#(I BET BY THE END OF THIS CONVERSATION THEY'LL BOTH BE BLUSHING LOL

[universestreasures]

@enterpainment (Yuto)

Shun's distance had taken its toll on Ruri. It was evident to everyone who interacted with her these days, even if she did her best to try and hide it. There was nothing wrong with her brother needing space or his alone time. Everyone needed that, but...it was like Shun was avoiding her, avoiding for her reasons she doesn't fully understand.

Being a soldier and a brother...was that really so impossible? Everyone she's met here seems to be capable of having their professional self and their personal self. She's seen that with how Lady Crescent's demeanor shifts when she's alone with the young girl verses when she's working. So, such a thing is possible for the people here...except for Shun apparently.

And it's that very thing Ruri thinks is the root of her and her brother's problems. She's been trying to reach out to him as a family member, not like the heiress she never asked to be, and yet...he keeps pushing her away, acting cold to her like she was just any other person. The number of times his words have replayed in her mind over the past few days has been astronomical, especially when she's seen glances of him in the many hallways of the palace.

Things have reached a point where she doesn't know what else to do. Ruri has, in her mind, done everything she could think to do in a situation like this. That's why she needed to start turning to other's for help, and the very person who was filling in her brother's shoes was a good place to start.

"Please, wait."

She was about to say her goodnights to him for the evening before he moved to stand guard outside her door when she slowly reaches for his hands. Her soft touch is done intentionally as to not startle him or make him uncomfortable. It was just the best way to make sure he wouldn't go anywhere until she says what she needs to.

"Yuto...You're a soldier, trained in the military, just like my brother. That means that you...have a job to look after me and fight for this place. I know that and understand that, but...you and I..."

She gently moves both arms up until the interlocking hands are near their chest areas. Ruri stared right into those soft grey hues of his with a look that spoke volumes for the desperation she was feeling. Her heart was racing not for the contact with the rather handsome and kind young man, but rather for the fear of what he might say.

"We're also friends...yes? You're a soldier tasked to protect me...but you're also my friend. At least...that's how I view our relationship."

~

[ebdanon]

remember how my mil got in an argument with the neighbor for her comments at my fil for hanging up the clothes to air dry?

well my husband was doing laundry the other day, which of course, involves hanging up the clothes to air dry. he's done this before, but this is the first time I guess my mil noticed? anyway, today, she sat him down to tell him that laundry is a woman's work, and he shouldn't be doing any of it because "what will the neighbors say?" and when they see him do that "they'll start talking, and soon enough, the entire town will know"

i was sitting right there when she was saying this, but I was ignoring her because she's been going on rants the last few days so I've just been tuning her out. he gave me the rundown of everything later. anyway, my husband's response was "this isn't the 16th century to divide chores between men and women" and that he'll do whatever he wants, so she should stop meddling and commenting nonsense. she went on a defensive, explaining how it's not her that thinks it's the 16th century, but the neighbors, who talk, and then the talk spreads to the rest of town.

i only heard him say the 16th century comment from the whole thing, I was too engrossed in watching cats on tiktok at the time. but when he told me all this I couldn't help but laugh. imagine being so worried about what the neighbors will say. like he's a blushing bachelor who's set to marry the prettiest bachelorette on the street, so he has to be mindful of what the neighbors will say in case she rejects him and he remains single forever lmaooo

and then i realized something else - recently, we've decided when I cook, he washes up everything (god forbid we use the dishwasher at any point, it's in the kitchen for decorative purposes only) and vice versa. but whenever I cook, my mil rushes to wash up everything as soon as I'm done using it - sometimes, even when I still have to use it in like 5mins. I didn't think much of it until he told me about the conversation earlier today, and I realized she's been doing that because the kitchen is a woman's job, just like beach is Ken's lmao. So to make sure her son doesn't have a "difficult time" in the kitchen washing up, she's doing it for him before he gets a chance to even step in the room. so I'm sure she's not worried what the neighbors will say because they don't live in the kitchen, it's just her being stuck in outdated tradition. Yet she loves complaining about how she had to learn how to do both women's and men's work once she got married (painting walls and chopping and stacking firewood are men's work I guess) and how much she excelled in everything despite the gendered work she was unfamiliar with. I've had a conversation with her at one point a few months ago where I said there is no gendered work, the only division of labor is strong/tall vs weak/short bc who wants to throw their back out. I'm short, of course, someone tall aka my husband, is going to be dusting the tops of whatever I can't even see, those spaces don't even exist for me. But you can bet I can crawl in between or under any tight space due to my size, which makes taking care of those surfaces my job. I don't think she understood me, but she did agree at the time. I guess she had to otherwise the neighbors would have said something about her lol

Anyway, I wonder how far she'll be taking this while we laugh about it afterward. I'm also wondering if this is just another sociopathic experiment from my fil, egging her on to do these things because he's the one who believes in such bs for the sake of his experiment. It did start just recently, and he hadn't been paying too close attention to what we've been doing before and started to do so now? I feel like "Stay tuned to find out" is a great way to end this so ✌️

~lore anon

once again im so confused with how these people have views like this and still raised your husband