Rain Check - do your ideas ever haunt you?

There’s two ways to spend a rainy day for Tomoki. Ultimately it boils down to how much he wants to actually get out. The usual answer is that he won’t because getting wet socks is a special type of torture, one that he’s gone through too much in the past. Deadlines are a bitch and his wet shoes are merely proof.

This time however, Tomoki simply decides that he’s going to stay in. Perhaps he’ll get some work done – it’s a rare hope these days when every word fights against him. Such is the life of a writer, he supposes. 

Tomoki simply thinks he’ll get more ideas if he could go outside but today is apparently not that day. 

It’s fine though. The rain will make for a nice ambiance as he slowly pounds out every word on his typewriter. And then spelling wrong to edit it later. At least it’s not his first rodeo and there’s this sense that his outline will be enough for once. 

His entire outline keeps on growing in his notebook. The very one where he started with a singular premise to write some erotica has spiralled into an epic. 

At least the characters are working with him rather than not even if it won’t fit into a shorter form. A loss for those who read everything he writes in the newspaper. It’s fine though, he can cook up another idea if time permits. And well, it’s his job even if on some days he isn’t rather fond of his prose. 

Today isn’t one of those days as he opens up his notebook to find his scribbles on them while the rain hits the window nearby. Life has never been so peaceful. 

Meanwhile one of his characters is having a miserable day. One in which they refuse to spit out their feelings all while making their lives just a bit more miserable. If only they could communicate. 

For now it simply reads: 

It’s not that Joe can’t communicate, rather he’d like to not deal with this. There isn’t a word to be put on his relationship with Daniel. Calling it a situationship would be the cop out. But to say that they are something to each other is also saying the quiet part out loud. 

Joe will simply sit with these feelings for longer. Maybe they will pass, maybe they won’t.  

Tomoki loves writing this even if the weather is like this. All he knows is that his characters will simply be having an awful time as he hums to himself as the words go clack clack on the keyboard. If a day is rough, at least he has this to lay back on with his characters suffering to some degree, or perhaps pining uselessly. 

As a bonus, he can drink up his reader’s suffering at him leaving them at a cliffhanger again. It’s slightly better for them than the time in which he broke a character’s bones. That was low hanging fruit if he’s being honest. 

Thankfully, it’s still a lighter sentence on his characters than an actual character death. Though he’d like to commit to a character's death at some point, maybe it’ll be fun. Except he has no ideas for it now and the rain is just there so his mind doesn’t spiral. 

Tomoki considers it comforting as he continues to write. Though what he really should do is to make some water and some tea – he won’t do it now – but he should swing around to it. It’s about staying healthy even if he’s notoriously bad at taking care of himself. He’s trying even if there’s only that mug with cold water left. 

Look, look. 

Tomoki’s a writer which means once in a while, when the day is right like today, he can steamroll through words as if it’s nothing. Self care can come later. He’ll try to do it later at least. For now his characters can haunt him instead as he ruins their lives. 

If anything, they can thank him for getting their story to move on rather than sitting on his notebook never to be seen by anyone. Tomoki’s not that cruel today. At least he doesn’t quite feel like it at the moment. He might be merciful today but that doesn’t mean that he’s going to be nice to his characters. 

Not with the rain as a backdrop. Oh no, that’s for confessions and when characters have such a bad time where the weather reflects their mood. Tomoki’s just here to see which one it’s going to roll on as he continues to write this out. One day he’ll write something even halfway tame if he can get into the mood but for now he’ll settle for his characters somehow arguing while never being able to admit their feelings. 

Tomoki simply wishes that that won’t happen to him.