I finally found my word doc of chapter 11, which for some reason was labeled chapter 9. Had a panic attack for a few minutes there when I thought I'd accidentally deleted my chapter 11 draft before NaNoWriMo.
So the good news? The chapter is 50% done.
The bad news? The chapter is 50% done.
As usual Danzo is the one causing troubles. Somehow I've managed to make him a "chatty-Cathy" which is just so wrong. Takes OOC to a whole new level. So that's a re-write that needs to be done a.s.a.p. And I don't have a lot of descriptions about his facial expressions- because let's face it, he's as expressive as a rock. Such a pain as it leaves most of dialogues hanging awkwardly and Harry just seems like a creep because he keeps staring... and this probably makes no sense so I'll stop.
Also I found a long scene in there- well I'm not sure why it's there. I think I might have written it as some sort of gag scene, because it's just too ridiculous to be part of the chapter. I can't remember what I was thinking when I wrote it.
Either way, I don't think chapter 11 will go over the 10,000 mark after I'm done with the re-writing, cutting and editing. But ah well, I think it'll be an interesting chapter that'll definitely be out before Christmas.
Off to do some writing and editing,
Polar.
P.S. Gah, my fingers hurt. I forgot my gloves at home today- bad day to do so. And let's just say my fingers are not pleased. Have you ever tried using door keys with cold fingers? Painful. Took me five minutes of fumbling in the dark to do so.
P.P.S. So... yeah, how are you guys? Some of you PMed my ffnet ages ago and I failed to reply. Sorry about that. I hope you don't mind the late replies- which I shall get to in a while.
P.P.P.S You know as much as I want to hate Danzo- I really can't. In a way, he's a 'real' ninja and you have to give him some credit for that. He did cause more problems than he solved but... I think he's interesting. I wish he was easier to write- but a part of me likes the challenge he poses.
01 December 2010
30 November 2010
End of NaNoWriMo...
As I'm writing this, there's still five-ish hours left until the end of NaNoWriMo- which is a good thing, because I'm still a 1000 words off from completing my goal. It seems that NaNoWriMo has failed to make me a faster writer. Even so I think this whole month has definitely helped me out a bit.
The last two weeks- I really managed to keep up with the daily word count- so I'm proud of not succumbing to my usual procrastination habits.
Having to keep up with the word limit actually does wonders for making you think about description- everything from the smell, taste and look. I have no idea how many odd descriptions I ended up with in my NaNoWriMo writing. Of course most of the descriptions are silly and laughable but since my usual writing lacks proper description- I think this was a good step forward.
Actually there are a lot of laughable things I ended up with during this month.
First on the list would be names- all my character names are just...well, a bit too unique? Yeah, let's go with that. But I guess it's a bit acceptable in a semi-fantasy genre. Villain only got the letter "S" for a name because I honestly couldn't think of a name that wouldn't sound like a cliche evil name. I consider that a step up from a blank space, for now.
And then there's my main character- who for some reason seems to be on the receiving end of a lot of violence and injuries. I have no idea if it was just my mind-set during the month, but I have tons of scenes where my character is bleeding/stabbed/shot and on the verge of dying. Poor thing. Of course my villain does get beat up but not as much as my main character.
Finally there's the plot. Yeah that just took on a life on it's own. I had a plan but this past weekend I was suddenly inspired with the most absurd plot twist. It was so ridiculous that I instantly fell in love with the idea and decided to incorporate it in to the story. Which left me with no idea how to end the story- hence my lack of words at the moment.
What does this mean for AtO's ch11?
Err, nothing actually. I didn't even have time to look at chapter 11 since the start of November. NaNoWriMo really took up all my free brain space. But have no fear, I'll definitely look in to it tomorrow, see how much work it needs and put up a blog post about it soon. It'll be good to go back to something familiar- with nice normal names and appropriately named villains and Hedwig.
You know-odd thought here- I think my love of Hedwig must stem from my own pets. I have two budgies who're utterly fascinated by my laptop when I play budgie clips from Youtube.They're hilarious when they try to investigate my laptop.
That's all for now,
Polar.
P.S. I just realized that none of my NaNoWriMo characters have cool pets. Tch, what a time to get that realization.
P.P.S I really hope people don't spam AtO's review section with questions/demands of updates...should probably put something on my profile page there tomorrow.
P.P.P.S. X-mas is coming. Yay! Must listen to some more Trans-Siberian Orchestra. That might help me write. Now that I think of it, I do have an itch to write a BleachXNaruto one-shot. Must resist the urge until I finish with ch11.
The last two weeks- I really managed to keep up with the daily word count- so I'm proud of not succumbing to my usual procrastination habits.
Having to keep up with the word limit actually does wonders for making you think about description- everything from the smell, taste and look. I have no idea how many odd descriptions I ended up with in my NaNoWriMo writing. Of course most of the descriptions are silly and laughable but since my usual writing lacks proper description- I think this was a good step forward.
Actually there are a lot of laughable things I ended up with during this month.
First on the list would be names- all my character names are just...well, a bit too unique? Yeah, let's go with that. But I guess it's a bit acceptable in a semi-fantasy genre. Villain only got the letter "S" for a name because I honestly couldn't think of a name that wouldn't sound like a cliche evil name. I consider that a step up from a blank space, for now.
And then there's my main character- who for some reason seems to be on the receiving end of a lot of violence and injuries. I have no idea if it was just my mind-set during the month, but I have tons of scenes where my character is bleeding/stabbed/shot and on the verge of dying. Poor thing. Of course my villain does get beat up but not as much as my main character.
Finally there's the plot. Yeah that just took on a life on it's own. I had a plan but this past weekend I was suddenly inspired with the most absurd plot twist. It was so ridiculous that I instantly fell in love with the idea and decided to incorporate it in to the story. Which left me with no idea how to end the story- hence my lack of words at the moment.
What does this mean for AtO's ch11?
Err, nothing actually. I didn't even have time to look at chapter 11 since the start of November. NaNoWriMo really took up all my free brain space. But have no fear, I'll definitely look in to it tomorrow, see how much work it needs and put up a blog post about it soon. It'll be good to go back to something familiar- with nice normal names and appropriately named villains and Hedwig.
You know-odd thought here- I think my love of Hedwig must stem from my own pets. I have two budgies who're utterly fascinated by my laptop when I play budgie clips from Youtube.They're hilarious when they try to investigate my laptop.
That's all for now,
Polar.
P.S. I just realized that none of my NaNoWriMo characters have cool pets. Tch, what a time to get that realization.
P.P.S I really hope people don't spam AtO's review section with questions/demands of updates...should probably put something on my profile page there tomorrow.
P.P.P.S. X-mas is coming. Yay! Must listen to some more Trans-Siberian Orchestra. That might help me write. Now that I think of it, I do have an itch to write a BleachXNaruto one-shot. Must resist the urge until I finish with ch11.
13 November 2010
NaNoWriMo update!
So it's been almost two weeks in to the NaNoWriMo and can I just say... woah! Intense and definitely painful for my fingers.
How have I been doing so far?
When I first started out, I kept in like with the daily wordcount- sometimes even writing a lot more. I suppose that made me a bit too overconfident and lax. Because I thought I could skip a day. Read a new manga as a sort of relaxation... yes, my resolve is that weak and my need to procrastinate is that great.
Needless to say I got a wee bit too interested in the manga, and ended up losing another day. So no writing in two days. My wordcount suffered.
And then my friends looked at me and said, "Weakling! Go Die!"
Ok, they didn't really say that (out loud, at least.). But they blatantly started mocking me with their impressive on schedule wordcounts. Which led me to do something rather Naruto-ish... I decided to write three days worth of words in one day- all to catch up.
And ...ouch! Are fingers even allowed to hurt like that? Maybe my fingers are just too weak? Weak un-writer-ly fingers... that suddenly seems to make a lot of sense. Why exactly does that make sense to me, right now?
I haven't even had the time to look through/edit AtO's chapter 11. But oddly enough I've had so many ideas for the story- it's hard to keep track of all of them.
But maybe all those new ideas were because of the recent chapters from the Naruto manga. Seriously, Kishimoto is making my brain hurt. I suppose that's a good thing, right? (Err if you do discuss anything from recent chapters here, mark it as a spoiler for other readers, just in case.)
Polar
P.S.- I have also realized I have no talent for coming up with names for characters. My main villain in the NaNoWriMo writing is a blank space.
P.P.S- Also the manga that distracted me from writing diligently was Eyeshield21...odd that I liked it considering it's about American Football but I guess procrastination made it interesting.
P.P.P.S- Err, I really apologize if this post seems a bit off/wonky- my brain does feel rather mush-like at the moment.
How have I been doing so far?
When I first started out, I kept in like with the daily wordcount- sometimes even writing a lot more. I suppose that made me a bit too overconfident and lax. Because I thought I could skip a day. Read a new manga as a sort of relaxation... yes, my resolve is that weak and my need to procrastinate is that great.
Needless to say I got a wee bit too interested in the manga, and ended up losing another day. So no writing in two days. My wordcount suffered.
And then my friends looked at me and said, "Weakling! Go Die!"
Ok, they didn't really say that (out loud, at least.). But they blatantly started mocking me with their impressive on schedule wordcounts. Which led me to do something rather Naruto-ish... I decided to write three days worth of words in one day- all to catch up.
And ...ouch! Are fingers even allowed to hurt like that? Maybe my fingers are just too weak? Weak un-writer-ly fingers... that suddenly seems to make a lot of sense. Why exactly does that make sense to me, right now?
I haven't even had the time to look through/edit AtO's chapter 11. But oddly enough I've had so many ideas for the story- it's hard to keep track of all of them.
But maybe all those new ideas were because of the recent chapters from the Naruto manga. Seriously, Kishimoto is making my brain hurt. I suppose that's a good thing, right? (Err if you do discuss anything from recent chapters here, mark it as a spoiler for other readers, just in case.)
Polar
P.S.- I have also realized I have no talent for coming up with names for characters. My main villain in the NaNoWriMo writing is a blank space.
P.P.S- Also the manga that distracted me from writing diligently was Eyeshield21...odd that I liked it considering it's about American Football but I guess procrastination made it interesting.
P.P.P.S- Err, I really apologize if this post seems a bit off/wonky- my brain does feel rather mush-like at the moment.
31 October 2010
Halloween
First of all, hope you guys have an awesome Halloween. Even if you don't really celebrate the day, I think it's an awesome excuse to eat some candy guilt-free.
Anyway, as you may have noticed- I didn't put up chapter 11- it's not as complete as I'd like and some parts feel like they need to get re-done. I had hoped to get it out as a sort of Halloween treat. Psh, looks like it'll become some sort of X-mas gift instead.
Interesting Things I've Found
1- Road to Morning Series by FaithUnbreakable [SupernaturalXBuffy Fanfic]
Read this! If you're a fan of both shows then you'll love this awesome blend. It's got action and good characterization and the plot in truly believable.
2- Breaking the Fall Series by jezaeiri [BuffyXBleach Fanfic]
This did take me by surprise. I wasn't expecting to like it and a part of me was expecting something similar to Vathara's X-over. But this is surprisingly good in the way that Buffy finds her place in the Bleach universe. Not too shabby.
Polar
P.S. Short post? Well I just wanted to make things/ch11 status clear. Also wanted to do it before I dived in to all the Halloween candy. Plus NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow... I wonder how that'll turn out.
Anyway, as you may have noticed- I didn't put up chapter 11- it's not as complete as I'd like and some parts feel like they need to get re-done. I had hoped to get it out as a sort of Halloween treat. Psh, looks like it'll become some sort of X-mas gift instead.
Interesting Things I've Found
1- Road to Morning Series by FaithUnbreakable [SupernaturalXBuffy Fanfic]
Read this! If you're a fan of both shows then you'll love this awesome blend. It's got action and good characterization and the plot in truly believable.
2- Breaking the Fall Series by jezaeiri [BuffyXBleach Fanfic]
This did take me by surprise. I wasn't expecting to like it and a part of me was expecting something similar to Vathara's X-over. But this is surprisingly good in the way that Buffy finds her place in the Bleach universe. Not too shabby.
Polar
P.S. Short post? Well I just wanted to make things/ch11 status clear. Also wanted to do it before I dived in to all the Halloween candy. Plus NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow... I wonder how that'll turn out.
24 October 2010
Drabbles- Writing Exercise
This is basically an attempt to try writing different things and convey a scene in a few words and within a short amount of time (i.e. few minutes only).
Some of it may be nonsensical but the whole point is to challenge yourself to think on the spot and write.
Warnings: Not edited. Doesn't really take place in AtO's established time-line so far.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1- Harry's attempt to branch out into other businesses.
“Oh Harii-san, this is the BEST FOOD I’VE TASTED” Lee shouted as he finished the food in the bowl within a matter of seconds.
Harry groaned and rubbed his forehead. How had this happened?
“See I told you Nii-san’s a pro at this. Isn't this just the most awesome stuff you've tasted.”
Ah Right! Naruto had gone advertising for someone to test out my cooking.
“YOSH! WE MUST GET THE OTHERS TO TRY THIS YOUTHFUL DELICACY.”
What? More cooking? No! Hedwig gave Harry a sympathetic look before leaving through the window.
Traitor.
2- Harry's attempt to get Itachi to talk
Harry pursed his lips in annoyance. “Is that some sort of Uchiha ninja trait?”
Itachi turned to him with a confused expression.
“To be annoying?” Harry said with an amused smirk.
Itachi glanced at him incredulously then turned away once more. Hedwig left Harry’s shoulder and settled on Itachi’s shoulder after giving Harry a long reproachful look.
“My own owl is siding with you.” Harry shifted dismally.
3- Danzo attempts to talk with Harry over tea/ Harry irritates Danzo
“Are you trying to poison me?” Harry said as he looked at the tea swirling around in the cup.
Danzo gave him an irritated look.
“What? I’m not a ninja! I’m allowed to be unsubtle.”
“I didn’t.” Danzo lifted his own cup, took a sip and shot the boy a pointed look.
“Pft, like I’d believe that.”
“Fine I did.”
“Sarcasm doesn’t suit you. You’re too old and evil looking to pull it off.”
Danzo sighed.
4- Harry attempts to fend off a suitor
"Look Ryuuken-san, I already told you I'm not interested. Didn't you get the letter?" Harry turned away from the man in irritation.
"But your owl would create a new breed of owl for this village. I'm willing to pay you..."
Harry turned back to man and glared at him.
"How dare you! She's not some object that you can just buy and then discard when you don't want. She's worth way more than that and she deserves a lot more respect." Harry winced as he realized that everyone in the area around him had gone silent. I guess I was a bit too loud.
Suddenly someone clapped. And then everyone was clapping and patting Harry on the back and telling him he was a good kid.
One lady came forward and glared at Ryuuken. "How dare you think of treating some lady like garbage?"
Wait. what? Harry gaped as the woman started talking about women being the backbone of society and needing more respect. I should probably leave before they realize the real situation.
5- Kotetsu attempts to get some money/ Harry meets some more ninja
Harry took the pouch of money from Izumo and placed it on his table absently.
"You're not going to count it?" Izumo said as he went through the box of fixed items.
Harry just shrugged. "Should I?"
"You're way too trustful!"
"I suppose." Harry yawned, opened his fridge and pulled out some food.
Kotetsu clapped his hands suddenly. "You know what would be a great idea to get some more business?"
Harry and Izumo both stared at the grinning man.
"You should come to one of our poker games."
Izumo groaned but Harry looked interested.
Some unknown place in Konoha, late night.
"I can't believe he won again." Genma threw his cards down in disgust.
"At least Kotetsu isn't winning this time!" Izumo said as Harry pulled his winnings closer to him.
"But this seems worse." Aoba straightened his dark tinted goggles tiredly. "His luck is rather monstrous."
Raido took a sip from the bottle next to him and patted Kotetsu's back consolingly. "Now you know what it's like to be on the other side."
Kotetsu just whimpered.
I'm glad I can remember all their names. Harry looked around the table and grinned. "So who wants to play another round."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well I think five drabbles in a row is not bad. My attempts at creating humorous scenes. I do have the insane urge to read over them and add more to each. But then it wouldn't really be drabbles, would it?
Polar
Some of it may be nonsensical but the whole point is to challenge yourself to think on the spot and write.
Warnings: Not edited. Doesn't really take place in AtO's established time-line so far.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1- Harry's attempt to branch out into other businesses.
“Oh Harii-san, this is the BEST FOOD I’VE TASTED” Lee shouted as he finished the food in the bowl within a matter of seconds.
Harry groaned and rubbed his forehead. How had this happened?
“See I told you Nii-san’s a pro at this. Isn't this just the most awesome stuff you've tasted.”
Ah Right! Naruto had gone advertising for someone to test out my cooking.
“YOSH! WE MUST GET THE OTHERS TO TRY THIS YOUTHFUL DELICACY.”
What? More cooking? No! Hedwig gave Harry a sympathetic look before leaving through the window.
Traitor.
2- Harry's attempt to get Itachi to talk
Harry pursed his lips in annoyance. “Is that some sort of Uchiha ninja trait?”
Itachi turned to him with a confused expression.
“To be annoying?” Harry said with an amused smirk.
Itachi glanced at him incredulously then turned away once more. Hedwig left Harry’s shoulder and settled on Itachi’s shoulder after giving Harry a long reproachful look.
“My own owl is siding with you.” Harry shifted dismally.
3- Danzo attempts to talk with Harry over tea/ Harry irritates Danzo
“Are you trying to poison me?” Harry said as he looked at the tea swirling around in the cup.
Danzo gave him an irritated look.
“What? I’m not a ninja! I’m allowed to be unsubtle.”
“I didn’t.” Danzo lifted his own cup, took a sip and shot the boy a pointed look.
“Pft, like I’d believe that.”
“Fine I did.”
“Sarcasm doesn’t suit you. You’re too old and evil looking to pull it off.”
Danzo sighed.
4- Harry attempts to fend off a suitor
"Look Ryuuken-san, I already told you I'm not interested. Didn't you get the letter?" Harry turned away from the man in irritation.
"But your owl would create a new breed of owl for this village. I'm willing to pay you..."
Harry turned back to man and glared at him.
"How dare you! She's not some object that you can just buy and then discard when you don't want. She's worth way more than that and she deserves a lot more respect." Harry winced as he realized that everyone in the area around him had gone silent. I guess I was a bit too loud.
Suddenly someone clapped. And then everyone was clapping and patting Harry on the back and telling him he was a good kid.
One lady came forward and glared at Ryuuken. "How dare you think of treating some lady like garbage?"
Wait. what? Harry gaped as the woman started talking about women being the backbone of society and needing more respect. I should probably leave before they realize the real situation.
5- Kotetsu attempts to get some money/ Harry meets some more ninja
Harry took the pouch of money from Izumo and placed it on his table absently.
"You're not going to count it?" Izumo said as he went through the box of fixed items.
Harry just shrugged. "Should I?"
"You're way too trustful!"
"I suppose." Harry yawned, opened his fridge and pulled out some food.
Kotetsu clapped his hands suddenly. "You know what would be a great idea to get some more business?"
Harry and Izumo both stared at the grinning man.
"You should come to one of our poker games."
Izumo groaned but Harry looked interested.
Some unknown place in Konoha, late night.
"I can't believe he won again." Genma threw his cards down in disgust.
"At least Kotetsu isn't winning this time!" Izumo said as Harry pulled his winnings closer to him.
"But this seems worse." Aoba straightened his dark tinted goggles tiredly. "His luck is rather monstrous."
Raido took a sip from the bottle next to him and patted Kotetsu's back consolingly. "Now you know what it's like to be on the other side."
Kotetsu just whimpered.
I'm glad I can remember all their names. Harry looked around the table and grinned. "So who wants to play another round."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well I think five drabbles in a row is not bad. My attempts at creating humorous scenes. I do have the insane urge to read over them and add more to each. But then it wouldn't really be drabbles, would it?
Polar
Deleted Scene Episode 2
Warning: Not really edited- expect errors.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Your smile's creepy!"
You’re the only one who’d say that to my face. Other than Inoichi. Shikaku chuckled and jumped up on to one of the rooftops beside him. He bent down from his position on the roof and stared at the black haired boy in amusement.
Harii looked up at him with a smile and said, "Thanks Nara-san!"
Shikaku waved it off and said, "Go get ready to meet your relative." I almost wish I could watch it. Even if it’s bound to be sappy and loud. He moved out of sight and landed on a roof far away from the boy. Why is he staring at the roof like that with that ridiculous smile on his face? No sense of self preservation at all.
Shikaku watched intently as Harii closed his eyes in concentration and then relax with a visible sense of relief. Did he… no, I didn’t sense any chakra from him. He wasn’t doing any sensing. Otherwise he’d have noticed me here. Unless he was looking for Racoon? Ugh…it’s not even a week since I’ve known him and I’m already got tons of questions about him.
Shikaku stayed in place and watched Harii until he went in to his apartment and closed the door behind him. He gave the apartment one long look before turning away. No point waiting here. It’d just look suspicious if there were any other followers for him. They’d think I was on to them.
He jumped from one roof to another and took the longer route to the Administration Building. Not like the Hokage told me to hurry or anything. He smirked. Best to take the opportunity presented to me.
Even with his slow pace, he reached the building in minutes. With a sigh, he climbed up the side of the building and landed on the roof just in front of an open window. He gave a slight nod in the direction he knew an ANBU guard was stationed and jumped in to the office.
He blinked warily at the silent stares that greeted him. They couldn’t have been waiting that long.
“Did you get lost on the way back?” Inoichi grinned and went through a sequence of seals. The room hissed with a brief flare of chakra.
“Just checking the area.” Shikaku shrugged absently.
Everyone in the room tensed and the Hokage shot him a questioning look. He nodded at her and her posture relaxed as she rubbed her forehead. “Good. He’s laying low for now.”
Not for long. Especially not with Danzo. Shikaku wanted to say. But he didn’t think he needed to tell the Hokage that. She knows Danzo will do something later.
“All right, let’s get down to business!” The Hokage turned to Ibiki and said, “What did you gather from him?”
Ibiki closed his eyes and tilted his head to the side. “His reactions were definitely honest. Not rehearsed in any way. His eyes were too honest so no ninja training what-so-ever.”
Hiashi, his eyes back to normal, nodded beside Ibiki. “His chakra responded accordingly. There wasn’t any deception.”
“Anything else, Ibiki?”
“Just speculation.” Ibiki hesitated. “He didn’t seem horrified by my scars.”
Shikaku frowned as Tsunade narrowed her eyes. “Survived some form of torture?”
Ibiki shook his head. “Hard to say considering he only saw a few scars. He must be used to them. Even Shikaku has them.”
Shikaku frowned when everyone turned to him. “He didn’t react to my scars. Didn’t stare… but then again he does have a scar on his forehead.”
Tsunade gave him an appraising look.
“I played shogi with him.” Shikaku sighed in resignation as everyone’s look became very focused.
“Oh?” Tsunade leaned forward. “I thought he just fixed one of your boards.”
Shikaku shrugged. “I asked him to play a game.”
“You asked him?” Inoichi asked.
I just wanted to pass the time. But they won’t see it that way. Shikaku scratched his elbow absently. How was I supposed to know he was…
“And?” Inoichi prodded him.
“Yoshino made him stay for dinner. He’s very polite, sometimes a bit extreme and even though he’s skinny he has a deep appreciation for food.” Shikaku glanced at Tsunade who nodded. Of course she’d notice. Typical behaviour for orphans who were starved at some point. “And there was his owl.”
“His owl?”
Shikaku nodded his head in amusement. “She’s not a like our messenger owls. She’s unique. You have to see her to understand.”
“Nin- animal?”
“In a way,” Shikaku said, “she’s smart. Definitely human like intelligence even if she doesn’t speak.”
“Are you sure she doesn’t speak?” Tsunade asked.
“She’s bossy enough without the ability.” Noticing the other’s questioning looks he added, “Shikamaru annoyed her. The scratches haven’t healed yet.” Shikaku rolled his eyes as everyone in the room failed to hide their humour.
Hiashi cleared his throat. “What about the bandages on his hands?”
Shikaku shook his head. “He carried the fixed shogi board all the way from the 8th district to my house. I figured those bandages were some sort of protection for his fingers. Why?”
“From what I could see of his left hand, it looked like there wasn’t any chakra circulating in his palms.”
“What? Why didn’t you say that sooner?”
“Impossible!”
“What about his right arm?”
Shikaku winced at the three voices speaking simultaneously and even Hiashi looked irritated. But he took a deep breath and explained. “His chakra is civilian level so I didn’t think it was possible for him to have a block. And since he didn’t seem to be in any pain when he moved them, I figured it didn’t really matter.” Shikaku frowned at the man and Tsunade glared at him. “His right arm, from the wrist to the elbow was hard to concentrate on but I did notice that the right palm lacked any chakra flow.”
Hard to concentrate on… “Some kind of seal on the arm bracer?” Shikaku wondered out loud and turned to the Hokage who was glaring at the table. “Hokage-sama?”
“Even if he is a civilian, disruption in chakra circulation causes a lot of pain. For him to not feel that…” Tsunade frowned and looked at Inoichi. “He didn’t show any signs of being drugged, did he?”
Inoichi shook his head. “And with my cursory inspection, no signs of being brain washed.”
Shikaku glanced at Inoichi. So Tsunade didn't order him to go in to Harii's head. I guess she's already getting a soft spot for him.
“And there was his reaction to Danzo.” Tsunade signed, opened one of her drawers and pulled out a bottle.
Shikaku snorted. Reaction? More like blatant baiting. “At least Naruto doesn’t know much about Danzo.”
Tsunade groaned.
X-X-X-X-X
Shikaku paused as Inoichi tapped him on the shoulder, “The last person you called an idiot worth playing shogi with was Minato”
Shikaku looked up at the dark sky and took a deep breath revelling in the smell of grass, smoke and a touch of rain. “So?”
“When I can meet him?”
“He’s not fond of people our age”
“But he’s fine with you?”
“When have I ever acted my age?”
Inoichi snorted. “Honestly, what do you think of him?”
“I think his heart is too soft. And it’ll kill him.”
Inoichi coughed and stared at him. “You feel responsible for his well being?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Shikaku turned away with a huff.
“You want to keep him safe for Naruto? I don’t get it…why would you, of all people, want…unless he’s more like Minato then you’re telling me. Shikaku! Did he use some sort of sacrificial move in your game?”
Shikaku sighed. “He tried to save all of them. Even the pawns…like an idiot.”
“It’s just a game.” Inoichi tried to console him. “He’s a civilian. Surely there’s no way he’d ever come into such a position.”
Shikaku grimaced. “He’s an Uzumaki. I don’t think they can stay in the shadows even if they wanted to.” And what happens when he learns about Naruto?
“What would another game accomplish?”
“He can learn.” Learn how not to be an idiot. Learn to stay alive for Naruto.
“Minato never did.”
“And look what happened to Naruto.”
Inoichi frowned. “He turned out all right.”
“Are you kidding? Tell me you’re not that blind.” Shikaku said.
“He turned out all right for an orphan.”
“Don’t be stupid, Inoichi.”
“Well what do you want me to say? That I feel guilty for not taking the time to check up on him? We’re ninja, Shikaku. It doesn’t matter.”
“We swore loyalty to Minato. It should have mattered.”
“There’s something else, isn’t there? What aren’t you telling me?” Inoichi looked at him.
“It’s nothing.” Shikaku shook his head. “Listen I better get home before Yoshino gets cranky.”
“Fine.” Inoichi sighed and looked away. “But you owe me an explanation when you finally understand things.”
Shikaku nodded and turned away. If I ever understand things.
I thought I already put this up last week and I checked my blog today and noticed it wasn’t there. I’m so muddle-headed.
Was supposed to be a humorous thing. But somehow ended up like this. This was created after combining bits and pieces of my writing that was scattered around. So it might seem a bit choppy. I know I had some more bits, but I can’t seem to find them.
Polar
24 September 2010
Stories and stuff
Have you ever wished for certain fanfiction stories?
As a crossover junkie, there are times when I want to read a really odd crossover- like maybe a Buffy and Assassin's creed with some connection of the slayer line to... err, well you get the picture. So what do you do when you want a story?
Do you ask someone to write it by making it a challenge? Do you try to write bits and pieces of it yourself?
Or do you just wait for someone to come up with the idea on their own?
Or do you forget about it and read something else- thus finding some awesome stories?
And then if you do find stories that you sort of wanted to read about- don't you feel all giddy? I've sat up into the early hours of the morning reading those stories. I suppose that accounts for my zombie-like appearance some days. (and my slowpoke writing with my own stories now)
Then there's the guilty pleasure reads- stuff that you know is horrible but you can't stop yourself from reading it for the disbelieving laughs. That's usually stuff like making the main male character female and turning the fandom into some soap opera sort of drama with unplanned pregnancies, money conspiracies and other weird stuff. Have you ever willingly read that kind of stuff? Don't give me that look...I used to do it when I had loads of free time. Now not so much.
Anyway in terms of my writing AtO's ch11 has 1000+ words of tidbits typed out. I seemed to have gotten distracted by all the recent manga chapters from Naruto and Bleach. That and I've been getting the urge to write complicated one-shot crossovers for Bleach again.
Things I've come across
1-Hermione, Hell, and Horcruxes by potthead [Fanfic: HPXSupernatural One-shot]
A rather humorous one-shot that'll definitely get a smile out of you by the end. It's an interesting idea that might seem a bit odd but I think it works well as a one-shot. No romance or anything and it follows the HP epilogue ...just give it a read.
2-Life's Ending, Life's Beginning by becusitswrong [Fanfic: BuffyX Stargate SG1]
I wonder if anyone reads this fandom, but if you do, then you'll definitely like this fic. It's long and detailed and obviously very AU. Very slow but the details really help you understand the characters a lot (mostly Buffy). I'm a huge Buffy fan and this story really hit my cravings for having a smart kick-ass Buffy. Sometimes it's a bit sappy, but on the whole it works. My only warning would be the first chapter- which is sad and might be a bit graphic. Then again this is rated for 18+
3- [Possible Spoiler] Uzumaki Mito by Google123 [Fanart: Naruto series]
Ok, very spoiler-ish if you aren't keeping up with the manga. I won't ruin it for people who don't know who it is. So if you don't recognize the name don't click on the picture.
I like this picture because it really brings the character to life and she looks badass. Ohh be sure to have a look at the artist's gallery- there are some other nice Naruto pics in there- all rather spoiler-ish, so be warned.
Polar
P.S- I feel the urge to read a Naruto time-travel fic with Konan as the lead character.
P.P.S.- Will try to clean up and post another omake in a while. When the various plot bunnies hooping around decide to stop attacking me.
As a crossover junkie, there are times when I want to read a really odd crossover- like maybe a Buffy and Assassin's creed with some connection of the slayer line to... err, well you get the picture. So what do you do when you want a story?
Do you ask someone to write it by making it a challenge? Do you try to write bits and pieces of it yourself?
Or do you just wait for someone to come up with the idea on their own?
Or do you forget about it and read something else- thus finding some awesome stories?
And then if you do find stories that you sort of wanted to read about- don't you feel all giddy? I've sat up into the early hours of the morning reading those stories. I suppose that accounts for my zombie-like appearance some days. (and my slowpoke writing with my own stories now)
Then there's the guilty pleasure reads- stuff that you know is horrible but you can't stop yourself from reading it for the disbelieving laughs. That's usually stuff like making the main male character female and turning the fandom into some soap opera sort of drama with unplanned pregnancies, money conspiracies and other weird stuff. Have you ever willingly read that kind of stuff? Don't give me that look...I used to do it when I had loads of free time. Now not so much.
Anyway in terms of my writing AtO's ch11 has 1000+ words of tidbits typed out. I seemed to have gotten distracted by all the recent manga chapters from Naruto and Bleach. That and I've been getting the urge to write complicated one-shot crossovers for Bleach again.
Things I've come across
1-Hermione, Hell, and Horcruxes by potthead [Fanfic: HPXSupernatural One-shot]
A rather humorous one-shot that'll definitely get a smile out of you by the end. It's an interesting idea that might seem a bit odd but I think it works well as a one-shot. No romance or anything and it follows the HP epilogue ...just give it a read.
2-Life's Ending, Life's Beginning by becusitswrong [Fanfic: BuffyX Stargate SG1]
I wonder if anyone reads this fandom, but if you do, then you'll definitely like this fic. It's long and detailed and obviously very AU. Very slow but the details really help you understand the characters a lot (mostly Buffy). I'm a huge Buffy fan and this story really hit my cravings for having a smart kick-ass Buffy. Sometimes it's a bit sappy, but on the whole it works. My only warning would be the first chapter- which is sad and might be a bit graphic. Then again this is rated for 18+
3- [Possible Spoiler] Uzumaki Mito by Google123 [Fanart: Naruto series]
Ok, very spoiler-ish if you aren't keeping up with the manga. I won't ruin it for people who don't know who it is. So if you don't recognize the name don't click on the picture.
I like this picture because it really brings the character to life and she looks badass. Ohh be sure to have a look at the artist's gallery- there are some other nice Naruto pics in there- all rather spoiler-ish, so be warned.
Polar
P.S- I feel the urge to read a Naruto time-travel fic with Konan as the lead character.
P.P.S.- Will try to clean up and post another omake in a while. When the various plot bunnies hooping around decide to stop attacking me.
12 September 2010
One year for AtO online
Do people actually mark yearly anniversaries for their multi-chaptered fanfiction?
If not then this post is probably weird. But I'd like to take the time to actually do this. It has been a year and even though I haven't been the most consistent of updaters, I think I'm managed to get a good amount of writing done in a year. (especially if you count the tidbits scattered on my computer and various pieces of paper.)
So as a bit of a celebration, I'm going to put up one of the many deleted scenes that never made it into the first 10 chapters of the story. I've experimented and changed the PoV for fun.
Warning: ...it's a bit of a long post. And not very edited.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deleted scene/Omake Episode 1
Gate duty is always so boring. Izumo sighed wearily and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He glanced to the side and poked Kotetsu in the ribs persistently. "Is it time for us to leave yet?"
Kotetsu groaned and moved away from him to the other end of their wooden stall.
"You think Harii has any food with him?" Izumo fanned himself with some of the gate entry forms.
Kotetsu turned to him and rolled his eyes. "Of course he does. His fridge always has something in it. And you keep taking food there too."
Izumo scoffed. "Who keeps taking the dango there?"
"There's nothing wrong with taking sweets. Tons of take out though..."
"He's too skinny." Izumo said and adjusted his bandana to get his hair away from his face.
Kotetu sighed. "He's not Hiroshi."
Izumo stilled. "I never said he was."
"What happened to Hiroshi wasn't..." Kotetsu hesitated and turned away to look at the Hokage mountain in the distance.
"It was the poison. I know." Izumo shoved the forms back in their boxes, reached in to his pocket and grabbed a hold of the paper fan stored there. "Maybe we were just that stupid. I mean we should have known. How could anyone lose that much weight in so little time?"
"No one could have known." Kotetsu said after a long silence.
"We should have... we were his team-mates." Then this stupid fan wouldn't be the only thing left of him.
"Yeah, but..." Kotetsu paused as a group of people passed thorough the gate and headed towards their tiny wooden stall with papers in hand. He straightened in his chair and leaned forward. "Welcome to Konoha! Entry forms and identification papers please..."
Izumo shoved back his memories and smiled at the group as he scanned over their papers.
"We should take him out. So that he doesn't have to clean up after us."
"We're not that messy" Kotetsu turned and smirked at him. "At least I'm not."
Izumo leaned to his side a little and elbowed Kotetsu. "Idiot, you're the messy one."
"As if! Who's the one who spilled juice all over his table..."
"You're the one who pushed my glass." Izumo shoved past Kotetsu and raced up the stairs to the top of the apartment building. He reached the top and turned back to Kotetsu. "Slow-poke."
"You cheater!"
Before Izumo could retort, the apartment door beside them was wrenched open. "Did you two have anything to do with this? If this is some kind of joke..." Harii waved his hands wildly.
"Why would we play a joke on you?" Izumo frowned and moved forward.
Harii blinked at him in confusion then moved aside with a slightly embarrassed look to let them in the apartment. "No reason."
His eyes just then... they were wistful. I remind him of someone? No, Kotetsu and me remind him...Izumo sputtered as he caught sight of an elaborately decorated paper clutched in Harii's hands. "A marriage proposal?"
Kotetsu gasped, ran forward and patted Harii's shoulders enthusiastically."Congrats! You lucky..."
"It's not for me, idiot."
Izumo shared a surprised look with Kotetsu."Naruto?"
"I almost wish it was." Harii sighed. "I got this letter from Ryuuken Izara."
Izumo tapped his chin in thought. Ryuuken, that name sounded... He gaped and looked at the snowy white owl perched on the couch, head tucked beneath a wing and obviously taking a nap.
Harii nodded at him. "Yeah. How exactly do I reply to such an odd request?"
"I'm confused." Kotetsu said.
"Kotetsu, you know him. Remember I told you about that creepy guy who breeds the messenger birds."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
Izumo smacked his forehead. All that sugar must be rotting his brain. Harii snickered. Although I suppose he does have his uses.
Harii pushed the decorative letter in to his hands and sat at the couch. "Go on, read it."
Kotetsu moved closer and looked over his shoulder as he read the letter.
Kotetsu choked. Izumo tried not to laugh too much as he read the rest of it.
"Here's the file on the other owl. It has pictures and information I can't even begin to understand." Harii pointed to the items on the small circular table of the living room and pushed himself deeper in to his dull brown sofa. "I almost feel insulted. He didn't even bother to find out my name."
"What are you going to do?" Kotetsu asked.
"She's not some dumb animal who's going to be forced to make superior owls or something. I refuse to do that to her. If she decides to settle down then that's her choice. She'll choose who she wants."
"Err, Harii, you do know she's an owl, right?"
"Yes and?"
"Nothing."
I knew he was different. Here he is acting as though the owl is family. Izumo smothered a laugh at Harii's defiant expression. "But aren't you at least going to see if she's interested?"
"But she's so young." Harii stared at the table thoughtfully.
"I thought you wanted to give her a choice." Izumo folded the letter slowly, shoved it in Kotetsu's hands and moved to the kitchen to grab a glass of juice.
"I did. but did you see the picture of the other owl? It looks stupid."
'It'? Not 'he'? Izumo came back to the living room and found Kotetsu nodding every time Harri pointed out a 'stupid' feature in the photograph.
Kotetsu gave him an amused look and turned to Harry. "So you don't approve?"
Harii held the photograph up to Izumo. "You think it looks stupid too, right?"
Izumo sipped his juice. "Why are you asking me?"
"You're the one who worked at the messenger tower. Obviously you'll be able to tell..."
He remembered. I just mentioned it once and he remembered. Izumo tried not to gape.
"...so what do you think?" Harii finished with an expectant look.
Kotetsu rolled his eyes. "Izumo's hardly an expert, Harii."
Izumo ignored Kotetsu and examined the owl in the photo. He then looked up at the snowy white owl napping beside Harry. "He does seem a bit... dull in comparison to her."
"Exactly! She deserves an owl that's way better than that. It's feather's are so boring and... Can you guys help me with the replying part?"
"No problem." Kotetsu said. "Although this does make me feel like an uncle."
"Uncle?" Harri frowned.
Kotetsu nodded. "You totally sounded like a dad. So that makes us the uncles. Especially since we'll be replying on your behalf..."
"A dad?"
Izumo smiled at Harii's scandalized look and touched the fan in his pocket. "Now that that's settled, let's get some food." He rolled his eyes as Harii opened his mouth. "No dango!"
Kotetsu patted Harri's shoulder consolingly. "Don't worry, there's loads of other sweets out there. Maybe we can even sneak some..."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Interesting things I've come across
1- Damned Demented Demons by Hells_half_acre (Harry PotterXSupernatural)
This fanfiction takes place after HP's epilogue and manages to blend the two fandoms quite nicely and uniquely. It has a lot of pluses. First of all, the plot doesn't center around awkward yaoi romance. It has a good amount of action and I like the characterization of everyone in there. Also it's a nice length with sequels.
2- A discussion on speech verbs at FFNet's Writers Anonymous forums
Just thought you'd like to have a look at this discussion. It deals with the over-usage/non-usage of 'said' in writing. It also talks about 'bookisms' and how most people depend on that too much making their dialogue weak. (FYI- bookisms are stuff like - he hissed, he chuckled, etc- that are used as tags instead of said.)
It definitely makes you think about your own writing. Looks like loads of future editing for me, either way.
3- Water by Jennifer (Buffy X LoTR)
This isn't really a new find. It's more of a re-find. I remember reading it ages ago and loving it. But I forgot to fav/bookmark it.
It's unique in the narration and wonderfully creative in plot. It's a good read specially the second story "Ebb". Timeline is somewhere after the Hobbit and before the Lord of the Rings. But I do have to warn you that it hasn't been updated for while.
Actually a lot of the other one-shots by this author are wonderful reads- unique and makes you want more.
That's all for now,
Polar
P.S. I haven't been able to reply to any reviews yet. I hope you guys don't mind the delay with that.
If not then this post is probably weird. But I'd like to take the time to actually do this. It has been a year and even though I haven't been the most consistent of updaters, I think I'm managed to get a good amount of writing done in a year. (especially if you count the tidbits scattered on my computer and various pieces of paper.)
So as a bit of a celebration, I'm going to put up one of the many deleted scenes that never made it into the first 10 chapters of the story. I've experimented and changed the PoV for fun.
Warning: ...it's a bit of a long post. And not very edited.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deleted scene/Omake Episode 1
Gate duty is always so boring. Izumo sighed wearily and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He glanced to the side and poked Kotetsu in the ribs persistently. "Is it time for us to leave yet?"
Kotetsu groaned and moved away from him to the other end of their wooden stall.
"You think Harii has any food with him?" Izumo fanned himself with some of the gate entry forms.
Kotetsu turned to him and rolled his eyes. "Of course he does. His fridge always has something in it. And you keep taking food there too."
Izumo scoffed. "Who keeps taking the dango there?"
"There's nothing wrong with taking sweets. Tons of take out though..."
"He's too skinny." Izumo said and adjusted his bandana to get his hair away from his face.
Kotetu sighed. "He's not Hiroshi."
Izumo stilled. "I never said he was."
"What happened to Hiroshi wasn't..." Kotetsu hesitated and turned away to look at the Hokage mountain in the distance.
"It was the poison. I know." Izumo shoved the forms back in their boxes, reached in to his pocket and grabbed a hold of the paper fan stored there. "Maybe we were just that stupid. I mean we should have known. How could anyone lose that much weight in so little time?"
"No one could have known." Kotetsu said after a long silence.
"We should have... we were his team-mates." Then this stupid fan wouldn't be the only thing left of him.
"Yeah, but..." Kotetsu paused as a group of people passed thorough the gate and headed towards their tiny wooden stall with papers in hand. He straightened in his chair and leaned forward. "Welcome to Konoha! Entry forms and identification papers please..."
Izumo shoved back his memories and smiled at the group as he scanned over their papers.
X-X-X-X-X
"How come we're not taking any food for him?" Kotetsu said as he fiddled with his chunnin vest."We should take him out. So that he doesn't have to clean up after us."
"We're not that messy" Kotetsu turned and smirked at him. "At least I'm not."
Izumo leaned to his side a little and elbowed Kotetsu. "Idiot, you're the messy one."
"As if! Who's the one who spilled juice all over his table..."
"You're the one who pushed my glass." Izumo shoved past Kotetsu and raced up the stairs to the top of the apartment building. He reached the top and turned back to Kotetsu. "Slow-poke."
"You cheater!"
Before Izumo could retort, the apartment door beside them was wrenched open. "Did you two have anything to do with this? If this is some kind of joke..." Harii waved his hands wildly.
"Why would we play a joke on you?" Izumo frowned and moved forward.
Harii blinked at him in confusion then moved aside with a slightly embarrassed look to let them in the apartment. "No reason."
His eyes just then... they were wistful. I remind him of someone? No, Kotetsu and me remind him...Izumo sputtered as he caught sight of an elaborately decorated paper clutched in Harii's hands. "A marriage proposal?"
Kotetsu gasped, ran forward and patted Harii's shoulders enthusiastically."Congrats! You lucky..."
"It's not for me, idiot."
Izumo shared a surprised look with Kotetsu."Naruto?"
"I almost wish it was." Harii sighed. "I got this letter from Ryuuken Izara."
Izumo tapped his chin in thought. Ryuuken, that name sounded... He gaped and looked at the snowy white owl perched on the couch, head tucked beneath a wing and obviously taking a nap.
Harii nodded at him. "Yeah. How exactly do I reply to such an odd request?"
"I'm confused." Kotetsu said.
"Kotetsu, you know him. Remember I told you about that creepy guy who breeds the messenger birds."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
Izumo smacked his forehead. All that sugar must be rotting his brain. Harii snickered. Although I suppose he does have his uses.
Harii pushed the decorative letter in to his hands and sat at the couch. "Go on, read it."
Kotetsu moved closer and looked over his shoulder as he read the letter.
Sir,
I've never seen an owl from the mountains with such luminous feathers or such an impressive body size. I've even heard rumors of her increased intelligence. Surely her bloodline must be strong and unique.
I would like to make a formal request to have one of my own owls breed with her. He's from a long line of intelligent night messengers.
I'm sure their offspring will undoubtedly be of the most superior ...
I've never seen an owl from the mountains with such luminous feathers or such an impressive body size. I've even heard rumors of her increased intelligence. Surely her bloodline must be strong and unique.
I would like to make a formal request to have one of my own owls breed with her. He's from a long line of intelligent night messengers.
I'm sure their offspring will undoubtedly be of the most superior ...
Kotetsu choked. Izumo tried not to laugh too much as he read the rest of it.
"Here's the file on the other owl. It has pictures and information I can't even begin to understand." Harii pointed to the items on the small circular table of the living room and pushed himself deeper in to his dull brown sofa. "I almost feel insulted. He didn't even bother to find out my name."
"What are you going to do?" Kotetsu asked.
"She's not some dumb animal who's going to be forced to make superior owls or something. I refuse to do that to her. If she decides to settle down then that's her choice. She'll choose who she wants."
"Err, Harii, you do know she's an owl, right?"
"Yes and?"
"Nothing."
I knew he was different. Here he is acting as though the owl is family. Izumo smothered a laugh at Harii's defiant expression. "But aren't you at least going to see if she's interested?"
"But she's so young." Harii stared at the table thoughtfully.
"I thought you wanted to give her a choice." Izumo folded the letter slowly, shoved it in Kotetsu's hands and moved to the kitchen to grab a glass of juice.
"I did. but did you see the picture of the other owl? It looks stupid."
'It'? Not 'he'? Izumo came back to the living room and found Kotetsu nodding every time Harri pointed out a 'stupid' feature in the photograph.
Kotetsu gave him an amused look and turned to Harry. "So you don't approve?"
Harii held the photograph up to Izumo. "You think it looks stupid too, right?"
Izumo sipped his juice. "Why are you asking me?"
"You're the one who worked at the messenger tower. Obviously you'll be able to tell..."
He remembered. I just mentioned it once and he remembered. Izumo tried not to gape.
"...so what do you think?" Harii finished with an expectant look.
Kotetsu rolled his eyes. "Izumo's hardly an expert, Harii."
Izumo ignored Kotetsu and examined the owl in the photo. He then looked up at the snowy white owl napping beside Harry. "He does seem a bit... dull in comparison to her."
"Exactly! She deserves an owl that's way better than that. It's feather's are so boring and... Can you guys help me with the replying part?"
"No problem." Kotetsu said. "Although this does make me feel like an uncle."
"Uncle?" Harri frowned.
Kotetsu nodded. "You totally sounded like a dad. So that makes us the uncles. Especially since we'll be replying on your behalf..."
"A dad?"
Izumo smiled at Harii's scandalized look and touched the fan in his pocket. "Now that that's settled, let's get some food." He rolled his eyes as Harii opened his mouth. "No dango!"
Kotetsu patted Harri's shoulder consolingly. "Don't worry, there's loads of other sweets out there. Maybe we can even sneak some..."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Interesting things I've come across
1- Damned Demented Demons by Hells_half_acre (Harry PotterXSupernatural)
This fanfiction takes place after HP's epilogue and manages to blend the two fandoms quite nicely and uniquely. It has a lot of pluses. First of all, the plot doesn't center around awkward yaoi romance. It has a good amount of action and I like the characterization of everyone in there. Also it's a nice length with sequels.
2- A discussion on speech verbs at FFNet's Writers Anonymous forums
Just thought you'd like to have a look at this discussion. It deals with the over-usage/non-usage of 'said' in writing. It also talks about 'bookisms' and how most people depend on that too much making their dialogue weak. (FYI- bookisms are stuff like - he hissed, he chuckled, etc- that are used as tags instead of said.)
It definitely makes you think about your own writing. Looks like loads of future editing for me, either way.
3- Water by Jennifer (Buffy X LoTR)
This isn't really a new find. It's more of a re-find. I remember reading it ages ago and loving it. But I forgot to fav/bookmark it.
It's unique in the narration and wonderfully creative in plot. It's a good read specially the second story "Ebb". Timeline is somewhere after the Hobbit and before the Lord of the Rings. But I do have to warn you that it hasn't been updated for while.
Actually a lot of the other one-shots by this author are wonderful reads- unique and makes you want more.
That's all for now,
Polar
P.S. I haven't been able to reply to any reviews yet. I hope you guys don't mind the delay with that.
07 September 2010
Chapter 10 A/Ns
Whoa! I finally managed to get this chapter done and online. And trust me when I say, I never intended for it to be delayed for so long.
I wasn't waiting for reviews or anything... heaven knows I have way too many of those. Reviews play no role in what I write or when I write.
And it wasn't really writer's block- just a sense of wrongness that permeated a lot of the chapter. I had to re-write a lot of it because it didn't feel right. And some parts of it had to be moved to future chapters/deleted because it just didn't fit in.
I'm really glad I'm finally happy with what I ended up with. It gives you some answers and points to a potential future plots, but more than likely I think it just gives you more questions!
Random notes/clarifications.
Kakashi- I can just imagine all the fangirls (and boys) going...WTF kind of meeting was that? Where was the laughs and the craziness and the odd bonding over porn? Meh... what? You really expected me to do something predictable?
Sai- Why does Sai get more air time than Kakashi? Because he's an interesting character in his weird anti-social way. I don't know, in some ways Harry could have become like Sai, so a part of me likes to see how they'd react to each other. He was hard to write at times and honestly I just made up parts of psychology for him to say- all to add a feeling of books-can't-really-teach-you-stuff sort of thing.
Chakra blockage- I spent ages trying to some up with some plausible way of introducing a difference between chakra and magic. So I decided to have Harry figure out that his magic spells can't detect chakra pathways.
Wound healing biology- A very abbreviated info dump from the Wiki page. It took me a while to sort through all that and come up with something acceptable enough to use as Sakura's explanation to Harry.
Elemental corner derivative- Err, yeah. Made up with math sounding name combined with Naruto logic of dependence of elements.
Odd Innuendos- I really don't know what it was, but the initial drafts of this chapter was filled with so much innuendo...it was ridiculous. I edited most of them before remembering the rejected writing section- so most of them have permanently disappeared. Thankfully/sadly there were still some I managed to find on the final edit.
Rejected writing (writing too silly/wrong to keep in the actual chapter)
The odd/sometimes bad-ish pornographic lines.
1-He had to consciously restrain his fingers from stretching and flexing in the comforting warmth.
2-I’ll help, just to ensure the proper flow. Don't worry, it won't hurt.
3- Harry curled his fingers in the relaxing heat and sighed.
I'm sure the ones that I had before were even worse.
Polar
P.S.-I'm definitely going to be replying to all of your PMs and comments. Sorry about the long delay with that as well.
P.P.S- Omg-osh I just realized it's been a year-ish since I started the story.
P.P.P.S- I might just make another 'story' for AtO on ffnet- so that I can post extra scenes from the AtO universe. Scenes that don't really have much of an impact on the plot.
I wasn't waiting for reviews or anything... heaven knows I have way too many of those. Reviews play no role in what I write or when I write.
And it wasn't really writer's block- just a sense of wrongness that permeated a lot of the chapter. I had to re-write a lot of it because it didn't feel right. And some parts of it had to be moved to future chapters/deleted because it just didn't fit in.
I'm really glad I'm finally happy with what I ended up with. It gives you some answers and points to a potential future plots, but more than likely I think it just gives you more questions!
Random notes/clarifications.
Kakashi- I can just imagine all the fangirls (and boys) going...WTF kind of meeting was that? Where was the laughs and the craziness and the odd bonding over porn? Meh... what? You really expected me to do something predictable?
Sai- Why does Sai get more air time than Kakashi? Because he's an interesting character in his weird anti-social way. I don't know, in some ways Harry could have become like Sai, so a part of me likes to see how they'd react to each other. He was hard to write at times and honestly I just made up parts of psychology for him to say- all to add a feeling of books-can't-really-teach-you-stuff sort of thing.
Chakra blockage- I spent ages trying to some up with some plausible way of introducing a difference between chakra and magic. So I decided to have Harry figure out that his magic spells can't detect chakra pathways.
Wound healing biology- A very abbreviated info dump from the Wiki page. It took me a while to sort through all that and come up with something acceptable enough to use as Sakura's explanation to Harry.
Elemental corner derivative- Err, yeah. Made up with math sounding name combined with Naruto logic of dependence of elements.
Odd Innuendos- I really don't know what it was, but the initial drafts of this chapter was filled with so much innuendo...it was ridiculous. I edited most of them before remembering the rejected writing section- so most of them have permanently disappeared. Thankfully/sadly there were still some I managed to find on the final edit.
Rejected writing (writing too silly/wrong to keep in the actual chapter)
The odd/sometimes bad-ish pornographic lines.
1-He had to consciously restrain his fingers from stretching and flexing in the comforting warmth.
2-I’ll help, just to ensure the proper flow. Don't worry, it won't hurt.
3- Harry curled his fingers in the relaxing heat and sighed.
I'm sure the ones that I had before were even worse.
Polar
P.S.-I'm definitely going to be replying to all of your PMs and comments. Sorry about the long delay with that as well.
P.P.S- Omg-osh I just realized it's been a year-ish since I started the story.
P.P.P.S- I might just make another 'story' for AtO on ffnet- so that I can post extra scenes from the AtO universe. Scenes that don't really have much of an impact on the plot.
28 August 2010
Chapter 10 Almost Done
You people sure do know how to panic. I've been getting PMs with people asking me not to abandon the story.
I do have other things in life to do. But just because I've been delayed with this chapter doesn't mean I'm abandoning the story. Sheesh! Give me some credit.
I mean- sure I'm super slow, but if I ever think of abandoning the story I'll be sure to tell you guys about it in advance.
That being said, chapter 10 is close to completion. Microsoft word tells me I've written 10, 000 + words.
If all goes well, I'll have it up by the end of next week.
Polar.
P.S. Some of your PMs made me laugh. You guys are so silly sometimes.
I do have other things in life to do. But just because I've been delayed with this chapter doesn't mean I'm abandoning the story. Sheesh! Give me some credit.
I mean- sure I'm super slow, but if I ever think of abandoning the story I'll be sure to tell you guys about it in advance.
That being said, chapter 10 is close to completion. Microsoft word tells me I've written 10, 000 + words.
If all goes well, I'll have it up by the end of next week.
Polar.
P.S. Some of your PMs made me laugh. You guys are so silly sometimes.
12 August 2010
August News
I'm still alive... I've just been delayed by real life which decided it needed to kick me and remind me of it's presence. Needless to say my fanfiction writing was one of the first casualties. AtO was stuck with 8035 words for more than a week now. At least I'm finally able to work on it.
Makes me wonder if I should just post the chapter up as it is without making/breaking the 10,000 word limit I'd set for myself. *looks at Ch 10 so far*... Ok, I'm definitely not done with this, still have more scenes that need to be in here. My fingers are way too slow.
I got a wonderful PM the other day- someone wanted to be my beta reader. More specifically though they wanted to see what I had so far for chapter 10. Very thoughtful I thought, so I asked them to give me a beta-reader opinion of chapter 9 as a test of sorts.
I was told about my sloppy capitalization and how it seems to be a bit better. Ok, good you noticed that and what else?
The person didn't seem to have any other comments about chapter 9. Nothing about possible plot holes, nothing about misuse of certain words, nothing about lack of descriptions.
So I guess I wanted to know, am I expecting too much from a possible beta-reader? If I ever take a beta-reader for my work I expect them to look at my work and tell me what's wrong- whether it's plot, grammar, or just my writing. I'd like to see why I shouldn't write a certain way so that I can learn and change myself.
In a way, I'm glad that some of reviewers take the time to explain certain things to me.
What about you guys? What do you look for in a beta-reader? And if you have one, are they helpful and have you stuck with them for the entirety of your story?
And how do you work with them? Do you make them edit it and then post it up as soon as they return the edited version to you? Or do they tell you what they've done and why they've changed something and then you rewrite certain parts based on their help and upload the next chapter?
Polar
P.S. Nothing to recommend this time because I haven't been able to do any reading at all. *sadness*
P.P.S. As for the poll on my profile page- there's no hidden meaning to it. I just want to see who people saw Harry possibly related to. Definitely not going to write a story for the highest voted choice.
Makes me wonder if I should just post the chapter up as it is without making/breaking the 10,000 word limit I'd set for myself. *looks at Ch 10 so far*... Ok, I'm definitely not done with this, still have more scenes that need to be in here. My fingers are way too slow.
I got a wonderful PM the other day- someone wanted to be my beta reader. More specifically though they wanted to see what I had so far for chapter 10. Very thoughtful I thought, so I asked them to give me a beta-reader opinion of chapter 9 as a test of sorts.
I was told about my sloppy capitalization and how it seems to be a bit better. Ok, good you noticed that and what else?
The person didn't seem to have any other comments about chapter 9. Nothing about possible plot holes, nothing about misuse of certain words, nothing about lack of descriptions.
So I guess I wanted to know, am I expecting too much from a possible beta-reader? If I ever take a beta-reader for my work I expect them to look at my work and tell me what's wrong- whether it's plot, grammar, or just my writing. I'd like to see why I shouldn't write a certain way so that I can learn and change myself.
In a way, I'm glad that some of reviewers take the time to explain certain things to me.
What about you guys? What do you look for in a beta-reader? And if you have one, are they helpful and have you stuck with them for the entirety of your story?
And how do you work with them? Do you make them edit it and then post it up as soon as they return the edited version to you? Or do they tell you what they've done and why they've changed something and then you rewrite certain parts based on their help and upload the next chapter?
Polar
P.S. Nothing to recommend this time because I haven't been able to do any reading at all. *sadness*
P.P.S. As for the poll on my profile page- there's no hidden meaning to it. I just want to see who people saw Harry possibly related to. Definitely not going to write a story for the highest voted choice.
28 July 2010
Konoha Clan musings
Abilities
1- From canon: Naras, Inuzakas, Yamanakas, Akamichis, Kurama, Aburame, Sarutobi,- have unique and specific jutsus.
Hyuuga, Senju, Uchiha, Aburame (sort of)- have bloodline limit
What I gather from that: A clan needs to have some unique abilities in order to be considered a clan. Whether it's a bloodline or just a unique method of fighting/being useful to the village.
----
2- From canon: Senju Harishama had the Mokuton. Senju Tobirama had his Suiton skills. Tsunade... er well super strength and healing.
What I gather from that: Not all clan members have the same ability. Not all skills can be inherited/passed on even if they are some sort of bloodline limit.
---
3- From canon: Hatake Kakashi has a sharingan eye. Yamato has Mokuton. Danzo...well you know.
What I gather from that: Bloodline abilities can be taken/implanted and used by non-clan members.
Also, the fact that Kakashi was able to keep his Sharingan eye- does that show that The Uchiha didn't have the power to take it back from him? Did the Hokage intervene there somehow- surely they wouldn't have been happy with it.
Clan politics.
1- Canon: Hyuuga branch members have seals on them. Almost like slaves.
What I gather from that: The Hokage doesn't seem to have a say in clan politics/issues of inheritance/how clan members get treated by the clan head.
---
2- Canon: Uchiha Massacre, sealing the powers of Yakumo Kurama (from the anime filler only)
What I gather from that: If the clan/a member of a clan is deemed a threat to the village, the Hokage has the power to step in and deal with it in any way possible.
---
3- Canon: Nara Shikaku is jounin commander. Yamanaka Inoichi works in T&I.
What I gather from that: Just because you're a clan head, doesn't mean you can't have a high position in the village. Or well, being a clan head doesn't exempt you from important positions.
---
4- Canon: Root members include a Yamanaka and Aburame.
What I gather from that: Danzo is evil and smart. And clan heads can't control everything their clan members do, unless you're the Hyuuga who put seals on your members.
Some notes
1- Hatake- It's never really mentioned as a clan in canon. It's just the family name for Kakashi and Sakumo both of whom became famous for their skills in battle.
2- Pre-shinobi village era- there must be some relation to being a clan prior to the formation of the village system under a Kage. So clans need to have a history from prior?
Interesting random things I've come across
1- Final Fantasy A+ by Mousekliks
This is an old flash movie/animation that's absolutely hilarious. As the name implies, it's a sort of parody of a Final Fantasy series. It's bound to make you laugh even if you haven't really played any FF games. (But it's funnier if you're familiar with the gameplay) And maybe inspire you a bit- it helped me write out a bit of ch 10!
2- Untold Stories by Teh-Akuma-Yoru [Naruto fanart]
This artwork got recommended to me. At first I was like- that's not very artsy looking. But I scrolled down and saw the story #3- Lamentation. And wow. Just... wow! Those few panels were worth so many words. Heartbreaking but awesome.
Polar
P.S- I've been toying with the idea of creating a separate story on ffnet- mostly it would be a collection of extra scenes from AtO, things that don't really have a lot to do with the plot- just scenes that take place in that universe- kind of like an omake series. Is it better to open a new story or just place the omakes at the end of my chapters? Or should I just not put that stuff up?
P.P.S- 6132 words... Things have been unusually slow- must be all the summer diversions that's been keeping me away from writing.
P.P.P.S - Ghosts...hmmm yeah, well I suppose that's interesting. I'm actually way more interested in Edo Tensei. Zombies ftw! *insane laugh*
1- From canon: Naras, Inuzakas, Yamanakas, Akamichis, Kurama, Aburame, Sarutobi,- have unique and specific jutsus.
Hyuuga, Senju, Uchiha, Aburame (sort of)- have bloodline limit
What I gather from that: A clan needs to have some unique abilities in order to be considered a clan. Whether it's a bloodline or just a unique method of fighting/being useful to the village.
----
2- From canon: Senju Harishama had the Mokuton. Senju Tobirama had his Suiton skills. Tsunade... er well super strength and healing.
What I gather from that: Not all clan members have the same ability. Not all skills can be inherited/passed on even if they are some sort of bloodline limit.
---
3- From canon: Hatake Kakashi has a sharingan eye. Yamato has Mokuton. Danzo...well you know.
What I gather from that: Bloodline abilities can be taken/implanted and used by non-clan members.
Also, the fact that Kakashi was able to keep his Sharingan eye- does that show that The Uchiha didn't have the power to take it back from him? Did the Hokage intervene there somehow- surely they wouldn't have been happy with it.
Clan politics.
1- Canon: Hyuuga branch members have seals on them. Almost like slaves.
What I gather from that: The Hokage doesn't seem to have a say in clan politics/issues of inheritance/how clan members get treated by the clan head.
---
2- Canon: Uchiha Massacre, sealing the powers of Yakumo Kurama (from the anime filler only)
What I gather from that: If the clan/a member of a clan is deemed a threat to the village, the Hokage has the power to step in and deal with it in any way possible.
---
3- Canon: Nara Shikaku is jounin commander. Yamanaka Inoichi works in T&I.
What I gather from that: Just because you're a clan head, doesn't mean you can't have a high position in the village. Or well, being a clan head doesn't exempt you from important positions.
---
4- Canon: Root members include a Yamanaka and Aburame.
What I gather from that: Danzo is evil and smart. And clan heads can't control everything their clan members do, unless you're the Hyuuga who put seals on your members.
Some notes
1- Hatake- It's never really mentioned as a clan in canon. It's just the family name for Kakashi and Sakumo both of whom became famous for their skills in battle.
2- Pre-shinobi village era- there must be some relation to being a clan prior to the formation of the village system under a Kage. So clans need to have a history from prior?
Interesting random things I've come across
1- Final Fantasy A+ by Mousekliks
This is an old flash movie/animation that's absolutely hilarious. As the name implies, it's a sort of parody of a Final Fantasy series. It's bound to make you laugh even if you haven't really played any FF games. (But it's funnier if you're familiar with the gameplay) And maybe inspire you a bit- it helped me write out a bit of ch 10!
2- Untold Stories by Teh-Akuma-Yoru [Naruto fanart]
This artwork got recommended to me. At first I was like- that's not very artsy looking. But I scrolled down and saw the story #3- Lamentation. And wow. Just... wow! Those few panels were worth so many words. Heartbreaking but awesome.
Polar
P.S- I've been toying with the idea of creating a separate story on ffnet- mostly it would be a collection of extra scenes from AtO, things that don't really have a lot to do with the plot- just scenes that take place in that universe- kind of like an omake series. Is it better to open a new story or just place the omakes at the end of my chapters? Or should I just not put that stuff up?
P.P.S- 6132 words... Things have been unusually slow- must be all the summer diversions that's been keeping me away from writing.
P.P.P.S - Ghosts...hmmm yeah, well I suppose that's interesting. I'm actually way more interested in Edo Tensei. Zombies ftw! *insane laugh*
09 July 2010
Harry Potter Crossover Romance
I guess this was sort of inspired by some of the reviews I got and some of the stories I've read. I'm not a big fan of romance, so obviously this post is going to be a bit crack-tastic/odd/silly/I-can't-believe-you-wrote-that/what-have-you-been-smoking?/please-just-stick-to-writing-ch10.
Er, well I'm going to try and show you what comes to my mind when I think of certain Naruto pairings (both het and slash) in my AU. Not to be taken seriously. Or even hopefully.
Harry Potter X Hinata Hyuuga
Harry fiddled with his green yukata and patted his hair nervously. I can't avoid the festival, I need to be there to make a good impression with the other people.
Harry walked out of his apartment and into the crowded streets down below. He'd barely entered the main area of the festivities before he bumped into someone. A very familiar someone.
Harry bowed to the man and was surprised when he got a bow back.
"Uzumaki-san! We were never formally introduced. My name is Hyuuga Hiashi. And this is my oldest daughter Hyuuga Hinata."
Harry bowed and smiled at the teenager standing behind her father. "It's a pleasure to meet you both."
Hiashi suddenly smiled, "I'm actually very glad I've run into you. You see I've just been called away for some business. I was wondering what I'd do with my daughter. I don't want to leave her all alone for this festival."
Creepy smile. This is bad... Before Harry could say anything the man leaned forward and said, "Would you be willing to accompany her till I come back?"
Harry noticed the mortified look on Hinata's face and sighed. "Yeah sure. I'm happy to help!"
Hiashi moved to the side and waited for Harry to walk up to Hinata. "Hinata-san, is there anywhere you wish to go?"
Hinata shook her head violently.
"I see, well do you mind if we go search for my cousin? I'm sure Naruto is here somewhere!"
"Na..na...Na...Naruto?"
Harry paused when he caught sight of the girl's face. He panicked and rushed forward just as Hinata fell forward. "What in the world?" Harry gaped as he balanced the girl in his arms. "Did Naruto pull some sort of horrible prank on her?"
Harry rubbed the back of his neck wearily. Seriously how hard could it be to find the plant. Well this is the flower shop they told me about, might as well give it a try.
He opened the door and closed his eyes as the scent of different flowers washed over his senses. This definitely reminds of the Herbology Greenhouses. I think I can smell some Lillies and... Harry started as a loud crash disturbed the comfortable silence of the flower shop. He had barely opened his eyes before his vision got filled with light blond hair and blue eyes.
"Sasuke-kun!" A female voice said and grabbed hold of his neck tightly.
Harry winced. Oh dear!
Harry Potter X Tsunade
Harry trudged up the stairs of the Hokage monument with a sense of irritation. This is the second time she's called me up there. What's going on? I hope this is not another fixing job!
Harry knocked on the door to the Hokage's office.
"Come in, Harii."
Harry walked in and sighed in relief when he noticed the Hokage's table in one piece. I've lost count of the amount of times I've had to fix that. Tsunade leaned back in her chair and motioned for Harry to come closer. "Harii, I think there's something wrong with my shelves."
Harry turned to the right and gazed at the shelves built into the wall. "They're not broken."
"They seem a bit lop-sided, especially the very bottom."
Harry knelt down and examined the shelves dutifully. It seems perfectly fine. Harry stood up and jumped when he felt arms wrap around him.
"Harii, you're always so eager to help. I'm so glad when you take time to come here."
"Hokage- sama?" Harry turned back.
"Call me Tsunade!"
"Hokage- sama, you're drunk!" Harry said and winced when Tsunade tightened her arms around him.
"Don't be ridiculous Harii, one bottle of sake never hurt anyone. In fact maybe you need some so you can loosen up a bit, hmm?"
Harry contemplated how many spells it would take for him to escape the office without ending up like the Hokage's desk.
Harry Potter X Sakura Haruno
"Harii, I've brought you some lunch."
Harry looked up from his book and blinked as a heart shaped lunchbox was pushed towards his face. He took the box gently and smiled up at the girl in front of him. "Thanks Sakura. What's the occasion?"
"Is it odd for me to make lunch for a friend?" Sakura said and sat down beside Harry.
Harry moved away a little when Sakura sat a little bit too close to him.
"No, I was just wondering if you were going for some party or something." Harry said nodding to her different attire. He raised an eyebrow when Sakura giggled.
"It's nothing, Harii. I just wanted a change. Go on, eat!"
Harry was tempted to say no and leave but decided to bare with the weirdness for the free food. He opened the box, ignored the odd heart shaped arrangement of the food, took a bite of one of the riceballs and promptly sputtered. "That's horrible! I think you forgot to..."
He paused when he caught sight of the angry twitch on her forehead and couldn't quiet dodge her fist fast enough. As his vision went black, Harry wondered just what he had done to deserve that.
Harry Potter X Itachi Uchiha
"What are you doing?" Harry frowned at the other man's tight grip on his arm.
Itachi glanced down pointedly.
Harry twitched. "It's a puddle! What could possible happen if I stepped in a muddy puddle?"
Itachi just tightened his hold on Harry's arm and tugged. Harry shut his eyes as the world warped around them for a few seconds and gripped, "What the... it's a puddle! And...woah!"
Harry fell to the ground with a hard thud and watched with wide eyes as Itachi slid into a battle stance in front of him. The puddle expanded and took the form of a large man. Harry barely stood up before the battle concluded in the most anticlimatic way- the large man screamed and fainted.
Harry glanced at Itachi and found bright red eyes staring at him. "You could have just said something."
Itachi gave him a look and came closer.
"Well geez, it's not like I can understand all your silent looks. Even if you did give the puddle a pointed look, how was I supposed to know... ouch! What are you doing?"
Harry winced when Itachi prodded his wrist. I must have sprained it when he pushed me down.
"I'm sorry!" Itachi whispered as his eyes went back to a dull black.
Harry rolled his eyes and passed his holstered wand over the wrist, "I can fix it!"
"We should find a place to rest!"
Harry frowned, "It's not even dark yet."
"You need rest!"
"For what?"
Itachi didn't reply but grabbed a hold of Harry's arm and teleported away. Harry stumbled as they stopped at a clearing. Itachi poked Harry's forehead with his fingers and said, "Sleep."
Harry opened his mouth to protest but the world around him swayed. He faintly registered arms holding him before the world turned dark.
There were more, but I think this is long enough for this post. Have I sort of traumatized you? Or did I manage to make you smile?
Polar.
P.S. Yeah... so definitely no romance in AtO.
P.P.S. 1000 words for ch 10 somehow managed to get written between yesterday's post and today's.
P.P.P.S There are some really good french fics out there. And while it does take me a while to decipher the meanings of things- it's really enjoyable!
Er, well I'm going to try and show you what comes to my mind when I think of certain Naruto pairings (both het and slash) in my AU. Not to be taken seriously. Or even hopefully.
Harry Potter X Hinata Hyuuga
Harry fiddled with his green yukata and patted his hair nervously. I can't avoid the festival, I need to be there to make a good impression with the other people.
Harry walked out of his apartment and into the crowded streets down below. He'd barely entered the main area of the festivities before he bumped into someone. A very familiar someone.
Harry bowed to the man and was surprised when he got a bow back.
"Uzumaki-san! We were never formally introduced. My name is Hyuuga Hiashi. And this is my oldest daughter Hyuuga Hinata."
Harry bowed and smiled at the teenager standing behind her father. "It's a pleasure to meet you both."
Hiashi suddenly smiled, "I'm actually very glad I've run into you. You see I've just been called away for some business. I was wondering what I'd do with my daughter. I don't want to leave her all alone for this festival."
Creepy smile. This is bad... Before Harry could say anything the man leaned forward and said, "Would you be willing to accompany her till I come back?"
Harry noticed the mortified look on Hinata's face and sighed. "Yeah sure. I'm happy to help!"
Hiashi moved to the side and waited for Harry to walk up to Hinata. "Hinata-san, is there anywhere you wish to go?"
Hinata shook her head violently.
"I see, well do you mind if we go search for my cousin? I'm sure Naruto is here somewhere!"
"Na..na...Na...Naruto?"
Harry paused when he caught sight of the girl's face. He panicked and rushed forward just as Hinata fell forward. "What in the world?" Harry gaped as he balanced the girl in his arms. "Did Naruto pull some sort of horrible prank on her?"
X-X-X-X-X
Harry Potter X Ino YamanakaHarry rubbed the back of his neck wearily. Seriously how hard could it be to find the plant. Well this is the flower shop they told me about, might as well give it a try.
He opened the door and closed his eyes as the scent of different flowers washed over his senses. This definitely reminds of the Herbology Greenhouses. I think I can smell some Lillies and... Harry started as a loud crash disturbed the comfortable silence of the flower shop. He had barely opened his eyes before his vision got filled with light blond hair and blue eyes.
"Sasuke-kun!" A female voice said and grabbed hold of his neck tightly.
Harry winced. Oh dear!
X-X-X-X-X
Harry Potter X Tsunade
Harry trudged up the stairs of the Hokage monument with a sense of irritation. This is the second time she's called me up there. What's going on? I hope this is not another fixing job!
Harry knocked on the door to the Hokage's office.
"Come in, Harii."
Harry walked in and sighed in relief when he noticed the Hokage's table in one piece. I've lost count of the amount of times I've had to fix that. Tsunade leaned back in her chair and motioned for Harry to come closer. "Harii, I think there's something wrong with my shelves."
Harry turned to the right and gazed at the shelves built into the wall. "They're not broken."
"They seem a bit lop-sided, especially the very bottom."
Harry knelt down and examined the shelves dutifully. It seems perfectly fine. Harry stood up and jumped when he felt arms wrap around him.
"Harii, you're always so eager to help. I'm so glad when you take time to come here."
"Hokage- sama?" Harry turned back.
"Call me Tsunade!"
"Hokage- sama, you're drunk!" Harry said and winced when Tsunade tightened her arms around him.
"Don't be ridiculous Harii, one bottle of sake never hurt anyone. In fact maybe you need some so you can loosen up a bit, hmm?"
Harry contemplated how many spells it would take for him to escape the office without ending up like the Hokage's desk.
X-X-X-X-X
Harry Potter X Sakura Haruno
"Harii, I've brought you some lunch."
Harry looked up from his book and blinked as a heart shaped lunchbox was pushed towards his face. He took the box gently and smiled up at the girl in front of him. "Thanks Sakura. What's the occasion?"
"Is it odd for me to make lunch for a friend?" Sakura said and sat down beside Harry.
Harry moved away a little when Sakura sat a little bit too close to him.
"No, I was just wondering if you were going for some party or something." Harry said nodding to her different attire. He raised an eyebrow when Sakura giggled.
"It's nothing, Harii. I just wanted a change. Go on, eat!"
Harry was tempted to say no and leave but decided to bare with the weirdness for the free food. He opened the box, ignored the odd heart shaped arrangement of the food, took a bite of one of the riceballs and promptly sputtered. "That's horrible! I think you forgot to..."
He paused when he caught sight of the angry twitch on her forehead and couldn't quiet dodge her fist fast enough. As his vision went black, Harry wondered just what he had done to deserve that.
X-X-X-X-X
Harry Potter X Itachi Uchiha
"What are you doing?" Harry frowned at the other man's tight grip on his arm.
Itachi glanced down pointedly.
Harry twitched. "It's a puddle! What could possible happen if I stepped in a muddy puddle?"
Itachi just tightened his hold on Harry's arm and tugged. Harry shut his eyes as the world warped around them for a few seconds and gripped, "What the... it's a puddle! And...woah!"
Harry fell to the ground with a hard thud and watched with wide eyes as Itachi slid into a battle stance in front of him. The puddle expanded and took the form of a large man. Harry barely stood up before the battle concluded in the most anticlimatic way- the large man screamed and fainted.
Harry glanced at Itachi and found bright red eyes staring at him. "You could have just said something."
Itachi gave him a look and came closer.
"Well geez, it's not like I can understand all your silent looks. Even if you did give the puddle a pointed look, how was I supposed to know... ouch! What are you doing?"
Harry winced when Itachi prodded his wrist. I must have sprained it when he pushed me down.
"I'm sorry!" Itachi whispered as his eyes went back to a dull black.
Harry rolled his eyes and passed his holstered wand over the wrist, "I can fix it!"
"We should find a place to rest!"
Harry frowned, "It's not even dark yet."
"You need rest!"
"For what?"
Itachi didn't reply but grabbed a hold of Harry's arm and teleported away. Harry stumbled as they stopped at a clearing. Itachi poked Harry's forehead with his fingers and said, "Sleep."
Harry opened his mouth to protest but the world around him swayed. He faintly registered arms holding him before the world turned dark.
X-X-X-X-X
There were more, but I think this is long enough for this post. Have I sort of traumatized you? Or did I manage to make you smile?
Polar.
P.S. Yeah... so definitely no romance in AtO.
P.P.S. 1000 words for ch 10 somehow managed to get written between yesterday's post and today's.
P.P.P.S There are some really good french fics out there. And while it does take me a while to decipher the meanings of things- it's really enjoyable!
30 June 2010
Chapter 9 A/N: Extended version
In my quest to reduce my really long A/Ns I've decided to put all that extra talk on the blog. That way I can say as much as I want without taking up space in the actual story on ffnet.
Snakeroot- Bet you thought I made that up, but it’s a real plant. I've based the idea of it being used as a snake venom antidote becasue I read about the Indian Snakeroot which was used in ancient times as a treatment. It seems to grow in a variety of places in different variations, so it's not too farfetched to have it in Konoha/elemental countries.
Azalea plant- Ahh, I wanted to find a japanese plant that had some nice non romantic meaning. It was really luck that let me find this plant. IT just seemed so perfect. And it looked really pretty. Of course I used the western flower language for the symbolic meaning.
Naras- What can I say? They're fun to write- they're so unpredictable with their intelligence. You never know if they're being nice or waiting for a chance to get you thrown in prison.
Politics- I really had no idea how to deal with it. I just hope I managed to do a good job with it. It went according to my own plan, but I wonder if it makes sense to people.
Chapter 9 omake- Rejected writing (too silly to keep in the actual chapter)
"Kotetsu, there's someone following me, like a creepy someone. I think Danzo may be trying to kill me because I made a wise crack about his one eye"
"Oh, that's just your Anbu watcher..."
"huh?"
"You know to make sure you're not a spy or anything."
"Were you supposed to tell me that?"
"I thought it was obvious."
Harry turned back and glanced at the empty space where he knew his watcher was. "Well, he/ she is very, very good at hiding." Harry said loudly and pointedly. Then he leaned down and whipered to Kotetsu, "So uh, do they watch me sleep?"
"Probably"
"That’s so creepy" Harry shuddered.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tsunade looked at the results in her hands in absolute disbelief. Naruto had living family. She cleared her throat and looked at the expectant faces before her.
Words failed her so she just nodded. Her doubts vanished as she watched Naruto jump in the air with a joyful scream and then proceed to hug his newly found cousin who seemed lost in some memory.
“Harii” Naruto squealed after yet another flamboyant hug.
Sakura and Shizune stood to the side with smiles on their faces from Naruto’s enthusiasm. Kakashi had taken out his book once more and proceeded to pretend he didn’t know what was going on in the room around him.
“Well it looks like you’ll have to be taken off active duty” Tsunade said. Both boys turned towards her incredulously. Before Naruto could scream she headed him off. “So that you can learn about your relative…”
She was surprised when the black haired boy intervened in a polite tone, “uh, mam, that isn’t necessary, I don’t want to impose on him or anything. I could just hang out with him when he’s free…” he stopped as he looked into her eyes.
He suddenly fiddled with his fringe. But that was enough for Naruto to speak, “well he can come watch me train. My super cool training.”
As Naruto continued to talk, Tsunade noticed the fond look that Harry seemed to get as he stared at the blond boy.
“Enough” tsunade interrupted with a punch. Harry immediately rushed to his cousin in concern even as he looked at the Hokage in awe and fear.
That last one just makes me cringe and laugh and the same time for some reason!
Polar.
Snakeroot- Bet you thought I made that up, but it’s a real plant. I've based the idea of it being used as a snake venom antidote becasue I read about the Indian Snakeroot which was used in ancient times as a treatment. It seems to grow in a variety of places in different variations, so it's not too farfetched to have it in Konoha/elemental countries.
Azalea plant- Ahh, I wanted to find a japanese plant that had some nice non romantic meaning. It was really luck that let me find this plant. IT just seemed so perfect. And it looked really pretty. Of course I used the western flower language for the symbolic meaning.
Naras- What can I say? They're fun to write- they're so unpredictable with their intelligence. You never know if they're being nice or waiting for a chance to get you thrown in prison.
Politics- I really had no idea how to deal with it. I just hope I managed to do a good job with it. It went according to my own plan, but I wonder if it makes sense to people.
Chapter 9 omake- Rejected writing (too silly to keep in the actual chapter)
"Kotetsu, there's someone following me, like a creepy someone. I think Danzo may be trying to kill me because I made a wise crack about his one eye"
"Oh, that's just your Anbu watcher..."
"huh?"
"You know to make sure you're not a spy or anything."
"Were you supposed to tell me that?"
"I thought it was obvious."
Harry turned back and glanced at the empty space where he knew his watcher was. "Well, he/ she is very, very good at hiding." Harry said loudly and pointedly. Then he leaned down and whipered to Kotetsu, "So uh, do they watch me sleep?"
"Probably"
"That’s so creepy" Harry shuddered.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tsunade looked at the results in her hands in absolute disbelief. Naruto had living family. She cleared her throat and looked at the expectant faces before her.
Words failed her so she just nodded. Her doubts vanished as she watched Naruto jump in the air with a joyful scream and then proceed to hug his newly found cousin who seemed lost in some memory.
“Harii” Naruto squealed after yet another flamboyant hug.
Sakura and Shizune stood to the side with smiles on their faces from Naruto’s enthusiasm. Kakashi had taken out his book once more and proceeded to pretend he didn’t know what was going on in the room around him.
“Well it looks like you’ll have to be taken off active duty” Tsunade said. Both boys turned towards her incredulously. Before Naruto could scream she headed him off. “So that you can learn about your relative…”
She was surprised when the black haired boy intervened in a polite tone, “uh, mam, that isn’t necessary, I don’t want to impose on him or anything. I could just hang out with him when he’s free…” he stopped as he looked into her eyes.
He suddenly fiddled with his fringe. But that was enough for Naruto to speak, “well he can come watch me train. My super cool training.”
As Naruto continued to talk, Tsunade noticed the fond look that Harry seemed to get as he stared at the blond boy.
“Enough” tsunade interrupted with a punch. Harry immediately rushed to his cousin in concern even as he looked at the Hokage in awe and fear.
That last one just makes me cringe and laugh and the same time for some reason!
Polar.
19 June 2010
Uzumaki Clan
So, I've been postponing this post because of the recent manga chapters. I've always wanted to make a speculation post of what I thought the clan was like- etc. So you can imagine my surprise when I read the recent chapters and just went...woah, it's Kushina. And then I was like- finally, now I get to know the canon truth about the Uzumaki clan! But damn it, Kishimoto pulled a fast one on me and just took the plot in a different direction.
But either ways, I was really glad when Kushina said that she had some sort of special chakra. It sort of ties in to what I was making my story's Uzumaki clan- the fact that their chakra can become physical weapons (like I wrote in Ch. 2). So that really helped me get some writing done for chapter 9!
So what does my story's version of the Uzumaki clan have so far?
- Well just for clarification let me name a few members I've created to join both worlds
- They were the main clan of Whirlpool village- based on the similarities of names. But the village definitely had other people there. Akira is only identified as clan head not village leader.
- The clan didn't have trained fighter that could stand up against shinobi. At least during Akira's time! They were more of healers and pacifists.
- Uzumaki facial characteristics- A round face, fiery red hair and blue-purple eyes. Unfortunately they've not been passed down to the current generation.
Well that's all I can write without giving away things. But I'll definitely add more things as I finalize the next chapter.
Will there be other Uzumaki people who are alive? Oh I definitely want some people. Are there any canon redheads? *smirk* Just think of the crazy/unbelievable possibilities. Ohh those are just plot bunnies waiting to be written- even if I don't use them for AtO.
Polar
P.S. As for chapter 9- I'm getting there. Don't worry, I'll have the chapter up sometime during this month.
But either ways, I was really glad when Kushina said that she had some sort of special chakra. It sort of ties in to what I was making my story's Uzumaki clan- the fact that their chakra can become physical weapons (like I wrote in Ch. 2). So that really helped me get some writing done for chapter 9!
So what does my story's version of the Uzumaki clan have so far?
- Well just for clarification let me name a few members I've created to join both worlds
- Akira Uzumaki- The clan head who managed to open a portal thing to Harry's world. He's currently a ghost stuck haunting the ruins of the former Whirlpool village. Eldest brother to Orihime and Yuriko.
- Orihime Uzumaki Evans- Harry's grandmother. Younger sister to Akira and older sister to Yuriko. Returned to Whirlpool with her husband after giving birth to Lily. Unknown what has happened to her!
- Yuriko Uzumaki- Youngest sibling to Akira and Orihime. Unknown what has happened to her!
- They were the main clan of Whirlpool village- based on the similarities of names. But the village definitely had other people there. Akira is only identified as clan head not village leader.
- The clan didn't have trained fighter that could stand up against shinobi. At least during Akira's time! They were more of healers and pacifists.
- Uzumaki facial characteristics- A round face, fiery red hair and blue-purple eyes. Unfortunately they've not been passed down to the current generation.
Well that's all I can write without giving away things. But I'll definitely add more things as I finalize the next chapter.
Will there be other Uzumaki people who are alive? Oh I definitely want some people. Are there any canon redheads? *smirk* Just think of the crazy/unbelievable possibilities. Ohh those are just plot bunnies waiting to be written- even if I don't use them for AtO.
Polar
P.S. As for chapter 9- I'm getting there. Don't worry, I'll have the chapter up sometime during this month.
01 June 2010
A look at Konoha Politics!
So this is just a collection of political things I've come across from various fanfics, discussions and the Naruto series itself.
The Canon Politics
Daimyos
The ruler of a country who provides funding for the ninja villages. They can decide who becomes the next Kage and if the ninja take a certain military/war actions. (Manga chapters 488)
But this person doesn't really go in depth with the internal ninja affairs. That stuff falls to the Kages.
An interesting tidbit is the Twelve Guardians that contains a combination of ninjas, monks etc. Asuma Sarutobi was a part of them for a while.
Kages
The ruler of a ninja village usually chosen by being the strongest. An existing Kage may retire and pass his title to someone he/she considers the strongest.
In case the Kage dies before choosing a sucessor, a Kage is chosen by the Daimyo and his council. (If you're sneaky enough you can make the Daimyo appoint you as the Kage!)
Responsibilities include
They seem to have political power but I never really understood how they managed to stay in power. Or why they seem to have so much influence.
Anyway they seem to be part of the Daimyo's council and have a say in the choosing of a Hokage. (Still need to read up some more on them along with Danzo- I'm not completely sure about their duties.)
The Iffy politics (things from fanfics/speculation discussions)
1- Civilian Council
It's basically found in the evil-Konoha/abused-Naruto stories. A bunch of civilian people make up the council and they try to butt into the matter of ninjas and things.
Realistically- I think if this did exist in a ninja village, they would never be able to interfere with ninja matter- not if they value their life. The only thing they'd probably talk about that involved ninja was the civilian-security and stuff like that. Otherwise they'd stick to trade and other boring non-ninja things.
2- The Clan Council
A collection of all the clan heads who decide a lot of ninja related issues! It makes sense in a way because Konoha is filled with a lot of influential clans. But I don't really like this as a political system.
Bits I like
I like the idea of the Hokage having some sort of council to help with ninja affairs. I just don't think it should include people just because they are head of a clan. They should have some sort of purpose in the council, you know? Plus I think the Clan heads are more involved in the running of their clan.
Anyone have any suggestions of things I can read up for more info? I'd really like to read some more things before finalizing my own version of the Konoha politics.
In other news, Chapter 9 is slow but getting there. I haven't gotten past the 5000 word mark yet, so obviously I have a lot of writing left to do. But the research keeps bogging me down. Also random plot bunnies keep distracting me! But I'm hopeful to get most of the writing done by the end of next week. *crosses fingers*
Polar
The Canon Politics
Daimyos
The ruler of a country who provides funding for the ninja villages. They can decide who becomes the next Kage and if the ninja take a certain military/war actions. (Manga chapters 488)
But this person doesn't really go in depth with the internal ninja affairs. That stuff falls to the Kages.
An interesting tidbit is the Twelve Guardians that contains a combination of ninjas, monks etc. Asuma Sarutobi was a part of them for a while.
Kages
The ruler of a ninja village usually chosen by being the strongest. An existing Kage may retire and pass his title to someone he/she considers the strongest.
In case the Kage dies before choosing a sucessor, a Kage is chosen by the Daimyo and his council. (If you're sneaky enough you can make the Daimyo appoint you as the Kage!)
Responsibilities include
- protecting the village by any means necessary
- keeping all your ninja functioning by obtaining and distributing missions
- wearing a funky hat that acts as identification when all the Kages meet (so there must be something on the hat itself- a seal perhaps?)
They seem to have political power but I never really understood how they managed to stay in power. Or why they seem to have so much influence.
Anyway they seem to be part of the Daimyo's council and have a say in the choosing of a Hokage. (Still need to read up some more on them along with Danzo- I'm not completely sure about their duties.)
The Iffy politics (things from fanfics/speculation discussions)
1- Civilian Council
It's basically found in the evil-Konoha/abused-Naruto stories. A bunch of civilian people make up the council and they try to butt into the matter of ninjas and things.
Realistically- I think if this did exist in a ninja village, they would never be able to interfere with ninja matter- not if they value their life. The only thing they'd probably talk about that involved ninja was the civilian-security and stuff like that. Otherwise they'd stick to trade and other boring non-ninja things.
2- The Clan Council
A collection of all the clan heads who decide a lot of ninja related issues! It makes sense in a way because Konoha is filled with a lot of influential clans. But I don't really like this as a political system.
Bits I like
I like the idea of the Hokage having some sort of council to help with ninja affairs. I just don't think it should include people just because they are head of a clan. They should have some sort of purpose in the council, you know? Plus I think the Clan heads are more involved in the running of their clan.
Anyone have any suggestions of things I can read up for more info? I'd really like to read some more things before finalizing my own version of the Konoha politics.
In other news, Chapter 9 is slow but getting there. I haven't gotten past the 5000 word mark yet, so obviously I have a lot of writing left to do. But the research keeps bogging me down. Also random plot bunnies keep distracting me! But I'm hopeful to get most of the writing done by the end of next week. *crosses fingers*
Polar
23 April 2010
Naruto's apartment!
So in my random fan research I came across a wonderful sketch that gives a detailed layout of what Naruto's complete apartment looks like. I think it's pretty awesome, mostly because I'm trying to give Harry a place to stay.
But in terms of writing, it definitely helps me picture where possible scenes can take place.
Now if only I can find a detailed sketch for Kakashi's apartment.
Polar.
But in terms of writing, it definitely helps me picture where possible scenes can take place.
Now if only I can find a detailed sketch for Kakashi's apartment.
Polar.
02 April 2010
Hello there!
Just an introduction post, I suppose. I'm a writer and I seem to be doing a lot of fanfiction writing. I wanted a place where I could ramble on things -like resources, plot stuff and all that -and archive it somewhere. Hence the creation of this blog.
I think a blog will also help me communicate with my readers. And maybe I could get some help with my fanfiction research.
Plus I just think it'll be a good way of assuring my readers that I'm still writing the fanfiction.
Anyway, here's my page at fanfiction.net. Have a read!
Polar
I think a blog will also help me communicate with my readers. And maybe I could get some help with my fanfiction research.
Plus I just think it'll be a good way of assuring my readers that I'm still writing the fanfiction.
Anyway, here's my page at fanfiction.net. Have a read!
Polar
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