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31_days2016-06-02 11:07 am
seta-suzume.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2016-06-02 11:07 am
[June 2] [Boardwalk Empire] If Wishes Were...
Title: If Wishes Were...
Day/Theme: June 2, '2016 "but you can hope for anything"
Series: Boardwalk Empire
Character/Pairing: Richard(, etc.)
Rating: G
There was a fortuneteller operating on the boardwalk and watching her door as it opened and shut, Richard could see that she got a lot of business. It didn't mean necessarily mean she was accurate (or that any fortuneteller's divinings had anything of the truth in them), but it did mean plenty of people felt she was worth a try.
It was probably for the best that no one could know the future before it arrived, but wasn't it human nature to be curious? And certainly Richard wouldn't begrudge people their nebulous wishes for things that were impossible to attain. A better mask. A new face (a real face). Someone who loved him in spite of his face. Someone who loved him despite his face. Any foolishness that could be dreamed up, a man could wish for.
And if one got it, then one wished for something else. Such was the nature of (most) people. A friend, but one so troubled despite his lovely family- one wished for peace and contentment for this friend (and it was at least a fragment less self-centered if the wish were on someone else's behalf, wasn't it? or that was another fiction people told themselves). Another friend, an artist, but one whose talent was so often strangled by the circumstances around her- one wished that she might be free to bloom (and as far as he was able, he didn't just stand by and hope- he sat for her, he encouraged her- but he had few strengths in this regard and what he could do remained small).
In Richard's experience, these things that people wished for they very seldom got. So if neither were attainable, how much difference was there between a better mask and his face healing back to how it had been before? Between those who loved him in spite of his face and those who loved him despite it?
But sometimes, with the right thing (or person, as it were, or relationship), every other desire seemed to fall by the wayside; everything fell into place.
Julia came out of the shop beside the fortuneteller's shop still holding Tommy's hand, a package of saltwater taffy held, all business-like, in the other.
Day/Theme: June 2, '2016 "but you can hope for anything"
Series: Boardwalk Empire
Character/Pairing: Richard(, etc.)
Rating: G
There was a fortuneteller operating on the boardwalk and watching her door as it opened and shut, Richard could see that she got a lot of business. It didn't mean necessarily mean she was accurate (or that any fortuneteller's divinings had anything of the truth in them), but it did mean plenty of people felt she was worth a try.
It was probably for the best that no one could know the future before it arrived, but wasn't it human nature to be curious? And certainly Richard wouldn't begrudge people their nebulous wishes for things that were impossible to attain. A better mask. A new face (a real face). Someone who loved him in spite of his face. Someone who loved him despite his face. Any foolishness that could be dreamed up, a man could wish for.
And if one got it, then one wished for something else. Such was the nature of (most) people. A friend, but one so troubled despite his lovely family- one wished for peace and contentment for this friend (and it was at least a fragment less self-centered if the wish were on someone else's behalf, wasn't it? or that was another fiction people told themselves). Another friend, an artist, but one whose talent was so often strangled by the circumstances around her- one wished that she might be free to bloom (and as far as he was able, he didn't just stand by and hope- he sat for her, he encouraged her- but he had few strengths in this regard and what he could do remained small).
In Richard's experience, these things that people wished for they very seldom got. So if neither were attainable, how much difference was there between a better mask and his face healing back to how it had been before? Between those who loved him in spite of his face and those who loved him despite it?
But sometimes, with the right thing (or person, as it were, or relationship), every other desire seemed to fall by the wayside; everything fell into place.
Julia came out of the shop beside the fortuneteller's shop still holding Tommy's hand, a package of saltwater taffy held, all business-like, in the other.