doesn't stop me from feeling the loss

[justsookie]

[ continued from here ]


Aidan thought that Sookie was being a bit serious about the whole thing, but he knew that she'd gone through a lot of stuff lately so maybe humor wasn't the best thing to try right now.

"Well, since you're stuck here for the moment would you like something to drink?" he asked.


"I'm fine," Sookie replied in turn, shaking her head slightly and raising her chin in an airy motion, one which tried to emphasize just how perfect things were, bar none. (It was a lie, of course, but one made to herself, and perhaps more forgivable in that sense. If Sookie wasn't feeling fine, she was having trouble recognizing it that night, convinced as she was that everything was better than it'd been in weeks. No need for emotional turmoil.) "I don't want to start downing beer again, at any rate, because we definitely do not need a repeat of that other night."

Resting her chin in her hand, she shrugged. "So, tell me what you've been up to! Your plans for the holidays."

Comments

[justsookie]

"I have plenty of people who wouldn't let me be a shut-in if I tried," Sookie earnestly replied, the smile on her lips widening, fleeting, for the thought. Of course, Sookie never wanted to be an undue burden on any of them, but to still know that her thoughts weren't disappearing to the middle of nowhere staved off loneliness in a way that very little could.

Squinting in his direction, Sookie tried to picture Aidan with all that he'd described, and she had to bite back her laugh for it.

"And aww, c'mon, don't make fun of the actual goths. They're making a statement just as much as anyone else, even if I kinda like the whole plaid shirt and Segway thing more."

[likesthestooges]

"And I never understood the name," Aidan said. "Goths were Germanic with beards and converted to Christianity before even the tenth century. I think they would be offended by the modern day Goths."

That had been one of the more interesting things about observing over the centuries, seeing how words evolve. It was gradual and often subtle, but he had to always keep up with it and adapt. It didn't work to sound 70 when you looked 25, that was too suspicious. The same went with fashion as well.

[justsookie]

"Well, don't look at me," snorted Sookie, shaking her head. "I'll be the first person to admit that I'm not exactly the most learned, and when it comes to things that I don't think I'll ever understand, I don't exactly make the biggest effort to go out of my way to learn the history. Which, I know, makes me forever ignorant or something." She waved her hand dismissively, but it held true— in the grand scheme of things, when it came to fashion choices or mentalities that she just couldn't align with, Sookie didn't make a habit of familiarizing herself with them unless it stood the chance of affecting her directly.

In short, outside of politics, Sookie's world view was a bit narrow. It'd improved on the island, but she cared more about living in the day than anything else.

[likesthestooges]

"Trust me, I've seen enough history to know that even people who study it usually end up rather ignorant," he told her. Also, people were always finding new ways to be stupid, so not all of them were filtered out by history.

"And most people get by just fine without knowing a whole lot of history. So unless you want to be a history teacher, you're probably okay. Unless you start serving history themed meals, and then someone wants a Bunker Hill special and you have to remember the short order cook writes it as July 15, 1775."

[justsookie]

"Lord, I'm afraid to ask what a Bunker Hill special even contains," Sookie murmured, nose wrinkling. She didn't know too much about colonial cuisine, but in general, the thought of what they probably had to resort to eating in times of war wasn't one that sat too pleasantly with her. (Maybe she'd watched Gone with the Wind a few too many times over the years, even throughout all of Tara's dismay over being named after the plantation featured in the book and film.) "But well, way to make an argument for never taking history in school ever again, Mister Pessimist. I'd personally like to think that we've still learned something from all those generations that came before us. Technology's gotten better, at least. And we haven't had a World War in a while."

[likesthestooges]

"Whatever it is, it's what was actually the Bree Hill Special and eventually got renamed," he said. "And for the record, we could have held that hill a lot longer if we hadn't run out of ammo."

That had actually been when Aidan was human, one of the earliest battles he had ever fought it. He still remembered almost fondly how shocked the British were that the Colonials were willing and able to stand up to them. It wasn't quite fond though, because the entire war had been a brutal, ugly affair.

"Technology has done some really amazing things. Did you know it was only 66 years between the Wright Brothers' flight and putting a human on the moon?"

[justsookie]

"No, I'd... never really thought to do the math, I guess," marveled Sookie with a tilt of her head, gaze momentarily distancing as she thought to how much her gran might have seen change over the years. "That's a bit terrifying, though. I can't even imagine what else might come up by the time I've reached my eighties. Which I completely plan on living to, if I can, though I'm sure my looks won't have kept half as well as your own, obviously." She threaded her fingers through her hair, massaging her temples.

"But as much as I'd love for certain technologies to become more convenient, a part of me likes living in times that are a bit more quaint. Once everything turns automatic, there's just less time for each other, and more of a push to get things done quick and dirty."