hide and seek
Prince of Persia, kid!Dastan & kid!Bis, When Dastan reappears and says he's been made a prince, Bis isn't entirely sure what he's supposed to think.
(for mariana_oconnor)
Dastan told Bis to stay here, and stay Bis does. Even as he hears Dastan scream, The cry of the guard: "In the King's name!" - and then the eerie hush falls over the market like a shadow.
He trembles in fear for his only friend, and is ashamed he is not as bold or as brave as Dastan. Who literally has risked his limbs for Bis.
He imagines Dastan returning, bleeding and beaten. He cries himself to sleep, because Dastan told him to stay - and Bis has to stay put; what if Dastan comes looking for him - and he isn't here? Dastan will have lost Bis, but Bis will be lost without Dastan.
He promises to stay put, only until dusk - Dastan has never spent as long as a night away from Bis so long as they have been pick-pocket partners. It feels like the longest wait of Bis's young life, and he tries to remember when he first met Dastan.
What comes easier to him are bu legends and lore of gods.
There are stories Bis remembers...someone...telling him, if that someone was his mom, or his dad, or someone that loved him, he doesn't know.
He remembers the stories though, of gods, one the dark god of the Underworld, and the other a spring bringing goddess whose mother causes crops to grow in summer, and wilts them with her weeping in winter.
Dastan is like that spring goddess, stolen from Bis. But bis will not spend the night weeping, he'll go seeking in the shadows - there are no streets that can hide secrets from Bis. Dastan will come to him, or Bis will go to him. In this there is no other truth.
Bis hears a familiar hiss, and a hand slips over his lips. He opens his eyes to see Dastan, with a finger pressed to his mouth. Bis nods, not surprised to find Dastan had caught him napping in the noon sun unaware.
"Where have you been?" Bis whispers, eyes flinching to each of Dastan's hands to reassure himself that his friend has them. He is whole and healthy as he was this morning - but there is a change, and it is one Bis can not ignore, so obvious it is. Dastan is cleaned of the dirt he'd worn as a second skin only this morning, and his clothes are fine and fancy thing.
"To the palace." Dastan answers softly, eyes flinching from shadow to shadow as if he is afraid. Bis has never known Dastan to be so wary of streets and shadows.
"Doing what?" Bis hisses, and hopes he is wrong in that Dastan did not steal from the palace. They will take back more than a limb to make Dastan pay for his street thieving.
"I...I was taken in, by the king - King Sharaman, he has made me his son, a prince of Persia." Dastan stares into Bis's eyes, unflinching. Bis has never known Dastan to lie (it's bad enough to steal)- and never to lie to him.
Bis does not hesitate to believe Dastan; he is telling the truth as he knows it. Only...has King Sharaman really done what Dastan thinks, or is it a cruel trick that will end with Dastan being something less then a slave. Bis has heard stories of such things, not of King Sharaman, but of kings and queens of far away places. Their king is great, at least everyone says so - but as Bis well knows, merchants may praise the sun for the sake of growing things, but seek the shade. There is a darkness to everything.
Dastan knows this too, for he has lived side by side with Bis on these streets with secrets.
"Were you followed from the palace." Bis asks, realizing that is what Dastan looks so uneasy about. Dastan breaths out, sighing with relief that Bis believes what he says - if not why. Dastan does not know the why of it either. It is a puzzle he hopes Bis will help him with.
"I don't think so, they weren't expecting me to sneak away. They wanted me to stay." Bis realizes that as hard as it was for him to wait for Dastan - it was as hard for Dastan to get away, and not be sure he had Bis to get back to. Bis embraces him, unmindful of his skin and clothes caked with dirt and dust.
"I will always be here for you." Bis promises recklessly, and is glad when Dastan grins so honestly. Fine clothes do not disguise him from Bis, who sees Dastan as he always has been - a great friend.
"I knew it, Bis, I came back for you didn't I?" Dastan tugs on his hand and Bis takes a few steps with him before stopping, realizing what Dastan has meant.
"You want me to go to the palace with you?" Bis frowns down at his bare feet, so uneasy he feels sick with it.
"Where else? If they want me, they will have to take you too." The world doesn't work the way Dastan sees it as, Bis knows. Yet Dastan is the most stubborn person Bis knows.
"Will they?" Bis asks softly, and for the first time Dastan frowns.
"They will have to, if it's what I want, King Sharaman made me a prince, if I can not have you, there is then no proof to that claim." It's simple the way Dastan explains it. Still, Bis does not like it.
"Will you come with me?" Dastan pleads, and Bis finds himself nodding. He will follow wherever Dastan leads.
"A prince." Bis says when he gets his first look at the palace where he and Dastan will learn to call home. At the sight of it, he believe in everything Dastan is and will be with his whole heart and can not explain it. He only knows he will be right where he is now, beside Dastan.
"And don't you forget it!" Dastan teases, ruffing the other orphan urchin's hair. Like the royal palace of Nasaf and the city slums, they are a pair that can not now - nor ever be parted. They have only to keep each other out of trouble (which is by far easier said than done).
Together they sneak into Dastan's palace chambers - the rooms; as there is a bathing room with knobs for running water and bubbles and strange smelling scents, a play room full of toys, a training room with sticks and staffs and pads, the entertaining room with pillows and stools and small tables, and of course the bedroom.
Five rooms all for Dastan to call his own, he doesn't, he calls them theirs.
The bed is more then big enough to share. Whatever happens, they are both reassured that they will be together to see it.
(for mariana_oconnor)
Dastan told Bis to stay here, and stay Bis does. Even as he hears Dastan scream, The cry of the guard: "In the King's name!" - and then the eerie hush falls over the market like a shadow.
He trembles in fear for his only friend, and is ashamed he is not as bold or as brave as Dastan. Who literally has risked his limbs for Bis.
He imagines Dastan returning, bleeding and beaten. He cries himself to sleep, because Dastan told him to stay - and Bis has to stay put; what if Dastan comes looking for him - and he isn't here? Dastan will have lost Bis, but Bis will be lost without Dastan.
He promises to stay put, only until dusk - Dastan has never spent as long as a night away from Bis so long as they have been pick-pocket partners. It feels like the longest wait of Bis's young life, and he tries to remember when he first met Dastan.
What comes easier to him are bu legends and lore of gods.
There are stories Bis remembers...someone...telling him, if that someone was his mom, or his dad, or someone that loved him, he doesn't know.
He remembers the stories though, of gods, one the dark god of the Underworld, and the other a spring bringing goddess whose mother causes crops to grow in summer, and wilts them with her weeping in winter.
Dastan is like that spring goddess, stolen from Bis. But bis will not spend the night weeping, he'll go seeking in the shadows - there are no streets that can hide secrets from Bis. Dastan will come to him, or Bis will go to him. In this there is no other truth.
Bis hears a familiar hiss, and a hand slips over his lips. He opens his eyes to see Dastan, with a finger pressed to his mouth. Bis nods, not surprised to find Dastan had caught him napping in the noon sun unaware.
"Where have you been?" Bis whispers, eyes flinching to each of Dastan's hands to reassure himself that his friend has them. He is whole and healthy as he was this morning - but there is a change, and it is one Bis can not ignore, so obvious it is. Dastan is cleaned of the dirt he'd worn as a second skin only this morning, and his clothes are fine and fancy thing.
"To the palace." Dastan answers softly, eyes flinching from shadow to shadow as if he is afraid. Bis has never known Dastan to be so wary of streets and shadows.
"Doing what?" Bis hisses, and hopes he is wrong in that Dastan did not steal from the palace. They will take back more than a limb to make Dastan pay for his street thieving.
"I...I was taken in, by the king - King Sharaman, he has made me his son, a prince of Persia." Dastan stares into Bis's eyes, unflinching. Bis has never known Dastan to lie (it's bad enough to steal)- and never to lie to him.
Bis does not hesitate to believe Dastan; he is telling the truth as he knows it. Only...has King Sharaman really done what Dastan thinks, or is it a cruel trick that will end with Dastan being something less then a slave. Bis has heard stories of such things, not of King Sharaman, but of kings and queens of far away places. Their king is great, at least everyone says so - but as Bis well knows, merchants may praise the sun for the sake of growing things, but seek the shade. There is a darkness to everything.
Dastan knows this too, for he has lived side by side with Bis on these streets with secrets.
"Were you followed from the palace." Bis asks, realizing that is what Dastan looks so uneasy about. Dastan breaths out, sighing with relief that Bis believes what he says - if not why. Dastan does not know the why of it either. It is a puzzle he hopes Bis will help him with.
"I don't think so, they weren't expecting me to sneak away. They wanted me to stay." Bis realizes that as hard as it was for him to wait for Dastan - it was as hard for Dastan to get away, and not be sure he had Bis to get back to. Bis embraces him, unmindful of his skin and clothes caked with dirt and dust.
"I will always be here for you." Bis promises recklessly, and is glad when Dastan grins so honestly. Fine clothes do not disguise him from Bis, who sees Dastan as he always has been - a great friend.
"I knew it, Bis, I came back for you didn't I?" Dastan tugs on his hand and Bis takes a few steps with him before stopping, realizing what Dastan has meant.
"You want me to go to the palace with you?" Bis frowns down at his bare feet, so uneasy he feels sick with it.
"Where else? If they want me, they will have to take you too." The world doesn't work the way Dastan sees it as, Bis knows. Yet Dastan is the most stubborn person Bis knows.
"Will they?" Bis asks softly, and for the first time Dastan frowns.
"They will have to, if it's what I want, King Sharaman made me a prince, if I can not have you, there is then no proof to that claim." It's simple the way Dastan explains it. Still, Bis does not like it.
"Will you come with me?" Dastan pleads, and Bis finds himself nodding. He will follow wherever Dastan leads.
"A prince." Bis says when he gets his first look at the palace where he and Dastan will learn to call home. At the sight of it, he believe in everything Dastan is and will be with his whole heart and can not explain it. He only knows he will be right where he is now, beside Dastan.
"And don't you forget it!" Dastan teases, ruffing the other orphan urchin's hair. Like the royal palace of Nasaf and the city slums, they are a pair that can not now - nor ever be parted. They have only to keep each other out of trouble (which is by far easier said than done).
Together they sneak into Dastan's palace chambers - the rooms; as there is a bathing room with knobs for running water and bubbles and strange smelling scents, a play room full of toys, a training room with sticks and staffs and pads, the entertaining room with pillows and stools and small tables, and of course the bedroom.
Five rooms all for Dastan to call his own, he doesn't, he calls them theirs.
The bed is more then big enough to share. Whatever happens, they are both reassured that they will be together to see it.