Screwing with your readers is one of the purest joys of writing.Originally Posted by Arashi_Leonhart
Screwing with your readers is one of the purest joys of writing.
Fate/Stay Night: Life is an Endless Dream Chapter 12: Settling into place
Tsukihime: Role Revert Part 10: Were you here the whole time?
Fate + Tsuki: Slayer/Savior Part 1: Forge/Assassin
Pata Hikari's Tsukihime Short stories: Lastest story: A Midnight Dreary
Really? Sounds like fun, maybe I should start that DTB/MoS crossover then?
I knew someone that overaggressive was a sub that needed to be put down.
Then let it break, if it shatters to pieces then forge an even better blade to take in hand. Should that blade crack then forge once again, untill the battlefield is a graveyard of blades that have fallen and but a single sword claims the field that embodies the world. Let that sword bear the world untill its time comes and time blows its dust to the winds. Then forge again.---Eric Dagger
That'd kick ass.
My Fanfics. Read 'em. Or not.McJon01: We all know that the real reason Archer would lose to Rider is because the events of his own Holy Grail War left him with a particular weakness toward "older sister" types.
...I'll get to work...Maybe if I do a bad enough job on the writing, someone else will pick up the idea?
Arashi, you are a rare and beautiful beast, never to be captured, but only admired from afar.
[18:00] Spinach: Because I don't like Saber's personality but boy oh boy does she make my dick turn to diamonds when I see her getting tentacled.
[18:01] Leo: feeling superior to EU makes me hard
[16:16] <Bloble> Drakengard? Is that a rhythm game?
Are you callin' me a gazelle?
Localizationing stuff
Or a sperm whale.
I am calling you whatever will make you continue to produce writing of this quality.
[18:00] Spinach: Because I don't like Saber's personality but boy oh boy does she make my dick turn to diamonds when I see her getting tentacled.
[18:01] Leo: feeling superior to EU makes me hard
[16:16] <Bloble> Drakengard? Is that a rhythm game?
amen to that, Arashi keep up the great work
I love you.
I really, really do.
Also! *Points to himself.* Number one Berserker fan boy! For both Lancelot and Herakles. If you decide to continue.
**************
In other news, I find myself enjoying this little project of yours, despite having very little knowledge of Tsukihime.
I commend you for that, Arashi-kun.
AN: I just want everyone to know, writing dialogue that doesn’t have contractions is a pain in the neck.
Route subtitle is so not what you are probably thinking, but all three route subtitles are puns of some kind.
Fate/Far Side: Healing Hands
Chapter 1
Bright Nightmares
I rolled back over into the comfortably warm spot I had just vacated and closed my eyes. Not having to worry about a checkout time really was a luxury I hadn’t had in a while and I might as well make use of it.
Though…
I wondered…
I chased the errant thoughts from my mind.
The ticking of the old-fashioned clock lulled me back under, and it wasn’t long before I felt that strange space between lucidity and dream-state.
I honestly couldn’t remember the last time I had slept so long…
…
…
…
“Shirou, don’t!”
He didn’t listen, charging in, his thoughts only on the victim that would come from this. It didn’t matter that he could not stop it, could not win; he just had to try.
“Trace, on!”
The paired scimitars formed in his hand and he placed himself between the enemy and Illya, ready to deflect any incoming attacks. He could do this, something in him had started to grow, and he knew he could at least imitate Tohsaka’s Servant—
And the monstrous figure, his white mask staring at him in mockery, removed the shroud from his right arm. The black fabric rippled like a dancing flag, revealing the demonic arm beneath, bent back at what should have been the wrist, wavering as if behind the haze of the summer heat…
“Zabaniya—!”
The horrible sound of flesh being torn assaulted his ears, followed by a deep pain within his chest, one I could never recover from.
Blood splattered the frosted grass.
I jumped up from the feeling of pressure on my chest.
No ivory-masked assailant before me, no winter air numbing my senses. Instead, I halfway scrambled up the headboard of a Western-styled bed and caught sight of Kohaku before me.
I tried to force myself to calm down, realizing belatedly that I was short of breath and sweating. “Guh…er, s-sorry, Ko—”
“There is no need to apologize,” the maid said in perfect monotone. “You were screaming in your sleep. It is only natural to try and wake you from such a nightmare.”
Maybe it was my mind still trying to reorganize itself following sleep, but I was suddenly hit with the image of a red-haired girl in the rain, looking lost and forlorn without an umbrella to protect her. I remembered that Kohaku had said we met once before, and now I could recall the vague impression, but…
I stared at the girl before me. “Kohaku?”
The girl gave a tight shake of her head. “My name is Hisui. I am Kohaku’s sister.”
The sleep-fogginess in my head did nothing to help arrange my thoughts. I was still waiting for Assassin to appear out of the corners of the room and trying to figure out why my heart was still beating, yet I still had to figure out what had gone wrong with this unreality before me.
I could remember the look on the face of the girl I had met when I came here, years ago, and it looked a lot more like the one before me here. But Kohaku had told me it had definitely been here I had met, so the fact that I could not associate her with the image in my head, yet could with the sister in front of me was extremely confusing.
All after just having woken up.
“Sorry,” I said, rubbing my eyes and slowly climbing down from the bed. Hisui moved to let me have my space. “And sorry for making noise.”
“No, it is not a problem,” Hisui said, bowing. “It was my duty to wake you in the first place, as breakfast will soon be ready. Your clothes have also been washed, Emiya-sama.”
I glanced over at where I had put my dirty clothes to find them gone; instead, they were on the desk opposite of the bed, neatly folded. Somewhere deep in my mind, I resolved to never let Fuji-nee know of this place, as she would never have to do anything on her own ever again. “Just Shirou is fine,” I told her.
“Very well, Emiya-sama.”
Clearly, this one would be the boke in the family.
As I went for my clothes and Hisui made for the door, a thought occurred to me. “Um, Hisui-san, I didn’t happen to say anything when you came in, did I?”
BGM on
The maid paused, her back turned to me, and I had my answer. When she turned, it seemed as if she had carefully schooled her expression to match earlier, and I began to understand a little that she distanced herself very purposefully. “You were crying out a name,” she admitted.
I sighed. Yeah, that wasn’t exactly a surprise.
“Have you…” she seemed to consider her words, “been in the military, or something of the like, Emiya-sama?”
I shook my head, though the thought did not surprise me. I did not often have nightmares, really, but I bet that I resembled a soldier suffering Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome when I did. “No. Well, it’s nothing important, I just didn’t want to scare you or anything.”
Hisui regarded me carefully. “Words you speak of in dreams could scare someone?”
I smiled, ruefully, scratching the back of my head. “Maybe not scare them inherently. Just, well, maybe I would come off as scary.”
Hisui turned back toward the door. “No, Emiya-sama, I do not believe you could scare me.” She opened the door and a wave of fresh air hit me; I had not realized that the room had become stuffy, though if I had been having a night terror it should not have surprised me. “Nee-san said breakfast will be ready in fifteen minutes, if you will excuse me.”
Bowing, I watched her go, wondering what it was her words meant exactly. I could really be reading too much into it, though. Considering the kind of reactions I got from Tohsaka whenever I mentioned things past, I thought my entire basis of comparison was warped and I really could not make out what the average person was and was not afraid of.
I glanced at the clock, which now read 8:53, and had to blink in surprise. I seriously could not recall sleeping in so late since, well, ever.
Fingering the enamel keychain briefly, I grinned, grabbing my clothes. I really needed to be careful: sleep was probably the enemy.
BGM off
BGM on
I changed and briefly washed up, then considered the clothing I still had stowed away in my bag. What I normally wore was comfortable but extremely casual, and I wondered what the master of this kind of house would think of me if I showed up like an unwashed kid, relatively speaking. Tohsaka never seemed to mind, though Tohsaka never needed to keep up the appearance of a rich noblewoman in private.
The clothes actually made me wonder how deeply I had slept, since I had never detected anyone entering my room last night or this morning to get my laundry. My mind briefly settled on the image of Hisui as a ninja roping down from the ceiling in a climbing harness to grab my clothes, and then shoved it from my mind.
What was with me and the random images lately?
I descended the stairs and headed for the dining room, pausing at the entryway when I spotted that it was occupied. A young woman sat at the far end of the table, sipping something, and I nodded to myself: Akiha Tohno, the head of the family. She looked younger than me, though by the demure way she held her cup, it was pretty clear she projected older than she was.
“You may enter, you do not have to stand there uselessly,” she said.
I bowed briefly. “Sorry for the intrusion.” Hisui, standing just out of sight in the corner of the room, approached and motioned me to a place that had been set out at the table.
Settling in, Kohaku took that moment to appear, bringing out two plates that she settled in front of Tohno-san and me. I could tell that the Western-styled omelet, just like the previous night’s food, was expertly prepared even just by looking at it, and I felt the incredible urge to charge into that kitchen and challenge Kohaku to a duel. With spatulas.
“Thank you for the meal,” I said, but I did not dive right in and instead watched Tohno-san.
She had given the same thanks, but was now eyeing me. After a moment, her stoic face relented into a smile. “No need to wait on me, Emiya-san. I can already tell you are well-mannered.”
I grinned. “Just making sure.” And after taking a bite, that urge to jump up and slap Kohaku with a glove truly was at the forefront of my mind.
“So, Emiya-san,” Tohno-san said after a few bites herself, “What brings you to Misaki? Kohaku mentioned you were traveling?”
I nodded. “I graduated last year and felt like wandering Japan for a while before I got a permanent job.” Though that probably sounded a little odd, since it was actually fairly difficult to get a job when it was not right after graduation. “My father brought me here before, and so I thought it might be nice to visit again.”
“I see.” She nodded, probably giving what she had heard from Kohaku consideration. I wonder how much the maid had told her about us supposedly meeting before. “Any definite plans?”
“No,” I admitted. “I was probably just going to wander around and sightsee for a little bit, then decide whether I should return home just yet.”
Tohno-san nodded again, and seemed to regard me with a sympathetic eye. When she glanced ever-so-briefly in Hisui’s direction, it made sense, as the straight-faced maid must have also reported what she had seen to the master of the house. Kohaku, it seems, might have left things out of her explanation to let me handle, but Hisui seemed very by-the-book in terms of what she would do.
Made me even more curious as to what exactly the project was that Kohaku had mentioned Hisui was working on last night. If she deemed it important enough, I suppose I could envision the serious girl working through the night on whatever it was.
“Then, you are welcome to stay here until you have concrete plans,” Tohno-san said. “Since you have been traveling for some time, I can understand that it could be a burden to constantly be thinking of places to stay and arrangements to be made.”
I couldn’t help the probably goofy-looking smile that came to me. The way she worded it, though severely uptight and serious, reminded me a lot of the sort of distance Tohsaka tried to give herself when she was only really trying to be nice. That reminder just had me feel like any wall Tohno-san might have up between us, even though I was some random somebody off the street that one of her maids had picked up, was there only for appearances’ sake.
Though, the comparison to Tohsaka also had me waiting for the other shoe to drop. That was an unfair thought, though, since nothing I had seen suggested Tohno-san was the devil in disguise like Tohsaka was.
“Then,” I said, glancing Kohaku’s way, “only if I can return the hospitality by fixing you all dinner at some point. I consider myself to be a fairly good cook, and Kohaku’s cooking only has me raring to prove it to you.”
Kohaku hummed, grinning back at me. “That sounds like a challenge.” She winked. “Or you’re really an assassin sent to do Akiha-sama in so a rival faction can have power over the estate, and instead of cutting our throats at night you plan on poisoning our dinners.”
I stared at Kohaku and again wondered what kind of television she watched, exactly.
“We shall see, on the dinner account,” Tohno-san said. “Though a man who finds himself comfortable in the kitchen frightens me somewhat.”
I grinned, and Tohno-san met it with a slight smirk of her own, like she was in on the joke.
BGM off
When we had finished breakfast, I had been politely dismissed so Akiha could handle some kind of business matters—her Saturdays off from school were reserved for handling family matters. Hisui escorted me out into the foyer of the mansion, and I had to ask, “So, Kohaku told you about the fact that she and I met when we were younger?”
Hisui nodded. “Of course. She is my sister and we do explain such things to one another.”
I really wanted to try and approach the issue of why Hisui reminded me more of what my memory matched up with, but it was certainly too impolite to bring up.
“Are you planning on going out today, Emiya-sama?”
I nodded, though I resisted the urge to shake at that address. It really did not sound right to me. “Yeah, I was probably going to go into the city today. Is there a groceries list that I could steal? I could pick up food afterward so you or Kohaku aren’t burdened by it.”
It was barely perceptible, but Hisui looked surprised at that; a slight flicker in her eyes. “Yes, well, nee-san was planning on making a traditional Japanese oden meal since you had mentioned your cooking skills included traditional foods.” A hint of something resembling amusement touched her lips. “You seem to have lit a fire under her.”
“I do what I can.” I thought of oden and its ingredients. “I saw her get some daikon yesterday, so should I get some konjac, eggs, and fish?”
“I believe that would be acceptable.” Hisui looked wary now, her eyebrows narrowing. “Are you certain? I am sure nee-san does not consider it out of her way to go shopping.”
I smiled. “I would honestly feel really terrible to intrude on your hospitality without doing something. Perhaps tomorrow, I can clean your floors or something too.”
As I made to go get my things from the bedroom, I caught Hisui staring after me with a very sad look on her face, and I began to wonder what exactly was going on with these sisters.
Healing Hands: Bright Nightmares, End
In Japanese manzai comedy, boke is somewhat analogous to the Western “funny man.” Hisui actually sounds like the tsukkomi “straight man” because her straight-faced deadpan is meant to be un-funny, but she actually makes “mistakes” like a boke in that she doesn’t get the intention. If Kohaku were present when Hisui still adds “-sama” to a person’s name, she would correct it and tease Hisui for that mistake, which is what a tsukkomi is supposed to do (tsukkomi means something like “to interrupt”).
Even when already in the house, in a situation like the dining room, a polite Japanese would not necessarily enter without first being acknowledged, and then do so with an “ojamashimasu” or “shitsureishimasu,” which are literally something like “I’m disturbing you” or “I’m being impolite” respectively, but basically mean “pardon me.”
It sounds weird at least to me, but, Shirou has no excuse to call Akiha by her given name. She’s not his direct kohai like Sakura, not a friend like Issei or Shinji, and doesn’t have a single name like Saber (or Kohaku and Hisui), and he defaults to surnames for both Rin and Ayako, as is proper.
Last edited by Arashi_Leonhart; July 4th, 2013 at 01:14 PM.
Localizationing stuff
Hisui = Morning Rescue
Mind = blown
I was wondering if people would think Mission Impossible or Morning Rescue...I wasn't sure
Localizationing stuff
Gimme more Arashi-sama! This chapter is for the Hisui route right?
Spoiler:
That flashback hooked me like a goonch catfish.
My Fanfics. Read 'em. Or not.McJon01: We all know that the real reason Archer would lose to Rider is because the events of his own Holy Grail War left him with a particular weakness toward "older sister" types.
Morning Rescue was the first thing that sprang to mind, since Hisui had just rescued Shirou from his morning nightmare.I was wondering if people would think Mission Impossible or Morning Rescue...I wasn't sure
Yes, this is Hisui's route.
Wut?
*looks up goonch catfish*
...Wut?
Localizationing stuff
...Even if it's not the Kohaku route, this is still relevant to my interests.
^What he said.
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