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31_days2009-12-07 10:36 am
seta-suzume.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2009-12-07 10:36 am
[Dec. 7] [Suikoden III] The Secret Source
Title: The Secret Source
Day/Theme: Dec. 7, 2009 "born from the seed of disguise"
Series: Suikoden III
Character/Pairing: Forte & Azul
Rating: PG
Back to my 'bridge burning' story. I've been working on this project since January!
"Hey, brother, let's talk!" Forte knocked on the lower half of the door. It shook and rattled under his powerful fist.
Azul was somewhat unnerved by the nature of this visit. The last person to talk to him here had seemed gentle and familiar, but this was clearly a man he had never met. No one on Viela spoke like that- no one on Viela would call him "brother" like they did back home. "'Scuse me?" he allowed himself to lapse into a heavier form of the Kanfien patois than he usually employed here. "What style of brother is out asking?"
It seemed that Azul was a poor southwesterner just as Sasarai had guessed. It was a little fun to talk like this. Forte had picked it up while working with his doctor friend Siya Naifa outside of Fatyl. "Am a doctor on a mission. Name's Forte, brother. I want to ask you questions about visitors to the island, okay? Did any unusual people visit the mayor on the fourth or fifth? Before the bridge was burned?"
"I'm not supposed to have seen it, so you didn't hear about it from me, but...two guys came in a funny boat. They weren't Loveins neither. Right foreign, I'd guess. Fur clothes, heavy tongues, they brought in some stuff in little boxes, but I didn't get to see what it might be."
Aha! This was a promising lead after all. Forte had had a good feeling about it from the beginning, but he couldn't be sure- not before, and still not quite yet. "Sounds suspicious enough, you know? So what was their end? Did they leave the island fast?" If they had been sick and carried the disease home with them, there was a slim chance Forte could call on his contacts to see if there had been any outbreaks in Arradia or the Outlands that were connected to this one. The disease had to have been carried here by someone. If Ghausu could arise spontaneously on its own, that blew all of his previous research out of the water- but it would also mean that a quarantine strategy was not as effective a tactic as was currently believed.
As far as Forte had been able to determine thus far, the first fatality had been a local noodle-maker and the second had been the chapel's caretaker priest. But someone had made it to Viela without infecting anyone in Mirlan or White Crest or anywhere else in Northeastern Harmonia.
"The mayor's gonna know I told you..." Azul's voice faltered. He leaned against the wooden door, obviously torn over whether or not to tell more. Forte didn't want to push him. He'd rather Azul decide to speak on his own, but if push came to shove, he would not tiptoe around the subject. If there had been something wrong with the strange visitors, Forte needed to know.
"So, uh, the thing is, brother, one of them looked a little wrong from the first I saw them coming up the side of the slope. Mayor came out back to greet 'em, which isn't natural for him. Then, thing is, next day one was dead and the other was sick. They'd been staying at Neolo's place. You know him? He made noodles. Well, soon enough Neolo was sick, then dead, the other man too, and the bridge was burning."
"They died here..."
"Yeah, that's what I saw, brother." Azul was consoled in his insolence toward the mayor's orders by the knowledge that Burnell currently wasn't talking to anyone so he couldn't be found out and punished quite yet. Confined to the are inside the house and yard, with only Burnell and Adessa remaining inside, Azul was desperate to make some connection with another human being. Since Sasarai had come to the gate, no one outside had spoken to him and he had wrestled with the eerie feeling that everyone else might be dead. The mayor was supposed to raise the yellow flag to signify that the disease had run its course and the quarantine should be ended, but as he never went out, how was he to know when that time had come?
"That's, uh, really something. Thank you, brother. Thanks a lot."
"W-wait! Don't go yet!" he hastened to unlatch the door. Forte hopped back to avoid being hit by the lower half of the door as it swung outward. Azul ducked under the top part of the door and came out to stand before the doctor. He was probably younger than Forte, but years of hardship had aged him prematurely. And there was no mistaking him for anything other than the son of Kanfien that he was.
"What is it?"
"You'll come back, won't you? You'll let me know what's happened?"
As Forte recognized the depths of Azul's unnerving isolation, he couldn't help but he moved by compassion. This man seemed so naive to the implications of his master's actions. What sort of life was this? "Yes, I will. Don't worry, brother. I'll be back."
Day/Theme: Dec. 7, 2009 "born from the seed of disguise"
Series: Suikoden III
Character/Pairing: Forte & Azul
Rating: PG
Back to my 'bridge burning' story. I've been working on this project since January!
"Hey, brother, let's talk!" Forte knocked on the lower half of the door. It shook and rattled under his powerful fist.
Azul was somewhat unnerved by the nature of this visit. The last person to talk to him here had seemed gentle and familiar, but this was clearly a man he had never met. No one on Viela spoke like that- no one on Viela would call him "brother" like they did back home. "'Scuse me?" he allowed himself to lapse into a heavier form of the Kanfien patois than he usually employed here. "What style of brother is out asking?"
It seemed that Azul was a poor southwesterner just as Sasarai had guessed. It was a little fun to talk like this. Forte had picked it up while working with his doctor friend Siya Naifa outside of Fatyl. "Am a doctor on a mission. Name's Forte, brother. I want to ask you questions about visitors to the island, okay? Did any unusual people visit the mayor on the fourth or fifth? Before the bridge was burned?"
"I'm not supposed to have seen it, so you didn't hear about it from me, but...two guys came in a funny boat. They weren't Loveins neither. Right foreign, I'd guess. Fur clothes, heavy tongues, they brought in some stuff in little boxes, but I didn't get to see what it might be."
Aha! This was a promising lead after all. Forte had had a good feeling about it from the beginning, but he couldn't be sure- not before, and still not quite yet. "Sounds suspicious enough, you know? So what was their end? Did they leave the island fast?" If they had been sick and carried the disease home with them, there was a slim chance Forte could call on his contacts to see if there had been any outbreaks in Arradia or the Outlands that were connected to this one. The disease had to have been carried here by someone. If Ghausu could arise spontaneously on its own, that blew all of his previous research out of the water- but it would also mean that a quarantine strategy was not as effective a tactic as was currently believed.
As far as Forte had been able to determine thus far, the first fatality had been a local noodle-maker and the second had been the chapel's caretaker priest. But someone had made it to Viela without infecting anyone in Mirlan or White Crest or anywhere else in Northeastern Harmonia.
"The mayor's gonna know I told you..." Azul's voice faltered. He leaned against the wooden door, obviously torn over whether or not to tell more. Forte didn't want to push him. He'd rather Azul decide to speak on his own, but if push came to shove, he would not tiptoe around the subject. If there had been something wrong with the strange visitors, Forte needed to know.
"So, uh, the thing is, brother, one of them looked a little wrong from the first I saw them coming up the side of the slope. Mayor came out back to greet 'em, which isn't natural for him. Then, thing is, next day one was dead and the other was sick. They'd been staying at Neolo's place. You know him? He made noodles. Well, soon enough Neolo was sick, then dead, the other man too, and the bridge was burning."
"They died here..."
"Yeah, that's what I saw, brother." Azul was consoled in his insolence toward the mayor's orders by the knowledge that Burnell currently wasn't talking to anyone so he couldn't be found out and punished quite yet. Confined to the are inside the house and yard, with only Burnell and Adessa remaining inside, Azul was desperate to make some connection with another human being. Since Sasarai had come to the gate, no one outside had spoken to him and he had wrestled with the eerie feeling that everyone else might be dead. The mayor was supposed to raise the yellow flag to signify that the disease had run its course and the quarantine should be ended, but as he never went out, how was he to know when that time had come?
"That's, uh, really something. Thank you, brother. Thanks a lot."
"W-wait! Don't go yet!" he hastened to unlatch the door. Forte hopped back to avoid being hit by the lower half of the door as it swung outward. Azul ducked under the top part of the door and came out to stand before the doctor. He was probably younger than Forte, but years of hardship had aged him prematurely. And there was no mistaking him for anything other than the son of Kanfien that he was.
"What is it?"
"You'll come back, won't you? You'll let me know what's happened?"
As Forte recognized the depths of Azul's unnerving isolation, he couldn't help but he moved by compassion. This man seemed so naive to the implications of his master's actions. What sort of life was this? "Yes, I will. Don't worry, brother. I'll be back."