Abyss- Coming of Age
Here we go, I guess? I hope I did this right, but I think I fail at tags. 1285 words, and I hope it's no too short.
Title: Coming of Age
Author:
mysticcage
Pairings/Characters: Jade, Anise
Prompt: Abyss - Jade/Anise (Older Anise or not) - birthdays
Rating: PG (With a title like that, I feel I'm almost misleading people. Sry, no sexin' this time)
Warnings: Spoilers for the end of the game, I suppose? This takes place several years after the game.
Daath. A city to be treated with respect, if not a quiet aversion. How odd that he should find himself back here, the eyes of the pious on him once again, making his skin crawl. The whole city was just so...fake, alien to him. Blind devotion was something that had no explanation, there was nothing to quantify and measure it against.
In fact, if there was no reason for him to be here, he would not have been. If it were just something he could send a letter, a card, a messenger in his stead, he would have. But there was something about how little girls got angry about things like that, and it made him walk the crowded streets filled with empty people still waiting for the score to fill them up and give them meaning.
Normally, little girls were annoying things, frivolous creatures that grew into even more frivolous creatures that lived to fill their heads with gossip and other inane things. There were exceptions, but they were few and very far between. This particular one, however, was a fair bit different, possessed with a spirit that was determined and willful, if not a bit rough around the edges. There was only one thing that could make him come to Daath any more, and it was to see how this little girl was growing into a woman.
He cleared the steps of the cathedral, his mind racing as it always did until he found himself staring down an oracle guard. "I'm here to see the Fon Master. Please send word that Jade Curtiss is expecting an audience and I will be waiting in the library." He was direct, and with that opened the doors and stepped inside, leaving the bemused guard to play messenger behind him.
He shifted the rather cumbersome package under his arm, taking his time with the steps. As much has he would hate to admit it, and despite any jokes he made because of it, his age was catching up with him. As a young man he had cleared these steps easily, and now should not be any different. There was the package slowing him down, but something like that shouldn't have been a problem, despite the fact that it weighed a great deal.
He was inwardly cursing whatever zealotous idiot had designed the labyrinth corridors when he finally reached the library. The package was set down on a heavy table with a sigh and he turned his attention to the library. The last time he was able to stop and read these books he found them to all be religious drivel, but it seemed that the current Fon Master had remedied that. In fact, there was a fair section devoted to the sciences now, and he busied himself separating his books from those of the madman whose works also were thrown on the shelf. He had just finished arranging them to his liking when the door opened. He turned, satisfied for the moment that all of the books written by Jade Curtiss or Jade Balfour were on the opposite side of the self from those written by one Saphir Wyon Neiss.
"Colonel~" Her voice broke the quiet, rising over the shelves. He smiled a bit, turning to nearly face a dark-haired young woman. She had changed a bit since he had last seen her, but her eyes still carried that mirthful twinkle. "Did you come all this way to see little old me~?"
"Not at all, your grace." He feigned a thoughtful look. "In fact, I came here looking for a little girl. You see, it is her birthday, and she would be terribly upset if a certain elderly gentleman didn't show to properly wish her a happy year." He nodded. "However, little girls seem to be in short supply in Daath, and it seems that all they cold manage to scare up was a young woman. Pity."
She giggled, covering her mouth with a hand as she did. "Oh, Colonel~ You're so silly."
"Oh? Not at all. I find this to be a very serious matter." He stepped toward her, a look of unease crossing his face. "In fact, every year I come to wish this little girl a happy birthday, it seems I see less of her and more of this odd woman. It's very worrying." He walked past her, to the table. "Also, when did the Fon Master start wearing -pink-?"
"Buu. I can wear any color I want." She folded her arms across her chest, following him and sitting in a chair he had pulled out for her. "There's nothing that says I can't."
"Not at all." He waved a hand dismissively. "It's just a very feminine color. Very...cute."
She flushed pink, matching her elaborate robes for a moment an poking her index fingers together playfully. "Did you just call me cute?"
"I said nothing of the sort." Jade laughed softly. "You look well, Anise. You're no longer a little girl."
"Well, I -am- twenty today, or did you forget that?" She leaned forward, her black hair slipping over her shoulders. "They're having a big party for me."
"You, twenty? How the time flies. I brought you a gift."
She clapped her hands together. "Presents! What did you bring me~?"
"This." He pushed the package toward her. "Many years ago, when I was your age, I came to Daath for my birthday. I spent the day in prayer, and the next day I was sent out to Hod." He folded his hands together and rested his chin on them for a moment. "This city has never held fond memories for me."
She nodded, a bit confused but holding the package expectantly.
"I'm afraid it's nothing as extravagant as the gifts I usually bring you, Anise, but I expect you are old enough to appreciate it."
She nodded, tearing the plain brown paper off to reveal a wooden box nearly as long as she was tall. There were elaborately carved glyphs on the top, reading out the life score of a person she did not know, one who died in a fire when he was a young boy. Her fingers found the small catch and she popped it open, lifting the lid up to reveal a silver spear resting against a red lining. "This..."
"Was given to me on that day, when I turned twenty. It's an oracle knights spear, a gift from my adoptive parents." He nodded softly. "I wanted you to have it."
She nodded softly, running her hands over it and reading the boy's score that was again carved on the handle. It told of a young boy who would invent great things that would later be used to destroy nations. Here again, the boy died in a fire when he was twelve. "But...why?"
"I wanted you to know..." He took a moment to find the words, unused to showing something like this. "...that I care for you, Anise. I'm proud of you, and I will always be there to watch over you." The words seemed odd in his voice, but he knew they were genuine.
She blinked a few times, smiling softly to herself. "Thank you, Jade." She glanced up at him, her expression somewhat sad and deeply grateful. "Thank you."
"Not at all." He rose from his chair, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Happy birthday, Anise."
Title: Coming of Age
Author:
mysticcage
Pairings/Characters: Jade, Anise
Prompt: Abyss - Jade/Anise (Older Anise or not) - birthdays
Rating: PG (With a title like that, I feel I'm almost misleading people. Sry, no sexin' this time)
Warnings: Spoilers for the end of the game, I suppose? This takes place several years after the game.
Daath. A city to be treated with respect, if not a quiet aversion. How odd that he should find himself back here, the eyes of the pious on him once again, making his skin crawl. The whole city was just so...fake, alien to him. Blind devotion was something that had no explanation, there was nothing to quantify and measure it against.
In fact, if there was no reason for him to be here, he would not have been. If it were just something he could send a letter, a card, a messenger in his stead, he would have. But there was something about how little girls got angry about things like that, and it made him walk the crowded streets filled with empty people still waiting for the score to fill them up and give them meaning.
Normally, little girls were annoying things, frivolous creatures that grew into even more frivolous creatures that lived to fill their heads with gossip and other inane things. There were exceptions, but they were few and very far between. This particular one, however, was a fair bit different, possessed with a spirit that was determined and willful, if not a bit rough around the edges. There was only one thing that could make him come to Daath any more, and it was to see how this little girl was growing into a woman.
He cleared the steps of the cathedral, his mind racing as it always did until he found himself staring down an oracle guard. "I'm here to see the Fon Master. Please send word that Jade Curtiss is expecting an audience and I will be waiting in the library." He was direct, and with that opened the doors and stepped inside, leaving the bemused guard to play messenger behind him.
He shifted the rather cumbersome package under his arm, taking his time with the steps. As much has he would hate to admit it, and despite any jokes he made because of it, his age was catching up with him. As a young man he had cleared these steps easily, and now should not be any different. There was the package slowing him down, but something like that shouldn't have been a problem, despite the fact that it weighed a great deal.
He was inwardly cursing whatever zealotous idiot had designed the labyrinth corridors when he finally reached the library. The package was set down on a heavy table with a sigh and he turned his attention to the library. The last time he was able to stop and read these books he found them to all be religious drivel, but it seemed that the current Fon Master had remedied that. In fact, there was a fair section devoted to the sciences now, and he busied himself separating his books from those of the madman whose works also were thrown on the shelf. He had just finished arranging them to his liking when the door opened. He turned, satisfied for the moment that all of the books written by Jade Curtiss or Jade Balfour were on the opposite side of the self from those written by one Saphir Wyon Neiss.
"Colonel~" Her voice broke the quiet, rising over the shelves. He smiled a bit, turning to nearly face a dark-haired young woman. She had changed a bit since he had last seen her, but her eyes still carried that mirthful twinkle. "Did you come all this way to see little old me~?"
"Not at all, your grace." He feigned a thoughtful look. "In fact, I came here looking for a little girl. You see, it is her birthday, and she would be terribly upset if a certain elderly gentleman didn't show to properly wish her a happy year." He nodded. "However, little girls seem to be in short supply in Daath, and it seems that all they cold manage to scare up was a young woman. Pity."
She giggled, covering her mouth with a hand as she did. "Oh, Colonel~ You're so silly."
"Oh? Not at all. I find this to be a very serious matter." He stepped toward her, a look of unease crossing his face. "In fact, every year I come to wish this little girl a happy birthday, it seems I see less of her and more of this odd woman. It's very worrying." He walked past her, to the table. "Also, when did the Fon Master start wearing -pink-?"
"Buu. I can wear any color I want." She folded her arms across her chest, following him and sitting in a chair he had pulled out for her. "There's nothing that says I can't."
"Not at all." He waved a hand dismissively. "It's just a very feminine color. Very...cute."
She flushed pink, matching her elaborate robes for a moment an poking her index fingers together playfully. "Did you just call me cute?"
"I said nothing of the sort." Jade laughed softly. "You look well, Anise. You're no longer a little girl."
"Well, I -am- twenty today, or did you forget that?" She leaned forward, her black hair slipping over her shoulders. "They're having a big party for me."
"You, twenty? How the time flies. I brought you a gift."
She clapped her hands together. "Presents! What did you bring me~?"
"This." He pushed the package toward her. "Many years ago, when I was your age, I came to Daath for my birthday. I spent the day in prayer, and the next day I was sent out to Hod." He folded his hands together and rested his chin on them for a moment. "This city has never held fond memories for me."
She nodded, a bit confused but holding the package expectantly.
"I'm afraid it's nothing as extravagant as the gifts I usually bring you, Anise, but I expect you are old enough to appreciate it."
She nodded, tearing the plain brown paper off to reveal a wooden box nearly as long as she was tall. There were elaborately carved glyphs on the top, reading out the life score of a person she did not know, one who died in a fire when he was a young boy. Her fingers found the small catch and she popped it open, lifting the lid up to reveal a silver spear resting against a red lining. "This..."
"Was given to me on that day, when I turned twenty. It's an oracle knights spear, a gift from my adoptive parents." He nodded softly. "I wanted you to have it."
She nodded softly, running her hands over it and reading the boy's score that was again carved on the handle. It told of a young boy who would invent great things that would later be used to destroy nations. Here again, the boy died in a fire when he was twelve. "But...why?"
"I wanted you to know..." He took a moment to find the words, unused to showing something like this. "...that I care for you, Anise. I'm proud of you, and I will always be there to watch over you." The words seemed odd in his voice, but he knew they were genuine.
She blinked a few times, smiling softly to herself. "Thank you, Jade." She glanced up at him, her expression somewhat sad and deeply grateful. "Thank you."
"Not at all." He rose from his chair, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Happy birthday, Anise."