shroudedinsecrecy | INBOX (IC)

[He does now. Of that, she had every confidence, although...back then...]

It's a little...more complicated than that.

You see...the only reason I met him in the first place was to pretend to be my sister. She had met him first, and...well...she had done something bad. And she needed to hide the evidence. So she gave it to him and pretended it was a gift out of love at first sight.

When she tried to get it back...Dahlia always had a...violent way of handling things and people in her way. And I didn't want her to have any more blood on her hands, so I begged her to let me take her place. I colored my hair, and on our first date, I pretended I was that same girl he met the first time in hopes of getting that evidence back.

[ Back then... it was different. He gets it. He stays quiet and just sips at his drink when she starts talking. He doesn't want to try eating when she's talking about all of this. It's important. ]

But you ended up falling for him while pretending to be her? [ It's romantic, even if it's a messed up situation that caused it. ]

...yes.

[There was no denying that much. She had never meant him any harm, but she also had never expected that turn of events.]

We were together for almost a year. I did keep trying to get the gift back, yes, but...I also had the chance to spent time with him. Get to know him. His hopes and dreams and learn the way he saw things. One day, I realized...that I was happy. Just being with him. That I hated the lies and deception. I...I was almost ready to finally tell him the truth, even, before...Dahlia took it upon herself to act.

She'd grown impatient with me. Maybe she knew my feelings had changed. Maybe she thought I would betray her. Maybe I would have. I can't say for certain now. But...she tried to kill him, only she ended up killing a friend of his instead. And she pinned the murder on him. When they found the poor boy's body...it was Dahlia pretending to cry over him, playing the role of first on the scene.

I was so ashamed of everything that I...ran back to Hazakura Temple, where I remained for the next five years. Hidden so well that I might never have existed at all. And in all that time, Feenie was never the wiser. He continued to think Dahlia and I were the same person...and that "I" had betrayed him.

[ That I hated the lies and deception. I was almost ready to finally tell him the truth... It all rings too true, honestly. He, in comparison, probably mirrored Dahlia just as much though. Iris never did anything that would truly tarnish her hands. She kept a promise to a loved one, and tried to get something back.

She didn't have blood on her hands in the same way, at least from what she's told him here.

His eyes lower to the table, gut churning a bit.

He doesn't really want to eat anymore. ]

He must be a good person, to forgive five years of doubt like that.

[She noticed his eyes lower, and could only wonder what was going through his mind. How much of it was a reflection of what he was learning about her...or Feenie...or, perhaps, even himself. Stories tended to do that. Find a way for the listener to relate, if the parallel was evident enough.]

More than that.

When I finally told him...after all that time had passed...do you know what he said to me? He said that he'd still believed in me all those years. That he never could accept the same person he'd spent that nearly a year with could do the kinds of things my sister did.

It's like he somehow knew before he really knew. Because that's the kind of person he is. He believes in people with all his heart, no matter how strong the evidence might be against them.

[ She's making him see a new, nicer and more promising side to Phoenix by telling him this too. Maybe he was an idiot with some things (like publicly trying to get him to come forward when his and Athena's relationship was supposed to be a secret at the time) but... if he can believe in someone like this.

He sounds like a good person.

It only makes him feel worse about himself though. The choices he makes, has to make in the future (and he's seen one thanks to Rei, knows he's doomed to set the Great Dragon on Camelot when he frees it, but the promise has already been made) and he can't help but think over how much he is keeping to himself.

His eyes flicker to his drink and he reaches out to take a sip, buying time.

Softly, after he finishes sipping and puts the drink down, he says: ] There aren't many people like that.

[That was the point. Not to make him or anyone feel guilty for not doing or acting the way Phoenix did. But simply to have them see what she saw. Perhaps she was biased, Blinded by love. But the facts were facts, as one believed in the courtroom, and it was difficult to argue with honest testimony and witnessed actions.]

[He had done those things. He had said those things. And, just as he had believed in her, she believed in him. It was...a comforting feeling. To have that much trust in someone. She didn't want to let that go. Ever.]

There could be.

We just don't always know it. Not everybody is who they seem at first. I've learned that all too well.

[ Nah, even if he's too Dad-like and teases people too much, he definitely seems like a good guy. He can't fault him now, not after hearing all that. ]

Not everybody. But I don't see why anyone would pretend to not be like it if they are on the inside.

[ A beat: ] Unless you're counting the fact that Athena has a good heart but keeps hitting me?

[ A ... H... ]

[...]

["Ah", indeed.]

She...keeps hitting you?

[ Um... ]

Only when I compliment her?

[ what kind of twisted relationship is this anyway ]

[That's what she would like to know.]

She hits you...when you compliment her?

I don't...understand. That doesn't sound like a good thing to me.

[ Let him know when you figure it out, Iris... ]

Sometimes? She just gets really embarrassed I mean she's kind of... a violent girl anyway, right?

[ ?????????????????? ]

[Will do.]

Not that I...I mean, I don't think I remember her being particularly violent. Just...a little loud. Often.

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person she's hit, you know? [ She flipped a policeman, Iris... ofc she is. At least a little. ]

...who else?

[Was she going to have to have a talk with Miss Cykes?]

I think it was back home? I hope it was.... She mentioned it in a two truths one lie game though.

[Iris...did not know that game. It didn't sound like a fun game to her.]

But why? If you truly care about someone...why would you deliberately cause them such pain?

[ It wasn't a fun game in the end... It's true :( ]

I don't think it's deliberate. More like a jerk reaction.

That doesn't make it right.

It could be worse? [ Why does he sound so cheerful...?!!?! ]

But it could also be better. Much better.

What if... [She hesitated, because it was something she could hardly imagine herself. Her point needed to be made, though, and she straightened with resolve.] ...what if I told you that...that Feenie sometimes hit me when he got excited about something?

Well it's different if a guy did it. [ Because women are supposed to be treasured... not abused. This is some sexist thinking. ] Of course that wouldn't be okay.

I don't see how there's a difference.

[Even if she grew up in the mountains, she understood that much. How...how her family was rather matriarchal in nature, and how that was wrong as well. Because of what it had done to her father. What little she remembered of how the attitude towards men in her home village had literally torn their family apart. Treating a man horribly and treating a woman horribly were equally horrible to her.]

Well it doesn't really hurt that much, it's funny more than anything else.

[ Maybe he's just an m... have you thought of that, Iris? It's not exactly the same as the way he's making it sound. ]

I don't think it's very funny.

Even my...little sister...

[Pearl. How seldom she thought of the youngest Fey, if only because Iris didn't know her that well. She hadn't even know she'd had a younger sister until the day Godot contacted her about their mother's awful plan. Even then, with everything...they never had much time to interact. Get to know one another.]

...she's just a child, but I'd seen her hit Feenie sometimes. I could never figure out exact what he did that upset her so, but...I wish I had spoken up sooner. Because I don't want her to grow up that way.

[Violent. Angry.]

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