[ the shadows around town are growing longer day by day, week by week, and one day toji looks up and finds he doesn't have anything in particular better to do.
it should probably be a point of self-reflection that toji, who has a child here and ostensibly some other personal obligations, has nothing better to do, but this man lives his life like a shark for a reason. he keeps moving forward, because if he stops even for a second, all the things he should be doing and all the things he should be aware of might catch up to him and suffocate him to death where he stands. so he doesn't think about it, he just moves, exiting the back of the abandoned van he's been sleeping in for the last few days and heading off in the direction of aventurine's place.
he comes in through a randomly selected window without any kind of knocking of warning, not calling out until he's well inside. ]
[ Aventurine pops up from under a blanket on the couch like he was holding his breath underneath it (he was) when he realizes who it is.
right this guy likes his windows as doors. better him as a surprise than one of those faceless flower things with teeth or whatever the hell Sleep cooked up this time. Someone needs to take away her interior decorating license, honestly...
He still huddles under the blanket, though, using it like a hooded cloak. ]
I'm both! No way am I giving that witch the satisfaction of dying here... [ stares at Toji before huffing a bit. ]
... Ugh, are you really not even a little bit cold? Do you even own a jacket here? [ or another shirt?! ]
Witch? [ toji asks, relief blink-and-you'll-miss-it across his face as he spots aventurine. he shuts the window almost like an afterthought and only because aventurine mentioned the cold. he shrugs, looking down at himself as though trying to figure out if he is at all cold and hasn't noticed.
the self-scan is inconclusive so he shrugs again. ]
Cold doesn't bother me. [ fatal, gaping open wounds also don't bother him, so take this answer with a grain of salt. ]
...you cold? [ he gestures to the general state of aventurine on the couch, wrapped up like he's trying to make himself a cocoon. ]
...A lot of things don't bother you. Let me be more specific: Do you feel the cold, even if you aren't bothered?
[ Aventurine puffs his cheeks a bit, admittedly unable to avoid pouting when he thinks about it. ] A little with the power being finicky again. I was just getting used to the privilege of heat, too...
Yeah? [ aventurine's question goes unanswered for the moment as toji plops his whole big ol' self down where aventurine's legs are trying to be, so move 'em or lose 'em baby. once he's sat down on the couch, he motions aventurine to get closer. ]
Here, I've had girls tell me I'm a furnace.
[ though he does run hot, it's going to take a few minutes for him to warm up himself. he's pretty thoroughly wind-chilled from the trek out here. ]
...I guess I can feel it if I stop to think about it, but, like. Why stop to think about it?
[ Aventurine scoots his knees back towards his chest to give Toji room (and save his legs.) he looks a bit suspiciously at Toji's offer before scooting over and reaching out to put his hands on his shoulder— and noppppeeeee!! Aventurine is getting up and disappearing before coming back with a huge comforter from the bed he's half dragging along to dump on Toji. He'll then crawl back onto the couch and flop again him with the comforter between them (well and the blanket that Aventurine is cocooned in.) ]
Offer again in like ten minutes, your furnace has to get itself running again.
Aaaannnnnd I don't know... seems like a great skill to have, but if you can be cold and not think about it or warm and not think about it by making a few small adjustments, isn't that better for you? Doesn't being cold make your muscles cramp or something?
[ he actually has no idea he's just making shit up. ]
Muscles cramp for a lot of reasons. Most of the time you just gotta work through it. [ like he ain't got time to remember to hydrate or eat foods that resemble healthy for him or any of that, so 'cold' is pretty low on his list of concerns. ]
Why fix something if it's not a problem?
[ it's not like he tries to fix things that actively are problems for him either, so.
aventurine going out of his way to dump a blanket on him, on the other hand...
it's not terrible. he sits under the blanket, docile, and lets himself warm. ]
Oh, shit. Almost forgot.
[ toji rummages suspiciously in his pants under the blanket for a few seconds, something in there... crinkling? and then he holds his closed fist out at aventurine. ]
Here, I found these.
[ 'these' turns out to be a handful of foil wrapped, nondescript hard candies. ]
Isn't the point of learning to cope through suffering? So you can appreciate the little things when you don't have to?
[ Toji probably doesn't really see it that way, but even Aventurine knows the difference. Is it an instinctual coping mechanism for this guy that he doesn't even realize? Even if the other doesn't, has completely forgotten all of it either out of a need to survive even if that's by barley preservinh some sense of basic ability to function, Aventurine knows what he saw at the dream banquet. That ideal wasn't a man that was completely lost to himself and the world, that was a man thinking he could learn to live for his wife and his son. S that wasn't a man who was going to be passive, sitting out otherwise.
The gambler chews a bit thoughtfully on his lower lip as he considers this conundrum, luckily not paying enough attention to the other digging around under the blanket to make a comment about whatever the other's fishing for. He's pulled out of his thoughts, though, when he hears the crinkle of the wrappers. Blinking owlishly, he tips his head in the direction curiously, gaze meeting the offered candies.
...They look like the candies from the candy dish at work! He reaches for them a bit excitedly. Of course he's seen things in magazines that look familiar to him that Earth has (or had) apparently, but it sure was hard to place things as familiar in a post-apocalyptic world with your family office life. These candies, though...! The wrappers are still weirdly friendly and shiny enough that he can easily make the connection. ]
Oh wow, wonder what flavors—
[ ...wait, wait. bluntly, he asks: ]
Are these for me?
[ maybe Toji just wants to show them off like a rock collection or something? ]
[ toji dumps the candies into aventurine's hands, like he's just trying to get rid of them. this doesn't explain why he picked them up and carried them around in his pocket all this time when he doesn't keep literally anything else on his person, but he's not interested in explaining. ]
[ oh well ... Aventurine has to assume he tried them and doesn't like them, then. Why else would he give them? He's sharp catching onto many things that are conflicting but not when it comes to this kind of thing. He'll shrug lightly. ]
Oh, your trash, my treasure, then. Thanks.
[ starts opening a candy after putting the others on the coffee table. He hasn't exactly told most people this except those that have seen him do it already, but...
shrugs his shoulders more slowly this time with some disappointment. ]
Dunno. More than a week probably. I'm what they call a Lightweaver, so without the daylight I'm cooked by any other types here after one or two battles.
Cooked? [ this man died a while ago, he has no idea what the kids are saying these days. but he can sort of infer. probably? he also has no idea what a lightweaver is, but he can also infer that it involves needing some kind of light. ]
You been laying like this the whole time?
[ a pause. ]
You could've called me.
[ we'll take 'things he should also be saying to megumi, probably, but won't' for 100 alex. ]
Not exactly. I went out once when I felt one of my tethers in trouble, but it took a lot out of me.
[ Aventurine pops the unwrapped candy into his mouth before slowly tilting his head back to look up at Toji like he has three heads.
He said that so easily and could have definitely said it to Megumi, what the heck! Okay, but if Aventurine wants to help Megumi with his dad issues in any way, he knows that pointing this out right now would be a really bad idea.
... And actually, it's probably a bad idea to point out that's such a strange thing to hear from him because maybe he doesn't even realize it? (He totally has to realize it, right?)
Luckily, Aventurine has a third thing he could say that also came to mind around the same time. ]
Uh huh... [ he shifts the candy in his mouth as he sucks on it thoughtfully. ] Annddd.... you'd, what, come hang out with me?
[ toji just gives aventurine this like. flat stare, like aventurine's being fucking difficult for some reason but toji has no clue what that reason might be. he looks away, shrugging. he's too emotionally constipated to point out that he came last time no questions asked. ]
I mean, if you'd rather get sucked into some black abyss or eaten by some fucked up monster just say that.
Oh please, that's not what I meant. I'm too good-looking to let myself go like that.
Even I know asking someone to stay with me while Sleep is playing games in the dark is too much entitlement. I can't expect you to stay here for days or weeks.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
welcome to week 3
it should probably be a point of self-reflection that toji, who has a child here and ostensibly some other personal obligations, has nothing better to do, but this man lives his life like a shark for a reason. he keeps moving forward, because if he stops even for a second, all the things he should be doing and all the things he should be aware of might catch up to him and suffocate him to death where he stands. so he doesn't think about it, he just moves, exiting the back of the abandoned van he's been sleeping in for the last few days and heading off in the direction of aventurine's place.
he comes in through a randomly selected window without any kind of knocking of warning, not calling out until he's well inside. ]
Hey, you alive, kitten? You home?
no subject
right this guy likes his windows as doors. better him as a surprise than one of those faceless flower things with teeth or whatever the hell Sleep cooked up this time. Someone needs to take away her interior decorating license, honestly...
He still huddles under the blanket, though, using it like a hooded cloak. ]
I'm both! No way am I giving that witch the satisfaction of dying here... [ stares at Toji before huffing a bit. ]
... Ugh, are you really not even a little bit cold? Do you even own a jacket here? [ or another shirt?! ]
no subject
the self-scan is inconclusive so he shrugs again. ]
Cold doesn't bother me. [ fatal, gaping open wounds also don't bother him, so take this answer with a grain of salt. ]
...you cold? [ he gestures to the general state of aventurine on the couch, wrapped up like he's trying to make himself a cocoon. ]
no subject
[ witch, bitch, goddess, whatever she is. ]
...A lot of things don't bother you. Let me be more specific: Do you feel the cold, even if you aren't bothered?
[ Aventurine puffs his cheeks a bit, admittedly unable to avoid pouting when he thinks about it. ] A little with the power being finicky again. I was just getting used to the privilege of heat, too...
no subject
Here, I've had girls tell me I'm a furnace.
[ though he does run hot, it's going to take a few minutes for him to warm up himself. he's pretty thoroughly wind-chilled from the trek out here. ]
...I guess I can feel it if I stop to think about it, but, like. Why stop to think about it?
no subject
Offer again in like ten minutes, your furnace has to get itself running again.
Aaaannnnnd I don't know... seems like a great skill to have, but if you can be cold and not think about it or warm and not think about it by making a few small adjustments, isn't that better for you? Doesn't being cold make your muscles cramp or something?
[ he actually has no idea he's just making shit up. ]
no subject
Why fix something if it's not a problem?
[ it's not like he tries to fix things that actively are problems for him either, so.
aventurine going out of his way to dump a blanket on him, on the other hand...
it's not terrible. he sits under the blanket, docile, and lets himself warm. ]
Oh, shit. Almost forgot.
[ toji rummages suspiciously in his pants under the blanket for a few seconds, something in there... crinkling? and then he holds his closed fist out at aventurine. ]
Here, I found these.
[ 'these' turns out to be a handful of foil wrapped, nondescript hard candies. ]
no subject
[ Toji probably doesn't really see it that way, but even Aventurine knows the difference. Is it an instinctual coping mechanism for this guy that he doesn't even realize? Even if the other doesn't, has completely forgotten all of it either out of a need to survive even if that's by barley preservinh some sense of basic ability to function, Aventurine knows what he saw at the dream banquet. That ideal wasn't a man that was completely lost to himself and the world, that was a man thinking he could learn to live for his wife and his son. S that wasn't a man who was going to be passive, sitting out otherwise.
The gambler chews a bit thoughtfully on his lower lip as he considers this conundrum, luckily not paying enough attention to the other digging around under the blanket to make a comment about whatever the other's fishing for. He's pulled out of his thoughts, though, when he hears the crinkle of the wrappers. Blinking owlishly, he tips his head in the direction curiously, gaze meeting the offered candies.
...They look like the candies from the candy dish at work! He reaches for them a bit excitedly. Of course he's seen things in magazines that look familiar to him that Earth has (or had) apparently, but it sure was hard to place things as familiar in a post-apocalyptic world with your family office life. These candies, though...! The wrappers are still weirdly friendly and shiny enough that he can easily make the connection. ]
Oh wow, wonder what flavors—
[ ...wait, wait. bluntly, he asks: ]
Are these for me?
[ maybe Toji just wants to show them off like a rock collection or something? ]
no subject
[ toji dumps the candies into aventurine's hands, like he's just trying to get rid of them. this doesn't explain why he picked them up and carried them around in his pocket all this time when he doesn't keep literally anything else on his person, but he's not interested in explaining. ]
How long you been hiding in here, anyway?
no subject
Oh, your trash, my treasure, then. Thanks.
[ starts opening a candy after putting the others on the coffee table. He hasn't exactly told most people this except those that have seen him do it already, but...
shrugs his shoulders more slowly this time with some disappointment. ]
Dunno. More than a week probably. I'm what they call a Lightweaver, so without the daylight I'm cooked by any other types here after one or two battles.
no subject
You been laying like this the whole time?
[ a pause. ]
You could've called me.
[ we'll take 'things he should also be saying to megumi, probably, but won't' for 100 alex. ]
no subject
[ those are timeless ones, right? ]
Not exactly. I went out once when I felt one of my tethers in trouble, but it took a lot out of me.
[ Aventurine pops the unwrapped candy into his mouth before slowly tilting his head back to look up at Toji like he has three heads.
He said that so easily and could have definitely said it to Megumi, what the heck! Okay, but if Aventurine wants to help Megumi with his dad issues in any way, he knows that pointing this out right now would be a really bad idea.
... And actually, it's probably a bad idea to point out that's such a strange thing to hear from him because maybe he doesn't even realize it? (He totally has to realize it, right?)
Luckily, Aventurine has a third thing he could say that also came to mind around the same time. ]
Uh huh... [ he shifts the candy in his mouth as he sucks on it thoughtfully. ] Annddd.... you'd, what, come hang out with me?
no subject
I mean, if you'd rather get sucked into some black abyss or eaten by some fucked up monster just say that.
no subject
Even I know asking someone to stay with me while Sleep is playing games in the dark is too much entitlement. I can't expect you to stay here for days or weeks.
[ unless he wants to or something?? ]
no subject
......right. What is it you think I do when I'm not here?
no subject
... I've never thought about it. What do you do?