(no subject)

[vice_is_nice]

O-okay.

Ask me what Umeda and Hakkai thinks of your character. If they've only met briefly, mind reminding me of when? If you remember. Which you also might not. Um.

I WILL TRY TO RESPOND COHERENTLY. :D

Comments

[vice_is_nice]

LOL OKAY. Umeda hasn't met Hiro, I don't think. He HAS met Yaone, what with the handpuppets and humiliation, which. You know. I think 'handpuppets and humiliation' sums up their relationship well. He doesn't dislike her; he doesn't like her yet either, but he's sort of amused how their conversation... went. XD

HAKKAI ON HIRO:

They've mostly talked in context of the school thing. HIs overall impression of Hiro, through that, is good, but I'm at a loss to actually say more about it.

HAKKAI ON YAONE. Um.

Canon - Okay, canonically? Ironically? They've met like three times. At least in the manga. In the anime it's like... four, five maybe. But manga: The "I will kill you -- omg why are you kicking my ass? I THINK I'D BETTER STAB MYSELF IN THE THROAT YOU'RE OKAY WITH THAT RIGHT?" scene, the "I resolved to live for Kougaiji." "That's very nice." "Can we try to kill each other now?" "It would be my pleasure. For all one frame that we fight before we get distracted by the more important characters" scene, and the whole bit in Against the Stream.

That said I think Hakkai and Yaone have a pretty positive relationship in canon just because of how much emotional activity happened in that short period. Their first meeting, both Yaone's fear of inadequacy and Hakkai's trauma over Kanan's suicide came out; in Hakkai's case it was the first time it was revealed in the manga itself. I think their initial fondness came from before that (with the "We can't tolerate sexual harrassment" thing being the reason Yaone had hoped most that Hakkai would be unconscious), and it carried through after that. Their ....friendship? Relationship? Interactions? are of course deeply tinged with projection on both sides of the fence BECAUSE of triggering each other's issues so immediately; that said, they do a good job of not going OVERBOARD with the projection. I think they honestly have an affection for each other that almost smacks at shared relief over their mental/emotional SURVIVAL from their first meeting (it has that ...survivor air, in a way XD) but I also think they have a genuine respect for each other. Hakkai certainly respects her for -- well. Surviving. And. Continuing to fight. His feelings on Yaone are complex, I think, and I'm not sure I understand them all entirely, even up through Against the Stream. They're totally not enemies. They don't even usually make great opponents. XD But. They're both totally aware of fighting for their own sake, and that the other is too, and that's good. It Works

CAMP -

To say 'nothing has changed' would be a bit much considering, well, all that's happened. But while situations have changed, Hakkai's feelings have stayed generally constant: Respect, a certain degree of affection, a definite awareness that she's fighting for herself and for Kougaiji and certainly not actually on his 'side'. He has also never playing on her the mean trick he sort of did on Zakuro there. XD Um.

That said, she knows a LOT more about him now than most people; he's not sure whether she HEARD all the details of what he said because she was distraught at the time, but he knows she knows it. He also is really shaken up about the Hyakugan Maou thing (as she surely is as well) and at this point he's not sure if he's scared or eager to deal with her but he's also not the sort of person to bow to his fear so he is determined to have tea and cake with her and discuss the weather.

[cordialpoison.livejournal.com]

YAONE WUVS YOU, HAKKAI yes umm tea! weather! Sounds good. :D I am trying very very hard to keep from falling into the trap of "Yaone now thinks Hakkai is her BESTEST FRIEND EVER", because. Too easy! And not true! And I think a great deal of their mutual respect and affection comes from, as you said, that recognition of each other as mutual survivors, and recognizing that both of them have decided to keep living (as a conscious choice) for their own sake and for the sake of the people they love. Who are not each other.

I've had Yaone latch on to Hakkai somewhat in camp because of that, because she knows he knows that she isn't weak, but that she's not really okay on her own. Yaone's devotion to Kougaiji runs deeper than loyalty to a liege lord or even romantic attachment to a lover, and she's got a similar bond with Doku and Lirin. And she knows they're not really okay on their own without her either, and it's getting harder and harder for her to accept that and move on. She wakes up sad. She will never really be okay here without Kougaiji and the others, while if they were here someone could blow up her cabin every day and, ultimately, things would work out. Yaone's a pilgrim without her ikkou, and that hurts a lot, so she's taking what comfort she can in familiarity, and Hakkai is the most familiar of all. Sorry, baby, you're just being used.

So I promise no more Seeryus Bizness conversations for a while. Because we are cutest when we are being polite and cheerful at each other, anyway.

Zakuro needs to come to camp so we can, umm. Mock him delicately behind his back. O Zakuro. ♥ And Kougaiji needs to come so Yaone can wake up happy.

[vice_is_nice]

I have this amusing image of the two acting really close and cheerful and so on becuse of this, and if -- nay, WHEN -- we get a Kougaiji, Yaone being like "Well, Hakkai-dono, thank you for all you've done, I'm going to kill you now." And Hakkai being like, "No, no, I should be thanking you -- wait wtf I can't use my limbs." "Ah! Hakkai-dono, I THOUGHT if I slowly put a sleeping potion in your tea over the course of a long period it might affect you more than a single dose!" "Very clever, Yaone-shan. However, I think I can shtill fight..."

XD Um, I lose. And have a fever. But you know, Hakkai knows she needs a familiar face around and he does understand. He sort of needs to ritualize on a regular basis himself. He won't be at all surprised if/when Kougaiji shows up and Yaone is suddenly All Polite Business again.

PIMPING FOR A KOUGAIJI (AND A ZAKURO) GOES HERE.

[cordialpoison.livejournal.com]

I totally wish I'd thought of that, because now I can't use it. D: D: D:

If/WHEN WHEN WHEN we get a Kougaiji, I am going to need to confer beforehand and in the game with his player and probably you to figure out how Yaone will react to the situation. Because she will totally take her cues from Kougaiji. She will be thrilled to see him even as she's horrified that he's trapped in this camp with her. And being trapped is the key point, because if they honestly cannot escape here (which is what Yaone would care about; Kou would be the one who'd care about escaping with the sutra), Yaone would see no point in randomly antagonizing the Sanzo-ikkou, unless it somehow makes Kougaiji happy. Which it doesn't! Playing badass shonen dorks with Goku while ostensibly stealing the sutra makes Kougaiji happy! And Kou being safe and happy is all she cares about. Not the sutra, not his mom. Just Kou. I think part of the odd charm of "Against the Stream" was Yaone and Doku finally admitting to themselves that their love for Kou--that they want to be with him, even if he doesn't want them to be--is selfish, and that's okay for them. After all the crap of their exaggerated masochistic selflessness is out of the way, doing this is what makes them happy. And this isn't really shown as a bad thing, even though selfishness is so often aligned with evil--I think we're all trusting, Doku and Yaone included, that Kou will ultimately Do the Right Thing. Which is a heavy burden to place on Kou, but hey, sucks to be him. Yaone and Doku don't care.

So how does that translate into camp stuff? If Kougaiji comes to camp and is like "Yaone, let's go randomly attack the Sanzo-ikkou", at the point in canon I pulled her from I think she's secure enough in herself and her relationship with Kou that she can speak out if she thinks it's a stupid idea. She backtalks because she loves. Not in the "You are an idiot if you think this is a good idea and no way in hell I'm coming with you and it's your own dumb fault if you get killed" favored by the Sanzo-ikkou, but the reasonable route of "Of course I'll happily do whatever you want, Kougaiji-sama, but we don't know how long we'll be trapped here and if we'll be able to escape with the sutra, and there are many people here with unknown powerful abilities who may turn out to be Sanzo-san's allies, and we're all in such an enclosed space with so many innocent people around, fighting could be very dangerous..." It is Yaone's job to make her shonen idiots focus on the matter at hand rather than their epic melodrama. Yaone will ultimately go along with fighting if it makes Kou happy, because Kou's the one who'll ultimately take the flak for it. But she won't advocate it. So it will be Kougaiji's player's call whether or not his honor will make him insist on being active enemies of the Sanzo-ikkou just for the sake of being enemies, or whether or not he's not suicidally dense enough not to recognize when he's in an impossible situation and to just grit his teeth and make nice. Or at least make not-actively-hostile.

[vice_is_nice]

Wh-- why can't you!

Yeah, that's a very good point. And I just. I love Against the Stream for Yaone and Doku being such loveable retards. "This isn't for that woman. It's not even for your mom." AHAHAHA OH MAN. Saiyuki never really aligns selfishness with evil, I don't think. Just with. "Live your own choices" sort of. Poor Kou. XD

Yeah, no, totally agreed. But at the least, I think Hakkai knows where Yaone's loyalties lie and is -- happy with that in his own weirdly way! (Oh Kou. We need a Kou. KOU!)