Setsubun greetings

[flemmings]

My broadband connection is being heart-breaking. So I shall say now, while I have the chance:

Happy birthday, kickinpants! Welcome to the bestest decade there is!

And many more of them. Decades, that is.

Otherwise- this is not going to become a habit, this is prentice work and me feeling my way about the characters, and this is spoilers for ep 31 *36* of Woxin.

(Edited to incorporate rasetsunyo's suggestion and because it doesn't have to be a drabble.)

Title: The king, the king's to blame!
Day: February 3: "Hell hath no limits"
Fandom: Woxinchangdan
Characters/Pairing: Tang Li, Hei Yi

Gou Jian killed my son. Gou Jian killed my son. Gou Jian must die because Gou Jian killed my son.

Gou Jian killed my family. Gou Jian killed my mother and wife and son. Gou Jian must die because Gou Jian killed my family.

It wasn't my brother who killed my son. My brother would never plot his nephew's death. Gou Jian killed my son.

It wasn't Fu Tong who killed my family. He was dead himself when they were slaughtered. Gou Jian killed my family

It wasn't Hei Yi who killed my son. He was only an instrument-- Gou Jian's instrument. Gou Jian killed my son.

It wasn't Ling Gu Fu who killed my family. He was acting on orders-- Gou Jian's orders. Gou Jian killed my family.

Gou Jian killed my baby. It was my hand that thrust the knife into my stomach but it was Gou Jian who killed the child there. Gou Jian killed my baby.

Gou Jian killed the Duke. It was my hand that threw the sword but it was Gou Jian who wanted it to happen. Gou Jian killed the Duke.

Gou Jian killed me. I died to ensure Gou Jian's death. Why didn't it work? It should have worked. It had to work. Gou Jian must die.

Gou Jian killed me. I died to ensure Gou Jian's death. Why didn't it work? It should have worked. It *had* to work. Gou Jian must die.

Because Gou Jian killed my son...

Because Gou Jian killed my family...

Comments

[rasetsunyo.livejournal.com]

You reached that part! I like your characterisation.

Although I'm not sure Tang Li would use Fu Tong while thinking of her brother. Even in thought she'd probably think of him as Brother. As in, it's not just that younger members of families don't address elders by name, I'm not sure they think of elders by name either. I certainly don't think of my parents by name, though of course I know what their names are. I'm don't think my sisters think of me in terms of name either, but I'm not sure.

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

Mh yeah, probably she'd think of him as whatever the Chinese equivalent of ani-ue is. Even as a vengeful ghost, or perhaps /certainly/ as a vengeful ghost. OTOH the way you indicate a rupture in Japanese is to stop using the personal forms of address and use the 'I am a stranger to you' ones instead, and I suppose that's what I had in mind here.

[feliciter.livejournal.com]

Suitably chilling; the repetition especially evokes images of the damned crying out their grievances over and over.

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

Tang Li is certainly damned. Has she been sane at all since her child died? And was it all grief for him, or partly rancour that loss of son was followed by loss of king was followed by loss of any chance of ever being queen.

Also, subtitles being as they are, was anything ever said to indicate that Gou Jian knew about the plot, or would have countenanced it if he did? I thought even the soldiers who went after Hei Yi had been sent by whichever general it was who recognized Hei Yi at the time of the murder, and not by Gou Jian himself.

[feliciter.livejournal.com]

I think Tang Li's identity and reason for living was all tied up in her son and her ambitions for him and herself; she does remind her brother that it was his idea that she enter court at a young age to restore their family status (and the idea is at the back of my head that his current position might have been initially in part due to her favour with the king). So when she lost her son and the old king, basically she lost her self and her sanity.

I don't recall that Gou Jian knew about the plot, though he seemed singularly unsurprised; perhaps there was a missing scene akin to Henry II;s outburst of who will rid me of this turbulent priest, but no indication that he would have agreed if he had been apprised of it beforehand. The soldiers were sent by Ling Gu Fu who because of his struggles with Hei Yi failed to stop Fu Tong.

[kickinpants.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the welcome and the birthday wishes! :D Here's to the next 10 years. ^_^