Kinmokusei Story By Kotetsu The all-important Author’s Notes!! Read or Die!! (*evil laughter*) First, the most important stuff: Please send feedback! Kotetsu@bishoujosenshi.com Email is my friend! Oh, and we simply must insert a shameless plug: http://www.kinmoku.net/ Yeah, go visit, you know you want to. And next, the somewhat important stuff: The actual notes! ________________________________________________________________________________ Things to read before you read the fic ________________________________________________________________________________ 1) Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon, and all characters/concepts/original ideas contained therein, are created by Naoko Takeuchi and copyrighted by Kodansha Publishing, TOEI Animation, and about a zillion other gigantic corporations. Sailor Moon was not created by me, Sailor Moon is not owned by me. This fanfic is illegal. But it’s all in the name of fun! So please don’t sue me - I have no money to give you anyway. 2) There are many, many homages to some of my favorite books and favorite fictional characters in this story, especially in chapters eleven and fifteen. Chapter eleven, especially, contains numerous homages to Todd Grimson’s _Brand New Cherry Flavor_ and Stephen King’s _Firestarter_. These brief homage scenes - a certain nosebleed, a certain *something* involving a tongue (no spoilers, nothing ecchi though), and a certain psi talent - are to be credited to the original authors and not to be confused with my own completely original ideas; therefore, no plagiarism is intended. However, anybody who’s read either _Firestarter_ or _Brand New Cherry Flavor_ will probably see that I have severely twisted and distorted the original concepts until they fit with the wonderful, weird world that is Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon. ^^;; And yes, the name “Hocksetter” is lifted and modified from the full name “Patrick Hockstetter.” A character named Patrick Hockstetter from _It_ became the model for the character named Reynard in this fic; the *other* Patrick Hockstetter from _Firestarter_ became transformed into an entire scientific research institute that you readers will meet for the first time in chapter eleven. 3) This fic is rated R. Actually, a lot of the chapters are probably tame enough to get a G or PG rating, but because of the content of a few specific chapters, it’s probably best to label the whole thing as R. There is violence. There is sexuality. There’s freakish left-wing politics. And, finally, there is a little bit of swearing. 4) I hate to plug my own fics (not really, *cough*cough*), but right from the start of chapter one, this fanfic assumes that you have read “Correspondence,” a rather short fic that I wrote a while back. You don’t HAVE to read “Correspondence” before you launch into this fic, but it might help clear up some confusing scenes. You can find it at the ASMR library under “K,” for Kotetsu. E) I don’t care if she’s supposed to be Sailor Kakyuu in the manga, in my fic she’s Sailor Kinmoku and that’s that. It’s artistic license, but it also just makes more sense. And as long as I can do *that*, then I can put an E after the number 4!! ________________________________________________________________________________ Things to read before the fic, after the fic, or whenever you feel like it ________________________________________________________________________________ 5) A note about language: If you were an alien from Kinmoku, how would you swear? No, really, that’s a serious question. In this fic, I did try to portray a few of the cultural nuances of Kinmokuseijin society in the actual, well, bad language used. Our heroines, for the most part, stick to tame epithets such as “bloody,” “darn,” “drat,” and “cursed.” Our villains, being slightly less considerate of the rules of proper etiquette, will occasionally throw in a “damn” or a “hell” if under extreme duress. When the Lord’s name is taken in vain, there’s an equal chance that either a God or a Goddess will be referred to. Yaten, for example, does say “Oh my God” a few times. Taiki, on the other hand, tends to prefer “Oh, holy Goddess.” And, finally, does anybody remember Queen Maresuu from my previous fic “Starlit Legends”? Her name, too, has become somewhat of an invocation of divine protection. Several characters pray to “Mother Maresuu” during the course of the fic. 5.5) More about language: Kinmokuseijin names are traditionally listed in what we understand as the Western name order - personal name, then family name. Thus, Kou Seiya, Kou Taiki, and Kou Yaten all have the same first name. However, while on Earth and in Japan, they introduced themselves as Seiya Kou, Taiki Kou, and Yaten Kou. And in case anybody is wondering - no, Hideaki’s family name never is revealed to the readers. That’s because the author herself is unsure of what his family name really is. ^^;; Um, yeah. I asked him about it, but I never could get a straight answer out of him. 5.7) Another note about languages: Certain terms are *always* capitalized in Kinmokuseijin speech, usually to connote religious or spiritual significance – Princess, Queen, Sailor Senshi, Sailor Crystals, and Subspace, to name a few. The capitalizations may look unnatural at first, but after a while, you’ll get used to them. 6) Most information about language, culture, science, technology, religion, and politics in galactic society will be explained, and at length, during the course of the fic. However, before publishing this fic, I did organize all of my notes and thoughts into a long HTML file that acts as a companion guide to any strangers who may become lost or confused while navigating the far-out landscape of the post-Sailor Wars galaxy. It’s called “A Guide to the Post-Apocalyptic Galaxy,” and you can access it here: http://www.kinmoku.net/hocksetter/ 7) Some artistic liberties are taken with what supposedly should be “canon” Sailor Moon anime material. (For example, I know that “Venus Wink-Chain Sword” is not an anime attack, and I know that it’s not *literally* a sword, but then again, like I said, it’s artistic license, and all of that.) Another big license is Tau Seikei, which best translates as “Tau galaxy,” although it could be read as “Tau star system,” and thus has been re-cast in this world as merely a single star system *within* our Milky Way galaxy, as opposed to the original manga concept of a galaxy in and of itself. And I know that “Sailor Crystal” is strictly a manga term, but I use it in the anime continuity anyway. 8) No, the Kinmokuseijin probably don’t measure temperature in Fahrenheit. But at the same time, since all of the dialogue written here is “transcribed” into a form of English that we Earthling readers can understand, and in the particular conversation during chapter eleven when Fahrenheit measure is mentioned, the point of the statement is to communicate a very high value of HEAT . . . well, just think of the “Fahrenheit” measure as a translation in and of itself into something that the reading audience can better understand. (Although Kelvin or Celsius would make more sense, I do suspect that the majority of my reading audience from the United States would have a better comprehensive grasp of the Fahrenheit scale. I know I do. ^^) 9) Yes, the Kinmokuseijin still use tungsten filament light bulbs. 10) No, I don't agree with Judith Butler. At all. 11) I have to credit Aika Bunny (aika_of_the_blue_rogues@yahoo.com) for suggesting the opening quotations for chapter sixteen, when I was originally at a loss for what to put. Thank you!!! And, finally, I leave you with a bit of poetry by Marjorie Agosín. Porque si hoy es el fin de mundo ¿quién podriá dejar de bailar?