Prolix, prolix, prolix!
(Is how the HK subbers translate Urusai!)
Can't help it: it's a daily prompt. Which I wasn't going to write for today's, actually. Or was, rather, but was going to take my time about it; because what needs to be 'purified' are various crucial moments in the series that I feel should be brought into a closer reflection of the Platonic Form of Woxin. Ya Yu speaks court lady keigo to the ambassador of Jin, say. (Cf James Thurber, The Thirteen Clocks, Platonic Form of: 'One last word and warning, said the Duke. I would not trust the fangirls overfar. They seldom know what can be from what can't. They rarely know what should be from what is.')
But then I woke from a dream of reading an entry in feliciter's lj talking about a scene I couldn't remember seeing ('Must have missed it') and this ficlet was there in my head. References shinto, of course, but the same idea exists in the west.
Title: A little seasoning
Day/Theme: Tue Feb. 19 - "And every creature shall be purified"
Series: Woxin changdan/The Great Revival
Character/Pairing: Fu Chai, Bo Pi
Spoilers: ep 18ish specifically, but general commentary
"Bo Pi, how do you do it? We're on the march, we've seen nothing but wasteland for three days, and here's a feast fit for a palace."
"Your majesty works so hard for us, it hurts my old heart to see it. Up before dawn, and night before you come to table. Your poor minister does what little he can to ease my Sovereign's lot. But come- come- please taste the fish. I prepared it with my own hands."
Fu Chai sits and picks up his chopsticks. Bo Pi is nattering on about the king's virtues and glory. Fu Chai takes a bite of grilled fish, listening to his minister's panegyric with only one ear, and thinks abstractedly, 'Needs salt.'
Can't help it: it's a daily prompt. Which I wasn't going to write for today's, actually. Or was, rather, but was going to take my time about it; because what needs to be 'purified' are various crucial moments in the series that I feel should be brought into a closer reflection of the Platonic Form of Woxin. Ya Yu speaks court lady keigo to the ambassador of Jin, say. (Cf James Thurber, The Thirteen Clocks, Platonic Form of: 'One last word and warning, said the Duke. I would not trust the fangirls overfar. They seldom know what can be from what can't. They rarely know what should be from what is.')
But then I woke from a dream of reading an entry in feliciter's lj talking about a scene I couldn't remember seeing ('Must have missed it') and this ficlet was there in my head. References shinto, of course, but the same idea exists in the west.
Title: A little seasoning
Day/Theme: Tue Feb. 19 - "And every creature shall be purified"
Series: Woxin changdan/The Great Revival
Character/Pairing: Fu Chai, Bo Pi
Spoilers: ep 18ish specifically, but general commentary
"Bo Pi, how do you do it? We're on the march, we've seen nothing but wasteland for three days, and here's a feast fit for a palace."
"Your majesty works so hard for us, it hurts my old heart to see it. Up before dawn, and night before you come to table. Your poor minister does what little he can to ease my Sovereign's lot. But come- come- please taste the fish. I prepared it with my own hands."
Fu Chai sits and picks up his chopsticks. Bo Pi is nattering on about the king's virtues and glory. Fu Chai takes a bite of grilled fish, listening to his minister's panegyric with only one ear, and thinks abstractedly, 'Needs salt.'