distressedude | 026 ~ [Voice/Action] | Forward-dated to Sunday

[It's been two weeks since the incident with Arietta, and there was still no sign of Anise in the village. They never even had a chance to speak before she left for a mission, likely in an attempt to put some distance between herself and Ion after their argument. It's strange to think that the last time they went this long without speaking to each other by choice was around this same time last year, though for a very different reason. He's been so caught up in dealing with all of this that he actually let the anniversary of the day he first confessed his feelings for her pass by without a single thought!]

[It was strange to think so much time had already passed. He wasn't entirely sure how to feel about it really.]

[But sometime in the late afternoon, he opens his journal. There's no need to bother with a filter while Anise is still out of the village, and it isn't as though Arietta is the one he's trying to reason with here. Her anger is easier to understand and deal with. There's an uncharacteristic hint of exasperation in his voice when he speaks, having spent the last week and a half mulling over this without any obvious solution coming to mind.]

How do you stop two people who hate each other from continuing to hate each other? [Not a very eloquent way of asking, but it's the simplest way he can think of to explain the situation.]

Though this isn't the sort of problem I'm expecting an easy answer to, I was hoping someone might be able to offer some suggestions. Or perhaps if anyone's had any experience in dealing with a situation like this, it might be of some help.

[And regardless as to whether he's heard any solutions to this problem or not, he'll be spending the remainder of the evening in various places around town. He spends about an hour at the library, not quite able to concentrate on his reading. Giving that up, he goes for an aimless walk, lingering on the various bridges around town for a few minutes before moving on again. He probably looks more spaced out than he usually is, and the cold chill in the air probably isn't helping matters. By the time he arrives back home, it's been dark for awhile and he's shivering quite a bit. He probably should have worn his winter coat today.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

...but I can try to convince one of them to make that first step, can't I? Even if it something that needs to be settled between the two of them, there's no reason someone can't try to help from the outside...

[...] I wouldn't be asking if I thought there was any chance they could work things out on their own. Not the way things are now.

[For a moment, Fenimore is silent, trying to think how to approach this. She could be gentle about it, or she could tell him what she considers the truth.]

You're going to have to be prepared to fail a lot. [Blunt approach it is.] I doubt anything that any of us are going to tell you, especially on this little information, is going to be successful right away. There isn't a magical method for this kind of thing. The closest there is...well, you have to try over and over until it finally works. Eventually, it might sink in right.

...Or it might just make them more angry. Do you really need them to like each other?

[He's well past the point of thinking gently about all of this. The post itself is a rather aggressive approach, given he hasn't bothered locking it from either party.]

They don't need to like each other. Not even I think an outcome like that would be conceivable given the present circumstances.

But hating each other to such a degree that every conversation seems to end with death threats is hardly a stable situation. Especially in a village this small... I don't want to see either of them get hurt.

[...Woah, back the truck up.]

Death threats?

[Okay, maybe this kind of thing sounds less familiar to her. She's never had a falling out with someone that badly. ...Okay, maybe there are a few...hundred...people she hates to the point of wanting them to die, but since this guy appears to think that both of them are good people it's probably not the same thing. And she doesn't know most of those people well enough to know their names or even have met a majority of them, so again, different kind of circumstances.]

Edited 2012-12-05 07:38 (UTC)

Unfortunately, yes. Though they've both been known to make threats like that rather lightly [Anise's "I'll kill you bastards!" comes to mind, alongside Arietta's tendency to threaten to kill anyone who wrongs her -- though the seriousness in both circumstances could go either way.] I'm not entirely convinced that either of them wouldn't jump at the chance if a fight were to break out between them.

[Which was never a question with Arietta -- but that last conversation with Anise struck an unpleasant chord in him. It's true they were enemies back home, but there's a difference between doing what's necessary to save the world and killing for the sake of killing.]

...Well, I guess you can't just leave that alone. Would they agree to just keep apart? Maybe they could learn to filter anything they do on the journal away from each other.

[Not that Fenimore knows all that much about filters herself.]

If that were a feasible option, I'd help them with the filters myself. As it is, they've been seeking each other out with the intent to tease one another.

I'm beginning to wonder if there isn't anything more I can do to keep them apart. They only seem to get worse whenever I'm involved as well.

[And naturally the exact reason for that flies over his head.]

But -- [She's about to continue debating the filtering option when something about the last part catches her attention. Worse when he's involved, huh? Well, she doesn't have any basis on which to know one way or the other, but:]

Does the reason they're fighting...involve you in any way?

026 ~ [Voice/Action] | Forward-dated to Sunday

[Voice]

[Voice]

[Voice]

[Voice]

[Voice]

[Voice]

[Voice]

[Voice]