of why bonsai are an important part of their customer surface, and the history of bonsai. How Daniel had given Robby a pat on the back and to give it a go, leaving the boy with a morsel of an idea about what he was supposed to do.

Robby doesn't turn to look at a Mister LaRusso that isn't (and is) there, but he approaches the table as he had when left to his devices. The one bonsai left by Mister LaRusso as an example, and then all the rest. He examines a shelf, then takes one that looks extra bushy (kind of? he thinks?), figuring that it'll be okay if he takes some scissors to this one, sitting down with it.

Except that's where the pass pauses, where Robby doesn't follow it. His eyes still on the bonsai, but--

"This was the day you brought me in here. It was the same night. You told me about the roots."

'You have strong roots -- visualise what you want your future to look like -- make it happen.' The message hangs in the air, if not the entirety of it, then its main meaning. Make it happen. Strong roots. Repeated in his head for more than just Mister LaRusso had said alone, but because of what came after them to make him dwell on it. What did he want his future to look like? What did he want it to be?

He didn't want one where he caused the LaRusso's trouble. He didn't want the chance of ruining their lives, or his relationship with them.

There's a glow hanging over this room that usually isn't there, Daniel thinks. A glow that has nothing to do with the way their surroundings subtly shift to reflect the environment. It's not like Daniel isn't fond of this room himself, because of what bonsai mean to him due to his bond with mister Miyagi, but it's a different sort of feeling, like this room is tinted by Robby's memory, glowing golden.

The only reason Daniel recognizes the glow is because it feels so similar to the one that hangs over his own childhood memories in his heart. The way he can look back on any moment he shared with an old man who became so important to him, more important than anything, and bask in that same glowing warmth.

Even though that thought feels-- well, almost incomprehensible. Daniel knows how much his memories with mister Miyagi mean to him, but the idea that someone, let alone someone this important to Daniel, would view memories with him in a similar way..

.. he sucks in a breath. The thoughts leave a faint emotion in the way he speaks, something a little shaky that sounds like there's an attempt being made at suppressing it that isn't very succesful.

"I.. didn't think you'd take that lesson so seriously right away," he confesses. Then there's a moment where the man seems to realise what it sounds like, shaking his head as he steps further into the room, until he's basically next to Robby. "I mean.. Not that I didn't want you to."

But to take it seriously enough to immediately make such a big choice because of it? A choice that could have put Robby into serious danger, all over something - some people - he still had so little experience with at that point.

All because Daniel saw a part of his younger self in him - a young person, so eager to learn, so eager for a bit of guidance - and couldn't help but try to provide a bit of what he got when he needed it the most.

"I just didn't know if someone ever told you that." Not back then, when he hardly knew Robby beyond those first impressions, when he didn't even know who Robby was until it exploded in both their faces. ".. so I wanted to make sure someone had."

By being that someone for Robby.

He could say it was because of the texts. It wouldn't be a complete lie -- the texts from Trey had come soon after Mister LaRusso had left, reminding him about the job. To be there at midnight with the code, risk his employment here for some quick cash like every other trick they pulled. Because there wouldn't be any coming back. Robby knew about the cameras, and it wouldn't take much to figure out who it was if he was caught from the front at all. He wasn't exactly close to the same age as the other employees.

There would be no coming back. There would be no karate, no Mister LaRusso, no man offering what must be a smidgen of faith in him, and what feels like a truckload to Robby. Because sure, he's heard the words 'think of your future' before: as a warning, a threat, a wasting your life away companion. Same old shit, and why should he care for a future no one believed he had in the first place? He was exhausting, is what he saw in those words, in everyone who had to deal with him. And didn't he know that?

What's a future to a guy like him, anyway?

He didn't know, even after Mister LaRusso's words. But Mister LaRuss was the only one who managed to make him step back, because this man who had no reason to--he took a step forward.

Mister LaRusso let him in.

His gaze is on the bonsai, but his thoughts aren't. The true reason he had chosen to switch sides, ditch them. Despite the fear of getting his ass kicked, a fear that had kept him with them long enough--it swirls around his head, not something easily explained, and yet:

"No one had ever given me anything before."

Robby tries; to find the right words, even if they don't immediately make sense. A feeling, a gratitude--he lets his heart guide him. He wants Mister LaRusso to understand. "When you showed me karate, I thought you were screwing with me, but then-- it really felt like something. Like something new. Everything I did before then was just a big con, getting money out of people and screwing up. I never had anything good."

What did those words tell him, let him believe? What did even that short stint with not just the dealership, but with Mister LaRusso make him feel?

"No one made me think I could change," he settles on. He didn't need to be who he was, tricking people; maybe he could visualise who he wanted to be. A person who got away from that, who could maybe be something.

Anything--anything else than who he was.

"I didn't want to lose any of that."

This chance he had. An open door to progress.

Edited 2022-12-28 11:07 (UTC)

"I guess those people didn't see what I got to see in you," is Daniel's first reply, offered with a thin smile as he glances at Robby, even if the boy still may be looking at the small tree in front of him.

Granted - maybe it's just that Daniel got a better chance with him from the start. Everything I did before then was just a big con, Robby says, but he never stole a single thing from Daniel. Maybe that's what made it so much easier to look at the boy so favourably all along.

.. even though Daniel knows he was the one who screwed up several times, not Robby. Seeing a con where there was none, his own trust issues so tightly wound even after over thirty years, Robby bearing the full blunt force of it.

It's a thought Daniel doesn't want to linger on right now, not in a memory that feels so warm and sweet. His fingers idly brush against the leaves of one of the bonsai, staring at the greenery as he pushes down the thought in favour of something a little more positive.

Lingering in the bad moments of the past won't help them. Right now they are - quite literally - lingering in a good moment of the past instead. A moment where Daniel told the boy something that meant more to Robby than Daniel himself apparently ever could have imagined.

And in that case, shouldn't he do the same thing now? Even though he feels like it's probably obvious, that it's already shown in everything he says and does, still--

".. because you really could change. You.."

.. changed so much, he almost says, but it doesn't quite feel right. It's the truth, but there's a nuance to it that those specific words don't really contain.

Daniel shakes his head, walking away from the bonsai, his hand instead landing on Robby's shoulder.

"Every single day I see you in Trench, I'm reminded of how far you've come, and how proud I am of you."

Out of anyone else's mouth it might sound like empty flattery, especially considering how cheesy it might be, but Daniel definitely sounds like he means it. It's something he's thought often enough, after all - whenever he witnessed Robby helping someone, whenever he witnessed the other trying so hard to find ways to make their circumstances better, or them just more capable of dealing with it.

Robby turns, when the weight of Daniel's hand sits on his shoulder. His face looking his way, and when it does--he sits there, the image of his older self. A year older at most, but his hair is pushed back, his clothes no longer his LaRusso Autos work uniform, but instead his usual casual style.

He's looking at him and his smiles, pushing it into one side of a cheek. There's a lot he regrets, most of it spoken between them; rising there in this space between them, of pride and changing, the ways he set himself back and the mistakes that can't be rewound from. It's been talked about enough, and it leaves a certain set of words in his mouth that he rolls on his tongue. Considering, thinking.

'I wish we could be saying this back home.'

--it leads his thoughts down a different path, glancing to the hall outside, eyes returning back onto Mister LaRusso.

"...Do you want to look around?" He considers being blunt, but even he doesn't feel certain, threading and unthreading his fingers now resting on his lap.

"The offices." Her office. Misses LaRusso's office. "I-- we changed the memory. We might..."

Robby swallows. We might be able to see her is what he means, but the words don't even die in his throat. They don't get that far when he can't dare to say them. He doesn't know how it would feel; he doesn't know if it's cruel, or unbearable, before it can ever be kind.

But he's willing to try, if his sensei wants it.

The shift in Robby's appearance isn't too surprising. If anything, it feels thematically appropriate, considering what Daniel just said. Maybe he reminded this memory - or Robby himself - just a little bit too much of the way things are now, compared to the way things used to be this far back, well over a year ago. Even much longer than that, if Daniel would count his time in Trench on top of it all.

There's nothing to remark about it when Robby speaks up about something else entirely though. Daniel's hand slowly trails off the other's shoulder, mostly because he's busy listening-- but then the full impact of those words hit him.

Because he knows. He knows everything Robby is saying, and everything he isn't saying here. Daniel can catch on easily, and it makes the man tightly press his lips together as the possibility hits him again, just like he wondered about as they wandered into the dealership into the first place.

It'd be so easy, but.. he can't do it. He knows he can't. It's been years since mister Miyagi died, and it took a big part of his life being shaken up by one specific boy for Daniel to even dare to go back to the man's house at all, and even now there's a room he just doesn't go into. And while he tells himself his loss of Amanda isn't quite as permanent, it's still been half a year of nothing. How could he face the memory of her without breaking down? Even just thinking about it gives him a weird tight feeling in his chest, like it's being constricted.

It leaves Daniel quiet for a moment, an audible pause, but then he sucks in a breath and forces himself to speak up, not wanting to worry Robby. Especially not when he suggested this, and when Daniel doesn't want the other to feel guilty for that.

Not when the problem here is entirely Daniel's own feelings.

".. we shouldn't," he says, though he doesn't sound as certain about those words as he'd like to. Daniel shakes his head though, forces himself to speak on. "We already messed with the memory enough. I don't want us to go too far and risk something happening to you."

It's a convenient excuse to hide behind, because.. well, it's not like it isn't true.

But on the other hand, it stands on very shaky ground in the face of Daniel having been totally cool with trying to stretch the limits of the memory for Robby's sake. Jumping into the fight to protect Robby, going to this room because Robby wanted to see it so dearly.

And only when Robby tries to turn the table back over towards Daniel to do something for the man's sake does he protest this.

There's a hesitation, room for the equivalent of a but in Mister LaRusso's protests. His reasonings aren't that sound when the distance in time isn't great, and they're still here, he's still fine. There's a good reason to be bold here, and Robby knows he needs to be more firm--if Mister LaRusso is so sure, then Robby needs to hear that certainty for real.

He stands from the stool, twisting in the space between the work-side and where his sensei stands, turning to face him. Allowing himself a moment to take in the room for what feels like one last time, the taste of a memory on his tongue (You are the tree, Robby) before he lets his eyes rest properly on Mister LaRusso. A smile tugging on his face, reassuring and warm.

"It's not that far back, and I remember Misses LaRusso's office really well. And do you remember - there was the time I was helping her file the copies of receipts, and I had to staple them. You came in? I've been thinking about it a lot lately."

He's had reason to think about that memory already, before this. Remembering his earlier training with Mister LaRusso, using the Miyagi-do traditional method for those who it'd work better for. And he knows he knows her office, that he remembers bits and pieces well: where the desk sits, the photos he'd take looks at just because they were there ('Oh, that's my son Anthony...'), even the sound of her voice, always ready with that sly-and-playful dip.

"Trust me," he asks, his hands held in front of him, voice firm. "I want to. And I won't watch."

I won't listen. He'll do his best to pretend like he isn't even there.

"That's not--"

--the problem, he wants to say, but realises that saying as much is basically betraying himself here, no matter how much it's true. It's not that he's worried about the embarrassment of Robby being there and witnessing anything, the problem is so much more personal than that.

.. then again, the words already slipped out of his mouth instinctively even if he did manage to cut himself off midway through the statement. He's probably already betrayed himself here, the fact that this isn't just about wanting to keep Robby safe.

Daniel lets out a huff of breath, gaze cast down, like there's some really interesting spot somewhere on the room's floor. It's just hard to look right at Robby when the kid is suggesting this so earnestly, even though Daniel himself is struggling. (And he can't struggle here. He's the adult, the sensei, he can't-- not over this--)

That last thought makes it tempting to lie. Or to shut down this entire idea forcibly. But that's so hard to do when he hears that tone in Robby's voice. Convinced, yes, but also-- there's something gentle to it, Daniel well aware the boy is trying to do this for him.

That fact makes it impossible to do anything but be honest here, even if it feels like he's got a lump in his throat the size of a tennis ball.

"I trust you." His tone feels tight with emotion right there under the surface, almost foreign to his own ears. "I'm just.. not so sure if this is a good idea, Robby."

"...Okay."

He'll push it, but only so far: to bring them to a point like this, where the offer is on the table, and the only excuse against it is personal. Because Robby knows - or would wager - what the uncertainty is over, and it's not for his sake: it's for Mister LaRusso's own, and what will happen if he sees her.

And Robby might understand, a little. But it has him think about his mom, warm eyes and sweet-smelling shampoo, and he's sure he'd rather have a chance to see and speak to her than not. Even if it's only a memory.

(A memory remembers how she feels, doesn't it?)

So he gives his 'Okay' with a trace of understanding; then holds for a second, and decides - with his eyes looking back onto the man, where they'd lowered before as well, a firmer grip to his voice.

"...but you have to make a decision now, because we don't know when you'll see her again. But it's your choice."

And Robby won't rush him to make one, letting his gaze lower again. He doesn't know how long they'll have, and he hopes they just have enough -- and he hopes Mister LaRusso will give himself this, the more he thinks about his mother, and the more he thinks about the distance of the sea.

Not everyone gets loved ones from home. Not everyone has a familiar face here, and no one ever gets that before they called back to the waters they came from.

Daniel knows Robby is right, but he also kind of hates it at the same time. It makes the uncertainty and worry speed even faster through his veins, creating an antsiness in his body that just won't leave. He's never been good at making split second decisions, after all. Maybe in fights, or tense situations-- especially when something else, or someone else is at stake. Maybe at other times when he's just let his temper lead the way without thinking, but that's not the kind of person he wants to be, even if it's hard to fight.

But making a split second decision like this with a clear mind, and for his own sake? It feels impossible. What do you mean, he can't spend weeks brewing on this first and letting it drive himself crazy? Does he have to speedrun that process right now?

"That's--"

We don't know when you'll see her again, Robby says, and Daniel thinks of mister Miyagi. He thinks of mister Miyagi, and the pictures of his wife, and the drinking. And look at him now - two birds of a feather, huh, mister Miyagi.

He shakes his head.

"Let's do it." He forces the words out of his mouth before he has time to regret them, turning up his gaze, already stepping towards the door of the room - and only stopping there to turn his head back to look at Robby.

(Don't think about it, just don't think, no thinking, only doing.)

"Are you coming?"

It's pretty much a rhethorical question, since.. well, it's Robby's memory, of course he has to come. But maybe Daniel is just talking to keep himself from overthinking in this moment, to keep himself from crawling back out of this.

for daniel larusso 😏

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