ext_158887 (![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
seta-suzume.livejournal.com) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
31_days2007-12-14 03:57 pm
seta-suzume.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2007-12-14 03:57 pm
[Dec. 14, 2007][Shadow Hearts 2] Teach Yourself Italian in Seven Lonely Years
Title: Teach Yourself Italian in Seven Lonely Years
Day/Theme: Dec. 14, 2007 "I love you in different languages"
Series: Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Character/Pairing: Nicolai and Karin -slight Nicolai x Karin
Rating: PG
"So you speak Italian too," the German officer remarked, after Nicolai finished chatting in a pleasant tone with a street vender peddling his wares on the corner.
"Well, I did live at the Vatican for several years," the young cardinal explained, "And most of my fellow students were Italian. I don't think I could've gotten by on Russian and the Latin I was learning."
"You had to learn the language while living here? That must have been hard. I hope you had someone to teach you," Karin replied sympathetically. During her trip south alongside the handsome man, she had learned that he had no family. Though somewhat curious about how a Russian orphan had ended up studying at the Vatican, she had chosen not to press him on the topic, knowing she would not want to be quizzed on her earlier life either. Nicolai seemed curiously adrift in this war-torn continent. Perhaps it was this insecurity that sent a man into the arms of the church.
Nicolai would've been amused, had he been aware of how well his smiling facade hid his dark ambitions. "The only tutor I had was a battered, little phrase book my teacher gave me to read on the train. Had I not been heading to such a kind and accepting place, I would've been hopelessly cast adrift in the streets of Rome. I couldn't read all of the alphabet. I could barely pronounce some of the sounds."
He gazed wistfully towards the crosses, steeples, and towers that poked their pointed heads into the cerulean sky. Karin thought he must've been happy during those days from the look in his eyes, but those days of a study truly saddened him. It had been hard to make friends he had to betray. It was hard to look back on a time he had tried to be happy, when he had been liked, only to have those friends reject him when they denied or learned what he really was.
"Some nice boys helped me," he added.
"That's good," she smiled, "And I can't understand a word, but Italian sounds like a lovely language."
"L'Amo, Karin," he whispered, a twinkle in his eye.
Day/Theme: Dec. 14, 2007 "I love you in different languages"
Series: Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Character/Pairing: Nicolai and Karin -slight Nicolai x Karin
Rating: PG
"So you speak Italian too," the German officer remarked, after Nicolai finished chatting in a pleasant tone with a street vender peddling his wares on the corner.
"Well, I did live at the Vatican for several years," the young cardinal explained, "And most of my fellow students were Italian. I don't think I could've gotten by on Russian and the Latin I was learning."
"You had to learn the language while living here? That must have been hard. I hope you had someone to teach you," Karin replied sympathetically. During her trip south alongside the handsome man, she had learned that he had no family. Though somewhat curious about how a Russian orphan had ended up studying at the Vatican, she had chosen not to press him on the topic, knowing she would not want to be quizzed on her earlier life either. Nicolai seemed curiously adrift in this war-torn continent. Perhaps it was this insecurity that sent a man into the arms of the church.
Nicolai would've been amused, had he been aware of how well his smiling facade hid his dark ambitions. "The only tutor I had was a battered, little phrase book my teacher gave me to read on the train. Had I not been heading to such a kind and accepting place, I would've been hopelessly cast adrift in the streets of Rome. I couldn't read all of the alphabet. I could barely pronounce some of the sounds."
He gazed wistfully towards the crosses, steeples, and towers that poked their pointed heads into the cerulean sky. Karin thought he must've been happy during those days from the look in his eyes, but those days of a study truly saddened him. It had been hard to make friends he had to betray. It was hard to look back on a time he had tried to be happy, when he had been liked, only to have those friends reject him when they denied or learned what he really was.
"Some nice boys helped me," he added.
"That's good," she smiled, "And I can't understand a word, but Italian sounds like a lovely language."
"L'Amo, Karin," he whispered, a twinkle in his eye.