Chapter 18. Maybe tomorrow is a better day

[thebestseller]

If anyone cares, I'm gonna be at the Hatchery for a while. Volunteered for some extra shifts.

No interest in going down to that city.

Comments

[grab-my-bells.livejournal.com]

I'll be taking on a few more Guard shifts, too. I'll check tomorrow if we can overlap schedules.

How is Genius?

[bloody-pens.livejournal.com]

Good idea. That way we can both be there...

[grab-my-bells.livejournal.com]

Yeah. To kick his ass if he takes too long.

Take good care of him.

[Quicklog - honestly am I such a QL-whore /rants about it on RPS]

[man-genius.livejournal.com]

[It's quiet in the Man-wich house. A type of unsettling, unnatural quiet, like the pause between breaths or the split second where someone shifts between what they are thinking and what they are about to say. It is almost as if the occupant in the second bedroom is trapped in between breath and thought, stuck in a moment in time, unable to go forward, not quite slipping back. Just existing, in a horrified, numbness.

There's a blue journal that sits closed on a desk that is covered with multiple projects--all in stage of incompleteness--with a half eaten cookie crumbling into nothingness at the edge. There are clothes on the floor, one of which is a crumbled up bloody shirt half hidden under a messy bed, still dirty from the aftermath of the Bazaar attack. There's an extra blanket hanging on a cheap bedpost, one that doesn't match the sheets of the bed.

In the darkness there is Genius, curled up on one corner of his massive king sized bed, looking like he doesn't belong there at all because he's not moving. Maybe he's a doll. A doll that has fixed eyes at nothing in particular and still dressed in a ratty shirt and loose pajama pants. His hands clutch at a pillow that matches the blanket hanging off the bedpost, also clearly not his because there are two other pillows carelessly strewn across the bed.

There's no way to know what Genius is thinking. His face is eerily blank--and has been that way since Derrick stepped out. It is as though he has all but fallen forward to lay on the earth as though sleeping.

Even if someone were to break the silence to ask him, he wouldn't be able to say. Because he is not thinking at all.

He is coming undone.]

[Quicklog - /gossips about you on anontalk]

[bloody-pens.livejournal.com]

[Derrick hated having to leave Genius like that, but he was at a loss of how to help him. The breakdown, the subsequent hiding at the edge of the bed... these kinds of things felt very strange and alien to him. When he gets a break on his shift, with no sign of Youth yet, he rushes home to his brother, knocking softly on the door of his bedroom and entering.

Derrick then leans against the doorframe, his expression vacant, his arms crossed. He doesn't expect an answer, knows somehow that there's not much that can be said right now.]

[Quicklog - damn you anon talk!!]

[man-genius.livejournal.com]

[The only noticeable reaction is a tightening on the pillow Youth gave Genius before he died. The expression on his face doesn't change from its creepy blankness, nor does he shift to respond to Derrick.

At some level he hears him but its hard to bring himself to care. It's easier just to go on not feeling anything, to fixate on this feeling of emptiness than it is to reassure his brother.

Maybe that makes him an asshole. Or selfish. Or crazy. He doesn't particularly care at the moment.]

[dont-leave-town.livejournal.com]

[long pause, pentap]

Are you okay?

[bloody-pens.livejournal.com]

Could use a martini or 10 when I'm off later.

[dont-leave-town.livejournal.com]

Would a cup of coffee or 10 and some company do for right now?

[--Wait, why did she say that?]

[weaver-girl.livejournal.com]

I just heard what happened. I'm so sorry.

[bloody-pens.livejournal.com]

It sucks. But- at least I can be there when he comes back.

[weaver-girl.livejournal.com]

Yes. I'm sure he'll be happy of a familiar face. Thank you, Mr. Derrick.

[And she will sneak a batch of ginger cookies into the Hatchery. They will actually be ordinary cookies baked according to recipe, without embellishment.]

[feathered-earth.livejournal.com]

He'll be back.

[Cara's going to leave a thermos of cocoa out for him on her next Guard shift.]

[bloody-pens.livejournal.com]

'course he will. Just needs to hurry up.

After reading the rest of the comments

[burnt_orangesky]

I'll drop by later.

[bloody-pens.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Maybe you'll be better at helping Genius than I've been...

[burnt_orangesky]

I will make every effort. [She'll bring starches or something, and be rather shocked at how he looks :\]

[ruby-nova.livejournal.com]

Can I bring you anything?

[bloody-pens.livejournal.com]

Got any hugs to spare?

[ruby-nova.livejournal.com]

Plenty! I just got a fresh shipment in today!

[desig-survivor.livejournal.com]

[It takes him a while before he decides to write anything, in rather small text.]

Take care of yourself, too.

[bloody-pens.livejournal.com]

Of course.

[desig-survivor.livejournal.com]

[Yes, well - don't mention it.]

You can't wait for anyone or take care of your [Like hell is he going to say 'man-twin'.] brother if you collapse and have to get shipped to Wellspring, after all.

[blindedmewith.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, Mr. Derrick. Is it okay if I come visit you while you're there? I can bring you some brownies.

[bloody-pens.livejournal.com]

Sure is. I appreciate it.