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What? Is that how it came across? No, that's-- Archie, I love you both the same amount. I mean, in different ways, granted, but I've never loved you any less than him. Like, Mightyena can't listen to me the way you do, but you can't lick my face the way Mightyena does, you know? Well. You could, I guess. And I guess he can listen to me?

[ Odin pauses. ]

I guess I love you both in exactly the same way, after all.

I am absolutely not going to lick your face.

[he knows that's not what odin meant but had to clarify.]

That's cute. You're cute, you fucker. C'mon, let's go, or I'm gonna end up on the floor with your dogs again.

Well, that's rude.

[ probably would have been what he meant, if he wasn't in such a stupid Serious Mode over this whole house thing and thought it would be funny to get his face licked by a human person. god, odin's weird. still, he follows Archie out and lets him guide him to wherever they're supposed to be going, uncharacteristically quiet and reserved the entire trip there. ]

[archie leads him, commenting occasionally, maybe trying to make conversation but petering out, flinching a few times at just normal noises, generally just clearly trying really really hard to be normal, though not doing very well.

eventually, they get to the store - it's clearly one of a kind - set up to look like ye olde blacksmith, probably something odin recognises more than archie. there's no door, so archie just walks right in, past the open area where a guy is forging something for people to watch, and says something to the clerk, who disappears into the back, presumably to get something.]

I got something from here before. I think they're high quality? [sidelong glare from nearby employee.] I can't tell.

[ to his credit, despite being too on his guard and wary about this whole situation to take the lead in conversation as he normally would, Odin notices every flinch, every nervous shut down, every awkward little movement Archie makes. he doesn't know what to do with any of it, though, which is partially why he stays quiet - last thing archie needs is someone trying to say something and just saying something wrong instead.

he does light up when they hit the blacksmith's, despite himself, but the skip in his heart turns painful. the smell of water on metal that hangs in the air reminds him of home and he has to wipe tears from his eyes with the heel of his palm, because he really, really fucking was not ready to be reminded of home right now. not given what happened in that house. he tries not to make it too obvious how badly this place is fucking him up, but he's not that good of an actor. ]

Oh, yeah. This place looks really good, I can tell. They must make good things here. [ things are blurry, so he wipes his eyes again, laughs and makes a vague gesture as if it's just the steam by the forge getting up his nose and not the way hammer on steel makes him think of his dad slaving away over owain's first sword, showing him how to iron out the dents of it so it can protect him in battle. ]

What'd you, um - jeez, sorry. [ really can't stop those tears from coming, now. he just keeps laughing awkwardly as he wills himself to stop being such a fucking baby and let archie do what he needs to do for him, angrily smearing tears off as they run down his cheeks. ]

Yeah, I thought I'd need goggles the first time I was in here.

[misdirection sucessful! archie puts an arm on odin's shoulders regardless.

...what he can reach, anyway.

a couple minutes later, the clerk comes back with a box, and opens it to reveal... a special sword. archie points at it excitedly.]

Look! Look! There's an entire set! Is this not the most you thing ever?!

Edited (better pic) 2017-10-30 19:24 (UTC)

Oh, um, I love goggles.

[ Wasn't Really Listening. he does, however, open his eyes the fuck up the second that box comes out. it's hard for him to focus, given so much of this place just screaming ylisse at him, but if there was gonna be one god damn thing that would ease the bad thoughts in his head it would be a rainbow god damn sword. ]

... Th-that-- that's.

[ he doesn't have the words, though. he's just staring at the sword, nervous and still shaken but nevertheless obviously pretty eager to hold it. his stomach hurts, makes a queasy awkward little noise that would get lost in the sounds of the store if archie wasn't so close to him. he struggles to find something to say, and when he finds it, it just kinda stumbles outta him. ]

Why'd you get me this?

Is that a joke? It's a rainbow sword!

[here, at least, he seems genuine.]

I ordered two for myself so I could put them on my wall!

I mean, I love it. Even more than that, I love that you saw this and it reminded you of me. I just...

[ he stares at Archie, who... doesn't seem to be willing to give him much more than a rainbow sword and genuine excitement to see Odin enjoy his present. odin still can't shake this feeling that something's off, here, but if Archie's not gonna talk to him about it, he can't keep forcing it. as he holds his new sword in his hand, he tries his best to just worry on it later. ]

... This is amazing. [ he holds it in front of him, cuts it through the air like he's done it a million times before. ] It's been so long. I wanna find a thief to kill.

[he can't. he should tell odin that he just flat out can't. but... he can't, haha.]

Did you see the little knives as well?

Edited 2017-11-05 12:36 (UTC)

Ah, yeah. [ Odin picks up a couple, spinning them on his index fingers. there's an emotion burning in his throat he doesn't wanna think too hard on. ] They're really nice. The ninja of Hoshido used these against us, actually. They had these little spiral cuts so they could dig into your skin when they cut past you... or if you got unlucky and they actually stabbed through you they could screw up your bones and stuff. I've never held them for longer than it took to dig 'em out.

[ his voice sort of trails off when he realizes archie probably doesn't want to hear about war injuries, and he just quietly holds the kunai in his teeth by the handles as he puts his hands on the sword again. he really does love this thing, despite the awkwardness. ]

[uhhh it's really bad?? relevant, but bad. archie pales and holds his hands up, laughing forced and awkwardly.]

Y--yeah. Sounds tough. Uh-- they have dummies out back if you wanna... practice.

[he'll go puke somewhere cool]

Haha... haaaaahhhhh.

[ Odin scratches the back of his neck. ]

Um - do you want to come too? To the - practice. So we can - practice. Swords. We can cross swords and stuff. Cross our - our swords? Make them - cross.

...I don't think I'll ever be a very good sworder.

[swordsman.]

I'll just watch, if that's not too weird.

Being a sworder is hard, I get it.

[ s w o r d s m a n. regardless, odin heads into the backroom, letting archie follow in behind him. he's playing with the sword once he's directed to the dummies, idly spinning it in twirls over his hand as he eyes the training dolls and frowns. ]

I'm gonna ruin these if I fight them.

Yeah? Guess they need to stop buyin' crap dummies, then.

[he takes a seat to watch, finally kind of forgetting the hitch a couple of minutes ago.]

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