Cultural Understanding, Monday

[badnewsandwit.livejournal.com]

"Hello everyone, and welcome back to class." Alistair was actually in a stellar mood today - saying goodbye to Duncan hadn't been fun, but he'd turned up at all, that was the thing. "I hope you had a really great weekend!"

"If you did not have a great weekend, or if you ran into a dragon-hearted woman pretending to be a human-mother, then you have my sympathies," Morrigan stated. "Family is family, I suppose."

"Don't mind Morrigan," Alistair said brightly. He turned towards her, and pretended to study her. "You know..."

"Do not start, Warden, or I shall invite her back to have tea with you," she replied plesantly. "I think she fancies you."

Alistair ignored it. "It's definitely most obvious around the ears," he said. "The similarity, I mean. You have very similar ears-- oh, the whole general area, really."

"I am not listening to you, we are teaching," Morrigan said, facing the class and ignoring Alistair. "I am interesed in what family units are like where you are from. Or, if you have an atypical family, what you feel a 'normal' one would be, or just share a story from over the weekend."

"What Grumpypants, Witch of the Sulks here means is that sometimes, you can find family in unexpected places. Or perhaps the culture you're from treats family in a different way," Alistair said, not about to be thwarted. And still grinning. "How do you bond with people you love? Who looked after you and gave you that first spark of hope in the world? You know - that sort of thing."

"If I turn you into a toad right now, I doubt anyone will complain," Morrigan pointed out. "If you wish to run back to your rooms quickly to find something that is representative of your family to you, please feel free to do so."

"You and your mother really bonded this weekend, didn't you?" Alistair asked. He clapped his hands. "The floor is, as they say, open. Though not literally. You're not going to fall through, or anything."

Considering the effort Morrigan was putting into not grinding her teeth visibly, ALISTAIR was the only one in danger of falling through the floor.

Comments

Re: Discussion - Family

[perilless.livejournal.com]

"Family is held very sacred in my world," Rosella offered with a wistful sort of smile. "This is especially true for my own family with the return of my brother after so many long years after assuming he was likely dead. And I imagine it won't be long before my brother has started a family of his own, now that he's married! I am in no rush for something of that of my own, but I am pleased to have a loving mother, a doting father, and an honorable father. I realize that not so many are blessed with such a unit...I remember once, when I traveled to the land of Tamir to search for a magical fruit to cure my father when he had been struck by a sudden and terrible illness, it fell into my hands to defeat the evil witch Lolotte, who had so desperately craved a family that she had kidnapped a babe from his very mother and raised him as if he were her very own son, even going so far as to transform him into an ugly green hunchback! Can you imagine? And, though Edgar was raised to believe Lolotte was his mother, he always knew deep down that this was not who he was and aided me to defeat her and her evil reign. Last I knew, he was still living in Tamir, though it has been a while since I've heard anything of him..."

Here, Rosella seemed to trail off, her expression going a little distant and remorseful. But she shook her head, found a smile, and concluded, "So family is very important in my culture, and especially to me. Kingdoms are usually passed down through sons and daughters; my father became the king of Daventry because the previous king had no heirs, and my father had proven himself worthy. While my brother was presumed dead, I was intended to be the next ruler of the kingdom, and now that my brother has taken the kingship of another country, I am back to being the heir. And, one day, when I am ready to have a family of my own, Daventry will be ready for the hands of my own children."