Explain It Like I'm Tree

Roots

"Did they rely on a tree as part of the support for that?" she muttered. "Is that thing still alive?"

Arthur clenched his hair with both hands, his jaw hanging loose. "It's... even the main MANSION is halfway on STILTS. Is one of those shacks in the stack a motorboat? IT IS! What crackpot built this?!"

Vivi smacked his arm, lightly. "Don't be rude. A large family used to live here, and it's still standing. Three or four generations got use out of it. It has to be sounder than it looks."

"Oh, no. No. No, no no no NO! If you think I'm setting one foot in... and if you think YOU'RE setting one foot... where are you–VIVI!"

She was halfway up the multi-landing front steps by the time Arthur caught up and grabbed her arm. Annoyed, she tried to pry his fingers loose. "Look, Squire, do you sense something dangerous, here?"

"I don't have to 'sense' anything, I just have to open my eyes!"

"No, I mean it. Is there something lurking in there," she pointed at the house, "that you feel we can't handle?"

"Vivi!" Arthur dug his fingers into her arm. "Why can't you accept that my regular senses say this is a bad idea?" His voice kept rising. "Why can't you just LISTEN when I say THAT PLACE COULD COLLAPSE ANY SECOND? WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO LISTEN TO ME?"

Vivi caught a furious reply right on the edge of her tongue, snapping her teeth shut. She yanked free of Arthur's grip and sat down on the step, frowning down at her lap. The hurt and anger in his voice was too reminiscent of her own accusations.

Was she not pushing him past what he was comfortable with? Again?

Wasn't this the sort of thing that had led to the incident in the cave?

How much of that incident was your fault, Vivi?

Mystery nosed his way into her lap, butting up against her chest. Absently, she stroked his back. Lewis had warned her to pay more attention to Arthur's intuition for danger. She'd thought that only meant a sort of supernatural dangersense, but...

She released her breath through clenched teeth. "I don't like this," she muttered.

Arthur squatted a couple steps down from her, facing up. His face was still tight, but cautious. He looked like someone hot on a trail littered with landmines. "What exactly don't you like?"

"Going slow. Double checking. Avoiding things. Hot trails go cold, you know. And how are we supposed to deal with whatever's bugaboo around here if we can't go in and inspect the situation?" She threw out her hands. "Are we just supposed to drop every case you get nervous about? Do we dissolve the Mystery Skulls? How far does your veto power go, Arthur? We drove all this way and I was really looking forward to doing a case, and... and it just feels like you've got no give, here."

"Last time I gave–" He stopped that sentence cold, then plunked down on his rear. He folded and unfolded his hands, working his jaw. Vivi let him comb through his thoughts for the right words.

Finally, he looked up. "Let's just say, I feel the same way about you, okay? It's like you have to follow up every single lead, traipse through every condemned building. I just..." He trailed off and looked down. Raising his left arm, he flexed prosthetic fingers, one at a time. "I don't want to beat you over the head with this, Vivi. I really don't. But the fact is that we lost a lot last time we went charging in and I was not okay going in there to begin with. I just didn't push it. I didn't tell you how badly I wanted to turn around and leave. And look where we are now because of it."

If she could pull in away from the edges of her body, she would have. She couldn't look him in the face anymore. "So it's my fault? You blame me?"

There was a pause. "Yes. And no."