Trinity Blood drabble: Tovarăşi

[narcasse]

Post-István/Saint Esther arc. Esther's retrospective. Touches of shojo-ai.

Tovarăşi

Disclaimer: Trinity Blood belongs to Sunao Yoshida, Gonzo and others.

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It’s only in retrospect that she can see her, through the soft focus lens of the past that she can say they were friends. And they were, for a brief moment.
They were comrades. Tovarăşi even, though it was never explicitly said. Which perhaps still doesn’t explain the nature of her memory, a specific memory of that dark time. For if they were comrades, merely fellow soldiers why then does her heart feel so full and also empty at the memory of that smiling face?

It makes her wonder if at last she knows how the Count of Memphis feels.

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Tovarăşi is the plural of tovarăş.

Comments

[sir-hellsing.livejournal.com]

Stalking, stalking...

Wow, very touching. This despicts a perfect, bittersweet reaction from Esther losing Shahr. So full and so empty indeed.

[reichsfreiherr.livejournal.com]

Stalking, stalking…

That’s not a problem at all.

Glad you liked this. There’s just something about their relationship that works so perfectly but most likely would only work the way that it played out. Which probably says more about all the dysfunctional relationships in the series than anything else.

[sir-hellsing.livejournal.com]

I agree. I like the fact it is tragic because Sunao couldn't pair Esther with anybody else after Shahr unless she was out the way. *shifty* I love all the dysfunctional relationships.

In a way, it reminded me to a more sane tame version of Utena and Anthy (tv series wise). Anthy being Esther while Utena being Shahrzad (despite the opposite design similitude). Shahr being the strength of change for Esther to be more productive in her life and stand her own (walking away from Abel's or Dietrich's/Akio's shadow?) through her friend/protector/lover/companion's sacrifice.

[reichsfreiherr.livejournal.com]

There’s a definite theme of irreplaceable lost loves there, at least with Esther and Abel because even if he does care for Caterina she’s still never going to be Lilith. And I suppose perhaps in Caterina’s case there might never be anybody to replace Abel, even if noting ever does happen between them either. Cain certainly can’t replace Abel for her, nanites aside, nor can Isaak no matter how lacking in distinct personality he is (which would allow her to presume upon a personality for him). All of which still isn’t to say that Esther couldn’t build a new relationship with someone, though I can’t think who, unless novel Ion makes more sense or Vanessa Walsh has more to do later on.

That makes sense as a comparison. Esther certainly is more or less directed about by everybody else up until that point and Šahrzād would fit the helpful, athletic, prince role of the girl who fights for what she believes is right regardless of the political machinations going on around her. Abel might be more of a Miki character I suspect just because he’s so ostentatiously harmless but also supports the framework that keeps Esther trapped. In which case I can probably offhandedly say that the Black Rose Arc would belong to Süleyman and Radu as Mikage and Mamiya which probably works far better than I’d expected to when I first thought of the comparison.
Sadly I’ve not actually read the manga though I’ve heard that it’s quite different and that things like the Juri/Shori/Ruka business doesn’t occur which is a shame.

[sir-hellsing.livejournal.com]

Don't forget Tres-> Caterina. He can tell himself he's a machine all he wants, but his feelings/emotions to her (as absolute center of his existence) are evident. He hasn't "lost" her yet, but... she's deadly ill. D:

I don't think "Cain" has feelings left and his interest on Abel is the same of his interest on Seth and Lilith: power. Maybe before the nanites, yeah, but after a total no (IMO).

The Virgil twins! Good idea (though, there we got our Miki and Kozue? XD) Yes, I know... maybe if Alessandro kept growing that backbone (which he did) and hadn't DIED on her too. :(

Sadly I’ve not actually read the manga though I’ve heard that it’s quite different and that things like the Juri/Shori/Ruka business doesn’t occur which is a shame.

IT IS A SHAME. On one hand, I was HAPPY Juri had some sort of TASTE in loving Ruka instead (I'm all for femme slash, but Shiori... isn't exactly the best catch ._.), but that Juri/Touga business made me wtf. Granted, Touga is more heroic and good guy in the Manga (not as much as the Movie where he's like the only real Prince. Like a mix of Dios&Ruka with Touga's design >>). But on the other hand, I LOVED that triangle.

Abel might be more of a Miki character I suspect just because he’s so ostentatiously harmless but also supports the framework that keeps Esther trapped

Abel = Dios? He doesn't want to keep her trapped, but he does anyway by his presence.

[reichsfreiherr.livejournal.com]

Somehow Tres has never really sparked my interest so I’ve never looked further into the what and wherefore of who he is. But that telling himself that he’s not human when he’s definitely formed a connection that’s more like human devotion rather than a mechanical servant simply performing its task does seem intriguing. I may have to look into that at some point.

I’m definitely tending towards the idea that Cain really isn’t Cain anymore and might simply be a vehicle for the nanites, though perhaps there’s a remote possibility that somewhere deep down whatever’s really left of him is so damaged and disconnected that he might think that he’s protecting his siblings from humanity… by destroying or at least prompting Abel to destroy everything. It would be a very twisted logic but I could see at least a tiny possibly of it working. Coming back to what I phrased in a somewhat unclear fashion though, I don’t honestly think that Caterina is shallow enough to simply be chasing after the most powerful thing she can attach herself to so she’s not hopping from one Crusnik to the next even if the Orden might hope she would.

A friend did make the argument that since we never get to see the start of Shiori and Juri’s relationship that perhaps it might have been the case that Juri let her attraction to Shiori get in the way of their friendship to the point where she started acting particularly coldly towards Shiori for no reason that Shiori could discern. In which case, especially if Juri’s behaviour started to change when Ruka first arrived, Shiori would be understandably angry and would rightly believe that Ruka was the cause, though she wasn’t to know that Juri was jealous of Ruka for being with her rather than jealous of Shiori for being with Ruka. After which Shiori didn’t really make the situation better by flaunting the matter in Juri’s face but at least her bitterness towards Juri might have made more sense. That said, the movie pretty much spells out that Shiori really is generally spiteful anyway so if it’s similar in the series she may well have started it all off.
I did like the fact that Ruka played the same games with Shiori as she did with him though, they were equally matched in bitchiness so that even if he did seem to genuinely love Juri there was a less noble side of him too. Of course, now I think about it perhaps that’s the sliding scale with Juri on one end possessing a certain nobility, Ruka having that capacity but also being shallow and spiteful when he wants to and Shiori on the other end being completely consumed by her spitefulness.

Abel = Dios? He doesn't want to keep her trapped, but he does anyway by his presence.

That works perfectly. He inspires her at first but soon she becomes trapped by that and needs to break free of him to attain her own true nobility. Or at least freedom if we’re casting Esther as Anthy.

Fail LJ never notify me wtf

[sir-hellsing.livejournal.com]

Really? I find Tres fascinating for the reasons he chose to not be human and have feelings at his convenience, narrowing them (and being partly in denial of them) to Caterina. It's more overt in the Manga due to his reactions when Antonio (someone who is obviously interested in Caterina) makes some moves. Or when Caterina (who is more amorous to him here) makes advances. His "......" moments. He is a creation but also, he could be much more. Caterina offers him be a person, but he chooses to become her possession instead. If he was your average robot, I'll probably won't care, but his own deattachment of humanity is far more honest than Seth's sweet-false charade and former hypocrisy. And how human he is when someone pushes his buttons (Caterina). He's quite irrational when he regards her in danger - to the point of not caring to kill his own colleagues. Notice his actions to Esther in recent Act).

I think in his Canon profile is said Cain isn't Cain anymore? It said all his love/emotions for his siblings was no more due to the fact 01 controlled him? Abel is hoping, also in Abel's profile, to release him from the nanites.

Coming back to what I phrased in a somewhat unclear fashion though, I don’t honestly think that Caterina is shallow enough to simply be chasing after the most powerful thing she can attach herself to so she’s not hopping from one Crusnik to the next even if the Orden might hope she would.

Aaah! I see. Nah, I doubt Caterina cares for Cain. She wants to destroy him, that was why she turned Dietrich against Cain. But there's a potential for a non-romantic dark/twisted pairing for Cain/Orden!Caterina.

I did like the fact that Ruka played the same games with Shiori as she did with him though, they were equally matched in bitchiness so that even if he did seem to genuinely love Juri there was a less noble side of him too. Of course, now I think about it perhaps that’s the sliding scale with Juri on one end possessing a certain nobility, Ruka having that capacity but also being shallow and spiteful when he wants to and Shiori on the other end being completely consumed by her spitefulness.

As did I. I wouldn't have liked Ruka if he was perfect. He was also, IMO, angry at Shiori for breaking Juri's heart while he was sick, dying and impotent. So he gave her a taste of her own medicine while turning Juri against him to start the steps of her release. Personally? I don't think he hated Shiori, he was angry at her and thought her unworthy of Juri but he himself didn't think worthy either -- if Juri believe again in miracles, her friendship and faith could be saved. In a way, Ruka fixed their relationship (in a platonic level) as much he hurt them, he opened their eyes and forced both to grow up.

Re: Fail LJ never notify me wtf

[reichsfreiherr.livejournal.com]

I suspect that part of the problem is that I’m coming at it from a background of human computers i.e. Dune’s mentats and Matrix agents as supreme agents of Order so Tres somehow slips between the gaps already covered by other series. He comes off more as a failed machine than anything else to me right now but that really is just a matter of personal preference. I wonder if it’s perhaps a case of knowing that he isn’t entirely human so actively deciding against being even slightly human at all, and then pushing myself towards that goal even further each time something happens that proves to him that he isn’t entirely a machine either. In which case what might be nice would be a moment of revelation for him that he does love Caterina either as or just after she dies. Maybe Isaak might even be left in the room that’s covered with dead Autojäger parts after Caterina finally collapses and Tres gets up and keeps fighting, finishing Isaak off, not because of an administrative duty alone but because he’s finishing the task of the woman he loved. In which case I’d like Isaak to be some sort of human-machine hybrid too so that the statement there would be that it takes a man to destroy a monster.

If Cain’s nanites could be extracted wouldn’t Cain just die? Because surely if they’re working along the lines of the bacillus nanites, they will have crippled all his haemoglobin so once they’re gone he’d suffer the effects of chemical asphyxiation quite rapidly.

At a slight tangent from the Ruka issue, this business of dramatic illnesses that make people go off and do something fantastical in fiction is one of those themes that tends to keep being repeated. I’d like just for once to see a character with a long-term health issue that wasn’t oh so tragically terminal and instead just wore down their body in a dull and tedious fashion so that it annoyed them every so often but didn’t do too much else other than limit what they could physically manage. But then that’s not really the stuff of grand drama and would probably be far too realistic/mundane to inspire a plot point as a result anyway.

[sir-hellsing.livejournal.com]

I have never seen Tres as a robot or a machine. I think Sunao and Kiyo made evident he fools himself in believing this. Tres is, IMO, a future allegory for Pinocchio, he's not much of a machine than a doll who refuses to be human. His Gepetto left him, kill himself, so I can't blame Tres's emotional response either (Caterina = blue fairy?).

In which case I’d like Isaak to be some sort of human-machine hybrid too so that the statement there would be that it takes a man to destroy a monster.

Ah yes, the Tres vs Isaak battle with Caterina in between is a classic since RAM I. And the man who destroys the monster is one of my favorite themes (that's why I'm Hellsing fan, it's the series motto).

If Cain’s nanites could be extracted wouldn’t Cain just die? Because surely if they’re working along the lines of the bacillus nanites, they will have crippled all his haemoglobin so once they’re gone he’d suffer the effects of chemical asphyxiation quite rapidly.

Abel's not much of a thinker. Also, assume Cain lives for God knows why. How will he take the guilt of killing Seth and Lilith? He'll be miserable, insane and guilt-ridden.

I’d like just for once to see a character with a long-term health issue that wasn’t oh so tragically terminal and instead just wore down their body in a dull and tedious fashion so that it annoyed them every so often but didn’t do too much else other than limit what they could physically manage. But then that’s not really the stuff of grand drama and would probably be far too realistic/mundane to inspire a plot point as a result anyway.

Hahah! Yes. But the adventures of a patient in his dull, tedious and uninteresting days enduring a disease aren't too eye-catching to read or watch about.

[reichsfreiherr.livejournal.com]

Trinity Blood really does seem to play on the doll thematic all over the place. We have a human who thinks he’s a doll, another human who’s expected to be the Vatican’s perfect doll (which may at least in part be her own fault), a dollmaker, a human who had to become a doll before he could grasp some humanity (though it’s debatable whether or not Radu really was doing it to save Ion or if he was just trying to thwart Dietrich’s plans in petty payback or so it seems to me), literally a dead Gepetto, a human who refuses to become the dollmaker’s doll (which may be stretching it a little a depending entirely on Dietrich’s dialogue with Esther) and some kind of mechanical lich (which may not qualify as a doll but at least may make Isaak a copy of a human being). All of which is now selling the idea of Caterina/Tres to me. She can make him human, she’s offering it without reserve: all he needs to do is have the courage to take hold of her outstretched hand.

One day I’ll actually sit down and read Hellsing properly instead of flicking though it and enjoying the violence. I think I got as far as the Rio business before I got entirely distracted by the impaled corpses and my higher brain functions decided to take a break from following the plot. I do wonder though how many times they can throw in the ‘look, look it’s Kazîglu Bey so he’s impaling things’ before I finally stop laughing over it every time.

If Cain lived I do wonder if Abel might revert to his Mars persona because Cain was there to shoulder the responsibility of being the good twin, thus letting Abel act out his own anger with the failsafe that Cain would be there to make up for it. Pitched like that it almost seems a selfish move on Abel’s part though that’s probably not all there is to it. Abel was used to being the misbehaving, angsting younger twin because Cain being there as the good leader let him be that but the minute Cain stopped playing that role, Abel got forced into it instead and it’s something that doesn’t sit terribly well with him.

Hahah! Yes. But the adventures of a patient in his dull, tedious and uninteresting days enduring a disease aren't too eye-catching to read or watch about.

I suppose they could pitch it as a slice of life series, I hear those tend to do well. The only thing the ‘hero’ would be engaging in that would be terribly energetic would be running for the bus but I’m sure it could be set to dramatic music. Though I am being silly now so I’ll stop.

[sir-hellsing.livejournal.com]

What about the Krsniks? All the Krsniks are a live version of perfect "Barbies" created as superhumans from scratch. They even chose themselves to add a further step in their dollmaking (the nanomachines).

All of which is now selling the idea of Caterina/Tres to me. She can make him human, she’s offering it without reserve: all he needs to do is have the courage to take hold of her outstretched hand.

Yes, as she needs the courage to stop living by the standards expected to her as obligation of her "role." She could be just Caterina Sforza and not the Iron Lady (of whichever language).

Hellsing is hilarious. I don't follow it for the plot myself, but the fact Dracula is a vampire hunter and the whipping boy of a van Helsing (a wondrous woman at that). Possibly because I have a big, girl crush on Integra. I couldn't care about the rest of the cast until volume 6 endeared me Pip and Seras as characters and together as stable couple.

At least you know who Alucard is. The fandom is so lame some fans argued about it even after Alucard declared himself Dracula! True story.

I think Abel may project Mars!Cain in Caterina (steel-eyed, blonde charismatic leader who everybody loves and uses eye-wear!) like he projects Lilith in Esther. Both are complete delusions from his side, IMO. It's possible, but Abel never fancied himself a leader. Look how he lets Caterina and then Esther shoulder this for him.

No necessary slice of life in a "mundane" sense. Have you watched Gunslinger Girl? It has a "slice of life" if life was about cyborg loli assassins for the Italian government. There's a character there, quite important, who simply dies in her hospital bed. Very sad.

[reichsfreiherr.livejournal.com]

I didn’t care much for Pip until he died, I suspect. After he’d died then that pairing actually made sense to me. My first exposure to Hellsing was the anime quite a while ago and I do remember spending the first episode marginally uninterested until ‘that Hellsing chap’ turned up. Then I found out that Integra was a woman and that didn’t make any difference to my response to things but I’d presume that that’s the general reaction to her most of the time anyway.

The fandom is so lame some fans argued about it even after Alucard declared himself Dracula!

Tell me that was at least before the flashback to the alternative ending of Stoker’s novel, or what was probably meant to be Murad II doing highly out of character things to a younger Vlad or his final release state where he seems to declare a desire to marry Integra by naming her Countess already? If it is pre all those things I could understand that even the fact of ‘Alucard’ being Dracula backwards might not necessarily be all that indicative since it’s the name of the famed vampire count and tends to get used everywhere. Heck, technically, calling himself the son of the Dragon might even have indicated that he wasn’t Vlad but Radu or even Mircea. But after all the evidence it would be a little silly to keep arguing for those alternatives.

I’ve never seen Gunslinger Girl and I’m not terribly sure that the descriptor of cyborg loli assassins for the Italian government will necessarily prompt me to want to watch it but it would be nice to see a balance between all the fast paced action and what the characters do in between all that action as well. Though presumably characters like Alucard simply sit in a basement being bored between missions, for years at a time. And he’s not the sort to simply fade out of the story quietly with no explosive drama surrounding that anyway.

[sir-hellsing.livejournal.com]

I've liked Pip since he appeared but in volume 6 and 7 he interested me (he... seemed competent with field tactics *gasps* while nobody in Hellsing, even Major or Integra, grasped THIS).

But I like how Pip and Seras are a complete being together. Animu-Anima combination in a literal sense.

Integra always gets those reactions. She's well-liked for her androgyny and authority, although I consider Alucard more androgynous than her. He turns, literally, into a young girl.

Tell me that was at least before the flashback to the alternative ending of Stoker’s novel, or what was probably meant to be Murad II doing highly out of character things to a younger Vlad or his final release state where he seems to declare a desire to marry Integra by naming her Countess already?

Who wouldn't want to marry Integra? *g* It was a little before that, actually. Also there is a flashback of his defeat by Abraham but it's kept vague (chapter 89) that came a little after that. But he was declaring himself Dracula while calling forth Wallachia (I know it should be Tara Romanesca) armies from his... coffin? Maxwell is like "Wallachia's army? But those were... Your own men, monster!"

I, myself, don't think that was Murac in the rape either. It has a cross patterned stole he wore. He didn't dress like a Sultan.

Though presumably characters like Alucard simply sit in a basement being bored between missions, for years at a time. And he’s not the sort to simply fade out of the story quietly with no explosive drama surrounding that anyway.

He was pretty quiet when he disappeared. Integra was the one screaming/crying out. But who knows, he may return. It's ironic Alucard was beaten by Schrödinger.

Gunslinger Girl is pretty good. I have seen only the first season. The art is high quality, there's a lot of drama and moral questions, not much of a plot but a strong emphasis on the girls' lives. I'm reluctant to watch the second season because the art is more "generic." This is the opening. (http://youtube.com/watch?v=xEMjq9VpBSE)

[reichsfreiherr.livejournal.com]

I haven’t yet read The Dawn but what I did see of it seemed to involve a walking coffin so I wasn’t quite certain I wanted to give it a go just yet. He’s literally a girl there though and not just prey to a different concept of masculinity that a Western European audience?

I don’t know about marrying Integra but if I was an overpowered vampire I certainly know whose dog I’d like to be.

I, myself, don't think that was Murac in the rape either. It has a cross patterned stole he wore. He didn't dress like a Sultan.

That scene always strikes me as a really odd one. I know that it’s a device for upping the angst and giving him a reason to become a monster but it always struck me as rather gratuitous and completely random. Though this being Hellsing gratuitous really seems to be the way to do things and it’s not as if Rip has it any better.

I’m presuming that Alucard has to come back with some great revelation about himself as a result of that but if he can see down the paths of all those lives he’s taken he’s got a fair chance of resolving his own issues by comparison. Not in the sense that other people have had it worse but by way of allowing him to view those other possibilities and responses to said possibilities. Note to self: must find time to write alternative ending to Hellsing that leaves him chained up in a basement in Albion until Isaak finds him and dubs him Reißzahn.

The environment design in that intro does seem rather charming. I might well have to talk a look at the series sometimes, if only to see how it’s all put together.

[sir-hellsing.livejournal.com]

He’s literally a girl there though and not just prey to a different concept of masculinity that a Western European audience?

Literally. His gender is "mistaken/given" in canon and Hirano said he could turn into a girl and maybe did it because Arthur liked to go out with him in that shape (further confirming the non platonic nature of master/servant ties between Hellsings and Alucard *g* It's a family tradition to keep up!).

The rape didn't bother me. It seemed to illustrate how much Vlad kept the faith. Also gave him a vulnerable side that was refreshing.

If he returns, IMO, he'll come back to a) Die. b) Live as human. He didn't want to continue his existence as a monster/vampire; what better chance than recover your lost humanity in the land his vampirism doesn't exist (and he could, arguably, acknowledge his existence as a man). Or maybe Isaak IS Alucard. He certainly looks like him... and Integra. The gloves & shadows don't help either.

I like the atmosphere the best. It's slow and dazzling for a series with cyborg killer lolies, there is nothing gratious and fanservice like. The themes are disturbing and are addressed as disturbing and not cutesy. The focus is put in the girls' adaptation to their roles, their connections with their former life and their different relationships with their Fratellos (the handlers assigned to oversee them). Those range totally different depending of the girl and the Fratello.

[reichsfreiherr.livejournal.com]

Or maybe Isaak IS Alucard.

I’ve actually had a crack at writing that already (http://imperial-artist.livejournal.com/465893.html#cutid2). Though I’ve been doing things like this (http://imperial-artist.livejournal.com/482216.htm) and this (http://imperial-artist.livejournal.com/504204.html) anyway.

I’ve actually watched the first episode now and from first impressions I’m really quite impressed. Right from the start even silent scenes like the girl being focused on dismantling and reassembling her gun where the view cuts from her handling the gun to the fact that she’s so young that her feet don’t touch the floor were suitably disturbing. Thank you for the recommendation, it looks like it’s going to be a wonderful antidote to the fact that I got bored of Red Garden quite quickly.

[sir-hellsing.livejournal.com]

Ohhh. I'll read soon.

That scene, yes. *shudders* There is something quietly disturbing in GG and they portray this in such subtle, professional way. I like how realistic all seems even with the cyborg little girls theme.

And I found...

[sir-hellsing.livejournal.com]

GG English trailer. (http://youtube.com/watch?v=AL9DQXrwmF4) *winces* The Voice acting is painful (watch the original), but it's a nice intro to the series.