#namegiving

For a few days already I have been trying to answer a 30-parts questionaire about my Guardian, Helio, and I failed to complete it today yet again, so instead have a little snippet/drabble I wrote on the occasion of finding a name for Helio’s ghost. Hope you like it!  Though some parts may make more sense once I post the answers to said questionaire ^^’ *** -  What about Yam? – Helio asks, taking her eyes off of the fire to slip a glance at her partner. Her Ghost seems to ponder the question for a moment, swaying his shell slowly and clicking it ever so slightly. - …I do like that! Very thoughtful! – she brightens up internally, but of course it wouldn’t be this easy with her chatterbox of a Ghost. On his next words she can’t help a momentary wince and prays it went unnoticed.  – But it’s surprising as well, what a mighty name! It’s only fitting, that you would give me a godly name in exchange for one… Then he goes in detail about some ancient being from old humans legends, that was a god of sea or something like that. Welp, that explains the excitement. After a few hefty poems about the guy or girl or whatever really, her Ghost seems to catch on her stony face and becomes suspicious. - That was what you’ve been thinking about, right? – a tentative question. She can physically feel his happy movements slow and finally stop. Instead of an answer Helio pretends she saw something soooo interesting in the fire. Like a gambit coin shape, or hell, even Zavala’s haed would suffice.   - For Traveler’s sake! What could it be then? – His tone is turning disapproving already. There is cold sweat gathering between her shoulder blades. She blames it on the heavy armor. - It sounds nice? – she offers weakly. Her Ghost has no face, but his expression is so deadpan, without doubt blank as Drifter’s love letters. Silence stretches uncomfortably.  She hears a surprisingly good imitation of a heavy exhale. - It’s the fake sweet potato, isn’t it. – Yup, there it is. The tone so empty it creates Void energy out of thin air. – You want to name me after a misleading piece of long forgotten vegetable. - You said you liked it! And you can still tell people your version… - Do I look like a potato to you?

     I thought that yesterday was a waste of time. While Micar was attending a meeting at Youth Dream Town, the trio was this guy. We played pool to pass the time, ate popsicles, and talked. It was like we bothering take a 1 hour bus ride to this far away land just to play and pass time.

     But really, it wasn't. This morning, my mom and dad wanted to hear about our progress from yesterday and maybe it was because I wanted to make it not seem like we did nothing that I finally saw the progress that we had made. 

     While we were there, I hadn't realized that I had gotten to know the guy and really connected. He spoke segments of English and we asked him for his name. We asked, "Do you have an English name," in Chinese. He, in fact, didn't. So we spent the time playing pool thinking about names for this guy. I literally would stare at his face for a minute at a time, running names through my head like a computer runs 0s and 1s through its system, trying to match his face with his name. 

     Kyle?      Nah.      Samuel?      Looks like one, but, no.      Gabe?! He looks like a Gabe!           Do you like the name Gabe? (To the guy)           Gay...?           Never mind.      What about Irving?      Hm...yeah!      Yeah, it fits him!       And that's how we gave Irving his name. 

     It's looked down upon by some to judge someone by their appearance, but I think the face reflects the personality. It's not a judgement of whether a person is "ugly" or "pretty," but of a deeper insight. 

     Irving's personality definitely reflected his name. Unique. Kind. 

     The way we saw each other. Age aside. Experience aside. Life aside. Background aside. It enforced the idea that people like Irving are just like us. I always knew, but the idea never echoed this loudly.