Snagged meme from xirysa because bored

[scarletmorning]

Give me a prompt consisting of one word, and I'll do my best to write a 500-word minimum piece based on this prompt. If you have specific characters/universe or a certain genre in mind, please feel free to mention them as well.

(Which reminds me that there is still an unfilled "write my character" drabble request, iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiih)

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First time writing Lucius, oy! "Eternal Smile"

[crimsonmorgan.livejournal.com]

Elimine was the ever-smiling.

They had a statue of her behind the altar. Lucius often knelt before her, praying, wishing for more food for the smaller children in the orphanage, for more blankets, for a mild winter. Elimine listened to his selfless wishes as patiently and with her eternal smile as to his childish wishes (a toy? He didn't need a toy while the helpings of gruel grew smaller and smaller every day. A book? The older children wore clothes with holes bigger than his fist.).

Lucius felt safe here, felt loved by Elimine. He wondered if a mother´s smile looks as serene and friendly as Elimine´s. If a mother would listen to his complains and sorrows and doubts as patiently as her. If a mother would always be here for him.

Lucius admired Elimine and strove to become like her. He practised to copy her smile for hours bend over the lake because there was no mirror in the little orphanage. He practised to be patient, to listen to everyone, to give hope and support, to always smile.

One day a little girl who had scrapped her knee because another girl had pushed her and was now crying in Lucius´ arms looked up at him, sniffling. "You smile as pretty as Elim'e," she mumbled with a lisp. Lucius only hushed her, pressing a kiss on her forehead, and then wiped off her tears, sending her back to play with her friends. Secretly he was elated and it seemed to him that he grew a few centimetre in that second. Later, for a moment, he feared that it was vain to feel so proud of himself – deep at night he sneaked into the prayer room and asked Elimine for forgiveness – but he was sure that the good he did with his smile would balance it out.

Years later Elimine´s smile has become his smile. He smiles at Serra, who is rambling about her dress and beautiful hair again. He smiles at Raven, who rages against Ostia again and who doesn't listen to Lucius´ attempts to calm him. He smiles at Canas, who wants to lend a holy book and doesn't stop listing the pros and contras of light magic against dark magic. He smiles at Wil, who comes back with an arrow sticking out of his thigh. He smiles at Kent, who is slowly dying, and Lady Lyndis, who sits next to him and doesn't let him go.

Only deep at night, when Raven is asleep or on watch, Lucius lets the smile slip from his face. It becomes harder every day and the blank expression feels weird, wrong. Sometimes Lucius tries to smile normally, show his own smile. But it always turns into the patient, forgiving, eternal and yet so empty smile. The first time, Lucius was afraid. Now he just accepts it. He has given up his own smile, his own happiness to make others happy. And he is content.

No one, not even Lucius himself, notices the tiny flash of loneliness in his eyes every time the eternal smile settles on his face.

Re: First time writing Lucius, oy! "Eternal Smile"

[raphiael]

Ahhhhh this was awesome <33333

Re: First time writing Lucius, oy! "Eternal Smile"

[crimsonmorgan.livejournal.com]

Thank you~