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trillgutterbug · 3 years ago

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Fic Writer Questions!

tagged by @palamedessextus 😊 thanks friend!

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

64! only five more to the magic number ayyyyy and then i’m legally obligated to never post another one.

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

289,575 apparently??? which seems way way way higher than i ever would have guessed, wow. who knew!

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

31 on ao3, although that’s lumping, eg, all marvel subfandoms together. but i have a ridiculous amount of wips in all kinds of other fandoms that i haven’t/won’t post, soooo.... more than that! and i don’t want to list them all bc that’d be a long boring read!

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

it serenely disdains to destroy us, a magnus archives fic that, i somewhat vainly note, has been orbiting in the top few top kudosed fics in the tag since i posted it womp womp.

concerning flight, because we all thirsty for thor/loki+gender and i for one support us.

untitled porny snippet (yes that’s actually what it’s called), because same as above. (i see u, kudos-to-comment ratio and i aint mad but.... i see u. all you dirty birds out there shamefully yet silently jerking it. kudos to YOU.)

an experiment in posthumous subsistence, a batman/joker zombie au i wrote fucking TEN YEARS AGO ALMOST. why???? why is this fic so popular?? i’m barely a good writer now and i sure as shit wasn’t one a decade ago! the terrible title alone should disqualify it from being read, but i guess the people want what they want. and what they want is batman and joker handcuffed together, trying to escape the zombie apocalypse ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

all good things, some stucky hydra trash party-adjacent smut regarding piercings. i stand by this one 100%, it deserves every kudo(s?) tbh.

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

i do, depending on the comment! i don’t think comments like “loved this!” / “thanks for writing!” are written with the intent to receive a response (or at least, when i write them on other people’s fics, i certainly don’t expect one). they’re like an extra kudo(s?), and i appreciate them a lot, but they’re not really an invitation to Discuss. whereas if someone clearly has put a lot of thought into a comment, or asked a question, or made some observations that i jive with, or just seems like they want to engage, then hell yeah i jump in there. love that shit.

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

i guess arguably thine own self, which is some hydra husbands abo. laugh all you want, it’s one of my fave of all my fics lmao. probably specifically bc of the unpleasant/open ending.

7) What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

probably moderation is a memory! since it, unlike 99% of all my other stuff, isn’t just total smut, and the whole point of writing it was to wallow as deep as possible in the sauce of giddy teenage infatuation, it got the opportunity to have an actual emotional arc (more or less). furthermore i could not possibly bring myself to break johnny lawrence’s tender little heart ever, that would hurt me far more than it would hurt him.

8) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

i only realised while answering this question that apparently.... no i don’t write crossovers! which is not at all a deliberate choice, i guess a compelling enough one just hasn’t occurred to me yet!

9) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

shockingly no! by some accidental miracle i’ve managed to fly under the radar so far, despite some of the really buckwild stuff i’ve posted. however, considering some of the stuff i’m probably ABOUT to post.... that clean track record might soon come to an end lmao.

10) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

lmao. uhhhh. almost exclusively, and i guess??? all kinds? this is clearly a question composed by someone who does not write smut.

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i know of, and i wouldn’t really care if i did.

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

yeah i think a few....? a number of people have asked anyway and i always say yes, so probably there’s at least one floating around out there somewhere.

13) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

i have! just once, and we really made it count. it’s called a reptile dysfunction, which should tell you all you need to know.

14) What’s your all time favorite ship?

thorki, probably. i always have and always will come back to it, no matter what. it’s got such a ferociously timeless staying power and so much potential variation, i don’t think i could ever get bored of it, regardless of what level of marvel-exhaustion i might feel at a given time, or what tropes, kinks, or stage of literary pretension i’m at. truly the oh tee pee.

15) What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

ohhhhh all 836575927 of them, but. there’s this one thorki fic i started almost ten years ago as an experiment with a new-to-me style, which turned out over the intervening years to become my main style, and looking back on that fic, which for many years was a touchstone of writing-to-aspire to for me, it’s actually Not Very Good lol. but i still love the core concept, which is a canon divergence berserker thor au, but not only is it a somewhat inaccessible (admittedly less so since the deadpool movies came out, which was a hilarious pipe dream back when i started writing it) x-force comics crossover, but i wrote myself into a bunch of corners and have yet to dig up the energy to write myself back out of them! i go and reread it every year or so and think “hmm... maybe now...” but tbh it’s just not really good enough to bother! perhaps someday i’ll repurpose the best elements of it into something new.

16) What are your writing strengths?

man, it’s so hard to say. in much the same way that you can spend hours every day staring at yourself in a mirror, yet be utterly incapable of picking yourself out of a lineup, i spend a lot of time eyeballing my writing, but stepping back it seems like a chaotic mass of nonsense with few cohesive throughlines. i’m good at writing smut, i know that much! and in that vein, i think i am good at smut bc i am very good at committing to the bit, as it were. getting into the nitty gritty of experience and sensation (physical or emotional) and rendering largely abstract internal concepts in fairly comprehensible ways. i think my prose is quite decent on a sentence level too.

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

utterly incapable of finishing anything! or plotting anything! can’t mange a cohesive emotional arc! write myself into overly structured corners or out onto a vast plain with no structure in sight! all the macro elements of storytelling totally elude me, which is very frustrating when i have all this tasty fleshed out micro-level character stuff, but no narrative skeleton upon which to drape it.

18) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? don’t! unless you are very sure you know what you’re doing, and the other language bits are a) very few, b) easily contextually understood, and c) actually adding something other than a weird flex that you know google translate exists.

19) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

11yo me wrote spock/kirk/janice rand and thought she invented the concept of a threesome. brand been stronk since day one 🤘. (the vulcan salute is right next to the devil horns in my emoji list, so....)

20) What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

i love the (ongoing) better with you series very much, not least because i’m still absolutely flabbergasted that i wrote something that long. i think it’s actually pretty good all things considered and it’s very dear to me on many many levels. but the fic that i just viscerally adore, that i love the style of, and that i had such a transcendent, invigorating, organic Experience writing, is temper its strength, adding honey until quite cold, which is a terror fic with the inexplicable pairing of edward little/hartnell, featuring crossdressing and gender stuff. it just burst out of me fully formed one day and i don’t think i’ve managed to top it yet!

lowkey tagging @lingua-mortua @pitcherplant @kaasknot @froggy-babyy @deputychairman @nomercyonlytears @clockheartedcrocodile

#writing meme #whoops it's 3:30am #excellent life choices courtesy of: yours truly

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phoenix-downer · 6 years ago

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Sora and Xehanort’s Final Conversation: Japanese and English Comparison

This is the fourth in a series of translation posts I’ve done about KH3. The first three were about Sora and Kairi’s scenes in KH3, but this one will be about Sora and Xehanort’s final conversation.

Here’s a general key for the kind of analysis I like to do:

JP: Official Japanese Dialogue

EN: Official English Dialogue

TR: My Translation (usually more literal and thus more stilted than the official English version. I’m not using natural-sounding English in order to stick as close to the Japanese versions of the lines as possible for the purpose of analysis)

Notes: things I found interesting, grammatical points, extra thoughts, etc.

One last note: media doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Every work of art must be viewed through the cultural lens of the people who made it. Kingdom Hearts, for all its ties to Disney, is still very much a Japanese game, so it should be analyzed in light of that.

With that in mind, let’s continue.

After you defeat Xehanort, the cutscene opens with this shot of Kingdom Hearts:

The camera zooms out:

And we get this shot of Scala ad Caelum:

Quick note on the name: it means “Stairway to Heaven” or “Stairway to the Sky” in Latin (according to a quick check - my knowledge of Latin is rudimentary at best). Caelum is a part of Noctis’s name (of FFXV fame), and, of course, Sora means sky in Japanese, so the link between Sora and this world is clear.

This shot of the sky really emphasizes this fact, and note that night is already starting to fade as a new day dawns:

The camera pans down...

...and Xehanort is standing on a white/light square, Donald and Goofy are standing on the gold anchor-like thing, and Sora is standing on a black/dark square. Sora and Xehanort are standing on opposite sides; Xehanort on the white “square,” Sora on the black “square,” like two kings facing each other off in a game of chess.

Is it symbolic? Probably. It’s interesting that Xehanort is on the white “square” and Sora on the black one, as perhaps we might expect the opposite, as Sora is on the side of good and Xehanort is on the side of evil. Perhaps it also foreshadows Sora’s final fate - to be lost, to be alone, while Xehanort gets to... ascend to the light with Eraqus? Hard to say.

Sora is not alone here, though; here at least he has Donald and Goofy with him.

We get a slightly closer look at this design...

...and we can see that there are seven numbers, starting with I on the bottom-right corner and moving clockwise. I, II, and III use Roman numerals, but the other letters do not; they use a star-shaped pattern of sorts. Sora is standing by the III. Maybe because this game is Kingdom Hearts III?

Three is also a number associated with completion, wholeness, perfection and even divinity in Christianity, and Nomura has used Christian imagery in the series before, so... Sora will be a god/have godlike powers someday confirmed?

I kid, I kid. This is reaching at straws a bit, but it’s fun to speculate, and Sora’s placement here is interesting to note nonetheless. The number seven is also significant because it’s the number of the Guardians of Light and the number of the Foretellers plus Luxu and the Master of Masters. It’s another number that tends to be associated with wholeness/perfection as well.

Continuing on, the camera moves to this shot of Xehanort’s leg:

And then he drops the χ-Blade in a shot that is a visual callback to an earlier shot in the game...

...namely, when Sora’s friends were torn from him and he likewise dropped his Keyblade:

Xehanort collapses to the ground at Sora’s feet with black smoke wafting off him (probably a sign he’s fading)...

...much like how Sora dropped to the ground at the Keyblade Graveyard (minus the smoke):

As I said in an earlier analysis, this is significant because Xehanort is no longer towering over him. They’re on equal footing now. Sora has dragged him off his high horse and defeated him, and Xehanort is a guy who loves to tower over people...

...whereas Sora lowers himself to be at the same level as his smaller friends:

Not only that, Sora has actually managed to get Xehanort to collapse to the ground when before he had collapsed to the ground over his grief at losing his friends, culminating in the moment he loses Kairi...

...and then his grief over Kairi’s death:

But not here. He’s the one standing over Xehanort for once:

Man was this satisfying to see.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy are all panting in this scene, indicating how grueling the battle was for them. Look at Donald and Goofy’s glares, too:

Xehanort tries to lift himself up...

...to no avail. He’s too weak, so he collapses back to the ground:

JP なぜだ　なぜこんなー

EN Why... How...

TR Why... Why like thisー

Notes: No real significant difference here. In both versions Xehanort seems to be questioning how he was defeated like this, implying he’s in a state of disbelief that he was defeated by these three in particular.

We can see he isn’t doing so well, and he winces in pain:

His pose is reminiscent of Sora’s pose when he despairs. Sora’s fists are clenched, and Xehanort has one fist clenched as well.

The camera cuts to Sora...

...who flings his arm out...

...and then clenches his fist again. He sounds furious/fed up with the way Miyu Irino delivers his lines, too:

JP 決着はついた　もうあきらめろ！

EN It’s over now! You lost!

TR It’s over. Give up already!

Notes: “It’s over” can also mean something like “it’s settled” here. They fought, Sora (and Donald and Goofy) won, Xehanort lost, the matter has been decided. And when Sora tells Xehanort to give up, he’s commanding him to do so by using the imperative form of this verb, akiramero. In other words, he’s had it with Xehanort at this point and is sick of fighting him.

But Xehanort isn’t about to give up that easily:

JP 見るがいい　もう手遅れだ

EN No, look... You are too late...

TR Take a look. You’re too late/you lost your final chance.

Notes: “Take a look” is literally “(to) look is good,” but I changed it to make sense in English/to better match the pragmatic meaning of the Japanese sentence instead of the literal meaning. Even in defeat Xehanort won’t give in; he taunts Sora by telling him it’s too late already anyway.

Sora and Donald inhale sharply and look up...

...to see Kingdom Hearts looming above them:

Something is happening. Light is starting to leech off of it in a way that almost looks like solar flares:

Sora and Donald both notice. Look at their concerned faces:

Sora gasps...

...and tilts his head a little higher:

As Donald and Goofy confer about what’s going on, Sora keeps looking up at Kingdom Hearts:

JP 手遅れなの？

EN Are we really?

TR Are (we really) too late?

Notes: Goofy uses the construction ~nano here at the end of his sentence to check for confirmation from Donald, hence the English version’s use of the word “really” here.

JP わかんないよ！

EN I don’t know.

TR I don’t know!

Notes: Donald speaks really colloquially here and it’s pretty cute; instead of the standard wakaranai he uses wakannai. He also uses the emphatic particle yo at the end of the sentence to make it clear he has no idea either.

The camera cuts back to Sora, and he is furious about what’s happening. Note his gritted teeth, curled lip, and eyebrows tilted downward in a frown:

He even leans forward as he chews Xehanort out:

JP 何が起きるんだ？

EN What’s gonna happen?

TR What’s gonna happen?

Notes: Sora uses the ~nda form here to indicate he wants an explanation and he wants an answer.

As he finishes his sentence, he is leaning forward and still glaring:

The camera cuts to a shot of Xehanort still on the ground at Sora, Donald, and Goofy’s feet. Note Sora’s clenched fists and how he’s hunched over:

Xehanort tries to get up again, and you can see Sora relax a little:

JP 浄化　世界を元の状態にリセットするのだ

EN A purge... The World will be returned whence it started.

TR Purification. The World will be reset to its original state/condition.

Notes: Xehanort uses the construction ~noda at the end of the sentence to give an explanation. Sora asked for it, and he’s giving it.

The word I translated as “original” here, moto, can mean a number of things, including “origin,” “source,” “foundation,” or even “root,” depending on context. I’m mentioning it here because it shows up again later on in Xehanort’s story, and I have to translate it differently for it to make sense in English.

Xehanort says “whence” in English to indicate he is speaking in a narrative fashion, as “whence” is no longer commonly used in English anymore.

The English version of Kingdom Hearts renders sekai as World with a capital W here to refer to the overall World that existed before it was split into the smaller worlds you now visit on the Gummi Ship, and I maintained that distinction here. Japanese kanji and kana don’t have capital or lowercase letters, so this is something the English localization uses to make the distinction between the World and the worlds clear for the English-speaking fans.

The word the English version translated as “purge,” jōka, can mean a purge or purification. Looking it up on Google, I found the following definition:

よごれや悪を取り除いて、清浄・清潔にすること。

To remove things like dirt and evil, and make them pure/clean.

So in other words, the World will be purged/purified and reset to its original condition/the state it was in at the beginning. That was Xehanort’s goal.

Continuing on, Sora fully straightens and lets out a surprised noise, his hands no longer in fists:

Xehanort manages to lift himself up to a kneeling position, and he is clutching his side, clearly still injured:

JP 世界の起源は闇だ　光はその闇から生まれたー

EN The World began in darkness. And from that darkness came light.

TR The origin/beginning of the World is darkness. From that darkness, light was born.

Notes: The word I translated as “born” umareta, can also mean “come from/came from,” hence why the English version went with “came” here. In the second sentence I rearranged the order a little to make better sense in English; in Japanese it’s more literally, “Light, from that darkness was born.”

Also, just as a quick note that will apply throughout this analysis: Japanese does not have articles, so any “the” and “a” and “an” in the English version or translation have been implied from context and added in the translation. Japanese simply does not grammaticalize the definite/indefinite distinction the way English (and a lot of other European languages) does.

JP そして　その光から人が生まれ　心が生まれた

EN From the light came the people, and the people had hearts.

TR Then, from that light people were born, and hearts were born.

Notes: The English translation did a good job of maintaining the story-like language Xehanort uses here. In Japanese he uses umareta or a variation of it several times at the end of his phrases to form nice parallels, which the English version translates as “came” in most cases.

Anyway, according to Xehanort’s story, the world began in darkness. Then, from that darkness came light, and from that light came people, and then came hearts. But the story doesn’t end there.

Xehanort winces again here, indicating he’s still in a lot of pain:

The camera cuts to this shot, and Xehanort is standing by the number six, which is one number short of the number of completion/perfection (in Christian thought at least), seven. Because it falls short of seven, it can mean imperfection. It is also is the number associated with humanity, as in the creation story in Genesis, humanity was created on the sixth day.

Significant? Maybe, maybe not. Xehanort certainly falls short of the mark of perfection, that’s for sure. He wore armor reminiscent of a goat earlier on...

...and goats are associated with the devil, so...

Xehanort as a fallen angel of light makes a lot of sense, actually. As the Kingdom Hearts version of Lucifer, as it were. Especially with his whole speech in this scene about wanting to reset the World to get rid of the darkness and bring back the original light.

In the next line, he also talks about how evil came into the World while standing by the number associated with imperfection and/or humanity, so... actually yeah, maybe this is all linked together:

JP 心に悪意が生まれ　結局また闇が生まれた

EN Evil burgeoned in those hearts, begetting more darkness.

TR In people’s hearts evil/malice was born, and finally, darkness was born again.

Notes: This is where the direct umareta/“came” parallel is a little lost in English, though the meaning is maintained in a way that makes Xehanort’s story sound very poetic. Xehanort uses words like “beget” which are typically only used in religious contexts in modern English to add a sense of gravity and religious gravitas to his speech.

Speaking of religion, the Japanese version of these lines strikes me as very cyclical. The World began in darkness. Then, from that darkness light was born, and from that light people were born, and then hearts. From hearts evil/malice was born, and in the end darkness was born again. The World began in darkness and darkness is born anew; the cycle repeats.

This type of language reminds me of Buddhism, with its cycle of birth, suffering, death, and rebirth. This isn’t surprising, as Kingdom Hearts is a Japanese game and Buddhism (along with Shintoism) were the majority religions for a very long time in Japan (though less so in modern times, as more and more people are not religious nowadays). Perhaps Xehanort is trying to break this cycle (or a similar cycle) by resetting the universe.

The word for evil/malice here, akui, is also often used in legal contexts to refer to crimes that were done in bad faith. When I googled the word, I also got this definition:

他人や物事に対していだく悪い感情、または見方。

Bad feelings or perspectives towards other people and things (among other things).

The word I translated “finally” here, kekkyoku, I am noting here because I will have to translate it differently later on but wanted to point out the parallel in the original version. It can also mean “in the end.”

Continuing on, the camera pans to Sora, Donald, and Goofy, still standing by that III:

Then cuts to Donald, who looks very distressed by Xehanort’s story:

JP そうやって世界を闇で覆っていったのだ

EN And that darkness spread across the World like a plague.

TR In this way, the World was covered in darkness.

Notes: Xehanort uses the ~noda construction here again at the end of the sentence to give an explanation.

The word I translated as “was covered,” ōtteitta, can also mean “to hide,” “to conceal,” “to wrap,” “to disguise.” It can be used in the context of snow or water covering land, for example. In this sentence I’m sort of getting the sense that the darkness cloaked the World and covered it.

The English version goes with the plague metaphor, which immediately brings forth to mind images of impurity/dirt/disease in association with darkness. Which is fitting for the overall tone of the scene, as Xehanort claims he wanted to purge/purify the World.

The camera changes to a shot of Sora that begins at his heart and pans up to his face along with a line that very well might have been meant as foreshadowing:

JP 世界に生まれた光という希望も　結局は闇になる

EN The light, the symbol of the World’s hope, was devoured by shadow.

TR In the end, the hope that is the light born in the World also becomes darkness.

Notes: The phrase I translated as “in the end” is the same word I translated as “finally” earlier, kekkyoku. Just wanted to point out that parallel because Xehanort is deliberately reusing certain words over and over again here in the telling of his story.

The Japanese version says that even the light becomes darkness again, whereas the English version says that the light was devoured by darkness. The end result is the same though: darkness.

I think it’s very telling that this line is spoken when Sora is shown; he is the light and the symbol of the World’s hope, in a way, and earlier in this scene we saw him transform into darkness...

...and at the end of this game he will be lost as well.

Continuing on:

JP この世界はもうダメだ　失敗したのだ

EN Leaving nothing but ruin... An utter failure.

TR This World is no good anymore. It’s a failure.

Notes: Xehanort uses the ~noda construction here again at the end of the sentence to give an explanation, and the phrase I translated as “It’s a failure” is more literally, “It failed.”

The phrasing is a little different in the Japanese and English versions, but the overall meaning/intent is the same: Xehanort thinks this World is a failure and that a new one is needed. Xehanort delivers these lines with a lot of emotion, too; clearly he feels strongly about this.

The camera switches to a shot of Kingdom Hearts again:

JP だから　はじまりの光ー

EN But, the first lightー

TR So, the first lightー

Notes: The Japanese version is more literally, “(the) light of the beginning.”

JP キングダムハーツによって　世界を元からはじめればいい

EN the light of Kingdom Heartsー it can give us a new start.

TR by (using) Kingdom Hearts, (we) should start the World from the beginning.

Notes: The word moto is used here again, which I translated as “original” earlier but “beginning” here.

There is no “we” pronoun in the Japanese version; Japanese does not require pronouns the same way English does and they can often be dropped and implied/inferred from context. I added in the “we” for it to make sense in English.

Xehanort uses the ~baii construction, which he’ll use again here soon. It’s a conditional grammar construction and it’s used here to indicate what Xehanort thinks is the best course of action.

JP 何もない　真っ白な世界からー

EN An empty World, pure and bright...

TR Nothing/empty... from a pure/blank Worldー

Notes: Kept the translation very literal here to make it clear what exactly the Japanese version said.

While it’s true masshiro can mean “blank,” it can also mean “pure.” Think in the sense of “pure white.” For a more detailed Japanese definition, feel free to check this dictionary entry out. I saw debate over whether the English version mistranslated this part and thus messed up Xehanort’s motives, but as masshiro can mean blank or pure, I’d say the translators handled this part very well, especially with some of the other phrasing Xehanort uses in this scene (like purify/purge).

Continuing on, Sora doesn’t let Xehanort finish his grand speech; he interrupts him in a very satisfying “shut up and stop rambling” moment:

JP それは　おまえが決めることじゃない

EN It wasn’t your decision to make.

TR That’s not your decision (to make). / That’s not something (for) you (to) decide.

Notes: The word for “decision/decide,” kimeru, I will have to translate as something else later on for it to flow well in English, but the word used in the Japanese version is kimeru throughout.

Anyway, Xehanort is not happy to hear this and clutches the χ-Blade:

And struggles to his feet as Sora, Donald, and Goofy watch:

He’s still weak, though, so he has to brace himself with the χ-Blade (props to the χ-Blade for actually being sharp enough to pierce the ground):

Then speaks again:

JP では　誰が決める？

EN Then whose was it?

TR Then who (gets to) decide?

Notes: The word for "decide” here is kimeru again.

Xehanort holds the χ-Blade up before holding it at his side:

And Sora reacts, not liking how Xehanort is holding the χ-Blade like that again:

But, he very tellingly says nothing. Perhaps because he doesn’t have an answer. Perhaps because he knows Xehanort thinks he will claim he should have been the one to decide instead of Xehanort. But Sora isn’t arrogant; he doesn’t think he should make this kind of decision for people because he knows he has no right to. So he says nothing instead.

Xehanort misunderstands Sora’s silence as not understanding, and so tries to explain to him. Here you can even see him do his weird finger thing before he clenches his fist:

JP 力を持つ者が決めるしかない

EN The World needs someone to stand up and lead.

TR Only those who have power can decide.

Notes: Here we have Xehanort’s whole philosophy in a nutshell. He thinks that only the people with power should be allowed to decide. Took long enough, but he’s finally giving Sora (and the audience) a straight answer.

The word for "decide” here is kimeru again. The word for “only,” shikanai, means something like “there is no choice but to~.” The word I translated as “those,” mono, more literally means “people.” Xehanort’s saying the only option here is for the people with power to decide.

The Japanese version gives a bit of a “survival of the fittest, the powerful will rule over the weak” sort of vibe with the phrasing. He’s pulling from the evil dictator textbook, basically, and the English version diverges from the Japanese version here and phrases the whole thing in terms of leadership. Yes, it’s a noticeable change, but I think it works well, plus it gives Sora some really awesome lines here in a bit.

JP 力なき者は強者の決めた世界で身勝手に闇を生み出すだけだ

EN Someone strong, to stop the weak from polluting the World with their endless darkness.

TR Those without power, in the World the strong have chosen, only selfishly bring forth darkness.

Notes: “Chosen” was kimeta, the past tense of kimeru, in the Japanese version.

The word I translated as “the strong,” kyōsha, is literally “strong person,” when you look at the kanji. Xehanort defines weak people as those without power and strong people as those with it. He blames the weak for bringing darkness into the World, says it’s all they do, and calls their behavior selfish.

You sure get the vibe that he thinks the weak are only capable of bringing forth more and more darkness, which is probably why in his mind he is justified in resetting the universe, murdering Kairi, attempting to murder Sora and the rest of his friends, norting Terra for years, trying to nort Sora, a murder attempt on his best friend, etc., etc. in order to bring about a new World. It’s all for the best in the end, right? The ends justify the means, don’t they?

No. They absolutely do not.

And speaking of which, what on earth was he thinking with murdering Kairi? She’s one of the few hearts that is made of the pure light he claims to love so much. He wants that light back so badly he’s resetting the universe, and yet one of the few people it exists in naturally he decides to... kill off? For motivation Sora didn’t need because he already had plenty of motivation to fight him? What?

In other words, Xehanort is a massive hypocrite who can’t even behave consistently with his own beliefs. What else is new.

Continuing on, the camera focuses on his face in profile here:

JP 強者の決めた運命を受け入れていればいい

EN Someone to dictate their destiny.

TR (They) should accept the fate the strong have chosen.

Notes: “Chosen” was kimeta, the past tense of kimeru, in the Japanese version. The ~baii construction pops up again here to indicate what Xehanort thinks is the best course of action.

So now the strong get to decide the fate of the weak, hmmmm? Man, I wonder where I’ve heard that kind of reasoning before...

Oh yeah, that’s right. Evil dictators. Xehanort still sounds like one of those. He has delusions of grandeur, but Sora’s about to set him straight.

The camera goes to a wide angle to paint Sora and Xehanort’s ideological clash in epic strokes, with Sora on one end of the screen and Xehanort on the other. Between the two of them are three doorways with three keyholes above those doorways. Symbolic? Probably. It makes for a lovely visual even if it’s not though.

JP だとしたらー

EN If so...

TR If soー

Notes: Sora decides to entertain Xehanort’s notion for a moment. Okay, even if the social Darwinism nonsense he’s spouting is true (it’s not), does that mean Xehanort deserves to rule?

Sora’s face is shown in profile here on the left side of the screen, in contrast with Xehanort’s face being shown in profile earlier on the right side of the screen:

And Sora gives his answer:

JP おまえも強者じゃないよ　ゼアノート

EN you’re not that person, Xehanort.

TR you aren’t one of the strong either, Xehanort.

Notes: The Japanese version is more literally, “You also aren’t the strong/a strong person, Xehanort.”

Sora uses the derogatory/familiar pronoun for “you” here, omae, to address Xehanort, showing how little regard he has for him. He also uses the particle yo to indicate he’s imparting knowledge to Xehanort - he’s telling him that he’s not fit to decide. His sass and attitude is great here; he’s speaking like he’s qualified to instruct Xehanort on this.

I love the Japanese version of this line because he’s basically saying, “Okay, maybe all of the stuff you just said is true, but you know what? You’re not one of the strong. You’re one of the weak. You don’t deserve to rule. You don’t deserve to decide other people’s fates for them.”

The English version is fantastic too. As Xehanort’s lines in the English version earlier phrased this in terms of leadership, Sora tells him he’s not the one who should lead. He’s not fit to lead.

In both languages, Sora hands Xehanort an excellent burn.

Xehanort is displeased at hearing this:

Then makes a hmmm? noise...

...and tilts his head, waiting for Sora to say more:

And he does, and look how angry Goofy and Donald still are:

JP 本当の強者は世界の運命は握らない

EN A real leader knows that destiny is beyond his control...

TR A real/true strong person doesn’t grasp/seize (the) World’s fate/destiny.

Notes: The word for “strong person” here is still kyōsha, which I translated as “the strong” earlier. Had to tweak things a bit for the sake of English grammar. Makes sense that the English version went with “leader” to maintain the parallel throughout and avoid this problem.

In the Japanese version, the focus is on the World’s fate/destiny, probably to parallel all those other times Xehanort spoke about the World, whereas the English version focuses on destiny in general. Sora also notes that a real leader/strong person doesn’t try to control destiny or seize it for himself/herself. In fact, Sora would probably consider someone who does so to be unworthy of such power, just how he considers Xehanort unworthy of the power.

The English version adds in the pronoun “his” because again in Japanese pronouns tend to be omitted and implied from context. By saying what a real leader does here, he is saying that Xehanort is not one... and, perhaps, subtly claiming that he is one, as he has accepted his fate/destiny, whatever it may be.

The word here for fate/destiny, unmei, also pops up in Sora’s opening lines. Borrowing from an earlier analysis:

奪われた世界ー

奪われた心ー

その繋がりを断ち切られてもー

それが運命ならー

歩む道は帰るべき方向を常に向いている

They can take your world.

They can take your heart.

Cut you loose from all you know.

But if it’s your fate…

…then every step forward will always be a step closer to home.

(My) world was stolenー

(My) heart was stolenー

(My) connection (to my friends) was even brokenー

(But even) if that’s (my) fateー

The road to walk, the way that will lead me homeー I’ll always keep facing it.

Notes: These lines show how Sora has accepted his fate, and in the KH3 Ultimania Nomura confirmed that these lines reflect Sora’s mindset at the end of the game I believe it was (someone fact check me on that though please!)

Even though Sora doesn’t say it outright, his words here could be taken to mean he thinks he’s the rightful leader here, not Xehanort, because he has accepted his fate in a way that Xehanort refuses to. At the very least, Xehanort does not deserve to rule because he’s trying to seize hold of the World’s fate/destiny.

And we see Sora follow through on this in the end; he accepts his death with dignity and saves Kairi, even knowing it will probably cost him his life.

He blinks here briefly:

Then opens his eyes again to deliver the rest of his speech, complete with extra frowning at Xehanort. Note how his eyebrows change position:

JP そんな力は持たないよ

EN and accepts that.

TR You can’t hold/keep that kind of power.

Notes: Sora flat up tells Xehanort in the Japanese version that that kind of power is not something that can be grasped, held, or kept. Fate/destiny cannot be controlled the way Xehanort is trying to.

The Japanese version does not have the word “can’t” or “you” in it; Sora more literally says, “(You) don’t hold that kind of power.”

Sora uses the particle yo here again to really emphasize that he’s telling Xehanort this.

He continues to stare Xehanort down after he finishes speaking:

Then we get this closeup shot of Xehanort’s face...

...as his eyes narrow:

The camera goes back to Sora’s face in a similar closeup shot:

And Sora’s eyebrows tilt downwards even further as he just continues to glare at Xehanort:

It’s a battle of wills, if you may. Who will stand down first?

The answer is Xehanort. He actually smiles, too:

Takes a moment to gather his thoughts:

And says:

JP おまえは我が友に似ているな

EN You... make me think of an old friend.

TR You’re like my friend.

Notes: Xehanort uses the same derogatory/familiar pronoun for “you” Sora used earlier to address him, omae. Here it seems a little less hostile though. Xehanort also uses the pronoun wa here to refer to himself when in other contexts he’s used watashi, I believe?

Huh. Probably using wa here because he’s an old dude.

He also uses the particle na at the end of the sentence to express some extra emotion with his declaration here.

He even smiles a little, probably because he’s thinking back on fond memories he has of Eraqus:

Sora just stares back at him, and the background kinda looks like he’s wearing a giant crown though I admit this is a stretch. Goofy’s displeased look sure isn’t though:

The scene goes on and the others arrive, so skipping forward to this moment when Xehanort hands over the χ-Blade:

JP 見事だった

EN Very well done.

TR (You did) splendidly/admirably/excellently.

Notes: Xehanort expresses his admiration for Sora’s efforts here.

Note Sora’s shocked look:

He looks down...

...then takes the χ-Blade. Note how one hand is on the hilt and the other hand is holding part of the χ-Blade’s wing-like things, almost like he’s admiring it:

Then he takes it from Xehanort and looks up:

And as someone pointed out... (can’t remember who, sorry, but credit to you!) this is the first time Sora has officially been bequeathed a Keyblade by someone else. And it was Xehanort who was the one to do it.

Make of that what you will.

Screenshots are from here and here. Usual disclaimers apply about my Japanese ability and translation abilities being a work in progress, etc. Might tweak things if I notice mistakes or if people mention stuff I forgot to.

#kh3 #kingdom hearts 3 #kingdom hearts #sora #xehanort #kh3 spoilers #kingdom hearts 3 spoilers #kh analysis #phoenix translates #phoenix downer #phoenix plays kh3 #kh translation #kh meta #long post #donald #goofy #donald duck

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rebakadraws · 7 years ago

Text

The Fox and the Hounds (pt 1?!)

My @inusecretsanta for @avannak !! Honestly I had never known about you before, so, nice to meet you fellow Inuyasha (and furthermore, Koga) fan!

The first prompt you had listed was ya bois Inuyasha, Koga, and Shippo interacting together, and that had really excited me, because I’ve actually thought about and really like the idea of these three’s dynamic! To anyone who knows me it might come as a surprise that I didn’t just draw something for your gift, but, well, your prompt that caught my eye inspired an idea for an entire story plot, so, I couldn’t help trying my hand at a fic this time! Unfortunately for me though, I was a bit.. too inspired, so this turned out rather long and like the title says, this is only part 1! Because I’m posting this first half to be in time for the SS, without a deadline anymore I can’t guarantee when the second part will be finished... But I’ve still got the ideas for the scenes of the second half so I am determined to finish it for you! ...Someday XD. Anyway, yeah! I hope you had a very merry Christmas and I hope your 2018 has been awesome so far! Enjoy!~

Rated: K+ for a couple mild-swears in there (GASP I’m breaking out of my shell I guess cOUGH thanks Kat lol) Word Count: 4965 |D Disclaimer: This story is told through the eyes of Shippo, and so the negative descriptions towards Inuyasha and Koga are based on his opinion, not my own. I love... basically all the characters in this great anime! The only character I would ever talk about negatively is Naraku pfff.

It had decidedly been Shippo’s most favorite toy, a truly unique gift from Kagome’s own time, even. The priceless pull-string-operated propeller toy from the future now found its final resting place on the grass, wronged and rendered completely useless, its string having been ripped from the toy’s base. The injustice had occured in a mere matter of seconds, but Shippo had seen the crime committed with his own two eyes. He turned said eyes up accusingly at the culprit standing before him.

Inuyasha blinked, and brought his fist of detached string up to his vision, his mind finally catching up with what had just transpired. “Ah jeez, I pulled too hard on it, huh? Sorry, runt.”

Forcing back tears for the broken trinket, Shippo pouted indignantly at the hanyou, finding that he did not fully believe his clearly facaded innocence. “Inuyasha! Don’t you act surprised! You did this on purpose!!”

Now Inuyasha raised an eyebrow, before squatting down to the young fox-youkai’s level. “An’ why in the hell would I have done this on purpose?” he responded, his face narrowing into an unconvinced look.

“Because,” the boy huffed, “You’re always bullying me! I bet that you got so annoyed at me shooting the toy up near your face, that you decided to take matters into your own hands, and put an end to it!”

Tk! The nerve a’ this kid, coming up with a conspiracy to accuse me—! Didn’t he hear me so graciously apologize?!, Inuyasha thought. It was true that he had been ticked off by Shippo’s antics with the toy earlier, but jeez, what did the kid take him for? A ruthless savage?

(That was exactly what little Shippo took him for, and was currently cursing him as, in the seclusion of his own young mind.)

From Inuyasha’s less-emotionally-charged perspective, what had legitimately taken place was as such:

Only minutes ago, the hanyou had come to fetch Shippo as their traveling group was preparing to trek the unbeaten path again; he had found the fox tyke still incessantly playing with his new toy from Kagome. The boy had looked so focused on the device, however, that Inuyasha had inquired, “Hey Shippo, whatcha up to over here?”

“Ah, Inuyasha! I’m trying to make the spinner go as high into the air as possible! My record is up to that tree branch right there,” Shippo had answered in pure boyish excitement, with a finger pointed upward to a specific tree limb.

“Keh, as high as possible, huh? Give it here, runt.”

From what Inuyasha had seen, Shippo’s teal eyes had lit up in supposed understanding — the elder hanyou’s superior strength could rip on the string so hard, that the spinner would go soaring! — so the boy then eagerly handed the toy to him. Inuyasha’s mouth had lifted into a confident smirk, and he indeed yanked on the string with all his might… forgetting to consider that pulling the string so ruthlessly hard would surely snap it clean off of the toy.

It had been a complete accident, and this twerp knows it! “Keh, some conspiracy ya got there! Didntchya hear me say ‘sorry’ for it, ya pea-brain—”

Both youkais paused their bickering when their sensitive ears picked up familiar footsteps approaching. They turned to see Kagome emerging from the brush, holding an overgrown-branch out of her way as she gingerly navigated through the forest foliage, over to the two boys. “What’s going on over here, Inuyasha, Shippo?” They recognized her tone as her ‘mother-hen’ voice, patiently yet firmly prodding for information. “I heard arguing.”

In a flash, Shippo scampered across the leaf-litter and up into the comfort of Kagome’s arms. He finally allowed the wetness to pool up at the corners of his eyes in order to clearly demonstrate his distress, and cried out his explanation, “Kagome! Inuyasha broke my new toy that you gave to me!!”

Her thin eyebrows furrowed in seriousness as she looked up at the accused. “Inuyasha, is that true?”

Shippo cut back in before Inuyasha could defend himself. “Yeah, it’s true! He even did it on purpose!!”

Kagome turned her gaze back down to the distressed fox-boy in her arms. “Now Shippo, I’m sure that Inuyasha didn’t mean it on purpose. But Inuyasha,” again she switched the focus of her gaze, “did you break it?”

As her chocolate-brown eyes, patient, calm, and yet in the depths of them chastising, were pinned down onto him, Inuyasha found himself hesitating to answer. God, how stupid would he look to her if she learned how carelessly he had accidentally broken a kid’s toy? He could already envision the weird look she would give him! So — as it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks — the hanyou instinctively resorted to the one strategy nailed the hardest into his head: self-preservation. He covertly concealed his fistful of evidence behind his back before releasing the pull-string to drop to the ground. “Keh, of course not! I ain’t that thoughtless! Shippo here broke his own damn toy.”

Shippo’s bleary eyes widened and a small gasp of disbelief escaped his lips. That Inuyasha—! That— that big, stinking jerk, lying like that! How could he do this to me; after breaking my favorite toy, too?! His eyes flickered panickedly to Kagome’s own, staring back down at him. “He—! He’s lying!! He broke my toy, I saw it with my own eyes!”

“Shippo…”

“Y’know what I saw, runt?” Inuyasha said, as he crossed his arms and turned away huffily, “I saw an overly-excited twerp pullin’ on his toy’s string too hard, until it gave out an’ snapped!”

“I wasn’t the one who snapped the string, you’ve got to believe me, Kagome!” Shippo’s eyes pleaded with the girl cradling him; his shimmering tears threatened to pool over and freely flow down his young cheeks.

“Oh, ya didn’t, didya? Didn’t I hear ya say t’ me, ‘I’m trying ta make the spinner go as high in the air as possible’?”

He was being wronged, framed! How could Kagome, ever-wise and perfectly-just, possibly believe such lies from the guilty face of that, dirty scoundrel?! In that moment Shippo put every ounce of his belief into her natural, motherly ability to sniff out lies... And yet her gaze hardened on him. “Shippo… I know you’re upset about your toy, but you really shouldn’t be taking it out on Inuyasha.”

“W-what..?” he squeaked out weakly, not believing what he was hearing.

Kagome tilted her chin upward, closing her eyes as she held up a finger, looking as though she was reciting some line of ancient wisdom, as she said, “Acting like an adult means taking responsibility for your own mistakes.” Inuyasha sniffed arrogantly and turned his face away from Kagome. “Keh, yeah.”

“I’m very disappointed in you, Shippo. I suppose that next time I return home, I’ll have to refrain from buying you another toy, if you’re proven to not be responsible enough for them.”

Shippo’s small head whipped back and forth between the faces of his judge and jury absolute disbelief. But as the reality of Kagome’s statement sunk in, he paused. His protruding bottom lip began to quiver as he bit down on it, until… Shippo finally lost his composure with an explosion of distress, letting out a sharp wail and allowing the tears to fly from his eyeducts. He hopped out of Kagome’s arms and fled from the suffocating scene of utter betrayal, choking out, “It’s not fair, it’s not fair!!”

The two grown teenagers left behind watched after the fleeing boy; Kagome shaking her head with a sigh, and Inuyasha holding his nose in the air pointedly (although, admittedly a twinge of guilt ran through him).

It’s not fair it’s not fair it’s not fair—!!, Shippo’s mind ran out in protest. How could Kagome believe Inuyasha over himself? It was simply because he was a grown-up, while Shippo was a kid, wasn’t it? But that didn’t really count for anything — Shippo knew that, at least! Out of the two of them, he was definitely more mature and trustworthy than that Inuyasha; that rude, ungrateful, two-timer, who didn’t even understand his own feelings! That Inuyasha who had so little control over his temper, that he took it out on sweet, innocent little boys such as himself?! How could Kagome trust a guy like that?! Shippo’s raging mind kept circling back to the same conclusion: It wasn’t fair!

~~~

A calm, crisp night had come and gone, but it had done nothing to quell little Shippo’s fury. His frustration had kept him from a peaceful sleep, rendering the fox-youkai even more irritable, even as he now perched on Sango’s shoulder while their comrades continued their journeying. As the elder teenagers commented on the scenery and joked to pass the time, Shippo was too lost in his aggravated whirlwind of thoughts to pay any attention to them.

Ever since that fateful day when he had first encountered Inuyasha and Kagome in their travels, Inuyasha had harassed and insulted him. He had been the cause of a great many of Shippo’s frustrations, teary outbursts, bumps to the head, and loss of snacks… But this — breaking his new favorite toy, and then not even having the decency to own up to it, consequently getting Shippo in trouble — this had been the last straw! Everything before this had only been meager actions of pettiness meant to mess with him, but now, now that Inuyasha had purposefully, traitorously, gotten him into trouble with Kagome? That was it! There was only one possible response to this, and it rang out clearly: revenge. Sweet, sweet revenge. Obviously Shippo had no other option but to teach Inuyasha a lesson — one that would put an end to his reign of tyranny for good.

But how?

Inuyasha was bigger than him, stronger than him, faster than him, and had keener senses than him — it had always made Shippo an easy target for his brutality, and any time Shippo had made attempts to get back at him in the past, Inuyasha always got the last laugh regardless. He didn’t think he could rely on his fox magic for this mission of grand justice, because his signature tricks and illusions would be a dead giveaway of their conjuror to Inuyasha. No, this time he required some other way to get his revenge — some round-a-bout, discreet way that wouldn’t point a trail back to himself, for a furious Inuyasha to—

His scheming was abruptly interrupted by a sharp, familiar scent having been thrust into his nose by a gust of wind. Shippo inwardly groaned as the rest of the group took notice of the sudden wind and turned around to face its source. As if his mood wasn’t already soured enough, now he had to watch this arrogant, run-through-the-motions display?

“Hey there, Kagome,” said the source of the wind and pungent scent, their ally, Koga.

Shippo didn’t even need to see it in front of him to know that Koga was already up in Kagome’s personal space, snatching up her gentle hands in his rougher ones.

“H-hello, Koga..,” Kagome greeted him back, with just a hint of awkwardness. “What brings you here?”

The wolf-youkai chuckled, the rumbling sound absolutely dripping with cockiness, before he answered, “I need a reason to come see my woman?”

Shippo wrinkled up his nose in distaste. Koga had spared his life once, so, the boy couldn’t find it in himself to hate the guy; but that did not stop him from labeling the wolf-youkai as an arrogant moron. How could he not see that Kagome’s friendliness towards him was nothing special — only her characteristic kindness that she freely offered to everyone? Even that jerk Inuyasha could recognize.. at least some of her feelings! Speaking of which…

Like clockwork, after only a couple of sentences input from Koga, a clawed-hand ripped his hands away from Kagome’s before shoving the youkai away from her. “Hell yeah ya need a reason, there’s no woman of yours here!!”

As the same scene they had witnessed countless times replayed once more, the uninvolved members of the party stood back and searched for a place to sit, where they would wait for the routine cycle to run its course. While Sango found a comfortable place to sit against a log, Shippo hopped off of his seat on her shoulder to make his way over to Kagome. He still held some bitter feelings towards his caretaker for not trusting him on the toy incident, but, they weren’t enough to withhold his instincts to protect who he considered kin from the gruff, pushy Koga. So, while Kagome’s hands were free from that brute’s grasp, Shippo took the opportunity to jump up into her hold, occupying said hands to perhaps rescue them from being stolen up again.

Shippo looked on as Koga’s entire face narrowed in displeasure at Inuyasha’s interruption, a complete opposite of the expression he wore only seconds before. “Tk, you just keep telling yourself that, mutt,” he responded. “But, y’know what, fine — the truth is…” Before anyone could react Koga had zipped past Inuyasha and was standing at Kagome’s side again. In the girl’s arms, Shippo squinted critically up at her assaulter, but it went wholly unnoticed.

Koga continued, “I came across a youkai who was looking for jewel shards, and the bastard had mentioned a pretty girl who held some shards so, naturally I assumed it was speaking of Kagome. I was worried,” he placed gentle hands on her shoulders as he said to her, “You alright? You’re not hurt?”

Again Inuyasha interrupted, “She’s fine, flea-bag; so why dontcha get your filthy mitts offa her and get lost already!”

Shippo silently agreed — as much as he loathed to be agreeing with Inuyasha right now — and he glared even harder up at Koga, frustrated that his subtle plan of keeping his hands off of Kagome had been in vain. Koga shot the indignant hanyou a glare, while Kagome also looked back at him and addressed him, “Inuyasha… Koga’s only asking how I’m doing, there’s no harm in answering him real quick…”

“No harm in—! Hmph, well, what about letting him grab ya like that?! You let him touch ya so much you two might as well be—“

“Inuyasha…”

Here it comes, Shippo thought, the ‘sit’ Inuyasha always earns whenever Koga comes around… But, as Kagome’s warning tone had been enough for Inuyasha to shut his trap before he reached the point of no return, the command surprisingly didn’t come. Kagome softened her gaze as she looked back up at Koga. “Anyways, yes Koga, I’m alright… It’s nothing that I can’t handle,” she answered with an upbeat smile.

Her words did not seem to satisfy him, however. “Nothing that you can't handle..? Kagome…”

“Okay well, maybe I’ve gotten a few scrapes here and there, and lately I’ve been wishing we could take longer breaks,” here she pointed another look back at Inuyasha, “But I’m fine, really.”

Alarm bells went off in Shippo’s head as Koga stepped even closer to Kagome, his form towering over hers creating somewhat of a more intimate moment between them. Indignantly the protective fox-boy in her arms immediately hopped to his feet, and attempted to push the wolf-youkai’s torso away from his caretaker, but to no avail.

“Kagome,” Koga began, “I know that you want to stay with your little pack, but if you ever wish to be taken better care of, I—“

He was cut off, and nearly cut open, by a giant swing of Inuyasha’s Tetsusaiga. The dust kicked up by the massive sword’s impact with the ground gradually began to settle, as the wolf-youkai landed back on his own feet about a yard away, developing an expression of pure rage. His shoulders tensed forward, his clawed hands balled into tight fists, and his whole face narrowed, save for his nostrils flaring. “How dare you interrupt me when I’m having a moment with my woman, you mutt-faced mongrel..,” he half-growled out.

“Keh-! ‘A moment’? Sounded more like a load of bull-crap to me, you mangy wolf!”

Fight, fight, fight! Shippo’s mind chanted impishly. Inuyasha should teach that creep to leave Kagome alone! ..But, at the same time... I wouldn’t mind seeing Koga make Inuyasha suffer a bit... He’s a strong youkai, and can do what I can’t.

However, to everyone’s surprise, Inuyasha turned away from Koga, ignoring the hostile youkai for a moment, to address Kagome’s previous comment. “You’ve been wanting to rest longer? Why didn't’cha speak up about it before?!”

Shippo tilted his head upwards to observe her reaction; she blinked, her eyes widening. “Um, because... I thought you wouldn’t want to hear it..?”

“Dammit Kagome, I’ve noticed ya acting more sluggish lately… Don’t think that I’ll take any complainin’ from ya, but jeez, if it’s necessary... You’ve gotta take care of yourself!”

Somehow her eyelids and eyebrows simultaneously raised even further in astonishment, as a hint of a blush crept into her cheeks. “Inuyasha…”

Sudden movement caught Shippo’s attention to witness Inuyasha, seemingly in embarrassment, whip his face away from Kagome’s view. “W-Well, ya ain’t of any use to me dead — Not any of ya!” he awkwardly recovered.

A new voice chimed in, “Well, my neck has been bothering me quite a bit lately…”

“Shut up, Miroku!!”

Meanwhile, Shippo and Koga appeared to be the only ones who were untouched by Inuyasha’s rough admittance of care for his companions. Telling us to take care of ourselves… Pretending to care about our health… The number of blows to the head he’s given me himself are countless — I bet he’s knocked off a few years of my life, even!

The group was reminded of a certain enraged wolf-youkai’s presence when he began to let out a low growl, his eyebrow twitching at being ignored. “Hey,” he interrupted the interruption, “Well as much as I’d love to rip you apart, you half-breed scum, I don’t have time to wait for you to decide whether you’re brave enough to come at me or not.” Koga cockily played it off, as always, as if he was the one championing a victory over the day.

Inuyasha rolled his head back with pure exasperated irritation, before he turned back to face the wolf-youkai, his fingers re-clenching the handle of his Tetsusaiga. “Then get outta here already, nothing’s stopping ya.”

Koga’s nostrils flared as he sharply took in an infuriated breath, tensing up his entire body for a moment — before releasing the breath and relaxing, straightening up his back. His blue eyes flickered to Kagome and a look of remorse flashed across his features, most likely as he calculated that he could not get to her with Inuyasha standing protectively right in the way. He leaned outwards to view her whole face past Inuyasha’s form, and waved a hand as he said to her, “I don’t want to stir up trouble in front of you, Kagome, so I’ll be going now.” He winked at her. “See ya.”

With a roll of his eyes, Shippo thought, Doesn’t want to stir up trouble in front of Kagome? The moron stirs up trouble just by coming around to see her! He stuck out his tongue in distaste, as he looked up at Kagome’s face to judge her own reaction. She smiled, and the fox-boy recognized it as a purely polite one, as she waved back, “Take care, Koga.”

Fully expecting Koga to immediately turn tail and stir up a whirlwind with his departure, Shippo shielded his face, before realizing that the wolf-youkai wasn’t finished yet. With a displeased growl he turned his sour gaze back to Inuyasha, and added, “You’ll regret coming between me and my woman you low-life… I can only hope you get what’s coming to you.”

With a start, Shippo’s ear twitched as he understood the truly icy tone of Koga’s voice: revenge, a craving for it. As the elder youkai sped away into the distance, it was then that Shippo had the epiphany — he and Koga were in the same boat. Though Koga and Inuyasha were so alike in their rude, brutish ways, Koga was equally as frustrated with the hanyou as Shippo was, and equally as unable to do something about it without facing repercussions. However, there was one advantage Koga possessed that Shippo did not, and that was being a youkai of Inuyasha’s stature, a youkai evenly matched against Inuyasha. He could perform some of the more elaborate pranks that Shippo had conceptualized in his impish-mentality; perhaps… Koga could be the indirect route that he required for truly-successful revenge on Inuyasha.

~~~

As the hours lazily dragged on, the conspirator anxiously anticipated the dark veil of nighttime to begin on his scheme of revenge. While his comrades would fall prey to their weariness and dream away, he would leave behind a false clone of himself to further avoid suspicion as he would, in actuality, be sneaking off to track down the wolf-youkai leader — the sole candidate for the position of a worthy partner-in-crime.

Staying awake through the night had proven much more testing than Shippo had initially thought, but having taken a nap earlier in the afternoon hours, he had managed to pull through. All had gone to plan; Inuyasha had no detection of his suspicious activeness in the night, and the cunning fox-youkai was now floating high over the forest terrain in his not-so-inconspicuous ballon-form, as he strained his nose to track a scent.

Being an animalistic youkai, he did possess a heightened sense of smell, but even so it was untrained and not even fully developed; it was nowhere near the level of tracking capability that youkais like Inuyasha and Koga utilized. He had barely managed to pick up the latter-youkai’s scent on the cool night air, but now the boy was finding difficulty in following the faint trail. However, unlike those canine-youkais who relied so heavily on their keen noses alone, Shippo thought to apply his perceptiveness to other methods of tracking, in order to compensate for his mediocre sense of smell. His teal eyes scanned through the darkness for trees shaken up by Koga’s whirlwind; his sharpened ears were at attention for—

Wolf howls, carrying clearly through the silent nighttime air, as if on cue. Shippo drifted in the vague direction of the echoing noise, and after a moment began to doubt his trajectory; until thankfully another howl was let loose, allowing him to pinpoint the exact location of its source. The obnoxious-looking balloon descended right above the spot, and with an unnatural pop!, transformed back into a young boy who landed on a branch of the forest’s canopy. He hopped down the layers of branches similarly to a squirrel, heading for a better view point to watch for the wolves’ alpha. He could only reveal himself if Koga was around, otherwise, his wolves probably wouldn’t hesitate to eat the young fox!

A secure branch both a couple of feet away and a couple of feet above the wolves’ heads seemed satisfactory, so there Shippo perched and began to peer out over the wolfpack. Wolves, wolves, and, more wolves... Huh. No wolf-youkais to be seen, only ordinary wolves… Could this just be a regular wolfpack that I tracked...?! In exasperation he let out a sigh of defeat, and flopped back against the tree trunk that his branch was attached to. A couple of the nearest wolves’ ears flicked towards his direction, but Shippo decided that he was at a safe enough height to have no reason to worry if they noticed his presence anymore.

Or, so he thought.

Before his brain could even process the occurrence, something had snatched him up by the tail and dragged him off the security of his branch. The boy’s eyes shot wide open with terror as he dangled precariously over the menacing hoard of wolves, thinking to himself, This is it, this is it—! This had all been a terrible idea — why did I think to go off on my own?!

“Well, well, what‘ve we got here?” a roguish voice spoke, and it was then that Shippo realized that his tail was firmly grasped in a large hand, not a snout of glistening fangs. He craned his head upwards to see the face of his assailant: Koga himself.

His intimidatingly-sharp eyes were gleaming in the moonlight and his fanged-smile was twisted up into a sardonic grin; with a shudder, Shippo recognized it as the trademark expression of a bloodthirsty killer. He had never seen the wolf-youkai make such an expression; even back when he and Kagome had first met Koga on not-so-friendly terms, when he had thrown the boy to his wolves, he had only sported a look of indifference. Now, Shippo was seeing that Koga wore it well, as if he wore it often… I thought Koga had been changed by Kagome, I thought he was our ally and wouldn’t harm me — is all the ‘ally’ shtick just for appearances, to look good in front of Kagome?! Curse him! Curse him, he’s even worse than Inuyasha! He never truly changed — I put my trust in him and now I only see him for what he truly is: evil! Evil, evil, evi—!

Shippo was so shaken by his enraged thoughts that he didn’t notice the wolf’s features shift from menacing to questioning. “Wait… Aren’t ya that little fox tyke that Kagome’s taken in?”

Said fox tyke’s scornful eyebrows shot up as he recognized a possible hook to escape from this peril. “Yeah! Yeah, I am! So you better not eat me, or else Kagome will never—!“

Koga’s fierce gaze softened, more to one of... friendliness? Yes, a sense of carefree friendliness and amusement twinkled in his sharp blue eyes, as his eyebrows relaxed to their typical cocky posture. He held up his free hand as a signal for his wolves to back down, before gently setting Shippo back upright on a nearby rock and squatting down to look him in the eye. “Well, if my woman’s taken ya in, then I’ve taken ya in,” Koga said decisively.

Okay, maybe Shippo had let the blood get to his head, and all that he had previously thought only moments ago about Koga being pure evil, was actually null and void.

“What brings you out here all alone, and at night, kid? From what I can smell, Kagome’s quite a ways away.”

Shippo breathed out a sigh of relief that he was correct in his original assumptions of Koga. “I was looking for you,” he started.

Koga raised an eyebrow. “Eh? Why, what can I do for ya?”

The fox-boy planted his hands on his knees and leaned forward conspiritively, with a sneer. “3 words: Revenge on Inuyasha.”

Now both of the wolf-youkai’s eyebrows raised... before furrowing in suspicion. “What? You’re all friends, arentcha? Is this... some kind of trick?”

“A trick? No, no no!” Shippo exclaimed and frantically waved his hands for emphasis. “All of us are friends — all of us, except for me and Inuyasha. You see, that uptight brute is always bullying me; he steals my food, insults my courage, and beats me up!! Does that sound like a friend to you?”

He actually gave it a moment of thought. “...No, I suppose it doesn’t.”

(Somewhere behind him, Ginta and Hakkaku’s faces simultaneously darken, drilling holes into the back of Koga’s head as they think, Those are exactly the things he does to us!!)

“So, ya wanna get back at Inutrasha, and you want my help for it? What do you want me to do, kid, beat him up for ya? Believe me, I’d’ve done that on my own a long time ago; but unfortunately I don’t think Kagome would appreciate that very much…”

“I already assumed you’d think as such,” the young fox replied, as he folded his arms within his loose sleeves sagely. “I can’t just use my tricks and beat him up either, he always knows it’s me and will just hurt me all over again! That’s why,” he concluded, “we should work together.”

“Work together?” Koga echoed.

“Yes. With my vast knowledge of trickery and Inuyasha himself, combined with your grown-up size and strength, together we can teach him a real lesson, and without getting in trouble for it!”

“Hmm,” Koga squinted seriously at the scheming fox-youkai. “That does sound tempting… But, what if I decide that my time is better spent hunting down Naraku, the despicable bastard that he is?”

“You yourself said it earlier: you hope Inuyasha gets what’s coming to him — This is what’s coming to him! But he won’t ever get it, not without your help!”

Although not phrased in the most eloquently compelling way, little Shippo’s meaning rang true in Koga’s ears. Pondering over the matter, he recalled that the whiff of Naraku’s scent that he and his wolves had been chasing had gone stale this morning... Perhaps his loyal companions could use a day-or-so’s respite. “Alright, you got yourself a deal, kid.”

Shippo’s harsh conniving grin softened into a genuine, beaming smile up at the wolf-youkai leader, as he henceforth decided that he preferred this gruff canine over the one he traveled with anyday. His so-called-friend Inuyasha never took his brilliant, cunning ideas seriously! Koga flashed the young fox a friendly smirk in return, before he stood back up to his full height and extended an elbow out to him, wordlessly offering a perch for the smaller youkai. Shippo graciously accepted the affable action with an effortless leap up onto the wolf’s shoulder.

Koga and his wolfpack began navigating through the trees once more as he continued, “So, what’s our first move?”

TO BE CONTINUED...

Further disclaimer: I am aware that Inuyasha ignoring Koga for a moment and not immediately going after his throat might be a bit out of character, but, I needed Inuyasha to have some sort of ‘win’ to get Koga frustrated enough to say what he did about ‘getting whats coming to him’.

And also, I saw that another of your prompts avannak was Inuyasha and Shippo having brotherly/fatherly bonding, so, don’t worry, it doesn’t end here with such negativity from Shippo towards Inuyasha! Brothers fight sometimes, and kids tend to over-exaggerate things, right? ;D hahaha

#iyfss18 #my creations i birthed from my brain #i guess I need a 'my fanfics' tag #my dramatic writing #inuyasha #fanfic #fanfiction #shippo #kagome #koga #kouga

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svtskneecaps · 6 years ago

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Blink and You’ll Miss It - Part 10

Summary: Sanha’s been a curious shit her whole life. Jackson’s always told her she’s going to get herself killed at some point. She thought that was a bunch of bull, but he might’ve actually been right. She might be in way over her head on this one.

Featuring: A bunch of bull, a lot of cursing, merciless butchering of honorifics, and other things. Essentially, it’s a Comedy of Errors: Story Version.

Warnings: Cursing. Lots and lots of it.

First ~~~ Previous ~~~ Next

Masterlist

“And I thought one of you was annoying!” Sanha huffed as she kicked a Jackson away from her.

“Think it’s glamour?” Jinyoung had somehow ended up next to her in the chaos.

“No way!” Jaebum’s voice echoed from somewhere nearby. Seconds later he appeared, his ring glowing as he socked a clone in the jaw. “They’re too physical. Besides, we’ve got protection.”

A clone jumped on his back and dragged him away. Jinyoung immediately sprang to protect him and both of them vanished into the fray.

“At least we can hurt them.” Youngjae appeared from the ocean, slamming his elbow into a soft area with a grunt.

“Must be the spreading of the body.” Mark somehow threw a clone across the are and knocked away one who was diving at Yugyeom. “The spirit isn’t solely in one body so it’s partially not controlled by him?”

“Good theory,” the Jacksons chorused, sending shivers up Sanha’s spine. A Jackson slammed into Mark and knocked him to the floor, pulling him out of sight. “Too bad you were wrong.”

“That sounds fake, but okay,” BamBam quipped, using a phrase Sanha herself had used way too many times before. He picked up on that stuff fast, apparently.

“I never thought,” Sanha grunted as she twisted her opal ring to cut a Jackson’s jaw with the gemstone, “the you would be such a fan of cellular meiosis.”

“Funny how that works,” the clone in front of her said blankly before disappearing into dust. Another one copied itself next to her, and she quickly turned her attention away. No time to celebrate her victory.

“You don’t make a lot of sense.” She ducked beneath a cluster and slapped the lavender sprigs she carried onto the floor, creating a force which threw the clones back a couple yards. A few even dissipated upon impact. More took their place, but that couldn’t be helped.

“Why do you say that?” The Jacksons trailed her as she ran to get out of the mob.

“You say no holds barred,” she panted knocking a Jackson in the face with a brick and throwing it to the ground, gasping out a word in Latin which turned it into a barrier to those with mal intent, a small domestic trick she’d done many times before.

“No holds barred,” she continued, catching her breath as the Jacksons pounded on the barrier, watching it as cracks formed, oddly calm. “And yet, somehow you haven’t won yet. I’ve seen your power.”

He knocked the barrier down, and the wall neighboring it. A Jackson had her by the neck before she had time to react, dragging her over to a hole in the floor where she could see the chaos in the lobby below. “Does this look like losing?” he hissed into her ear.

It definitely didn’t look like winning, but she didn’t remark on it. Jaebum stood over a fallen Jinyoung, taking jabs at the Jacksons around him on occasion. He seemed to have also made a barrier around him, like she had, but the Jacksons hadn’t broken it yet. Jinyoung still fought, from the floor. Yugyeom and BamBam stood back to back, barely holding their own against the mob, and yet somehow they still were. She couldn’t see Mark, and was afraid of what that might mean, but Youngjae was still going strong, holding his own against the horde by standing on the receptionists desk and knocking them all down as though it was a game of King of the Rock.

“You’re holding back,” she spat, staring at the mess below. He increased the pressure on her throat, and she pulled at his arm with her fingers as her airway closed.

“I promise you I’m not,” he hissed into her ear. She went dead weight and slammed into the floor, her elbow landing in the clone’s gut and rendering him breathless.

“You’re holding back!” she shouted the words at him as she sprang to her feet. “You broke my barrier in ten seconds, but his is holding strong. You say your control is as strong as ever, so why haven’t you won?”

He glared at her and didn’t speak as he got back to his feet. The ruckus from below seemed far away, and her ears rang with alarm bells. “Would you prefer that I win?” he shouted. “That I crush you and take what was min?”

“I make it my business to know other people’s,” she said. “And that includes you. I want to know it all. I want to know what makes people wake up in the morning and why they do what they do.” He glared at her, scowling darker and darker as she continued with her hopeless questions, fully aware that she might just be dead now. “What’s your deal, man? Why can’t you just let go?”

“She was my daughter!”

Everything stopped.

“She was my daughter,” the spirit repeated in a broken voice, and as though his knees gave out he dropped to the floor. Time slowed to a thick syrupy crawl, and Jackson’s body slowed to a halt before it had even hit the floor. In its place was a young man, twenty something. Stout figure, dark hair, blue eyes. Completely broken.

“I was going to be there through everything.” He didn’t look away from her. “I felt my wife’s tummy and I told my little girl I would always help her, that I’d always protect her from everything.” He laughed wryly. “Who was I kidding? I couldn’t even make it to the hospital. One minute I’m on my way to see my baby girl, and the next I don’t have a body. I barely have a name.

“This boy, Jinyoung- he was her first real love. He broke my baby’s heart. I wasn’t about to stand for that; I made her a promise. She wanted revenge, and I was going to get it for her.”

“And instead you missed fifty years of her life?” Sanha asked softly.

“Spirits exist outside of time, if their body isn’t something they can return to. I’ve always known I could go back to her.”

“But now, you realize you’ve stolen fifty years from these kids too?” Sanha motioned towards the hole in the floor. “Their families think they’re dead. How devastating must that be, for their parents?”

Now he looked away. “It doesn’t excuse it; I know it doesn’t. I just- I made a promise. I got too into it and I ruined their lives.”

“You did take it a little too far,” she admitted. “next time a guy breaks your daughter’s heart, just do as she asks, okay? No need to go above and beyond; she’ll understand.”

“Your friend should be fine.” The spirit motioned towards Jackson, still frozen in midair. “As should the ones downstairs. I’m sorry for all of the trouble.”

“Hey, I’m not the one you should be apologizing to.”

“I’ll post a formal letter.” He sounded dead serious, but a little flicker gave away the joke. “And do a little to help them get resettled. It’s. . . the least I can do.”

“Good that. And hey, good on you for accepting that you did wrong and taking steps to fix it.” She smiled.

“Thank you, for listening. And for being so kind. Although,” he added, “your friend is completely right, that’s probably going to get you killed someday. If you were my daughter, I wouldn’t want you taking those sorts of risks for anybody, whether they turned out nice or not.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

He snorted. “I’m sure you will.”

“Is this goodbye, then?”

“God, I certainly hope so.”

Time sped back up so abruptly she wasn’t prepared. Jackson slammed into the floor and almost crashed right through it. It was instinct and pure luck that kept him on that floor. He sprang up, looking around wildly. “Spirit- where’d he-” He didn’t finish either thought, pouncing on Sanha. “Your eyes aren’t blue, he’s not in you?”

“If he was do you think you’d know? Are you expecting him to tell you?” she teased.

“You’re completely right, possibly possessed Sanha. Prove to me you’re not the other guy!”

She drew herself up with a haughty expression. “Oui, c’est moi, le spirit dickbag. Comment est-ce que tu sais?” (Yes, it’s me, the spirit dickbag. How did you know?)

He didn’t bother with a vocal response, immediately pulling her into the fiercest hug he’d ever given her. “Although I’m vous, not tu. I’m still older.

“That’s not how France works.” She buried her face in his shoulder. “God, I missed you so much.”

“I missed you too.”

**All that’s left is an epilogue! See you there~

#got7 #got7 au #jackson wang #mark tuan #park jinyoung #choi youngjae #kim yugyeom #im jaebum #bambam #bambam bhuwakul

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pamphletstoinspire · 7 years ago

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Nine Day NOVENA To the Assumption of The Virgin Mary - August 6th through August 14th - Assumption of the Virgin Mary - August 15th

Based on the Diary of Saint Faustina

The Assumption of Our Lady

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son’s Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 966)

The Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death. (Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus, 1950)

August 15, 1937. During meditation, God’s presence pervaded me keenly, and I was aware of the Virgin Mary’s joy at the moment of Her Assumption. Toward the end of the ceremony carried out in honor of the Mother of God, I saw the Virgin Mary, and She said to me, Oh, how very pleased I am with the homage of your love! (…) I remained alone with the Most Holy Mother who instructed me about the will of God and how to apply it to my life, submitting completely to His most holy decrees. It is impossible for one to please God without obeying His holy will. My daughter, I strongly recommend that you faithfully fulfill all God’s wishes, for that is most pleasing in His holy eyes. I very much desire that you distinguish yourself in this faithfulness in accomplishing God’s will. Put the will of God before all sacrifices and holocausts. While the heavenly Mother was talking to me, a deep understanding of this will of God was entering my soul.

The following prayers are recited each day of the novena:

Mary, Queen Assumed into Heaven, I rejoice that after years of heroic martyrdom on earth, you have at last been taken to the throne prepared for you in heaven by the Holy Trinity. Lift up my heart with you in the glory of your Assumption above the dreadful touch of sin and impurity. Teach me how small earth becomes when viewed from heaven. Make me realize that death is the triumphant gate through which I shall pass to your Son, and that someday my body shall rejoin my soul in the unending bliss of heaven. From this earth, over which I tread as a pilgrim, I look to you for help. I ask for this favor: (mention your request.) When my hour of death has come, lead me safely to the presence of Jesus to enjoy the vision of my God for all eternity together with you. Praised be that moment, O Mary, when the angels took you up to heaven.

Blessed be that moment, O Mary, when your Son called you to heaven. Blessed be that moment, O Mary when the whole heavenly court crowned you in heaven. Blessed be that moment, O Mary, when you were received with such great honour into heaven.

Blessed be that moment, O Mary, when you were proclaimed the Daughter, Mother, and Spouse of God in heaven. Blessed be that moment, O Mary, when you were proclaimed Queen of the whole heavenly court. Blessed be that moment, O Mary, when all the angels and saints rendered homage to you in heaven. Blessed be that moment, O Mary, when you were chosen to be our protectorates in heaven. Blessed be that moment, O Mary, when you began to intercede for us in heaven. Blessed be that moment, O Mary, when you will mercifully receive us into heaven. Amen.

Let us pray: Mary, you were assumed body and soul into heaven by the power of God, and united with your divine son, Jesus. Obtain eternal happiness with him for us. Amen

First day—august 6th:

Mother of God, Your soul was plunged into a sea of bitterness; look upon Your child and teach her to suffer and to love while suffering. Fortify my soul that pain will not break it. Mother of grace, teach me to live by [the power of God. (Diary, 315) Recite the Daily