Doll-sized (TomTord)

One step at a time?

Tord laughed as Tom finished his crazy little story. It was that much louder than he had laughed in a while. Maybe because he was actually kind of happy right now. Happier than he was at the army at least, despite the less than fortunate circumstances that got him here. And unlike his laughter when he returned the last time, it wasn't some fake act to make him look like he fit in with them. One to pretend he was enjoying his time with his friends and not actually there for something else. Because this time, he actually found the story pretty funny. And, well, he was forced to stay here for now, so there was no need to pretend. Not when Tom could see right through him either way. "Sooo what you're saying is that Matt didn't even succeed in killing you... because you did so yourself? By accident?!" The amused grin stayed on his face as he stared up at Tom.

"If you say it like that, it does sound pretty dumb..." Tom muttered. Whether or not he was embarrassed, Tord couldn't tell. His tone was surprisingly neutral. Yes, Tom seemed to have changed quite a bit since they had last met. Personality wise, at least. He would have already argued back in the past, trying to justify his incompetence with any excuse he could find, even if Tord hadn't meant to make fun of him. And, well, he would have surely killed Tord by now. Whether or not Tom realised he had changed, Tord didn't know. But he wasn't about to ask anyway.

"That's because it is! You should be glad you guys keep getting revived over and over again by whatever higher power likes you for some reason..." he muttered bitterly. Trembling a little at the thought, he looked up at Tom. "You're really lucky..."

"You also keep getting brought back to life..." Tom said, raising an eyebrow. "No need not to include yourself here. Just because you aren't part of our friend group anymore doesn't mean it doesn't happen to you. Did you seriously never get close to dying again or what? You're part of an army. No way that didn't happen!" If only it was that simple...

Tord sighed, rubbing his stump as he avoided Tom's gaze. "Tom, the moment I left you all behind for my... big plan to come into fruition... something- something changed. Injuries I received stayed for a long time until they finally became scars. They didn't disappear over night anymore like they used to. Especially the ones I got from the explosion." He pointed at his face and allowed himself a small, sad smile. "Your injuries from my robot, they were gone pretty quickly, too, weren't they? So I can imagine it wasn't actually all that hard for you to move on. Everything gets reset and life just goes back to normal. But when I left I wasn't a part of that anymore. I don't know how or why."

Tom was quiet for a moment. He slumped down on the chair and carefully put Tord back on the table. Seemingly lost in thought, he stared out of the window with a frown, his hands deep in his hoodie pockets. With a sigh, Tord sat down cross-legged and let his eye wander around the room. It wasn't like he had anything else to do when Tom was brooding, The kitchen really looked  like it belonged to Tom. It was surprisingly clean for that of an alcoholic, but it was no doubt Tom's.

The fridge had been painted in a black and white pattern, which was most likely Edd's doing. Tord wondered if Tom had asked Edd for a favor or if Edd had done it because he felt guilty for not trusting Tom's judgment. The walls were coloured a dark blue, but the wallpaper was hard to spot through all the shelves and cupboards that took so much space on the walls. They were filled with all sorts of drinks, the majority surprisingly being all kinds of juices. Huh. He must have been trying to reduce his drinking. Or maybe Edd had forced him to drink that stuff.

The silence was getting more and more unbearable with every second. It was like a pillow that was pressed on his face to slowly asphyxiate him. Tord hated it. It was so incredibly infuriating, There was nothing of substance that could be said between the two of them because their current relationship was, at best, a bunch of short, cut wires they were clumsily trying to glue together. They would still get electrocuted for not doing it correctly. Unless they were really starting to trust each other, the conversations would stay that way. Awkward and uncomfortable. He still didn't really trust Tom not to hurt him, but he could still try making conversation and make life a little less hard for himself. Tord could give him that chance. Besides, he wasn't going to escape with Tom wanting to keep an eye on him, so they should at least work on becoming friends. But unless he did something crazy, that wouldn't happen...