Who: Cuthbert and L When: Shortly after L gives Bert the map of Emptiness Where: Emptiness Rating: PG-13? Warnings: Potentials for Bert's mouth Summary: Bert is eager to find out if L is telling the truth about the amazing things that can be found in Emptiness.
Bert was having a difficult time wrapping his mind around the fact that sugar-based sweets were a common thing for most people. Even in Gilead, the wealthiest of cities, sugar was scarce and chocolate was only a myth.
And yet according to Ryuzaki - who Bert had decided was peculiarly paranoid - all manner of sweets could be obtained in the town that separated Asgard and Niflheim. It was a concept so foreign to him that he almost couldn't believe it. It was like being told there was a city where the streets were paved with gold and the windows made from diamonds.
But what reason did anyone have to lie to him about something like that? Ryuzaki was weird, sure, but no weirder than anyone else Bert supposed he'd ever met. Besides, he had a history of befriending folks who were considered strange or bizarre. Certainly Alain had been weird, and he knew damn well what most people thought of Sheemie. But so what? Weird people were neat.
And that brought him back to missing home again. He followed the streets outlined on the map and found himself wishing Al and Roland were with him. Wouldn't they love this? What would they think? It brought a nostalgic smile to his face. He could remember Reaping's long past, when they were still boys, before their trial of fire and hell. Walking along the streets of Gilead, sucking sweet candies made from nuts and honey, no cares in the world save how they would spend their Reap Day coins.
Oh, Reaping Day in Gilead. Was there ever anything so wonderful? A break from lessons, from beatings, from being sent to bed without supper! Day after day of leisure and cool air and fresh cider. And the three of them, arm in arm, scurrying all over city and woods, laughing as they played. The world had been golden, then.
By the time Bert had reached the candy store, he was lost in daydreams of the past. He set his hand on the door handle and paused, not wanting to let go of the sweet memories to have to face reality. Even if reality wasn't so bad these days, it wasn't home and the brothers of his heart weren't here.
"Aw, fuck me," he muttered, hating how easily and quickly he fell to sentimental megrims. He turned the door handle with more force than was needed and tried to bring his attention back to the apparent treasure trove he'd come to see.