[fic] small gods

[bluewalk]

Title: small gods
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairing: Raki and Kamakiri mostly
Word Count: 2745
Summary: In which none of the Shandian children are happy, but Raki holds it together better than most.

This was supposed to be a birthday fic for serrende but since it's so late I think I'm going to call it a "I'm really glad you exist!" fic.........

I really enjoyed

Comments

[printfogey]

Ack, I've already commented on the AO3 one - since I got a link to it in my e-mail - so now I may have nothing left to say! Just to repeat again how lovely it is to read this and how overwhelmed I feel to know it's a gift for me. Thank you awfully. It's done with such care and attention to detail. I can tell you must really have scoured the Skypiea volumes to soak up all the little bits Oda gave us on these characters and their lives you've read, and I salute you on making it fit together so very well.

Ah - just one thing. I know roughly what Kamakiri means only because the Swedish manga translator actually translated his name (he did that a lot). But I don't know what Raki means...

[bluewalk]

No worries! Thank you for the cross-platform comments!! I'm really glad you enjoyed it; it's a huge relief!!

Though now I have to admit rather embarrassingly that I only found out what Kamakiri's name meant after I finished writing, when I was going back and double-checking some things in the canon. Raki's name doesn't mean anything in Japanese as far as I know, but what I was going for is the shared sounds in their names-- the "ki" (as well as the "ka" in Kamakiri's). The way your throat closes around those sounds when you say them, and the flow of air is cut off for just a bit. It gave me pause when I first noticed (and I guess I get unnecessarily hung up on these small inconsequential things) so I thought to incorporate it into my headcanon, that their parents chose to weave those sounds into their identities, so that they couldn't be themselves without feeling that moment of tightness (like homesickness) even if it's in the back of their throats.

I hope that makes sense.............

Thank you again for the lovely comments <3