Gray Nightingale (Aiya) (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
experiencepoints) wrote2014-04-02 12:21 pm
experiencepoints) wrote2014-04-02 12:21 pm
(no subject)
signeg - salutatorian
In this memory, high-school age Aiya is sitting at a table across from her parents. She's apparently depressed and anxious about this talk, and throughout the whole memory, there is a sense of crushing failure.
She tries to force cheerfulness into her voice as she tells them she was named salutatorian for her graduating class. It's an honor, after all, and she tried her hardest. Her mother- a small woman in ornate red robes- looks at her with clear concern- What went wrong? Where was your mistake? She tries to explain with a forced smile that she didn't make a mistake, the valedictorian had the same GPA, but just more extracurricular activities that tipped it in their favor...
Her father, a broad-shouldered man wearing plate armor, makes a 'harrumph' noise. She could have had those extra hours, too, but she wasted her time playing with a beast tribe girl and an elf. Aiya immediately protests that those are her friends, to which her father snorts, and asks a simple question: Doesn't she have any human friends? It's because she hung out with those people that she couldn't be valedictorian herself. She only made second place.
Aiya has to restrain herself, but in the back of her head, she couldn't help but tell herself her parents were right- she hadn't tried hard enough, so she was only second place. And like she had always been told, second place isn't good enough. In a dungeon, in a fight, second place in a fight is dead, and the dead become weak, and the weak just die more.
She apologizes to her parents for disappointing them, and stands up to excuse herself, leaving the table in silence.
In this memory, high-school age Aiya is sitting at a table across from her parents. She's apparently depressed and anxious about this talk, and throughout the whole memory, there is a sense of crushing failure.
She tries to force cheerfulness into her voice as she tells them she was named salutatorian for her graduating class. It's an honor, after all, and she tried her hardest. Her mother- a small woman in ornate red robes- looks at her with clear concern- What went wrong? Where was your mistake? She tries to explain with a forced smile that she didn't make a mistake, the valedictorian had the same GPA, but just more extracurricular activities that tipped it in their favor...
Her father, a broad-shouldered man wearing plate armor, makes a 'harrumph' noise. She could have had those extra hours, too, but she wasted her time playing with a beast tribe girl and an elf. Aiya immediately protests that those are her friends, to which her father snorts, and asks a simple question: Doesn't she have any human friends? It's because she hung out with those people that she couldn't be valedictorian herself. She only made second place.
Aiya has to restrain herself, but in the back of her head, she couldn't help but tell herself her parents were right- she hadn't tried hard enough, so she was only second place. And like she had always been told, second place isn't good enough. In a dungeon, in a fight, second place in a fight is dead, and the dead become weak, and the weak just die more.
She apologizes to her parents for disappointing them, and stands up to excuse herself, leaving the table in silence.