Again, more prompted from that book I talked about. Enjoy!
Clothes Exercise
Title: On Legwarmers...Perhaps.
Rating: G
Characters/Pairing: Gai
Challenge: Clothes - Use a vivid piece of clothing to tell a story. Didn't quite follow that…
"On Legwarmers, Perhaps." – Gai
He owns a few dozen pair, much as anyone else might own multiple pairs of socks, but this is his favorite, imperfect as it may be. The frayed edges are worn with age, scarred by snags from the occasional thorn or branch while climbing through trees or underbrush in haste (and in the left, a gaping, irreparable hole still stands testament to a misstep). The color has dulled somewhat, paled out by the sun and dirt and multiple washings (scrubbed by hand and treated with harshest of chemicals until all traces of the day's activities bled out of every fiber and into the wash waters), and when compared to his others, this pair lacks the usual luster or vivacity; comparatively, beside his bright clothing, it appears dull, world-weary, almost lifeless.
Yet, he values this pair most. To lose it would be something tragic.
So when the tightly woven knit is coming undone, he sees fit to try to repair or save whatever possible; he ties off the unraveling strings like a surgeon making a tourniquet, stopping the problem before it can spread, even at the risk of losing a little in the process. But he knows that piece by unraveling piece, his treasure is coming apart at the seams. Still, he refuses to give up—that is just not his way—and though he often considers putting away his fragile plaything in a drawer, he cannot bring himself to shut anything away like a forgotten toy (he still remembers when they were both so new, children, really…young but never innocent…who would have realized they would both be fraying with age so soon?)… So he handles him with care…and hopes somehow that his tattered and torn friend does not unravel in his hands.