Five minutes after http://thelegion.dreamwidth.org/43666.html?thread=4225170#cmt4225170

[walkingballpit]

[ The feed is an orange tabby cat. The cat is staggering around a hallway, mewling with increasing unhappiness that echoes around the large brass helmet that has engulfed its head.

Suddenly and without warning, the cat puffs up four sizes and throws itself into a wrestling match with the helmet and floor. Niels writhes and scratches at the helmet, and several times launches his haunches in the other direction, bouncing them lightly off the floor with a tiny burst of bubbles. ]

May I present the grand supreme leader of the Nova Corps, Nova Feline?

[ The cat stops when it hears Robbie's voice and beelines towards the sound of the Person who has done this horrible thing to it. The camera tracks down, just catching the impact of blind fuzzball of doom smacking into Robbie's legs at top speed.

Unfortunately, this cat is not simply going to be dazed by the impact. It goes hurtling off in the other direction, ping ponging off the walls and picking up speed. A trail of kinetic energy bubbles is left in his wake. There's a soft exhalation of 'oh shit' when Niels successfully turns a corner, but Robbie is all-in at this point.

Robbie turns the omnicom back to selfie mode and smirks. ]

Is that a big enough joke for you, Kid Nova? Don't worry - I've got a tracker on his collar, so I'll keep an eye on Niels.

I'm not helping you get your helmet though, Buckethead.

Comments

[walkingballpit]

[ He knows that Rich meant well when he left that letter, and Robbie is really touched that someone made him a consideration.

He also feels awful for his reactions being so perfectly predictable that Rich has managed to cover just about everything in one letter, with the exception, perhaps, of Robbie sort of stampeding Niels through the chutes of Legion World.

Dammit. And oops. ]

I don't think he's being harsh... look at it this way, someday you're gonna be that guy who knows how to write that letter.

And no, that's not a dig on your literacy.

[ Robbie exhales sharply through his nose. ]

I'll go corral Niels. You just... consider the PPS for awhile.

[iamresponding]

I'm also gonna be the guy who looks back at his past self as that predictably stupid that he had to write it in the first place.

[Nothing like a wicked burn administered by your own future self to really bring on a sting.]

Geez.

[His voice is very soft when he speaks again, and he wonders how things have devolved this badly. When did he turn into someone that so casually hurts his friends?]

Sorry.

[walkingballpit]

I never said you were stupid. You should take that up with your future self. Get in a post-it war.

[ Robbie gives him a grin out of habit. ]

Besides, I'm the one who's so predictably thin-skinned that he knows all my arguments.

[iamresponding]

I don't think it's like that. He left ones for you, Sam, Vance...hell, even that Grif guy? Whoever he is. He doesn't really seem all that offendable.

[It's self-awareness, maybe, that made him write all those notes.]

I think maybe he just has...regrets. [He reads over Vance's note as he holds his omnicom, though he does it silently.] Like...having to do with the team, and who I am right now. And...about being there for you guys.

[walkingballpit]

Look, what I said - I was upset, okay? I didn't mean to imply that you weren't there for us.

[ Knowing what had been going on at the time, Robbie doesn't blame Rich for bailing on him. Robbie knew damn well what a hot mess they both were. ]

And he shouldn't regret anything. He - you - were always good enough to be our friend.

[iamresponding]

I'm not saying you implied it. It's more...he kinda did.

[Future him.]

And it's...not exactly "good" to be someone's friend and then act like your team is something terrible to escape.

[A 12-year-old girl has chewed him out for his behavior at this point. He feels like a goon.]

[He shrugs awkwardly.]

Anyway, the Avengers... who needs 'em, right? [He grins.] This is some big save-all-of-existence thing and there isn't an Avenger in sight -- other than Vance, and he's one of us first. What's so great about 'em anyway?

[walkingballpit]

[ The scenario has changed, if it's even discernible from the shaky cam effect going on. Robbie is inside the air ducts - he wasn't kidding about going to hunt down that darn cat - and crawling around with his omnicom in one hand. ]

He likes to think that he's everybody's big brother, and, yeah, he's right. But he's too hard on himself, so I think that applies to you, too.

[ Grunting, Robbie twists himself around the corner. He wishes he was a toothpick. ]

That's what I'm trying to tell you. They're nothing but name recognition and branding. They'll tell you that to your face.

[ A shower of kinetic bubbles drifts down onto Robbie, too small to be his. He looks up and pouts. ]

G- [ Whoops, look who he's talking to. ] Blue blazes, why do these have vertical shafts?