shellphones | Bedroom Talk

Entry tags:

Bedroom Talk

Type: Voice/Text
Sender ID: hammertime (Darin Altway)
To: Public
Subject: beds
Warnings: He's so stupid you guys

[Darin clears his throat because forget typing all of this out.]

Okay guys, I need you all to settle a bit of an argument Zelda and I are having.

See, we were out shopping for furniture for our new place and she tells me I need a bed. I say "you're right, I do! I know just the type!" So I go and I show her the hammocks because back home, I slept in a hammock. So she says [Darin clears his throat and proceeds to do his best Zelda voice] "Don't be preposterous, a hammock is not a proper bed."

Which is wrong. Because a hammock is totally a bed. Lots of things can be beds. So, to prove my point, I made this chart.

As you can see by this chart that I spent entirely too much time on, the parameters that dictate an objects "bedability" are thus. I think it's a pretty open and shut case.

Anyway, I think this explains why I should be allowed to get a hammock in my room. You guys are on my side on this, right?

[Just...you know. Ignore how he casually dropped that they're living together because he's brain dead.]

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Well...yeah. She has her own bed.

[Everyone is putting him in check and he's playing backgammon.]

And if her bed breaks, you're going to allow a lady to sleep on the floor?

[Clive's allowed Jill to sleep on the floor, in a chocobo house no less, but Jill will argue that at that time she considered herself more of a monster than a lady, so there.]

What? No!

She can sleep in my hammock! I'll sleep on the floor!

If Zelda cares about you in the way that you've described, I do not think she would be comfortable with you sleeping on the floor like some vagrant. I wouldn't allow Clive to do it.

...Yeah, you're right. I tried that once and she almost shackled me to her bed...

Therefore, you're going to get a proper bed and be prepared rather than waste time arguing over a hammock and whether or not you're going to take the floor.

Save her the trouble.

...Huh.

Yeah, that makes sense. I really wanted to get a hammock but if something happens...

Besides...I think she just really wants me to be as comfortable as possible which...I guess I'm still kinda resistant to?

I dunno, I'm not used to people worrying about me.

Sorry to tell you, but that's something you'll have to get used to. I can tell there are a fair few of us who care about you and while I don't know her, I feel like I can safely assume that Zelda does most of all.

Which is another reason why you should listen to her.

It's...I don't want to say it's 'difficult' because that implies that the people trying to care for me make it hard. And it's not them.

It's me.

You guys...so many of you have accepted me without even knowing the truth about me and it's hard to reconcile. Sometimes I feel like I'm just...tricking everyone.

You must think a little better of the collection of us. Besides, I know for a fact that many of us have our own histories that make it hard to judge yours.

I think the world of you guys. And I...I know that. Honestly, I'm thankful.

But hold habits, you know? Getting this house and asking Zelda to move in was...it was kind of the first step to accepting that maybe I'm worth more than I thought I was. Even if it's just a little bit.

I know. I understand more than you'll ever know. It took me years to stop thinking of myself as a monster for things I did, things I was told to do, forced to do...

[She looks down at her hands, splaying them open palms up as if she can see the proverbial blood that stains them.]

I would be a hypocrite if I even judged you a bit. Besides, you've been nothing but kind to Clive and me and how could I judge someone like that?

C-Come on...I'm just...

I-I do what's right, you know?? It's how things should be.

But...for what it's worth, I'm sorry you had to endure those things. If you ever want to...I dunno. Process them?

I think I'd like to hear about them.

[Jill, Clive, Cid, Joshua, Cid, and Benedikta are all so similar to him. He wants to help them because they deserve peace for once.]

It is how things should be, though they aren't always.

[Still staring at her hands, she takes a deep breath before continuing. Then Jill looks up, giving him a tired and sad smile that doesn't reach her eyes one bit. Does she want to tell Darin? Yes, but this started out on such a lighthearted topic it feels almost criminal to turn the conversation this way...]

We're supposed to be talking about you getting a proper bed, not my formative years.

Yeah but right now I think our shared experiences are a lot more interesting than my sleeping situation.

I feel like there's a lot of assumptions being made that I haven't helped clear up.

Assumptions? About you or me?

Though, as I think about it, you might have some about me that I should clear up myself...

Me. And who I'm supposedly sharing a bed with.

Wait, assumptions about you? I don't think I have any of those.

Well, no, you haven't really helped to clear those up. In fact, I believe you may have made them worse with certain statements.

Unless Clive has told you about me, you probably have assumed I am nothing but a regular person. This might be the right time to tell you that I'm not.

Are people really so gossip starved that they'd read into me posting an elaborate and accurate chart I spent time making as me announcing I'm in a relationship? Because that's kind of a stretch, don't you think?

[Darin kinda...blinks slowly.]

You're...an awesome person?

Perhaps. But your overly enthusiastic nomination of her for the calendar also did not help.

[There's a sharp intake of a breath that sounds like a self-deprecating laugh, but her facial expression has no humor in it. Awesome? Clearly one of those assumptions she needs to rectify.]

Anything but. My hands have been far too bloody for that kind of courtesy.

... ... ...

Okay, but she deserves to be celebrated. She...

She didn't have it easy. Hell, I know a lot of us haven't but of all people, she deserves to be recognized as someone who brings a lot of happiness wherever she goes.

[She spent her life training for a calamity that took everything from her. She sealed herself away for a hundred years. Does anyone even know the sacrifice she made? Do people love her for her title without knowing what she's done for them? What she's put herself through?]

[But the mention of blood on her hands shakes Darin from his musings.]

...'Bloody?' What do you mean?

Yes, but it appears she brings you, in particular, a different sort of happiness. The kind Clive brings me. But I'm not being judgmental, just merely making an observation.

[She's looking down at the hands in question, shaking her head slowly. He may think poorly of her after this, but it wouldn't be the first time. It's something she's come to accept even with all the good she's done in the last few years.]

I'm a Dominant. The Eikon Shiva resides inside me. And because of that many men, both guilty and innocent, have met the end of their lives because of me, from when I was just a girl of twelve summers to my adult years.

[Darin clears his throat bashfully.]

I-I...guess you could say that. I-In a way...

[Darin pauses when he hears the word 'Dominant' again. Gods above, how many Dominants were there? Cid, Benedikta, Joshua, Clive, and even Jill? What, were the gods of her world running a bargain sale or something??]

[Darin crosses his arms.]

And that's your fault, how exactly?

In a way? I'd say it's more than just in a way.

[If the gods of her world had any sense, they would have saved the Dominants and the Bearers the curse. Instead they probably just sat back and enjoyed all the warring and suffering over which Dominant could beat the other.]

I did it so all the other girls wouldn't have to suffer. I did what I was told to do to save them and yet, sometimes that wasn't enough. It was all in vain.

[She takes a deep breath to steady herself, but the worst of the memories come flooding back and it gives a shake to her voice.]

Maybe I could have, should have fought back. Fought harder. Let them continue to beat me until I caved. Found another way. I didn't and that led to more people suffering than I saved.

[Darin heaves a sigh and privates the thread. Thankfully, after the gaffe with Zelda about the legitimacy of Ghost Marriage, she has helpfully taught him how to do this.]

I don't think any of that's on you. When there's a river of blood and someone forces you to wash your hands in it, whose fault is it? The people who spilled the blood or the people who forced you to dip your hands into it? I don't think it's ever the person who gets it on their hands.

At least you tried to save people.

...I've told this to the other dominants so I don't mind sharing but...I'm the reincarnation of a demonic god. Or...half of one. My twin brother is the other half. Either way, I've got half the soul of a god of destruction tethered to my own and apparently, I was prophesied to destroy my world.

To give you an idea of what I can do, I fought Garuda with my bare hands. I didn't win but...well, she doesn't bare me any grudges.

Edited 2025-01-03 23:44 (UTC)

Bedroom Talk

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SORRY FOR THE DELAY. Life got in the way D:

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