aterat | audio || late night

Entry tags:

audio || late night

[He's doing his model best not to sound stressed, but it's not really working. Even to his own ears, his voice has a tinny quality, tight and anxious.]

Sorry for the late call, everyone, but, uh...is anyone missing anything? Items, that sort of thing? If so, did you notice anything off about your flat?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Do you have another pair?

Well, yeah, but that's not the point.

Explain the point then.

It's-

[He breathes a sigh before continuing.]

You'll probably think it's stupid, but I got those gloves at a secondhand store years ago, yeah? They belonged to one old woman before her daughter donated them. She loved her children with all her heart, she would do anything for them and-

-it's stupid, but they mean a lot to me.

How terribly...sentimental. I wonder... [ did the imps know that the things they took had value? Were they smarter than she gave them credit for or had it been happenstance? She changed the subject quickly after a pause. ] But you did not know the woman?

Yeah. [It was all the emotion he'd give voice to. He knew it was stupid to cling to a pair of gloves because they reminded him that parents could actually want their children around, but it was why he kept them.]

No. I read all that from them.

I was unaware of how voyeuristic you were.

...I didn't read it on purpose. She had them for years, she left a very deep impression.

But you kept it even after knowing what impressions it left behind?

...and? [So what if it sort of left me feeling loved, even if I knew it was a lie?] What of it?

It seems invasive to someone else's cherished memories.

[He swallows.]

Maybe.

[He pauses for a moment before continuing.]

Can you really say with honesty you wouldn't look if it was there?

I have enough in my own mind without inviting the memories of others into it.

Well, I don't really get memories all the time. Impressions, mostly, feelings. Sometimes specific events if they were really, I don't know, potent. It depends on how intense the imprint was left on the item.

...that's not making it better, is it?