Get these screwy Rabbits out of my head!

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Re: Get these screwy Rabbits out of my head!

Unread postby gman391 » August 27th, 2015, 3:13 am

Letter from the Scorpion.

Anonymous letter from Nezuban Province

Hello Father

This letter if it reaches you by the hidden paths of our clan, it reaches you from beyond the grave. I admit to being curious as to what you would say about this were I still living, but that is not to important in the grand scheme of things.

For a death letter this could say a lot or very little, we both know how much 'information' we've gleaned from reading other people's mail over the years. Yet at the same time, I know that this night will be my last, I know it my bones, and I go to it gladly.

The darkness was my home, and to die in your home is good no?

You must have known that I hated you. How could you not? I hated you for choosing the Clan over me, over my mother, over us. Sacrifice is the watch word of the Scorpion but I hated you for it. I despised that you could look at me with those cold dark eyes and simply say 'acceptable'.

Acceptable when I became Samurai, acceptable when against all odds I managed to not only survive the assassin's of our old foe but strike back at their source, acceptable when I, and I alone rode three days and nights to warn you of the Unicorn's march.

Acceptable.

I loathed that word from you, and you for uttering it. No matter how hard I tried, no matter what I did, I would never be anything but acceptable. Not good, not bad, just alright. It didn't seem to matter to you what I did, only that it was done.

Acceptable was the word you used when I told you that in revenge for my mothers murder I had slain an Otomo bastard who had arranged her death.

I wonder now that if that was the only way you knew to tell me that you were okay with me. That you thought I was doing the right thing. The Scorpion lie, that is our nature, but the lies we tell ourselves might be the most potent of all.

Did you believe father that I would stop striving to my utmost if you praised me even once? Did you think that I would not believe you because I have never seen your face? Did you want to tell me something but stopped yourself because that is not our way?

Or were you just what you appeared to be? A man consumed by the one thing in his life that he could cling to without regret, duty. A man who ordered the deaths of hundreds to prevent a greater tragedy, a man who had broken more hearts across the Empire than most ever realized they could break.

I do not know, not really, it is easier to believe the latter because then I can feel justified in my hatred, for never being there for us, for never showing that we were your children, for not even mourning mother's death.

But, the truth is, I don't want to go to the next life whatever it may be, hating my father. So I choose father to believe that you did care, that you didn't know how to show it, but you did care. It might be a lie, it might be but we both know that a Lie can save just as much as truth can.

Farewell Father.



Bayushi Mokati reads the letter from his son again. The secret codes of the Bayushi mean nothing to the one who created them. Underneath his mask, his face twitches into a downward frown. In truth he had always thought the boy understood, that he was protecting him. To show favourtism to show compassion would be to invite the many enemies he had cultivated to strike at the boy, his most precious son. Mokati was willing to sacrifice himself, his honour and his soul for the clan, but he was not willing to sacrifice his son.

"Idiot, you should have returned home, this is not acceptable."

Some now say that the Shion* flowers that now grow in Mokati's garden are for those who died in the recent wars. But a few brave souls believe that the flowers are for his son.

*In Flower Language, the Shion Flowers mean 'Remembrance'
"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world."
----Jack Layton
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Re: Get these screwy Rabbits out of my head!

Unread postby gman391 » August 27th, 2015, 3:13 am

Last one. I hope these were enjoyed but who knows eh?

A Letter from the Unicorn

Unsent Letter

Dear Mother

Hello, again, its me your daughter. I wonder if you know me now at all? I admit its hard to tell, you're not around anymore. The priests say that your death was quick. It terrifies me really, I know that fear is a sin, but how can I not feel fear when I find out that you're just gone? No more soft smiles welcoming me home. No more gentle prodding to actually talk to my fiancee instead of tying him up and throwing him over my shoulder. Which for the record I still say worked. No more weird jokes, no more anything. You're just sort of gone.

I don't even know if you can see me anymore. I wish I had been there, been able to protect you, to do something. They say that parents protect their children so that their children can protect them when they're old. I didn't do that, I failed you, and I honestly don't know how to deal with that.

It used to be I'd send these letters and you'd respond with some deep wisdom from our ancestors "Grandmother used to say 'Never try to catch a Lion with a net, use milk instead' or something like that.

Now I have to do it on my own. I have to be the strong Battle Maiden, and live Bushido in the purest way I can, with my spear by my side and Metsuke underneath me.

Yet putting it like that, like I'm angry at you for being gone is well, selfish, childish really. You never asked for it, and trying to change the past does not work.

But I still miss you.

I think I will always miss you mother.

But, I will carry the lessons you taught me in my heart.

That Compassion is the core of who we are, and that is the strength of the Unicorn. We care and because we care, we can transcend any limits for those we care for.

That Honesty is the guiding hand of our actions. The lies we tell ourselves and others make us hesitate and shrink from our path.

That Courage is the Fire that does not go out no matter how much fear tries to smother it. So we stoke our courage to ride fearlessly into the next life.

That Loyalty is the solid Earth that anchors our compassion, honesty and courage into those who deserve it.

That Courtesy is the soft water that holds the fire back until such time as it is needed.

That Sincerity is the swift wind carrying our intentions openly so that no one may cry that we have deceived them.

That Honour is the endless void that we carry with in us defining us as we choose it.

I will carry these lessons in my heart as dearly as I carry you in my heart, mother.

So if you're up there watching me mother, I promise, I'll live and make you proud, because I never could ask for a better mother, and the only way to honour you properly, is to ride as the Utaku do for Honour, Purity and our Clan.

Farewell mother.


Utaku Lana reads the letter she wrote yet again, and shakes her head.

No it's pointless. Mother is dead, but still maybe, maybe she'll see it up there?
Lana doesn't know really, she couldn't, but as she places the letter into the fire, she hopes it does reach her mother.

As the fire dies and Lana turns to sleep, she never notices the gentle soft wind that caresses her face, or the smiling woman behind it.

Those skilled in the arts of the spirits may have divined that the woman was giving her final farewell to Lana, but alas none were there, and slowly the smiling woman faded away.

For the first night in weeks, Lana slept quietly, her dreams filled with a mother accepting the love of her daughter.
"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world."
----Jack Layton
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gman391
 
Posts: 3288
Joined: January 20th, 2011, 5:14 pm


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