bob baker has zero real life application skills (uncast) wrote in willowbrookrpg,
It was easy for Bob to see the change in Roman's nature, from the voice, the look of him...well it helped that he was looking at him closely after he thought he heard the air of an apology. He followed him to a seat soon after, one that faced him diagonally although he didn't resume their conversation immediately, choosing silence as his language while he listened to his brother. After it, a waitress would take notice of them and approach, ask for their orders. "Two cups of coffee, please," was Bob's quiet request and he put on that smile again. The disconnected one, the polite one.
She left soon after. Outside, the crowd seemed to become more animated and though the glass and the walls kept much of the noise out, a lot of the customers still abandoned their seats and orders for the chance to welcome the incoming parade.
Bob didn't feel like watching it anymore, though. He'll catch it on the television later...some other time, maybe. He put on a brief smile for Roman as he shook his head, looking at his tabletop. "No, here's fine," he said. They were alone save for two other patrons, both in separate seats a couple of tables away from them.
When he looked at his brother again, his face was blank. The fear was gone but he was guarded. The suspicion, that was also gone. Maybe Roman still had a heart in him after all -- to put it harshly. He wasn't all about mutants just yet, there was still something there that reminded Bob of the days he nudged his brother to join him in the pub. The few times that happened, at least. Maybe Roman was still all right, after all. Or maybe...maybe this was pheromones again, this was all a ploy to let his guard down but at the moment, Bob had more faith in their childhood than the rift between the two factions.
"Well this is definitely much better, isn't it?" he said after that long pause. "And I thought FaceTime was a brilliant idea. Didn't expect it to go pear-shaped, at all." He gave a quiet chuckle. "It's good to see you, though...physically. Finally. And you certainly look much better than when we last saw each other." That is to say, Roman definitely looked fitter than he last remembered.