That's what a church is for (OPEN)

Naomi’s face would have gone into pout mode, but somewhere inside of her, she knew that the Shadows would probably never play nice, “It’s too bad. If they would just stop and listen, I think that would make all of our lives easier. It would certainly cut down on the fighting. Which I’m not opposed to. It gets rather tiring to only be able to throw rocks.” She hoped that she would be able to do something more in time, but for now that was all she could muster. Then again, it seemed to be working for her so far. Don’ fix what isn’t broken. She would sigh in relief when Sharaku told her that possessing objects wasn’t a talent most Shadows had. That was a very large weight off of her shoulders. At least she could trust wooden spoons again, “Well, I take it that’s not the end of the story. If it was that simple, I don’t think you would have built it up so grandly.” She wasn’t an idiot, even though she often acted like one, “So, you planning to tell me the rest, or is that all I get for the day? Either way, I’m okay. I’m actually kind of happy you told me. I’ve been wondering just what Violet Soul was for a long time. This finally puts my curiosity to rest.” And all this time she had been thinking that it was just your everyday, run-of-the-mill talking weapon that you could buy in a convenience store. As if those actually existed. She just couldn’t think of a better explanation.

“I wouldn’t call it stupid…” As a member of society who never seemed to finish anything, she should feel insulted. She understood it though. However, she would be taken aback by Sharaku saying that humans could be worse than Shadows. While she agreed that certain people deserved to be put behind bars, humans (for the most part) weren’t bad. She was so tired of the argument that humans were one of the worst things put on Earth, “Listen, before you go on whatever tirade you are about to, you need to know that I don’t think humans are inherently bad. Yeah, they do bad things, but most of them use that superior intelligence, as you put it, to do wonderful things. Even the ones who use it to do awful things can be redeemed. No one in this world is truly that awful that they don’t deserve forgiveness at least once.” There was one other thing that had been bothering her this entire time, “And stop referring to humans as if they were an entirely separate species. You’re human too. Unless you’re a robot like Alphonse. In which case, I take it back.” Now that she had gotten that out of the way, she could continue this conversation, “Now you may continue.” She was a spitfire when the mood struck her. She just refused to let the ‘humans are garbage’ argument pass. She was sick of hearing it.She did a double take at what she had just said. It was actually a real argument. It wasn’t like all her others that came out only half-baked.

She would have to stop and think about that for a moment. It wasn’t like she didn’t conduct her own experiments. Although, hers usually ended up with broken electronics being even more broken. That, or it was added to the pile of junk in her room, “I’m not against them. They can lead to incredible achievements. I mean, if it wasn’t for experiments, we wouldn’t have a lot of modern medicines. As much as I don’t like them, I’m thankful for them.” At the same time, there were plenty of things that went wrong or were inhumane about experiments, “Then again, I sometimes wonder how many creatures get hurt for the sake of finding those cures. You know they had to test it on something to make sure it worked. I feel bad for them, but I’m also grateful in a weird way. Yes, what they went through was probably cruel and they hated every moment of it, but by hurting those animals they save thousands more lives.” On the other hand, there are some experiments that exist simply to mess with people and see how far they can be pushed. Those she found fascinating. She watched them with both glee and horror in an attempt to understand the human mind. She knew how often those went wrong, but by watching how they went wrong she could understand much more than if they went right. It was a sickening thought. One she would never really say out loud to anyone. She did hate to see people get hurt though. It was a major contradiction that her brain couldn’t get over, “Why? Do you conduct secret experiments that I should know about?” If so, she would note to never tell Sharaku where she lived.

Naomi would sigh at her more than insensitive comments, realizing she was jumping the gun, again. She really needed to stop doing that, “Sorry. I think I’ve spent too much time on the computer lately. Illiterate, twelve year old trolls are staring to mess with my brain. Hang out with them enough, and arguments just start flowing out of your mouth before you even know what you’re saying.” She’d roll her eyes at the number of times she’d have to stand up and be the one to defend common sense. If only because she felt guilty because she used to be one of those jerks. If only she could snap out of it long enough to hold a normal conversation. She made an even larger mental note to stay away from her computer for a few days unless it was to work. Then she underlined it four times and added exclamation points, “But I won’t give on the human thing. Even if you claim you aren’t that same as me, you are human” Humans came in many shapes and sizes and all had different temperaments. There was nothing he could say or do that would change the fact that at the very make-up of his genetic structure, it read ‘human’. Besides, what was normal anyway? Goodness knows it wasn’t her.

She gave him a confused look, “I don’t understand the point of running an experiment where you think the bad would outweigh the good. There’d be no point, and it would never be approved.” She knew that most experiments had to go through a long period to make sure they were safe before they were put into motion. All risks had to be accounted for, and a board had to say ‘go ahead’. They would never allow something that seemed that blatantly flippant of safety. Even animals got a measure of decency before they were experimented on, “We test on people all the time, but usually not until later. By that point, the thing being tested shows results. If there is nothing significant to be gained, why even bother?” The thought of doing something like that made her stomach lurch forward. There should always be a gain to experimenting, “Can we stop speaking in riddles? I’m the kind of person who reads a book and yells at it for taking a page to describe someone’s clothing. I like knowing what’s happening.” In other words: get to the point. The riddles were starting to annoy her.

She really wouldn’t have minded explaining, but he told her to forget it. She just hung out with them because, up until recently, they were the closest things she had to a friend. Not that she didn’t have actual friends, but she didn’t leave her house much, so all of them were online. Well, maybe one or two of them weren’t, but they were both adults, so she didn’t know if it counted. Then again, she was nearly an adult, so maybe it did. Point was, you made friends with the people you most often saw. Plus, one of those trolls was a friend of hers from when they were little. It just happened that they were just now hitting the ‘everything in the universe sucks’ phase of their life. She could tolerate it though. She just had to remind them that they were a complete idiot most days. By this point, the argument just rolled off her tongue without her even knowing what she was saying.

She would look a little to the side as she realized speaking in riddles was probably fun for him. She hated being curt, but the feeling in her gut had been worrying about what this was all leading up to. She had been connecting the dots this entire conversation and she had reached one conclusion. And that’s where it all came back to. People being dicks and deciding that they wanted to run experiments on others. Based on everything Sharaku had been saying up until now, she could guess where it was all leading up to. She just hoped she was wrong. It seems she wasn’t, “So… They experimented and you and Violet Soul became partners?” She honestly didn’t know just what to say to that. She could apologize, but that wouldn’t do anything. From the sound of it, he went through hell and it let him attached to a Shadow sleeping inside of a weapon. Less like the Shadow was inside of it and more like together they were the weapon. This was like something out of a bad comic book.

She wondered if she should have given some sort of indicator as to what she was thinking. She had been much too quiet up until this point. She didn’t know if she would call them partners either. Maybe cellmates was a better word, “So, you two have been together for five years?” That was a long time to be chained to someone against your will. She couldn’t imagine that it was all bad though. There had to be at least one moment that they at least didn’t mind being together. Then again, it was just as likely that they only had bad memories from being together so long. She would shrug though, “I don’t know. You seem normal enough to me. Then again, I’ve gotten a new definition of normal over the past few weeks.” Despite the fact that he was now sharing this story- his brutal past- with her, it didn’t change anything. He was still the same Sharaku she had met in the museum and had fought beside her with the Shadows. As if having a back-story would change that. If he hadn’t learned by now, she took everything in stride, “I know it may not be what you want to hear, given what you just told me, but you two do make a great team.” She didn’t know how he’d take that, but she would soon find out.

That was still a long time to be stuck with someone you didn’t pick. She could only imagine it. Actually, she really couldn’t. She would probably strangle the person before the year’s end, “I don’t know what normal would be, but normal is overrated anyway. Join the weird side and live it up, rather than walk in straight lines.” If that made sense to anyone, she would be amazed. She was just a walking ball of unexplainable. She would shake her head at the mere idea, “Sorry. Not the overly emotional type. Mama didn’t raise no crybaby.” The words would leave her mouth, almost filled with pride at that fact. She did have her outbursts of anger, but that had happiness where usually the only emotions that made it to the surface on a regular basis. She had to laugh at the thought of that, “I imagine that you would throw Violet Soul against a wall and injure more than just his pride. On second thought, that seems more like something I would do. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you get that violent. You’d be more likely to give him the stink eye until he caved.” She didn’t know if that counted though. Sharaku had fought Shadows before, and Violet was technically one of them so it could happen, “But I’ll keep my mouth shut. Don’t want anything to happen to you two.” Parish the thought.

“Personally, I prefer tetrahedrons crossed with a sphere and a dash of zigzag. That is a shape to make people question your sanity.” And in the end, wasn’t that the point of life. Always leave people questioning just what was going on in your head. She swore that it was her life’s goal to confuse everyone around her. Or, it would have been if that didn’t sound like a pain in the butt. For now, she could stick to figuring out just what she wanted to do with her life, “I only like them when they are small, adorable, and less than a year old. Even then, only when they don’t need a diaper change or are puking all over me.” She shuttered at the thought of taking care of a baby, “Okay. Backing away from that nightmare fuel before I start a fire and have to cut off the supply of oxygen to my brain to put it out.”

An impressed whistle would pass out of her lips, “I never knew you had it in you. I can understand your opinion though. Being the one taking a beating can really suck.” She had felt what that was like in a few of those fights with the Shadows. She could only imagine how much worse it would be if she didn’t have Intertwined there to patch her up all the time, “But your secret is safe with me. I would never tell anyone something that wasn’t mine to tell. I promise.” She would stand up and stretch her legs, “Thanks, Sharaku. You know, I came here to find an answer for something. Strangely, I think you helped.” She would laugh at the statement. Not an insulting laugh, but an innocent one, like a child who just found a seashell on the beach, “I may just owe you for that. If you need me to return the favor, just call me. You have my number, after all.” She would sling her purse over her shoulder, “I’ll see you around.” She would make her way back toward the entrance, only stopping to look back at the front of the cathedral. Heck, maybe the Christian god was real. Wasn’t that a thought.

{EXIT}