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Post by Seth Burgoyne on Dec 25, 2008 4:09:57 GMT -8
Winter. A time of beauty and precision. A time of order and stillness. A time of death. Kneeling by one of the empty flower pots, Seth carefully added natural fertiliser and nutrients to the soil for the hibernating rose that slept there until the warmth of spring.
Finishing, he stood up, and moved over to a large flower bed, his true spirit self saddened by the skeletons around him, longing for the snow to end. Sprinkling more nutrients over the bed, he stepped and heard a crunch under his foot. The last rose of last season. Dead and decaying.
Reaching down too it, he picked up the crushed petals and held it in his hand. A single tear ran down his face and landed on the brown mess in his hands. Scattering it on the flower bed, he moved on, his footprints behind him showing a wandering path between garden beds and pots.
God he hated the winter. He should be used to it by now. He had seen well over a thousand of them. But every year was the same. Three months of death and decay. Three months of weakness and despair. Three months of longing. Three months locked in the grip of his brother and sister - Fire and Water.
Bending down to the next bed he continued his winter ritual of spreading food for the roses, waiting for the snow to melt and the world to be reborn as it was every year. For a split second, his guise slipped. He wanted to be himself so badly. To run free in the forests and just play amongst the trees and flowers.
Pulling his guise back was never easy, but he did it. Then he simply fell down onto his knees and wept. What else could he do when faced with the carnage of time?
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Ritoru Akki
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Post by Ritoru Akki on Jan 4, 2009 18:28:10 GMT -8
Akki loved the snow. Adored it. The only thing about winter that she loved even more than the snow was being able to wear scarves like the one she wore today. Chaotic hues of florescent yellow, dayglow green and ohmygodithurts pink ran in bold diagonal stripes to either end, where tassels of the same colors feathered down over her white pea coat.
She didn't much mind that there was snow covering the grounds, or that she wasn't supposed to be out exploring by herself. She really didn't mind that the sign on the gate said the rose garden was closed until May. She was a little bummed that she'd torn her new jeans climbing over said gate, but at least she'd listened to Tora and put thermals on underneath her clothes before she went out to 'play in the snow.'
No, it took quite a bit more than sneaking off by herself, trespassing on city property and tearing a hole in a pair of designer jeans to put a damper on Akki's spirit. She stopped in the middle of the path, threw her arms out wide, and spun several circles with her head thrown back, singing into the falling snow.
"Yuki ya, kon kon Arare ya, kon kon Futte wa futte wa Zoon zoon tsumoru Yama mo nohara Mo wata boshi kaburi Kareki nokorazu Hana ga saku.1"
Toppling over mid-twirl, she just lay on her back, bangs fallen over her eyes, and stretched out her arms and legs. She made lazy snow angels for a while, then tried to lay very still and very quiet to see if she could hear the snow falling. Her ears prickling with effort, she was just starting to think she could pick up the inaudible sound of fresh snowflakes landing on their fallen kin when she heard another sound entirely.
Sitting up, she brushed the snow out of her eyes and cocked her head to one side, listening intently. Someone was crying.
Getting up slowly, and shaking off a thin shroud of snow in the process, Akki walked as quietly as she could towards the sound. And there, further down the path and on the other side of a snowed-in fountain, she saw a man on his knees, weeping as though there was no happiness left in the world.
Tora had taught her much about strangers, especially about strange men in America, but good sense tended to go in one ear and out the other with Akki.
"Uekiya-san," she started gently, only to remember where she was. "Sorry, Mr. Gardener, but why are you crying?"
She was already nearing him as she spoke, walking a half circle around him to kneel on the ground a few feet away, studying him curiously.
1A children's song
"Snow is falling, kon kon Hail is falling, kon kon Falling, falling Flies up high with hail and snow. Snow white cotton caps All the hills and fields are wearing, On the bare old trees the little Snow flowers are in bloom."
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Post by Seth Burgoyne on Jan 5, 2009 2:21:09 GMT -8
He was having a very traditional seasonal depression, until something new and very unexpected happened. He heard singing. A teenage girl. And in Japanese. He had been around long enough to know the basics of most languages, but it was too complicated for him. Which was ironic, because the the sing-song like tune suggested a kids song. And it was beyond him. But it was far from ironic enough to stop his tears freezing on the ground.
The singing stopped very quickly though, and Inard quickly turned his mind away from it and back to his annual time of mourning, until the young foreign voice sounded again, closer this time. She had sneaked up on him, and tried to ask him something in Japanese. Then tried it again in English.
"Sorry, Mr. Gardener, but why are you crying?"
He looked up to locate her, and she wasn't where her voice sounded from. Looking around, the tear tracks on his face glinting in the winter sun, he saw her kneeling on his right, a few feet away, with a curious look on her face. She looked the epitome of innocence and naivety. But Inard was old enough to know that most often sweetness and cuteness could often hide a cruel and destructive force.
But he was too distraught to even form a coherent thought at that very moment, let alone question a strangers motives. So all he did in response was get louder - something about the naiveness on her face just reminded him of spring. Not to mention the colour on her scarf. Like flowers. But he did manage to choke out a half sentence. What he said was "For all the death that surrounds us." But what the world - even his own ears, heard was "For all the...surrounds..."
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Ritoru Akki
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Demon
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Post by Ritoru Akki on Jan 5, 2009 11:25:21 GMT -8
There was something in the man's face that she had seen a few times in her life in the eyes of others. A sort of broken despair that gave one a sense of timelessness, a pain too deep for words. Akki had never really known pain of such magnitude, but it was there for anyone to recognize if they'd only look.
When he spoke, his voice reflected that bottomless grief, and so it probably came as a surprise when she laughed, the bright tones of it entirely incongruous with the trail of tears on his face and the pain etched deeply there.
"Mr. Gardener, your english is bad as mine."
Smiling at him, she stood up, and dusting the snow from her knees, she extended her hand down to him in a simple gesture. "What surrounds?"
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Post by Seth Burgoyne on Jan 5, 2009 21:29:48 GMT -8
Mr. Gardener, your English is as bad as mine. the girl said laughing.
Inard had no idea how to react to this. Laughter was not the customary way that humans reacted to depression. Yes, he had heard of comic relief, but that was more entertain and make people laugh to make something better. This situation was a little foreign. And confusing. So, when the girl stood up and offered him his hand, he accepted it and stood up next to her.
"What surrounds?"
Well, it did sound like he said that, so he understood what she meant by saying that. He tried a smile, which didn't really work. It just accentuated his tears more.
"I meant to say for all the death that surrounds us."
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Ritoru Akki
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Demon
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Post by Ritoru Akki on Jan 6, 2009 0:37:33 GMT -8
The man let her help him up, and she in turn helped to dust the snow off him. Crinkling her nose at his attempted smile, she put her hands on her hips and tilted her head at him, mismatched wispy lengths of hair falling in her face.
"Mr. Gardener," she began in her thick accent, "why you think it all dead?" Reaching over to one of the twiggy brown rose bushes, she poked a stem whose blossom had long since died and fallen to rot.
"Hai," she said solemnly, nodding as though prodding the obviously dead skeleton of a once beautiful bush had showed her something only she could see. "Not dead, Mr. Gardener-san," she announced redundantly, "just a-sleep."
Smiling at him, she breathed in a happy sigh and stuffed her hands in the pockets of her pea coat. "The hana, ah, the... the flowers?... the hana work very hard all year to grow. Now they sleep. Next year, they be better than last."
Flopping down on the path again, she laid down on her back and folded her arms behind her head, squinting her eyes so the snowflakes couldn't get past the lashes. "It is always so, Uekiya-san.
Hana: Flowers Uekiya: Gardener
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Post by Seth Burgoyne on Jan 7, 2009 1:50:14 GMT -8
Brushing the snow off him with a little help from the girl, he tried to wipe away the tear tracks that ran down his face. But they really only smudged. As the girl tilted her head, looked at him then at the plants, she continued to speak. he only really half listened. He knew all about the plants and how they hibernated. he knew more than she did for certain. How many times had she been surrounded by breathing, living life forms, and then suddenly, every year, for three months they all died, and she was alone. Probably none. On the other hand, he had. At least a thousand times.
Maybe that's why he got a little harsh with her, or maybe it was his grief lashing out at anything innocent in the world. Or maybe it was just him. But no matter what caused it, he lashed out verbally at the girl.
"Don't presume to tell me about the natural world, little one!" he said imperiously, looking down at the girl as she lay in the snow.
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Ritoru Akki
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Demon
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Post by Ritoru Akki on Jan 7, 2009 3:50:37 GMT -8
The man grew awfully indignant with her, and perhaps any other girl raised in a society where women were expected to be docile from an early age would have quailed at his tone.
Akki, however, merely opened one eye, keeping the other squinted against the snow, and arched a hand over her forehead so she could peer up at him, grinning like an imp.
"Oh, no, Mr. Gardener. You know much better. Will you and natural world cancel winter next year, then?"
Letting her arm flop back down at an angle, she promptly made yet another snow angel, beaming a smile up at the snowy sky. "Pity. Water likes chance to dress up as snow."
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Post by Seth Burgoyne on Jan 8, 2009 1:21:38 GMT -8
When the girl said the comment to him about him canceling winter next year, he realised what he had said - and more importantly how he had said it. His harshness and superiority just melted away like ice left in the sunlight on a summers day. All he did was stare now as the girl looked up and said something about the water liking to dress up as ice.
He was such an idiot. He almost let his total disguise slip through his fingers in front of an innocent little girl. He would have to get a grip on himself - and fast.
"I'm sorry." he said gently "I didn't mean it. I'm just a little exhausted right now, and I get snappy when I'm depressed and tired." He continued to stand up next to her, putting his hands in his pocket and sighing.
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Ritoru Akki
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Demon
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Post by Ritoru Akki on Jan 8, 2009 3:47:24 GMT -8
She'd had a suspicion the man might change his demeanor after that. The men Tora sometimes hired to watch over her when he couldn't be there hated the way she did that. She couldn't help it, though, she hardly ever gave thought to what she said, making the adage from the mouth of babes all the more appropriate for her.
"That okay, Mr. Gardener," she said in a voice as bright as her scarf, and finishing her snow angel, she turned her head just slightly so she could look up at him. From this angle, he looked like a pillar or statue bridging the gap between whitewashed earth and the monotonous gray sky that was only a shade or two darker. Smiling, she lifted her hands up towards him, entirely trusting.
"Help me up? So I do not break angel."
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Post by Seth Burgoyne on Jan 10, 2009 3:47:21 GMT -8
He reached down to the girl, and helped her up, trying not to break the angel, even though the smudged the lower edge a bit. He smiled, a little more comfortably than before. Her laughter was getting a tad infectious. He let go of her when she was upright, and put his hands in his pockets, finally managing to start getting a grip on his emotions.
He suddenly realised that he had no idea who she was, and she had no idea who he was. Well, that was going to have to change, considering how much she had done for him. "I'm Seth Burgoyne, by the way. What's your name?"
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Ritoru Akki
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Demon
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Post by Ritoru Akki on Jan 10, 2009 5:17:51 GMT -8
Biting one side of her lip, the corner of her tongue stuck out just a tad from the other side as she concentrated on keeping her heels in place while more or less letting him haul her entire weight off the ground. Lucky for him, she weighed about as much as a sack of rice.
Once she was upright, she nimbly stepped out of the angel and spun around, beaming down at it. There was still some smudging, but it was much better than getting up by yourself. Turning that 1,000 candle watt smile on him, she was made even happier to see him smiling as well.
It was habit that made her dip her head and shoulders in a brief and precise little bow when he introduced himself, but remembering what Tora said about wanting her to work on not only her English but American customs in general, she straightened and extended her hand. "It is nice to meet you, Seth Bo.. Seth Bu.. ah, Seth."
Hey, that was a tough last name. What Tora didn't know wouldn't hurt him. Skipping on ahead, she continued in her heavily accented English. "I am Ritoru Akki. You may call me, Akki."
Introductions complete, she tucked her hands neatly in her pocket and peered up at the sky. "You work here, Mr. Seth?" She was mainly curious to see if he was trespassing like she was, and if he wasn't, if he planned on reporting her.
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Post by Seth Burgoyne on Jan 10, 2009 17:27:52 GMT -8
Seth almost laughed at her attempts to pronounce his last name, he had never realised how complicated his fake last name was. He had just picked it because it sounded cool, it had origins over seas and was different enough to not have any relations popping up suddenly. When she made a little half bow, he remembered his basic knowledge of cultures, and returned the little bow, not much though. He figured if he made a full bow that would be patronising and insulting to her.
"Just call me Seth. Not Mr. Seth." He looked around and smiled. "Sort of. I don't work here officially, but I'm allowed in when I want. I designed this place actually." He decided he would ignore her trespassing - he never liked the way that humans put up boundaries around beautiful natural places just because they didn't pay money.
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Ritoru Akki
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Demon
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Post by Ritoru Akki on Jan 11, 2009 20:48:10 GMT -8
"I very much like your garden," she said with a broad smile, gloved fingers warm in her coat pockets. The wind was picking up a little, so that the snow drifted down at a slant and the biting cold found its way in through the tear in her jeans. Shivering slightly, she slipped a hand free only to bury it in her jeans pocket, pulling her brand new, bright pink cellphone out.
No missed calls, which meant no one back at her new home knew she had snuck out yet. Tora was probably sitting at the head of the long, rectangular table in the meeting room, his head wrapped around business and far from thoughts of her whereabouts. Still, she thought as she stuffed the phone back in her pockets, her luck couldn't last forever.
"I must go, Sesu-san. I do not want restrictions," she said, unsure of the right word to convey what would happen if Tora found out how far away from home she was.
Tilting her head, her face still brightened with a smile, she offered one more subtle bow. "I hope I see you here again, when less surrounds."
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Post by Seth Burgoyne on Jan 14, 2009 3:50:42 GMT -8
"Thank you. I'm glad you do." He looked around and sighed. It looked so much better in the summer. He turned back and noticed her look a her mobile phone. Well, she looked like she was needed elsewhere. And he wasn't going to detain her. Even if she made him feel like winter didn't kill everything that surrounded him. However, he did wonder about her choice of words. He was sure she was too. Restrictions didn't seem quite right...
"Make sure you do. This place is amazing in spring. Goodbye, Akki." He smiled at her little bow, returned it, and then slowly started walking through the garden in the opposite direction of the gate, sprinkling fertiliser on the roses. When his back was fully turned though, a single teardrop rolled down his face and froze on his cheek. Just two months to go.
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