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 Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2023 10:03 am
Quote: Prompt 1: The weatherman said it was going to be a nice day today. Perfect time to go get some of those errands taken care of. Unfortunately, while you were shopping, heavy clouds rolled in and it began pouring outside. Do you chance it and run for your car or duck inside the nearest shop until the weather clears up?
At least the library wasn’t too far from Nagisa’s. Vanya hadn’t particularly wanted to stop anywhere—he’d wanted to just go home, and stare at his senshi phone, and wonder if he could use the Connections app on it to find people who wanted to go see Greta Gerwig’s Barbie with him on opening night—but the rain was too intense. Any longer outside and he felt certain that he’d ******** drown. So instead of just making his way home, Vanya chained up his bike underneath the awning that shielded the bike rack, then darted up the stairs and inside the safe space of the library.
………Ugh, Vanya cursed the air conditioning today. Most of the time, it was good s**t and he loved that the library could keep itself so regulated. But while looking like a drowned, harassed rat and soaking wet, Vanya didn’t entirely appreciate the cold. Too much shivering. Thanks, he hated it.
At least Vanya’s backpack was weather-proof.
And at least wandering toward the men’s room took Vanya past a couch where he noticed a very tall, very familiar figure. Pausing, even while still dripping water, Vanya sloshed his way through waving ‘hi.’ “Hey, Todd? Good book today?”
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Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2023 11:08 pm
Todd loved visiting the library. The atmosphere exuded peace and quiet in a way that comforted him. He could read so many books and not have to move much. This was also true of sitting in his room at home and using a tablet, yes, but the different space felt... safe to him, in a way. Curled up on a couch, reading Charlotte's Web, he didn't register the sopping wet person near him until they spoke his name. He perked up, sliding his bookmark (bookmark!! he could finally use one, and the flowers on this one were so pretty!!!) into the book so he could shut it and pay Vanya his full attention. "Very good," he confirmed. "This time, it is pig who does not fit in. But, spider makes friends with him. Little girl try to save him from dying. He is 'some pig'. Spider wrote in her web, also try to save him."
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Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2023 10:11 pm
Vanya nodded, and then cringed as he felt more water coming off of him in buckets. “I always loved that one when I was younger,” he agreed as if he did not look like he’d just gotten caught in someone else’s ice-bucket challenge, and taken the brunt of the ice-bucket instead of them. “There’s a movie version of it too, the library probably has it, but, uh……”
Well, for one thing, Vanya did not have a copy of the VHS tape that he’d grown up with. For another thing, he didn’t actually know if the library had the Charlotte’s Web movie, whether on VHS or on DVD. And for a third thing—“I’m just gonna……?” Vanya gestured toward the restrooms, then over his shoulder, at his backpack. “I’ll be back, if you want to keep reading? But……I’m gonna go try to dry off, okay?”
He had rarely ever felt so grateful that he usually had his backpack, or that it was indeed weather-proof, or that he’d gotten in the habit of keeping a clean towel and fresh clothes rolled up in there just in case.
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Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2023 10:24 pm
Todd perked up a little when Vanya mentioned liking it as a child—that felt good. More things for him to relate to. He liked that. Still, though... as a child. That rang through his mind as he nodded absently to Vanya saying he needed to dry off (which was very, very obvious). As a child. He left the bookmark in the book, staring across the library at a particularly boring bit of wall to think. As a child. Child, child, child, he was so tired of only reading things meant for children, even as his English only slowly improved. He wanted to read things for adults more. He was so tired of feeling like a little kid, lost in a big world not meant for someone like him. He felt grown up, damnit. (He hoped he was using that word correctly.) He desired more adult media, to shake off this weird innocence that clung to him like an obfuscating fog (big words!!! he could do them!!!) and made people treat him differently. He'd grown up, no matter how he acted or how much he still had to learn about human life. Being treated like a stupid child or having people tip toe around certain subjects because he was there made him feel awful. Just because he talked funny and had a lot to learn didn't mean he didn't understand or want to understand.He just wanted to be a person. An adult person. Not some fragile thing that needed to be preserved.
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Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2023 11:26 pm
Vanya tried not to take too long drying off in the restroom. At least there wasn’t anybody in there when he ducked in, so he didn’t have to put up with any weird attempts at small talk from complete strangers who thought they were being incredibly funny for saying that it sure was puppies and kittens out there, wasn’t it? Or whatever other small talk things they might have thought up to discuss with him, someone they didn’t know, who just wanted to not be sopping wet.
Vanya had gotten his hair almost dry enough to be tolerable when he remembered the henshin pen in his jeans pocket. At that, he only remembered because he managed to knock his hip against one of the sinks and felt a weight that made him go Huh, wait, what? After that, though, it was a simple matter of darting into a stall, hissing Farbauti Power, Make-Up!, and then powering back down again. Couldn’t very well go back out to Todd, y’know, like this. As Farbauti. Todd didn’t recognize Farbauti, and what if some Negaverse guy was lurking around in their civvies and saw, and???
Too dangerous. Way, way, too dangerous.
At least Vanya was dry when he powered down. And his oversight on using his henshin pen meant that his towel was sufficiently damp, so hopefully, Todd wouldn’t think that it was weird for Vanya to have gotten himself so dry.
……Then again, when Vanya got back out to the little sofa, Todd seemed………other than well. “Hey,” Vanya said to him gently, joining Todd on the couch but trying to give him his space in case he needed it. “……You okay, Todd?”
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Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2023 11:43 pm
Todd blinked, shifting to look up at Vanya with a soft frown. He hated not having his ears and tail out, either, but there was little he could do about that right now. His body language felt so... chopped off without them. Yet, Vanya could still read him pretty well, so maybe it wasn't as bad as he thought. "Todd..." He hesitated, biting his lip slightly and sighing. "Todd wants different books. He is reading good books, but they... too simple. Too... straight forward. Too childish." He blushed. "Does Vanya have ideas for different books? Todd's English, at least, reading, much better. Speech still bad, but I can read much better. Want... more from my books. But... Todd doesn't know where to start."
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Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2023 12:55 am
Awww, Todd. Vanya didn’t say that out loud, in case it made Todd feel worse about himself and about his situation. But he felt it a lot, watching Todd frown, and blush, and act like he felt he was doing something wrong. Fortunately, though, his question was one that Vanya had a very easy answer to.
“Remember that Todd doesn’t like screen-phones,” Vanya said, reaching into his pocket to retrieve his own. “But Vanya can just use his to show Todd? There’s an author who Todd might like. He writes love and adventure stories for adults, but the language in them is, like……” As he tried to pull his phone out, Vanya trailed off, partly because describing the language of Dr. Chuck Tingle was always kind of a challenge.
But mostly because he managed to knock his henshin pen out of his pocket as well.
It flopped down onto the cushion between his thigh and Todd’s, with its blue stem and the orange piping that matched Farbauti’s fuku. With the gold star on top, and the blue circle in the center where the same little dude from Farbauti’s brooch was carved out in gold, just a little monster guy, tilting his head back and being either sad or angry at some distant sky. Blushing, Vanya fumbled to try and pick the henshin pen back up—if Todd recognized what it was, then maybe that would be bad—but……ugh, ********, his hand kept missing it!! Why this!!
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Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2023 1:04 am
Todd watched Vanya retrieve his phone, eager to at least see whatever it was that Vanya wanted to show him—and for a moment, he thought about showing Vanya his own, fixed up phone, that would be much easier for him to use—but then... A pen fell into his lap. Not just any pen, either. Carefully, he picked it up and took Vanya's hand with his free hand. "Vanya is special," he said as he placed the pen in Vanya's hand. He curled Vanya's fingers over it. "Todd special the same way." He pulled his own pen out, all orange and brown and black, with the carving of a paw mark of a chrysocyon, and showed it to Vanya. If Vanya had had a pen that indicated corruption or mirror-coating, he never would have done this, but... Vanya was clearly White Moon. So it would be safe.
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Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2023 2:02 am
Vanya’s heart leapt into his throat when he saw Todd noticing the pen. Picking up the pen. Oh, god, did he recognize what it meant and what, what, wha—?
Oh.
Todd’s touch was gentle as he curled Vanya’s fingers around the pen. And he…… “Todd, too?” Which Vanya felt stupid for asking, because Todd had already said, but? Vanya’s mouth felt like making him look stupid today, apparently. Taking a deep breath, Vanya tried to shake some of his hair off his face, but……mostly only succeeded in making it get all over his face instead.
With a huff, he blew some of it off his face. “……Vanya’s really new to this,” he said, softly. Vaguely, he thought about Daedalus, the dragon senshi from space. He wondered if……maybe that explained some things about Todd? But……there were probably better venues for asking that. “Does Todd want to, uh? Come back to my place? It’s not much or anything, but it’s private?” Vanya swallowed thickly. “Better for talking about special things, maybe?”
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Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2023 2:07 am
Todd smiled. "Todd not very new," he said, hopefully comforting. "At least, in some ways. But Todd would love to come to Vanya's home and talk." He grinned, and if he hadn't had to wear this stupid glamor because humans sucked, his tail would be wagging so hard it would create a hurricane. "Vanya also needs to dry that towel," he said with a chuckle. "Let's go. Todd already checked out his book."
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