ledbythewind | [Voice/Action]

[Ah, Valentine's Day. The one experiment a year Richard hates most, for a variety of reasons. Granted, this year wasn't TOO terrible, as he was spared the unfortunate fate of falling in love with anyone under the effects of the experiment... but that didn't stop other people from from falling in love/lust with HIM, much to his dismay. And that's left him with many things to think about, as have some of the reactions to the experiment that he's seen from other people. Which leads him to ponder...]

Indulge my curiosity: what sorts of things are considered traditionally "masculine" where you come from?

[A bit later on, Richard will head out of the house on a shopping trip to All Passions and the item store, where he can be found looking for a new wardrobe and a few other things, probably as a result of some of the answers he received to his question. After picking out a bunch of things to take home with him, he chooses something new to wear home as well: cargo pants, combat boots, and a leather motorcycle jacket, because all of those things are super-masculine, right? Alas, on someone with the approximate build of a toothpick and delicate features like Richard has, the end result is a bit ridiculous, but don't tell him that. (Or do, your choice.) He can't quite bring himself to cut his hair - he's still far too proud of it - so instead he opts to pull it back into a ponytail.

There. Much better, in his eyes. Now the question is, what will his friends and housemates think of this?]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

And here I thought that was my job, though I admit, it can be entertaining to see what happens when no one does.

Your job, is it? You encourage me half the time!

More like only a quarter of the time. The rest of the time is entirely you.

I'm sure there's some equation that can be used to find the exact percentage, where some part would include a number multiplied by the time spent in your presence, but I don't care enough about math to bother.

Nor do I, unfortunately for us both. The world shall remain forever without an exact answer to that particular question.

[On the outside, Richard seems to be acting normal again.

... but Isamu likely knows by now that this doesn't mean that's necessarily the case.]

[Isamu knows. Oh, he knows. But there's only so much he can press the issue.]

A terrible shame, really.

Indeed. Think of what it could have contributed to the world.

Heh...

Look, just ignore a lot of this advice for now. It's not for you. We'll figure something out.

[Richard's eyes widen momentarily before he lets the facade down, realizing that it's not working against Isamu. He's not sure why he thought it would, really-- Isamu can read him like a book.]

Perhaps it's a lost cause after all.

Quit that. Has anyone had a problem with you in all the time you've been here?

You weren't exactly the most understanding yourself when we first met.

[He remembers how weird you acted at first, Isamu, even if part of that was out of jealousy over Richard getting close to Naoki.]

[Replace "part" with "all". Isamu's face goes a little red in embarrassment.]

That... that didn't really have much of anything to do with how you were.

Not at all?

[HE'S STILL UNSURE.]

You could have been anyone, really...

I was just irrationally bothered that someone else was getting Naoki's attention.

... I heard what he said to you the other day.

[Which is a very vague statement and doesn't in fact clarify anything at all, good job, Richard.]

Heh... which part?

[He shakes his head.]

Things are... complicated, with my world, I guess.

He was upset when you teased him about having a male harem. He said that he "didn't swing that way," and sounded angry that you would even suggest it.

[Even though he knows this isn't the same Naoki, hearing that in Naoki's voice still hurt him deeply.]

Oh. Yeah.

He's just... different. That's all. For some reason, my world seems to have several variations.

Is it truly that shameful a thing in your world?

[His Naoki had never treated it as strange, but... well.]

It... depends on who you ask?

It's shameful to the more bigoted, but not everyone.

Someone else I spoke to said that people could be executed on a mere suspicion of being gay in his world. It doesn't even require any sort of proof to put someone to death for that.

[And it's pretty clear that this knowledge bothers him a great deal.]

That... seems really fucking harsh.

[And antiquated. Could be somewhere on earth still, but there's no way he's saying that.]

That's not your world, though. Or this one. There's probably some kingdom in some world where you can be executed for wearing purple on the wrong day, but that doesn't mean anything here.

But there could still be people here who feel that way if that's how it is viewed in other worlds.

[Before, it had been easy enough for him to believe that no one had a problem with it because no one had ever said anything. Sure, his world didn't exactly accept it, but there's a big difference between "not accepting" and "wishing death on." It never really occurred to him that people could feel so strongly about the issue to want people to die for it.]

Edited 2013-03-26 19:12 (UTC)

I'm sure there are people here with a lot of opinions that differ from others. You don't have to let that affect you.

If you ask me, I don't think that even counts.

How can I not let something like that affect me...?

[It's a rhetorical question more than anything. Sure, they may not be able to do anything here, but now there's going to be a constant question at the back of his mind whenever he meets someone new-- what if they're one of the people who would want him executed?]

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