Suikoden III; 09:00; Unopened
Theme: 09:00
Title: Unopened
Fandom: Suikoden III
Character/Pairing: Sasarai, Dios, Nash, Sarah
Category: Friendship
Rating/Warnings: PG; none
Disclaimer: Suikoden III belongs to Konami.
"Nash has almost completed his follow-up investigation. He sent you a preliminary report." Dios set the thick envelope on Sasarai's desk. He had accepted the packet from Mino on the front steps of the main Temple building. Apparently Nash had handled its passage all the way to Serif City, but after meeting there with Mino he had doubled back to take one last look at the quarters of the late Masked Bishop- Luc- in Campanella.
"You can open it," Sasarai shrugged. He leaned back in his chair and listened to the muffled echo of the bells ringing out the nine o'clock hour. This was the first day since his return form Budehuc that he had managed to drag himself into his office this early. With the heavy revelations that Luc had handed him still hanging weightily on his mind, he was having to readjust slowly to his everyday life at the Temple. He felt detached and uninterested in his work. He slept a lot.
"You're certain?" Dios hesitated. He didn't want to inadvertently see anything meant for Sasarai's eyes alone. He got the impression from Nika that occasionally Nash included personal notes.
"Please." The chair wobbled uncertainly on two legs and Sasarai allowed it to fall forward to its proper position. He didn't want to fall over and hit his head. It was all minor things in the physical category, but he had been banged up enough as it was over the last few weeks. He didn't need anymore pain, and he certainly didn't need anymore reason for his subordinates to worry about him.
"As you wish." Dios opened the off-white envelope and slid its contents out onto the desktop. There was a fairly comprehensive-looking report written up by the busy spy with a friendlier-looking note on colored paper pinned to the top, as well as a few maps, scratched up with all sorts of markings (hopefully Nash had inclined some sort of key to his chicken scratch), and finally a small, lavender-colored enveloped. It was this last item that captured Dios' interest. Sasarai had authorized him to examine the items in the larger packet. He picked out the note and read the name of the sender write in a steady, feminine hand: Sarah. There was a faint scent clinging to the paper. He lifted it to his nose and breathed in the flowery aroma, trying to identify the specific bloom that had leant its essence to this perfume. Sweet peas, perhaps?
"Oh?" Sasarai finally seemed to see something that piqued his interest. "Is that a love letter or somesuch? Was it misplace or has Nash finally chosen to cast off his wife and swear his undying devotion to me?"
"Ha," Dios forced a laugh, "Very funny, sir. It's nice to see you exhibit such good humor. I'll take it as a sign you're feeling better."
"I still feel quite awful, thank you very much," the bishop huffed, crossing his arms. He was exaggerating a little out of spite, but he felt that so long as he was being bogged down by rough feelings, someone else should be aware of it and keep the kid gloves on with him.
"A pity," his chief of staff concluded. It was as much a pity that Sasarai persisted in wallowing in such emotions as it was that he felt them in the first place. "Anyway, this letter is from Sarah. She was the one with the...Masked Bishop, correct?"
Sasarai forgot his self-pity and startled upright. "Sarah? ...And the letter's directed to me?"
"Presumably so," Dios shrugged.
"H-has Nash written anything on the matter?" He snatched the pale envelope from Dios' hand.
"I can't say. I haven't pried into the contents of his missives." Even if he had planned to, he hadn't yet really had the time. He preferred Sasarai read his own mail anyway. Nash's manner of communication could be rather incomprehensible to him.
Sasarai scrutinized the handwriting on the envelope very seriously. Dios doubted that Nash would stoop so low as to joke about such a thing. Before she had gone on to meet her end along with her master, Sarah had probably written this missive and left it behind for Sasarai to find. Sarah's emotions at the Ceremonial Site had appeared markedly different from Luc's. It was little wonder that beyond the grave she might yet have something to say. Dios got the impression they might have spoken a few times before the war broke out in earnest. It made him curious, but he didn't want to press for details.
After what felt like a very long stretch of quiet in which Dios began to catch some fragments of the conversation going on in Hikami's office, Sasarai set the envelope back down on the desk unopened. Dios arched an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. He had long possessed the necessary self-discipline to refrain from asking any questions even when his curiosity strained its bounds. Still...why did he set the letter down unopened? Was it something too private to be read in front of him? Somehow he suspected not.
Without comment, Sasarai moved on to other parts of the packet, flipping idly through Nash's report, reading only bits and pieces here and there. Dios wondered if he was waiting for him to leave. He wished Sasarai would speak up if that were the cast. This not knowing was tiresome. But the morning went by without comment from the bishop and when they left for lunch, the lavender envelope remained unopened.
The next day it was still there, although the rest of the packet was gone. "Are you having a hard time convincing yourself to look at that?" Dios didn't mean to be a bother, but if there was some way he could assist Sasarai- skim over the letter for him, perhaps- he would be happy to do so.
"It- it's not like there's any rush," Sasarai stammered. A hint of a blush might've crept up into his cheeks, but it melted away so quickly Dios could not say he was sure of its existence. "It's not as if she's waiting for a reply."
The room echoed with coldness. Sasarai winced even as he spoke the words. It was ill-omened to speak harshly of the dead. Dios' only relief came in seeing his bishop experience immediate regret. It was a shame it had to be that way. "I...I'm just not ready," Sasarai tried to smooth over his faux pas.
"I understand, sir." Dios allowed the matter to drop.
Sasarai took the letter out of the office to his bedroom that evening. He had no desire to repeat that morning's conversation. He tossed the envelope on top of his dresser, hoping to quickly lose sight of it under scarves and hairpins until he was forced to gaze upon it no more. It was an epistle sent from beyond the grave, probably with the purest of motives; he could not destroy it. It was a letter drafted by a pale and lovely enigma filled with unguessable emotions; he could not read it.
Nika did her job of tidying his quarters too efficiently. The letter was all too soon staring him once again right in the face. He could not bear it. He moved it back to his office and shoved it in a drawer and promptly smothered it with the full text of the Orsini Land Tax Reform Bill.
"Out of sight, out of mind," he reassured himself.
Three weeks later, Dios took it upon himself to read the Orsini proposition (someone had to do it after all). Beneath its heap of pages the mutely pleading face of a familiar lavender envelope peeked out at him. Sasarai was out of the office. Dios picked it up. The wax seal remained unbroken. Still unread. He set it back down and closed the drawer. He could only help if Sasarai wanted him to help. He had to mind the proper boundaries.
He took the Orsini papers and carried them home to peruse at his leisure over a cup of tea.
Title: Unopened
Fandom: Suikoden III
Character/Pairing: Sasarai, Dios, Nash, Sarah
Category: Friendship
Rating/Warnings: PG; none
Disclaimer: Suikoden III belongs to Konami.
"Nash has almost completed his follow-up investigation. He sent you a preliminary report." Dios set the thick envelope on Sasarai's desk. He had accepted the packet from Mino on the front steps of the main Temple building. Apparently Nash had handled its passage all the way to Serif City, but after meeting there with Mino he had doubled back to take one last look at the quarters of the late Masked Bishop- Luc- in Campanella.
"You can open it," Sasarai shrugged. He leaned back in his chair and listened to the muffled echo of the bells ringing out the nine o'clock hour. This was the first day since his return form Budehuc that he had managed to drag himself into his office this early. With the heavy revelations that Luc had handed him still hanging weightily on his mind, he was having to readjust slowly to his everyday life at the Temple. He felt detached and uninterested in his work. He slept a lot.
"You're certain?" Dios hesitated. He didn't want to inadvertently see anything meant for Sasarai's eyes alone. He got the impression from Nika that occasionally Nash included personal notes.
"Please." The chair wobbled uncertainly on two legs and Sasarai allowed it to fall forward to its proper position. He didn't want to fall over and hit his head. It was all minor things in the physical category, but he had been banged up enough as it was over the last few weeks. He didn't need anymore pain, and he certainly didn't need anymore reason for his subordinates to worry about him.
"As you wish." Dios opened the off-white envelope and slid its contents out onto the desktop. There was a fairly comprehensive-looking report written up by the busy spy with a friendlier-looking note on colored paper pinned to the top, as well as a few maps, scratched up with all sorts of markings (hopefully Nash had inclined some sort of key to his chicken scratch), and finally a small, lavender-colored enveloped. It was this last item that captured Dios' interest. Sasarai had authorized him to examine the items in the larger packet. He picked out the note and read the name of the sender write in a steady, feminine hand: Sarah. There was a faint scent clinging to the paper. He lifted it to his nose and breathed in the flowery aroma, trying to identify the specific bloom that had leant its essence to this perfume. Sweet peas, perhaps?
"Oh?" Sasarai finally seemed to see something that piqued his interest. "Is that a love letter or somesuch? Was it misplace or has Nash finally chosen to cast off his wife and swear his undying devotion to me?"
"Ha," Dios forced a laugh, "Very funny, sir. It's nice to see you exhibit such good humor. I'll take it as a sign you're feeling better."
"I still feel quite awful, thank you very much," the bishop huffed, crossing his arms. He was exaggerating a little out of spite, but he felt that so long as he was being bogged down by rough feelings, someone else should be aware of it and keep the kid gloves on with him.
"A pity," his chief of staff concluded. It was as much a pity that Sasarai persisted in wallowing in such emotions as it was that he felt them in the first place. "Anyway, this letter is from Sarah. She was the one with the...Masked Bishop, correct?"
Sasarai forgot his self-pity and startled upright. "Sarah? ...And the letter's directed to me?"
"Presumably so," Dios shrugged.
"H-has Nash written anything on the matter?" He snatched the pale envelope from Dios' hand.
"I can't say. I haven't pried into the contents of his missives." Even if he had planned to, he hadn't yet really had the time. He preferred Sasarai read his own mail anyway. Nash's manner of communication could be rather incomprehensible to him.
Sasarai scrutinized the handwriting on the envelope very seriously. Dios doubted that Nash would stoop so low as to joke about such a thing. Before she had gone on to meet her end along with her master, Sarah had probably written this missive and left it behind for Sasarai to find. Sarah's emotions at the Ceremonial Site had appeared markedly different from Luc's. It was little wonder that beyond the grave she might yet have something to say. Dios got the impression they might have spoken a few times before the war broke out in earnest. It made him curious, but he didn't want to press for details.
After what felt like a very long stretch of quiet in which Dios began to catch some fragments of the conversation going on in Hikami's office, Sasarai set the envelope back down on the desk unopened. Dios arched an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. He had long possessed the necessary self-discipline to refrain from asking any questions even when his curiosity strained its bounds. Still...why did he set the letter down unopened? Was it something too private to be read in front of him? Somehow he suspected not.
Without comment, Sasarai moved on to other parts of the packet, flipping idly through Nash's report, reading only bits and pieces here and there. Dios wondered if he was waiting for him to leave. He wished Sasarai would speak up if that were the cast. This not knowing was tiresome. But the morning went by without comment from the bishop and when they left for lunch, the lavender envelope remained unopened.
The next day it was still there, although the rest of the packet was gone. "Are you having a hard time convincing yourself to look at that?" Dios didn't mean to be a bother, but if there was some way he could assist Sasarai- skim over the letter for him, perhaps- he would be happy to do so.
"It- it's not like there's any rush," Sasarai stammered. A hint of a blush might've crept up into his cheeks, but it melted away so quickly Dios could not say he was sure of its existence. "It's not as if she's waiting for a reply."
The room echoed with coldness. Sasarai winced even as he spoke the words. It was ill-omened to speak harshly of the dead. Dios' only relief came in seeing his bishop experience immediate regret. It was a shame it had to be that way. "I...I'm just not ready," Sasarai tried to smooth over his faux pas.
"I understand, sir." Dios allowed the matter to drop.
Sasarai took the letter out of the office to his bedroom that evening. He had no desire to repeat that morning's conversation. He tossed the envelope on top of his dresser, hoping to quickly lose sight of it under scarves and hairpins until he was forced to gaze upon it no more. It was an epistle sent from beyond the grave, probably with the purest of motives; he could not destroy it. It was a letter drafted by a pale and lovely enigma filled with unguessable emotions; he could not read it.
Nika did her job of tidying his quarters too efficiently. The letter was all too soon staring him once again right in the face. He could not bear it. He moved it back to his office and shoved it in a drawer and promptly smothered it with the full text of the Orsini Land Tax Reform Bill.
"Out of sight, out of mind," he reassured himself.
Three weeks later, Dios took it upon himself to read the Orsini proposition (someone had to do it after all). Beneath its heap of pages the mutely pleading face of a familiar lavender envelope peeked out at him. Sasarai was out of the office. Dios picked it up. The wax seal remained unbroken. Still unread. He set it back down and closed the drawer. He could only help if Sasarai wanted him to help. He had to mind the proper boundaries.
He took the Orsini papers and carried them home to peruse at his leisure over a cup of tea.