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Entry tags:
Xenogears, "Taken Name" (Ramsus+Jessie)
He was the only one who thought differently from the others, the one they hoped would change everything. He wanted to do it because he had already changed everything about himself and he would not settle for mediocre.
Contains Jugend-era Ramsus in all his spoilery glory. Some details might not be completely correct -- it's been a long time since I played the second part of the game. Written for![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fic_promptly prompt for any fandom, "the alienation of being different weighs on them".
.taken name.
Jessie was the first one to call him 'Kahr'.
"Funny," the young man grunted, his attention on the clipboard more than on him. "Says here you're a Second Class citizen, but you certainly look like a First."
Somewhat stiffly, he said, "I don't think that sort of thing matters."
Jessie looked up at him, briefly interested. "Oh yeah? You don't?"
"No." He knew that this opinion wasn't a popular one, and he reminded himself that offending a senior classmate and someone who was high on all of the performance rankings wouldn't help him in the slightest. As a First Class Solarian, Jessie probably held the belief that his bloodline made him inherently better than others. Still, he couldn't make himself keep quiet. "In what way does the circumstance of someone's birth matter more than the skill and ability they show? Why should it matter what class I am if I can outperform everyone else?"
He was braced for the interest in Jessie's gaze to turn to scorn or fear, but instead a thoughtful beat passed and then Jessie laughed, clapping a hand on his shoulder.
"You'd better actually have the skill and ability to follow through on that, Kahr," Jessie said warmly.
He was so surprised by the nickname that he forgot to be pleased by the unexpected approval.
Kahr.
He found himself studying the ID card thoughtfully. 'Kahran Ramsus,' it said now. His new name. Whoever Kahran had been originally (a nobody) (in the wrong place at the wrong time) he needed to get used to the idea that it was him, had been him for weeks, months. Most people called him Ramsus, a name he was more comfortable with, closer to his codename designation of 0808191 Ramses.
But of course a casual person... or someone who considered him a friend... would call him by his 'given' name.
He let his fingers trace over the letters.
No one would want to be his friend or be on casual terms with him if they knew who and what he really was. If they knew that he had come out of a nanoreactor, a failed experiment literally thrown out with the trash. If they knew that he had murdered young Kahran Bekka while he was on his way to school and stolen his identity.
They would call him a demon, a monster. Trash.
The breath escaped from him, hissing out through his teeth.
Yes. He would outperform everyone else. He would show Jessie and all the others that he had the skill and the ability to make it on his own, that the circumstances of one's creation was not the deciding factor in their future. He would show the ones who had created him that they had been wrong about him.
People would want to be his friends and to say that they knew him, Kahran Ramsus, Kahr.
And they would never, ever know the truth about him. He had left that behind him -- even if it stayed with him for the rest of however long a creature like him could live.
"Jesiah," he said, catching the upperclassman's attention after the training session was over. He tapped on the scoreboard, indicating the name that was his at the top of the chart. His smile was half pleased and half edged. "I will follow through."
The man grinned, slowly. "You can just call me Jessie," he said.
Contains Jugend-era Ramsus in all his spoilery glory. Some details might not be completely correct -- it's been a long time since I played the second part of the game. Written for
fic_promptly prompt for any fandom, "the alienation of being different weighs on them"..taken name.
Jessie was the first one to call him 'Kahr'.
"Funny," the young man grunted, his attention on the clipboard more than on him. "Says here you're a Second Class citizen, but you certainly look like a First."
Somewhat stiffly, he said, "I don't think that sort of thing matters."
Jessie looked up at him, briefly interested. "Oh yeah? You don't?"
"No." He knew that this opinion wasn't a popular one, and he reminded himself that offending a senior classmate and someone who was high on all of the performance rankings wouldn't help him in the slightest. As a First Class Solarian, Jessie probably held the belief that his bloodline made him inherently better than others. Still, he couldn't make himself keep quiet. "In what way does the circumstance of someone's birth matter more than the skill and ability they show? Why should it matter what class I am if I can outperform everyone else?"
He was braced for the interest in Jessie's gaze to turn to scorn or fear, but instead a thoughtful beat passed and then Jessie laughed, clapping a hand on his shoulder.
"You'd better actually have the skill and ability to follow through on that, Kahr," Jessie said warmly.
He was so surprised by the nickname that he forgot to be pleased by the unexpected approval.
Kahr.
He found himself studying the ID card thoughtfully. 'Kahran Ramsus,' it said now. His new name. Whoever Kahran had been originally (a nobody) (in the wrong place at the wrong time) he needed to get used to the idea that it was him, had been him for weeks, months. Most people called him Ramsus, a name he was more comfortable with, closer to his codename designation of 0808191 Ramses.
But of course a casual person... or someone who considered him a friend... would call him by his 'given' name.
He let his fingers trace over the letters.
No one would want to be his friend or be on casual terms with him if they knew who and what he really was. If they knew that he had come out of a nanoreactor, a failed experiment literally thrown out with the trash. If they knew that he had murdered young Kahran Bekka while he was on his way to school and stolen his identity.
They would call him a demon, a monster. Trash.
The breath escaped from him, hissing out through his teeth.
Yes. He would outperform everyone else. He would show Jessie and all the others that he had the skill and the ability to make it on his own, that the circumstances of one's creation was not the deciding factor in their future. He would show the ones who had created him that they had been wrong about him.
People would want to be his friends and to say that they knew him, Kahran Ramsus, Kahr.
And they would never, ever know the truth about him. He had left that behind him -- even if it stayed with him for the rest of however long a creature like him could live.
"Jesiah," he said, catching the upperclassman's attention after the training session was over. He tapped on the scoreboard, indicating the name that was his at the top of the chart. His smile was half pleased and half edged. "I will follow through."
The man grinned, slowly. "You can just call me Jessie," he said.