[complete]
WHO: Andrew and Thom
WHERE: Their apartment.
WHEN: October 5th, morning, shortly after this.
WARNINGS: None.
SUMMARY: Andrew and Thom and whatever.
FORMAT: Quicklog via AIM.
Andrew: [Andrew enters the Derp Flat. Calling out in a whisper:] Thom? Are you awake?
Thom: [Thom hasn't exactly moved since Rikki left, other than discovering that he can hold the comm without crashing it if he's careful -- he's not going to try without being careful anytime soon -- so there are still shards of the broken mirror everywhere. And the door is also on the floor.
So he has a choice between not answering and Andrew will enter or answering and Andrew will enter. He can't find which one is the good answer and just stays silent, in thoughts.
It's too early... Andrew probably missed Rikki. Which means he doesn't know. Geez.]
Andrew: [No one is home. Maybe, Thom is out running errands. Andrew hardly minds having a few precious moments to himself. They are few and far between even here. Sharing a flat with two other people is proving more of a trial than he imagined. He puts on the kettle and flops down on a chair to wait for it to boil. He crosses to the bedroom to get the book he left on his nightstand this morning. When he enters, the first thing he notices is the closet door.
Or rather the lack of one.
That isn't strictly fair. There is a closet door. It is on the ground, next to Thom. Panic rises in Andrew's stomach, filling with the fear that this is the work of criminals and that Thom has finally found out just how quickly he can heal. Not here. Please not here. Andrew has seen more than enough good men die lately. Thom is lying on the ground, surrounded by a few token blood stains and broken glass. Andrew wishes he felt like vomiting. He doesn't.]
Thom?
Thom: [He sits up and stretches a little, looking incredibly sheepish.]
Hey. I thought maybe you wouldn't see the mess if I uh. Didn't say anything. Because obviously I'm some sort of ostrich. But with the hearing instead of the sight. [He is not speaking nonsense at all. This all makes sense.]
Andrew: [Andrew is furious. He tries not to be. He makes an honest effort. It does not work.]
I don't expect you've ever spent much time in the London Blitz, Thom, but I only thought you'd have the decency not to recreate it in our bedroom.
[He isn't sure how to tell Thom that broken doors and mirrors don't mean a few cuts anywhere but in the City, and where he comes from, healing powers are far between. He thinks of men on beaches but mostly of Laurie, and he bites his lip to blink back the blurriness at the corners of his eyes.]
Thom: [Oh. Oh fuck.] I didn't -- I didn't mean anything like that. I -- woke up this morning? And it just happened because... well I don't know why but I can't heal people anymore. I have other powers and I can't control them and I shouldn't me making any excuses. I'm just... really sorry.
[Now would be the time where he'd be thinking about getting up to offer a hug if offering a hug wouldn't lead to possibly crushing Andrew by accident.]
Andrew: [Andrew stares at him incredulously. He has forgotten how particularly mad the City can get when it puts its mind to it. Flatly:]
Clean yourself off and get out of the bedroom, so I can clean.
[He isn't best pleased. He leaves, turns off the kettle, giving up on his tea, and wonders if they've got peroxide lying about and how long those stains have been let to sit in the carpet. Oh dear.]
Thom: [And now is when he's going to make sure he will lose Andrew's respect forever over something stupid... Thom doesn't want to move. He is fine on the floor -- he can't break anything on the floor.]
I was planning on staying here. Uh. It's... safe? [He says loudly so Andrew can hear, hoping that this isn't going to... degenerate, somehow.]
Andrew: [Andrew rolls his eyes. He wants to tell Thom to stop being a child, but Thom won't take that well -he knows Thom well enough to guess that- and he doesn't have the strength to properly argue with him.]
Yes, I was forgetting how you frequently destroy our living room. Come on, get out of there. Just be a bit careful. I don't like to leave you lying in all that glass.
Where's Rikki?
Thom: [Where's Rikki. That's a fabulous question that will lead to more judging from Andrew's side. Thom looks suddenly worried, panicked and anxious.]
Rikki went to the clinic? You must have... missed her?
[He's ignoring the first part of Andrew's comment for the sake of that second part.]
Andrew: WhathappenedtoRikki?
[Andrew is panicking a little bit now, which is good for Thom because it means he is slightly distractible and might forget about cleaning for a while.]
Is she all right? Thom, you didn't- I rather hope what happened to the mirror didn't happen to Rikki.
Thom: [Thom's hands on his lap are incredibly interesting right about now. When he speaks up, his tone is sad and full of guilt.]
She said she was fine but I think her hand might be broken.
Andrew: I don't see why her hand should be broken-
[Then, it comes together. Thom has new powers. Thom is surrounded by a door torn off its hinges. Thom is bathed in fragments of a mirror. Thom broke Rikki's hand. Andrew feels as though he ought to try to comfort Thom, but he isn't sure how he should go about that because he is far too frightened to go near him.]
Oh, Thom.
Thom: [He just feels bad and sounds bad and is still not looking up.]
So. Uhm. At least now you know why I'm not moving.
Andrew: [Andrew sighs.] Don't you see how silly you're being?
Thom: I'm not being silly. Well -- okay I am, a little. But mostly I'm afraid I'm going to break more things or hurt more people. Staying here seemed like a perfectly good solution.
[He does look up now, and he nearly has puppy eyes on. They're not exactly to that point, but Thom does look rather miserable.]
You don't want me to hurt you, either. You're afraid of me right now, aren't you?
Andrew: [Andrew bites his lip. He crosses to the bedroom, bends down, and hugs Thom, trying not to think about the niggling pain in his shin. After all, he knows all the best healers in the City. A few cuts are nothing.]
I'm terrified.
Thom: [He doesn't hug back. He stops himself from hugging back, just leaning into it as much as he can without pressing. The admission would hurt on its own, but combined with this -- it makes it sweet. It makes Thom weirdly moved, glad that Andrew is there for him like Rikki was earlier. They're both going to be afraid of him, but they're not running away.]
Thanks. [This doesn't seem like the right answer to Andrew's words now that Thom thinks about it, but it's what feels right.]
Andrew: [Andrew smiles into Thom's shoulder as he thanks him for being afraid. How very Thom. He has the best intentions of anyone Andrew has met in the City and most of the people who weren't Friends back home. He doesn't like this bizarrely violent Thom. He is far, far too used to knowing that Thom of all people can be trusted to never hurt a fly. He shudders.]
I say, you haven't noticed if anyone has said anything about this happening to them as as well on the communicator, have you?
Thom: [Thom is still not moving, afraid of himself, but not afraid enough to pull back.]
I haven't looked yet. I was testing how resistant the communicators were.
[He smiles a little, amused.] It's strange to have you think about the board first. You never think about the board and you never read it. Or, uh... do you? Maybe I assumed...?
Andrew: [Andrew shrugs.]
No. No, I never read it, but you always do, and I can see you've still got it with you. I only thought that this might not be a local problem.
Thom: I'll look. I was going to post.
[He smiles weakly, trying to give out a 'everything is fine' vibe and probably failing a lot.]
Do you -- still want me to move? I could stay immobile in the living room, too. It's just that, uhm, I'm pretty sure it won't be very... conducive if I try helping you clean my mess.
Andrew: Yes, I should like to get the blood out of the carpet as soon as I can. I expect we'd both like our deposit back.
[He stands up and surveys the damage again. He wonders if they can possibly reattach the door. Andrew always worries about money, and he worries about letting Thom work when he should be focusing on school, and he worries about putting the clinic ahead of better paid work, and he worries about not having a degree of any sort. This is going to be a disaster, he predicts.]
Be careful.
Thom: I will.
[He's usually not that careful but right now it's not himself that he's going to hurt, so... He stands up and moves out of the room slowly, glad that the door is still opened, and reaches the living room without touching anything. There, he sits on the floor again, because the floor would be hard to destroy.
This is going to be a long day.
He should write that post on the comm.]
WHERE: Their apartment.
WHEN: October 5th, morning, shortly after this.
WARNINGS: None.
SUMMARY: Andrew and Thom and whatever.
FORMAT: Quicklog via AIM.
Andrew: [Andrew enters the Derp Flat. Calling out in a whisper:] Thom? Are you awake?
Thom: [Thom hasn't exactly moved since Rikki left, other than discovering that he can hold the comm without crashing it if he's careful -- he's not going to try without being careful anytime soon -- so there are still shards of the broken mirror everywhere. And the door is also on the floor.
So he has a choice between not answering and Andrew will enter or answering and Andrew will enter. He can't find which one is the good answer and just stays silent, in thoughts.
It's too early... Andrew probably missed Rikki. Which means he doesn't know. Geez.]
Andrew: [No one is home. Maybe, Thom is out running errands. Andrew hardly minds having a few precious moments to himself. They are few and far between even here. Sharing a flat with two other people is proving more of a trial than he imagined. He puts on the kettle and flops down on a chair to wait for it to boil. He crosses to the bedroom to get the book he left on his nightstand this morning. When he enters, the first thing he notices is the closet door.
Or rather the lack of one.
That isn't strictly fair. There is a closet door. It is on the ground, next to Thom. Panic rises in Andrew's stomach, filling with the fear that this is the work of criminals and that Thom has finally found out just how quickly he can heal. Not here. Please not here. Andrew has seen more than enough good men die lately. Thom is lying on the ground, surrounded by a few token blood stains and broken glass. Andrew wishes he felt like vomiting. He doesn't.]
Thom?
Thom: [He sits up and stretches a little, looking incredibly sheepish.]
Hey. I thought maybe you wouldn't see the mess if I uh. Didn't say anything. Because obviously I'm some sort of ostrich. But with the hearing instead of the sight. [He is not speaking nonsense at all. This all makes sense.]
Andrew: [Andrew is furious. He tries not to be. He makes an honest effort. It does not work.]
I don't expect you've ever spent much time in the London Blitz, Thom, but I only thought you'd have the decency not to recreate it in our bedroom.
[He isn't sure how to tell Thom that broken doors and mirrors don't mean a few cuts anywhere but in the City, and where he comes from, healing powers are far between. He thinks of men on beaches but mostly of Laurie, and he bites his lip to blink back the blurriness at the corners of his eyes.]
Thom: [Oh. Oh fuck.] I didn't -- I didn't mean anything like that. I -- woke up this morning? And it just happened because... well I don't know why but I can't heal people anymore. I have other powers and I can't control them and I shouldn't me making any excuses. I'm just... really sorry.
[Now would be the time where he'd be thinking about getting up to offer a hug if offering a hug wouldn't lead to possibly crushing Andrew by accident.]
Andrew: [Andrew stares at him incredulously. He has forgotten how particularly mad the City can get when it puts its mind to it. Flatly:]
Clean yourself off and get out of the bedroom, so I can clean.
[He isn't best pleased. He leaves, turns off the kettle, giving up on his tea, and wonders if they've got peroxide lying about and how long those stains have been let to sit in the carpet. Oh dear.]
Thom: [And now is when he's going to make sure he will lose Andrew's respect forever over something stupid... Thom doesn't want to move. He is fine on the floor -- he can't break anything on the floor.]
I was planning on staying here. Uh. It's... safe? [He says loudly so Andrew can hear, hoping that this isn't going to... degenerate, somehow.]
Andrew: [Andrew rolls his eyes. He wants to tell Thom to stop being a child, but Thom won't take that well -he knows Thom well enough to guess that- and he doesn't have the strength to properly argue with him.]
Yes, I was forgetting how you frequently destroy our living room. Come on, get out of there. Just be a bit careful. I don't like to leave you lying in all that glass.
Where's Rikki?
Thom: [Where's Rikki. That's a fabulous question that will lead to more judging from Andrew's side. Thom looks suddenly worried, panicked and anxious.]
Rikki went to the clinic? You must have... missed her?
[He's ignoring the first part of Andrew's comment for the sake of that second part.]
Andrew: WhathappenedtoRikki?
[Andrew is panicking a little bit now, which is good for Thom because it means he is slightly distractible and might forget about cleaning for a while.]
Is she all right? Thom, you didn't- I rather hope what happened to the mirror didn't happen to Rikki.
Thom: [Thom's hands on his lap are incredibly interesting right about now. When he speaks up, his tone is sad and full of guilt.]
She said she was fine but I think her hand might be broken.
Andrew: I don't see why her hand should be broken-
[Then, it comes together. Thom has new powers. Thom is surrounded by a door torn off its hinges. Thom is bathed in fragments of a mirror. Thom broke Rikki's hand. Andrew feels as though he ought to try to comfort Thom, but he isn't sure how he should go about that because he is far too frightened to go near him.]
Oh, Thom.
Thom: [He just feels bad and sounds bad and is still not looking up.]
So. Uhm. At least now you know why I'm not moving.
Andrew: [Andrew sighs.] Don't you see how silly you're being?
Thom: I'm not being silly. Well -- okay I am, a little. But mostly I'm afraid I'm going to break more things or hurt more people. Staying here seemed like a perfectly good solution.
[He does look up now, and he nearly has puppy eyes on. They're not exactly to that point, but Thom does look rather miserable.]
You don't want me to hurt you, either. You're afraid of me right now, aren't you?
Andrew: [Andrew bites his lip. He crosses to the bedroom, bends down, and hugs Thom, trying not to think about the niggling pain in his shin. After all, he knows all the best healers in the City. A few cuts are nothing.]
I'm terrified.
Thom: [He doesn't hug back. He stops himself from hugging back, just leaning into it as much as he can without pressing. The admission would hurt on its own, but combined with this -- it makes it sweet. It makes Thom weirdly moved, glad that Andrew is there for him like Rikki was earlier. They're both going to be afraid of him, but they're not running away.]
Thanks. [This doesn't seem like the right answer to Andrew's words now that Thom thinks about it, but it's what feels right.]
Andrew: [Andrew smiles into Thom's shoulder as he thanks him for being afraid. How very Thom. He has the best intentions of anyone Andrew has met in the City and most of the people who weren't Friends back home. He doesn't like this bizarrely violent Thom. He is far, far too used to knowing that Thom of all people can be trusted to never hurt a fly. He shudders.]
I say, you haven't noticed if anyone has said anything about this happening to them as as well on the communicator, have you?
Thom: [Thom is still not moving, afraid of himself, but not afraid enough to pull back.]
I haven't looked yet. I was testing how resistant the communicators were.
[He smiles a little, amused.] It's strange to have you think about the board first. You never think about the board and you never read it. Or, uh... do you? Maybe I assumed...?
Andrew: [Andrew shrugs.]
No. No, I never read it, but you always do, and I can see you've still got it with you. I only thought that this might not be a local problem.
Thom: I'll look. I was going to post.
[He smiles weakly, trying to give out a 'everything is fine' vibe and probably failing a lot.]
Do you -- still want me to move? I could stay immobile in the living room, too. It's just that, uhm, I'm pretty sure it won't be very... conducive if I try helping you clean my mess.
Andrew: Yes, I should like to get the blood out of the carpet as soon as I can. I expect we'd both like our deposit back.
[He stands up and surveys the damage again. He wonders if they can possibly reattach the door. Andrew always worries about money, and he worries about letting Thom work when he should be focusing on school, and he worries about putting the clinic ahead of better paid work, and he worries about not having a degree of any sort. This is going to be a disaster, he predicts.]
Be careful.
Thom: I will.
[He's usually not that careful but right now it's not himself that he's going to hurt, so... He stands up and moves out of the room slowly, glad that the door is still opened, and reaches the living room without touching anything. There, he sits on the floor again, because the floor would be hard to destroy.
This is going to be a long day.
He should write that post on the comm.]