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Robin's hands are shaking in her lap even as she glares at the security officer who sits across the table from her, arms crossed, eyebrow raised. The room is... that intimidating. She had expected it to be something like the interrogation rooms at the Comformitorium, but it really just looks like an extra storage room with a table in it. She's not even handcuffed!
"Alright, let's get this over with." The guard says, a broad-shouldered man with dark skin and hair. "We saw you stealing jewelry on the cameras. It was pretty obvious what you were doing. Are you going to deny that?"
"No." Robin says, doing her best to keep her voice even.
"You gonna return what you stole?" The guard asks. Robin grumbles and reaches into her pocket and pulls out a tangled heap of chains and charms, plopping it on the table.
"Here." She grits out. The guard whistles, apparently impressed with her haul.
"Wow. Alright, I'm not really looking for your parents to have to bail you out today, so I'll just call them here. What's their number?"
"I don't have parents." Robin says gruffly. The guard winces. Hah. Got him.
"Guardian?"
Robin huffs, sinking down in her seat. She really doesn't want to have to explain to Ms. Noceda that she was caught stealing.
"Listen kid, I either call your guardian or I call the cops, and I'm sure you don't want your guardian picking you up from the county jail."
"Call Camila Noceda, then." Robin sighs, reciting the number that Camila had insisted they all memorize. The guard dials it into a phone, almost identical to the one Luz had.
"Hello, this is the security of TJ Maxx calling to inform you that your ward has just been caught stealing." There is a pause. "No, they didn't give me a name. Let's see." The guard turns to look at Robin. "Blonde, angry-looking, too much eyeliner."
"Hey!"
"Is your name Robin?" The guard asks, covering the bottom part of the phone. Robin nods, scowling. "Yeah, it's Robin."
The security guard hands the phone over to Robin.
"It's for you." He says. Jerk.
"Yeah, I figured," Robin snaps, snatching the phone from him.
"Robin." Camila says and shit, she's mad. "Is what the security guard saying true? Were you stealing?"
"I- Yes Camila," Robin says, deflating.
"Robin, I am very disappointed in you right now," Camila says sternly, and wow. That hurts so much for some reason. "I'll be coming to pick you up right now, don't give the security any trouble and you had better return everything you stole, young lady!"
"Yes ma'am," Robin says, biting back the panic she feels. Shit. She fucked up so bad.
The line goes dead and Robin hands the phone back to the guard, trying to turn all the terror and guilt on her face into anger.
"That wasn't so bad, was it?" The guard asks, and it takes everything in Robin to not start crying then and there. Damn her friends and letting her express emotions, she's getting rusty.
The guard plays on his phone during the fifteen minutes it takes for Camila to arrive, which is a little insulting. This guy has no idea how dangerous she is. There is a knock at the door, and when the guard gets up and opens it, there is Camila, face stormy. Robin wilts further, avoiding her gaze.
"I'm sorry about her," Camila is saying to the security guard. "She- ah, not to make excuses for her but she didn't exactly have an easy childhood. We're working on following laws."
The security guard nods.
"I get it, rebellious phases. I get more teens in here stealing than anyone, but she is still banned from the store."
"Of course," Camila says. "Thank you for your patience with us, we'll get out of your hair now."
Robin hears the unsaid order in Camila's voice and stands, following her like the world's saddest lost puppy to her car. She resists the urge to kneel in the parking lot, to wait there and take whatever punishment Camila is going to dole out. She obviously doesn't want to do it in public. Belos had been similar. The thought makes her breath speed up, but she is quick to stifle it.
She gets in the passenger seat and buckles herself, Camila strapping into the driver's seat before starting the car. She doesn't speak as they pull out of the parking lot.
"I'm sorry." Robin says finally, resolve breaking under the pressure of the silent car.
"We'll talk about this at home," Camila says, too calm. "I want to look at you while we talk about this."
Robin swallows, stomach plummeting.
"Okay."
The drive home is silent, Robin is fiddling with her seatbelt, Camila's grip on the steering wheel is tight. Not even the radio is playing. Robin watches the scenery pass, cursing herself. Why had she done something so stupid? She didn't need the jewelry. She hadn't known about the cameras, it had been so much easier to filch whatever she needed in the Boiling Isles, but here with no magic and technology she's still getting used to, it was a stupid idea. How could she have known there'd be cameras?
They pull into the driveway to Camila's house. The sight, usually inspiring relief and a sense of safety, just makes Robin feel cold. She should have known she'd fuck this up somehow. Camila turns the car off but makes no move to exit.
"Robin," She says, and Robin swallows thickly, hands trembling. "Look at me, please."
Robin obliges, turning magenta eyes on brown ones.
"Why did you steal jewelry, mija?" She asks, her voice is stern, but not yet angry. Robin shrugs, face red with shame.
"I need words, Robin."
"I thought... I don't know I didn't think I'd get caught." Robin says, folding her arms.
"That's not what I asked," Camila says, voice still not angry, but she doesn't sound happy either.
"There wasn't a reason," Robin says, lacing her fingers through her hair and tugging. "I just- I wanted to do something bad, I guess. I don't know. I don't know."
"I think you do know," Camila says, still calm, still looking at her. She still hasn't hit her. "Do you want to know what I think?"
"Yes ma'am."
"I think that this is a really hard time in your life and it's natural for someone your age to be acting out."
"What?" Robin asks, eyes widening.
"I don't approve, and you aren't going to be committing crimes under my roof, but I'm willing to believe that this instance was a fluke. Have you stolen before?"
Robin considers lying. She makes eye contact with Camila and her eyes are so kind she can't bring herself to do it.
"...yes."
"Okay, you're going to return everything you stole and apologize," Camila says, and Robin has to hold in a wince. That is going to suck. "And you're grounded from going into stores alone until I say otherwise."
Robin waits for her to continue, to keep listing off punishments until she gets to 'mutilation' or 'sleeping outside for a month', but she just stops talking.
"Is that... it?" Robin asks hesitantly. Camila shakes her hand in a so-so motion.
"I'll think of a good punishment later," And wow if that doesn't send ice into Robin's veins. "For now just round up everything you stole and make a list of who to apologize to."
"Yes ma'am." Robin says lowly, following Camila out of the car and into the house. The others look up upon their arrival, but there is no scorn, no jeering at her prospective punishment. Robin immediately heads to the bathroom, closing the door behind her as softly as she can lest Camila think she's slamming it.
As soon as the door is closed she starts hyperventilating, clutching the edge of the counter so hard her knuckles go white where they poke up beyond her fingerless gloves.
Why is she so stupid? How complacent could she get? To actively break a rule? Sure, she hadn't known it was against the rules, it wasn't in writing, but she still should have equated 'federal law' as 'house rules’!
She's trying not to cry. She's been trying not to cry since that security guard stopped her at the door and pulled her into the small room. She could have left, she could have easily beat the guard in hand to hand, even without her staff! She still isn't completely sure why she didn't.
She takes several deep breaths until she no longer feels like she's going to keel over, and then exits the bathroom, trying to look nonchalant as she moves to join the others with their research on how to get home. She plops down next to Willow and grabs a random book, not really reading it.
"Didya have any fun on your shopping trip?" Willow asks, not looking up from her book. Robin freezes, but if anyone notices they don't say anything.
"Uh, not really," Robin says, mouth working faster than her brain can decide it would probably be a good idea to lie.
"Oh?" Willow asks, frowning up at her. "What happened?"
"Nothing!" Robin squeaks, voice way too high as she hides her face behind the book. "Just boring."
Willow looks eager to continue the conversation but a hand on her shoulder and a small headshake from Gus leaves her pursing her lips and turning back to her book.
They read in silence for twenty minutes, the only background noise being their own breathing and page turning, and pots and pans clinking as Camila cooks dinner. Every noise drives the spike of guilt deeper and deeper into Robin's chest. Camila has done so much for them, cooked, paid for whatever food that Willow was unable to grow, gave them a roof over their heads and this is how Robin repays her? Disgracing her name by acting like a common criminal? She will gladly take whatever punishment she is given, it would be better than the guilt she feels now.
When Camila calls for dinner Robin practically jumps out of her skin, dropping her book on the floor.
"Hey, are you feeling okay?" Luz is asking. "You look pale."
"I'm fine," Robin says too-quickly, standing up and walking towards the kitchen so she doesn't have to make eye contact with anyone while she lies.
For the entire time they eat together, Robin does not say a word. She barely even looks up from her plate. She doesn't want to risk making eye contact with Camila, and maybe that makes her a coward, but if it does, then mark her down as one.
They talk over her, leaving obvious empty spaces in the conversation for her to join in on, which she never does. She doesn't want to risk making Camila any angrier with her by speaking out of turn or saying something wrong. The last thing she needs is to go on one of her tangents right now and accidentally say something to piss Camila off while she's too excited to filter herself.
Dinner passes in a nauseating blur of dulled panic, and before too long, Camila is asking for people to help her with the dishes.
"I'll do it!" Robin says, jolting to her feet so fast that she bangs her knee on the table. She pays no heed to the pain and rushes to the sink to start doing dishes, shirking her fingerless gloves to replace them with the yellow rubber ones used specifically for dishwashing before running the water and starting on the dishes with shaking hands.
She gets into the rhythm of it, after a while, she is just able to do a helpful thing and not think about the punishment Camila is working on devising.
The tentative peace is shattered when she hears someone walk into the room. She tenses, waiting to hear Camila's voice berating her, waiting for a harsh hand on her shoulder.
"What did that plate ever do to you?" Luz asks from behind her, nudging her arm. The sudden touch makes Robin jerk away, and the slipperiness of the gloves makes the plate slip out of her hands and crash to the ground, breaking several pieces. Robin is crouching immediately, trying to pick up the pieces with her wet hands, but the porcelain just keeps slipping back to the floor.
"Woah, hey, chill. It's just a plate!" Luz says, crouching next to her and helping her pick up the pieces.
"It's not," Robin snaps, face red, tears welling in her eyes. "It's not just a plate, I can’t- I can't do anything else to piss her off!"
"Who? My mom?" Luz asks, bewildered.
" Yes," Robin snarls, hands trembling as she gathers the piece into her hands. "I can't- I've already fucked up and I don't- I don't- I can’t-"
Luz grabs a plate off of the drying rack and Robin's wrist with her other hand, and then the older girl is being dragged through the house and to Camila's bedroom. As soon as Robin realizes where Luz is taking her she starts to struggle, trying to escape from the human's grip. She wills Flapjack over to her, hoping to teleport out of her grip as soon as she is able to, but the cardinal doesn't come.
Luz throws her mother's door open, who looks up from her book in surprise to see her daughter holding on to a writhing teenager. As soon as Camila's eyes are on her, Robin stops struggling, and stands straight up like a soldier.
"Mom, watch this!" Luz says brightly, then she lets go of Robin and smashes the plate onto the ground like she's getting a touchdown. She holds her arms out expectantly. "Alright. What's my punishment?"
What is she doing? If she's trying to take the spotlight off of Robin's fuckups she can appreciate that, but breaking a plate is far from the worst thing she's done today, and besides, Luz is her kid.
"Uh... clean it up?" Camila says, looking confused at the display, but not upset. "And buy me a new plate while you're out sometime?"
"Okay," Luz says, and then goes to get the broom.
Robin is so caught up in surprise at the interaction that she had just witnessed that she doesn't take the opportunity to rush out of the room as soon as Camila's attention is split.
"Robin," Camila says, and Robin can feel her shoulders straighten without her command. Despite all of this she is still a soldier, thorough and thorough. "Come sit."
Robin does, a terrible pit in her stomach at what is about to happen. She kneels on the floor at Camila's feet, in front of the chair in which she reads, head bowed, the back of her neck exposed even if it makes her shudder.
"Uh, that's not what I meant, honey." Camila says, and Robin straightens into a sitting position immediately, face reddening at the mess-up.
"I've settled on a punishment for what you did earlier," Camila says. Robin is very, very careful to keep her face blank. "I'm putting you on lawnmowing duty for the next two months, or until the rest of your visit, whatever comes first."
"What?" Robin asks, her head snapping up. That can't be it.
"Well, no one really likes to do it, so it's usually my go-to punishment chore."
"No, I mean- I deserve something worse, I disgraced your name, you had to come pick me up, I-"
Camila holds up a hand, making Robin snap her mouth shut so fast she nearly bites through her tongue.
"Robin, you're sixteen. I promise you it's completely normal to be acting out, but as your acting guardian it is my responsibility to set you on the right track." She says, her face achingly sympathetic.
"But I'm not like other kids!" Robin snaps, her hands coming up to grip the sides of her head. She's still wearing the yellow dish gloves. "I'm better! I don't do bad things! I don't mess up! Hit me! Beat me! Just do something!"
When Robin opens her eyes again Camila has not moved from her chair, but her eyes have gotten distinctly sadder.
"Robin, I want you to look at me." She says, voice stern again. Robin curses herself for her outburst. "Under no circumstances, will any child be struck under my roof. I don't tolerate senseless violence, okay?"
Robin sniffles.
"I don't know what things were like for you back home, but here, that's not how we do things. Hitting doesn't teach kids anything, it just makes them afraid."
A scarred face flashes in her mind's eye.
"Do you understand?"
"Yes ma'am." Robin says softly.
"Please," Camila says, smile back in place. "Call me Camila."