Breakfast was tense the next morning. Conversations were kept low when Bright Heart came in, even those that had nothing to do with him. Yesterday was a shocking day, one they hadn't fully recovered from.
Tenderheart was just getting his own breakfast when Bright Heart came in and sat down next to Soulful like he usually did. Tenderheart took that as a good sign, though Soulful did look a little uncomfortable. So did Bright Heart. Looking around, Tenderheart couldn't find Gentle Heart anywhere. Usually the three of them ate together.
Making his way over, Tenderheart sat down on Bright Heart's right; Soulful was already on the left. "Are you okay?" Tenderheart asked.
"I'm…better." Bright Heart answered as he absentmindedly poked at his food. "I'm sorry for all the commotion yesterday. But I'm sticking to what I said. My inventing days are over."
"But you love inventing." Tenderheart protested.
"That doesn't mean I should keep doing it. Not if it means hurting the people I care about."
"But your inventions and know-how have helped a lot too." Soulful said, speaking up for the first time. "And don't you go try and tell me that nothing you've made has ever helped anyone. I know better and so do you. You say any different and so help me, I'll belt you." Soulful gave a weak smile, but Tenderheart wasn't sure how much of that was a joke. He seemed pretty on edge. This was bothering him a lot more than he let on. Bright Heart didn't look at him and missed Soulful's confliction.
"I guess you're right." He said poking at his eggs. "But I also hurt people more then I help them. Besides I…"
"What is it?" Tenderheart asked.
"…I have to know if there's more the me than being an inventor and scientist. I mean, is that my entire value? The fact that I can set a VCR better than anyone else?"
"Of course it's not!" Both Tenderheart and Soulful said in unison, both sounding horrified at the very suggestion.
"Well I have to find that out for myself. And in any case, it's still not worth the risk to everyone else to keep tinkering around with things I can never get to work." He got up, not giving either a chance to respond. "I'm going to go see what else there is I can do. See you around." He walked away, leaving Tenderheart and Soulful alone.
"Well, at least he seems better than he did yesterday." Tenderheart ventured. Souflul just snorted. "You don't think so?" Tenderheart asked.
"Not for a second." Soulful declared sourly. "Didn't you notice the way he kept shifting from one argument to the next, not really developing any of them fully? Even contradicting himself? And that baloney about hurting people 'more than he helps them?' Bah! I doubt Gentle Heart would agree."
Tenderheart nodded, understanding the allusion. Gentle Heart's life had been saved in part because of Bright Heart's inventions when No Heart attacked her in her dreams.
"It's not just inventing that he's turning his back on." Soulful continued. "He's abandoning his entire way of thinking, the scientific method, logic, all of it."
"That's…worse than I thought." Tenderheart admitted with a sigh. "We should probably keep an eye on him, Make sure he's okay."
"He isn't." Soulful stated flatly, but didn't argue. Tenderheart's attention was suddenly focused on the main doors, where Gentle Heart was walking in looking like a tidal wave had just washed over her.
"What happened?" Tenderheart asked as they walked over to her, his words tripping over Soulful's; "Are you alright?" Gentle Heart took a steadying breath before she answered them both.
"I was walking past Bright Heart as he was coming out and….and he didn't even seem to notice me." Tenderheart and Soulful shared a wince…as if they needed further proof that all was not okay.
"Don't worry, he probably wasn't thinking straight." Tenderheart said softly, which was undoubtedly true…but worrying in and of itself.
"We're just going to go check on him now." Soulful said. "You stay here and have something to eat." Gentle Heart looked like she was going to protest but a growl from her stomach, and a look from Soulful, was enough to convince her. Despite himself Tenderheart grinned. It was…not amusing but certainly smile worthy—to see Soulful when he was worried about someone he plainly cared about, even as he tried to cover it up by being his usually crotchety self.
Gentle Heart giggled; apparently she'd seen Tenderheart's face. Soulful whipped his head around to see what she was laughing about. Tenderheart quickly wiped the smile from his face. He didn't think it'd worked; Soulful missed very little but if he did notice it, he chose not to say anything. He made a brief 'shooing' motion at Gentle Heart who looked like she was about to giggle again before she stopped herself.
As Gentle Heart headed inside for breakfast, Tenderheart and Soulful headed to find Bright Heart.