Welcome to Gaia! ::

Robert had spent a few nights going in and out of consciousness at the labs. Someone had drawn breasts on his chest at one point, when it was obvious he was going to live through his ordeal. He actually thought it was kind of funny, when he was awake enough to notice, but he still promised swift retribution at the hands of his fists.

But finally, the day came when he was released with a clean enough bill of help to hobble back to his dorm and get back to work. He'd done so, but he spent the entire day lying in his bed, sleeping off the last of his sedatives and trying to forget everything he'd seen that one day. But everytime he closed his eyes, he could still see her. She'd burned herself into his mind like a permanent afterimage, always floating just outside of his focus, until he looked and there was nothing there.

It plagued his dreams, and he didn't get much sleep after all.

Petra had been out the day he'd come back, but perhaps that had been for the best. He didn't know how she was going to react to him after what had happened.. and he needed some time alone.

Alone?

Well, as alone as a Hunter ever got.

He was such a jerk.

Robert's eyes were closed while he lay on the bed, but the comment was as close to 'I missed you' as Jezebel would ever get, and it made him smile. She fell quiet then, as she usually did, and he decided he'd had enough of lying down. He sat up, very slowly, and started to take inventory of his room in case Caelius had decided to hijack anything 'inappropriate'. He hardly knew of anything he'd even consider appropriate, in here. But it looked like everything was still in it's perfect place, just as he'd left it. It might have looked a mess to the untrained eye, but Robert had a system. And that system worked.

He picked up his coat, which hung on the chair, and checked out the damage. The bottom half of it was completely caked in mud, and the top half was just dirty. He started cleaning out the pockets so he could throw it in the wash, when his hands fell on something hard, and cold. Another cell phone.

When did he pick up another cell phone?

His heart panged painfully at the memory of a man floating dead in the water.

Robert flipped open the cell phone, laid back down on the bed, and began flipping through everything he could, just to get to know the man that had given up his life to save a couple of stupid trainees.

Barney. And his stupid ******** cats.

Robert was intent on looking at each, and every one.

Robert had bitten off more than he could chew, when he decided to go through the entire collection of pictures on Barney's cell phone. He didn't even know these phones could hold that many pictures.. and sure enough, at some point, flipping through pictures of adorable kittens in various silly poses and clothing lulled him to sleep.

He woke up a few hours later with the phone settled on his neck, and picked it back up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He felt better, at least - and he went right back to going through the pictures, like he promised he would. It took a very, very, very long time, but eventually Robert started to see a pattern. It was the cat he noticed first, because it was easy to spot the same cat in pictures over and over again. The park took longer, and he almost didn't recognize the repetition at all. With a yawn, he moved to put the phone down again, when one of the pictures blared a sign indicating the name of the park, and Robert held onto it for a moment.

He'd never heard of the park before, and it held no meaning for him. But somehow, he could tell it was somewhere Barney had frequented often.. or at least, somewhere he considered special enough to spam pictures of it.

Continue looking through thousands of pictures of cats.. or go visit a park in Barney's memory. Robert weighed the two options, and the choice was easy. He got up, stretched out his sore body, left his dirty coat behind and wore his old one instead, as he headed for the portal room. The pictures gave him an easy point of reference, but he still had to wait until they were ~ready~.

So he waited. And eventually, he headed through a portal to a park he'd never set foot in before, to go see a cat about a man.

It had been a while since he'd felt the sun on his face. When he first stepped through, he just stood there and tilted his head up, soaking it in. He'd been a child of the sun for so long, before the hunters came along. Now, his body was reminding him of how much he'd really missed it.

It felt real good.

So it was time for a walk in the park. It was such a mundane kind of task, and it worked to soothe the aches in his muscles and in his soul. All the struggle of trying to forget about her faded away in lieu of the warm sun, the gentle breeze, and the smell of freshly cut grass. California was pretty damn boss.

He'd almost missed the sight of the cat in his stroll, but it was too cute to miss, and his mind had been attuned to cats after that hour of staring at nothing but pictures of them. He stopped, and once he got a good look at it, he recognized it. He hadn't expected to see that same cat here, but it was kind of sweet, that he was seeing the same things Barney had. He felt like he was taking a few steps in the mans shoes. Kind of a legacy walk, even. It was a shame he couldn't do the same for Sandy.

"Here, kitty kitty kitty." Robert coo'd, crouching down and holding his hand out.

Robert's hand dropped in disappointment when the cat chose to walk away, but the sound of a voice made him fall out of his crouch and land on his a** from surprise. He stared at the girl for a minute, before standing back up and brushing his pants off.

"Jeez, kid. You f-..uhhh.. you scared me. Don't sneak up on people like that, you know? Gonna give me a heart attack." He clutched his chest dramatically, before taking a single step closer - and stopping. Any kid would be scared to see a guy like him coming at them, so he changed his mind and stayed where he was.

"So that's Mr. Mittens, huh?" He regarded her curiously. "And can I ask who you are? Or should I assume you're Mrs. Mittens?"

Robert stared at the child for a long time, because that was what children did. And Robert was as good as one, at this point. Once she made the cat wave at him, his face broke out into a grin, that only widened when she mentioned Mr. Mitten's special abilities. He was right to keep his distance. She would have probably screamed if he'd come closer.

"Well, you can tell Mr. Mittens that he doesn't need to use either of his skills, because I ain't gonna-"

It wasn't the woman's voice that made Robert stop, it was the child's reaction to it. She glared up at him, and his heart cringed as it reminded him of the glares he was used to receiving from the people he loved. She called for her mother, and he was doubly glad he stayed away. Petra had bailed him out of jail enough times in their former life - there was no point to making her do it now.

"Rene. That's a pretty name. And rainbow's an even prettier nickname. Mine's Robert. All those words start with R."

He was a regular genius, this one.

"Sorry if I scare you. I know I look pretty big, but I'm about as dangerous as Mr. Mittens. Is he your cat?"

When she smiled, the little girl made Robert want to smile. He dropped down to one knee, and tried, so very hard to keep that one thought out of his mind. That one thought that kept threatening to break his heart whenever he looked at her, and heard her talk about her daddy.

But the thought came.

There would never be a little girl there to call him daddy.

"Well, Rainbow, if you don't mind, I'll call you that, too. It's a good name." His smile quirked with melancholy. "A good name."

His eyes dropped to the cat again, and let out a chuckle as she explained it was from her daddy. Then he looked up at her again, but his eyes dropped back down to the cat a second time, and his smile dropped. He flipped out Barney's phone, and opened it, clicking the photo album open.

An entirely different feeling threatened to sink his heart.

The cold that brought goosebumps up was, surprisingly, the least of his problems. He caught her expression as she looked into the shadows, and he did the opposite of her suggestion. "Nah, Rainbow." He murmured quietly, pulling a coin out of his pocket and walking forward to stand in front of her. "I won't leave you alone."

He pulled off his jacket and wrapped it around her, before settling her back in the bush, hidden well. "You just stay there until I say so, okay?" He whispered. "I promise. You'll be safe. I'm not goin' anywhere."

Robert's chuckle at her warning died when rats started to n** at her feet. He flipped Jezebel into the air, reached out when the coin elongated into a batleth, and impaled the rats closest to her with the tip of the weapon before it was even fully formed. The squeals filled the air, but they weren't enough. He put himself between her and the incoming infestation, Jezebel held firmly in his grasp.

Protect her. Jezebel barely talked, but when she did, he knew she meant it.

I plan on it, Jazzy. Just need your help.

HP: 45
Damage: 7
Boss HP: 43

"Shhh, now, sweetheart, keep behind me, come on - here." He bent down, Jezebel swinging low and slicing two incoming rats as he bent to one knee. He held his hand out behind him, gesturing quickly. "Climb up on my back, honey. I'll protect you."


HP: 40
Damage: 2
Boss HP: 41
Level of Hate for Liz: Rising