Housewife Power
DISCLAIMER: Don't own Yggdra Union or Mistel-nee. Do own this drabble. Don't steal kthxbai. :D
"I wanna ask you somethin'," Milanor announced in the camp that night.
Mistel looked up at him, surprise evident on her face. "Go ahead," she told him with a nod.
"It's just—you've been livin' alone for how long, and you're really obvious about your man-shoppin', even though you're hittin' middle age… so why do you still call yourself a housewife?"
--
While Milanor lay bent in two on the rocky ground, curled around his groin and moaning in pain, Mistel crossed her legs and shook her head sagely. "You're looking at it the wrong way. A housewife isn't just a married woman who doesn't work, you know. It's a kind of job in and of itself!"
"How do you mean?" Yggdra asked between disconcerted peeks at Milanor.
"When a woman is married, her work doubles or triples at least—it's the same as when any woman lives with any man," Mistel told her earnestly. "Goodness, they're all alike in that as soon as they think someone is there to take care of them, they get so helpless. Why, it must be years since my grandfather so much as bothered to wash his own dishes, or fold his own laundry. He's the worst.
"A housewife is expected to do the chores for two, or more if there are any children involved. She looks after herself and her man and runs the household, manages the finances, takes care of all the little day-to-day tasks no one else would bother with but without which the existence of that household would fall apart.
"Taking my grandfather into consideration, I do more than the daily share of a housewife's work! 'Housewife' is a job title, not just a word meaning 'married woman'; don't forget that."
Mistel's audience nodded, awed looks on their faces.
The tactician smiled, lacing her fingers together. "And, besides… just because I haven't been a housewife in the traditional sense for years doesn't mean I wasn't one at one point in my life."
Owari.