As the credits rolled, the lights returned. Dogen slowly pushed himself out of his seat and shuffled into the aisle. He surveyed the damage that had been caused by the war between siblings. Soaked chairs, crumbs sticking to the carpet, and puddles that would have made the cleaning crew agitated, if they bothered performing their job duties.

But it was Mirtala and Raz leering at each other that captivated Dogen. He shuffled toward them, and the temptation to break up whatever brewed between them crossed his mind. But neither sibling paid him any attention. He was left to fidget in place, wondering who would be the first to strike up the argument.

Raz' hydrokinetic hands fell. The water and soda splashed quietly on the floor and dribbled into the carpet. He planted his sneakers on the ground and folded his arms. His face darkened, his lips nonexistent from how hard he pursed them, and the wrinkles in his brow told Dogen of his discomfort.

Mirtala continued glaring at him. She stepped forward, and he jerked away. When Raz' hip hit the adjacent chair, Mirtala reached back and snatched Bobby's hand. She dragged him up, ignoring his yelp, and she strode over to the door. She announced she wanted to speak outside, and without another word, she stomped out with Bobby stumbling along, her bells clanging, for whom they would toll.

The door shut behind her. Dogen and Raz stood in bewildered silence. He peered up at him, asking to know if he was okay. Tugging off his mask, Raz gnawed on his lower lip. He shoved it in his pocket, discarding his wet gloves in it, too. Dragging his hands down his face, he groaned at the top of his lungs and slouched into the seats, falling over like in a way that reminded Dogen of summer camp when a sobbing Elka sprawled out on the lodge's stage after Nils publicly dumped her.

Dogen might have had his reservations about spying on Mirtala, but he had kept a secret from Raz. If he had spoken up sooner, then they might have avoided any serious confrontation. Even if he earned their ire, it would have been better than letting Raz' agitation burst like a dam. He slipped between the seats behind Raz and gripped his shoulders. When Raz listlessly looked at him, he said, "So, um, Tala knew we were here, and she made me not tell you. Sorry, Raz."

A weak smile played on Raz' lips. He wearily dragged himself upright. With a sigh, he said, "It's okay, Dogen. I think we were bound to be found out no matter what we did." He moaned, tilting his chin to the ceiling. "Oh, boy, I messed up big time, didn't I?"

Dogen would have agreed if Mirtala and Bobby hadn't purposefully antagonized Raz. Mentioning as much, he took Raz' hand. He pressed his thumb against his worm palm, squeezing gently, and he added, "At least it was kind of funny."

Raz puffed out a laugh. "Dogen, he called my sister 'babe.' If I didn't have any self-control, I would've upheaved every single chair and started tossing them at that trash-head." He suddenly grimaced, a repulsed whine escaping him. "Ugh! And she kissed him on the cheek! I don't know if he even washes his face."

Dogen laughed, his apprehension fading. He was glad Raz found humor in the situation. It was a pleasant, reassuring contrast from the person who had been dancing with grief and despair for the past hour and half. He was also delighted he didn't have to watch the siblings tear each other apart, imagining the show Bobby would have gotten out of it, who had been the source of the concern.

"So, are you ready to get chewed out?" Dogen asked.

Raz held out his fist. "As long as you're with me, Dogen, I can handle whatever Tala dishes out."

Lightly bumping his knuckles against Raz', he chuckled. "You know, we're acting like we're in the right when I don't think we are."

"If we just pretend to be confident and understanding, then maybe, just maybe, she won't kill me too much."

They shared another laugh. Calming Raz down before facing Mirtala was for the best. He had already been combating the stress welling up in his head and didn't want to leave the theater with someone headless. His hat might have been specialized, and he was mostly in control of his blastokinesis, but if Raz and Mirtala had gone directly into a screaming match, he wasn't sure if his brain would have been able to contain his stress from leaking out in stabbing waves.

It took a few tries, but he managed to wrestle Raz out of the theater. While Dogen walked, Raz crept, tiptoeing and earning strange looks from the employees. The only person who didn't mind was the girl who had given them their tickets, for she had already fallen asleep on the job.

Mirtala and Bobby were chatting in front of his truck. Her arms were flailing, and she seemed to jabber on a mile a minute. She was blurting out sentences so quickly that Dogen had no idea what she was saying.. Bobby appeared to be unable to get a single word in, reduced to nodding in agreement, evidently dumbstruck.

She stopped when they approached. Mirtala lifted her nose, and Bobby scratched his neck, his eyes flicking between the siblings. Raz focused on Mirtala, and Dogen telepathically urged him on, hopeful they would make up.

"Tala, it was wrong of me to spy on you. I'm sorry," he said, holding out his hands.

"Did Dogen coach you to say that?" she immediately snapped. "'Cause you two sure were taking your sweet time to come here."

Briefly shaken by her harsh tone, Raz tapped his chest. "N-no, no. This is coming straight from my heart. You're an adult now, and you don't need me watching over you."

Mirtala made a show of pressing her tongue to the roof of her mouth and loudly clicking it. "Oh, yeah? Why is this time so different from the other times that it made you wanna apologize?"

Her wording threw Dogen off his groove. He tilted his head at Raz, narrowing his eyes. Raz paled under the pressure of three people staring at him, each with various displays of displeasure. Dogen voiced his bewilderment, repeating Mirtala's exact question, and he made Raz awkwardly whistle, his smile strained.

Mirtala extended a finger for each encounter. "Benny invites me to a musical. Raz shows up and sits behind us. Chops asks me out to dinner. Raz pretends to be the waiter. Quentin takes me backstage to his and Phoebe's concert, and what do you know? Raz is also there, and he stands between me and Quentin for every conversation I have with the guy. And lastly, Crystal and I go up to her apartment for coffee, and guess what happens next!" When no one answered, and Raz increasingly yanked at his collar, Mirtala stomped her heel into the pavement. "Raz levitates in front of her window!" She sprung toward him, her braids nearly striking him in the face. "This was the last straw, Raz! I don't even know how you found out about my movie with Bobby! Are you spying on my every move now?"

Raz sucked in a sharp breath and avoided her gaze. "Well, uh, being fully transparent when I say this, but I just happened to round the corner at the exact time he gave you the ticket." He pointed his index fingers at Dogen. "And after that, I ran off to find Dogen. Right, buddy?"

Silence fell upon the four of them. Dogen let his mouth stay ajar. Bobby and Benny as potential boyfriends for Mirtala were valid reasons why Raz would have intervened on their dates. But Chops, Quentin, and Crystal were three of the nicest people they had ever met. No one had a bad word to say about any of them. If there was a problem with them, then it would have been resolved by an earnest conversation.

"Raz, that's a little extreme," Dogen muttered, itching his scalp.

Raz winced. "I-"

"Hold on, shut up, Goggalicious," Bobby interjected, Raz scowling at him in return. "You said I 'gave' Tala a ticket. You're talkin' like I invited her here on a date."

Dogen's eyes shot wide open. He hobbled forward, placing himself in front of Raz as if it would help him fathom the situation. "Uh, wait, what? Isn't this a date?"

Bobby stared at Dogen like he sprouted a second head. "No! I won two tickets to that movie on a radio show after I answered a horror trivia question correctly on the air. They shipped me the tickets, and Mirtala found out I scored them."

"And after that, I snatched one from Bobby's hand and told him that I'd meet him here!" Mirtala chirped, smiling, only to suddenly frown. "I guess Raz misinterpreted what he saw, which made him want to pull another fast ball on me."

Shame darkened Raz' expression. He choked out something that sounded like an excuse, but it was too vague for Dogen to understand. He blustered his way through an apology that was more like the verbal manifestation of digging his own grave until Mirtala stopped him.

"Raz, you don't need to protect me. I thought it was kind of funny at first, but then, you just kept at it. It's like you don't want me exploring relationships because you think I can't handle myself," she said, crossing her arms, closing in on herself. "I get it. You care about me, but this is too much for me to handle anymore. So, stop it!"

Raz gasped as her voice broke. Bobby flinched, hands awkwardly raised toward her. And Dogen's heart panged. Mirtala tucked her chin to her chest and shoved her fists into her pockets. She glared at the parking spaces, her sadness ebbing off of her in a manner far too relatable for Dogen. His own family thought he needed to be supervised when he was younger, when he had more accidents. He had a degree of autonomy, but as a child, it had been harder to exercise it when he wasn't in control of his blastokinesis.

Raz had always respected his intelligence and integrity. He had never once questioned or doubted him. Dogen knew Raz saw the best in the people. Although he had jumped far over the line in the sand, his intentions hadn't been malicious.

Still, Mirtala was hurt, and Dogen knew what needed to be said.

Raz, he thought, grinning at him, you need to make this right. I know you can.

Uncertainty plagued Raz. It must have been an unfamiliar feeling for him. The Raz Dogen had befriended years ago was confident beyond comparison. He was always one leap ahead of the bad guys on missions, but Mirtala was his family, who felt their connection had been damaged. Dogen gently patted the small of Raz' back, insisting for him to try again, and Raz seemed to muster his strength, offering a quiet nod before facing his downtrodden sister.

"You're…completely right, Tala. I did all of that, and it was extreme. It definitely went beyond what's normal," he said, "but it's not because I don't think you can't handle navigating relationships. You're my little sister, and I worry about you." He paused to take a breath. "It might have been a kind of a gag for a while, but it wasn't that I didn't trust you or think you weren't deserving of respect. I overreacted, and what I did really hurt you." He dropped his head. "I'm sorry. I should've been more understanding of you. You have every right to be mad at me because I've acted like a fool this entire time."

Mirtala appeared to let his words sink in. She didn't give an indication that she had accepted his honest words. She smoothed a stray lock of curly auburn hair behind her ear. Mirtala tapped her foot, letting the silence grow to an uncomfortable degree, before breaking out in a wide grin. "I'm letting you off way too easy," she remarked, and she tossed her arms around Raz, grabbing him in a back-breaking hug. "Of course I can't be mad at you forever, Raz! Don't look so morbid!"

Dogen chuckled when he heard a few of Raz' ribs grind together. As Raz yelped and Mirtala commented he had lost his flexibility, he was delighted that they had come together. When Mirtala spun Raz around, giggling up a storm, he almost joined their embrace but remembered that he didn't want his spine broken.

Dogen glanced over at the oddly silent Bobby. He leaned in his truck, focusing on Mirtala. An air of austerity clung to him. Raz had marred him, but Bobby would have bounced back with an insult. They had shared jabs that had been far more painful, and yet, Bobby remained standoffish, avoiding Dogen's stare when he realized eyes were on him.

Hey, Raz, I think there's someone else who needs an apology, Dogen thought, and Raz blinked, realization dawning on him.

He released Mirtala, arching an eyebrow at Bobby. "Uh, hey, Bobby."

"You got something good to say to me, Razzy?" he huffed, lip curling.

"Ignoring your attempt to start a fight with me, I'm sorry I didn't trust you. I had a bad insinuation about you, and you didn't deserve it. Can't believe I have to say this, but Bobby, you did nothing wrong." He still drummed his fingers on his hip and leveled an even glare at him. "Just, uh, don't call my sister 'babe' in front of me ever again."

Despite Raz' heartfelt words, Bobby shrugged and smirked. "Yeah, alright. It was fun knowing that you were squirming throughout all that. I'll take your discomfort as your apology."

Raz' eyelid twitched. Dogen telepathically reminded him that they had been in the wrong. Raz managed a tight smile at Bobby, and Dogen anticipated an argument between them the moment they entered the Motherlobe tomorrow.

All was well that ended well. The movie had been decent, and the argument had been solved. Any tension between Raz and Mirtala ceased to exist. Even Bobby was grinning, a rarity in its genuine nature.

Mirtala stretched her arms high in the air, commenting on the setting sun. "Well, it's getting late. Bobby and I have to get going."

"You two have other plans?" Dogen wondered, spotting the empty bench. He knew Mirtala had arrived by herself, and he felt a shiver of psychic energy trickling off Raz. "Um, what are you doing now?"

She chuckled, beaming down at him. "We have an actual date now, Dogen! While we were outside, he asked me if I wanted to get dinner with him to make me feel better after that stunt. So, we're going to a burger place!" Mirtala cheered, and Bobby fished out his keys, unlocking his truck. She skipped around to the passenger door, waving at them. "Bye, Raz! Bye, Dogen! Talk to you two later!"

"What? No way! I can't do this for real!" Raz screamed, but Bobby locked the doors as soon as they jumped in his truck. He seized the handle and pulled before banging in the window. "No! No, no, no, no! We're not ending things on this note! Mirtala, get out of his truck! Now!"

She stuck out her tongue. "You can't go back on your word, Raz! I already said bye!"

Hey, Razzy, get used to calling me brother-in-law, Bobby sneered, his words like poison in Dogen's brain.

Bobby's hyena-like cackling echoed as he peeled out of the parking lot. Fumes spewed around them, the gray exhaust like a fog. Dogen coughed and covered his nose, wishing Bobby had invested in a car that wasn't a gas guzzler. When he cracked open an eye, Bobby and Mirtala blew through a red light, and in a matter of seconds, they were long gone.

The wind blew around them. Neither made a sound. Raz turned toward Dogen's car and dragged his feet, Dogen stumbling after him. When he placed his hand on the passenger door, he waited for Dogen to unlock his buggy, and when he did, Raz slithered inside.

Dogen sat in the driver's seat. He stuck his keys in the ignition and said, "Well, that could've gone better."

Raz hit his forehead against the dashboard, and Dogen reached underneath for his glove department, wanting nothing more than to look at pictures of animals on his Otto-Shot.