[F2-PP] Set in Stone (Takao)

[LKZ 0]

“Hope?” repeated the girl. LKZ paused for a moment before ambling down the cobbled steps. Her smile, a not-so unfamiliar sight for those who’d known her, was a gracious one as she came to a rolling halt before the meager woman who’d addressed her from the crowd. Her umber eyes gazing curiously into those of the woman, LKZ took the lady’s hands gingerly into her own.

“Please, don’t take this the wrong way,” said LKZ. Noticing that they were cold, she gave the woman’s hands a gentle squeeze. The moment itself was a short one, no longer than a handful of seconds at most. But in that brief span, the woman had nodded and returned the gesture in kind. Feeling satisfied, LKZ paced backward a step-and-a-half, allowing her hands to slip free once more.

She clasped them together, so that they hung loosely in front of her waist. LKZ swept the square with her eyes, looking fondly at each of the men and women that had gathered here in Urbus to hear her speak. “To be honest, it’s not something I’ve got the patience for,” she continued. From the subtle tilts and turns of their heads, it was obvious to her that this audience was curious as to where she was going with this. That in itself was not so hard to understand.

LKZ shook her head softly. “Hope… is a fragile thing. Fickle, too.” A cool breeze rolled down the street and rustled her hair, but it roused no reaction from her. “I remember the stories my mom and dad used to read to me every night. Stories with princes and princesses, woodsmen and wolves, knights and dragons, fairies and magic- they were all so good. And for the longest time, I’d find myself drifting off with a big old grin on my face.” She paused, her eyes twinkling clearly.

“Of course, that was before my sister convinced me that spiders were crawling into my mouth while I slept. You can imagine how long I was sleeping under the covers after that.” She scratched lightly at her cheek, laughing. “Anyway,” she continued. “I loved those stories. I loved them because, as a little girl stuck in a hospital bed, they always left me feeling just a tiny bit hopeful.”

She laughed again, more quietly this time. More to herself. “It probably sounds silly, but in the back of my mind, I think I was always waiting for my turn. Deep down, maybe I’d really thought that a prince or a dashing knight might show up at my doorstep and whisk me off to somewhere far away. Or maybe my fairy godmother would show up with three wishes in hand, maybe a little late, but no less appreciated. So, no matter what anyone said, I knew in my heart that I was always just another day away from getting better.” LKZ held her hand to her chest.

Clouds shifted high above, so that the light of the sun now fell upon the girl more fully. The smile had never abandoned the girl’s lips, though it had slightened somewhat. What remained was softer, and more pensive. “At some point, I guess I sort of put two-and-two together. Even if a charming prince were to come vaulting through my window, or if a knight came bursting through my door, where was I supposed to go from there? Even the wisest doctors I'd spoken to could never really say.”

“It was hard. It really was- no doubt about it,” said LKZ. Her audience was all but silent around her, and she was grateful for their respect. “When the endgame is death, what’s a girl supposed to hope for?” She blinked, just a bit dazzled by the sunlight. “It took me a while to answer that one, but the answer itself turned out to be simple—nothing.” She unfurled her hand and held her open palm to the crowd. “The day you learn to let go—I think that's when you truly learn to live for the moment. No more waiting. No more anxiety, no more desperation. No more princes, princesses, dragons or knights.”

Steadily, LKZ turned her attention back to the woman from before. A small bird zoomed right over the crowd, restoring the girl’s eyes to their former liveliness. In wide, sweeping arcs, LKZ motioned to the sprawling world around them. “Just living—that’s all that’s left.”

The girl bowed slightly, her eyes darting to the edges of her vision for a glimpse at the time. Those who’d gathered offered a generous round of applause. One might’ve been able to deem it a standing ovation if it weren’t for the minor detail that they’d been upright the whole time. But she accepted it just as happily.

Edited February 17, 2017 by LKZ

[Takao 0]

"Are you serious?" His words escaped like a hiss filled to the brim with annoyance whilst his eyes bounced from left and right, carefully scanning his surroundings. "I look away for one second..." His frustrated grumblings continued and he resumed his unhurried pace down the cobbled road. In recent days, moments to himself spent in silence were a rare commodity, but he was beginning to resonate with those father-types that would somehow lose their child during a lapse of attention.

And just like one of those attention-lapsing father types, Takao had misplaced his charge. Or perhaps his charge had misplaced Takao, although given the girl's track record of getting lost and finding trouble, he was much more inclined to the former. She was a magnet for conflict.

His eyes were drawn to a crowd of people standing slightly off to the side of the cobblestone path. Although his advanced searching skills aided in the enhancement of his natural senses, namely hearing, what he was able to pick up on was broken and mostly incomprehensible. That natural curiousity of his brought him a little closer, which in turn revealed Aria's form to him. She was standing on the outer edge of the crowd, a clear and defined frown pulling her cheeks down, and her eyes locked on the girl that was speaking.

“There you are.” He said, words spoken amidst a breath of relief. He had put the background noise on hold for a minute, instead focusing his attention on Aria who curtly shushed him and pointed to the speaking girl.

With a raised eyebrow and a borderline insulted face, leaning more toward comical than serious, he turned his head to watch and listen. She spoke at length of Knights, Dragons, and fairy tales, relating them all back to hope and her apparent disinterest in it. His brows furrowed; hope was a sensitive topic for him, namely a potential lack of it. He’d been there himself after all, once upon a time.

Another glance cast down at Aria revealed that the topic seemed to bother her, although that came as no surprise to Takao. She had her own demons plaguing her psyche, and he reasoned that the only reason she moved forward was the fault of whatever remnants of hope she clung onto.

"You're not living without hope, though." said Takao, speaking up above the moderate roar of applause. A few intrigued heads had even turned his way and graced him with their attention. His nose twitched slightly; he didn’t like being the center of attention. But it were a topic he felt inclined to weigh in on, and thus he did.

"Ain't y'ever heard that Pearl Buck quote? Goes some'n like... "Eating bread without hope is still slowly starving to death." Y'ain't livin' without hope, you're just... not dead." His arms folded. “...and the whole endgame is death bit. Don’t y’know it’s about the journey, not the destination?”