I dig my hole you build a wall
I dig my hole you build a wall
One day that wall is gonna fall
Bastion - Build That Wall
Another languid Sargasso day was passing. It was the dry season this time of year, and things were moving along slowly and surely as residents went about what little business they had to go about. The two occupants of Apartment 7-02 on Ferros Towers were watching the afternoon sun trace its way across the sky lazily, radiating a pleasant heat underscored by a breeze, nullifying the trace humidity in the air.
Between these two occupants was a bucket of ice with some cold beer bottles in it. The man of the house reached for a beer, pushed the bottlecap off with his thumb and took a swig as he watched the bay. He watched someone on the 22nd floor catch a zipline down to the Commercial Block - the end of his journey would be into a threadbare, springy mattress - the pain of which nullified by the thrill of the ride itself.
Beside him, the girl also took a beer bottle, and with some obvious thought popped the bottlecap off with her thumb, just as Luca had.
The way in which these two were whisked here was through a small deal with an agent of the IPG who agreed to remain quiet about it for Luca's sake - It occurred shortly after the Delsauria Incident, under the scorching the sun. For these languid weeks interlaced with hours of slaughter, Luca was grateful for the respite from the watching eyes of the universe at large. However, today something weighed on his mind.
"Did I ever tell you about your Mother?" Luca asked, wincing somewhat at the zipliner getting to the abrupt end of his journey with a thump.
"No, dad," Vitalia replied, walking the bottlecap carefully up and down her slender digits. In the sunlight, it winked at Luca, glittering with a few beads of beer-dew. "You never talk about her."
It was difficult to imagine, let alone accept that Vitalia's mother was someone so unlike her daughter. He paused to imagine if she had been around to influence her, then quashed the bitter thought with a draught of beer. "She was a woman unfettered by the grievances of larger people - a force of nature, if you will." He started, realising that this was his belated eulogy to her.
The words hurt as they came back out of his mouth from his heart. "She was deadly, chaotic, and ultimately fascinating. I didn't know what I'd stumbled upon when I opened that box the day I found her - well, all six inches of her at the time." He held out his finger and thumb to show her previous height before growing.
Vitalia loyally nodded along as she sank a little further into the couch, cradling the opened, but as-of-yet untouched alcoholic beverage against her stomach and examining the liquid from the mouth of the long-necked bottle. Luca had never seen her drink, come to think of it, but she'd always done this - or at least for the short period of time that he had known her. Eventually she would drink it, but probably take no pleasure from it.
Luca momentarily wondered if Nekovalkyrja could get drunk before continuing - with their heightened immune systems. They probably had to drink a few strong bottles before feeling anything, he reckoned. "At first, me and the rest of my team distrusted her - she was a Nekovalkyrja after all, and some of us took issue with me about it." He remembered Vincent and Uriel in particular airing their greivances over Naoko Aihara. "But, she kind of grew on us after a while. As time went on, she became less alien - but no less deadly."
"I think you grew on her," Vita mumbled with her chin on her collarbone, glancing up as another zipline enthusiast sped by their window into the distance. She had sank so low on the couch, now, that her ass was off of it a little. With little ceremony, she scrambled back up, then pulled her legs up and nestled herself in the spot between the arm and the back, still cradling the untouched beer.
"Maybe. I'm not sure what effect we had on her. When she woke up, her earliest memories were that of the Battle of Taiie." He scratched his head. "I think we just bought her up to speed, and she felt comfortable with it. Once that happened..." He took a breath. "She did indeed start to follow me, like a phantom."
Vitalia offered Luca her beer, wordlessly extending her arm with the bottle dangling from her hand like a dead thing. He took it and sighed. He'd already had a few, and he simply put it down by the foot of the couch. His daughter folded her hands up and clasp them between her legs, presumably for warmth, as she waited and listened. Pretty much the whole month, it had been a cycle of Luca talking, Luca drinking, and Luca going out to do 'business'. Vita had grown used to it remarkably quickly, and without a single complaint. She bought his beer, and a lot of his clothing, and some of his ammunition - though how exactly she accomplished that with a teenager's face was beyond comprehension.
Well, it was Sargasso, after all.
"No questions? No 'what was she like' or 'how did she die'?" Luca asked, raising an eyebrow at his daughter.
"I know how she died," Vita admitted, sort of like how she would have admitted to cheating on a test, or possibly sneaking out through a window on one of those zipwires. She said it as though she'd been keeping it from him, and now regretted it. "She let herself get killed. I don't know why."
The awareness and admittance of that fact of that was a signal that she was definitely beyond her years. "I'll never know why." His face creased as he could be heard sniffing for a moment. "All we can do is speculate, really. It won't change much, but we can find closure, right?"
Shuffle-shuffle, scoot. It really wasn't a large couch, and Luca had a daughter who apparently cared enough about him to lean on him. Luca leaned back and put his arm around the one reminder that had kept in him his vicious cycle. What if, he proposed, this is a new opportunity? What if Naoko's death was a warning to me?
Luca wasn't heeding the warning. He'd already killed so many, and done some truly terrible things for her daughter's sake. No matter how much he tried to delude himself - he felt as though he couldn't escape the cycle of bloodlust. Complacency and loneliness were keeping him locked into this loop. Who, though, would accept him again? Who else cared? The rest of the universe thought he was dead. Correction: He was dying slowly as he drowned in the blood of everyone he'd killed.
"Dad?" Vita asked, in the questioning tone that she would always use when she was about to say something that might be somewhat upsetting. The tip-toe tone. Luca eased his grip and looked at her, blinking somewhat, eyes reddened by emotion.
"Yes, Vita?"
"Don't cry."
I dig my hole you build a wall
One day that wall is gonna fall
Bastion - Build That Wall
Another languid Sargasso day was passing. It was the dry season this time of year, and things were moving along slowly and surely as residents went about what little business they had to go about. The two occupants of Apartment 7-02 on Ferros Towers were watching the afternoon sun trace its way across the sky lazily, radiating a pleasant heat underscored by a breeze, nullifying the trace humidity in the air.
Between these two occupants was a bucket of ice with some cold beer bottles in it. The man of the house reached for a beer, pushed the bottlecap off with his thumb and took a swig as he watched the bay. He watched someone on the 22nd floor catch a zipline down to the Commercial Block - the end of his journey would be into a threadbare, springy mattress - the pain of which nullified by the thrill of the ride itself.
Beside him, the girl also took a beer bottle, and with some obvious thought popped the bottlecap off with her thumb, just as Luca had.
The way in which these two were whisked here was through a small deal with an agent of the IPG who agreed to remain quiet about it for Luca's sake - It occurred shortly after the Delsauria Incident, under the scorching the sun. For these languid weeks interlaced with hours of slaughter, Luca was grateful for the respite from the watching eyes of the universe at large. However, today something weighed on his mind.
"Did I ever tell you about your Mother?" Luca asked, wincing somewhat at the zipliner getting to the abrupt end of his journey with a thump.
"No, dad," Vitalia replied, walking the bottlecap carefully up and down her slender digits. In the sunlight, it winked at Luca, glittering with a few beads of beer-dew. "You never talk about her."
It was difficult to imagine, let alone accept that Vitalia's mother was someone so unlike her daughter. He paused to imagine if she had been around to influence her, then quashed the bitter thought with a draught of beer. "She was a woman unfettered by the grievances of larger people - a force of nature, if you will." He started, realising that this was his belated eulogy to her.
The words hurt as they came back out of his mouth from his heart. "She was deadly, chaotic, and ultimately fascinating. I didn't know what I'd stumbled upon when I opened that box the day I found her - well, all six inches of her at the time." He held out his finger and thumb to show her previous height before growing.
Vitalia loyally nodded along as she sank a little further into the couch, cradling the opened, but as-of-yet untouched alcoholic beverage against her stomach and examining the liquid from the mouth of the long-necked bottle. Luca had never seen her drink, come to think of it, but she'd always done this - or at least for the short period of time that he had known her. Eventually she would drink it, but probably take no pleasure from it.
Luca momentarily wondered if Nekovalkyrja could get drunk before continuing - with their heightened immune systems. They probably had to drink a few strong bottles before feeling anything, he reckoned. "At first, me and the rest of my team distrusted her - she was a Nekovalkyrja after all, and some of us took issue with me about it." He remembered Vincent and Uriel in particular airing their greivances over Naoko Aihara. "But, she kind of grew on us after a while. As time went on, she became less alien - but no less deadly."
"I think you grew on her," Vita mumbled with her chin on her collarbone, glancing up as another zipline enthusiast sped by their window into the distance. She had sank so low on the couch, now, that her ass was off of it a little. With little ceremony, she scrambled back up, then pulled her legs up and nestled herself in the spot between the arm and the back, still cradling the untouched beer.
"Maybe. I'm not sure what effect we had on her. When she woke up, her earliest memories were that of the Battle of Taiie." He scratched his head. "I think we just bought her up to speed, and she felt comfortable with it. Once that happened..." He took a breath. "She did indeed start to follow me, like a phantom."
Vitalia offered Luca her beer, wordlessly extending her arm with the bottle dangling from her hand like a dead thing. He took it and sighed. He'd already had a few, and he simply put it down by the foot of the couch. His daughter folded her hands up and clasp them between her legs, presumably for warmth, as she waited and listened. Pretty much the whole month, it had been a cycle of Luca talking, Luca drinking, and Luca going out to do 'business'. Vita had grown used to it remarkably quickly, and without a single complaint. She bought his beer, and a lot of his clothing, and some of his ammunition - though how exactly she accomplished that with a teenager's face was beyond comprehension.
Well, it was Sargasso, after all.
"No questions? No 'what was she like' or 'how did she die'?" Luca asked, raising an eyebrow at his daughter.
"I know how she died," Vita admitted, sort of like how she would have admitted to cheating on a test, or possibly sneaking out through a window on one of those zipwires. She said it as though she'd been keeping it from him, and now regretted it. "She let herself get killed. I don't know why."
The awareness and admittance of that fact of that was a signal that she was definitely beyond her years. "I'll never know why." His face creased as he could be heard sniffing for a moment. "All we can do is speculate, really. It won't change much, but we can find closure, right?"
Shuffle-shuffle, scoot. It really wasn't a large couch, and Luca had a daughter who apparently cared enough about him to lean on him. Luca leaned back and put his arm around the one reminder that had kept in him his vicious cycle. What if, he proposed, this is a new opportunity? What if Naoko's death was a warning to me?
Luca wasn't heeding the warning. He'd already killed so many, and done some truly terrible things for her daughter's sake. No matter how much he tried to delude himself - he felt as though he couldn't escape the cycle of bloodlust. Complacency and loneliness were keeping him locked into this loop. Who, though, would accept him again? Who else cared? The rest of the universe thought he was dead. Correction: He was dying slowly as he drowned in the blood of everyone he'd killed.
"Dad?" Vita asked, in the questioning tone that she would always use when she was about to say something that might be somewhat upsetting. The tip-toe tone. Luca eased his grip and looked at her, blinking somewhat, eyes reddened by emotion.
"Yes, Vita?"
"Don't cry."
