(080: Why) The Tower "Boys of Past Tense"
Title: Boys of Past Tense
’Verse/characters: The Tower, Bahne Haven
Prompt:#80 Why
Word Count: 483
Rating: G
Notes: "Bahne hardly ever wonders."
There is no use in asking questions, there just isn’t. No matter what people say, answers have never saved a soul, never been much comfort to any crying child.
If anything, answers make it worse. What use is knowledge, in the end? It hardly ever changes a thing. All certainty does is to rob you of the chance to wonder, it takes away comforting maybes and chances, replacing them with cold, hard fact, immovable and just as senseless as anything else.
These days Bahne hardly ever wonders about anything at all, for he is too tired and old to bother with anything that might distract him from his responsibilities. He hardly ever gets a direct order from anyone now; instead he has carefully crafted himself a routine that he believes to be in everyone’s best interest.
There is nothing stopping the others from banging their heads against the walls, furiously looking for sense and reason in places where there is none to be found, but as always Bahne remains firmly on the sidelines.
Of course Bahne believes in some great plan, Freaks hardly ever do anything without one, they are too clever and too fond of riddles and mysteries to make any decision at random. But unlike many others, Bahne is not so arrogant as to consider himself to be so significant that he has a right to know of it.
He was just important enough to be chosen to be right here and now, no more, no less. And while his insides crawled with a confused hunger and yearning for years and years, he always knew that the reason for his being here - for his being at all - would be something trivial that could never compete with the wild dreams and theories that his mind had spun.
By some miracle or other Bahne had later ended up getting married to Death’s only daughter. It was a union that would have guaranteed his freedom if he had desired it, but in the end he had declined. He had been bombarded with questions for years after, and even now the occasional newcomer would ask him why he hadn’t left when he’d had the chance, because surely, having led such a long and monotonous life, Bahne must be terribly unhappy in the tower?
For such occasions Bahne has a variety or diversions and half-truths at the back of his mind. He doesn’t owe anyone an answer; he knows that simple truths never satisfy anyone. He knows from experience, for with the offer of freedom came explanations of history long since passed, personal memories of the life a boy with a different, forgotten name had never led. No, answers never made anything better, they just made you bitter.
Sometimes, life was just that. No more or less than one day after the other, no mysteries and no more wonders than you expected there to be.
6/100
’Verse/characters: The Tower, Bahne Haven
Prompt:#80 Why
Word Count: 483
Rating: G
Notes: "Bahne hardly ever wonders."
There is no use in asking questions, there just isn’t. No matter what people say, answers have never saved a soul, never been much comfort to any crying child.
If anything, answers make it worse. What use is knowledge, in the end? It hardly ever changes a thing. All certainty does is to rob you of the chance to wonder, it takes away comforting maybes and chances, replacing them with cold, hard fact, immovable and just as senseless as anything else.
These days Bahne hardly ever wonders about anything at all, for he is too tired and old to bother with anything that might distract him from his responsibilities. He hardly ever gets a direct order from anyone now; instead he has carefully crafted himself a routine that he believes to be in everyone’s best interest.
There is nothing stopping the others from banging their heads against the walls, furiously looking for sense and reason in places where there is none to be found, but as always Bahne remains firmly on the sidelines.
Of course Bahne believes in some great plan, Freaks hardly ever do anything without one, they are too clever and too fond of riddles and mysteries to make any decision at random. But unlike many others, Bahne is not so arrogant as to consider himself to be so significant that he has a right to know of it.
He was just important enough to be chosen to be right here and now, no more, no less. And while his insides crawled with a confused hunger and yearning for years and years, he always knew that the reason for his being here - for his being at all - would be something trivial that could never compete with the wild dreams and theories that his mind had spun.
By some miracle or other Bahne had later ended up getting married to Death’s only daughter. It was a union that would have guaranteed his freedom if he had desired it, but in the end he had declined. He had been bombarded with questions for years after, and even now the occasional newcomer would ask him why he hadn’t left when he’d had the chance, because surely, having led such a long and monotonous life, Bahne must be terribly unhappy in the tower?
For such occasions Bahne has a variety or diversions and half-truths at the back of his mind. He doesn’t owe anyone an answer; he knows that simple truths never satisfy anyone. He knows from experience, for with the offer of freedom came explanations of history long since passed, personal memories of the life a boy with a different, forgotten name had never led. No, answers never made anything better, they just made you bitter.
Sometimes, life was just that. No more or less than one day after the other, no mysteries and no more wonders than you expected there to be.
6/100