22 October 2010

EtHR related: Sister

Title: Sister, how Yia, Hisho, and Kaori get in the Ferrezin backstory
Author: SilverInk
Writing: Background brief
Word Count: 1092



"I don't have a sister. Leave me alone."
"Hisho! How could you say that? Yia all but died for you! What's--"
"She's an Object, Kaori! Now leave me alone! I can do what I want!" The door to the small shack slammed, leaving Kaori outside, fuming.
Kaori's temper was no small thing to reckon with, but Hisho Nishanka knew he was an exception. No one could escape her wrath, but he was the master of the illusionist. He could decide who to punish and who to reward. The entire of Kaori was in his hands. 
Hisho stared at the small shack his sister had built when their parents had been killed. How, he wondered, Yia of all people failed her Assignment of Destiny, was a wonder. If he was completely honest with himself, she embodied all that was praiseworthy. Yet she had been condemned. And Kaori, who was cold-hearted and cruel had passed. 
But this reflecting got no one anywhere and Hisho shook his head, washed his hands at the handmade sink, tossed his backpack on the handwoven chair, and flopped on the handmade bed. Kaori would come over with dinner later, he hoped. He did not want to cook himself.
<<~~---~~>>


Upon arriving at her house, Kaori greeted her parents respectfully and then proceeded upstairs to her loft. She locked the door as usual, and finished her homework in the dark room. Within an hour of diligent work, she had completed her work and her studying. 
"Mother, should I cook dinner?" Her mother nodded lazily and continued browsing the television. Kaori accepted this without comment and went to make dinner for the three-person family.
<<~~---~~>>

Homework lying abandoned in his backpack still, Hisho searched through the sparse closet for clothes that would suit him. He would be leaving all this behind when he went to the Ferrezin Tournament, but he wanted to see what he might take with him anyways. His weapon, a rather feeble metal bat was propped next to the bag he had bought specifically to bring. Hisho had thought his plan through carefully: If he lost in the Tournament, he wouldn't be alive to spend any of his money anyways; if he survived and won, he would be rich beyond measure and the small coin he had now would be useless. He supposed he might as well buy a new bat and armor but that could wait for a while. After all, he didn't leave for another week.
He turned at the sound of a knock on the door and stood to open it. He supposed he could have just opened it with his magic, as Yia always did--Yia did everything with magic, it seemed--but Hisho quite frankly didn't see the purpose. That, and magic didn't come quite as easily to him. That was what he told himself at least. But truthfully, it was that he simply didn't care enough for it to work at it. 
"I made spaghetti for you," Kaori said, stepping inside. She set her dinner--now Hisho's--on the rickety table Yia had pieced together with help from a few temple folk. "Your favorite."
"Thanks," Hisho said and dove right in, thinking Kaori had already eaten--that's what she always told him anyways. 
"In any case, Hisho. I want to talk about your decision to join the Ferrezin."
"Not again, seriously?"
"Yia instructed me to take care of you. And by that definition I think sending you off to a dangerous fight thing is not at all good care."
"Well, leave it alone. It's been what, four, five years since she left?"
"...Yia undertook the Ritual of Holena three years ago, when we were 17 and you were 10."
"You're so serious about it."
"She was a good person."
"You mean, she believed your sob stories."
"No." Kaori's fist was balled up under the table in anger and frustration. Her stomach growled hungrily but she hid it under an illusion of sound. "No. I say she was a good person because she was selfless. Don't deny it!" she snapped at Hisho's rolling eyes. "She stayed up the night before her Assignment to take care of you because you were sick! And during her grace period, she did nothing but patch up the shack for you and sew you new clothes and make sure everything was stocked! How you could dare disregard everything she did is an amazement to me!"
"Yea yea. Yia was this, Yia was that. You don't listen to what the others say, do you? It's not like she was smart or good at anything really. She did her duty as a sister and that's it. You give her too much credit."
"Her duty as a sister was to see that you lived to the age of nine, Hisho! I've read the wills! She overdid herself. She was not a perfect student because she was always helping you with YOUR homework and studies. She never got the time to pursue her own interests because she was always working--running the mill, doing odd jobs--for you! Food, clothes, everything! You're an idiot!"
Kaori had stood up and was now pacing agitatedly. She sat back down in a huff and stared at the boy she had been asked to watch. "She should have left you to die. I should have left you to die. But neither of us did. And now you want to throw yourself into the most violent competition of all time?"
Hisho thought for a moment, looking down at his food. He let out a sniffle. "I-I- You know how Yia failed her Assignment... I'm already 13 too. Every moment I stay here is a chance for me to get my own Assignment...and I'm afraid I'll fail. But if I survive the Ferrezin, I'm granted immunity from the Ritual."
Kaori softened a little and sighed. "It won't be that bad. The Assignment should be do-able. It's nowhere near as hard as surviving the Ferrezin in any case. And you don't know that you get immunity. Just because Objects are granted amnesty doesn't mean you're granted immunity if you've never been an Object."
Hisho was silent. He looked up and though his eyes were dry, he had stuck his lip out in petulance and watched Kaori with wide, mournful eyes. 
"That doesn't work on me." Kaori crossed her arms. 
"You can't stop me anyways," Hisho said finally, dropping the act and continuing eating.
Kaori growled and stood up. She marched out the door in a huff. Outside, Hisho heard her say resolutely, "I'm telling Yia."


Artist's Note: For reference, this is about five years after "My Dark Haven," :) No, Kaori isn't supposed to be that nice.


So, another installment of EtHR related stuff! I haven't gotten around to painting Kaori's picture and posting it, but I'm almost done! >.<. I actually have a few preliminary sketches of Yia and Hisho as well, so I'll post them here when and if I actually get around to scanning, cropping, and fixing them a bit >.<


I'll try to finish Tsiyone's background story asap! >.<


Um.... there should definitely be a post next week... :/ I need to work on my college essays! >..,


Hope you enjoyed; please comment! 
~SilverInk


P.S. Sorry I changed the background again! >.< It was too emo for me >.< I'm "bipolar" o.O Or, as Mr. Jacobs (former Varsity Biology teacher) put, in comment of my love of scrawling "dipole- dipole FTW" and my volatile nature: "Dipolar"

2 comments:

Minsat said...

a) Jacobs called you that?! HAHA XD

b) Whoa! That kid's a brat >:/ Kaori must really like her friend to act like that XD

SilverInk said...

@Minsat--

a) yes! Just this Friday, as I was graffitiing his board with "Diploe diple FTW" and "Monocot vs dicot". He was like, "Why are you so obsessed with that?"
and somehow it came up that I was bipolar or something and Daisy Goober was like "Maybe she is one" Or something. And then Jacobs was leik, "DIPOLAR" or something >.<

b) yep :)

<3 you