[Eleven] Material Loss

“I wish I hadn’t thrown the sword. I wish I’d reached out my hand”

This passing thought of Phos’ in episode nine of Land of the Lustrous kept playing back in my head last week as I sorted through the amalgam of junk laying around my temporary quarters. My family and I were moving back into our newly renovated apartment and I was tasked with cleaning out the stacks of random doodads and documents that were crammed into my room after we first moved out last month. That particular line of dialogue implied feelings and ideas far beyond that of a hesitation to discard, but at the time my preoccupations had me focused more on that idea.

For the lustrous and sensei, what does it mean to throw something away? We learned in an earlier episode that Phos’ hesitation to leave Ventricosus’ mighty wooden carriage behind was something the gems learned from sensei; they were taught to “take good care of things”. As immortal beings, it makes perfect sense as to why they’d be more inclined to conserve as they’d definitely live long enough to see the effects of careless littering. But asides from the potential environmental messages, the idea of keeping around and caring for inanimate everyday objects is something I, and I’m sure many others in the community, can understand.

These pieces of their everyday hold in them value far beyond the sum of their material parts. As beings that fight day in and day out to live just a little longer and as people who can, at any point, lose parts of themselves along with their memories, the minor constants in their lives represent pieces of them that can’t be so easily lost. Dia’s flowerpot – filled with their feelings for Bort, the wooden bowl – now empty after the departure of Ventricosus, sensei’s table – worn down and once broken, and of course Antarticite’s sword – the permanent reminder of a missing someone.

As tempted as I was to indiscriminately throw out the piles of old junk that crowded the room, I could empathize with the desire to hold on to these physical representations of happy moments, fond memories, and symbols of the past. These useless artifacts are reminders of who we once were, what we once loved, and how far we’ve come since then. Their value to us, just like for the lustrous extend beyond their immediate worth and for that alone, they’re worth keeping around.

…I said to myself, to keep some semblance of sanity.

Thanks for reading,

Carriage

 

---

This is my second of twelve posts that I’ll be publishing as part of the 12 days of Anime event. Be sure to check out all other amazing writers that are participating in this year’s event here.