White - [SSR] Forever With You
Jan. 4th, 2022 11:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yumemory
Raws: noscomunias, thank you!
Card Story: The Meaning of The Feast (White, Shylock, Akira)
Card Episode: The Twins’ Mansion (White, Akira)
Contains a mention of past child kidnapping that happened to a minor character.
The Meaning of The Feast: Chapter 1
[Location: Town of Ice, day]
Akira: (Is that… White and Shylock? What are they doing?)
Akira: Hello White, Shylock. Did you go somewhere?
Shylock: Why, hello, Master Sage. Lord White and I have been looking for ice to use in drinks.
White: Shylock has been a lot of help to us, so in return, I have been showing him a few locales within the Forest of Ice where one can acquire fresh ice cubes.
Akira: I see. That reminds me of the time Shylock went to look for ice cubes there before.
Shylock: Fufu, it was rather adorable for you to think that I was playing hide-and-seek.
Akira: Ahaha, that was a little embarrassing….
Shylock: Most places in the Northern Country are untouched by humans, leaving the ice in pure, high-quality condition. For that reason, I thought of bringing some of them back to my bar.
Shylock: Therefore I took Lord White up on his offer to show me around.
White: Shylock has been a great help to the success of the Twilight Banquet to Our Lost. You may consider this a token of gratitude for taking care of Snow when he became intoxicated.
Shylock: Please, it is no trouble at all. I couldn’t be any happier to know that my bar became a place that offers relief.
Shylock: When we return to the manor, I shall serve a special cocktail for both you and Lord Snow. Don’t worry, it will be free of charge.
Shylock: And of course, there shall be a drink waiting for the Master Sage as well. I’ll serve a non-alcoholic cocktail for you, and one with little strength for Lord White.
White: Hohoho, what a generous bar master you are.
Akira: That’s very nice of you, Shylock. I’m pretty curious about what flavor Northern ice cubes would add to a drink….
Shylock: Fufu, you’re always welcome to come by my bar whenever your schedule allows.
Akira: I will. Thank you very much. ...Hm?
White: Is something the matter?
Akira: There’s a kid under the mercia tree…. He doesn't seem to be very well, is he sick…?
Shylock: It does seem to me that he looks rather pale.
White: Indeed, let us go and ask.
Akira: Hello there, are you okay?
Boy: ….
The boy shook his head. He raised his face and as soon as he saw White and stood up vigorously.
Boy: Lord White….
White: You… look rather pale. Are you hurt anywhere?
Boy: ….
Boy: The Twilight Banquet to Our Lost was a failure this year….
White: …!
Nearly in tears, the boy ran away, leaving us with only those words.
Akira: Ah, he ran…..
White: ….
The Meaning of The Feast: Chapter 2
[Location: Town of Ice, day]
Shylock: The boy told us that this year’s festival was a failure….
White: Impossible. The festival was the most successful this year—more than it had ever been.
Akira: I think so, too….
White: The Twilight Banquet to Our Lost, as the name suggests, is an annual ritual where one reminisces, and pays respect to the dead with a warm, grand feast.
White: With the hope that even when their body is gone, we will stay together forever in memory.
White: But the dead will stay dead. The festival will not change the fact that our loved ones are no longer with us.
Shylock, Akira: ….
White: Perhaps the boy has something on his mind.
White: I shall go and ask him. I apologize, you two may go and enjoy the town while we are still here.
Akira: ….
Akira: (I’m worried about the boy, and about White….)
Because while sometimes White would laugh off the fact that he’s already dead, he’d sometimes be terribly torn up about the same thing.
Akira: (I’m sure White thought of something regarding that boy, but…)
Akira: …Can I go with you, White? Though I’m not sure there’s anything I can do….
White: Sage….
Shylock: Take me with you as well. As a Western wizard, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth to know that there was someone who didn’t enjoy the festival to its fullest.
[Location: Town of Ice, lake]
Following the path the boy took, we found him gazing at the afterglow lilies floating upon the lake’s surface. White gently sat down beside him.
Boy: …! Lord White….
White: Was there anything about this year’s feast that you did not like?
Boy: ...I apologize for my rudeness earlier.
White: It matters not. In my eyes, you appear to be more hurt than I do.
Boy: ….
White: Is something weighing on your mind? I am here to listen, if you are willing to tell me.
Boy: ...Actually, I was once kidnapped by slave dealers. But I found a way out and escaped, and that’s how I got to this town.
Boy: Those people were monsters. They treated us like objects. I saw so many other children dying.
White: I see…. You have endured such incredible hardship.
Boy: ...I had a younger brother. We were running away together, but they almost got us….
Boy: He sacrificed himself so I could slip away. A good older brother should be the one protecting his younger brother, and yet I….
White: So your brother is….
Boy: Probably no longer alive…. I’ve thought about saving him, but I’d get so scared of being captured again that I couldn’t make myself go….
Boy: That’s why I wanted to apologize to my brother at the Twilight Banquet to Our Lost.
Boy: But he didn’t come to me. He must’ve been angry, and hated me for running away on my own….
Akira: ….
The boy might be misunderstanding something. The feast was said to welcome the dead, but that doesn’t mean that they’ll appear in a way we can see.
Akira: (The boy hasn’t understood the meaning of the feast….)
The Meaning of The Feast: Chapter 3
[Location: Town of Ice, lake]
White: The dead will not come back, even if we hold the Twilight Banquet to Our Lost.
Boy: Huh…!? No way….
White: The festival was only meant to soothe the wounds in the heart of the ones left behind.
White: Just like this.
Boy: !
White wrapped his arm around the small boy, kindness permeating through the warmth of his embrace.
White: Sage.
On White’s prompting, I joined him in embracing the boy.
White: You have gone through life with guilt on your shoulders this entire time. You have done well.
White: You’ve lived every second of the life your brother gave you with strength. That is truly commendable.
White gently brushed the boy’s head, and I patted the boy’s back as he silently cried.
As we did so, a faint light enveloped the boy. Thinking it was strange, I met Shylock’s eyes. He put his finger on his lips and smiled.
Boy: Um, thank you very much…. I always thought that I could meet my brother at the feast, so I was shocked when I couldn’t.
Boy: Now I know what the festival is about, and thanks to everyone here, I regained the strength to keep going.
Boy: I’ll definitely be there for the festival next year. I want to soothe the pain of those who are mourning, too.
White: Very well, I will be waiting.
The boy thanked us once again before heading back to the town, his expression much brighter than when we first found him.
Akira: I’m glad that he cheered up. It’s thanks to you, White.
White: Hohoho, all I did was have a little chat with him. It is thanks to you, Master Sage, and to Shylock.
White: Sage, you gave the boy warmth. And Shylock, you gave him a blessing with magic, did you not?
Akira: (...So the light from before was…)
Shylock: Fufu, it was a small gift from me.
Shylock: That aside, the reason why his brother didn’t come to see him could possibly be much simpler. Don’t you think so, Lord White?
Akira: Huh? What do you mean?
Shylock: That hIs brother could very much still be alive.
Akira: Ah….
Shylock: Perhaps that might have saved him from the guilt, if only you told him so.
White: Hohoho, you may be right. However….
White: I could not simply give him false hope by telling him something that we cannot prove. Such a thing might backfire and push that boy into a much deeper despair.
Shylock: ...How ruthless of you, Lord White. As expected from the eldest of Northern wizards, I suppose.
White: Shylock, my darling! I’m the adorable, kind Northern wizard, remember? Oh, you!
Shylock: Oh? Then I beg your pardon for my rudeness.
Akira: (...Shylock is smiling, but White is nudging him relentlessly with his elbow….)
White: The dead will never come back to life. Along with that truth, I will stay a ghost forevermore, and there is nothing that can be done to change that.
White: For that boy, the path to acceptance may not be steady, but certainly, there is something he will find at the end of the road.
White: Now, shall we head back to the town?
Akira: Yes!
Card Episode: The Twins' Mansion
[Location: Dining hall, day]
Akira: Oh, White. Is it okay if I ask you something?
White: What is it, Sage?
Akira: I heard the Western wizards’ impression of your mansion, and they said it was full of sparkling, interesting things….
Akira: But in contrast, all of the Northern wizards say that your mansion is the most dangerous place in the town, so I was unsure….
Akira: What does your mansion actually look like?
White: Well, I suppose it can look like a treasure trove to some….
White: We have plenty of things shoved in there, after all.
Akira: Like what, specifically?
White: A ring that will grant you a lifelong curse upon wearing it…
White: …and a pair of shoes that will freeze you in place once worn, to name a few.
Akira: So dangerous things are just laying around like that, then….
White: Hohoho, if you ever want to see it with your own eyes, you are always welcome to our mansion.
White: We can invite you to the special “Snow and White’s Mansion Tour”! Oh, don’t you think it sounds fun?
Akira: R-Right, I’ll think it over….
Akira: (I don’t think I’d survive even if I had nine whole lives…)
Special Home Screen Line
White: Let me show you the cool side of the Northern wizards. Effortlessly skating over the ice, moving into a gorgeous somersault…. They can do thirty—no, forty spins! Hohoho, amazing, right? ...Of course, I was talking about Snow!
TL: yumemory | Proofread: Alle
