a different perspective

Laszlo Robinson had never been a big fan of exercise! This was no secret. He was a very lazy person. If he could avoid physical activities, he would. Gyms didn’t make sense to him and that video of Selena Gomez’s explanation of why she didn’t do hikes was almost as if he’d said them himself!

There were the few occasions that he did do them though— mostly in the name of art. He also reserved the right to complain the whole time.

Usually, though, he did that sort of thing alone so all his whinging was solely heard by the nature around him. (And the occasional silent hiker he didn’t notice coming up from behind him until they passed by and he had to throw an apology their way before they hurried off up the path to get away.) 

Now, he had company, having asked Eilonwy if she’d like to accompany him on the venture as the buddy system seemed like a good decision these days. Not because it was dangerous, but because it was summer and he may have simply passed away from the heat and no one would be any wiser.

“I think we’re almost there.” He squinted, head tilting at a tree as they passed by it. “That or we’re very lost— which would be slightly worrisome.”

mrsrcbinscn​:

-

Damn, okay, maybe Laszlo had been paying attention these first fifteen months of Sovanna’s life after all. She set down her notebook of detailed notes for minding her daughter to free up her hands for talking.

“Right, she usually wakes up by 8:30, and she gets fussy for her first nap around four hours later. She usually goes down without much fight, doesn’t nap for very long usually, but if she does, great.” Franny did enjoy long Sovanna naps, it meant she could get one in herself. “Around 5:00, so like two hours before dinner, she usually takes her longer nap. If it’s short too, that’s fine, she’ll just lay down for bedtime earlier. If it’s her usual hour and a half or so, she goes to bed for the night later, and that’s fine. Cornelius and I don’t force an exact bedtime, we let her tell us when she’s ready and make sure she’s rested throughout the day.”

Her daughter’s naps were good excuses to stay home and not do much when she didn’t want to anyway.

Lazslo nodded and nodded and nodded (last one may have had a bit of an eye roll in there because come on—) “You say this as if we don’t all live together and I’m having to tip toe about here and looking for food that I haven’t got to crunch down on when she is down for a nap.”

Not that he was complaining about doing that. He didn’t mind at all! He was just pointing out how diligent he (and the rest of the house hold! .. Mostly!) took care to be quiet when their littlest was out for the count while she could be. The last thing any of them was for her to get all fussy and cranky and work herself up into a cry instead of actually getting that much needed sleep.

Then they all suffered!

mrsrcbinscn​:

`

Franny rolled her eyes and gave an exaggerated whine.

“Yes, yes, I know, Cornelius and I make cute babies together, but properly taking care of her is super important! Not very fun, but super important. Quick, what time does she go down for bed?” Franny asked.

This was kind of a trick question. Sovanna had a more strict nap schedule than a bedtime for the night schedule. Franny would accept anytime from 8:00 to 9:30.

Laszlo knew that. Taking care of any baby properly was super important! Taking care of any child was super important. Heck, any form of life! Pets, plants, and so on and so forth— he just thought he already knew all there was to know! 

He opened his mouth, answer at the ready, only to stop. His eyes cut up and to the side as he thought over this question for a second longer. “That’s a bit of a tricky question, isn’t it? Do you mean bed bed? As in for the night? Or are you asking about when she needs to be taking her little naps throughout the day?” 

winndeavor​:

The corner of Winston’s mouth curled higher when Laz smiled at him. He didn’t think anything of holding the door open; it came second nature, but it was nice to still get thanks every so often, even from friends.

The chipper voice bombarding them almost immediately was a tad jarring as Winston followed the other man inside, but he wasn’t going to be rude. Instead, he hummed an affirmative, eyes roaming around the little shoppe. It was stuffed full to the brim, bric-a-brac and knickknacks and every other assortment of things one could think of spilling every which way.

At Laszlo’s comment, Winston nodded before turning to look at him again. “I agree. There’s…almost too much to pick from but –” Win meandered down a path, further into the depths of the store, gesturing for Laszlo to follow him. “Let’s see what’s hiding in the back, eh, work our way forward.”

Laszlo didn’t agree with that one— there was never too much of anything in his opinion! But he was the odd one out when it came to those sorts of things. Big menus? Endless scrolling on whatever streaming service you were on? What pair of shoes should you get? Laszlo never really mulled over a decision for long, finding it such a waste of time. He usually picked whatever one he was on at the end of his patience and lived with it— usually it wasn’t too bad, anyway. 

So, the back of the store they went! He tried not to get distracted by anything on the way, knowing that they would surely get to circle around the whole place so there was no need to stop and gawk at anything before the back.

Only then there was something in front of him that he simply had to stop and look at— he had no choice! It made him gasp and quicken his pace to step up to the little table. 

toby-determined​:

Toby wouldn’t have liked that at all, actually. But that was different. Toby wasn’t a rich artist with a rich husband living in a giant mansion with his whole family. He was a reporter in a small town making a small wage, living in a little apartment with a flat mate and a cat. Far enough away from his family that timezones got in the way of talking to them a good majority of the time. 

He flinched when Laszlo let go, thinking it was the lead up to some sort of altercation. He even put up his hands to shield his face in anticipation, more so out of instinct than a need to preserve anything. The only thing there that needed to be saved were his glasses since they were sort of expensive due to being enchanted. 

No pain came. Again. He dared to lower his arms to find Laszlo pointing at his computer. 

Dang it. Dang it! He knew he really had no choice here if he wanted to continue on without getting hurt. Physically or otherwise. 

Toby, a shaky mess of limbs and sweat, edged around the chair and Laszlo to get to his computer. He kept glancing back at Laszlo as he logged in and got to the article. 

He deleted it. Along with everything else he had put out there to promote it. 

“There,” he said. “Happy?” 

You bet your ass Laszlo stayed right there, feet firmly planted to the floor, looming over Toby as he typed at the computer until everything was gone. He even pulled his phone out to refresh the page and find that— yep it was gone. The damage had already been done but that wasn’t the point of getting Toby to take it down, it was the principle of the thing and the fact that Toby had none. 

There was so much more he wished he could do. Send this little creature to therapy for one to figure out what deep seated trauma was possessing his every action and the need to make everyone else around him miserable. Travel back in time to put a stop to him opening the stupid email, or even publishing the article. 

Unfortunately, this was all he could do for now. Besides go home and talking to the person who had actually been harmed by this whole thing. 

toby-determined​:

Did Toby know that? Or had it all become a muddled mess to him. Was there really such a thing as privacy these days? Mrs. Robinson was a public figure. She willingly posted about her life and had put herself out in the eyes of all to behold. That was on her, not Toby! 

Then again, he had been the one to go taking stuff off her computer files that wasn’t meant for the public quite yet…but that was the key word wasn’t it! Yet! She would have released this music one way or another. The only thing Toby had done was give it to the people earlier. 

With no means of Mrs. Robinson getting reimbursed for her work but, what did that matter? She was rich already, what more could she stand to gain? 

“I-I can’t! And nothing you say or-or do to me is going to help,” he insisted, trying to make himself believe it because then Laszlo would too and leave him alone. Truth was if Laszlo so much as pinched him, evoked even the slightest tinge of pain, he would stand down. “I did nothing wrong. I published a story, that’s it. I was doing my job, you can’t get mad at me for doing my job. Not all of us have a rich cousin to keep them alive!” 

Despite all this time having to deal with this odd little delusional man, Laszlo was still constantly surprised by whatever nonsense was being sputtered out of his mouth. It rather pained him that it was an Australian doing this, rather than some Pom— it meant they had been closer geographically when growing up than Laszlo would have liked. Even if it was still thousands and thousands of miles apart. At this point, even if he were to launch Toby Determined out of Earth’s orbit, it still wouldn’t be far enough.

He ignored the bait presented to him about Cornelius— it was low hanging fruit. Which, given how this man simply crawled around like a bottom feeder, made sense! That insulted had been used against him for years now. How he wasn’t anything, just a free loader. How his cousin probably bought all his art, it wasn’t real people, he was just trying to keep Laszlo’s feelings from getting hurt. So on and so forth. 

It was a poor attempt at getting a rise out of him, trying to spin him off topic as he came to his own defenses. 

The thing was, he didn’t care what was said about him. They could talk about him all the live long day because as far as Laszlo was concerned if people were talking about him, good or bad, he was taking up more of their day than they were his. But to come after his family? 

Nope, unacceptable. 

toby-determined​:

Toby tried to shrink further back but there was no where to go. He couldn’t sink into the wall and the floor wasn’t opening up to let him drop down to the floor below. He was cornered, like an animal. His eyes went very wide as Laszlo crossed this distance and gave a very indecent shriek when he hands clamped over Toby’s own. 

Now he was really stuck here. His palms were sweating, slipping against the fabric of the back but now enough to get them out from under Laszlo’s. Even when he tried to pull away, there he remained. Forced to listen to the words that were coming out of Laszlo’s mouth. 

He shook his head, trying to deny them but…could he, really? 

For the first time, someone was saying what had always been tucked away inside him. It felt like someone was actually seeing him, really seeing him, for the first time in his life! …only not in the way he had dreamed. Laszlo could see him, but it was for all the wrong reasons. All he could see was the bad and he wasn’t even bothering to see the good. 

“No,” Toby continued to shake his head, sticking with denial like it was an alibi. “Y-you’re wrong. I…I don’t. I don’t make people feel bad about th-themselves! I write the truth and-and if that upsets them then that’s their own problem, not because of me.” 

Laszlo felt like he was watching one of those ridiculous video presentations they made the secondary kids watch at assemblies— the ones about bullying and all of that. (The ones that were important but always seemed so out of touch. The ones that everyone knew were trying to send a good message but always came out wrong for some reason. The ones that had been trying to help for ages now but could never be as efficient as therapy and good parenting.) 

Toby Determined looked like the less-than-good actor someone had cast as the Internet Troll. The one who would be shown to be sitting on the other side of the keyboard, laughing to himself as he typed a terrible comment, only to cut to a shot of him cowering in real life. It would have been funny if it wasn’t so horrendously sad.  

toby-determined​: 

Toby pulled his rollie chair with him as he stepped backward, like a knight with his shield. Only he was not the image of chivalry or honor. Just a coward who made big moves without the backbone to defend himself when someone dared to make one against him in return. 

His heart was thrumming painfully inside of his chest. The fabric of his shirt was growing wet with sweat under his arms and around his neck, beads of it dripping down his back and catching there, too. He didn’t know what to do! Of all the times he had been threatened, of all the things that had been said to him, he had still never taken the time to seek out how to defend himself. 

This was probably because he did not want to spend the time or money on something he knew his physicality could never live up to anyway. He was better off just running and hiding. 

Only he couldn’t do that here! There was no where to run, no where to hide.

“I-I-I don’t write to win,” he tried again, knowing it was pointless. That’s just what he did, though. How his life went. He tried and failed and kept going anyway. “I write to write a-and that’s that I did so…so you can’t make me feel bad!” 

Laszlo rolled his eyes before Toby even finished, having stopped listening before he had gotten to the end. It didn’t matter to him what sort of horrible defense he was trying to put up against his actions— as far as Laszlo was concerned there was no defense for this. 

Toby Determined had wronged Franny Robinson. 

Franny Robinson was Laszlo’s family and his best friend, as if he was going to let a man who had less class than a school on Saturday think that he had gotten the better of her. 

If there was one thing that Laszlo could be counted on for, aside from his great sense of humor and ability to sleep through important alarms, it was his undying loyalty to his family. Some may have thought it a little over the top, especially since they had enough money for this to not do any damage and Franny’s career wasn’t by no means going to take a nosedive because of this. (It may even grow due to the scandal.) But none of that mattered. The point was Toby had hurt someone Laszlo cared about, and that could no go unpunished. 

toby-determined​:

Toby stumbled backward over the heel of his own shoe as Laszlo approached, hands moving outward from his side in an attempt to regain his balance. He glanced over his shoulders despite knowing another desk as just behind him. There was no where to go. The only way out of here would be to go through Laszlo or try and hike it over his desk and then the desk that sat in front of that, hoping to not knock over any monitor in the process, but given his lack of dexterity this was too much to ask for along with an easy escape. 

He opened his mouth again, wanting to try and say something to either relieve the tension or to maybe yell for help only to be told to be quiet. His teeth clicked as he clamped it shut once more. He was too scared to disobey and also was not brave enough to fight back in any way. 

Although, really, Laszlo didn’t really have the physic to be scared of. No offense, but he seemed more the type to go after Toby with a lawsuit rather than his own fists. Especially since he had the money for it. That or to hire someone so he didn’t have to get his nice artist’s hands dirty. 

Unsure if he was suppose to respond to that or not Toby went to see what would happen if he did. 

“I can’t do that,” he said. “Besides, it’s already out there! People will have copied the files and screenshotted the story. What’s done is done. But uh…no hard feelings, right?” 

The absolute audacity on this man. It was almost astounding. Almost because, sadly, Laszlo felt as if he should have known better. He had caught him literally digging around in that garbage bins! Why wouldn’t he have seen something like this coming?

Honestly, he should have thought worse was on the horizons. Not to say this wasn’t absolutely horrible and a breach of privacy that was going to haunt Laszlo for all eternity, but he felt like they were lucky it was just this and not some other terrible, personal, misguided piece of information that was getting the spotlight. Given who this reporter was and what he had done, he doubted that anything was off limits! 

It had to be put to an end, right there, or else he may think he could get away with more and Laszlo wasn’t going to let that happen. 

winndeavor​:

@laszlowrobinson​

Winston, unlike Laszlo, was up and about almost every hour of every day. 

He was either fielding international phone calls, working at garnering funding, raising donations, helping his men and women on the ground. There was not a single hour, some days, where Winston could sit, let alone breathe. Such was the life of a CEO of an international technology corporation, one that aided ruined communities and the Magicks that were villainized and victimized by the very fact of what they were. 

Winston couldn’t sit when there were things like that in this world. 

But, he was a man, and men needed time to rest, to sleep, to dream. To spend time with people they cared for, friends and family alike. He did not begrudge that of Laszlo, because Winston was close with his sister, just as Laszlo was with his family. 

A little laugh escaped Winston and he smiled, veering off toward the small shop. He was agreeing and he hadn’t even seen what it was, exactly, they were going to. Winston held the door for him when they reached their destination, a smile still on his face. “After you. Figure we could kill a little time here, hm? Bet we can find some fun things to fool about with.” That phrase, again, deliberate this time, a bit of prodding, almost teasing. The twinkle in Winston’s eye said it was. 

Laszlo bowed his head and smiled in thanks to Winston, always such a gentleman, before stepping over the thresh hold of the shop. 

“Good afternoon!” one of the workers greeted him on impact. “Can I help you find anything today?”

“Not that I know of! We’re just looking about— but I’ll find you if we can think of something.” 

The worker gave a smile and settled back into whatever it was they were doing before the door had opened. Laszlo’s eyes swept over the shop, trying to figure out what it was they actually sold. 

It seemed like— a bit of everything? There were those little furniture displays with odd looking pillows, bright rugs, fluffy blankets draped over even odder chairs. Toys, books. Soap! The back looked like it was dedicated to food and drinks, and the other side had clothing and maybe kitchen ware if Laszlo was being generous with his eyesight. There was a lot jam packed into the space. 

toby-determined​:

Toby had been feeling pretty proud of himself for the Franny Robinson article! 

See, he couldn’t just go to Morales and tell her that he had stolen the woman’s songs right off her computer, not that Toby would have used ‘stolen’ in that hypothetical scenario to tell the piece he would have used ‘borrowed,’ so he had gone the best route. Using a computer at the university library he had emailed his Squire email with a fake one with all the files and said it was from an anonymous source! Which could be bought since he’d already had one earlier this year who gave him that great tip about Simba Bonfamille-Lyons! 

Smart, right? 

It had gotten a bunch of hits online at the very least, which was making him feel fantastic! So many people were commentating and retweeting and reading his article. Even if a good portion of them were from unhappy fans, that was still engagement!! He didn’t mind in the slightest. 

What he did mind, though, was someone coming to confront him in person. Which is what was happening to him right in the comfort of his own office, that he had been staying at in order to avoid going home since he just felt itchy when he went home now. No one else was in that day, all either working their various stories or working from the comfort of their home. 

Toby froze in his swivel chair when he saw Laszlo Robinson standing in the doorway, the pen that had been hanging out of the side of his mouth falling to his desk with a small clatter. 

“N-now, Mr. Robinson,” he started, slowly getting up from his seat and backing up. “There’s no need to do anything rash!” 

Laszlo scoffed, rolling his eyes so hard his head moved with the movement. What a joke. It always went like this, didn’t it? Someone did something unnecessary and then got all defensive when someone else called them out on it— this was only because they knew it was wrong. The reporter already knew why Laszlo was here, after all, so he must have known the outcome of publishing Franny’s work without her permission! 

Especially from some anonymous source, who had probably gone through hoops made of fire in order to somehow hack into Franny’s computer. Or wherever it was that she had been keeping those things. 

(It hadn’t even occurred to him that the man in front of him would have been so lowly as to have done it himself, in broad daylight. He should have, but he was already too upset over the publication to even contemplate the theory of who it could have been behind the actual stealing of the files.) 

mrsrcbinscn​:

`

Sovanna giggled as she realized she was moving toward Cousin Laszlo all by herself, without his or Mama, or Daddy’s help! She clapped her little hands as she made her way across the floor —

— but froze when footsteps came up behind her. She spotted her mother and immediately went flop! onto the floor. As if she knew that a walking Sovanna was no longer a pampered, carried everywhere Sovanna.

She turned her head back to Laszlo and reached for him. Pick me up, pleeeeeease?

Franny looked down at her and pointed, confused as to if she saw what she just saw. “Did she—? Was she walking?”

“Aw, come on. Do it again. Up, up — no, don’t reach for Laszlo. You got caught, so do the trick.”

Sovanna pouted and kept reaching for Laszlo anyway.

--

Laszlo tried to hide his amusement for the situation, clapping a hand over his mouth to keep the laughter from bubbling forward but good god if this child’s DNA had been called into question (not that it would because Cornelius and Franny were too annoyingly in love for anyone to even think differently) this was all the evidence he would need to know she was theirs. 

Adorable, smart, and cheeky all in one swoop. Literally. 

“She was! I swear!” He put his hands up in mock surrender. “The one time I haven’t got my phone on me, too. It’s like she knew and wanted to paint me out to be a lying liar who lies.” 

Still, he couldn’t help but to smile at her as her little hands moved toward him. Laszlo obliged, picking her up under her arms and scooting her back toward the sofa. 

“Come on, can you do that again for your mum?” He stuck out his lower lip. “Pleeeease?” 

Laszlo very rarely was in the mood to maim people, that was usually reserved for special occasions! 

Today was a very special occasion indeed. 

There he had been with Clara Baudry, the little protégé of Franny who had been such a delight to have around, sitting at the kitchen table scrolling their fan account Twitter feeds. She had gasped loudly and when he asked her what was wrong she turned her phone around to show him. 

An article had been written releasing, quote, New, never heard before, unreleased music from Franny Sor Robinson! Laszlo had scoffed at first, thinking it was some horrid ruse that would give people a virus if they clicked on it but upon further investigation it was real. Really real. The links they provided had Franny’s unreleased music. He knew this because, well, she had shared it with him but he was family! He heard everything she recorded! Even the joke sessions and weird noises! 

He scrolled back up, looking for the name of the person who had published— “Oh hell no.” 

“Where are you—?” Clara looked up from her phone at the sound of the front door slamming shut. “—going.” 

As he arrived at Town Hall he managed to compose himself enough to make it through the building without anyone suspecting him of any ill wishes. It was just his luck that when he arrived the man (if that’s what you could call him) he was looking for was just inside the Squire office. 

“You little bitch.” 

mrsrcbinscn​:

`

“I know, how am I ever supposed to tell her no some day? I can’t say no to her father, and her big brown eyes are even cuter.” Franny said, pouting. “Do you mind being cute for Laszlo for a minute, little Sov? Mama really needs to hydrate and grab a snack.”

Sovanna wouldn’t let her transport her to the kitchen to allow that earlier.

“I’ll be right back!”

With her mother’s absence Sovanna made a brief confused noise but ultimately decided that it wasn’t worth throwing a fit. Cousin Laszlo was one of her favorite people after all!

She did however kick her little feet to signal she’d like to not be held. When Laszlo obliged and set her down, Sovanna sat on her bum for not even a proper moment before pulling herself to her feet with the help of the couch. Slowly, on her tiny feet, Sovanna moved toward Laszlo, her palm eventually leaving the couch and officially free-wheeling it!

As soon as Laszlo felt the tell of Sovanna’s feet going kick kick, which he had previously entertained by simply holding her above any given surface and watched as they went up and down against it with a smile on his face, now let her go completely. (Which was quite heart breaking because it reminded him that she would not always be this small and that, one day, his weak frame would no longer be strong enough to pick her up at all.) 

He watched her, chin resting on the palm of his hand that was being held up by his elbow on his knee, as she pulled herself up by the couch. This was still quite amazing to him since her legs were so small and her bones only so formed. 

Then he saw her let go of the couch and sat up, alarmed that she would go tumbling to the floor. 

When she didn’t, out came a whispered, “Oh my god.” Then, as she started to move toward him, actually walking, it got louder. “Oh my god!” 

He nodded, encouragingly to her, waving Sovanna toward him, but leaning forward to catch her should she make the indication of tilting any certain way. 

“Franny! Franny! Where are you? Oh you would be off doing something else right now, wouldn’t you?”