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[mightyena just lays there like a good puppy and lets odin roll over him. maybe any other dog would've bitten him, but mightyena doesn't. he's a good boy. and also used to muscle babies being babies.

archie also just lets whatever is happening happen, staying on his back.]

I dunno... sometimes people are-- but don't. It's not you, he's been pretty shitty to everyone. He has his own Pokémon he doesn't treat too well, even. [can you imagine having something as cute and perfect as mightyena and treating it bad??] He'll come around eventually.

[ it turns out this isn't actually comfortable after all. odin flops around like a fish for a while until he's on his side facing away from archie. then he flops around until he's on his other side, staring at archie. then he flops around until he's on his back, trying to imitate archie. archie looks cool. he at least wants to look cool, if he's going to be uncomfortable. ]

Oh... well. [ no, it's too uncomfortable. he flops until he's face down and his voice is muffled by the matress. ]

I don't want to force him into being kind to me or anything. That's not what I'm trying to say. But I think if he's hurting, I'd like to try and be friends with him so that maybe, in some small, insignificant way, I could ease that. Maybe I can bring some happiness into his life? I don't know. It's hard helping people be happy.

[archie grins into the darkness; odin is flopping around not unlike a magikarp. he brought a magikarp to bed once when he was a stupid kid and it flopped around, hit him in the face then jumped out the window and into the sea. thank god for pacifidlog floating on the ocean... his kidself hadn't really thought of that. too bad, he always kinda wanted a gyarados.]

Ah-- yeah, I get it. I don't think you could force him to really do anything, anyway. If it helps, he's easy to bribe with good udon, ha!

[for a moment, he's quiet.]

I think you make people happy. I read over some of the other responses to your video and... I know that was you puttin' on your hero face but it still made people happy.

[ udon, okay. udon. archie was just joking, but odin sits up on his knees very seriously, mouths the word udon, grins, then flops back onto the mattress, still face down. looks like, uh. looks like he's got that plan ironed out. niko's gonna get some udon.

but then he's quiet for a little while, and when he speaks again, his voice is pretty small. ]

I hope I do. [ he shrugs into the mattress, rolling over to face Archie again. ] I think acting like a fool and lying about the kind of man I am does more harm than good, but part of why I do it is so I can bring a whirlwind of energy into people's lives. Getting them thinking about adventures and cool heroes and badass stuff like that. But it's definitely an excuse for me to say whatever wild shit I want to say without worrying about the repercussions until they're hitting me in the face, so that's no good. But. Again. Still sort of a coward. Not gonna stop any time soon.

[ he frowns, examining archie's face like he's searching for something. he wished he knew why the poor guy had nightmares, or why he said he'd made his own fair share of mistakes in the past, but odin wasn't going to ask. not tonight, at least. ]

You know you make people happy, too, right? You're such a warm and loving person. I wish I knew how to express to you just how much I appreciate the time we've spent together, however short it may have been before today. I know I've only known you for a few weeks, but you've shown a level of respect and trust for me that I haven't received from many people in my life - at least people who weren't obligated to provide those feelings for me in some way. Kinda overwhelms me how amazing it was that you came over to talk to me like this, which... I don't know. Is that too much to say? I'm definitely reading into a pretty normal act of friendship and assigning a lot of weight and pressure to an innocent decision you made and I really shouldn't do that. I'm definitely talking too much and being pretty being a bit of a clingy messy weight again. I don't mean to be like that. That's not what I'm trying to do. I hope I'm not, like. Pressuring you to... be. Friend. At me. With this. That's not. [ HE'S BROKEN AGAIN HIS STUPID INSECURE MIND IS FUCKING UP AGAIN CTRL ALT DEL CTRL ALT DEL FORCE RESTART ]

[he pokes odin (WITH HIS HAND) in the shoulder.]

Ey-- quit callin' yourself a coward, and quit trying to stop yourself when you're on a roll. You're fine, bro. I came over because I wanted to see if you were okay, not because I thought you were strongarming me into doing it, alright? I think you're smart enough to tell if someone was doing something they felt they had to rather than because they genuinely wanted to.

I know! I know. I don't know why I act like I don't know that kind of stuff when I totally know! [ odin puts his hands up in exasperation. or one hand, at least. he's laying on his other arm.

he goes quiet again, feeling irritated at nothing and miserable and happy and just generally all sorts of things. but then he throws his hand up even higher, in even greater exasperation. archie totally fuckin' dodged him!! ]

You know you make me happy, right?!

Woah, hey-- hey! It's okay!

[jeez he's gotta get this guy a skitty or something. maybe spawn another poochyena. mightyena paws at odin's back, worried.]

You said you do, so I believe you. I'm glad I can help, bro.

[he's not sure he makes anyone happy, but... he won't say that.]

[ Odin stares at Archie, suspicious. was that answer good enough for him? is he satisfied? he can't tell if archie doesn't really believe him or if he's just not the type to talk about his feelings. it's especially hard because when odin really gets going, nobody talks about their feelings as much as he does, which makes it really hard for him to gauge out what the healthy baseline of non-committal responses might be.

well, for now, at least, odin rolls over to pay attention to mightyena, because the poor guy is being adorable and odin loves him very much. he grins and reassuringly rubs the doggo behind its dumb floppy ear, but then childishly magikarp-flops back around to face archie again. fucking sit still OR FUCKING GO TO SLEEP ]

Can you tell me what home was like for you? Or is that kind of an off limits question? It's okay if it is. I know some people don't like talking about it.

[unfortunately, while odin is thinking it's all his fault, archie is thinking about how it's HIS fault for being so bad at affirming other people's feelings. come on, you stupid motherfucker, this is why matt went batshit and almost got himself killed. idiot idiot idiot idiot--]

No, it's fine. There's a bunch of regions where I come from-- Kanto, Johto, Sinnoh, Unova, Alola... I come from one called Hoenn. It's a tropical region-- tons of water, tons of beaches, tons of Sharpedo. You'd probably love it.

[ the second archie slips up and reveals a little more of his vulnerability to odin, odin's gonna jump on him like a Friendship Leech and suck those emotions right out of his god damn body. man oh man is he going to bleed archie dry of his bad feelings and replace them all with love and cuddles. for now, though, odin leans back into the mattress and thinks about what hoenn might look like, blissfully unaware that archie is a sad useless old man. ]

We sent Lord Leo on vacation to the beach, once. He wouldn't go in the water. He hated tanning. He wouldn't leave his bungalow, unless it was at night and nobody else was around. I always thought a trip to the beach sounded fun, and that despite showering him with wreaths and fruits when he returned back to the castle in order to congratulate him on defeating the vacation, he totally wasted an opportunity to have fun. Have I talked to you about Lord Leo yet? If not, I basically just summed up his entire personality. "Super scared of fun".

[ he's rambling. he's not gonna apologize though, fuck it. archie's his buddy, they can ramble at each other now. ]

Do you, uh. Miss it? Hoenn, I mean.

[he's a very sad useless old man.]

You haven't... was he part of the royal family?

[a pause.]

Yes. [he almost says 'no place like home' AHHDHahahhahahahAAHAHA]

But to be honest, bein' away from home and the situation there has been more help than I expected.

Ah, no. Not mine, at least. So - me and Lucina, my cousin? When we went back to save our parents, we would have been, um. Jeez. Fourteen, for me? Sixteen, for her. That was nine years ago. A couple of years passed while we were in the, uh, peaceful timeline, and I would have been about sixteen or seventeen when things were wrapped up and the day was saved and stuff, and after it was over and we had prevented everything from going to hell, I had to go away again. I got a new name, which is Odin, and I got a new appearance and stuff, which is who you're seeing now. I couldn't tell anyone I was a prince anymore, but I had to protect this different prince in a new country, and that's Lord Leo, and I'm his retainer, which is a kind of bodyguard/maid/nanny/chewtoy. So... yeah.

[ god, his life sounds stupid when he says it out loud. he hasn't even mentioned the dragons or the Conquest or the curse that'll turn him into water if he speaks of it. life, man. ]

But yeah... I understand. Home is a weird concept, but I think that-- [ HOLD THE PHONE ]

There's a situation there? In Hoenn? Something with you? Personally? Or like - a war? [ IF ARCHIE HAS BEEN THROUGH A WAR ODIN IS GOING TO LOSE HIS SHIT ]

[okay he sits bolt upright for a moment.]

Fuh-- fucking fourteen?! I thoug-- I thought that was recent for ya! Shit!

[he lays down again, this time hugging odin cause ughghrhrhrhghg he feels so bad for this poor good boy.]

Uh... nothing like a war. I just... [he lets go, shifting awkwardly.] I fucked up really bad and hurt a lot of people, because I thought I was right. I was-- mmm, I was the supervillain, I guess. I almost ended the world.

[ wah! odin is startled when archie sits up, holding his hands out ready to karate chop whatever motherfucker has apparently broken into his room. but. then archie flops down and crushes him in another hug, and odin just goes beet red. shit, he fucked up, he made archie sad. when will he fucking learn to shut his fucking mouth. ]

N-No, it was a long time ago. I shouldn't keep talking about something that doesn't matter anymore.

[ A B S O L U T E L Y not want archie meant, but. hey whatever. he doesn't say much when Archie drops the apocalypse bomb, but he does seem a little... not nervous, and certainly not suspicious of archie, but he's definitely, definitely sad. ]

Are you okay...? It's okay if you're not. That must be a lot to carry with you. I know what it's like to have the weight of that many lives on your shoulders.

Of course it matters!! It's awful to have something that big happen so young!!

[wAUAUGUGH]

I-- I'll be honest, I... only really mentioned it 'cause I thought you might get it. It's... it was just a big mistake. I didn't do it because I wanted to end the world...

Y-Yeah, I guess, but-- I mean, it was a long time ago, is all. I'm supposed to be over it. And anyway, I-- [ tch!! odin clicks his tongue impatiently. this doesn't matter!! odin doesn't care about himself right now, he wants to shine the spotlight on archie's issues SO HARD. IT'S TIME TO SHUT THE HECK UP ABOUT ODIN'S DUMB LAME BABY TRAUMA FOR BABIES. ]

I totally get it. I super get it. I literally grew up during the end of the world, man. This is my forte. You made the right choice talking to me about this! And. And! You haven't given me even the smallest, tiniest, babiest little microscopic reason to believe you'd try to hurt anyone on purpose, let alone to that degree. So. Don't be afraid that I'm gonna think of you as a bad guy or whatever. Oh! And I understand mistakes! Man, oh man, do I understand mistakes. So. So. So! I totally believe you. I'm sorry you've gotta carry that with you.

[ he scoots a little closer to archie and drapes an arm over him, resting his chin on his chest. poor archie. ]

D'you wanna talk about what you did? It's totally okay if you don't. Just like it's okay to be sad.

No. Sorry, it's not-- it's not personal, I just don't really... want to.

[not right now. not the specifics. besides, he is actually starting to get sleepy with all this GOOD HUGGING.]

I ain't lettin' you off the hook, ya know. I don't think you should be over it. You lost everything twice.

Don't apologize! It's okay. Whatever makes you comfortable, okay? I'm a really cool friend and I always know the right thing to say, and right now the right thing to say is that you're a great person with a cool beard and those are the only important things we need to think about right now. You're with your rad friend Odin and your rad dog Mightyena and that makes this a pretty okay moment.

[ he nods, but he's still resting his head on archie so he just sorta digs his chin into his skin a bit, whoops. sorry dude. ]

Well... let me off the hook for now, at least. We can totally grill each other about our dumb mental problems when we're not catching some sleepy Z's.

[he snorts, reaching a hand over to plap odin on the face in the face. he probably pokes him in the eyeball or something.]

G'night, Odin.

[ Odin nods, rolling over and getting a little more comfortable under the covers. ]

G'night, Archie. And thanks! Again. For the, like. Thirteenth time. Haha. Hhha.

Yeah.

Night!

Edited 2017-09-25 14:51 (UTC)

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