Sigh No More[tag: open]

Todd sat near the edge of the lake, elbows resting on his knees as he stared out over the water. It was an unseasonably warm day, and he was taking any excuse to get out of the castle. His week had brightened considerably since a certain amnesiac returned, but he felt awful for not being around his friends lately - especially Brie. Oh, how much he wanted to be there for her, as her friend, since that was the only thing he trusted himself to be right now with all these conflicting emotions. Then there was Jim and Eva, who both had a lot on their plates, too. He wanted to help them, and he knew avoiding them wouldn't solve a thing, but he hadn't found a good opportunity to speak to his friends.

He searched the ground for a moment before grabbing a stone and tossing it toward the lake in an attempt to skip it across the surface; the rock only sank toward the bottom as soon as it made contact, mirroring the sinking feeling in his gut. He'd have to braver, that much was obvious. Hiding wasn't going to get anything done.
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It had been so long since he had seen Todd, it took Jim a moment to recognize him when he saw him down by the lake. But there he was, throwing rocks into the water, and looking a bit miserable. Jim wondered if it had something to do with Penelope. Or Brieanne. Or both. He didn't have a totally clear idea about what exactly was going on between the three of them, only that it was sort of love-triangle-ish, but more complicated. Jim remembered when he had gotten caught in one, sort of, when he had loved three people at once. It hadn't been a pleasant situation. He was glad to be out of it now, and he wondered if Todd was in the same situation. "Hey man," he said, giving a little wave as he approached him. "You doing alright?" Okay, that was a dumb question to ask, since Todd was obviously not okay, but Jim didn't know how else to start the conversation without sounding too awkward.

Todd, being so lost in his own thoughts, only realized Jim was talking to him when the boy was right beside him. "Oh, hey, Jimbo!" he exclaimed, a smile coming over his face, though he realized that he hadn't actually used that nickname to his roommate's face yet. Whoops. "I'm...grand." He managed a nod, but he figured the words weren't quite as convincing as he had hoped. "Was just thinking about you guys, actually - ah, all of us in our little merry band, that is," he added; they hadn't been such a merry band as of late, but they'd all had their own problems to distract them. "How're you?"

Jimbo? Seemed like Evaine's nickname for him was catching on fast. But Jim didn't mind. "The usual, I suppose," he replied, shrugging. "Schoolwork, trying out for the Quidditch team, meeting some new people." He brushed his hair out of his eyes. "Actually, I met another Ravenclaw not too long ago who's friends with you. Penelope was her name. She caught me chasing after Piper not too long ago." He mentioned it nonchalantly, but he glanced at Todd to see his reaction at the mention of Penelope's name.

"Quidditch tryouts, hmm?" Todd mused, nodding. It was no secret that Jim was excellent on a broom, and it was a good thing that he'd be able to show off his talent. "About time you spread your wings." His eyebrows lifted involuntarily at the mention of Penelope. Of course, she'd told him about that during their little snow day, but he was curious to see what his friend had made of it - though Todd had no doubts that they got along. "Reaaally? I bet she found baby Piper adorable. Merlin knows I do. What did you think of dear Penny?"

"I'm surprised they actually got under way," Jim said, leaning back on his hands as he stretched out his feet onto the grass. "Everything's been so crazy around here, you'd think that they'd cancel them for good or something. Don't schools tend to do that when things get a little nutty?" Jim had heard that as soon as suspicious activity was going on, extra-curricular activities like Quidditch were the first things to go. "Yeah, she did," he replied, laughing. "She says her cat isn't quiet as friendly though. I hope Piper doesn't run into him. He likes to act like he's a full grown cat, even though he's not." He shrugged. "She's nice enough. Kind of quiet though. You should have seen us. We could probably have our pictures next to the definition of awkward silence in the dictionary. She said she knew you before you became friends with us, like me, Eva, and Brie and stuff. So...I guess that means you've known each other for a while?"

"Oh, right..." he murmured absently. All of the craziness going on around Hogwarts had even managed to make his father worry for the safety of the students, but Todd personally thought it would all be over soon enough - not that he knew quite as much about the event as some. Well, as long as they've got them going. What the school needs is a thrilling game to get back its spirits, yeah?"
"Ooh, yes, avoiding Sherlock would be a good move for that little hoodlum. Piper'd get swallowed whole. Metaphorically, of course. No cat of Penny's is a cannibal." Quiet. Yep, sounded like Miss Baudelaire all right. He chuckled and shook his head at the image. "Oh, I can imagine. Social butterflies like you two would manage that unbreachable level of awkwardness, huh?" He flicked his gaze back to the lake. "Yup. Known her for quite a while now," he said. Well, her mind currently didn't remember having known him for that long, but it didn't feel like his place to bring that up if Penelope hadn't. "About a year now, I think." Most of which she'd been at home, memories stolen from her because of that wretched potion accident.

Jim chuckled. "A cannibal cat. That'd be an interesting study for our Care of Magical Creatures class. Maybe Penelope can bring him in for extra credit." That sounded like a pretty fun idea, although the cat would probably just end up hissing at everyone. "Awkwardness times two, to put it lightly," he said, laughing again. "But she's cool. She offered to help me with any subjects I was having trouble with. You know me. My attention span is zippo half the time." He glanced back up at Todd again. "A year? That's impressive by my standards. I haven't been able to keep hold of a friend for that long. How'd you two meet?"

"That holy terror in a lesson? He'd probably just start making the other Magical Creatures feel bad about themselves," he replied with a smirk. "I see you've got all the pretty girls lined up to help with your homework, hm, Jimbo?" Todd teased lightly, delivering a feather-light punch to his arm. He had to fight off a grin when Jim asked how he'd met Penny, even as a rush of embarrassment came over him. "Ah, well...I suppose I was a tad less tolerable then. Was in the library...defacing some books, I'm ashamed to say. She told me off for it, of course, and then I couldn't allows myself to stop bugging her. Proud to say I've matured a bit since then - maybe thanks to her." He shrugged, struggling not to show how very fond of the memory he was.

"Oh please, I'm the last person in the world who would be a womanizer," Jim said, laughing as Todd punched him lightly on the arm. "Just because everyone thinks I'm cute and cuddly doesn't mean I can make women swoon with a glace." Of course, Jim knew some people like that, and he didn't approve of it. Why try to get girls all flustered and what-not when he had Evaine in his life? She was all he needed. "Defacing a book? Todd, I'm surprised at you," he teased, half-laughing. "Well, at least something good came out of it, since it let you meet her and stuff."

"Well, of course you are - can't be a womanizer since you're so adorably devoted to Eva, can you?" he mused. He really was glad that those two were together - definitely seemed to make each other happy. "No, you know to use cuddliness for good, not evil. Good on you, man."
Todd chuckled, shaking his head. "I know, but the poor books were sacrificed to a good cause!" he said, grinning broadly now. "Got the pleasure of meeting Miss Baudelaire, so I'd say something fantastic came out of it."

"And here we go with the cuddliness again," Jim muttered as he flopped down on the grass. "I'm not some teddy bear that people snuggle up with all the time." Truthfully, the only person he would do that with was Evaine, but he didn't mention that. No doubt Todd would tease him for that. "I guess so," he said. "As long as you don't do it anymore. No doubt the librarian would have Filch string you up by your ankles for twelve hours straight if she caught you."

"I bet Eva would disagree," Todd muttered under his breath with a grin. He fiddled absently with stray blades of grass, twisting them into simple shapes as he did. "And, oh, trust me when I say I have no urge to hurt any more precious books. Those leather-bound objects are now my friends that I sometimes fall asleep on, accidentally of course." He tossed his blade of grass toward the lake and smirked. "Besides, Filch'd have to catch me first, and he doesn't have a pair of badass rollerblades like yours truly."

"That's because she's my girlfriend," Jim argued. "I'm sure all girlfriends think their boyfriends are as cuddly as any pillow. Why do you think couples snuggle so much in between classes?" More than once, Jim had seen couples manage to sneak away to some hidden place before class started, giggling all the way. He glanced at Todd. "You have rollerblades? I didn't know that. Ever take them for some joyriding through the halls?"

"Because they're sleep-deprived teenagers who think their girl/boyfriends are literal pillows?" he mused, pausing to allow himself a yawn. He raised his eyebrows and nodded enthusiastically. "And of course I have rollerblades! Haven't used them since I was about eight, but my feet can't have grown too much, right?" Todd had a vague memory of his brothers laughing as he rolled all the way down their street, begging them to teach him how to stop moving.

Jim just shrugged in answer to that. He still thought he was the complete opposite of a pillow. Heck, Piper probably resembled one better than he did. "I don't know, your feet look pretty big to me," Jim said, laughing a little. "Then again, I've only known you for less than half a year, so who knows?" He shrugged again.

"Mmm, but what if my feet have always been this size, ever since I was a child?" Todd replied, smirk tugging at his lips. A thought suddenly sprang to mind and he couldn't help but voice it. "Oh, hey - speaking of Eva, how's she doing? And...have you talked to Brie lately? I know she's been...off." That was an understatement, but how else could he phrase it? He was always worried for her, especially now. The girl was pregnant - again - but this time there was going to be a different ending. This time her baby would live, it would be protected.

"Oh, she's doing, alright, I suppose," Jim replied, shrugging. "She got some bad news about her sister not too long ago, heard that she died in a car crash. She wants to go home for...the funeral stuff, I guess. I'll probably go with her to make sure her mom doesn't try anything funny." The whole thing still put Jim on edge. He almost wished Evaine wouldn't go, but he knew that she had to pay respects for her deceased sister. He nodded. "Yeah. Showed me the...little bundle of joy, to put it lightly," he replied, pulling grass out of the ground idly as he talked. "I'm getting a little worried about her. She seems more...I don't know...fragile, like it will only take one more thing to break her completely. I don't know, I guess...part of me is worried that this kid of hers will end up like her last and it'll just...completely devastate her."

Todd sucked in a breath at hearing that Evaine's sister had died and shook his head. "Oh, man, that's awful..." he sighed; he couldn't even begin to imagine how he'd feel if one of his brothers had died, and she must be in a big deal of pain. "Good that you're going with her, though."
He sighed and dragged a hand down his face, shaking his head. "I'm really worried about her, man. So much has happened, and I know she's strong, but..." He stared out at the lake for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts together into a coherent enough pile. "Her baby is gonna need to be protected. We can't let Brie's dad anywhere near it, especially after last time. History won't repeat itself," he said, firmly.

Jim nodded. "Yeah. I swear, it's like...none of us can ever catch a break around here. We'd been doing good for a while, Leroy's been leaving us alone...but now this happens." It seemed like life was always working out that way. Something always happened to Evaine or Jim that would make them depressed for a while, and they would have to work on bringing each other up again. He nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I know we'll do that much. But...I wonder how much she's willing to let us do. You know how she hates being helped. She's always afraid we'll get hurt." Jim understood how she felt, but it still worried him. They needed to do all they could to help her daughter, or like Todd said, history was going to repeat itself.

Todd sighed despairingly. Jim was far too right about that - every time something good seems to happen to one of them, something twice as horrible comes crashing onto their shoulders.
"We'll have to make her see that she needs our help," he said slowly, though he was entirely sure of what he was saying. Brieanne had been going it alone for so long. It was time for her friends to be there for her, to help her through all the shit she had to deal with daily. "That's what friends do, Jimboy, and we are her friends as surely as the sky is gray-ish-blue. If we don't find a way to help her, that bastard is going to steal her kid's life away." He figured Jim was bright enough to decipher that 'that bastard' would forever be Todd's name for Brie's father.

Jim nodded. "Yeah. I guess that's...the best we can do. I just hope it will be enough." He glanced back at Todd. "Believe me, I'll try as hard as I can. The last thing I want is for things to get even worse than they already are." He nodded in agreement. Todd was right. They did have to find something that would help before Brieanne's dad got any ideas. What that something was, he didn't know yet, but he was sure they would be able to find it if they thought hard enough.

"Ditto," he murmured, lips pursed in thought. "Brie's gonna love that baby, no doubt about that, so we've got to protect it the best we can." He figured some serious brainstorming would have to happen to find out how best to help Brie - or, rather, convince her to let them.
He cocked his head then, glancing over at Jim with an eyebrow raised. "Oh, and, uh - are you doing okay, man?" he asked, realizing he hadn't really asked that since the other boy had sat down. "Not to change the subject or anything, but I know about Eva and Brie's troubles. How're you?"

Jim nodded in agreement. He wasn't sure how well he himself would do with kids, he was still getting used to Piper for crying out loud, but he would do what he could if it meant helping Brieanne. He glanced up at Todd's question, and found himself sighing. What could he reply with? So much had happened to him, and not much of it had been good. The conversation was already grim sounding, no doubt anything Jim said would just add to it. "Well..." He ran a hand through his hair. Had he even told Todd about his werewolf curse? Like, formally told him? He had told Evaine, Brieanne had figured it out, maybe one of them had told Todd. Jim honestly couldn't remember. He sighed again. "I had...Nani teach me how to do a Patronus not too long ago," he replied. "I managed to get it, but...what my Patronus turned out to be...kind of...freaked me out a bit." Of course, that was putting it lightly. "It was a...wolf. Me being a...werewolf...and all, it...just...I don't know. I wish I knew what it meant." It was a relatively small problem in retrospect to other things that had been going on, but it had been eating away at Jim now and then. Being a werewolf and having a wolf as his Patronus seemed like the biggest sense of irony. The animal he feared inside turned out to be his protector, of sorts. He worried what that said about the wolf in him, whether it was becoming more a part of him.

Todd blinked, taking a long moment just to process this new information. A werewolf? Had there been any signs he could have caught ahead of time? Looking back on things, he really didn't think so. Perhaps he should have been more attentive? Evaine had to know already, and figured Brie did too. "Oh," was his intelligent reply. "That...is interesting. Does it, ah, worry you that it's a wolf? Your Patronus, I mean." It was best to pretend he was past the shock phase, at least for Jim's benefit.