ask-celes

[ask-celes]

Do you ever regret meeting Locke?

Absolutely not! I don’t regret falling in love, even if the trip down was a bit rocky.

[ask-celes]

OOC: Apologies to those not following my personal for just vanishing without a trace again and no forewarning!

The shortest version is that I was taking an art sabbatical and about two months earlier than we were expecting, my husband and I had to start our then-upcoming relocation for his job; the specific circumstances and having to hit the ground running have thrown us severely out of our usual grooves.

No immediate promises about when I'll go back to answering, but I'm also not planning to abandon this at this time. (still sitting on about 50-60 questions in the inbox ^^;;)

[ask-celes]

THAT is a foolish question, friend.

[ask-celes]

I'm... not certain? I did enjoy my time helping with reconstruction in Tzen and Albrook; perhaps something physically demanding? I do enjoy being active, I know that much.

(OOC:Thank you kindly for your praise! ♥)

[ask-celes]

Much of my time as a child was spent in lessons, but I stole away to Cid's greenhouse whenever possible.

[ask-celes]

The girls are both accomplished fighters, it's our youngest who needs to be protected.

(Locke knows this, he helped train both of them!)

[ask-celes]

[ask-celes]

We'd put him right back where he belongs, I assure you.

[ask-celes]

Yeah... Locke gets kisses to NOT write me any poetry. He's... pretty bad.

[ask-celes]

Celes: Relm. How many times do I have to say "no" before you'll listen?

Relm: You can't do this to me! The public has a right to know the truth!

[ask-celes]

OOC: You guys are the best! Thanks for all the sweet messages like this!

[ask-celes]

This sounds just like an open-faced sandwich?

[ask-celes]

[ask-celes]

OOC: Seriously, thank you guys for all the support you've shown my noobish non-rp self!

[ask-celes]

OOC:

Some linguistic background that I wanted to share here, because it's important to me, the artist, as a fan of Final Fantasy VI, Celes, and Locke.

It partially reiterates why I opt to use their canon relationship as a large influence on her later in-game characterization, and her post-game worldbuilding, without portraying Locke as some horrendous monster that treats her like crap as a part of that.

Some thoughts on Locke that came to me while drawing, specifically the “you’re still a friend” Locke and Celes scene in Albrook that many people love to point to as him being unromantic/selfish/inappropriate/many other negative adjectives towards Celes following the events at the Research Facility (I could go into that too, and the fact that kindly Cid first implies duplicity, and not Kekfa, but that’s a whole, separate issue from this).

There’s quite a few different words in Japanese that are translated as “friend” into English, largely because we don’t really have better single-word translations for them.

Chiefly among them that we tend to see in Anime/Television/Manga/Video Games/Entertainment Media are “tomodachi” 友達 and “nakama” 仲間.

Let’s start with “tomodachi.”

The Kanji here are

tomo 友 = friend, companion

tachi/dachi 達 = a pluralization suffix.

So quite literally, this is “a group of friends.”

This is the word you tend to use in everyday life, and you’ll see it in tamer-setting stories, like sitcoms, romantic comedies, highschool manga; it’s normal people having normal friends. These are the people you share interests with, the people you hang out with after school or go out to party and eat with. These are your classmates, or the people on your softball team, the people you’ll go get a beer with after a crazy exam in college to unwind.

Now, let’s take a look at “nakama.”

The Kanji here are

仲 naka = relation, relationship. One of the kanji radicals here is “middle/between/inside”

間 ma = space or room. The Kanji radicals are “sun” within “room/space”

“Searching for Friends” of the Final Fantasy VI soundtrack, which we all know for it’s utter perfection and the epic feelings it inspires, is 仲間を求めて “Nakama o Motomete.”

While “nakama” is, as you can see, technically translated as “friend” in English, it’s really rather clumsy as a translation. The feeling that the base words and concepts give is far closer, and its uses in basically every form of media corroborate with this fact. “Nakama” are those most closely within your personal in-group, essentially like a family. This is the one you’ll see in epic tales, where lives are in danger and group members don’t think twice about dying for one another. These are your Avengers, your Sailor Scouts, your Gaang from Avatar, you Fellowship of the Ring. Literally. This is the word they use in the Japanese translation of LoTR.

These people might not be what you’d actually call friends if you were asked, they’re more than that. No matter what happens, whether it’s an morally questionable elder brother taking back his renegade sister for execution, like Bleach, or your best friend who took your most beloved, prized spaceship from you in a game of Sabacc getting sold off to a bounty hunter so he can be a gift to one nasty sonofabitch crimelord, like Star Wars…

or even a madman destroying your world with the power of the gods of magic that he’s taken for his own. (sound familiar?)

These people have your back. And you have theirs. No questions asked. If someone tries to mess your shit up, they will mess them up worse. Die for you if need be.

So, with this in mind…

“Just a little…

I had doubted…

however, you’re still a ‘friend,’”

That last kanji look familiar at all?

[ask-celes]

You're... not very bright, are you?

[ask-celes]

OOC: Happy Birthday, Ask Celes!

It's been one year today since the first post for this blog!

I wanted to thank you all for how much fun this past year has been, and apologize for the recent lack of activity. My husband and I have been punched in the face by real life and this has slipped down the list of things to do, thought it's by no means going to be abandoned. It still might be a bit before I hit those questions sitting in my inbox, but I really appreciate everyone for sticking with me this whole time; Thank you all SO MUCH for all the likes, follows, reblogs, and lovely comments and messages. It really does mean the world to me.

Now, today is ALSO FFVI's 18th American Birthday, so go out and celebrate and flood Tumblr with love for a game we all adore!