And As If Naming A Child.... (Kamendressing, Trapped)

[estirose]

I think this is the last of the bunch! Here, Questing’s POV on a discussion that was bound to happen.

“What did he name you?” Wataru asked, rubbing a thumb over her glove-covered tattoo. At least she’d gotten some sleep. With Mio. It was actually something she didn’t mind, as her Queen was nice and she didn’t hog the covers. Mio was a good friend and, after all, her wife by Fangire standards. They’d gotten through the ceremony, after all. She suspected that Trapped’s Mio also wasn’t bad… at least when she wasn’t trying to sleep with him.
 

“In a tattered flag darkness saves the child,” Trapped said, slumping down. “He found out that mother never gave me a true name, so….”
 

She sighed. “Well, at least it fits you a bit better than Ocean’s does with him,” she said finally. “Let’s just call you ‘Tattered’.”
 

Tattered was a good name for him, really, once she thought about it for a second. He did seem like he was tattered and torn by all that had happened. And it was good to have a name to call him that was his, just like Ocean’s name was his. “Do we have to?” he asked plaintively.
 

“I know that you don’t want to embrace the Fangire side of your heritage, and I know that living with your brother’s tough on you,” she said gently, “And that what he’s doing is truly awful. We’re doing the best we can to make sure you’re safe. But face it: you live in a world ruled by Fangire. It’s a small consession to have and use a Fangire name. Especially here, where there’s a lot of us, and we have to distinguish between each other somehow. If I use ‘Tattered’, it’s not approving of everything your brother and your world have done to you. It’s making sure that I address the right me by the right name, and face it, we’ve been calling you by a nickname ever since you got here. It’s about time you got something of your own.”
 

Trapped – Tattered – shivered, and she reached out to put a hand on his shoulder. “Look at it this way, at least you don’t have Ocean’s. His sister was naming him more out of her own hate for humans than any regard for him.”
 

“I just don’t want a name which implies I have to be ‘saved’,” Tattered said, looking away. “Even if everybody thinks I do.”
 

Wataru understood what he meant. To his world, he was wrong, a killer, only alive by the grace of his brother. By their definitions, he had to be fixed. Saved. “I know,” she said. “But don’t let it get to you. Ocean hates his full name, too. But we don’t have to use all of it here. And back there, you can just forget it. First and foremost, you’ll always be Wataru. Just like I am. Nobody calls me by my true name at home. I’m only called Questing here. Same for everybody else. Don’t worry.”
 

“Because nii-san will worry for me?” he asked, giving her a sad smile.
 

“Well, that and there are bigger things to worry about than Taiga’s naming abilities,” she said, smiling back. “You’ve got a baby on the way… I’m sure that’s why Taiga felt compelled to give you a name, even if his name is on the birth certificate. Bishop’s records have to state who the biological father is.”
 

Tattered shivered. “It’s okay,” she said gently. She was well aware of how his Mio’s child had been conceived, of how his King and Queen were using him… but there was nothing she could do other than sit them down and lecture them. In the meantime, protect herself, protect him, until he could stand on his own.
 

It might be a few decades, but Wataru was sure that everything would eventually be all right.

Crossposted from Ramblings Yet Once More here.