mumbled_truth: (We enter crying)
Todd Anderson ([personal profile] mumbled_truth) wrote in [community profile] poly_chromatic2013-01-31 10:10 pm

║ eighty-fifth stanza ║ action

[ at the library | open ]

[ As Todd goes about his business today, he's in a particularly foul mood. He's clearly annoyed with some of the library's more demanding individuals, going so far as to outright snap at people - clearly, he's far more willing to assert himself verbally than he typically is.

You probably won't be inclined to ask him for help after one of these displays. You might wonder what the hell is going on if you've ever so much as glanced at him before. ]


[ in the city | open ]

[ It's not quite the end of his shift, but he's had it with dealing with people. He's stalking through the streets with a furrowed brow and a frown, glaring at anything that happens to place itself in his immediate line of vision. He doesn't glance around, as he's clearly not interested in anything going on around him. He's interested in getting home as quickly as possible, and far away from people. ]

[ at the apartment | justin & neil ]

[ Todd's arrival home is punctuated by a slamming of the door. His coat is unceremoniously thrown on the table nearest the entrance with little regard for whatever else may be on the table, and then he stomps his way through to slump on the couch.

He's not doing anything just yet, simply... death glaring at the wall. ]
had_not_lived: (☞ Cut him out in little stars)

[personal profile] had_not_lived 2013-02-01 08:15 pm (UTC)(link)
[Having been in the bedroom he didn't quite get the full brunt of that slam, so Neil is unprepared for the sullen sight before him when he walks into the living room. He smiles, though not widely, his quiet, genuine pleasure at seeing Todd both habitual and irrepressible.]

Hey. [And, after a beat, because Todd doesn't look very happy,] You all right?
Edited 2013-02-01 20:16 (UTC)
bookbending: (Quiet: Uncertain)

at the library;

[personal profile] bookbending 2013-02-02 04:34 am (UTC)(link)
[Jinora is at the library a lot. She knows Todd's face fairly well and she has also discovers that he works there, but she isn't one to start a conversation with a stranger unless absolutely necessary. Today, unfortunately, it's necessary.

The ten year-old approaches him quietly.]


Excuse me, sir? Do you know where the history section is today?
othersdie: we feel, in all of this, a certain lack (Concerned)

[personal profile] othersdie 2013-02-02 05:27 am (UTC)(link)
[Justin comes home late, likely long after Neil has discovered that there's something very wrong with Todd. It doesn't take him long to suspect that all isn't well; the apartment is filled with a tension that has never existed there before.]

What's going on?
bookbending: (Rather be reading)

at the library;

[personal profile] bookbending 2013-02-04 03:32 pm (UTC)(link)
[She considers leaving it at that and scurrying back to the biochemistry section that seems intent on following her around today, but he does work here. She can't be bothering him, not really.]

Oh. Um... do you know where that is?
othersdie: every moon is atrocious and every sun bitter (Underwhelmed)

[personal profile] othersdie 2013-02-04 04:43 pm (UTC)(link)
[Todd, glowering... these are things that don't go together. Justin chalks it up to a curse. Todd isn't the only one who has been acting strangely.]

Never mind.
had_not_lived: (☞ And not; when I had come to die;)

[personal profile] had_not_lived 2013-02-05 12:07 am (UTC)(link)
[See, now, that is deeply worrying. Looking perplexed, he folds himself onto the other end of the sofa.]

That doesn't sound fine.
bookbending: (Wary)

at the library;

[personal profile] bookbending 2013-02-07 02:41 am (UTC)(link)
But I thought you might have seen it...

[She backs away. Maybe she'll just learn what biochemistry is.]
othersdie: shadows withering the flowers (!Multipurpose)

[personal profile] othersdie 2013-02-07 02:44 am (UTC)(link)
[He raises an eyebrow at that and retreats to his room.

Be alone, Todd. Geez.]
had_not_lived: (☞ Were all too little)

[personal profile] had_not_lived 2013-02-07 11:54 pm (UTC)(link)
[Neil flinches. There's something vicious in that; even if the words recall a conversation years past, the tone is utterly different. This isn't lack of confidence, this is... what?

It's real anger, and Neil doesn't understand why.]


Because if something's wrong I wanna know about it.

[So he can fix it. Because, you know, he loves you, Todd. Is that a problem?]
had_not_lived: (☞ Have suffered greatly)

[personal profile] had_not_lived 2013-02-09 04:02 am (UTC)(link)
[Oh my god, that hurts. Neil bites his lip.]

That's not true!

[Or is it? To a certain extent, Todd's not wrong; but it's not about control, it's about not wanting the other boy to bury himself in uncertainty. And at this point, to an extent-- at least as far as Neil sees it, which might not be the full picture-- it's become a bit of a game.

He doesn't even do anything, with those rejected poems. He smooths them out and stacks them somewhere, because someday Todd might regret having judged them so harshly.]


Where'd all this come from?

[He stands up, a note of desperate accusation in his voice, because this makes no sense. It's sudden. There's no curse, as far as he can see, so it's not easily brushed aside.]
had_not_lived: (☞ Did he smile; his work to see)

[personal profile] had_not_lived 2013-02-09 04:18 am (UTC)(link)
[He's torn between being absolutely crushed and inexplicably angry-- more at himself than anything, though it's hardly fair of Todd to come up with this out of nowhere, if it's been bothering him so long.]

Fine.

[Maybe they don't talk about their relationship much, but he'd at least have thought they could trust each other. He stands there for a moment, breathing hard, heart pounding (and isn't that a cruel joke, right now?) before stalking down the hallway and slamming the bedroom door.]
bookbending: (Sad: Puppy eyes)

at the library;

[personal profile] bookbending 2013-02-10 03:49 am (UTC)(link)
Sorry to bother you!

[She'll just... go read those books full of words that she doesn't know...]