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bangtanexchange2015-02-20 05:07 pm
bangtanmod) wrote in bangtanexchange2015-02-20 05:07 pm
Entry tags:
for rixythewraith: to dust or gold
Title: To dust or to gold
Recipient:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rixythewraith
Pairing: Gen (if you squint super hard you might see jimin/yoongi?)
Rating: PG
Word count: 1200
Warnings hinted character death?
Summary: Jimin doesn’t quite understand it in the moment, because he hasn’t really done anything, but in the years to come, he’ll learn that a little friendship can go a long way.
Author's notes: Happy valentines dear recipient! Apologies if this isn’t quite what you had in mind with your prompt. Thank you to my hand holder who manages to scrape together what little sanity I have.
They told him once in math class coplanar lines that unravel to infinity will intersect at one point and one point only. Jimin contemplates this in the summer time when the air rushes past him in billows and charges his skin with electricity. He’s been standing in this field of grass for what seems like centuries. The world around him, in all directions, looks flat, and yet, inexplicably beautiful.
He tries remember what the classroom was like or what math even was, but it gets lost in the sands of time and all Jimin can latch on to is this one infinitesimal intersection.
&&
Yoongi ignores him at first. Yoongi is ten years old and sulking on the hillside behind his home. It’s one of those late summer evenings where the world is golden and beautiful, but somehow there is the smallest strain of sadness because summer is almost over. He yanks out an angry handful of grass and throws it at the sky, wondering why there has to be stupid things like war. Jimin stands a few feet behind him. He doesn’t quite know how to play with other kids yet and can only watch as Yoongi, with his back towards him, tries to disguise his shaking shoulders and muffled sobs.
Only after it gets dark does Yoongi finally stand up, wipe his eyes, and square his shoulders. He gazes at the star speckled sky, as if there was some answer to be found there. Jimin still hasn’t moved from his spot, but he too tries to follow whatever it is Yoongi’s trying to find in the sky.
Jimin speaks because this is the line he’s practiced over and over. He holds out his hand. “I’m Jimin. I’ll be your training partner at The Academy.”
All this earns him is a glare from Yoongi, whose eyes are still red from the tears. He pushes past Jimin without saying a single word, and heads back into the house. He’ll pack his things silently while his parents will try again and again to convince him of the duties of a son, and the future of The Nation.
Jimin spends that night on the hillside, not sure really about anything, except that Yoongi didn’t shake his hand back.
The Academy is nothing Jimin expected it to be, but it’s everything Yoongi had expected. Jimin’s never seen war until now, and Yoongi’s the one who was born into it. The weeks grow into months and the months bleed into years. The same routine of morning drills, military strategies, and math lessons gets hammered into Yoongi’s skin and bones. Jimin’s never really known anything besides that hillside and The Academy, but he can feel something just isn’t quite right.
When Yoongi is fourteen he almost runs away. He’s got it all figured out: the guards’ shift changes, the unlocked windows in the basement, and the most concealed paths to the forest. He tells Jimin this with all the stars in his eyes. They work through flight simulations and battle formations, that leave Yoongi weak and nauseated that Jimin has to carry him back to the bunks at the end of the day. Jimin wonders whether they’d run away together, but inside he already knows the answer.
Yoongi says he’s going to run away, but then his mother visits on Family Week and tells him his father has passed. Jimin thinks, maybe it’s then, that Yoongi begins to understand there isn’t anything out there to worth running to, because the next time Jimin asks about those unlocked windows in the basement, all Yoongi has to say is
“My purpose is here. The Nation needs me.”
The first time they fly the vipers, Jimin learns that Yoongi is terrified of heights. It explains his reaction to the simulations, but being in the sky has made it much worse. Jimin can’t imagine what it will be like when they do their drills in space. Yoongi’s not meant to be a pilot, but these things are never up to him. If it were up to him, he’d spend all of his time in the classrooms.
When Yoongi’s eighteen and finally about to be deployed for the first time, he finds himself hiding in an empty classroom, except he’s not really hiding because Jimin is there like he always is. Yoongi has been at The Academy for a long time now, and yet, he doesn’t really have any friends here. Then again, no one really has the energy for friendships outside of training. He thinks maybe this thing with Jimin can qualify as a friendship. On the night before they’re sent into battle, Yoongi tells him about his dreams, the real ones. They’re about a faraway land, where there’s no war or morning drills; there’s no future and no duties. He says maybe, once they bring peace back to The Nation, he’ll move to the country side, in a house not unlike the one he grew up in, and maybe he’ll be a math teacher.
Jimin spends the rest of that night when everyone else is sound asleep, trying to figure out what his own dreams are and what his purpose is, and comes up blank.
Just before they’re about to board the viper and ascend into battle, Yoongi turns to him and extends his hand for Jimin to shake. He smiles, with only the smallest hint of sadness, and says “Thank you.”
Jimin doesn’t quite understand it in the moment, because he hasn’t really done anything, but in the years to come, he’ll learn what it means, that a little friendship can go a long way.
In the end, they win the war. The heroes are welcomed back with celebration. The Nation finds its peace and there really isn’t much use for The Academy anymore. The children are sent home and the gates are closed. They don’t need trainers anymore, so Jimin is benched for another war in, perhaps, another time.
&&
It feels as if it’s been centuries since he first saw Yoongi here, but in reality it’s probably been more. Jimin’s stopped counting the time that’s elapsed. He doesn’t know if Yoongi ever did move to the country side, but here on this hill Jimin likes to think he can hear the echoes of the life Yoongi had always dreamed of living. The grass is tall now and the house long surrendered to gravity, but the late summer sunset remains the same.
Jimin wonders, much like he always wonders, what he’s supposed to do next. His body has given no sign of wearing out; he’s powered by the sun after all. In all the time he’s endured, the years at The Academy is just a small, small part of it, and yet it’s all he’s ever known. He finds it funny—as much as he can find anything funny—that he’s outlasted everyone he was made to help. There’s no one here to fight any wars, no one for him to train. He was only ever programmed for one thing. So he stands, instead, on this hillside, through wind and rain, and waits for another boy, in another time, who just needs a friend.
Recipient:
rixythewraithPairing: Gen (if you squint super hard you might see jimin/yoongi?)
Rating: PG
Word count: 1200
Warnings hinted character death?
Summary: Jimin doesn’t quite understand it in the moment, because he hasn’t really done anything, but in the years to come, he’ll learn that a little friendship can go a long way.
Author's notes: Happy valentines dear recipient! Apologies if this isn’t quite what you had in mind with your prompt. Thank you to my hand holder who manages to scrape together what little sanity I have.
They told him once in math class coplanar lines that unravel to infinity will intersect at one point and one point only. Jimin contemplates this in the summer time when the air rushes past him in billows and charges his skin with electricity. He’s been standing in this field of grass for what seems like centuries. The world around him, in all directions, looks flat, and yet, inexplicably beautiful.
He tries remember what the classroom was like or what math even was, but it gets lost in the sands of time and all Jimin can latch on to is this one infinitesimal intersection.
&&
Yoongi ignores him at first. Yoongi is ten years old and sulking on the hillside behind his home. It’s one of those late summer evenings where the world is golden and beautiful, but somehow there is the smallest strain of sadness because summer is almost over. He yanks out an angry handful of grass and throws it at the sky, wondering why there has to be stupid things like war. Jimin stands a few feet behind him. He doesn’t quite know how to play with other kids yet and can only watch as Yoongi, with his back towards him, tries to disguise his shaking shoulders and muffled sobs.
Only after it gets dark does Yoongi finally stand up, wipe his eyes, and square his shoulders. He gazes at the star speckled sky, as if there was some answer to be found there. Jimin still hasn’t moved from his spot, but he too tries to follow whatever it is Yoongi’s trying to find in the sky.
Jimin speaks because this is the line he’s practiced over and over. He holds out his hand. “I’m Jimin. I’ll be your training partner at The Academy.”
All this earns him is a glare from Yoongi, whose eyes are still red from the tears. He pushes past Jimin without saying a single word, and heads back into the house. He’ll pack his things silently while his parents will try again and again to convince him of the duties of a son, and the future of The Nation.
Jimin spends that night on the hillside, not sure really about anything, except that Yoongi didn’t shake his hand back.
The Academy is nothing Jimin expected it to be, but it’s everything Yoongi had expected. Jimin’s never seen war until now, and Yoongi’s the one who was born into it. The weeks grow into months and the months bleed into years. The same routine of morning drills, military strategies, and math lessons gets hammered into Yoongi’s skin and bones. Jimin’s never really known anything besides that hillside and The Academy, but he can feel something just isn’t quite right.
When Yoongi is fourteen he almost runs away. He’s got it all figured out: the guards’ shift changes, the unlocked windows in the basement, and the most concealed paths to the forest. He tells Jimin this with all the stars in his eyes. They work through flight simulations and battle formations, that leave Yoongi weak and nauseated that Jimin has to carry him back to the bunks at the end of the day. Jimin wonders whether they’d run away together, but inside he already knows the answer.
Yoongi says he’s going to run away, but then his mother visits on Family Week and tells him his father has passed. Jimin thinks, maybe it’s then, that Yoongi begins to understand there isn’t anything out there to worth running to, because the next time Jimin asks about those unlocked windows in the basement, all Yoongi has to say is
“My purpose is here. The Nation needs me.”
The first time they fly the vipers, Jimin learns that Yoongi is terrified of heights. It explains his reaction to the simulations, but being in the sky has made it much worse. Jimin can’t imagine what it will be like when they do their drills in space. Yoongi’s not meant to be a pilot, but these things are never up to him. If it were up to him, he’d spend all of his time in the classrooms.
When Yoongi’s eighteen and finally about to be deployed for the first time, he finds himself hiding in an empty classroom, except he’s not really hiding because Jimin is there like he always is. Yoongi has been at The Academy for a long time now, and yet, he doesn’t really have any friends here. Then again, no one really has the energy for friendships outside of training. He thinks maybe this thing with Jimin can qualify as a friendship. On the night before they’re sent into battle, Yoongi tells him about his dreams, the real ones. They’re about a faraway land, where there’s no war or morning drills; there’s no future and no duties. He says maybe, once they bring peace back to The Nation, he’ll move to the country side, in a house not unlike the one he grew up in, and maybe he’ll be a math teacher.
Jimin spends the rest of that night when everyone else is sound asleep, trying to figure out what his own dreams are and what his purpose is, and comes up blank.
Just before they’re about to board the viper and ascend into battle, Yoongi turns to him and extends his hand for Jimin to shake. He smiles, with only the smallest hint of sadness, and says “Thank you.”
Jimin doesn’t quite understand it in the moment, because he hasn’t really done anything, but in the years to come, he’ll learn what it means, that a little friendship can go a long way.
In the end, they win the war. The heroes are welcomed back with celebration. The Nation finds its peace and there really isn’t much use for The Academy anymore. The children are sent home and the gates are closed. They don’t need trainers anymore, so Jimin is benched for another war in, perhaps, another time.
&&
It feels as if it’s been centuries since he first saw Yoongi here, but in reality it’s probably been more. Jimin’s stopped counting the time that’s elapsed. He doesn’t know if Yoongi ever did move to the country side, but here on this hill Jimin likes to think he can hear the echoes of the life Yoongi had always dreamed of living. The grass is tall now and the house long surrendered to gravity, but the late summer sunset remains the same.
Jimin wonders, much like he always wonders, what he’s supposed to do next. His body has given no sign of wearing out; he’s powered by the sun after all. In all the time he’s endured, the years at The Academy is just a small, small part of it, and yet it’s all he’s ever known. He finds it funny—as much as he can find anything funny—that he’s outlasted everyone he was made to help. There’s no one here to fight any wars, no one for him to train. He was only ever programmed for one thing. So he stands, instead, on this hillside, through wind and rain, and waits for another boy, in another time, who just needs a friend.
no subject
Ok first of all - I absolutely love this in every way oh my god thank you so much. Your style is really nice and the language is lovely - it's not too overcrowded it feels rather elegant.
I really love the slow world building you used in this. None of the exposition feels clunky or intrusive to the story but you learn so much about what's going on and what type of a world they're all living in. Honestly when I started reading this I wasn't sure which prompt you had gone with, then with the line "hiding in an empty classroom, except he’s not really hiding because Jimin is there like he always is" I started to suspect that this was the robot prompt but I really liked that you didn't make that clear until the end - like it makes you consider the entire fic in a new light.
I also really liked the framing of the story, these little snapshots that Jimin sees but doesn't quite know how to interract with unless Yoongi specifically invites him in. I think you did a really good job of showing Yoongi growing up through these brief snippets of his life - the petulant child, the rebelious teenager, the young adult who has begrudgingly accepted his fate - while Jimin remains relatively unchanged. Obviously he's a learning robot but he can't learn fast enough to keep up with how Yoongi changes. I also thought that Jimin's lack of emotional response to the emotional turmoil Yoongi goes through really worked to a) make it clearer that Jimin is a machine b) make it clear that Yoongi is emotional and trying not to be (and in the end, he can only do what is expected of him when he puts aside his own feelings on the matter) c) make it clear that war isn't something that the people on the sidelines can ever really understand: Yoongi suffers and wants out but through Jimin's gaze we watch him do so but we have no real understanding of how hard this is for him.
I FEEL LIKE I RAMBLED THROUGH THAT LAST PARAGRAPH QUITE A LOT but the main takeaway message is: I love this and I couldn't have asked for a better interpretation of this prompt.
ps - I don't know if you've ever read the Saga comic series but something about teh academy/moral obligation/wars in space thing kind of reminded me of Robot IV from the books
no subject
i really liked it and i don't know how i feel right now but i feel like staring at nothing for a long time.. sorry i'm just being weird.. thank you for writing this..