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i got that!!!!!

[mercifully, archie seems to have forgotten about his all-caps text thing. or maybe he has a modicum of self-awareness and figures when it's long messages it's not a good idea.]

they played really fun video games and at least one video game of each genre. shooters, football games, you name it they played it. i'll put that in my diary. also he turned into a RAPIDASH which is a pokémon that is a normal horse with a mane of fire but it didn't go out underwater because she's magic and it doesn't matter where she is her flames will never go out. i don't mind whatever you wanna write, just maybe make them a bit happier??

I can do happier stuff!! I just kinda default to tragedy and I probably shouldn't do that because it's uncomfortable for some people but I think it's kind of cooler and I like making people feel cool and it's also I guess just what I know best. But. Happier's okay. Sorry. I should have just been happier from the start, I think? I'm sorry. Haha.

[ /sweats. odin reads back what he wrote and feels kind of irritated at how awkward and weird he sounds. he'll just press on. ]

Ugh. Everything I hear about pokémon is so so sososososo cool. Do you know Pikachu? Pikachu is basically my best friend. Red thinks that he's his, but nope! I've stolen his heart. I'm the best friend man, now.

But okay, there's no time for dumb reality. I'm going to draw what I would look like as a sea witch centaur and if you're okay with it I'm going to draw what you look like as a shark merman. How many abs do you think mermen have? Sixpacks are kind of boring. Maybe you need, like, a 20 pack. 'Cause you're part shark, it'll give you a pretty long torso, but I'll probably have to draw some of those abs down to your tail to make them all fit. I'll figure it out.

Um, but, okay. Happy story. So.

What would you prefer to be? A prince or princess, a radical ninja or a MYSTERIOUS VISITOR from a FOREIGN LAND who transfers into a NEW SCHOOL and has to deal with SOCIAL POLITICS AND ROMANTIC INTRIGUE? Spoilers: you can totally choose all three options at once.

OKAY BEFORE WE SURGE HEROICALLY ONWARDS... ARE YOU OKAY? LIKE, PERSONALLY?

Haha, what? Yeah, of course! I'm always okay. I'm an okay and super happy dude. That's kind of my thing? I don't mean to brag, but everyone likes me for it. Literally everyone.

I mean, okay, sure, I'm haunted by the souls of the millions of enemies I've cut down with my aching sword hand. And I constantly hear the screams of the foes whose souls I've scattered to the wind with my eldritch spells. But that's just stuff I made up just now to sound cool.

THAT ALL SOUNDS EXTREMELY FAKE. I'M GONNA COME OVER.

What? What! Wait! It's super late! It's really dark outside and you could get jumped by a villain and mugged or something!
Are you going to be okay? Should I come over there instead?
I don't want you to get hurt, this is insane. And I'm too embarrassed to tell stories in front of people! I mean, I'm not, but I might be! Especially when it comes to big heroic epics like the ones we've been telling!

I'M BRINGING MY DOG.

YOU HAVE A

Okay.
Keep them safe too, okay? NO MUGGINGS.

MY DOG COULD FUCK UP MOST PEOPLE HERE, WE'LL BE FINE.

[he's there not soon after, opting to ping odin's comm device instead of knocking the door and waking up any potential roomies.]

[ whoops, more consideration than what odin's got! normally he's sensitive enough to keep his steps quiet, but there's gonna be a DOG in his HOUSE and he all but runs to the front door to let Archie in. dickhead. ]

Dog? I mean-- Archie? [ no, he meant dog. ]

[he laughs; this is pretty much exactly what he expected from odin.]

His name is Mightyena.

[and the dog in question peeks around archie's legs - the big wolfhound looking motherfucker. it boofs gently, tail a-waggin'.]

Wh-- like mighty and hyena? Are you fucking kidding me?!

[ whoops, he swore! Odin coughs and goes a little red. didn't happen. didn't swear. nope. he does, however, drop to his knees and just wrap mightyena in the biggest possible hug one man can give a wolfhound. ugh. he loves him. ]

I-I mean. That's really cool! I love that. I love him. He's mine now. I own him.

[archie gasps, like he's shocked odin just swore. honestly, he is a little.

mightyena is very receptive to the hug, as its tail goes absolutely ballistic and it licks odin all over his face.]

No, sorry. Still mine. You can take him for walks sometimes if you want though.

I want that. I wanna take him for walks. He's my best friend now, after all. It's the least I can do.

[ odin laughs a little too loud when Mightyena licks him, and Odin feels like he's getting pretty close to the whole I'm-so-happy-I'm-literally-going-to-cry thing that he does sometimes, so he decides that maybe he needs to calm down before he wakes up the roommates. he nestles into mightyena's neck and cuddles the fuck outta that boy one last time and then nods back to his room, leading the way.

when they get there the wallpaper still has not been fixed ]

[archie notes that, but decides not to mention it. mightyena immediately jumps up onto odins bed, tail still a-wagwagwaggin and makes himself a little nest of bed covers to lay down in. archie stays standing.]

So... you gonna tell me what's up?

N-No? I mean. I don't know? I don't know.

[ odin occupies himself with giving mightyena a lot more pats, as he is still a very good boy and deserves some very good hugs. he privately decides that if mightyena wants to stay in his bed forever, that's okay. he's totally willing to sleep on the floor. ]

Why d'you think something's up? Did I say something weird? Was it the story? I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, if I did. I'm sorry, dude.

N--no, you didn't do anything wrong.

[he rubs the back of his head, moving to sit on the edge of odin's bed to try and figure out how to do this without fucking up.

for a moment, he looks away and to the ruined wallpaper, silently grateful that odin didn't actually get a cock put up there.]

I just kinda... got the impression you used your own real life experiences-- which, don't get me wrong, all the great writers do that, but they were kind of... worrying, I guess?

[and also kind of explains how he acts and why -- similar to what archie himself did. he put on the loud pirate persona when he wasn't comfortable being his actual self.]

[ there's still time for cockpaper

odin's face reddens the fuck up, alight with all the blood that just floods through him at once. he scrubs his fists through his hair and then over his cheeks to drain the colour from them, but it just leaves him looking disheveled and messy as well as embarrassed. it's really not becoming for a sorcerer of evil to be so easy to read, but that's just one of the curses he's been hexed with. ]

Haha, what? I don't. Hhhhhhh.

[ he sweats. it's gross. he wipes his hands over his face again, hair still sticking up in every direction. honestly, people don't normally call him out on things like this - there are people back home who question his identity, because he's a man without a past in the land he was ported from, but questions like those are easy enough to dodge. comments based on his writing are a little more real. ]

I mean. I guess? I guess it was real stuff. Some of it. I probably shouldn't have written my own shit into a story I was writing for you. That's kind of uncool? Because I made you the leading figure in a story loosely based on my own problems, which is not only a bit of an overstep, it's, like. Dehumanizing? It's a bit dehumanizing for me to turn you into a character and then use you as a stand-in for some weird analogy of whatever my problems are. Right? I'm pretty sure I'm right about that. So I'm sorry again. For that. But thanks for checking on me? If that's what you're doing. I didn't mean to worry you. If I write stuff for you again, it'll only be happy, like I said. Sometimes it's hard to control the creative darkness that pulses and ebbs through my super creative mind, and part of that comes from the fact that inspiration strikes me like lightning carving through the sky and setting a forest (ie, my creative soul) ablaze. So. Man.

I'm not-- Odin, I'm not bothered about that.

[he holds his hands up, trying to calm odin down. fuck he fucked this up already UAUGHGHG]

I'm just-- do you need to talk about that shit or something? 'Cause it was pretty intense and even the... mightiest heroes sometimes need to tell someone when they're gettin' a bit overwhelmed with all their stuff goin' on, ya know? An'-- it doesn't make them an less mighty or heroic if they need to, like, tell someone they're maybe not feelin' so amazing and up to fighting the world's evil. Y'know?

[ fuck, he's fucking up! he doesn't know how he's fucking up, but he feels like he's fucking up!! ]

No? Yes? I don't know what the right answer is. Not that-- wait. Assuming there's a right answer that you're looking for is the wrong thing to do, actually? So I shouldn't... do that. But I don't know what I should say that would be the right... thing... to say. So.

[ Odin runs his hands through his hair again, shuts his eyes and thinks for a minute. He's gotta calm down, because being flustered is just making this conversation hard for Archie, and he can't let the fact that he sucks at dealing with his own problems make Archie regret his attempt to reach out. odin thinks that archie's too good to feel bad for doing good. so. he focuses on his breathing, letting a stretch of awkward silence form between them for a minute rather than stumble over his shitty attempts at speaking. ]

Uh. So. Uhhhh. If you're really offering me your shoulder, yeah, I could take it? It'd be nice to have someone I could open up to about some things, and you've only been kind to me, so if it's not an imposition... yeah. But only if that goes both ways? I mean, I know I act unreliable, but I'm not, really. I'd like to be there for you, if you want to be there for me. Not that I know what you've been through, if anything, but-- I'm not so naive to think that you could be pulled from another world and not feel something about home that maybe you haven't been able to get off your chest to anyone. Or something. Maybe you don't feel that way. That's probably a pretty big assumption. Or maybe you did but you already have people there for you? A guy like you probably has a lot of friends you can talk to. But. Uh.

[ odin waves his arms uselessly through the air to indicate he hopes archie gets what he means. he just wants to be there for archie like archie might want to be there for him. ]

[okay words aren't working for the moment they're both fucking up it's a disaster. archie gets up without FURTHER ADO and pulls odin's dumb ass into a big ol' hug.]

[ a few dumb, baseless thoughts bolt through odin's head when archie steps towards him - is this gonna be, like, a kiss??? or is he maybe gonna get hit for being stupid??? is archie gonna kick him out of the room for being a pain in the ass even though it's technically odin's room and that would be kind of a fucked up thing to do to someone when you're in their home???

but then archie's arms are tight around his shoulders and odin realizes what's going on. he... relaxes, honestly. the heart that had been pounding in his chest slows, the nerves that had been bouncing under his skin settle the fuck down, and he just lets it happen. he very, very nervously, very tentatively, and very gently, as if he's afraid of scaring archie off, curls his fingers into the back of archie's clothes and nestles a bit into his neck. he really did need this.

he stays there for a minute before pulling back and looking basically anywhere else. he watches mightyena. that's a good distraction. ]

Nobody's hugged me like that since, um. My dad.

[archie just lets him do what he needs to; he's a goddamn expert at giving Those Good Cuddles.

he thinks of the story odin wrote and knowing the answer probably won't be a good one, gingerly asks the question that's been hanging in his mind since he arrived.]

Odin... what happened to your dad?

Edited 2017-09-23 13:45 (UTC)

[ despite himself, odin does start to feel a little flustered again - after all, maybe he's going to annoy archie by going on about his problems, maybe he's going to say too much and scare the guy away - but he gets a hold of himself before it gets out of control. ]

Uh. Well.

He died. It was my fault. My mom died, too. There were others. Hundreds. Maybe more. People who I could have saved, but I didn't, because I was a coward. People who died directly because of things I did or didn't do. It's a pretty long and complicated story, and it's not one I think about too often, but. I mean, it's late at night and I'm alone in a world without any of my allies from home, so I guess some of the shittier thoughts I have sometimes got the better of me. I tried to distract myself by writing you a story? But. Well. Didn't work. Obviously.

[ he shrugs like it's no big deal and sits on the edge of his bed, stroking mightyena's fur. ugh, feelings. ]

There's a lot of blood on my hands. It's easier not to think about it. Worrying about the shitty things you've done in the past just messes you up, so it's something I try not to do. I don't know if you can understand that or not, but I hope you do. Or, well. I hope you don't, but I hope you can empathize, at least.

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