Puppy Love

[luxken27]

Link to MM.org
Link to FF.net

Pairing: Sesshoumaru + Kagome (platonic)
Rating: K+
Inspiration: "My Innocent"
Based upon: dokuga_contest Drabble #25 | Elbow


To say the last few weeks of prompts at dokuga_contest have been challenging, would be an understatement. I thought they couldn't get much harder than last week's ('clock'? really?!), but this one very nearly broke me. I can't say I'm all too happy with the results, but its the only idea I had, and I pared it down to the word count as best I could.

Comedy is a weakness, I freely admit, but hopefully I got somewhere close to the mark I was aiming for with this piece.

Basically, its something of a riff off the piece I wrote for Langus during the drabble meme. Sesshoumaru has come by the village for one of his all-too-infrequent visits, only to be rejected at the door by Rin. She pleads with Jaken to make him go away, claiming she's "all elbows and knees" (meaning, she feels very awkward and self-conscious - didn't we all at that stage? :P). Of course, something is lost in the translation when Jaken tells Sesshoumaru.

Kagome, who had been in the hut all along with Rin, comes out, and Sesshoumaru confronts her...and it's up to her to tell the rather oblivious demon lord just why Rin suddenly doesn't want to see him.

100 words was very tough for this situation, but hopefully the humor is there. As I was posting, I noticed that almost all of the entries this week are also humorous in nature, so I guess all of us had a hard time interpreting the prompt in a different way.

Comments

[kmoaton.livejournal.com]

I'm sure that revelation shocked the unflappable lord! It was cute and humorous so you did good. I can see why that prompt choice was tough, especailly with the word count.

[luxken27]

Thanks! My wheels have been spinning ever since the prompt was posted. The last few have been rather uninspiring, but I guess I would feel that way after using six in a row for a series :P

I'm glad you saw the humor, as that is what I was aiming for, but the word count kinda restricted me. Oh, well - we'll see how well it does in the contest. Suffice to say, I'm not holding my breath :P

[psyco_chick32]

*giggles* That was a very awesome use of 100 words - amusing and yet actually having something there!!
Hahaha and the nearly unflappable Sesshoumaru is thrown for a loop...
Well done and good luck!

[luxken27]

Thanks! :) 100-word drabbles can be a real pain, especially when coupled with a super-tough prompt. But I guess what doesn't defeat us makes us stronger? I rather dread the next prompt, because I feel like I'm reaching the end of my rope at this comm...my pride is the only thing keeping me from just skipping them.

And, well, I just couldn't resist poking a bit of fun at Sesshoumaru this time, considering my last 100 word entry, it was quite the other way around!

[doggieearlover.livejournal.com]

That was very cute! And to say so much in so few words.

And what an insane prompt!

[luxken27]

Teehee, thanks! :) I think I needed your icon for the post I made over there, as that's about how I expect Sess reacted to her answer, LOL.

The prompt really is kinda insane, isn't it? :P As I said, I just wonder where my breaking point is going to be, if I managed to dredge up an entry even for this difficult prompt/word limit combination...

[doggieearlover.livejournal.com]

LOL - help yourself if you'd like it - I made it from a screencap from the third movie.

And who comes up with such nutty prompts? Are they getting so many entries they're trying to cut down the competition? Or do they just think they're being smart cute?

[luxken27]

One day I will dole out money for LJ and buy up iconspace for all the icons I want to gank :P What I really need is a humorous one...I didn't really have one that fit the mood of the piece, so I went with the least-angsty one I could find, LOL.

As far as I know, forthrightly is controlling all the prompts for the comm. There is a fair amount of competition for the drabbles (always at least six entries a week, IIRC), but the oneshots have really been struggling. I think only twice have enough people entered to garner voting for one than one place.

I think in this case, the blow came in the combo of the prompt and the severe word limit restriction. There's a lot more you could (feasibly) do with 400 words and such a weird prompt, that is rather impossible to explore in 100 words.

[doggieearlover.livejournal.com]

Sesshomaru, humorous?

Good luck on that one!

100 word limit is restrictive, no matter what. I've only written a small handful of those, and that was to her earlier challenges before I got tired of them. But yeah, that was a really weird prompt.

[luxken27]

LOL, not necessarily a humorous icon of him, just one in general. All of mine are either fluffy romantic or really angsty. (Gee, can you tell what I enjoy writing? LOL.)

100 words is a challenge, yes, but with the right prompt it need not be such an arduous task. There have been a handful at this comm with that word limit, and I don't think I've ever struggled so much as I did with this one. I rather dread seeing the next prompt she's going to spring on us, LOL :P

[doggieearlover.livejournal.com]

That you shouldn't have any trouble with.

I remember doing the "perfect kiss" which were a 100, and "perfect prank" which were a hundred. The hardest thing was making them exactly 100 words, but I did manage to do it. But yeah, the weirder the prompt, the harder it is to do anything with it with so few words.

[landofthekwt.livejournal.com]

Very cute use of the prompt. One of my pet peeves when reading SK is that Lord Fluffy calls her "Miko" and she calls him "Sesshoumaru-sama"
In the manga and the anime neither calls the other by those names. Kagome is actually called miko only twice by anyone in the manga. Kagome calls him Sesshoumaru just like Inuyasha. After all she comes from a very democratic Japan. The only person she calls sama is Miroku. She does after all live in a shrine and come from a family of priests.

[luxken27]

Well, the reason I have them use titles is because of the time period they're in. I can't imagine Sesshoumaru calling Kagome by her first name, and "miko" sounds better than "girl" or "wench", LOL. And yeah, even though Kagome grew up in the modern era, I do think she'd take a respectful tone him if she spent the rest of her life living in the feudal era. Plus there's the benefit of using polite titles in the company of others...even if, in this case, its just Jaken, LOL :P

Just a bit of fanon that I agree with...

[landofthekwt.livejournal.com]

I feel more comfortable with the manga. It is especially stupid when he is calling her miko in SK after they have been mated for years. (miko are not allowed to marry or have sex)

Which is why she calls him "Brother-in-law". Jaken actually calls her Kagome
not Kagome-san or Kagome-sama. When I was researching the word "miko" in the Shinto Encyclopedia for a Wilted Rose story, I discovered that for proper Shinto worshipers "Miko" refers only to the shrine maidens who serve the priests and perform the rituals and dances. It does not describe priestesses such as Kikyou who have spiritual power of their own. I realize that Kikyou, Kaede and Kagome at the end are all dressed in the traditional dress of the miko they have powers which the priestess would have have not the miko.

Rin refers to both Inuyasha ,Jaken and Sesshoumaru as sama, whereas she simply calls Kohaku by name without honorific.

Kohaku is very respectful he refers to Kikyou, Sesshoumaru and Jaken as sama
He calls his sister Ane-ue Rin he calls by name without honorific

Sesshoumaru never refers to Kagome by name(though he does call her idiot once) Inuyasha is the only inutachi referred to by name when he is not calling him hanyou or halfbreed. Many of the SK do not realize what a racial slur being called half-breed was to the Japnaese for long periods. The Tokugawa even ordered all mixed race persons to be expelled from Japan.

Miroku was referred to in so many ways. Housi-sama (lord monk) by Sango. Miroku-sama by Kagome. Miroku by Shippou and Miroku or Bouzou by Inuyasha

Kagome always referred to Shippou, Rin, and Sango as chan while she referred to Koga and Kohaku as kun. She calls Kaede-ba-sama. Kikyou and Sesshouamru she simply called by name.

Miroku called Shippou, Inuyasha , Sango and Kohakus by their names without honorifics while he always said Kaede-sama, Kikyou-sama and Kagome-sama.

[madmiko.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you so much for gathering all that up and laying it out there together like that! I'm going to copy/paste this into a doc. I try to keep straight who calls whom by what honorific in IY, but sometimes, I get them wrong. I think the honorifics are very important and they tell so much about the relationships. To be honest, it bugs me that Kohaku didn't call Kagome "Kagome-sama." LOL!