I've already embarrassed myself once in French, so I'll spare you guys this time, but I live in Calgary (aka Anglotown, in Angloland) so there's no guarantee I won't use the Francophones here as target practice. Also, sorry about the delay in posting, but computer access has been practically nonexistent and I refuse to wrangle with the mobile site. Last of all, I can't thank enough the two reviewers I shall now refer to as 'regulars,' and I encourage you readers to give them some company. I, like most writers, am an attention...let us say 'lady of negotiable affection.'
Sorry if the author's notes are a bit clipped in this one, but the website glitched as I clicked 'save,' rendering 45 minutes' worth of work nonexistent. I was all I could do not to break my computer in half and then in half again.
Without further ado...
"Hah, look at that guy over there!"
Daisya pointed out of the train car window to a man wearing the traditional lederhosen of the area, ignoring the current conventions for suits and military wear.
Kanda surveyed the scene grimly, despite the pleasant aura cast by the setting sun.
"Yeah."
"Wouldn't you like to wear those?"
"I'd rather rip my own arm off."
Tiedoll of off making an arrangement for the compartment — they were difficult to get, but the post of exorcist held a certain weight — leaving Marie to supervise the kids. He'd apparently decided that they were now getting along.
Well, perhaps making peace to allow for mutually self-centred attitudes was a step up from the previous stage.
There was a leisurely sound from Daisya's end of the bench as he stretched, and a sound bordering on a hiss from Kanda.
"Don't touch me."
The voice held its normal timbre of contempt, despite Kanda's slightly more neutral attitude.
"Okay, okay."
Daisya responded with his customary teasing manner, just on the edge of annoying.
Marie remembered finding his story quite funny. That the kid who had the audacity to scrawl a smiley-face on Tiedoll's work would turn out to be an accommodator was a bit…hmm, ironic wasn't the word, but he couldn't come up with a better one at the moment. It had been hard to imagine a child could be so rude, but Daisya's actions did not disappoint.
Daisya heaved a sigh of boredom.
"Geez, where's that old man gotten to? We need to get going."
There was a grunt of annoyance.
"You'll be bored in five minutes even if he comes back, so be quiet."
"No, we can play another game when we've got four people."
Kanda made another exasperated noise.
"There are plenty of games you can be play with three people."
"Like what? Hearts?"
"What, are you stupid?"
There was the intake of breath that might otherwise have heralded a reply, but it was cut off.
"Don't answer that. Marie just told us about a couple a few days ago."
"Oh yeah," said Daisya, as recognition dawned, "We can get play that sound game, where you have to guess the note. That'll be fun."
He started to absentmindedly tap a pattern of beats on the bench. Sometimes his fingers had a life of their own.
"I didn't say we should do it," said Kanda angrily, "I was ju–"
"But we can still play a game," interrupted Daisya, "How about that, old man Marie?"
Marie ignored the slight, and weighed the options. It would pass time, and Kanda would likely stop grumbling after a few minutes. Also, Daisya wouldn't have the chance to create himself a monologue. A few minutes of variety wouldn't hurt.
"That sounds like a good idea."
…
General Tiedoll walked back to the compartment, mentally thanking both of his charges for building up his argumentative skills. If there was a young clerk or a bored assistant manning the counter, then bartering was simple. An old lady, though…
It was likely that many businesses owed most of their profits to a chain-smoking septuagenarian.
He heard an odd humming noise as he stood outside the door.
"Hmm."
He opened the door, and saw Kanda scowling in concentration.
"G flat…I think."
Daisya stopped humming.
"Yeah! You're actually not bad at this, Kanda."
"You sound surprised."
"Well, yeah. And Marie's way better than you."
Tiedoll took a seat next to the apparent master of the game.
"The note-guessing game, is it?"
"Yes," answered Marie quietly, as the scuffle continued across from them, "I did not anticipate the two of them knowing about music."
Tiedoll smiled.
"Well, I thought Yuu might like some calming piano training. And Daisya wouldn't leave me alone once he learned I could teach him. He's very persistent."
"They both are."
The ambient noise died down eventually, with Kanda and Daisya settling for their typical expressions of sullenness and arrogance.
"Shall we move on?" asked Tiedoll, "I have a note in mind."
A sharp, it turned out to be. Though many would argue that it was the same as B flat, the nuances in the voice can distinguish between the two. It's all in the resonance.
As it so happened, Tiedoll and Marie were the only ones capable of differentiating between the two, so they would easily have won the game had they been keeping track.
...
Sadly, before a victory could be accounted, the darkening sky had taken a hold on the passengers.
Tiedoll stood up quietly, and pulled the blankets from the overhead compartment.
"We're going to be travelling through the night," he advised, "So it would be best if everyone got some sleep while we can."
He tossed one over to Marie, and two to the kids. He would stay awake. The exorcist generals had a certain paranoia that enabled them to stay awake for quite a while. That, and one of the variety of mysterious pills made by the Order's infirmary staff. They were invaluable to most of the exorcist Generals.
To be precise, he'd had maybe two nights of sleep since leaving the Order, courtesy of Marie volunteering for the night shift. The kids needed their sleep. They were still growing, though Daisya had Yuu by a few inches already.
A few minutes later, Daisya was contentedly dozing off. He had the incredible ability to go to sleep anywhere, at any time. Tiedoll envied him a bit. Yuu and Marie were still awake, but he doubted it would be for long. The rocking motion of the train was somewhat soothing.
The sun set further and further below the horizon as forests of beech and spruce flew by outside the window. The south German mountains and spruce forests were a thing of beauty. Had there been time to spare, he would have liked to stop and paint them. Particularly they way they were now, at dusk.
The forested mountains were silhouetted black against the reddish clouds on the horizon, and clawed up as the sky faded from rose to dusky violet and eventually to a deep, dark blue.
Peaceful.
Many exorcists failed to see that the world was neither good nor evil. They saw it either as the birthplace of akuma or the work of a well-meaning God. There was good, and there was evil, but they were not intrinsic in the world. They were entirely human conventions, that were born and died within humanity.
The world, instead, held beauty and ugliness. Neither one was good or evil. And, indeed, he recorded both in his sketchbooks.
He heard the slight change of breathing in the cabin as Marie first, then Yuu fell asleep. Daisya had been out for a while, lucky kid.
The light behind the trees grew dusty, and faded.
As the train wound further up along the sides of the mountains, the moon became visible, climbing higher in the sky as the night wore on. A full moon, suitable for the peace of the occasion, and coloured a buttery yellow from the smoke of the mining towns.
Someone yawned quietly, and shifted position.
Tiedoll had spent countless nights awake, watching over his students. He had seen enough to know that someday, he would spend the night awake, watching as they only appeared to be sleeping, despite the utter, utter stillness of their bodies.
Marie had survived. But he was one of many.
Who had not.
It is the destiny of the child to watch the parent die.
He cast a glance over his students. Marie had curled up on himself, and leaned against the window. Across from them, Yuu and Daisya had slumped together in a heap, balancing on each others' shoulders.
It is the destiny of the master to watch his apprentices do the same.
...
The train pulled into the station sometime after four in the morning, when the horizon was stained lilac. Yuu and Marie woke up immediately, but Daisya remained fast asleep.
"What–"
To forestall his yelling, Tiedoll placed a hand on Yuu's arm.
"Don't wake him up too roughly."
Kanda's face contorted into a grimace, and he attempted to push Daisya off of him as gently as possible. He wasn't too fond of loud noises, either.
"There's a ferry leaving at six that we can catch, so we have an hour or two to kill," said Tiedoll quietly.
There was a thunk as Daisya fell over on the bench, punctuating the early morning silence.
"Is it safe to wait at the port?" asked Marie, "Or has there been any abnormal activity in the area?"
"We should be safe here,"Tiedoll replied, "We can have a nap if we find a convenient bench."
Marie nodded.
"Yes, that would be good. But I think I should stay awake. You need your sleep, as does everyone else."
He gestured at Daisya, who was being prodded insistently by Kanda.
"Ah, thank you."
Tiedoll smiled to himself. His students never ceased to be cute. The ones that survived, at least.
The rest were ashes, though their named plaques lay in the rows upon rows of the Order 'cemetery'. He went by whenever he came back, scattering the scraps and cinders of sketches over the carved marble.
It was only right that as life died, beauty died with it.
I found Marie and Tiedoll quite interesting to write, though it was a bit difficult. For Marie, I gave him a bit of a formal speaking style. He's about 21 in this, and I imagine him to have been a shy teenager, especially after learning about what Tiedoll accomplished when he wasn't training exorcists. Also, I tried to make the description in his part auditory, to give a picture similar to the one he saw, as it were, as opposed to a conventional one.
For Tiedoll, I referred to Kanda as 'Yuu' whenever the narrative was firmly from his perspective, and 'Kanda' when I was in doubt. I tried to write his character as benevolent, but practical. Because unnecessary angst would be dangerous to an exorcist General, I imagine he would be very good at getting over the loss of his students. Just going by the mortality rate of exorcists and some info I remembered, his only remaining students as of the latest chapters are Marie, Kanda, and Chaoji, so I thought he would think of the students he lost with kindness, but not with too much grief.
However, I think that not even the most experienced of exorcists can quite cut out the memories from their minds of what was, and how different it is from what now is.