Some Things Don't Change [FFX, Lulu, G]
Title: Some Things Don't Change
Author: wherdragon
Fandom: Final Fantasy X
Pairing: Some implied, but only lightly
Word Count: 991
Spoilers: A bit for the ending?
Warnings: none
Prompt: Nov 6th, Final Fantasy X, Lulu, Traditions and customs, "It hadn't been cut, ever, outside of a trim."
Disclaimer: None of these characters are owned by me and I am making no profit of any kind. Please don't sue me, SquareEnix!
A/N: First story! Yay!
Lulu heard soft footfalls behind her, and guessed who had come out on deck to find what was burning.
"Lu?" She turned and was right. It was Yuna, and she was staring at Lulu's neatly trimmed, but certainly still very long, hair.
"Yes?"
"Oh! I had thought... well, that this time..." Lulu stared back into the fire, knowing quite well what her friend referred to.
---
"Yuna?" The young girl remained silent, and from behind, Lulu couldn't tell if she was crying or not. She sat down quietly beside her, the motion nevertheless sending her braids to brush against Yuna's back. That made her young friend turn her strange, two colored eyes to her.
"How long will it take, do you think?"
"How long will what take?" Yuna gestured with her hand, full of shorn brown locks. Lulu absently noticed that the girl had done it herself, for the ends were all ragged around the mother-lock that still hung down, long and tidily (at least for an eight-year-old) bound up. "A few years, I'm afraid. If you want it to grow all the way back to where it was, of course."
"But yours grew back so quickly!" Lulu blinked, and realized Yuna was referring to when Lulu's parents had died. She gently shook her head, the braids in question softly swishing.
"I never cut my hair for my parents." A bewildered look settled on Yuna's face, so Lulu went on. "Of course I trimmed the ends, but... my mother had the most beautiful long hair. I always admired it, and wanted mine to be as long and beautiful. She would laugh and tell me it would in time, but that it was already beautiful the way it was. With all of that, I couldn't cut my hair for her." Yuna didn't understand, and was a little hurt that she didn't.
Lulu had gently helped her adopted sister trim the ends more neatly, and burn the locks for High Summoner Braska. Then she had held young Yuna as she cried, and tried not to be nervous at the Ronso who watched over them both. The hurt didn't leave, but the two girls got past it.
---
That hurt and bewilderment had come back again when word returned that Chappu had died, but this time it was in Wakka's face and voice.
"But he was your boyfriend! You were going to be married! Aren't you the least bit upset?" Lulu had nearly slapped him, but stopped herself just in time.
"Of course I am, you idiot! You think I don't care just because I won't cut my hair off for him? When I wouldn't do it for my own parents?"
"Well what's everyone else gonna think?"
"I don't care!" He hadn't followed her when she went off into the forest to sit by the ocean and kick the sand and cry at the sound of the waves. When the fire burned for Chappu, there was red and brown hair in it, but none of black. Lulu had burned her trimmings for him by herself, after Yuna had taken Wakka off to the ceremony and away from another argument over the matter. Lulu had thought that maybe this time Yuna had understood, even if Wakka still didn't.
---
Of course, neither had the rest of Besaid; but they had started to accept her oddity by then, so it wasn't as bad as when she had come back from her failure on the Calm Lands. She didn't tell any of them that she had been rescued by some Al Bhed, to whom she was grateful: they had tended her wounds, even if she couldn't understand a word they said and even if they had dumped her off on the shore of Bevelle while she slept. But when she arrived at Besaid, without Lady Ginnem, and right after a ship had wrecked off shore from an attack by Sin, the priest of the temple had been more than a little put out.
"You know the customs, Lulu. I taught them to you."
"Yes, father. I do."
"And you know that you must do penance for your failure to protect your summoner, even if Yevon has granted that you survived."
"I know."
"Part of that penance must be your hair, mage."
"I am afraid I can not do that, father."
"We put up with it for your parents, since that is between you and their souls, but this is becoming an affront to Yevon." Lulu had simply bowed farther. Eventually, she won; at least in the sense that she was not declared traitor - Yevon forbid! - or forced to sacrifice her hair. Her friends had been supportive, even if she wasn't sure they fully understood, and she needed their support while the rest of the island decided not to speak with her for weeks. Her friends understood when she told them that she couldn't honor Ginnem by being stronger if she were shamed by her failure every day for years. Yuna had also, very seriously, told her that she understood that if she had not cut her hair for her parents, she couldn't for her summoner. It was a little comfort.
---
"No," she answered Yuna. "Not even for him." She smiled a little, distracting herself from that pain. "After all, if I didn't before, I couldn't start now. And it's hardly a proper celebration for Sin being gone." Yuna's mouth twisted.
"That's not a very good reason."
"I know."
"I could explain to everyone, even Wakka."
"I know, and they'd probably believe you this time." Yuna smiled a little. "But no. I won't cut it, ever." Yuna sighed.
"It's a good thing you're my guardian, then. The priest will be too busy being overjoyed to see me to care about what you're not doing."
"Thank you for understanding, Yuna."
"I don't," she said, frankly. "But I know you." Lulu just smiled, and it was enough.
Author: wherdragon
Fandom: Final Fantasy X
Pairing: Some implied, but only lightly
Word Count: 991
Spoilers: A bit for the ending?
Warnings: none
Prompt: Nov 6th, Final Fantasy X, Lulu, Traditions and customs, "It hadn't been cut, ever, outside of a trim."
Disclaimer: None of these characters are owned by me and I am making no profit of any kind. Please don't sue me, SquareEnix!
A/N: First story! Yay!
Lulu heard soft footfalls behind her, and guessed who had come out on deck to find what was burning.
"Lu?" She turned and was right. It was Yuna, and she was staring at Lulu's neatly trimmed, but certainly still very long, hair.
"Yes?"
"Oh! I had thought... well, that this time..." Lulu stared back into the fire, knowing quite well what her friend referred to.
---
"Yuna?" The young girl remained silent, and from behind, Lulu couldn't tell if she was crying or not. She sat down quietly beside her, the motion nevertheless sending her braids to brush against Yuna's back. That made her young friend turn her strange, two colored eyes to her.
"How long will it take, do you think?"
"How long will what take?" Yuna gestured with her hand, full of shorn brown locks. Lulu absently noticed that the girl had done it herself, for the ends were all ragged around the mother-lock that still hung down, long and tidily (at least for an eight-year-old) bound up. "A few years, I'm afraid. If you want it to grow all the way back to where it was, of course."
"But yours grew back so quickly!" Lulu blinked, and realized Yuna was referring to when Lulu's parents had died. She gently shook her head, the braids in question softly swishing.
"I never cut my hair for my parents." A bewildered look settled on Yuna's face, so Lulu went on. "Of course I trimmed the ends, but... my mother had the most beautiful long hair. I always admired it, and wanted mine to be as long and beautiful. She would laugh and tell me it would in time, but that it was already beautiful the way it was. With all of that, I couldn't cut my hair for her." Yuna didn't understand, and was a little hurt that she didn't.
Lulu had gently helped her adopted sister trim the ends more neatly, and burn the locks for High Summoner Braska. Then she had held young Yuna as she cried, and tried not to be nervous at the Ronso who watched over them both. The hurt didn't leave, but the two girls got past it.
---
That hurt and bewilderment had come back again when word returned that Chappu had died, but this time it was in Wakka's face and voice.
"But he was your boyfriend! You were going to be married! Aren't you the least bit upset?" Lulu had nearly slapped him, but stopped herself just in time.
"Of course I am, you idiot! You think I don't care just because I won't cut my hair off for him? When I wouldn't do it for my own parents?"
"Well what's everyone else gonna think?"
"I don't care!" He hadn't followed her when she went off into the forest to sit by the ocean and kick the sand and cry at the sound of the waves. When the fire burned for Chappu, there was red and brown hair in it, but none of black. Lulu had burned her trimmings for him by herself, after Yuna had taken Wakka off to the ceremony and away from another argument over the matter. Lulu had thought that maybe this time Yuna had understood, even if Wakka still didn't.
---
Of course, neither had the rest of Besaid; but they had started to accept her oddity by then, so it wasn't as bad as when she had come back from her failure on the Calm Lands. She didn't tell any of them that she had been rescued by some Al Bhed, to whom she was grateful: they had tended her wounds, even if she couldn't understand a word they said and even if they had dumped her off on the shore of Bevelle while she slept. But when she arrived at Besaid, without Lady Ginnem, and right after a ship had wrecked off shore from an attack by Sin, the priest of the temple had been more than a little put out.
"You know the customs, Lulu. I taught them to you."
"Yes, father. I do."
"And you know that you must do penance for your failure to protect your summoner, even if Yevon has granted that you survived."
"I know."
"Part of that penance must be your hair, mage."
"I am afraid I can not do that, father."
"We put up with it for your parents, since that is between you and their souls, but this is becoming an affront to Yevon." Lulu had simply bowed farther. Eventually, she won; at least in the sense that she was not declared traitor - Yevon forbid! - or forced to sacrifice her hair. Her friends had been supportive, even if she wasn't sure they fully understood, and she needed their support while the rest of the island decided not to speak with her for weeks. Her friends understood when she told them that she couldn't honor Ginnem by being stronger if she were shamed by her failure every day for years. Yuna had also, very seriously, told her that she understood that if she had not cut her hair for her parents, she couldn't for her summoner. It was a little comfort.
---
"No," she answered Yuna. "Not even for him." She smiled a little, distracting herself from that pain. "After all, if I didn't before, I couldn't start now. And it's hardly a proper celebration for Sin being gone." Yuna's mouth twisted.
"That's not a very good reason."
"I know."
"I could explain to everyone, even Wakka."
"I know, and they'd probably believe you this time." Yuna smiled a little. "But no. I won't cut it, ever." Yuna sighed.
"It's a good thing you're my guardian, then. The priest will be too busy being overjoyed to see me to care about what you're not doing."
"Thank you for understanding, Yuna."
"I don't," she said, frankly. "But I know you." Lulu just smiled, and it was enough.