RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes

Jancis · **09-10-2015, 02:46 PM**

"It is a personal privilege for me to introduce the next person to share a story this sun. Lady Ridah, please the floor is yours to share your tale."

Jana Ridah takes the "stage", standing somewhat uneasily before the crowd, her eyes still rimmed by the dark circles of sleeplessness. She scans the crowd as she begins to speak.

"Hello. My name is Jana Ridah, career adventurer... And today, I'd like to impart a tale. One I first read when I was studying in Ul'dah with the Thaumaturgists, in their library. Some of you may have heard it before, though I hope my telling is a bit different from the text."

Jana clears her throat before beginning her story.Â

"Once upon a time, in La Noscea, there was a farmer who raised cattle. He was of modest means and made a modest profit, all in all not a bad way to live."

This farmer had a brother, a brother who had left the farm at a young age to pursue his true calling of... Of painting. He'd made a name for himself in Gridania with his lifelike paintings, said by many to be close to the real thing.

At one point, the painter traveled to meet with his brother the farmer, to eat and drink and share stories of their youths. But the farmer had come to resent the painter, whom he saw as living a frivolous life free of hard work.

When the painter arrived, the brothers ate and drank and made merry, but he noticed that his brother the farmer had been acting somewhat distant, so he told him a story of his success, thinking it'd cheer him up.

The painter told his brother about a painting he'd sold recently, one that had turned enough profit on its own to pay for his trip to La Noscea and back again, and more besides. This painting was of one of the bulls on the farm.

"Isn't it great, brother? That one of the bulls on your farm now hangs over a noble's mantle so that I could see you?"

The farmer, belly heavy with mead, lost all pretense of calm. "You ran off to live your easy life and now you credit -my bull- that I raised with my own two hands for your success?!"

The enraged, drunken farmer began chasing his brother around, fists raised over his head. The painter ran and ran around the house, until he was out of house to run through, and climbed out an open window...

Into the pen of the farmer's prize bull.

The painter, remembering how easily bulls are surprised by sudden movement, suddenly found himself being charged by the object of his masterpiece!

As the bull charged, the farmer arrived at the window the painter had jumped from and with a strong yank, pulled him inside by his collar, just in time for the bull to clip the painter with its horns!

As the painter panted and bled on the farmer's floor, and as the bull outside whirled about angrily, the farmer began to treat his brother's leg with a gentle hand, wrapping it in ointment and bandages and carrying him to his finest bed to rest.

The painter was stunned, and wept with joy that his brother had grown kind. And the farmer joyously laughed, claiming he was happy his brother was still alive. But... The farmer was lying.

He laughed and hooted and hollered, his rancor sated... The painter's bull may have sold for whatever amount of gil in the world, but only his bull actually had the power to maim a person!

Jana laughs a bit to herself as she reaches the "punch line" of her story, but settles down. "Um..."

"The power to destroy is the power to affect the real world with change, and to do so quickly."

"In a sense, it is the realest way a person can change the world with their own two hands. And while it may not be the best option all of the times..."

"It is often the simplest. Thank you for listening."

Jana slowly wanders off the stage, wiping her brow as she's finally out of the public eye.

[Image: joseph-highmore-front-view-of-a-bulls-head.jpg?w=257]

((This was a retelling of the short story "The Bull," by Saki!))

Celebration of the Destroyer

RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes