Holiday Dump Post - Shaman King
Jul. 20th, 2004 01:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sub_dividedThis is the first of two posts I wrote while on vacation. They have nothing to do with anything.
From Antiparos, with love: a Shaman King drabble originally written in commemoration of my reaching the end of Neal Gaiman's American Gods.
Yoh is a God
The two met, apparently by coincidence, at the foot of the trail up the mountain. In silence they walked until they reached a cave halfway up the slope. There, in the semi-darkness, they began a discussion. Or half of one, at any rate: the tall one spoke while the other listened, humming occasionally in agreement or thought. After a time, a minor disagreement broke out. It is here that we pick up the story.
"It is true, young one. Among my people, you are known as Great New Green Leaf." The speaker, in appearance a teenager, was in manner much older. A tall boy - no, man - with a hooked nose, thickly braided black hair, and an intense look to his dark eyes, he projected an air of timeless solemnity. A closer look revealed worry hidden in the creases of his mouth and at the corners of his eyes. "It is 'Leaf' for short."
"Leaf" shook his head in surprise and denial. Seeing that, the tall man smiled inwardly, although his expression did not change.
"Why are you shocked? Your twin has already accepted his place in the Pantheon. Surely he has told you." Whether the boy before him, a slender youth with habitually sleepy eyes, had shaken his head or stared in horror made little difference; what mattered was the disbelief behind the gesture.
Leaf, who knew himself as Asakura Yoh, smiled and shrugged. "Hao said he was a God, but he never said I had to believe him. I guess you can believe whatever you want, as long as you don't expect me to do anything,"
The man nodded. His grave expression shifted not an iota. Perhaps the creases lifted slightly. He said, "This is as it should be. The Gods have their purposes, and we have ours. To freely mix the two would be disastrous." In his mind, the man contrasted the reaction of the boy before him with the reaction of his twin.
With the Other, there had been no disbelief. Great Encompassing Silent Snow had been accepting to the point of pathology, as if strange foreign tribesman appeared from nowhere to worship him all the time. He had viewed the tribe's worship as not only right but necessary, something he was owed.
Snow basked in adoration as if it were sunlight, and he took others into his own purpose as easily as breathing. It was unseemly. A God might command, but he should not persuade. He should not need his followers. The Council had been worried.
"If you don't want anything, why did you tell me to meet you here?" Yoh asked. His voice belied a curiosity not present in his expression.
"We thought you should know," the tribesman said, "that there are others who watch this Fight with interest. And also…"
His solemn air faltered then. He hesitated. For an instant he looked his age, or younger. "I thought you should know, that our legends say you and he are the same person," he said. "Two sides of the same coin, each no more and no less than the other."
Yoh hmmed. The young tribesman continued undaunted. "So the legends say, and also that we should not think badly of him, for inwardly he means well. But even so, I am rooting for you!"
Great New Green Leaf smiled. "I'm not Hao," he said, "and I'm pretty sure I'm not your God either. But you are right that he's not a bad guy. That's what I thought all along."
The young tribesman stood in confusion as Yoh passed him the canteen he'd been drinking from. "You must be tired after all that talking," he said. "You don't have to worry; it'll all work out. Hao's probably pretty reasonable, deep down. I think."
Reasonable. Great Encompassing Silent Snow. Leaf's mortal enemy who was also (so the legends said) half his own self. "I'll tell the Council you said so," the tribesman managed to choke out.
"You do that." Yoh looked positively cheerful. "If that's all, we should be getting back to the village." He made his way out of the cave and down the trail. Turning back, he asked, "You coming?"
Author's Note:
Does Hao ever talk about being a god? It seems like something he'd do, but it's been a long time and my Shaman King is a little shaky since I never finished the series.
It might seem as if I wrote this because I thought it'd be cool if there really was a tribe of Yoh-and-Hao worshipers hanging out in North America, but actually all the God stuff just kind of happened. The only thing I wanted to do was make fun of Gaiman's writing style. And I failed, dismally, but oh well. (Of course, if I were really writing like Gaiman I'd have had to mention that I was using an over-used metaphor every time I used an over-used metaphor. I don't like the way Gaiman writes: he calls too much attention to himself. And the ending! You'd think a 588 page book could spare a few more for a proper epilogue. Still, the American Gods was alright. It was fun catching the references to various Gods, and what's not to like about a plot that has Odin and Loki involved in a massive two-man con?)
And since I'm talking Mankin, let's talk drugs:
The collage work and text are mine, but I the panels are all completely unaltered scanslations (and if you can accept that that isn't a contradiction in terms, then you can accept the drug-references).
From Antiparos, with love: a Shaman King drabble originally written in commemoration of my reaching the end of Neal Gaiman's American Gods.
Yoh is a God
The two met, apparently by coincidence, at the foot of the trail up the mountain. In silence they walked until they reached a cave halfway up the slope. There, in the semi-darkness, they began a discussion. Or half of one, at any rate: the tall one spoke while the other listened, humming occasionally in agreement or thought. After a time, a minor disagreement broke out. It is here that we pick up the story.
"It is true, young one. Among my people, you are known as Great New Green Leaf." The speaker, in appearance a teenager, was in manner much older. A tall boy - no, man - with a hooked nose, thickly braided black hair, and an intense look to his dark eyes, he projected an air of timeless solemnity. A closer look revealed worry hidden in the creases of his mouth and at the corners of his eyes. "It is 'Leaf' for short."
"Leaf" shook his head in surprise and denial. Seeing that, the tall man smiled inwardly, although his expression did not change.
"Why are you shocked? Your twin has already accepted his place in the Pantheon. Surely he has told you." Whether the boy before him, a slender youth with habitually sleepy eyes, had shaken his head or stared in horror made little difference; what mattered was the disbelief behind the gesture.
Leaf, who knew himself as Asakura Yoh, smiled and shrugged. "Hao said he was a God, but he never said I had to believe him. I guess you can believe whatever you want, as long as you don't expect me to do anything,"
The man nodded. His grave expression shifted not an iota. Perhaps the creases lifted slightly. He said, "This is as it should be. The Gods have their purposes, and we have ours. To freely mix the two would be disastrous." In his mind, the man contrasted the reaction of the boy before him with the reaction of his twin.
With the Other, there had been no disbelief. Great Encompassing Silent Snow had been accepting to the point of pathology, as if strange foreign tribesman appeared from nowhere to worship him all the time. He had viewed the tribe's worship as not only right but necessary, something he was owed.
Snow basked in adoration as if it were sunlight, and he took others into his own purpose as easily as breathing. It was unseemly. A God might command, but he should not persuade. He should not need his followers. The Council had been worried.
"If you don't want anything, why did you tell me to meet you here?" Yoh asked. His voice belied a curiosity not present in his expression.
"We thought you should know," the tribesman said, "that there are others who watch this Fight with interest. And also…"
His solemn air faltered then. He hesitated. For an instant he looked his age, or younger. "I thought you should know, that our legends say you and he are the same person," he said. "Two sides of the same coin, each no more and no less than the other."
Yoh hmmed. The young tribesman continued undaunted. "So the legends say, and also that we should not think badly of him, for inwardly he means well. But even so, I am rooting for you!"
Great New Green Leaf smiled. "I'm not Hao," he said, "and I'm pretty sure I'm not your God either. But you are right that he's not a bad guy. That's what I thought all along."
The young tribesman stood in confusion as Yoh passed him the canteen he'd been drinking from. "You must be tired after all that talking," he said. "You don't have to worry; it'll all work out. Hao's probably pretty reasonable, deep down. I think."
Reasonable. Great Encompassing Silent Snow. Leaf's mortal enemy who was also (so the legends said) half his own self. "I'll tell the Council you said so," the tribesman managed to choke out.
"You do that." Yoh looked positively cheerful. "If that's all, we should be getting back to the village." He made his way out of the cave and down the trail. Turning back, he asked, "You coming?"
Author's Note:
Does Hao ever talk about being a god? It seems like something he'd do, but it's been a long time and my Shaman King is a little shaky since I never finished the series.
It might seem as if I wrote this because I thought it'd be cool if there really was a tribe of Yoh-and-Hao worshipers hanging out in North America, but actually all the God stuff just kind of happened. The only thing I wanted to do was make fun of Gaiman's writing style. And I failed, dismally, but oh well. (Of course, if I were really writing like Gaiman I'd have had to mention that I was using an over-used metaphor every time I used an over-used metaphor. I don't like the way Gaiman writes: he calls too much attention to himself. And the ending! You'd think a 588 page book could spare a few more for a proper epilogue. Still, the American Gods was alright. It was fun catching the references to various Gods, and what's not to like about a plot that has Odin and Loki involved in a massive two-man con?)
And since I'm talking Mankin, let's talk drugs:
The collage work and text are mine, but I the panels are all completely unaltered scanslations (and if you can accept that that isn't a contradiction in terms, then you can accept the drug-references).
