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31_days2009-12-12 02:38 pm
seta-suzume.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2009-12-12 02:38 pm
[Dec. 12] [Suikoden III] Seabells
Title: Seabells
Day/Theme: Dec. 12, 2009 "when burning bridges won't come down"
Series: Suikoden III
Character/Pairing: Sasarai, Annie
Rating: PG
How could I not work on my 'bridge burning' story with a theme like that? :D
"Did it take a long time for the bridge to burn through?"
Annie stopped her approach, surprised that Sasarai had heard her coming. He hadn't so much as turned his head to the side. Was it really that silent out here, or was his hearing especially keen? She decided it didn't really matter and recovered her inner balance, stepping lightly across the grass to close the gap between them. "I didn't see it happening from the very beginning," she admitted. "I was inside the house. But it couldn't have been going on that long before I went out to take a look, because I could smell the smoke and see it as it started to billow over the island. I wasn't even scared at first. I was really confused."
"So, it was quick considering the size?" Slowly, Sasarai folded up and sat down, holding his knees close to his chest.
Annie felt too tall with him sitting, lanky and awkward. It was strange to look down at an adult while they talked. She decided to sit down too. It wasn't until she was in the grass herself that she noticed the stem of seabell bent beneath his foot. She looked around and realized the tiny flowers with their thick composite heads, lavender and periwinkle and Beilan blue, were scattered all around them. They were still blooming, though this was much later than their usual season. There hadn't been a Casimari summer this year, so it was strange. Autumn had come in like Autumn should.
"Are you okay? Would you rather not talk?"
"No, I don't mind." She twisted the stalk of a nearby blossom back and forth between her fingers. She hadn't realized she wasn't talking until he brought her up. She thought she had said something about the seabells, but apparently the words had never left her head. "The bridge burned pretty hot, I think. It take a while. It was pretty thick, you know. They had to build it that way so it could withstand the winter storms."
He nodded now that she had finally seen fit to answer his query. Her answer made perfect sense. All the sea bridges had to be strong. They were difficult to build, requiring the skills of specialized engineers and mages, so it was important to make them as self-sustaining as possible.
"You're all calm with dead people. You've seen dead people before all the time, haven't you?" Annie observed. The way she approached the subject was completely opposite from her careful maneuvering out onto the edge of the island. It was a clunky and awkward and a little obvious. It reminded him that she was still very young.
His answer reminded her that he was sort of old compared to her. His age seemed so variable to Annie. He was old or young or ageless, depending on the moment. What made a person so confusing like that? Her dad had told her before that age differences didn't matter so much once you got to a certain age and maybe this was what he meant.
"Yes, I have," he offered without a hint of shame. "In a variety of situations. So I suppose that's why it's not hard for me to stay calm over death. That doesn't mean that I'm not sad or unsettled though. Nothing is harder to grow used to than death. ...Except maybe living. But that's because life is infinitely varied and confused. In the end, death is always the same."
"You're a philosopher."
"No," he took his eyes off the sea to look Annie in the face. "Not anymore than is specified in my job description."
"Did you see a lot of people die during the last invasion of the Grasslands? What are they calling it- the Second Firebringer Revolt?"
"Some. Plenty of my own men. But I was distracted and distanced from a lot of it. I saw much more death in Higheast." He usually thought of each conflict as its own separate event and didn't compare them that way. Annie's inquiries were drawing his mind in strange directions. Viela was not the experience he had thought it would be. He needed to learn to reconfigure his expectations.
"When was the first time you remember seeing a dead person? I remember when my grandfather died. I was...uh, seven. He was pretty old."
"I don't know how familiar you are with Counsel history or the fates of the various bishops- you are awfully young and far away from both the capital and his area of jurisdiction- but the earliest I can recall is when Bishop Tang was assassinated. He was poisoned. The whole thing was pretty horrifying to me. I was...about seven too, come to think of it."
There was a bridge between them, even where there was no longer a bridge between Viela and the government, between the island and the mainland. Sasarai wanted to build bridges everywhere he went, but he found that they often turned out as fragile as if they had been reinforced with flowers. He didn't know as well as Annie did that some flowers, like seabells, were particularly tough and tenacious. The ones that had been crushed beneath their bodies would be soon to snap back to attention as soon as they rose.
Day/Theme: Dec. 12, 2009 "when burning bridges won't come down"
Series: Suikoden III
Character/Pairing: Sasarai, Annie
Rating: PG
How could I not work on my 'bridge burning' story with a theme like that? :D
"Did it take a long time for the bridge to burn through?"
Annie stopped her approach, surprised that Sasarai had heard her coming. He hadn't so much as turned his head to the side. Was it really that silent out here, or was his hearing especially keen? She decided it didn't really matter and recovered her inner balance, stepping lightly across the grass to close the gap between them. "I didn't see it happening from the very beginning," she admitted. "I was inside the house. But it couldn't have been going on that long before I went out to take a look, because I could smell the smoke and see it as it started to billow over the island. I wasn't even scared at first. I was really confused."
"So, it was quick considering the size?" Slowly, Sasarai folded up and sat down, holding his knees close to his chest.
Annie felt too tall with him sitting, lanky and awkward. It was strange to look down at an adult while they talked. She decided to sit down too. It wasn't until she was in the grass herself that she noticed the stem of seabell bent beneath his foot. She looked around and realized the tiny flowers with their thick composite heads, lavender and periwinkle and Beilan blue, were scattered all around them. They were still blooming, though this was much later than their usual season. There hadn't been a Casimari summer this year, so it was strange. Autumn had come in like Autumn should.
"Are you okay? Would you rather not talk?"
"No, I don't mind." She twisted the stalk of a nearby blossom back and forth between her fingers. She hadn't realized she wasn't talking until he brought her up. She thought she had said something about the seabells, but apparently the words had never left her head. "The bridge burned pretty hot, I think. It take a while. It was pretty thick, you know. They had to build it that way so it could withstand the winter storms."
He nodded now that she had finally seen fit to answer his query. Her answer made perfect sense. All the sea bridges had to be strong. They were difficult to build, requiring the skills of specialized engineers and mages, so it was important to make them as self-sustaining as possible.
"You're all calm with dead people. You've seen dead people before all the time, haven't you?" Annie observed. The way she approached the subject was completely opposite from her careful maneuvering out onto the edge of the island. It was a clunky and awkward and a little obvious. It reminded him that she was still very young.
His answer reminded her that he was sort of old compared to her. His age seemed so variable to Annie. He was old or young or ageless, depending on the moment. What made a person so confusing like that? Her dad had told her before that age differences didn't matter so much once you got to a certain age and maybe this was what he meant.
"Yes, I have," he offered without a hint of shame. "In a variety of situations. So I suppose that's why it's not hard for me to stay calm over death. That doesn't mean that I'm not sad or unsettled though. Nothing is harder to grow used to than death. ...Except maybe living. But that's because life is infinitely varied and confused. In the end, death is always the same."
"You're a philosopher."
"No," he took his eyes off the sea to look Annie in the face. "Not anymore than is specified in my job description."
"Did you see a lot of people die during the last invasion of the Grasslands? What are they calling it- the Second Firebringer Revolt?"
"Some. Plenty of my own men. But I was distracted and distanced from a lot of it. I saw much more death in Higheast." He usually thought of each conflict as its own separate event and didn't compare them that way. Annie's inquiries were drawing his mind in strange directions. Viela was not the experience he had thought it would be. He needed to learn to reconfigure his expectations.
"When was the first time you remember seeing a dead person? I remember when my grandfather died. I was...uh, seven. He was pretty old."
"I don't know how familiar you are with Counsel history or the fates of the various bishops- you are awfully young and far away from both the capital and his area of jurisdiction- but the earliest I can recall is when Bishop Tang was assassinated. He was poisoned. The whole thing was pretty horrifying to me. I was...about seven too, come to think of it."
There was a bridge between them, even where there was no longer a bridge between Viela and the government, between the island and the mainland. Sasarai wanted to build bridges everywhere he went, but he found that they often turned out as fragile as if they had been reinforced with flowers. He didn't know as well as Annie did that some flowers, like seabells, were particularly tough and tenacious. The ones that had been crushed beneath their bodies would be soon to snap back to attention as soon as they rose.