Glad You Came

Odd Happenings

Tim hated to admit that he didn't like change. It was usually unrelenting, unknowing and most importantly unwanted; that's why he hated it. But the change he hated the most? The Tall Man.

It wasn't that it was a bad change -- it was that he was changing to begin with. Being more careful with Sally and Lazarus, being more mindful if he returned while someone was sleeping, and even going so far as to try and learn some of the human's more odd routines such as cooking or cleaning. It was when he tried to mimick what he didn't yet quite understand, that was probably the most disturbing -- if not most amusing -- thing to Tim. Like now.

It was the middle of the night when he awoke needing the bathroom.

Brian wasn't there, but he assumed he was just getting water or something of the sorts. After narrowly pulling himself free from Toby's clutches without yanking him off the bed with him, Tim carefully made his way out of the bedroom and to the bathroom. He paused at the bathroom door, however, once he heard hushed whispering. Quietly he shuffled over before leaning forward to get a better look to the bottom of the stairs. Liu and Brian stood just at the bottom, half leaning to look into the living room as they spoke to each other in hushed voices. Curious, Tim quietly waded down until he was just behind them --

And then silenced with a hand to his mouth as he went to question them.

"Shhhh!" Brian practically ordered before removing his hand. "Don't let him hear you."

"What?" Tim blinked, leaning forward to see what they were looking at, before roughly being pushed back once more.

He did, however, barely catch a glimpse of the Operator lying on his back in the middle of the living room, seeming quite unbothered by the whispering voices nearby.

"He's been like that for the past ten minutes," Brian informed, taking one more look at the Tall Man.

"Twenty," corrected Liu, "since I've been here."

"What? Why?" Tim asked as he again tried to peer out from behind the corner -- and was again thwarted by Brian, much to his annoyance.

"Fuck if we know," Brian replied with a shrug. "We've been trying to figure that out."

"Why not just go and ask him?" asked Tim, getting rather annoyed.

"Why don't you go ask him?" Liu retorted as he stole another glance. Tim opened his mouth to speak -- then shrugged and nodded. Fair enough.

"Hey, what're you guys doing?" yawned Toby as he carelessly thudded down the stairs, stretching his arms --
Of which quickly went in front of him in defense as three voices quickly hushed him, albeit one with a bit more force than needed. He blinked, then grumbled in apology as he moved to peer as best he could around the others as best he could.

"He's being weird again," Brian informed as Tim rolled his eyes and made to move back upstairs to relieve himself.

"And we're just standing around when we could go ask him because?" Toby quipped.

Liu made to give Toby the same retort he'd given Tim -- when his eyes lit up in recognition and he grabbed Toby's forearm quickly.

"Good idea!" Liu quipped and half shoved Toby out into the living room without a second thought.

Toby grumbled and glared at Liu, rubbing at where he had grabbed onto before looking back to where the Tall Man lay. The Operator only looked at Toby momentarily, before letting his head rest to stare blankly at the ceiling, hands still resting across his chest. Toby took one step forward, hesitating as if expecting the Tall Man to tell him to go away, before quietly trodding over to his side. Toby looked left, then right, then down again, before surprisingly -- or unsurprisingly, really -- moving himself onto the floor until he lay flat beside Slenderman, hands curling over his chest as the Tall Man's did as he stared up at the ceiling. There was a long bout of silence before anyone spoke.

"What'cha doing?" Toby finally asked in a sing songy voice.

Brian and Liu both almost assumed he wouldn't answer -- but there came a sigh just as the toilet sounded upstairs flushed and the sink began to run, The Tall Man rolled his head to better look at the youngest Proxy.

<"I have seen the Hooded One do this before,"> the Operator informed, <"when he cannot get his thoughts in proper order.">

Toby made an affirming sound before everything went quiet again. The others listened, but it seemed as though Toby's now offbeat humming was the only thing sounding throughout the house.

"They're so fucking weird," Liu groaned, turning to make his way back to bed --

And barely missing Tim as he practically shoved past him, a pile of blankets and a couple of pillows in hand. Brian blinked, watching as Tim first deposited his load onto the couch before tossing one of the blankets to Toby who squealed with glee as it landed on him -- with a small portion on the Tall Man, of whom didn't react in the slightest to the commotion.

"Tim, what're you doing?" Brian asked quietly as he finally entered the living room.

"Well, there's no use fighting him --," Tim gestured to Toby before tossing both pillows to either end of the couch, "back to bed, so we might as well sleep down here."

Brian looked to the two on the floor; Toby having quickly covered himself completely with the blanket before returning to his previous position. The Operator had yet to take visible internet as to what he and Tim were doing. Brian finally shrugged, taking the opposite end of the couch from where Tim had decided to plop himself down on and made quick work of helping Tim cover the both of them with the blankets before finally letting his legs tangle with the other's as he laid his head down in his pillow and began to relax. The Operator still hadn't moved, nor complained about the fact that Toby had slightly covered his torso with his blanket.

That was the oddest thing, Tim mused as he felt sleep draw ever closer once more with the blankets pulled to his shoulders. While the Tall Man, although often speaking and acting quite prim and proper, could often be brash or irritated with just about every other person and entity in the house, the Operator seemed to have grown a soft spot not only for Lazarus and Sally, but for Toby as well. The creature often let him get away with so much more compared to even Tim, Brian and their counterparts. It would often stand and listen as Toby happily raved about whatever newest skill he had or new bout of information he learned, or rant about the most recent mission he'd gone on. It'd even -- though reluctantly -- accept any odd form of affection Toby gave him, even hugs (though it was humorous seeing Toby pulling him into a tight embrace, with the Tall Man's arms thrown up or to the side as if unsure how to recouperate the motion).

But, Tim supposed, if that kept them ever safer from death and an eternal hell, he really couldn't find it in him to complain.

***

They awoke the next morning to the Tall Man having vanished; though a pillow as well as a few extra blankets had miraculously appeared with Toby during the night. Nothing else was disturbed, nor could Tim or Brian quite figure out what he'd been mulling over the night previously nor why he had decided to mimic Hoody's odd way of helping him process things. Breakfast was quickly served and the events all but forgotten -- except to Tim, to still wondered what kind of odd trick he was trying to pull.
Tim supposed he didn't quite want to know, nor would he ever. But that was the price of working for the Operator -- he left you more confused than you started out, and perhaps for that alone Tim hated him. But he supposed it wasn't quite his place to complain if he valued his life, was it?