Fic: Like It Doesn't Hurt
Title: Like It Doesn't Hurt
Word Count: 386
Rating: PG
Original/Fandom: Original - Streetlight People character sketch
Pairings (if any): none
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/etc): none
Summary: Pliya wants to do right by her people. (This is set before anything else that has been written and can be read without any knowledge of the story)
Prompt: for the
writerverse Post Secret challenge
Pliya knew a thing or two about being in charge of a nation. Granted, her nation was only one city and a group of people who had known her since childhood but it was still a nation and it would one day be hers. Her father had seen to it that she be prepared to rule. "A happy ruler makes for a happy nation," he was fond of saying - at any time and for any reason.
It had become second nature for her to have a smile on her face. If it was a solemn occasion, she knew to dim it but it was always there. Everyone who ever saw her commented on the fact that she was such a joyful person.
Joyful wasn't a word she would use to describe what was going on inside of her right now. The constant talk of war was draining. Food was becoming scarce thanks to the trade embargo and the withering drought. The fisherfolk were the only ones who could be guaranteed of bringing in anything of sustenance and even they were concerned about their fertile fishing ground being stretched thin.
To top it all off, her father was once again talking of marriage as if it would solve everything. "The country needs something to be happy about. Do it for them, Pliya. Do it for your people."
"My people need me to be happy," she would calmly retort, time and time again. "And this is not going to make me happy."
"You like Doran."
That was the argument that she could never get around. Yes, she liked him. Very much, in fact. He was a nice man in a way that not everyone was nice. He listened to what she had to say and never judged. In short, he made the perfect friend but she had never once, in all the years she'd known him, found a reason that she should be in love with him.
No, a marriage would not be happening any time soon. What her country needed was food for every day, not a wedding feast. As she worked through the situation in the hope of being able to do the right thing for her nation, she put a smile on her face even though she had no idea why she was smiling.
This entry was cross posted at dreamwidth - where the cool kids hang out.
Word Count: 386
Rating: PG
Original/Fandom: Original - Streetlight People character sketch
Pairings (if any): none
Warnings (Non-Con/Dub-Con/etc): none
Summary: Pliya wants to do right by her people. (This is set before anything else that has been written and can be read without any knowledge of the story)
Prompt: for the
writerverse Post Secret challenge
Pliya knew a thing or two about being in charge of a nation. Granted, her nation was only one city and a group of people who had known her since childhood but it was still a nation and it would one day be hers. Her father had seen to it that she be prepared to rule. "A happy ruler makes for a happy nation," he was fond of saying - at any time and for any reason.
It had become second nature for her to have a smile on her face. If it was a solemn occasion, she knew to dim it but it was always there. Everyone who ever saw her commented on the fact that she was such a joyful person.
Joyful wasn't a word she would use to describe what was going on inside of her right now. The constant talk of war was draining. Food was becoming scarce thanks to the trade embargo and the withering drought. The fisherfolk were the only ones who could be guaranteed of bringing in anything of sustenance and even they were concerned about their fertile fishing ground being stretched thin.
To top it all off, her father was once again talking of marriage as if it would solve everything. "The country needs something to be happy about. Do it for them, Pliya. Do it for your people."
"My people need me to be happy," she would calmly retort, time and time again. "And this is not going to make me happy."
"You like Doran."
That was the argument that she could never get around. Yes, she liked him. Very much, in fact. He was a nice man in a way that not everyone was nice. He listened to what she had to say and never judged. In short, he made the perfect friend but she had never once, in all the years she'd known him, found a reason that she should be in love with him.
No, a marriage would not be happening any time soon. What her country needed was food for every day, not a wedding feast. As she worked through the situation in the hope of being able to do the right thing for her nation, she put a smile on her face even though she had no idea why she was smiling.
This entry was cross posted at dreamwidth - where the cool kids hang out.