"GunKnight" <gunknight@netzero.net> wrote:

     "There was nothing I could do and sh-she, SHE INSISTED ON LEAVING
A LIVING WITNESS BEHIND!"

*snort*(Note to self: Don't drink milk while reading this person's
writings.:-)

[Bows modestly]
Thank kew! ^_^

<snip>

     "Oh!", said Konatsu as he relaxed visibly, "And, of course, by
the time the compulsion wears off our lead time will have become too
great for interferance to be viable. That is...good. That is very
good! I would have...*disliked* the need to have implemented
professional procedure even though you all have my word that the
dislike would not have slowed my hand."

     The way he said that drew a hard look from Shampoo and sent a
shiver down Miss Kuonji's spine. It was only then that Ukyo remembered
once more the way his stepmother had mentioned that he was a ninja by
*instinct* as well as by training.

<snip>

     "I just want to remind you that I was present when Miss Akane
mentioned all the things that you had done to her and that my eye is
on you. I wish you to know that if you attempt anything of the sort
on Mistress Ukyo I would feel compelled to take certain steps."

By any chance are you a fan of Terry Pratchett?

Yup! Enough that I'd consider Cologne and Shampoo to be the professonal colleagues of Granny Weatherwax, Mrs. Ogg, Magrat and Perditia while
assessing Gosunkagi as somewhere between Rincewand and Ponder Stibbons in
the ranks of those who wear the pointy hats. (At one point I was seriously
considering a x-over scene that would involve a bakeoff between C.M.O.T. Dibbler and Akane before I decided that I didn't have enough of a story to
justify it).

  Konatsu's dialogue is very

similar to Captain Carrot's

     Hmmmm! At the time I wrote the 'My eye is on you' paragraph I'd had some vague worries that he was sounding more like a cop than like an assassin before I'd decided that any assassin trying to warn rather than
just going ahead and taking preemptive action would probably end up sounding like a cop anyway.
     The archetype I was actually thinking of was more in line with Lois McMasters Bujold's Bothari from "Warrior's Apprentice" or Joachim Steubens from David Drake's "Hammer's Slammers" - the natural killer who has just
enough conscience to realize that he needs an external conscience and selects someone he regards as both supremely honorable and intelligent(Ukyo in this case) for that role. And I can't picture anyone whom the canon describes as 'one ninja in a million' or 'ninja by instinct as well as by training' as not having a bit of that attitude.
      Under the wrong circumstances (i.e. *any* circumstance where the rules of the Takahashi Universe didn't prevail) I could see a large bodycount mounting anywhere he went. In Discworld terms a toned down version of Mr. Teatime or, better still, the one assassin who accompanied Vimes in "Fifth Elephant" who was so deadly to the undiscerning by his harmless appearance would be closest to what I had in mind.

Then again...

     Konatsu and the early Carrot (As opposed to the one emerging
in 'Fifth Elephant) *do* share the same level of initial innocence. A
Carrot-type raised by ninjas rather than by Dwarves *does* have it's own
lovely set of possibilities. Instead of the interpretation of Konatsu I'd
been thinking of, *this* Konatsu would simply be an unworldly and
supremely gifted craftsman who just happened to be raised as a supremely gifted craftsman of death. As such this archetype would actually come closer to the attitude displayed by Death in Mort when he tells Mort that he's pleased Mort showed compassion and goes on to say...

Death:...BUT YOU MUST REMEMBER THE SORT OF COMPASSION APPROPRIATE FOR OUR
PROFESSION.

Mort: What's that?

Death: A _SHARP_ EDGE!

     Given that I picture Konatsu as still being a 'virgin' at killing (& one who isn't eager to start because he knows how easy it would become for
him) this may actually be a better prototype than what I'd already been using. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

Sincerely yours,
S.P.M.


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