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Trinity Blood ficlet: Šāh māt
246 words. G. Post-series. Seth/Süleyman.
Šāh māt
Disclaimer: Trinity Blood belongs to Sunao Yoshida, Gonzo and others.
++++++++++
When she was a little girl…
The strangest fairytales always began like that.
She’d always dreamed that she really was a princess.
It had made perfect sense.
And the princess had always wanted to go on a grand adventure.
That part was also true.
So she had travelled so very, very far from home.
Of course she did, it wouldn’t have been a good fairytale otherwise.
Where she’d fought monsters and flown dragons.
Because the princess always has to be brave and clever in a good fairytale.
And she’d had all manner of fun.
She had… for a while.
But then she had to come home.
Because invariably she always did.
Because her people needed her, to rule over them…
As a wise and virtuous Queen.
And because that was always the way fairytales went; one day the wise Queen would fall in love with a man worthy of her.
… the handsome Prince was not only handsome but good and kind.
She would love him for his gentleness, his innocence.
He forsook his kingdom to stay by her side.
He would love her for her wisdom and her smiles.
And at once the Queen knew that his love was true.
And they would live happily ever after, forever and ever ruling over their people with wisdom and love.
But life isn’t a fairytale. Not really, no matter how hard we try.
So please don’t mind me, beloved, when I come to read fairytales by your grave.
++++++++++
“Šāh māt” meaning literally “The king is dead” is Persian phrase from which the term checkmate is derived.
This is a bit of a twist on the business of how the Methuselah hold a wake.
This grew out of one or two other thoughts that really weren’t expecting fic or at least this sort of fic so I’m actually quite surprised to have written things this way. And yes, Seth’s POV but I didn’t mention that at the top because it probably has rather more impact when you discover that it's actually her speaking at the end.
Šāh māt
Disclaimer: Trinity Blood belongs to Sunao Yoshida, Gonzo and others.
++++++++++
When she was a little girl…
The strangest fairytales always began like that.
She’d always dreamed that she really was a princess.
It had made perfect sense.
And the princess had always wanted to go on a grand adventure.
That part was also true.
So she had travelled so very, very far from home.
Of course she did, it wouldn’t have been a good fairytale otherwise.
Where she’d fought monsters and flown dragons.
Because the princess always has to be brave and clever in a good fairytale.
And she’d had all manner of fun.
She had… for a while.
But then she had to come home.
Because invariably she always did.
Because her people needed her, to rule over them…
As a wise and virtuous Queen.
And because that was always the way fairytales went; one day the wise Queen would fall in love with a man worthy of her.
… the handsome Prince was not only handsome but good and kind.
She would love him for his gentleness, his innocence.
He forsook his kingdom to stay by her side.
He would love her for her wisdom and her smiles.
And at once the Queen knew that his love was true.
And they would live happily ever after, forever and ever ruling over their people with wisdom and love.
But life isn’t a fairytale. Not really, no matter how hard we try.
So please don’t mind me, beloved, when I come to read fairytales by your grave.
++++++++++
“Šāh māt” meaning literally “The king is dead” is Persian phrase from which the term checkmate is derived.
This is a bit of a twist on the business of how the Methuselah hold a wake.
This grew out of one or two other thoughts that really weren’t expecting fic or at least this sort of fic so I’m actually quite surprised to have written things this way. And yes, Seth’s POV but I didn’t mention that at the top because it probably has rather more impact when you discover that it's actually her speaking at the end.
no subject
I may have to come back and read your breakdown of the four again in a little while though I have been coming back to it on and off which is, at least in part the reason why it’s taken me so long to reply here. I do see what you’re saying but right now it’s just not ‘clicked’ in my head so to speak. That William and Garibaldi have had to justify their experiments/creation or rather that they’ve succeeded in it would really be assisted by the fact that theirs is a potentially slower logically progressive understanding. They’ve thought the ideas to pieces and been justifying said ideas to themselves the whole way along so it’s not all that much harder for them to then use those justifications before a Vatican funding council. They’d be the ones who might be slower at reaching the answer of “42” on an exam paper but have all the working out jotted down too in the process of getting there. Lange on the other hand might have a certain logic but also have gaps in her logic then, where she’d be following a detailed progression in her calculations but then suddenly makes a quantum leap of logic that isn’t explained and that nobody else really understands the reason for, though she too gets the right answer in the end. Which leaves Isaak who’d just write “42” down as his answer without any working out written down on the paper. And in that sort of case while he’d get full marks because his answer is right, if he gets it wrong then he gets nothing. If Lange does the same and one of her leaps of logic is incorrect so that she gets “39” as her answer instead she’s still likely to get marks for her calculations up until the point that she makes that incorrect leap. Garibaldi of course gets the answer right every time or if he doesn’t; actually proves that the exam question has been incorrectly worded and William gets it right too because he doesn’t take his risks in the exam itself but perhaps does so in arriving with just 2 minutes left before the start. In fact, using the exam scenario, it’s probably Garibaldi and Isaak who arrive really early, Lange who comes in with reasonable time and William who dashes in last. Garibaldi takes the exam in the same way that he conducts his pre-exam preparation, William takes the exam in a similar fashion, Lange makes some few leaps of logic which are genius but also highly risky, and Isaak takes risks the entire way through. And if that’s the case then it’s Isaak who’s overconfident about his results and who then ultimately doesn’t do quite as well as he expected to and he probably can’t even see what it is that he’s done wrong.
no subject
Which reminds me that I really need to take apart another half-written fic and just expand the Isaak & Balthazar part.While I could imagine him being aware of his abilities, I don’t think there would have been the necessary overt arrogance there or rather I could imagine it but I quite prefer the idea that he might not have been horribly arrogant and actually reasonably modest to a fair degree which would probably lead to people like William taking over him. Of course William wouldn’t necessarily mean to but because he’s used to having to defend his ideas he’d do it naturally, while Isaak would be just self-assured but never having had to justify that, just wouldn’t bother talking it out which comes back to that chain of logic point again. Because that would be the worst thing for Isaak to be really because his passivity and quiet self-assurance would most likely lead to his seething privately over the fact that nobody was recognising his genius. If he’s used to keeping quiet about it and being relatively modest the real challenge might not be realising that he’d need to speak up but rather learning to do so. Then again perhaps it’s a bit of both, he might keep suspecting that he needs to speak up but never quite figure out how to and thus get even more frustrated because nobody was recognising him and he was unable to speak up. It’d be easy for him to get trapped in a very passive role if he were close to William too because he’d get used to letting William talk over him and William would get used to it too which would make it even harder to break out of that establish situation. All that said, I could be entirely wrong of course and we both know that I’m quite fond of the idea of Isaak having been flawed and then reacting at extremes to those flaws being exacerbated by circumstance rather than being some sort of Stu who went to university for the ‘lolz’ and so on.no subject
Isaak’s friendsRahs just waiting to cast aspersions on the standard of his education. As for the rest, you’ve already said what needs to be said. Am I forgetting to tell you when I’m agreeing with everything you say again?I may just be reacting to the potential hopeful aspect of The Fool now but considering that it’s The Crocodile in the Ibis deck where there’s definite sense of the fool not knowing where he’s going, not knowing that he’s walking among ruins and a crocodile lies in wait while the Fool carries his past baggage with him; it definitely fits. I’m not quite sure about Cateina as the Hierophant yet but that might be because I’d almost be tempted to see her as The Hanged Man or Judgment. That’d be mostly referring to her having to wind up with her brother killed before she bought a clue and got over her hugely disabling flaw. As Judgement she’d fit for reaping what she had sewn as well as having been judged and in judging her own past actions too. I’m pondering Francesco for the Hierophant now but I’m not quite certain of it yet. I’m not sold on Seth as the High Priestess though, probably because at the moment I’d go with Süleyman for that one. That would tie in with the moon/visionary aspect and considerable wisdom with a touch of mystery about it
Süleyman’s feminine wiles of course there.as well as the potential reversed meanings of which there’s a lovely list here (http://www.biddytarot.com/major/highpriestess.html) to save my copy-pasting the entire bit. I think Seth as Augusta is still too superficial to be the High Priestess, she might even be the Magician who might really be a goddess if you choose to believe it or a complete fraud with all the trappings. Esther though I definitely agree on. She’s got that forward momentum and again from the Ibis deck there’d also be the connotations of having found an internal balance and resolve to be that forward-moving figure which would be why she’s the Star of Hope; inspiring hope because she’s always moving forwards. And if Dietrich then becomes the Emperor, at least in outward appearances, I could picture the sort of image set up where he and Esther face the opposite directions respectively. I’m not quite settled on The Emperor for Dietrich though so don’t hold me to that. Though maybe Dietrich should be the Tower and Cain should be the Emperor. And having looked it up since I’m really unfamiliar with the Crowley interpretations, Paula really does seem a fitting Princess of Swords, though at a non-Crowley angle you’ve now also reminded me of the basic interpretation for the King of Swords which would fit Süleyman again which would make Radu the Page of Swords, though if Süleyman is the High Priestess too then Radu’s also the Moon as well. He just follows Süleyman around really and there’s another moon reference really with the orbiting a life-giving sun aspect. Though since it’s finally occurred to me to look up what ‘Süleyman’ actually means, that’s a pretty ironic name there considering what he’s about but then so is Radu’s too. And so is Ion’s… or perhaps if that divine mercy is being applied to him it might work. Then again it’s not really mercy but just keeping him from being killed so that he can suffer further. And if Mirka does mean tranquil then that’s literal enough.no subject
Dietrich’s somewhat mistimed his last-minute daring rescues too really because at least Cain tends to get to Isaak before Isaak’s in danger of actually dying from his injuries. That’s probably quite the disappointing relationship for Radu though; he had hopeless optimism, excessive violence and rejecting everything he’d ever known just like his older sister but somehow he got budget Prince Charming instead. After all, Dietrich’s got lost technology too but not like Cain and he can be cheerily creepy too but not like Cain and he was even born in Germanicus too. Poor Radu, he’s done the spells. [He’s] done them all and he did want to go on a dangerous spree but that just didn’t work out for him. But more seriously that does seem like it might fit. Dietrich trying to emulate Cain, at least subconsciously, that is; not Radu trying to summon things using the Necronomicon
though that did work for Edith. There is a certain sense of Dietrich trying hard to overawe Radu at least which really can’t have been necessary, though whether that’s just because he needs to prove that he’s the boss of everything or because of subconsciously emulating Cain is debatable.That’s true and it would certainly make the idea of ‘that person’ Contra Mundi far more terrifying if very few people really knew exactly who and what he was. It’d be a similar tactic to Seth’s really though she doesn’t quite manage it and perhaps even in a certain sense AX’s tactic of having this mysterious ‘monster’ in the shadows. Though anybody actually involved in high level Vatican affairs who knew Abel’s codename would know who he was. Then again he does what Cain does in a general sense and appears silly at least which then creates the added menace that the monster he becomes might truly be terrifying. And that would tie in with the point that the anime and the manga seem to not emphasise; that AX’s real purpose is seemingly propaganda.