(no subject)

[thexfactor]

From here

Prompt: Just had a bad day - Everybody’s against you today. Flop down that couch and start sulking.

Comments

[thexfactor]

[ flopping on the couch ]

I hate this place.

[grandstanding]

[he was in the middle of making bread when Charles came in, and he's still kneading dough on the counter now.]

So you've said, but what's it done now?

[thexfactor]

Everyone seems to think their life is worth less than someone else's. It's tiring and getting old.

[grandstanding]

[picks the dough up and slams it back into the table.]

Well, Charles, if everyone thinks that, at least one of them will be right.

[thexfactor]

[ dryly ]

Because that's clearly the point I'm making here.

[grandstanding]

Sorry.

[flattening the dough out.]

Surely it's not everyone?

[thexfactor]

It's enough to give me a headache.

[grandstanding]

Why should it matter what other people think?

[thexfactor]

It matters because it's unhealthy and dangerous and ultimately, it gives this place too much power.

[grandstanding]

You're including me in this, I assume.

[stuffing the dough into a tin, finally, and pulling open the oven to push it inside.]

[thexfactor]

[ groans quietly ]

My point is, it's enough to be a legitimate concern. Every time we pick ourselves up, another game comes along and we repeat the self-fulfilling cycle.

[grandstanding]

[he washes his hands then comes over to the couch.]

Yes, it's a problem. But that's the nature of things here.

[and elsewhere.]

[thexfactor]

It's stupid.

[grandstanding]

Dear me, you are in a mood.

[sitting down next to him.]

[thexfactor]

It's always the same. "I'm a terrible person because this higher power is forcing me to do terrible things". Which, I do get, no one likes it, no one has to, but falling into a slump and not attributing blame where it's due is just . . . moronic, really.

[grandstanding]

Feelings are moronic now?

[thexfactor]

It is when you're a broken record.

[grandstanding]

. . .

[thexfactor]

It encourages stagnation and we never move forward. I want to move forward, Erik. I want us to find ways out of this place, even if we have to do it discreetly. I feel, as people, we should be more instead of tearing ourselves down. Doesn't this place do enough of that anyway?

[grandstanding]

...

You're cute when you're irate.

[thexfactor]

[ you deserve this cushion to the face ]

[grandstanding]

[laughs, what a grouch. tossing the pillow aside.]

Yes, you have a point. But you also fail to notice when you say things that strip other people down. Not everyone is so secure in themselves as you are.

[thexfactor]

I hesitate to call that security.

[grandstanding]

You're right. It's more arrogance than anything else.

It's that attitude of yours that made me afraid to admit I had feelings for you.

[thexfactor]

[ that stung, so he lapses into silence, his hands white-knuckled ]