IC inbox; TS

[simulsimul]

... Hm.

Comments

audio; mid-May

[choiced]

[After personally witnessing this, and during a day where Zelos doesn't have much else to do and is very, very bored.]

Hey, where do you live?

[Because it's just occurred to him he has no idea.]

[simulsimul]

What?

[This is not a call he expected, nor a person from whom he expected one, let alone a question he expected this person to ask.]

[choiced]

[Zelos lives to defy expectations.]

Come on, it's not like it's a hard question. Where do you live?

[simulsimul]

I don't live anywhere.

[He says it like he's not trying to hide it, but he's not sure why Zelos is asking.]

[choiced]

[What in the name of Martel is the point of obfuscating now?]

Look, I'm not planning on burning it down. I just want to know, in case I ever need -- [Help? No.] In case you do something stupid again and someone needs to burn your house down to teach you a lesson. I can promise it won't be me.

[simulsimul]

... I don't have a house.

[There's not much that's obfuscating about 'I don't live anywhere', Zelos.]

[choiced]

Then whatever it is. Apartment, shack, mansion.

[Brief pause.]

Don't tell me you live in a shack.

[simulsimul]

I'm not living anywhere, Zelos.

[Patiently.]

[choiced]

[The pause this time is a lot longer.]

Why not?

[simulsimul]

Why do I need somewhere?

[He doesn't eat or sleep, and there's no point in taking up room someone else might be able to use.]

[choiced]

Well, for one thing, so people can actually find you when they want to talk to you. [Muttering:] Can't imagine why anyone would want to, but whatever. Some people are nuts.

For another thing, if you're going to start flirting with handsome strangers, you need to impress them. No one's impressed by 'I'm homeless.'

[simulsimul]

I have a radio.

[Patiently, and explicitly not pointing out that Zelos is the one who called him. ... The second comment makes him pause.]

Flirting with handsome strangers?

[He actually sounds bemused.]

[choiced]

[Zelos laughs.] You did seem a little clueless back there.

[Or at least, clueless is what Zelos assumed. He wasn't close enough to hear most of it, and he didn't go out of his way to try. It's Kratos.]

Sure, but radios don't let me see your face when I get to tell you about things like this. Why hasn't Raine yelled at you yet?

[simulsimul]

There hasn't been a reason to mention my living arrangements to her.

[Pause.]

You're talking about Devin.

[Look at him, catching up.]

[choiced]

Ooooooh. [Long, drawn-out, and that very annoying tone of someone who's just realised they can make a point and take the moral high ground.] So what you're saying is it's okay for you to lie and sneak around behind your friends' backs and keep doing the same thing you've been doing for four thousand years, but when it's me, we have to do something about it.

[Hypocrisy, anyone.]

Unless there's another handsome stranger you've been -- [Yeah no he can't even finish the sentence.] Whoever it was at the Welcome Center.

[simulsimul]

I'm not lying to her. I'm not sneaking around her back. I'm doing the homework she gives me. I'm just not living anywhere.

[That is: he's trying to make his days different. It doesn't always work, but he's trying, and reporting back during their weekly meals.]

Devin. That wasn't flirting.

[Where did Zelos get that idea.]

[choiced]

... She's giving you homework?

[It's Zelos's turn to sound bemused. He's not going to get homework, is he? He's been eating and sleeping. ... Mostly.]

I don't know what angels call it when someone snuggles up next to them and whispers sweet nothings into their ear, but down here, we call it flirting.

[simulsimul]

[It's Raine. Of course she's been giving out homework. It would go without saying, even at the best of times, but in light of Zelos's perspective of the meeting in the Welcome Centre ... Kratos had so hoped Zelos wouldn't see him there.

[Homework is the preferable subject, here.]

Yes, she's given me homework. I'm to find ways to make my days different. Talk to new people. Spend at least one meal with her a week.

[choiced]

[There is still laughter in Zelos's voice.] Great! You can tell her you talked to someone new. Tell her you've made a special friend. She'll definitely give you full marks for that!

[Yeah, Zelos won't let this one go easily.]

So you really don't have anywhere to live? That's sad. I guess I'm winning.

[simulsimul]

I haven't made any special friends.

[Very. Flat.]

I wasn't aware we were engaging in a contest.

[choiced]

We're not. It doesn't have to be a contest. It just means I'm better than you.

[With a grin:] You might want to let Devin know about that. 'Cause from where I was standing, he definitely had other ideas.

[simulsimul]

Then it's fortunate you weren't standing where he was.

[He sighs.]

If it makes you feel better to believe so, by all means; you're better than me.

[choiced]

[... Kratos, do you do this on purpose? Yes, it's fortunate Zelos wasn't standing where Devin was, thank you very much. Stop putting images like that in his head. They kill every mood ever.

Also, it loses all meaning when you concede without a fight.

Zelos isn't audibly grumbling shut up.]

Good. Don't forget that. [Brightening a bit:] You know what? If sleeping's part of your homework, come do it at my house. I have a sofa. I can tell Raine you're being a good student.

[simulsimul]

[The startle is almost audible. Did Zelos just offer him somewhere to sleep?]

... Sleeping isn't part of the homework.

[They hadn't discussed it.]

Why?

[He's not talking about sleeping and homework.]

[choiced]

I don't know. Maybe Raine doesn't think sleep's important. Maybe she thinks you're handling it well enough on your own.

[Zelos knows, on some level, what the question actually asked; but since he doesn't have an answer, bullshitting it is.]