tushanshu_logs

Entry tags:

[OPEN]

Characters: Tobias Matthews and YOU
Date: 21 April 2013 sometime after sunset.
Location: A cafe in the Fire Sector
Situation: Toby is just chillin' like a villain in a cafe, because that is a thing to do.
Warnings/Rating: None that I know of? Will edit if that changes.

[Toby is sitting at a table in a cafe, flipping through a well worn copy of Wordsworth's Poems, In Two Volumes. He's also sporting a mild sunburn, emphasis on mild considering how severe sunburns can be for him. Either way he's seeming pretty relaxed more or less and amicable and friendly enough when the server comes to take his order. So bother him at your leisure, or not, whatever floats your boat.]

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[Oh, that's sweet. Toby's really sweet, isn't he?] That's . . . [Dorian smiles and glances down.] That's really . . . uh—

—you're still doing it! [He points a finger at Toby. J'accuse!]

I - [a helpless smile]

[and]

[swagger swagger]

[Dorian sinks down and hides his face in his arms.]

[Toby is the worst.]

[Toby reaches out a hand and pets Dorian's head]

Dorian?

[swagger swagger]

[Dorian makes an irritated nose. He also leans into the touch.]

You're a monster.

No argument here. [swagger swagger]

[His fingers wrap around Toby's wrist, not to stop the touch but because that swagger is ridiculously strong.]

You wanna go back to the suite?

[He looks up at Toby. Dorian can't fight vampire swagger for that long and frankly he deserves a medal for fighting it as long as he did.]

To get a lesson on typesetting?

If you want.

[He'll do pretty much anything Toby wants.

Sadly, that's also true without Toby turning the swagger on.]

[oh Dorian.] What do you want?

[Dorian lifts his head from the table. His fingers stay on Toby's wrist. He moves them over burned skin, completely charmed.]

Only you.

[He is so stupidly enchanted that he doesn't even feel a flinch of shame at such a cliche line. He doesn't care about sounding eloquent—he doesn't care about anything. Dorian wants Toby, needs him, would do anything at all with him as long as he could have just a second more in his company. What does the rest matter as long as he has Tobias Matthews? Toby is Dorian's universe.]

[Toby turns the swagger way way way down, and gently pulls his arm away] So what's the first thing I'd need to know about typesetting?

Ah— [A small, helpless noise escapes Dorian's mouth. Turning the swagger down doesn't immediately take the effects out of his system. His fingers curl into his palm.] Ah, but . . . can't we talk about that at home?

Why wait that long? Go on, typesetting.

[Dorian speaks quietly, like a child just waking from a dream. But the theories he knows by instinct.] Well, it's . . . the first thing is about space. It's as it is with music. It's the space inside the letters, and between the letters on a line, and between lines. The composition is made beautiful by its empty spaces.

[and in response Toby puts more space between them, his chair skidding back slightly and a smile gracing his face] Empty spaces do have that effect. What else?

Wh—[Like a puppy that just had a shiny new toy taken away from him, Dorian looks supremely wounded.] That's for typography, not people.

You're saying you don't admire me now even more with this distance between us? The longing isn't even that much more potent?

I'm saying I'd rather have you near me.

[Those last words produce an audible note of need.]

And that feeling is amplified by the distance between us. If I were to break that your interest would wane. Now go on, tell me more about typesetting.

[Dorian gets the feeling that protesting more will only mean Toby will screw with him more. Irritated, he adds.] That's really the sum of it. There's font colour, but that's just dressing. Margins are about space, alignment is about space—it's all space. How to make it pleasing to the eye.

So really the first thing and the last thing you need to know about typesetting is how to use space to your advantage.

In a variety of ways.

[he bites back a 'so?'

Are you done torturing him yet?]

You were right. I didn't know the first thing about typesetting. It's a shame you didn't take the wager. [a careless shrug, and then he leans forward to grab his book back off the table and start reading it again]

[The irritation is finally too much.] Enjoy yours. [Dorian gets to his feet to leave.]

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monstrous - 2013-04-28 01:35 (UTC) - Expand

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