#49. What's Missing?
It's funny how easy it is to get in a rut. Even when you're sort of technically a supernatural creature of the night.
Or whatever.
Or maybe especially because, to hear Harry talk about the difference between humans and the creatures who only sometimes looked like them.
Thomas has a routine now. Get up, do all the morning ablutions, make sure his hair is just so, pick out his ensemble to wear for the day, drive on down into work. And maybe there, in the salon, he plays a role, but it's just a job. The same job he goes to every single day. Smile and gossip and do the ladies' hair and steal just enough of their souls to keep on going. Madness isn't something he wants to experience firsthand. Neither is starvation.
Sure, every now and again something happens that throws things out of whack. Usually it's something his brother is right in the middle of. Crazy necromancers, crazy faerie queens, crazy vampires, crazy fallen angels. A whole lotta crazy, actually, now that he thinks about it. And we're back to that madness thing again.
But even with all of the excitement, Thomas' day to day life is...pretty normal. Kind of boring. Even if it is a double life.
That, for a Raith, is par for the course. He's got siblings who play at seven different lives before breakfast.
Okay, maybe only three.
The point is, he tells himself, he doesn't have it bad. Nice apartment in a nice neighborhood, nice car -- when Harry isn't ruining it -- and a nice job with nice people. He's supporting himself which he couldn't have said for most of his adult life. It's a good life. And sometimes he even gets to help people.
But when he comes home more nights than not, tosses something frozen in the microwave to eat, and finds himself staring at a single white knit scarf he's left hanging on his coat rack, he knows. Something's missing. Someone.
He'll stare until the microwave's timer goes off before he shakes himself out of it and goes over to retrieve his dinner a la Healthy Choice. And so he sits down and eats. Merely to keep going, he doesn't even taste the food. He should, he mutters to the empty room, put the scarf away. He's nearly brushed into it more times than he can remember. It's warmed up outside, anyway, he can't wear it anymore.
But.
Every so often, as he passes by, he thinks he can smell her.
Maybe he'll put it away later.
character: Thomas Raith
fandom: The Dresden Files (books)
wordcount: 416
partner: Justine (canon)
comments here
Or whatever.
Or maybe especially because, to hear Harry talk about the difference between humans and the creatures who only sometimes looked like them.
Thomas has a routine now. Get up, do all the morning ablutions, make sure his hair is just so, pick out his ensemble to wear for the day, drive on down into work. And maybe there, in the salon, he plays a role, but it's just a job. The same job he goes to every single day. Smile and gossip and do the ladies' hair and steal just enough of their souls to keep on going. Madness isn't something he wants to experience firsthand. Neither is starvation.
Sure, every now and again something happens that throws things out of whack. Usually it's something his brother is right in the middle of. Crazy necromancers, crazy faerie queens, crazy vampires, crazy fallen angels. A whole lotta crazy, actually, now that he thinks about it. And we're back to that madness thing again.
But even with all of the excitement, Thomas' day to day life is...pretty normal. Kind of boring. Even if it is a double life.
That, for a Raith, is par for the course. He's got siblings who play at seven different lives before breakfast.
Okay, maybe only three.
The point is, he tells himself, he doesn't have it bad. Nice apartment in a nice neighborhood, nice car -- when Harry isn't ruining it -- and a nice job with nice people. He's supporting himself which he couldn't have said for most of his adult life. It's a good life. And sometimes he even gets to help people.
But when he comes home more nights than not, tosses something frozen in the microwave to eat, and finds himself staring at a single white knit scarf he's left hanging on his coat rack, he knows. Something's missing. Someone.
He'll stare until the microwave's timer goes off before he shakes himself out of it and goes over to retrieve his dinner a la Healthy Choice. And so he sits down and eats. Merely to keep going, he doesn't even taste the food. He should, he mutters to the empty room, put the scarf away. He's nearly brushed into it more times than he can remember. It's warmed up outside, anyway, he can't wear it anymore.
But.
Every so often, as he passes by, he thinks he can smell her.
Maybe he'll put it away later.
character: Thomas Raith
fandom: The Dresden Files (books)
wordcount: 416
partner: Justine (canon)
comments here