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31_days2020-05-04 09:30 pm
gershom_onyx) wrote in 31_days2020-05-04 09:30 pm
Entry tags:
[05 / 04 / 20] [Fire Emblem Heroes] A Masked Acquaintance
Title: A Masked Acquaintance
Day / Prompt: 04 / The Last Scene Is A Sunset On the Ocean
Fandom: Fire Emblem Heroes
Character(s) / Pairing(s): Bruno, Leon
Rating / Warning(s): All Ages
Word Count: 920
Notes: The problem with a chance meeting that can change your life is that, if you look back, you have to stop and ask yourself how many of those meetings you might have missed, perhaps only by a moment or a second.
As Alfonse attempts to persuade Celica to join his cause, Bruno spies opportunity when he encounters one of her possible companions ....
* * * *
"I don't consider myself an expert when it comes to clichés," the young man said as he steepled his fingers, "but you'll have to forgive me if I'm a bit of a skeptic when it comes to offers from mysterious strangers wearing masks."
Bruno shrugged, wrapping his hands around the full tankard in front of him. "I'm a romantic, and I don't like people to remember my face. That doesn't change my offer." He leaned forward, the light of the sunset reaching through the front door of the tavern to lengthen the shadow he cast across the table. "I'm sure you're aware that there's more to life than wasting your arrows on pirates. No matter how many of them you kill, they won't bring you any closer to spreading your name. Especially if you're fighting them alone, Leon."
"That's a little too easy, as bait goes," the young man replied. "I don't mind a little fortune, and I could take or leave fame, but anybody can offer those things. They're only promises, and you know the saying: A promise doesn't fill the belly. If that's the best you've got, this conversation's over." He laughed. "But it isn't, is it? You don't really strike me as a simpleton."
Bruno smirked. "It's a rare fisherman that catches a prize with his first bait. I know that saying, too." He laid his hands flat on the table, leaving the ale in his tankard untouched. "So let me offer you this: In your travels, have you met a man by the name of ... Valbar? Does that mean anything to you?"
Leon had no immediate comeback for that. "I –" He paused, rethought his words. "You're going to have to tell me how you know that name, stranger."
"In that case, I'm going to tell you a story." Bruno paused to blow a little of the froth off the top of his tankard before taking his first drink of it. "Unless I'm mistaken, it's a story you already know, and you've got a sharp memory, so please stop me when my version diverges from the facts."
At that, the archer nodded, his face pensive despite its neutrality.
"You met this man while he was on his way to a mission of vengeance. You wanted to go with him, but –" He paused for effect, smirking again. "– you were already under contract. Something that didn't mean much to you, but you needed the money, or you needed the roof over your head. And he went on his way, never to be seen by you again, and you can't help but feel that you might have missed the greatest opportunity of your life." Silence for a moment. "You haven't stopped me, so I can't help but assume that I'm not mistaken."
"You're not." Leon clenched his hands into fists to stop them from shaking. "And this is the part where you tell me that you know how to find him."
"I told you that you were sharp." Bruno paused to take another drink. "And you're exactly right. Where I'm going, you'll have the second chance you didn't know you wanted. All I ask is that you lend me your bow and all the expertise behind it. Do that, and I'll gladly lead you back to Valbar."
"It's the cliché, all right." Leon closed his eyes and sighed. "A mysterious stranger in a mask offers me an offer I don't dare refuse, straight from the storybooks." He raised his head to look directly into the face of Bruno, thwarted by the mask that concealed his eyes. "And, even if you don't feel threatened by me, I'm sure you don't need me to tell you what fate awaits you if I find out that there's nothing at the end of this golden road of yours."
"If you weren't strong enough to end my life, I wouldn't ask you to risk yours." No smirk, but a genuine grin, and Bruno extended his hand. "That's a promise you can take seriously. So, tell me, Leon: Do we have a deal?"
Leon took his hand and shook it. "I'm going to curse you at the end of this, I'm sure, but ... yes. If you can take me to Valbar, I'll go with you."
Outside, the sunset, in all its oranges and reds, started to fade into the familiar purple of the evening, and the bartender, pausing to smoothe his long mustaches, made a show of lighting candles to keep the tavern welcoming.
"It's settled, then," Bruno said. "We'll depart in the morning, once my companion returns from his sojourn up the beach. You'll have some time."
"All right." Leon rose to his feet, left money for his drinks on the table. "By your leave, then. ... Zacharias, was it? Not your real name, I'm sure."
"Of course not." Bruno laughed. "Good night, Leon." And after the archer left, the Prince of Embla thought to himself, looking down into the remains of his ale, Perhaps there is merit to your method after all, Alfonse, but I doubt it will always be this easy. I won't always be armed with the facts.
He remembered a crude grave marker that he had noticed on one stretch of beach after disembarking from the ship. Tilted to one side, already worn down by weather, little more than driftwood, it had born the name Valbar.
END.
Day / Prompt: 04 / The Last Scene Is A Sunset On the Ocean
Fandom: Fire Emblem Heroes
Character(s) / Pairing(s): Bruno, Leon
Rating / Warning(s): All Ages
Word Count: 920
Notes: The problem with a chance meeting that can change your life is that, if you look back, you have to stop and ask yourself how many of those meetings you might have missed, perhaps only by a moment or a second.
* * * *
"I don't consider myself an expert when it comes to clichés," the young man said as he steepled his fingers, "but you'll have to forgive me if I'm a bit of a skeptic when it comes to offers from mysterious strangers wearing masks."
Bruno shrugged, wrapping his hands around the full tankard in front of him. "I'm a romantic, and I don't like people to remember my face. That doesn't change my offer." He leaned forward, the light of the sunset reaching through the front door of the tavern to lengthen the shadow he cast across the table. "I'm sure you're aware that there's more to life than wasting your arrows on pirates. No matter how many of them you kill, they won't bring you any closer to spreading your name. Especially if you're fighting them alone, Leon."
"That's a little too easy, as bait goes," the young man replied. "I don't mind a little fortune, and I could take or leave fame, but anybody can offer those things. They're only promises, and you know the saying: A promise doesn't fill the belly. If that's the best you've got, this conversation's over." He laughed. "But it isn't, is it? You don't really strike me as a simpleton."
Bruno smirked. "It's a rare fisherman that catches a prize with his first bait. I know that saying, too." He laid his hands flat on the table, leaving the ale in his tankard untouched. "So let me offer you this: In your travels, have you met a man by the name of ... Valbar? Does that mean anything to you?"
Leon had no immediate comeback for that. "I –" He paused, rethought his words. "You're going to have to tell me how you know that name, stranger."
"In that case, I'm going to tell you a story." Bruno paused to blow a little of the froth off the top of his tankard before taking his first drink of it. "Unless I'm mistaken, it's a story you already know, and you've got a sharp memory, so please stop me when my version diverges from the facts."
At that, the archer nodded, his face pensive despite its neutrality.
"You met this man while he was on his way to a mission of vengeance. You wanted to go with him, but –" He paused for effect, smirking again. "– you were already under contract. Something that didn't mean much to you, but you needed the money, or you needed the roof over your head. And he went on his way, never to be seen by you again, and you can't help but feel that you might have missed the greatest opportunity of your life." Silence for a moment. "You haven't stopped me, so I can't help but assume that I'm not mistaken."
"You're not." Leon clenched his hands into fists to stop them from shaking. "And this is the part where you tell me that you know how to find him."
"I told you that you were sharp." Bruno paused to take another drink. "And you're exactly right. Where I'm going, you'll have the second chance you didn't know you wanted. All I ask is that you lend me your bow and all the expertise behind it. Do that, and I'll gladly lead you back to Valbar."
"It's the cliché, all right." Leon closed his eyes and sighed. "A mysterious stranger in a mask offers me an offer I don't dare refuse, straight from the storybooks." He raised his head to look directly into the face of Bruno, thwarted by the mask that concealed his eyes. "And, even if you don't feel threatened by me, I'm sure you don't need me to tell you what fate awaits you if I find out that there's nothing at the end of this golden road of yours."
"If you weren't strong enough to end my life, I wouldn't ask you to risk yours." No smirk, but a genuine grin, and Bruno extended his hand. "That's a promise you can take seriously. So, tell me, Leon: Do we have a deal?"
Leon took his hand and shook it. "I'm going to curse you at the end of this, I'm sure, but ... yes. If you can take me to Valbar, I'll go with you."
Outside, the sunset, in all its oranges and reds, started to fade into the familiar purple of the evening, and the bartender, pausing to smoothe his long mustaches, made a show of lighting candles to keep the tavern welcoming.
"It's settled, then," Bruno said. "We'll depart in the morning, once my companion returns from his sojourn up the beach. You'll have some time."
"All right." Leon rose to his feet, left money for his drinks on the table. "By your leave, then. ... Zacharias, was it? Not your real name, I'm sure."
"Of course not." Bruno laughed. "Good night, Leon." And after the archer left, the Prince of Embla thought to himself, looking down into the remains of his ale, Perhaps there is merit to your method after all, Alfonse, but I doubt it will always be this easy. I won't always be armed with the facts.
He remembered a crude grave marker that he had noticed on one stretch of beach after disembarking from the ship. Tilted to one side, already worn down by weather, little more than driftwood, it had born the name Valbar.
END.