Variation #3 - The Four Seasons
Title: Bare
Fandom: Final Fantasy XII
Characters: Penelo, Reks
Word Count: 318
Rating: PG
Summary: It's summer, it's Rabanastre, and it's the middle of a desert. There's only one good thing about it, and that's Reks' bare chest.
Table link: http://airelement.livejournal.com/58078.html
There are times when Penelo is glad that Rabanastre is in the middle of a desert, like in the middle of winter. And there are times she could cheerfully kill whoever first decided that the middle of said desert would be a good place to build a city, like now.
From mid-spring to late autumn, Rabanastre is a sweltering oven, roasting its inhabitants slowly and mercilessly. It’s mid-July now; Penelo, along with most of the poorer women who can’t afford delicate dresses or expensive fans, has given up on decency and foregone wearing a shirt.
It’s the same all across the city. Penelo hasn’t seen a man - except for soldiers - wearing a shirt for weeks, and the sight of women wearing only bras and trousers that have been ripped off above the knee has become so common that it’s really become the norm.
Just because it’s become usual to see half-naked people wandering the streets doesn’t mean she can’t appreciate the sight of Reks’ chest. He’s been practicing using his sword on the Dire Rats down in the Garamsythe Waterway - he tried to keep it a secret, but Penelo and Vaan followed him one day and watched in awe - because he wants to join the army, and the hours of exercise have toned and sculpted Penelo’s favourite muscles.
She doubts that Reks sees her the way she sees him, though. She’s his little brother’s friend, the girl that became his sister when her parents took he and Vaan in. Penelo wishes she could shake off this hero-worship crush, but then she sees him walking down the street - he doesn’t strut, unlike Vaan, which is mainly why she likes him; he isn’t ruled by his ego, if he even has one - and her eyes fixate on his bare chest and she has to check her chin to make sure she isn’t drooling. She can’t wait for summer to end.
Fandom: Final Fantasy XII
Characters: Penelo, Reks
Word Count: 318
Rating: PG
Summary: It's summer, it's Rabanastre, and it's the middle of a desert. There's only one good thing about it, and that's Reks' bare chest.
Table link: http://airelement.livejournal.com/58078.html
There are times when Penelo is glad that Rabanastre is in the middle of a desert, like in the middle of winter. And there are times she could cheerfully kill whoever first decided that the middle of said desert would be a good place to build a city, like now.
From mid-spring to late autumn, Rabanastre is a sweltering oven, roasting its inhabitants slowly and mercilessly. It’s mid-July now; Penelo, along with most of the poorer women who can’t afford delicate dresses or expensive fans, has given up on decency and foregone wearing a shirt.
It’s the same all across the city. Penelo hasn’t seen a man - except for soldiers - wearing a shirt for weeks, and the sight of women wearing only bras and trousers that have been ripped off above the knee has become so common that it’s really become the norm.
Just because it’s become usual to see half-naked people wandering the streets doesn’t mean she can’t appreciate the sight of Reks’ chest. He’s been practicing using his sword on the Dire Rats down in the Garamsythe Waterway - he tried to keep it a secret, but Penelo and Vaan followed him one day and watched in awe - because he wants to join the army, and the hours of exercise have toned and sculpted Penelo’s favourite muscles.
She doubts that Reks sees her the way she sees him, though. She’s his little brother’s friend, the girl that became his sister when her parents took he and Vaan in. Penelo wishes she could shake off this hero-worship crush, but then she sees him walking down the street - he doesn’t strut, unlike Vaan, which is mainly why she likes him; he isn’t ruled by his ego, if he even has one - and her eyes fixate on his bare chest and she has to check her chin to make sure she isn’t drooling. She can’t wait for summer to end.