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rarsneezesbeen thinking about this prose i've had sitting around for awhile about Anna Irving's dads meeting but i don't really have anywhere to post it on ao3 so i'm just posting it to the dreamwidth void lmao
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There’s shouting, up ahead. And, well, if Shin’s job is to gather information, track relationships and communities and rumors, then finding out who hates each other tends to be the fastest place to start. Even if not, he still has to learn everything about Luin, anyway. That’s his job. So he adjusts course slightly to get closer to the shouting, tugging silently on Luca’s arm, briefly, just long enough to tell her that he wants to investigate without having to say that in words at all.
There’s a commotion outside of one of the houses. Three men in armor—Desians, Shin knows, because he’s only been here a few weeks but that’s plenty of time to learn that the only people with real armor and real uniforms on Sylvarant are the Desians—are crowded in front of a house, the door to which is blocked by a tank of a man, tall and broad-shouldered, brown skin with his black hair cut short and sticking up a little bit at an angle either from total lack of care or the kind of care that involves standing in front of the mirror for at least ten minutes.
“Out!” the man shouts, again.
“Come on,” one of the Desians sneers, unbothered. “This is how you’re going to treat your supreme rulers—”
“Shut the fuck up and get the fuck out of my house,” the man continues, voice raised above the still-talking Desian. This man looks like he’s completely out of fucks to give. “Get the fuck out of my town while you’re at it! You ain’t fucking welcome here!”
Behind him, a girl leans on the railing of the front porch, giggling into her hands. Her hair is brown and wild, her skin the same color as her father’s (Shin assumes, anyway, that they are father and daughter), and she looks completely unafraid, even though Shin knows if the Desians really wanted it would only take a thought to burn that house to the ground.
“Should we do something, Papa?” Luca asks, quietly.
“Wait,” Shin tells her. He’s not supposed to get into fights. He’s supposed to observe.
(To say he’s good at doing as told would be a lie, seeing he’s only here in Sylvarant because last time he was placed somewhere only to observe, he broke a little half-elf girl out of Sybak’s basement.)
But… looks like this guy has it handled.
“Now get out of my sight before I rip your dicks off and shove them down your throats!” the man shouts, and the Desians sneer insults one last time and promise that they won’t get away with this, etcetera. Shin’s eyes and ears aren’t on them, though. They’re on the way the man turns around to his daughter, who is laughing loud and proud like she doesn’t even know what fear is, the way her father ruffles her hair and says she’s got nothing to worry about, and—
“Papa?” Luca asks, quietly.
“Hmm?” Shin replies, distinctly aware, all of a sudden, how long he’s been staring.
“You good?”
“I’m… fine,” Shin says, “I’m fine,” he says, and absolutely does not say he’s pretty sure he just fell in love.
----
There’s shouting, up ahead. And, well, if Shin’s job is to gather information, track relationships and communities and rumors, then finding out who hates each other tends to be the fastest place to start. Even if not, he still has to learn everything about Luin, anyway. That’s his job. So he adjusts course slightly to get closer to the shouting, tugging silently on Luca’s arm, briefly, just long enough to tell her that he wants to investigate without having to say that in words at all.
There’s a commotion outside of one of the houses. Three men in armor—Desians, Shin knows, because he’s only been here a few weeks but that’s plenty of time to learn that the only people with real armor and real uniforms on Sylvarant are the Desians—are crowded in front of a house, the door to which is blocked by a tank of a man, tall and broad-shouldered, brown skin with his black hair cut short and sticking up a little bit at an angle either from total lack of care or the kind of care that involves standing in front of the mirror for at least ten minutes.
“Out!” the man shouts, again.
“Come on,” one of the Desians sneers, unbothered. “This is how you’re going to treat your supreme rulers—”
“Shut the fuck up and get the fuck out of my house,” the man continues, voice raised above the still-talking Desian. This man looks like he’s completely out of fucks to give. “Get the fuck out of my town while you’re at it! You ain’t fucking welcome here!”
Behind him, a girl leans on the railing of the front porch, giggling into her hands. Her hair is brown and wild, her skin the same color as her father’s (Shin assumes, anyway, that they are father and daughter), and she looks completely unafraid, even though Shin knows if the Desians really wanted it would only take a thought to burn that house to the ground.
“Should we do something, Papa?” Luca asks, quietly.
“Wait,” Shin tells her. He’s not supposed to get into fights. He’s supposed to observe.
(To say he’s good at doing as told would be a lie, seeing he’s only here in Sylvarant because last time he was placed somewhere only to observe, he broke a little half-elf girl out of Sybak’s basement.)
But… looks like this guy has it handled.
“Now get out of my sight before I rip your dicks off and shove them down your throats!” the man shouts, and the Desians sneer insults one last time and promise that they won’t get away with this, etcetera. Shin’s eyes and ears aren’t on them, though. They’re on the way the man turns around to his daughter, who is laughing loud and proud like she doesn’t even know what fear is, the way her father ruffles her hair and says she’s got nothing to worry about, and—
“Papa?” Luca asks, quietly.
“Hmm?” Shin replies, distinctly aware, all of a sudden, how long he’s been staring.
“You good?”
“I’m… fine,” Shin says, “I’m fine,” he says, and absolutely does not say he’s pretty sure he just fell in love.
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