Ficlet: Parents Prompt: If you could pick anyone in the world, alive or dead, to be your parents, who would it be and why?
I don't think I'd have much use for parents, to be quite honest. I was brought up by the Guild, after all, and I came out quite well.
For the longest time, in fact, I didn't quite understand the concept. I was taken in by the Assassin's Guild quite young. Some of the other boys would talk about their families, and I'd ask, What are they for?
What are what for?
Families, I'd say. What do they do? Why do you have them?
I never received a satisfactory answer - although I suppose it was quite an difficult question for six year olds to consider logically. But I stand by my original question: what are they for? Procreation, of course, and the initial stages of human survival, but I've noticed a tendency amongst a majority of people to hold onto their parents for some time after this. Thereafter... well, I'm afraid it doesn't make much sense to me. Although I do tend to see things slightly differently.
I remember snippets, if I think very hard. I remember a woman's voice laughing somewhat oddly. A strong scent - formaldehyde, I believe. Fire. Screams. I believe we had a cat. I remember a smoke filled room and holding to the bars of my playpen and feeling a strange sense of satisfaction when the woman on the floor wouldn't move at all, not a blink, as the flames crept closer and began to touch at the strands of her hair...
Like I said. I don't think I'd have much use for parents.