daemonized | RECOLLE IC CONTACT.

It got a response out of you. Are you going to give me the cold shoulder from here on out?

What does that matter to you.

[Is there a long-suffering sigh on this end? There is.]

You're her friend, aren't you? Which means that I should at least make an honest effort to make up for any perceived wrongs, but only if you're equally willing.

[Normally this would just be their usual snide back-and-forth, but Ardyn thinks this deserves a bit more diplomacy than usual.]

Besides, I do enjoy our repartee. It would be a shame to lose it. Meet with me?

I will scratch your eyes out.

[ They won't. It just feels good to say. ]

A risk I'm willing to take.

Is that a yes?

Fine.

How does coffee sound?

[Sending a location of a quaint little coffee shop right about... now.]

[ They don't answer, they're just going to leave him guessing as to whether or not they'll appear... Their favorite game. ]

[Well, they'll either appear or they won't. Time to find out which it'll be.

If Pitou does decide to come around, Ardyn will already have found a nice (shaded) spot outside, at one of the little tables. The weather is at least nice enough for it, conducive to a chat that hopefully does not include Pitou tearing his eyes out.

He'll already have ordered. His coffee sits on the table before him.]

[ Pitou Blythe appears like a storm cloud, their shadow falling over the table and looming for a moment before they sit down across from him. Arms crossed, expression spiteful.

They carry on... saying nothing... Just glowering at him.]

[That glower just reveals that they have so, so much to say. It's just a matter of breaking through that bulwark.

Ardyn leans forward, elbows on the table, the greeting them with the slightest raise of a brow.]

I know you want to say something. Why bother holding back?

[ Pitou bares their teeth in an angry, humorless smile.

They don't want to talk to him. They don't want to talk about how Dr. Sutcliffe was the first person who actually encouraged them to be themself, that actually helped them achieve goals that they cared about, rather than forcing them through the hoops considered normal for a child's socialization. They hate talking about those things. Their stupid orphaned childhood in and out of other people's homes, and that maybe all that loss made them particularly disposed to dislike having things taken away from them. That they distrusted family as a concept, and thought of marriage like a yolk.

All of it plays a part in their feelings, but they hate making excuses. ]

I'm not stupid, Ardyn. I know I'm in the wrong.

[ It doesn't change their resentment. ]

And?

[Ardyn can't hope to understand unless they talk to him. And while he doesn't expect Pitou to bear their heart and soul, there is an actual willingness to not leave it like this: metaphorically being glared at from across the table, resentment targeted at him like something red-hot.]

Did I say that should stop you?

[Permission to be petty. To say whatever is on their minds.]

[ They hiss through clenched teeth, eyes narrowing into even sharper daggers. ]

I was fine sharing her with you. Giving her to you is entirely differently. You've changed the rules.

[ And it's not fair. They were just getting settled with the way they fit in with these two and now they were changing configuration. ]

She doesn't need you.

[ The idea that she might is desperately upsetting, that someone who fostered their independence would willingly turn co-dependent. Maybe the worst part is that Pitou isn't even surprised by it, but that they thought maybe they could protect Grell from it--from herself--with enough determination.

Oh they have feelings galore, and only a very tiny fraction of them are actually coming out of their mouth. ]

[A tiny fraction is better than none at all. It's a starting point, and it's certainly more than enough for him to reply to.]

And what makes you so sure that she is yours to give? That she's mine to own? [What a strange thought, that he should possess her in such a way because of an engagement. As if he could store her away for himself and none other.]

Her friendship with you isn't going to change. I certainly have no power over that, nor would I want to.

[She doesn't need you, though. A moment of consideration.]

She chose me, doesn't that count for something? And I need her.

[He does believe that. Not having Grell would be the equivalent of missing a piece of himself.]

I don't need either of you.

[ And they don't much like the way they feel like they just might anyway. Although like shit would they ever admit that out loud.

What the hell is this thing Pitou is showing him? Is it terror or anger or jealousy? ]

[Whatever it is, it's worth a pause. Worth a questioning look. Ardyn idly clasps a hand around his coffee, and though he's content to feel its warmth he doesn't take a sip from it just yet.]

Are you afraid that we would be leaving you behind?

[A question opposite of Pitou's exclamation, perhaps frustratingly so. But in Ardyn's mind, it's a reasonable thing to ask.]

[ Pitou is afraid of nothing, and they bristle venomously. How dare he?

But of course they're leaving Pitou behind. Moving on into their normal human social behaviors while Pitou is the same misfit they always were. Grell was their weird misfit mentor. Give her back. What are you doing to her. ]

Leaving me behind? As if either of you can keep up with me.

[ But where is Pitou going. What goals in life do they have. All they ever wanted was a job so that they could be financially independent, which lead to so many other forms of independence. But they'd never entirely cared what the job was as long as it facilitated that.

Do their goals and dreams shine a light on how directionless Pitou is in their own little world? ]

Edited 2017-10-03 00:55 (UTC)

[Simultaneously confusing and exasperating. Curious and dubious.]

Then where lies the issue? You're don't care if we somehow detach ourselves from your life, you don't need our company, nor does it sound like you want it, if I'm to believe what you're saying.

So why the discontentedness? The anger?

[Puzzle pieces that just refuse to fit together.]

[ They're all but vibrating with it: discontent and anger and frustration and confusion and resentment and fear; an existential jumble of emotions they've never really learned how to deal with. Their fearless, direct nature had its benefits, they functioned well enough, but it made them shallow and childish when it came to any level of social complexity. Normally, being a rude wretched beast got them out of these conversations, an easy defense mechanism like an irritated cat swatting at ankles and fingertips. ]

I liked things just fine the way they were.

You know that's unreasonable. To expect that things won't eventually change.

[But of course they know. Ardyn gives Pitou more credit than that, despite the hissy fit they were throwing right this very moment. He knows that, and yet it's going to be rather difficult to climb this wall of discontent and frustration that's been tossed up in front of him.

He loops back around to something Pitou has already told him.]

What "rules" do you think have altered?

[ Why are they even still talking to him? They hadn't spent this much time talking to Grell, although they were also not going to bitch her out to her face like this. Whatever that signifies. ]

What I can do, where I can be!

[ So catlike. Someone else will want more time with her and Pitou doesn't want to concede it. That's their couch to scratch. Something easy and physical to own up to, whereas when it comes to their feelings, Pitou practically speaks in tongues on that front. ]

How I'm supposed to deal with you. And if you tell me it's all the same, I'm throwing that coffee in your face, you understand a basic social hierarchy.

[ For someone who is not the most socially functional, they sure do feel strongly about hierarchy, it's one of their oddities, something they put entirely too much attention in to, even if they then go on to disregard it. Much like their insistence that Nature would win out the day...

It's like there's an animal in there, still watching the human world with the wilderness on its mind. ]

[If someone is going to disengage from this conversation first, it won't be Ardyn. But that doesn't mean the man won't lean back in his chair, exhaling as listens. Wondering if this is a futile conversation that's just going to go around in circles, because Grell is their friend, and if she didn't manage to calm them down, what chance does he possibly have?

Well. A stubborn streak to lean on, if nothing else.]

How you're supposed to deal with me? [He gestures with his hands as he speaks, brought on by how surprising that statement is to him.] Refrain from throwing coffee in my face, but I would've thought you'd treat me similarly as before. The same snide comments, the inclination to call me a hobo and potentially dress me to your standards one day.

[Ardyn believed that their whims surely wouldn't bend because of an engagement, goodness no.]

Don't tell me that's subsiding.

Of course it would, you fucking twit. You think I'm going to treat my friend's husband that way?!

[ Oh. Well. At... least they've finally admitted Grell is their friend??? Also that her decision as to keep a longterm partner has meaning.

And that Pitou is put out that they have to be nice now.

No, we know that's really only a tiny little piece of the whole fit.]

What, then? You're going to strain smiles in my direction from here on out?

[A painful, torturous fate. A small part of the whole or not, Ardyn feels as if this needs addressing.]

That'll be equally terrible for the both of us.

RECOLLE IC CONTACT.

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