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howheendures

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From:

weirdnecro

Gojyo sleeps with a lot of women- and you, it seems? Wonder how that happened.

[Since Gojyo seemed...aggressively into women. Armand is very beautiful but...she wonders if this means she should chat with the redhead.]

Armand, you are not. And you have not, about the situation where Ashton seemed to be very aggressively against us speaking.

So...please us your words. Pretend I don't understand. I can't praise you and look for movies with you if I'm confused.

From:

howheendures

Gojyo has, I suppose you might call them, 'hang-ups' around sleeping with men that are built on concepts of masculinity rather than a lack of interest. It's very common.

[Armand has spent a lifetime and more being nonthreatening to the masculinity of men he's slept with. It's pretty straightforward.]

Ashton and I don't get along. [And they're both vampires? Honestly, that one is too obvious to need to into. Everyone knows vampires are extremely territorial, and that Ashton refuses to be mature about it isn't Armand's problem.

He folds his arms.] I am not some sort of performing dog.

From:

weirdnecro

Ah, yes. I am familiar. But, it seems, you two are getting along?

[She is worried for both Armand and Gojyo. This could go very badly. For both of them. She doesn't even know about the Hakkai angle.

But she snorts. This might have been the closest thing to a pout she's seen from him.]

You are correct. You are not a performance dog. And neither am I. We are both semi immortals with centuries under our belts.

I would like it if I understood the situation, so I won't needlessly snap at you. I'm not going to read your mind.

I need your words. Please.

From:

howheendures

For the last ten months, yes.

[Basically to the day, if you count from the first time they hooked up, which Armand does. He might be a semi-immortal with centuries under his belt, but that's not nothing.]

I don't understand what you want.

[Even more sulkily. This is exactly why he should have his mind reading back! It's makes everything far easier.]

Ashton and I don't get on. You are in some sort of relationship with her, yes? So she was upset.

[And then Sokie left after accusing Armand of being possessive, even though he wasn't being anything like that! ...He had been baiting Ashton a bit, but that was totally different. This is another one that goes under 'genuinely doesn't understand what Sokie means'.]

From:

weirdnecro

Ten months huh.

[Worry increases.

But she turns her body so she's on her side, facing him properly so she can gently stroke her fingers over his hair.]

What I want is clarity in the thought process. Why don't you get along with Ashton. Why you were baiting her. Why it felt as if you were taking advantage and using me as someone to make her upset. It made me feel as if I wasn't a person, but an object. A possession.

Does that help?

From:

howheendures

[How can you get any clearer than ‘vampire’? But while Armand doesn’t love questions he is happy to defend himself from unfair accusations of wrongdoing.]

I don’t ‘get along’ with Ashton because she decided we would not. I will give her this: nothing about the time we have spent together since then has made me think that she was wrong. That she started a fight she could not finish is on her own shoulders.

As for that specific evening [since she doesn’t see the blatantly obvious], Ashton could have simply walked away if she didn’t want to see you speaking to someone. I’m not beholden to her desires. And you could and did walk away yourself. [An object couldn’t do that!]

From:

weirdnecro

But I also understand this is a complicated situation. But what fight? What happened with the three of us? Or is this another fight that I don't know about? Why did you not try to speak to Ashton so there wouldn't be any more fighting?

Also...why did you not decide to walk away yourself? Or...explain what was going on? It wasn't obvious to me what was happening. I didn't have context.

From:

howheendures

Ashton attacked me when we first met, because she wanted to project her issues with vampires onto a random stranger.

[In some ways, it's all a very long fight and one where 'talking' isn't involved. Ashton started it.]

Why should I have walked away? [He wasn't doing anything wrong, and he wasn't going to do anything that might be taken otherwise.] You have met vampires. [No context is needed for an extremely normal vampire thing!]

From:

weirdnecro

Okay. So...she had a fight with you...because you're a vampire.

[She gives Armand a long look. And she slowly blinks.]

I have met vampires. But not all vampires are alike. Not all vampire needs are alike. You're also a person. Who does not need to engage when someone else is being petty or hostile.

So...is that what you're going to go with? Because what I'm getting is...you're doing this because you like fighting with Ashton.

From:

howheendures

[It's true that not all vampires are alike. Some of them are weird. Unlike Armand and - as distasteful as it is to admit that they share something in any way, even if it's just being normal vampires - Ashton. And, importantly:]

Ashton attacked me because of some sort of mental construct of who I am, based off her own 'issues'.

[So of course he has to engage. What is he if not how he's seen?]

From:

weirdnecro

...and pray tell, what is a mental contruct of you?

Please explain.

[She's gonna get a headache. She can tell.]

From:

howheendures

A vampire she dislikes.

[He more or less likes Sokie some of the time, but she does lack a grasp on the obvious.]

From:

weirdnecro

[She rubs her nose, in disbelief. She likes Armand sometimes but he's making it hard right now.]

I'm sorry Armand but...I meant, how, or what is it that you're meaning?

I don't want to assume here.

From:

howheendures

[Armand takes a couple of moments, because it's so clear that trying to explain it breaks down into the nonsensical. That he's willing to try is proof that he's far more generous than some people have implied. Or said directly.]

When you meet someone you form an impression of them, yes?

From:

weirdnecro

[He's trying! She guesses! She tilts her head, playing with his hair a little more.]

Yes?

From:

howheendures

Your impression shapes how you respond to them. Sometimes that perception shifts with time. Sometimes it does not. Why should I interfere with the perception of someone with whom I share a mutual dislike?

[He says this with the confidence of someone who's made a point that is not just reasonable but extremely logical.]

From:

weirdnecro

[Sokie closes her eyes for a few moments. This. Stuff like this is why he's an inmate.

She says nothing at first. But she does lean in to offer him a light kiss on the mouth.]

From:

howheendures

[There's nothing like logic!

But it's not as if he has any objections to kissing her, no matter the reason.]

From:

weirdnecro

[She kisses him for awhile longer, slowly pulling away with a nuzzle and murmured words.]

That's not a mental construct. That's just how you're presenting yourself to Ashton, and however else you decide to to the rest of the world.

Are you ever allowed to be wrong?

From:

howheendures

[He tilts his head.]

What does that have to do with being wrong?

[He is allowed to be wrong if that's how he's seen, though of course that requires being the right sort of wrong...]

From:

weirdnecro

That, [kiss] is, [kiss] blame shifting.[One last kiss with a nip before she pulls back.]

From:

howheendures

[Oh, if it's that:]

Almost never.

[Usually that's because there is someone else to blame, if you know where to look. You can still get hurt - even if someone else is at fault - but it's generally safer.]