Dedue considers the implications of what Dimitri is saying. There’s a possibility that, if he really wants, he could just disconnect from Duscur entirely and not bring it up again. No one need know where he is from.
But... that does not sit right with him at all. He thinks back to his conversations with Mercedes, about how he still carries the culture within him wherever he goes, even if there is no place he can call home. It’s something that has given him comfort, to think of himself not just as one person but as part of a path towards future generations. A future where maybe preserving all this knowledge and culture can be important again.
Even with the methodical scrubbing away of all traces of his heritage, he still has always put the earring on, still carried seeds of Duscur plants from one place to the next.
He still feels shame when he talks of Duscur. Still anticipates the accusations against his culture, even when those accusations fail to arise.
But he thinks about how curious some of his friends were to learn more back when they were at school - Ashe asking him about the seasonings and cooking techniques he used, Mercedes asking about the different gods of Duscur - and he LIKED talking about it.
Maybe this could also be a place where it is ok to talk about Duscur without judgement.
“Thank you for giving me that option,” Dedue says. “I would still like to say where I am from,” he admits. “I would like to be able to be proud of it again, someday.”
And if Dedue isn’t dragging Dimitri down by being visibly from Duscur next to him, then a lot of things change.
“It does not bother me if others view us as friends,” he says. “But I have sworn an oath to the prince of Faerghus. And my duty comes first. That is what I will tell them.”
no subject
But... that does not sit right with him at all. He thinks back to his conversations with Mercedes, about how he still carries the culture within him wherever he goes, even if there is no place he can call home. It’s something that has given him comfort, to think of himself not just as one person but as part of a path towards future generations. A future where maybe preserving all this knowledge and culture can be important again.
Even with the methodical scrubbing away of all traces of his heritage, he still has always put the earring on, still carried seeds of Duscur plants from one place to the next.
He still feels shame when he talks of Duscur. Still anticipates the accusations against his culture, even when those accusations fail to arise.
But he thinks about how curious some of his friends were to learn more back when they were at school - Ashe asking him about the seasonings and cooking techniques he used, Mercedes asking about the different gods of Duscur - and he LIKED talking about it.
Maybe this could also be a place where it is ok to talk about Duscur without judgement.
“Thank you for giving me that option,” Dedue says. “I would still like to say where I am from,” he admits. “I would like to be able to be proud of it again, someday.”
And if Dedue isn’t dragging Dimitri down by being visibly from Duscur next to him, then a lot of things change.
“It does not bother me if others view us as friends,” he says. “But I have sworn an oath to the prince of Faerghus. And my duty comes first. That is what I will tell them.”