Contextless scenes
I need your help. Yes, YOUR help -- everyone is welcome to participate! ♥
I have collected a bunch of quotes from my own stories (the scenes come from a variety of fics and are not related to each other). What kind of ideas come to you when you read them? Please tell me! ♥
Since I mainly write Tales of Symphonia fanfiction, I'll post the lines that are specific to ToS first. I'll post less specific prompts after those, so even if you know nothing about Symphonia, you're more than welcome to comment.
WARNING
Some of the quotes in this post will deal with themes unsuitable to younger readers/people who have specific triggers. These themes include at least the following: death, strong language, violence. Read at your own discretion.
(Also, to anyone not familiar with Tales of Symphonia: the Symphonia prompts are chock full of spoilers.)
Other things that will show up but that I refuse to warn for include, but aren't necessarily limited to, questionable humor, various pairings and thoroughly weird ideas. Just so you know what you're getting into. :P
Updates:
- Symphonia: Jan 11, 2012 (prompts #122-130)
- Generic: Dec 31, 2011 (prompts #24-28)
Tales of Symphonia
Want to see the generic snippets instead?
1.
Right now, Botta didn't have anyone to put on a mask for, anyone to give commands to -- it would have been easy to give in to his more reckless side and go do something that would undoubtedly prove to be very stupid in the long run.
That was what he had done earlier in the day, though, and gotten his ass handed to him in two seconds flat.
2.
"Forgive me for saying so," Kratos said to Martel as he watched Mithos and Yuan bickering about something again, "but sometimes I feel so very sorry for you, having to put up with the both of them."
Martel stifled a laugh behind a hand. "Aww, don't be so harsh on them. They haven't quite yet figured out how to show that they do care about each other."
"I wonder if they ever will," Kratos murmured under his breath, too low for even Martel to catch.
3.
"You knew you were going to die," Yuan said in an even tone. "You've known for months."
Botta's gaze was again directed out of the window and somewhat absent. "True."
4.
Kratos could only wonder if the situation inside was any different from what it had been when he left. Botta had called him out on his cowardice, but Kratos was more at ease with the decision he had made than the other choices he could have made.
5.
The night was, for the most part, quiet. Only Mithos' periodical snores broke the peace of the little forest around them.
Yuan paced the perimeter of their camp, trying to be on the lookout for any potential enemies while the others got some well-deserved rest, but he kept being distracted by the still novel feeling of a small weight on his left hand. He had never been one for much jewelry, but this -- he never got tired of looking at the engagement ring. Well, if Martel wasn't around, of course, because no piece of jewelry, no matter how significant, could ever compare to her beauty and radiance.
She did say yes! He couldn't help but grin at the thought. After a moment, he came back from his dreamy thoughts and continued his patrol. No matter how happy he was, he couldn't slack off on guard duty, because getting killed now in some random battle would be the pinnacle of irony.
6.
Frustrated, he opened his eyes to stare across the room at Yuan. He knew there was no expression on his face, but he wanted to snarl, to yell, to do something except stand there like some kind of moron. He didn't know what to do.
Yuan was dying in front of his eyes, and he had no way to stop it.
7.
Lloyd's face brightened as though a curtain of rainclouds had just parted. The relief there was immense, and Kratos felt a stab of betrayal within. Lloyd would hope for the best, no matter how bad the situation. So much for not giving him false hope.
8.
Botta gave him an odd look. "Yuan... Tell me something."
"Mm?" The shorter man had to look up at him, and darn him if he didn't know how to feign complete cluelessness. "What is it?"
9.
"Yuan's dead," Lloyd suddenly said, his voice dull and clear. "He's dead. Even after he promised not to die on me."
10.
Kratos should have prepared himself for the look that got him from the half-elf. He wanted to laugh at the incredulity that was so obviously written on Botta's usually emotionless face.
"Don't think too much about what you know to be true," he said softly, hiding his dark mirth. "It's likely to not hold up in this situation."
11.
"They must have survived the explosion," Colette said, the hope in her voice cutting deeper than any knife. She took hold of Raine's sleeve almost desperately. "Right, Professor?"
12.
Botta had his eyes squeezed shut, and a low, keening sound of pain was coming forth from his throat. Yuan looked at him in desperation, wanting to touch him, to see if there was anything he could do, and not daring to do it for fear of causing even more damage.
13.
Goddess, it felt like years since he had last seen any of his friends and colleagues - and it hadn't been more than a couple of days. He knew they could take care of themselves. Renegades were trained to be self-sufficient, competent officers. They wouldn't fall apart at the first sign of trouble.
Botta was starting to wonder if the same could be said about their leaders.
14.
"What's up with you?" Yuan asked. "You're acting even more somber than usual."
"Nothing in particular," Kratos replied, staring down at his mug. "Just... thinking."
"I know you're able to think with a relatively lighter air. What is it?"
15.
That didn't explain why he had attacked Botta, though; Kratos couldn't imagine the injuries had been caused by anything or anyone else except Yuan.
16.
"I hate seawater," Yuan said conversationally, trying to run his fingers through his tangled, no longer bound hair, with little success. "It makes for a nightmarish case of bad hair days."
Botta gave him a smile. "You may want to try the shower, then."
"Indeed. Thanks for the tip," Yuan replied with a roll of his eyes.
17.
"It is a miracle he's even alive. Are you sure he's not secretly a cat? It seems to me that has escaped death narrowly more often than should be possible."
Yuan shrugged. "As long as he pulls through, I'm not going to complain."
18.
Kratos stared at the table, curiously not feeling at all horrified. He was... amazed, if that was the word he wanted. Amazed and sorrowful.
19.
He had been blindsided as much as Yuan himself. He was shattered, even though for all intents and purposes he was the one who should never fall apart, who should never be flustered or lost for words.
20.
Yuan looked out the window, into the bleak gray sky, into the streets made glittery by the rain falling down in a steady sheet. They had barely made it back into the apartment before the downpour began, but Yuan didn't feel happy about that. It was just a different kind of imprisonment, to be held indoors by a force of nature such as rain -- and he had no wish to be held behind any kind of bars right now, however metaphorical they might be.
21.
There was a moment of total, dumbfounded silence before Yuan twitched.
"Is this woman for real?" he demanded of no one in particular.
22.
"Don't you dare threaten me," the man hissed. Yuan bit back a satisfied smile.
"There is no need for me to be threatening you," he said before he allowed a predatory look to cross his face. "Is there?"
23.
"I sincerely doubt pretending to be married to a 12-year-old would help Lloyd."
24.
Yuan poked at the burns and the new skin covering one side of his left forearm, frowning at the echo of pain that got him. The healing salve was working, but it was noticeably slower than using magic would have been; magic, however, was too risky.
25.
"Yes," Yuan said, weary to the bone all of a sudden. He hadn't allowed his fatigue to catch up to him while he still needed to get the Renegades to safety and do what little he could to ensure Lloyd's group wouldn't meet with failure once they made their way to Derris-Kharlan. In the midst of it all, he had even ended up saving Kratos' skin by giving him some of his own mana. He was feeling the effects of mana deprivation now.
It was bad enough to fall apart when he couldn't be sure they were out of the danger yet. It was worse to fall apart in front of the one person he had come to rely on as the unchanging constant in his life, to find that although for all appearances nothing had changed, something was irreparably wrong and broken.
26.
Yuan was certain that he was a certifiable moron for falling into such an obvious trap. It couldn't be anything but a trap, he reasoned, but still he could not make himself walk away from that building, that corridor, that door he was watching as though it might turn into a monster and devour him.
27.
Green eyes. Not the green of the Sylvaranti forests, no, but the sort of green that the waters around the Ymir region could be when sunlight shone on them, glinting, deep, mesmerizing.
And there was exactly one person who had eyes that particular shade of green, only one person whose gaze was so intense.
28.
Not that Yuan would admit to being one. He wasn't that sort of a person.
Well, he could always try to tell himself that. Whether even he believed it was dubious.
29.
Botta let out a sleepy noise and turned his head into the pillow to keep the bleak light away. After a second, he cracked one eye open to look at Yuan who gave him a lopsided smile.
"Morning. Sorry I woke you up. Want some coffee?"
Botta managed to affect a disgusted look that was actually rather adorable. He had always been grumpy in the mornings, which had amused Yuan more than it should probably have.
30.
She removed the green scarf from her face and smiled at him. It would have been most attractive if not for two things: one, she was a robot, a construct Yggdrasill had had made, and two, she was the spitting image of Martel. He knew Martel had been dead for so long, her body decayed in its grave, the soul gone from its mortal vessel -- but he couldn't have shot this... thing that looked so much like her.
Not like it would have helped, anyway.
31.
He opened his eyes, which he couldn't even recall closing at any point, and Martel's worried face swam into focus. Her hand was resting lightly on his chest and her expression was one of thinly veiled anxiety.
"Oh, thank goodness," she said with obvious relief as he stared at her and tried to decide which vision of her was the real deal. "I thought I might be too late."
32.
That was a laugh, Yuan thought morosely. He hadn't lived since Martel's passing. He had just existed. When he had finally clued in on the fact that something needed to be done, thousands of years after Martel had originally said that, he had founded the Renegades. When he was with them, he felt more alive than usual, but it wasn't saying much because he was always afraid to see how alive he could be. Under the surface, he was just a man, fatigued and worn, who had been too stubborn for all the wrong reasons to just lie down and pass away.
33.
It was as though his feet weren't the only thing hindered by imagined tar; Kratos felt his brain work sluggishly, but he managed to get two things into his mind. One: he needed to get the hell out of this room and clear his head. Two: it might pay off to follow Yuan, wherever he was heading.
34.
Sometimes, it was a blessing to be the only woman in their little group. At least it meant she got to bathe in private.
Martel bit her lip as she studied the hard blue cells on the right side of her body. If she didn't find a way to stop them from multiplying soon, she wouldn't be able to keep this secret for long.
She really hoped she could hide it long enough for them to stop the war.
35.
"Are you all right?" Botta asked. His voice was softer, the accent thicker than usual. His eyes, though, were attentive as ever, scrutinizing Kratos with an intensity that made him uncomfortable.
36.
"You... You could have lived with us, in our world!" Lloyd said quietly, in a voice that was so full of pain and regret it made Zelos want to bring Mithos back just so he could kill him again. That was the difference between him and Lloyd. Lloyd had never lost his compassion and sympathy for other people - even for those of them who had brought everyone so much suffering.
37.
"Just now," Kratos said and opened his eyes to look towards the door, "I felt something that didn't belong here. Something that... probably shouldn't exist. And I can't pinpoint it down, isolate it, so that I could be sure I wasn't just imagining it."
"What is it, then?"
"A soul," Kratos said thoughtfully. "As far as I can tell."
38.
The dwarf put a well-wrapped package on his desk and gestured at it as he was undoing the folds. "Look."
Botta knew it was authentic. He had seen Yuan's crystal and the surrounding Crest several times. What lay on the cloth were several pieces of intricately decorated, bloodied metal scraps - made of inhibitor ore and with several complex Dwarven runes carved into them. He stared at the pieces in fascination, reaching out to touch them. "It can't be..."
39.
It was all well and good, but... he wasn't sure he wanted to think about the future. Thinking about the past wouldn't help, thinking about the present was something he was trying to get away from for a few minutes, so the future would have been a logical thing to think about. The problem was, Botta wasn't sure whether he believed in the future anymore. No, that wasn't quite true; he always had and would believe they had a future to look forward to. It was just that... he wasn't looking forward to seeing what the future would bring with it. Not if this was how it would be.
40.
Apparently it didn't really mesh with the idea Yuan had had of him, which made him just all the more curious as to what Yuan thought of him. Did Yuan ever really think about the way any of his subordinates lived their lives outside their jobs?
41.
Botta admitted to himself that Yuan’s mind probably wasn’t a place he wanted to go poking around too deeply in. He couldn’t know what such an ancient person had gone through. He wondered if Yuan ever felt like that - that no one could possibly come to understand him.
42.
It wasn't as though Botta had never seen Yuan with his wings out, but it was surprising he would choose to reveal them here, of all places, while - at least seemingly - unaware of another person standing so close to him. There was another reason that caught Botta off guard and made breathing suddenly seem like an impossible task.
Yuan's wings glittered, reflected on the water. As he walked deeper into the sea, his wings were partially under the water as well; and the dazzling light expanded, spread blindingly, dyeing the water around him a sickly, eerie, pale fuchsia.
Just like at Rodyle's ranch.
Half-buried memories and nightmares flooded in, making him freeze in the position he was in, gasping desperately for breath.
Air. He needed air. His lungs were on fire, his mind just about to commit a total shutdown to prevent permanent brain damage. A promise, a promise he had made. A promise he had been given. Broken. There was no salvation, there was no time, there was no air...
And that was everything he could recall freely. But there was more, safely filed away in the depths of his mind. Dazzling white sparks floating in the water, purple glow making the water look all the more ghastly and distorted before pain took over and blurred everything into one.
43.
Botta had tactfully withdrawn from the Seraphim's company when they were talking (or yelling, as the case might have been at certain moments), so he wasn't sure what exactly had been said in the conversation. He was convinced, however, that they had made a deal of some sort, and he wondered why it bothered him so much that they would do that.
44.
Yuan looked like a skeleton.
He had never been particularly heavy-built or even muscular. It looked like he had lost a lot of weight since Botta had seen him last. The problem was that he had never really had anything to lose in the first place. It was scary how small and pale he looked.
45.
"The Renegades don't need me there," Yuan protested. "Especially not if Yggdrasill's gone. I was useful as an inside man on Cruxis. Beyond that, I know I wasn't very much liked."
Martel actually smiled at that, almost mischievous. "I think you have a much too glum idea of how people actually feel about you."
46.
"If I'd said anything about leaving to you, you would have tried to pry into the matter."
Botta frowned, looking offended. "Do you really think I have so little respect for your privacy?"
Yuan snorted, a wry smile on his lips. "Your concern for my well-being overrides your respect for my privacy."
47.
Raine narrowed her eyes. "If we have to get items or knowledge in ways not accepted by most moral codices, tough luck. Saving the worlds is more important."
"And here I thought you wouldn't compromise your precious morals for anything," Yuan said.
48.
"You cannot honestly be proposing to go by yourselves," Raine protested. "I understand what you mean by not taking a large group, but there is safety in numbers. You never know what may happen."
Yuan gave her a nondescript look. It almost looked like he wanted to smile. "I wasn't going to suggest that we go alone." He turned his head sharply, nailing Zelos to his spot by the wall with a piercing gaze. "He's coming, too."
49.
"Did that woman look at me evilly because I'm a half-elf," Botta began quietly, a morbid smile on his face, "or because I'm spending time with you?"
50.
Lloyd, Yuan decided a couple of minutes later as he struggled to get up from the frozen ground where he had been flung forcefully, was desperately in need of a crash-course in controlling the Eternal Sword.
51.
There were people among the Desians who were willing to go against the system. People willing enough to try to overthrow the system once and for all.
Yuan had to admire them for their foolhardy courage, but reading the book had convinced him that these people had no idea of Yggdrasill's existence. If they had men inside the Desians, surely they could use a man inside Cruxis. Problem was, the only people who didn't mindlessly follow orders around there were the Seraphim, and the very few choice angels the Seraphim had decided to keep on a tight leash. The only person who could handle that job, then, was none other than Yuan himself.
52.
Yuan smiled at him -- cold, satisfied, dark and deeply disturbing. "Good."
53.
Zelos felt cold shivers run down his spine, not only from thrill but also from sheer terror.
What the fuck had they got themselves into?
54.
Yuan looked irritated at his conclusions. "How would I know? I am not yet privy to the knowledge of what happened because it hasn't even happened yet."
55.
Botta shrugged, looking on, distracted, as Yuan lost epically. Again. "If a half-elf was cheering him on, someone would certainly find that a perfect excuse to call him out for cheating, even though they have no proof or even reason to suspect him."
56.
Truth be told, Yuan was somewhat relieved that it was Lloyd and not him who had gained possession of the Eternal Sword. He didn't trust himself to be strong enough to not succumb to the temptation of doing something that would cause the destruction of the worlds he had so long fought to protect. Selfishness had been Mithos' downfall. It had very nearly been his, too, and he could never have come this far alone.
57.
"Don't you think it's likely enough that we're all going to die within the next ten minutes even without doing something like that?" Zelos asked. He wasn't sure where he was taking all this energy from anymore; it felt like he had exhausted all his own mana long ago. He knew he hadn't, or he would already have been dead, but he was aware that he was running and fighting on borrowed energy. If - when, he forced himself to correct - they got out, he'd certainly collapse on his feet and go to sleep for a week. At the very least.
58.
Lloyd groaned as he came to. He lifted his head and discovered he was lying face down in tall grass. Tall grass of a strange color, too; it was a deep yellow, rather than green. He blinked in confusion and glanced up, discovering that the sky was a soft purplish blue. He sat up, looking at the strange landscape that spread around him. Somewhere at the back of his mind he knew he shouldn't be so careless, defenseless, but he didn't feel threatened, for some reason. He felt more peaceful and safe than he had in a long time.
59.
The corridor was suddenly bathed in glimmering orange light and fleetingly Zelos wondered why Yuan hadn't used his wings to light their way -- but somewhere deep down, he knew the answer.
Yuan hated being an angel almost as much as Zelos did.
60.
"You know," Sheena said, "the last time we came here we were sure you'd drowned. Why didn't Yuan tell us otherwise at any point? I mean, we did see him after that, too."
Genis looked annoyed again. "Does anything he does make any sense whatsoever? The last time we ran into him, he first saved Kratos' life and then asked whether he should be condemned to live forever after all. Kratos wanted to die, so if Yuan agreed with him, why bother saving him at all?"
61.
Yuan almost waved the words away with an instinctive, sarcastic reply, but managed to bite it back. He took a breath and said, with enough warmth that it surprised even him, "I do."
Any other situation, and Yuan might have been flustered and embarrassed by the sincerity of his own words, but he quickly decided feeling ridiculous was a small price to pay to see the honest, pleased smile that Botta gave him.
62.
"It's starting to get ridiculous, really. You see an attractive guy you'd like to shag, and then it turns out he's your ex-boyfriend's current girlfriend's childhood sweetheart's grandma's widower or something." The man sighed forlornly. "And, of course, it then turns out all those ex-boyfriends are your own exes, too. It can make for some... awkward situations."
Botta gave him an amused look. "And you wonder why I prefer to not get involved with anyone."
63.
"I know I'm a miracle worker, but..." The senior healer stared at the jar Yuan had handed her. "You do know people's limbs have other things in them besides bones, right? Things like tendons and muscles and blood veins and nerves?" She took a deep breath and gestured at the bleached fragments collected in the jar. "Knowing that, how the hell do you expect me to be able to reconstruct his hand from nothing but pieces of bone?"
64.
"I'm not a philosopher. I won't even try defining something people have been arguing over for half a dozen millennia."
"Really? What's up with you? I thought you'd give me one of your patented cliché lines."
Returning to his task Yuan snorted. "And that would have made you feel better?"
"No, but at least I'd have known there's someone who hasn't changed."
65.
But, Yuan thought as his eyes darted from one mark to the next, healing magic didn't leave scars. There were some marks that would be there for a while after a spell had been cast, but they were usually rather quick to fade.
These marks were not ones that would be fading further anytime soon. They were from wounds that had healed naturally.
There were a lot of them.
66.
"The floor isn't a very comfortable place to sleep."
"Yeah," Botta agreed, his voice much softer than usual. He had his eyes closed - in exhaustion or in concentration, Yuan couldn't be certain.
67.
Yuan looked at him blankly. "You fight like a Desian."
A dark look of wry humor passed the other's face. "I always knew Desians were lousy fighters, anyway."
Yuan drove the tip of his sword into the ground effortlessly. "Indeed."
68.
Yuan didn't even glance up from his book. "Tell me something I didn't know."
Zelos glared at him. "You could at least act like you had a heart for a change."
69.
"I made a promise to Corrine," she said, a carefully hidden sadness working its way into her eyes. "Until I get his bell back from Kuchinawa, this card will be there to remind me I still haven't fulfilled that promise."
70.
Yuan threw the stack of papers he had been clutching in his hand onto the table. "Tell me, at what point were you planning to off yourself?"
The frightening part, Yuan realized somewhere in his subconscious, was that Botta didn't show any kind of reaction to the blatant accusation at all. He had never been one to openly express his emotions, but at the moment, it felt as though he had no emotions to express.
71.
"Sheena, the master summoner," he said by way of greeting, looking her up and down quickly. "Or should I say, the chief of Mizuho."
"Future chief of Mizuho," she corrected somewhat anxiously, a troubled look clouding her expression and making her look younger again. "And... I'm not a master summoner anymore."
"Oh? How come?" Yuan looked at her with disinterest. The only reason he was willing to humor her was that he didn't particularly want to go back to poring over the musty old tomes in the dimly lit library.
Sheena drew in a deep breath. "Someone is stealing the Summon Spirits from me."
72.
Smiling again in a ghost-like way, he breathed out, not quite a sigh, and then quit breathing altogether. He turned around, not looking at the graves and began to walk away. His feet left no marks on the snow as he trod away. He was but a ghost, himself - no longer a part of the world, no longer needed or desired.
He left quietly, never to be seen again.
73.
Colette tilted her head to one side in confusion. "How did the Desians manage to steal something like that?"
"Colette's got a point," Zelos remarked almost lazily. "How did they?"
74.
Botta wasn't quite as opposed to doing paperwork as some of his colleagues (and, most notoriously, his boss), but the prospect of going out to do some easy field work was still appealing.
Yes, well. "Easy" was a subjective term, and after all the hardships they had endured during the night, he doubted he would ever be able to actually believe it if someone told him an upcoming mission would be a piece of cake. This particular piece of cake had left a little too much sand in his teeth and blood on his clothes for him to be trusting anyone's word anytime soon.
75.
The footsteps died away, only to be replaced by a voice that, although much more quiet than usual, sent a fresh wave of pain through Botta's skull. "You look like hell."
Botta would have smiled if he wasn't in so much pain. He decided to take his chances and mutter, "Thanks."
76.
The realization made him almost drop the pen he was holding and had been playing with until that moment. He had let Yuan get far too deep under his skin if this was enough to make him feel so out of place.
77.
Yuan knew that there were three stages of anger that his second-in-command had: the annoyance that he could hide and get past easily enough; the anger that made him upset enough to start yelling and become unpredictable in everything and anything he said or did; and the white-hot anger that had been tempered long enough that he was able to control it, to point it directly and with deadly precision at the person he was mad at. It was rare that Botta ever got angry in the first place, and it was unfortunate to face him if he ever did.
Sadly, Yuan had managed to invoke the last kind of anger.
78.
Slowly he reached out and picked up the roses by their stems, mindful of the barbs. Two roses, one for each of the comrades who passed away, dark red in color. Blood red, to be exact. Could it get any more cliché?
Then again, he was the man of the clichés, wasn't he?
79.
"That language hasn't even existed for nigh a millennium," Yuan grumbled. "Do you even have any idea what the lyrics mean?"
"The song is about angels, isn't it?"
"It's a prayer," Yuan corrected, hurriedly breaking eye contact with the child. "An ancient prayer dating back to the times of the Kharlan War and beyond. It's from a time when the angels of today didn't exist."
80.
"Are you all right?"
"No. No, I'm not." Yuan sat up straight and removed the ribbon which he used to bind his hair back, absently combing through the messy blue strands with his fingers. "The Chosen's death is still on my mind."
"Ah." Botta crossed his arms awkwardly. "We did what had to be done."
"I don't regret killing her. She was headed for a much worse fate, anyway." Yuan sighed. "I just wish children like her would stop falling in love with me."
81.
He inhaled deeply, opening his eyes slowly. Everything seemed sharper than usual. Stark contrasts of light and dark; simple thoughts; only one objective in mind. Good thing the plan itself was simple. He raised his hands, feeling the electricity running up and down his arms. Carefully, he placed his fingertips together, causing sparks to dance and a crackling noise to be heard. He raised his gaze until his eyes met another pair. He studied the face before him in a detached way. Slightly narrowed eyes, a frown marring the face fringed with blue hair. Cold, calculating, indifferent.
He let a ghost of a smile linger in the corner of his mouth, raising his hand up to place it upon the visage in front of him. His fingertips met cold glass, and after two drawn-out seconds, the picture shattered into a million pieces with a resounding crack.
"Perfect. I'm as ready as I'll ever be." Yuan turned away from the remnants of the mirror and drew in another breath. Then he disappeared.
82.
"I never wanted to see you in the first place," Sheena retorted and pulled her legs closer to her chest. Zelos feigned a hurt look.
"Sheeenaaa! My dear, voluptuous, beautiful hunny, you wound me -"
"Yeah, and I will really hurt you if you don't get lost."
Zelos fell silent under the glare and scrutinized her face intently. Sheena furrowed her brow, uncomfortable with his silence.
"Is it really that hard?" he asked quietly.
83.
Yuan tried to shrug, but closed his eyes with a groan when the movement aggravated the wound on his shoulder. "We're injured and weaponless. You're armed to teeth, you have a half-elf with you - nothing any sane human or elf would do these days - and you know a few things too many about us."
"Keep your friends close - keep your enemies closer, huh?" Zelos muttered.
84.
Kratos chuckled. "None of us is interested in or capable of pursuing a relationship."
"You, too?" Zelos asked. Kratos raised a brow.
"I am married already -- to my blade."
85.
"Don't be crazy!" Lloyd admonished him. "We'll be there with you all the way. You won't die. We won't let you die. I won't let you die!"
Kratos smiled wearily. "I wish I had that kind of faith."
86.
"...The first thing I expected to see when I set foot in this room again was not you," Yuan managed to tell him, but he had trouble hiding his grin.
"Technically you didn't see me," Kratos reminded him. "You were still staring at Zelos and complaining about some 'piece of junk' when you walked in."
87.
"'Hey, Lloyd, have you looked outside? It's snowing, and it's really pretty.' Hah. What a joke."
It wasn't fair.
Sheena Fujibayashi, a proud ninja from the village of Mizuho, a summoner -- the one who finally overcame her fear and conquered her inner shadow at the Temple of Lightning -- had choked at asking a dear friend to come out with her tonight. She hadn't been able to go and knock on Lloyd's door... not yet. By the time she had regained some composure, she had heard Lloyd already talking with someone.
Talking with Colette.
And they'd left the inn together.
Sheena sighed and kicked at the snow at her feet.
88.
The half-elf considered this, lowering the gun somewhat. He decided to test the waters. "I'm not fighting for the half-elves."
"And I'm not fighting for the humans. I believe that makes us traitors. So, we do have one thing in common." The human smiled lopsidedly, painfully. "And who said half-elves and humans never could have anything in common?"
"The idiots who believed a war would be a proper way to get rid of us?" the half-elf suggested dryly. He eyed the human warily. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"
The human leant his head back against a stone wall wearily. "I'm... human refuse. A mercenary. I come and go, and few bother to ask for my name. Once upon a time they called me Kratos."
89.
The ancient angels were practically dead. They weren't even breathing. And still, they wouldn't just really, honestly die. Their skin never grew cold; their bodies never started to rot. But to tell the truth, Zelos doubted either of them would be roused from their coma-like sleep.
90.
"Did you... go to the ranch?" Raine asked cautiously.
"Yes. What of it?" Yuan's voice was cold.
"For what reason would you go to such trouble?" Regal asked quietly. "Unless you were hoping to resurrect the drowned, there's little point in visiting the place."
91.
"What do you mean?"
If Yuan hadn't known him so well, he would have missed the subtle note of anxiousness. As it was, he just relished it all the more.
"Those ladies," Yuan said, not raising his eyes from the text he was studying, but nodding to the left, "must have seen us last night."
"Wonderful," Botta deadpanned and resumed his meal.
92.
"I... don't mean to be rude or anything, but... maybe you should -- take a break or something."
Botta turned his head and stared at the man. He was aware that some people were unnerved by his stares even when he wasn't trying to scare them witless.
It was a sheer miracle the man didn't fall to the ground whimpering in fear, considering the hostility Botta was allowing to show in his eyes now.
93.
"Of course. As usual." Yuan tossed him one of those smirks he knew everyone, including Botta, found absolutely infuriating.
94.
Botta ignored the hushed discussion going on behind him. This was an easy mission, one that certainly wouldn't have required his presence, but Yuan had figured it was best if he went along with a group of young, inexperienced Renegades. Botta wasn't sure if he was there for the others or the other way around. He had a disconcerting feeling that Yuan, too, was becoming worried that he was going out of his mind.
95.
Botta didn't have a chance to wallow in his thoughts much longer as he reached Yuan's office and stepped in as soon as the door slid open.
It wasn't until the door shut behind him with a soft click that it really connected in his mind that something about the scene in front of him was off.
It wasn't that it was such a subtle thing that it was hard to miss; on the contrary, the difference between ... this ... and the normal, everyday view was like that between night and day, and that was why it was difficult for Botta to allow his brain to tell him what it was that bothered him about it the most.
96.
He got up on his hands and knees and cast a quick fire spell. The spell was sloppy and weak and the fire he managed to call forth with it flickered and played on the rocks creating more shadows than light and giving him no clue what had happened. He cursed under his breath.
97.
Botta didn't say anything for a while but he wrapped his arms about his upper body as if for protection. "You were worried."
To his surprise, that made Yuan laugh. The sound was sharp and sudden, dying out as abruptly as it began.
"You could say that," Yuan said. "But that would be an understatement."
98.
Wind was somehow almost alive. Perhaps even light could fit the bill. But darkness, earth, ice? Those were elements of still creatures, of beings and phenomena too slow for humans to perceive. Water, fire, thunder -- those were transient elements, always on the move. Not so with the slower elements. It took patience to be able to ... not quite communicate, but to become aware of the mana around oneself.
99.
"Perhaps we --" Botta didn't get very far with his suggestion, which was just as well. He wasn't sure he had had a viable plan in the first place. The reason why he didn't get very far was that something -- someone -- appeared in a flash of blue light. Botta blinked and squinted against the light; the other man let out a surprised and pained yelp as he shielded his eyes with an arm. There was a thud and a string of colorful curses from the person who had appeared as he hit his head on the low roof.
"Ow. What on earth are you up to?" Yuan asked, his voice irritated and impatient, as he rubbed at the back of his head.
100.
"I don't have a choice, do I?"
"If you still have a conscience," Yggdrasill began and smiled wickedly once more, "no."
101.
"It's a lot of info to be dug up, and little time to do it in," Sheena replied with a frown. "I really can't promise to have all the answers by tomorrow."
102.
"I'm serious," Yuan protested. "Stop fussing already!"
"In a minute," Numura replied as she poked at the shoulder she had been trying to finish healing for some time now. "I'll be done in a minute."
"You said that ten minutes ago," Yuan snapped. He was sitting on the edge of his desk because he flat out refused to keep lying down, but Numura hadn't been happy with his adamant insistence that he was fine and she had practically wrestled him down and been about to tear off his shirt if he didn't comply with her wishes.
That was when Yuan had admitted defeat, if only to save his clothing from being so abused.
103.
"So, it's freedom for you now," drawled the warden handing him his few personal belongings. Yuan fought the instinct to bristle at the mocking tone and instead focused on putting on his arm guards. The warden didn't mind the cold shoulder as he continued, "You ask me, it's a waste of time and everyone's resources to let you walk free. You'll be back before you know it."
"Not during your lifetime," Yuan replied smoothly, finally managing to attach the clasp on his arm guard that was giving him trouble. He looked up at the warden dispassionately to see him bristling, now.
104.
"The lake," Yuan repeated, fighting down a surge of irritation. He couldn't help the feeling, something he was unable to name but that was roiling in his veins, just under his skin, that was pulling him out into the streets, over the open plains towards the lake that had presumably once been home to unicorns.
105.
Yuan rubbed his eyes in order to give himself something to do -- something that didn't involve punching the idiot man standing right in front of him, that was.
106.
For a moment, Botta hesitated. Then his sympathy for the man won out and he reached for Yuan's arm. He laid his hand there slowly, watching Yuan's face carefully all the while for any sign that he was disturbed by the touch or movement.
107.
"If I didn't know better, I'd say you enjoy having me half-naked here," Yuan said with a roll of his eyes.
108.
Maybe you could try not acting in ways that put the poor man on the brink of a nervous breakdown, Botta thought, but he knew better than to voice his opinions, so all he did was nod.
109.
"Really?" Yuan raised an eyebrow. "I didn't peg you for the kind of person who would leave without so much as a 'by your leave'."
"Honor and respect are important," Botta said, "but a half-elf cannot rely on them alone to keep him or her safe. Humans have no qualms about breaking contracts if it benefits them."
110.
Botta found himself at a complete loss of words. "What?"
"Are you deaf or daft?" Yuan asked. There was an irritated edge to his voice, but there was also something almost... mischievous there.
111.
Yuan allowed a rare smile to form on his lips. "You've gotten better while I wasn't watching."
"You got rusty," Botta countered dryly. "I've been training."
112.
Yuan leaned against the window sill, draining the last of his tea. "So, what you're saying is that you want to grow old and die of old age, be a part of Lloyd's life?"
"I know that's anything but a good idea," Kratos replied quietly. "I don't necessarily need to be a part of his life. I just need to know I would likely be the one to die first. I - we both have been playing at life much too long, you and I."
Yuan shrugged. "I still have plenty of things to take care of."
113.
"Curious, but useless," Yuan remarked. "Your efforts have been wasted."
"I suppose," Botta admitted. "Much as it pains me to admit that."
114.
For a moment, there were tall embers in the fireplace, reaching high up into the chimney and casting stark shadows in the room, before they calmed down and the fire began to burn at a steady pace.
Botta found that his heart, however, couldn't seem to remember what a steady pace even was.
It took a couple of seconds before Botta realized that Yuan had been saying something and that he hadn't heard a word of it.
"I'm sorry, what?" he asked, and though he could hear his own voice and the crackling of the fire now, he was dismayed that he sounded so... disoriented.
115.
Yggdrasill raised his hand to silence Yuan, unfazed by his outburst. "Be quiet. I have made my decision, and seeing as you've mostly been a thorn in my side lately, it is time for you to try something new. As for you, Kratos, here is everything you need for your assignment. I think it will prove to be a challenging job, but fear not; I have faith in you."
116.
Striding confidently past the man, a haughty expression on his face, Yuan prayed the gardener's IQ rivaled only that of his rake and he wouldn't confront him about his identity.
117.
It hurt. The light. It burned.
For the second time during that day, Kratos groaned and tried to turn away from the annoying light.
"Ah. You're awake at last."
Kratos opened his eyes and laid them on a figure he knew. "Raine."
Raine smiled smugly and stood up from her chair. "Zelos grew tired of watching over you about an hour ago. It seems he decided it would be more interesting to go annoy Yuan instead."
118.
"Ooh. Nice impression of Undine you've got going on there," a new voice piped in and Yuan turned his head to see Zelos grinning at him in his usual idiotic way. He had a hard time resisting the urge to kick the Chosen to wipe that smug smile off his face.
119.
The look of utter bafflement on Yuan's face may have been comical under different circumstances. "Are they out of their minds? I'd never do such a thing. There are several people on the force who can attest to that."
120.
The worst thing was that, over the centuries of establishing and leading a rebel group in secret, he'd grown attached to the Renegades. It wasn't surprising, but it was troublesome.
121.
"Don't get excited now," Zelos said, "but I think you screwed up big time, my darling hunny."
122.
"Cut the crap." She narrowed her eyes and stared at him coldly. "You're not fit to lead."
"Are you going to relieve me of command then?" Botta asked. "This is hardly the first time something like this has happened. I know when to fall apart, and this is not the time."
"True. But here's the thing: normal people don't fall apart when it's most convenient to do so," she said. "You are a danger to everyone right now. So if you are planning on leading the assault, hell yes, I will declare you unfit for duty."
123.
"I wasn't talking about your looks." Yuan was sitting very close to him, Botta realized, and there was an odd, almost predatory look on his face. "Beneath the surface, you are something that I can't figure out."
124.
The girl froze even further upon hearing his words. If he hadn't been so annoyed by the whole thing, Yuan would have been impressed.
125.
Botta ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "I figured I would make a mistake sooner or later. It figures it would be you who caught me at last."
"And what exactly do you mean by that?" Yuan asked, his voice deceptively calm.
126.
"Stop trying to change the subject." Jingle leaned forward in his seat, a curious expression on his face. "So, what happened last night?"
Yuan took an apple from the tray and bit down on it. "What else? We talked. Nothing more."
"Sure. That's why he just about tripped over his own feet with that adorable blush on his face when he left," Jingle said with an amused smile. "Must have been pretty obscene discussions you had, then."
127.
She glanced at the mutilated body on the floor with a hard look on her face. "Hell, if I could fight, I would join the battle myself. Just don't do anything stupid. Don't get yourself killed out there."
"I won't." If only because he told me to stay alive, Botta added to himself.
128.
"I was..." Botta looked away for a moment. "I was wondering if he'd die before we even managed to get him here."
Jingle gave him a wan smile. "He's a tough bastard. I doubt he'd allow himself to be offed that easily."
129.
Why was he so nervous?
Botta closed his eyes and berated himself under his breath before he raised his hand and knocked on the wooden door firmly before he could think himself to death.
130.
"My bad, then." Botta leaned back a little. "Your reticence makes me think there's something that you do not wish to talk to me about. Which I would more than understand, but I feel that you're avoiding the issue altogether."
"Don't make things more complicated than they are," Yuan said and ran a hand through his hair. "I'm good enough at doing that myself."
Generic scenes
1.
It was elementary logic: when you were caught in the middle of a battle, you had no time to mourn the fallen. Your first priority was to secure the safety of the allies who were still alive and to get the injured to safety. After the battle was over and everyone was safe, that was when you could mourn the dead. Not before, unless you wanted to become one with them.
2.
He tried to shake the feeling that he had intruded upon something highly personal. He failed. The memory lingered and wispy fingers still seemed to reach for him from the remains of sleep.
3.
She was staring at him much like a sheep being led to the slaughterhouse. He, on the other hand, looked almost like a statue -- his face was frozen in an expression of shock and something neither of them wanted to identify.
They had crossed lines that shouldn't have been touched, and they couldn't take that back no matter what.
4.
Sure, he had thought about death and killing himself off for good several times, but he had never really let in the idea that he was, in fact, nothing but a skeleton bewitched to carry out the wish of someone who had already passed away.
5.
"I have harvested souls of the dead; they have helped me refine my inner self."
6.
"Life can be good," she said softly and pressed a chaste kiss on his lips. "Live it. See it. Enjoy it. After that, I'll think about taking you home with me."
7.
"Giving up and dying would be a coward's way out. Your honor wouldn't allow you to take it. You don't get to do the easy thing, for better or for worse."
8.
He narrowed his eyes, his gun still trained at her. "You've changed since last we met, lady."
"I have changed," she acquiesced, but the smile that accompanied the statement didn't make him feel at ease at all. She shouldn't have smiled. She shouldn't have felt anything. She shouldn't have been so many things that she obviously was, and he had no way to deal with the situation. He glared at her still.
9.
She looked at him contemplatively. It was an odd look on her face. "I think you are upset."
No, really, I'm happy as a clam, he thought acerbically but said nothing until he was fairly certain he could bite back the nasty words.
10.
"So I called those nightmares from within him? That’s hardly protective."
11.
Dreams didn’t extend into reality like that. Dreams didn’t make people feel like they were dying.
12.
The thought actually sent chills down his spine and made him shiver in badly controlled disgust. It was a bad enough thought that he would have to bring down a friend. It was a thousand times worse to think that he would have watch from afar as he devoured his own body and slowly killed it.
13.
All he could see were bad choices… and then worse ones. This wasn’t a fairytale. Not everyone could and would live happily ever after. Not even those who weren’t villains.
14.
It's said that there is no worse pain than that of losing your child. For the longest time, I thought so, too -- as a mother of three, I could think of nothing worse than losing any of my precious babies. They may all be on the brink of adulthood, but a mother never stops seeing the small children inside them.
I was lucky, to be able to see my kids grow up, but that luck wouldn't last. Some six months ago, I lost one of my daughters. I was devastated, and I really did think that there was nothing that could hurt more than being told that she was dead.
I was wrong.
There is one thing that is even worse than hearing that a child you nurtured for close to two decades is gone: having to suspect that the ones responsible for her death are, in fact, her own siblings.
15.
"The police are not as uncorrupted as the public would like to believe. Unfortunately for me, they err on the side of caution and want me back behind the bars sooner rather than later. Let's face it: no one thinks I'm not going to commit a crime ever again. Hell, I think that by associating with you, I already broke some sort of law."
16.
"You're talking about your sister who just died," the man said. "Show some respect."
"Oh, the way we usually do? You can try to make others believe you're a sophisticated, dignified person, but I know you too well to fall for that." She chewed on her lip with an ugly expression on her face. "She's not gone, anyway."
17.
A raw wind howled angrily in every single flaw there was in the buildings, whirling up clouds of snow from the street. Only someone completely out of their mind would be out there in this weather.
So, of course, he was out there, walking down the street.
18.
She laughed bitterly. "You call this life?"
"Some equivalent of it, then." He shrugged slightly. "Now, may I inquire about your age like you did about mine?"
"Hmm. I dunno, around ninety I'd say."
He nodded to himself. "That's what I thought. Have you led two or three 'lives'?"
"Two. It's hell getting out of a casket that's six feet under," she said and chuckled mirthlessly. "Didn't think I'd end up saying this, but you were lucky you didn't get buried."
19.
"That good-for-nothing, egotistic son of a serpent!" Staccia cursed under her breath and looked around for something she could use as a pole to get over the pit. "I'm going to kill him for leaving me here!"
20.
"Trust your instincts. You wish to live."
"I do?"
21.
"That wasn't fun. Are you all right?"
"I'll be better when you get off of me," he growled and pushed her roughly off. He sat up and was dismayed to see that although the dust hadn't turned the two of them into anything unsavory, it was all over their clothes and hair.
22.
This was the kind of sorrow that he would have to carry by himself. It was a selfish and strange, misplaced emotion. Sorrow over a child finding his own place in the world, testing out his wings and finding a lovely girl to share it with? There was something seriously off with him if that thought made him sad.
23.
He remembered that night in flashes. How he had been at home, reading up on a case he was working on, making food. The moment his phone rang and he picked it up thinking it was Anna who wanted to tell him they'd be coming home in a jiffy. The shock of hearing a troubled police officer tell him that there had been an accident. He remembered asking where it had happened. Remembered speeding down the frosty streets at maximum speed and minimum safety. It was a miracle he, too, hadn't driven off the road.
24.
I held the bone in my hand and felt both exhilarated and nauseous. There were two pieces of bone left of the body of my late mentor. One for me to keep until the time was right. One for me to carve with a rune of my choosing.
I had chosen my rune long ago. Dagaz, "Day". The rune of invisibility, higher awareness, transformation, change. The rune of at least one world savior. The light. But there is a flip side to everything, and I fully intended to make use of the magic bound in the bone for my own purposes.
I knew that my simply choosing that rune would be seen as blasphemy by the long line of masters who came before me, but you know what?
Forget the way they used to do things. I was in charge of vast powers now, and now that my mentor was gone ... there would be no one to stop me when I seized power and transmuted the world into what it should be.
25.
It would have been an understatement to say that Ivas didn't like the Magical Market.
The proprietor was an unsettling sight and had a personality to match. Add in a plethora of magical paraphernalia strewn all over the floor where any careless fool could trip over something nasty, and Ivas felt thoroughly uncomfortable whenever they visited the Market. It was no place for any sane person to be.
Unfortunately for Ivas, his friend (and employer) Piril had never even deigned to pretend he was sane, so here they were again.
26.
I opened a door, concentrated, and shut it once more before opening my eyes. I sighed as I raked my sweat-soaked hair back with my fingers.
"Is this really necessary?" I complained. "This is so tedious and boring."
"Better boring practice now than throwing open doors at random and trespassing in people's minds," my teacher said. "Not only would you burn yourself out, you would do irreparable harm to the minds you touched and stormed through."
27.
"That would make sense," the other man said dryly, "if the common people had any common sense instead of bucketfuls of prejudice."
27.
"Stop fantasizing about me and whichever girl you've got on your mind now," she said in that same clipped, business-like tone. And again without so much as a glance at his face. Harsh.
"Not all men have their minds entrenched in the gutter," he said. "And I'm sorry to disappoint you, but you are not the object of my desires anyway."
28.
"Bruises are, in fact, the visible sign of subcutaneous bleeding."
Brian rolled his eyes. "I don't know whether to find it endearing or annoying when you start talking 'science'."
----
Would you believe some of these scenes come from stories I was working on back in 2006 2003? x) Methinks my writing style has improved somewhat since then... Anyway. Please leave a comment if you could think of any kind of context (what, where, why, or anything you come up with) for any of these situations!
Note that there are more Symphonia prompts for your perusal here!