AC_D24: Happy Holidays!

So it's the final day of this Advent Calender and I did have a story idea (the return of Ninja Santa)... but I didn't have the time to write it with all the holiday prep I've had to do. And there's more holiday stuff that'll keep me occupied for the next few days- so I doubt I'll be able to work on it.

Whether you celebrate Christmas or not and wherever you are in the world, I hope that you all stay safe and have a wonderful time this holiday season.

I'll see you all in the new year,
Polar

AC_D22: Alternate Jobs- Life Coach (Part 1)

Let me start by saying, I don't actually know what a life coach does or how they go about doing their job.

I have a general and very basic idea and that's what I'm basing this bit of crack on.

Warnings: Plotholes. Not part of AtO obviously.
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"What's a life coach?" The gate guard, Kotetsu, asked looking genuinely puzzled at the job title on Harry's papers.

Glad that no one had heard of the job, Harry created his own description of the job title hoping it sounded feasible. "I help people achieve their goals by motivating them."

"What goals?" Izumo, the other guard asked as he stamped some documents.

"Life goals. Things like succeeding in work, family and other life things."

"Strange," Kotetsu said. "Who would need that kind of help?"

Harry shrugged, feeling strangely defensive of the job title even though he wasn't really a life coach. "Some people need someone who's willing to listen and help them solve their problems. With enough motivation and support, people can achieve anything."

"Sounds like something that civilians would be interested in," Izumo said thoughtfully.

AC_D21: Crossover Senju Romance

But not really romance right now.

This is a continuation of this post. So there are some common points between the story bits because I did write them within minutes of each other.

Warnings: Plotholes. And still not really romance. The only connection to AtO is that Harry is an Uzumaki.
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Tsunade
"Grandma." Tsuande kicked off her sandals and rushed in through the open door. "I'm back and..." she paused as she entered the living room and found her grandmother seated opposite a guest- a pale, black-haired youth with bright green eyes who seemed a few years older than her.

"Tsunade-chan, welcome back. How was your mission?"

"It was good," Tsuande said even though it wasn't. She wasn't going to talk about the end of mission. Especially not in front of a guest.

"I'm glad. You're just in time to meet my cousin who's come here from Uzushiogakure for a visit."

Tsunade started and took a closer look at the guest. It had been a long time since any Uzumaki had come to visit Konoha. There certainly hadn't been any visits in the fifteen years since she'd been born.

AC_D19: Crossover Romance (Senju Edition)

It's been a while since I've done one of these. And I thought it's about time to give it another go- but maybe try to be a bit more serious about them. Here's the previous not-so-serious attempts at writing romance: Crossover Romance Drabbles, (Part 2)

I tried to stick with a theme of 'First meetings' for both these story bits. So already you can tell these are more of pre-romance than actual romance.

Maybe some day I will actually write a proper romance.

Warnings: Plotholes. And still not really romance. The only connection to AtO is that Harry is an Uzumaki.
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Tobirama
"He doesn't look like an Uzumaki at all," Tobirama hissed to his brother. "What kind of Uzumaki has Uchiha features? We shouldn't have let them wander around on their own."

Hashirama shushed him with a quick glare laced with killing intent as Mito dragged her black haired companion forward. "I hope you two have been enjoying Konoha so far," Hashirama said.

The black haired man shrugged. "It's got potential. I think Mito will be happy here."

Tobirama tensed. Was there some hidden meaning in those words?

Mito huffed. "Don't act like a snob, Harii."

"You're one to talk. After all your commentary and zoning plans for the village... are you acting all demure for your future husband?" Harii said with a teasing smile that lit up his bright green eyes.

Mito gave him a long suffering look that made her aristocratic features look more human.

Hashirama grinned, apparently thrilled at their banter. "I'm glad to hear that. We're still building and planning. I'll be glad to hear any input to improve what we're set up so far."

Harii tilted his head. "If you need input, then you definitely need to talk to Nara-san. She has some interesting ideas."

AC_D18: Team 7 goes to Hogwarts

Or more specifically, Naruto, Sakura and Sai go to Hogwarts. Are they Team Yamato in that combination even when Yamato isn't there? Or are they just Team 7? I like them being Team 7.

Anyway, this isn't AtO related. Just another short attempt at putting a spin on an old crossover cliche.

Warnings: Plotholes
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Sakura rubbed at the newly inked seal on her arm as she followed Naruto through the stone corridors. The worn stone corridors felt old, much older than the abandoned temples scattered around Fire Country.

A few of Sai's ink insects returned from their scouting and passed through the layered genjutsu she was using to hide her team's presence. One insect landed on her wrist, splattered into ink which shifted on her skin to form the words, 'No fixed pattern for stairs. Need alternate route."

Naruto changed directions, showing that he too had gotten Sai's message. Or maybe his henge-ed clones had sent the information back to him already.

Sakura wished they had a usable map of the location. It would have helped them reach their destination faster instead of wasting time with scouting the location. But the only other team that had ventured here decades ago had been unable to produce a map of the castle.

Researchers suspected something had removed the useful information. Luckily, one of the previous team had remembered a distinct painting at their mission destination. So they weren't completely clueless about where they needed to go.

AC_D15: A wild Uchiha appears

And chaose ensues, as expected.

Writing an Uchiha seemed like a fun thing to do for today- the 15th day of the Advent calendar.

Warnings: Plot holes and a very impossible scenario. Not part of AtO
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Harry had never considered himself directionally challenged but after the strange thick fog had filled the forest around him, he had lost all bearings. Even Hedwig seemed bothered by the low hanging fog and stayed perched on his shoulder.

As he moved forward in the hopes of finding some shelter from the disorienting fog, a pained groan and a wet cough made Harry pause. Feeling an intense sense of deja vu, Harry called out, "Hello? Are you all right? Do you need help?"

Just like the last time Harry had been in this situation, the person refused to answer and tried to muffle their coughs.

"I can still hear you," Harry muttered as he followed the muffled sounds. In a matter of minutes, the sharp metallic stench of blood in the air guided Harry to find a person slumped by a tree a few feet away.

AC_D13: Scholarly Resource

How has your weekend been so far?

Mine has been cold and full of reading, so I thought I'd carry that on to my blog post. The reading bit at least.

In the past few years, I've found that scholarly articles and books have become my biggest research asset. Not only do they teach me new things about specific cultures but they also help me think of new story ideas.

And more importantly, they provide all the in-depth information I need in one place (book/article) without making me go through tons of goggle search results. 

Right now, I use e-Duke Books. You can find a whole bunch of books and journal articles about a variety of subjects on here. I tend to gravitate towards the history section even though I started out in the Asian Studies section (trying to get some AtO world building ideas). But there's so much more available.

If you've got the time, give it a go and let me know which section pulls you in.
Polar

AC_D12: Another HPxSherlock story bit.

It's day 12 of the Advent calender and it's another Friday night. I'm super glad it's the weekend especially after yesterday's day in the snow. Trudging through inches of snow tires me out and makes me go to bed earlier than usual-it's what made me miss yesterday's blog post.

Anyway, today's post is going to be another crossover I started but never completed because I lost interest in Sherlock.

Summary: A drunken night out for Ron and Harry turns out a bit more dangerous than they'd initially expected. Danger, new friendships and a new baddie are bound to keep things interesting for a while.

Warnings: Plot holes. Very unedited.
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“And then,” Ron slurped his beer noisily. “We looked around the house and guess where little Fred was.”

Harry snickered. “He's been hanging around Teddy too long.”

Ron nodded. “Gosh, the look on Hermione's face was priceless. She was so beautiful when she was angry.”

“You're still a masochist.”

“And damn proud of it.” Ron said, “We're really lucky, eh?”

Harry nodded. “No doubt about it. Now what so you sat about ending out monthly drinking night with something spectacular?”

Ron rubbed his hands together in delight. “I suggest we go through with the pool plan.”

Harry scoffed. “You always suggest that plan.”

“And you always say no. But tonight you have to admit, it's the perfect plan for tonight.”

Harry tried to recall what made today so bad that Ron thought he'd actually agree to the 'pool' plan. But the alcohol had done it's work and the only thing Harry remembered about today was that it had bad enough to warrant all their drinking in a muggle bar so that they wouldn't be recognized.

He counted more than enough beer bottles at their table. “All right! Let's go ahead with the pool plan.”

Ron whooped in delight, placed a few bills of muggle money on the table and stumbled out of their booth. “I have everything prepared already. This is going to be our best work yet.”

Harry snorted. “You say that every month with every plan we carry out.”

“And I'm usually right, aren't I? People still don't know who put that purple llama in Buckingham palace or...”

“Yes, yes, don't speak so loudly or you'll get us caught.” Harry snickered. “But since we've failed to carry out this plan the past three times. I think we better employ some real luck this time.”

Ron grinned. “You have some Felix...”

Harry shushed him and looked around in slight worry but nodded.

-x-x-x-x-x-

“Why does the world always have something against our pool plan,” Ron said out loud. His voice seemed twice as loud in the empty place. “every single time, there's something or someone who stops us from...”

Even through the muted haze of alcohol, Harry could tell that the scene on the other side of the pool was not a friendly one. It's that thought that makes him look at all three faces carefully as Ron continued his drunken rant against the world. The curly-haired man wearing the black suit and holding a gun grabbed Harry's attention, making his sluggish mind search for a connection until he hissed with recognition. “Holmes?”

Ron, still and tense beside him, twitched as he paused for breath after his ridiculous rant and whispered, “Mycroft?”

“Shit! No,” Harry slapped Ron on the back, discreetly applying a sobering and a super-sensory charm on Ron and whispered softly. “The brother. That arse gave us pictures of him, remember?” Harry's mind cleared substantially and his thoughts sped up, thanks to Ron's stealthy shots of magic on him. 

AC_D10: Magic and Manda (Part 2)

Day 10 of the Advent Calender calls for the continuation of my favourite crack HPxNaruto ideas.

Say hello to everyone's favourite snake... Manda. That's a lie. He's nobody's favourite. Not even his mother's. Poor guy.

Anyway if you're confused, here's the first part of Magic and Manda in case you haven't read it before.

Warnings: Crack so there are plotholes. And still very short.
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“You're the boy who killed my little brother,” Manda said, a little irritated that he needed to speak in this foreign human language. It had been a long time since he'd had to converse in one of the languages of the Western world.

The boy, a small tiny thing even by human standards with poisonous green eyes, kept his thin wooden stick pointed at Manda's head as he hissed back, “Do you mean the basilisk?”

Manda stilled in surprise. Because the hiss hadn't just been accents to the human language, it was the proper hissing of a snake.

His younger sibling had said something about rare humans being able to speak their unique tongue. But Manda hadn't really believed him and dismissed it as delusional talk. Something that his brother said to get into their mother's good graces.

“Yes,” Manda lowered his head and hissed back. “He was a basilisk here.”

The boy paled. “I didn't have a choice. And it was really just luck that I...”

“Stabbed and killed him?” Manda hissed, helping the boy finish.

AC_D9: A bit of Sakura

This is a plotbunny about Sakura that has been pestering me every since Kaguya first appeared in the manga.

I've got a bunch of idea notes written for how the plot could go but I only have a tiny bit of a rough draft written.

Even so, I hope you enjoy it and the possibilities it hints at.

Warnings: Short and plothole ridden.
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“You would be a vessel,” the woman said. “The perfect vessel for me.”

There was a tinge of, god why did it have to be a vessel thing again. Wasn't Orochimaru enough? Did he get that whole thing from this she-demon?

“How am I the perfect vessel for you?” Sakura said, convinced that prolonging the conversation would give her an idea- any idea- on how to deal with this new madness.

“With you I'll be able to access every aspect of power. You have control and you understand the need for this.”

Sakura stayed silent.

“They refuse to listen. They think they are so special.” The woman's voice slid through her mind, her soft words filled with dark promise. “But we can make them bow.”

Sakura admitted it was a very tempting thought.

Sasuke and Naruto obliterated Madara's possessed body.

“Look at how easily they were deceived,” the woman said. “They only see what they want to see. And we can use that to our advantage. They won't know. They won't expect us. We can win, together.”

Sakura took a deep breath, thinking over her options. “Okay.”

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Personally, I think Sakura would make an awesome tyrant ruler.  

But my ideas are more of a heroic Sakura who traps Kaguya inside her and then goes on a long solitary journey to fix things. Obviously things don't go according to plan and Sakura becomes the most dangerous person in existence.

If there's already a story like this somewhere, please send me the link.

Polar

AC_D8: Fantasy Manga Recs

Fantasy is my favourite genre. Anything with swords, magic, interesting worlds and characters is perfect to read when I need a break.

So I thought I'd share a few of my favourite fantasy manga.

1. Saver(Complete)
In a nutshell, the main character, Lena gets transported to a different time and place where she's destined to save the world. Also, she hides the fact that she's woman and calls herself Ley. But there's so much more to that- good artwork as it progresses, a fleshed out interesting world, characters with all sorts of motivations and a really good female lead character.
Lena/Ley is wonderful- she's stoic, a strong fighter and a good leader. 

2. Id
Chunhwa, the super-strong male protagonist who goes by Id, also gets transported to another world filled with elves, dwarves, etc and gets mistaken for a girl. This manga has a very interesting world, unique ideas and generally likeable characters. But I haven't seen an update for this in a while.

3. Claymore (Complete)
In a world where monstrous 'youma' eat people and can disguise themselves as humans, a mysterious organization uses half-human-half-youma female warriors called Claymores to deal with the monsters. Brilliant fight scenes, monster designs and good characters. I've followed this for a while and was sad when it completed this October, but I enjoyed it a lot.

4. Kubera
Having a god's name, Kubera's story starts when she sees her village getting destroyed. In her journey forward, she meets magicians, gods and demons. I've been following this for a while now and I like all the different elements in- mostly the hinted past and possible future. And I'm eager to see what happens in the future.

5. Berserk
Warning: This manga contains mature/horrid subject matter.
This manga has been around for a while. It's grim, tragic and violent and I like it. When I first started reading this, I couldn't stop because I wanted to know what happened next. Most times, horrible things happened. This is a manga that brings tragedy to a whole new level. But I follow it because the story is good. The artwork gets better. I don't expect a happy ending for this but I'm still keen to see how it ends.

I do follow a ton of other fantasy manga (Fairy Tail, Rain, etc), but I don't want to just list them without giving my thoughts on them. So I'll slowly add to this list in the future.

Polar

AC_D7: An old HPxSupernatural Story

Welcome to the seventh day of the Advent Calendar. I hope you've had a good weekend. 

Today, I thought I'd put up bits of one of my older stories. A Harry Potter and Supernatural crossover story that I started ages ago. I had a good 12,000 + words written for it. But I lost interest in Supernatual after the fifth season- I just couldn't get into the sixth season's plot- and I abandoned the show and the story.

Even so, I re-read it every once in a while because I have a soft spot for it. And after one such re-reading, I was inspired with my Uchihas' Gods plotbunny.

So here's some of the less sappy bits of the story.

Warnings: Very fragmented bits and pieces from initial draft. Might not make a whole lot of sense.

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The old wizard looked between the three of them with a worried expression. “About that... it's the year 2010. It's been thirteen years since you defeated Voldemort for the second time.”

Harry felt like he just been punched in the gut. 

"Thirteen...” Hermione gasped out in shock.

Ron made an oddly horrified sound in the back of his throat as his grip on Harry's arm tightened.

"But we haven't aged,” Harry said, trying to keep calm even as horrified thoughts buzzed around his mind. 

The wizard nodded. “You three haven't aged since the time you were found unconscious on the day of Voldemort's defeat.”

-x-x-x-x-x-

Harry opened and closed his mouth a few times, frowning at the odd feeling in his mouth. “What is that?”

The old wizard in front of them looked confused. 

"Feels like... something in the air?” Hermione said hesitantly. 

"Something in the air?” Flamel repeated. 

 

Harry nodded in agreement with Hermione's assessment. 

 

"Feels ashy and slimy at the same time,” Ron said with a grimace. “Very disgusting.”

"It's not supposed to be here,” Harry said absently.

"Here?”

Harry bit his lip and tried to put the sensation into words. “Here... on earth?”

Hermione made an agreeing sound even though she too look confused. 

Flamel frowned as he said, “Some of the seers have been feeling the same thing over the past two years.” 

"So there's something going on?” Harry asked.

AC_D6: Editing Resources

It's the sixth day of Advent Calendar series and it's been 'editing day' for me ever since I got home.

I'm not going to lie, it's been tedious.

I had to stop myself from writing various plotbunnies, because that would make me procrastinate and not go back to editing.

Thankfully, there are a few helpful things that I've found that makes editing easier.

1. Grammar Girl's Editing Checklist.

It's a long checklist and I like it for being so thorough and educational. It's easy to forget the basic rules of grammar sometimes.

2. ProWritingAid

An online editor. Just copy bits of your writing (it only allows 1000 words at a time) and be astounded by the amount of stuff (especially the little errors) this thing picks up. It's good for catching things you'd otherwise miss.

3. NaturalReader

I may or may not have mentioned this bit of software before. But this is a text to speech software and it's been a real help for me. Having your work read out to you, helps you pick up errors or odd sounding bits that you would have missed with plain old reading.

Also, the way the voices mess up non-english words will make you giggle. And that's a good way to deal with the monotony of editing.

Okay, I'm going to go back to editing now. Wish me luck in staying focussed.

Polar

AC_D5: Anime Recs

As the fifth day of the Advent Calender, but mostly since it's a Friday night, I'm going to be posting some anime recommendations.

Or just two actually, because I haven't had a chance to watch too much anime over the past few months. And I generally prefer reading manga.

But these two anime were wonderful. They're a few years old, but if you haven't seen them yet and you've got some time to spare over the weekend, then I highly recommend watching them.

1. Seriei no Moribito (Guardian of the Sacred Spirit) 26 episodes

Genre:Adventure, Fantasy

The basic premise of this anime is a prince get possessed by a spirit, the king feels like he should be killed but the queen wishes to keep him alive and hires a bodyguard. In comes Balsa, a female spear-wielding bodyguard. She sensible, fights expertly with a spear and saves everyone.

It's not a super innovative plot, but I think what makes this anime worthwhile is the characters and their back stories. All of them have a good amount of development. Personally, I just like seeing a strong lead female character- especially when she's physically and mentally strong.

2. Hanasaku Iroha (Blossoms for Tomorrow) 26 episodes
Genre: Slice of Life, Drama

In this anime, the main character Ohana, has to live with her grandmother after her mother runs away due to debt collectors. The grandmother is a strict owner of a hot springs inn and makes Ohana work. There's a bit of generation clash for a bit, but there are many other sub-plots to enjoy.

Again, it's the characters that make this anime interesting for me. They're all rather lovable. I also liked seeing the inner workings and the cultural aspects of a hot springs inn.

So, yeah, that's all for tonight. Do tell me your thoughts if you watch or have already watched these anime.

Polar

AC_D4: Ninja-Harry

Welcome to the fourth day of the Advent Calendar.

Today felt like an experimental writing sort of day. So I tried to put my spin on an old HPxNaruto cliché- the one where Harry grows up training as a ninja, has a sensei, team, goes to Hogwarts etc. 

 

Warning: So many plotholes because I ignore canon timelines.

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“Sensei will be happy that you're back in Konoha,” Genma said, his senbon moving from one side of his mouth to the other as he kept his eyes fixed on the gravestone in front of him. “It's been a long time since you visited.”

The guilt nearly overpowered her, but Shizune stepped forward and stood beside her old team-mate, letting old memories flood her mind. Memories of the first time she's met her team and thought they'd never get along. Memories of eating with her entire team eating out after training. And even vivid memories of sensei's lifeless body after she saved them during the war. “I couldn't leave Tsunade-sama's side. Not when she was...”

“I know,” Genma said. “I'm sure sensei understands too. She was nice like that. Maybe too nice.”

“Did Jiraiya-sama leave those?” Shizune said after a long moment, motioning to the large bouquet of colourful flowers that livened up the entire space.

Genma nodded. “Sensei was his student. She's probably happy that he's not doing what he does for Minato-san's grave. ”

Shizune turned to him, unable to hide her curiosity.

“He leaves a copy of his books there and some sake along with a whole bunch of blinding yellow flowers.”

“Sensei would probably be happier if the whole team was here to visit her,” Shizune said, unable to ignore the absence of their third team-mate. “After all he was her favourite.”

AC_D3: A Change in Age (Part 3)

For the third day of my Advent Calendar, I'm going to be posting the third part of an AtO omake story that I started a long time ago. 

Of course, it's been 2 years since the last update and even though I found my notes about the story, I can't recall the exact details of how I wanted to progress.

So this update is shorter than I would like... but it's an update none the less. 

Here are the previous 2 parts:(Part 1) [] (Part 2)

Warnings: Not a part of AtO. Also, not much happens.

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“Are you excited to go home, your highness?”

Trying not to laugh at how Sakura's ridiculous expressions made Naruto giggle at the front of the ship, Harry glanced at the minister. “I'd like to say yes. But I'm worried. I didn't leave because I wanted to.”

The minister blinked, apparently surprised. “You've become a lot more candid, my lord.”

“I've had to. Konoha isn't big on formality.” Harry said with a practised air as he went over Kakashi and Shizune's instructions for what to say. “And I've enjoyed the anonymity of common life in Konoha.”

The minister rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Surely there's something you must have missed.”

The impromptu lessons from Shizune told him that he should say he missed his parents or even the glowing plants at night. But before he could put those lessons and thoughts to good use, he blurted, “Dumplings.” Aware of Kakashi's disapproving gaze, Harry continued, not knowing where his sudden surge of confidence came from. “Konoha makes nice pastries. But their dumplings leave a lot to be desired. There's just something missing.”

AC_D2: The Moon's Blessing

Welcome to day 2 of my Advent Calendar! Hope you are all well.

Today, I'm going to put up a crossover/fusion plotbunny that was inspired by two things.

1. The 20^th anniversary Sailor Moon relaunch that I recently found even though it's been out for quite a while.

2. Naruto's lacklustre ending. 

Warnings: Not as edited as I'd like and... it's a bit crazy? But then again, everything I write is a bit crazy. Also, plotholes.

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The moon's bright light taunted him with promises of power and freedom.

Vowing yet again that he'd conquer it, he turned away from made his way through the darkness to a hidden cave. A cave that he'd found years ago when he'd been near death. The cave that housed the being that had healed him and given him another chance.

As he stopped before a crystalline altar, a pale woman's spirit appeared. Her delicate features twisted into a mockery of welcome as she looked at him. Her third eye-with nine tomoe arranged on ripple like patterns-gleamed with greed.

“Have you brought more energy for me, Madara?” The woman asked, her voice soft unable to hide her menace.

Madara unsealed the scroll and pulled out the large group of unconscious ninja he had captured.

The woman's face twisted in pleasure as a hazy red dome surrounded the group of ninja.

His skin prickled at the raw amount of energy being channelled in through the air but he forced himself to stay still and watch.

Within moments, the woman looked brighter than before.

Madara spared the mummified corpses a brief glance before they crumbled into ash.

“I can raise the generals now,” the woman said, her lilac eyes glancing off in the distance. “While they gather energy for me, you can bring me the Silver Crystal.”

Advent Calendar: Day 1

My plans for October updates failed miserably. And November... ugh, the only thing I got was dark undereye circles from lack of sleep. I'm glad it's December- maybe now I can catch up on a bit of sleep in between Christmas prep.

As you can see from the blog post title, I've decided to do an advent calender for my blog.Which means a blog post every day (hopefully) until the 24th. The posts will be a mix of things- recommendations, fanfic bits, etc.

I don't have a concrete plan on what I'll put up, but I'll try to keep things interesting. Feel free to leave some suggestions or requests for upcoming Advent Calender days if you have any- and I'll see what I can do.

For the first day, I'm going to start off with giving you some interesting links.

1. Katsura Hoshino's Instragram
This instragram rec is specifically for any D.Gray-man fans who haven't already found out about it. It belongs to the mangaka of D.Gray-man and she posts quite a bit of art on there. Since she seems quite active, I hope she's doing much better health-wise. And I also hope that there will be a new chapter in the upcoming months.

2. Ask Danzo 
I found this gem when I researching some plot ideas and I'm so glad that I did.
I wish there was more content on the blog, but every single post on there at the moment makes me smile. Also, dare I say it, the blog makes Danzo kinda likeable.

3. Artist: Olggah
Has some fantastic fanart of Naruto. My favourites are Shikaku and Kaguya. Shikaku's expression in the picture makes me think of all sorts of AtO scenes where he's just heard about Harry's latest shenanigans meeting with the elders. 

4. FFnet to ePub convertor
This was recommended to me and it has been quite handy in reading some of the larger multi-chapters fanfiction on ffnet. As the name says, it converts a fanfiction from ffnet to an ePub for easy reading offline.

5. Wordcount from AtO15 first draft: 12,705
As a first draft, this is nowhere near ready to be published online. And the wordcount will go down with each edit. But I thought I should reassure you that I haven't forgotten about AtO. Even though I'm concentrating on updates for other stories, I still work on AtO when I can.

That's enough for day 1, I think. I'll see you here tomorrow.
Polar

The end of Naruto

...is so close.

I'm glad. Obscenely so.

I know that it's the end of an era and stuff, and I should be more torn up about it. But I'm more curious than anything about how Kishi will handle the ending.

How much clear resolution do we get? How many things will be left open ended?

The things I'm interested to see 'resolved' would be
- Team 7 dynamics, all of them including Yamato and Sai. How do they work things out if they work things out
- Orochimaru. What does he plan to do?

What about you guys? What are you waiting to find out as Naruto ends?

Polar

AtO with Zombies, of a sort.

Happy end of September.

As if. Who can be happy at how quickly the time has passed?

I can't be happy because I'm so behind on all things fanfiction related. All my organized plans and to-do lists have been completely useless in keeping me on track with updates.

But I have shiny new plans and better to-do lists.

Which means, October is going to be interesting. Either I kick my procrastination in the butt and put some updates online, or I fail miserably and get nothing done.

In the spirit of getting stuff online, here's something fun I've had on my computer for a while. This plot bunny was inspired by a review I got for AtO's Chapter 14.

Warnings: Not as edited as I'd like it to be. Not part of AtO.

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Cramming down the last of his seaweed snack, Harry gathered his magic for a reparo spell and aimed at the crack still visible on the newly repaired doll's neck. His magic washed out onto the doll, the hairline crack glowed but remained after the magic vanished.

Frowning, Harry aimed another reparo spell at the crack. 

The persistent crack remained even after another five reparo spells. 

Gritting his teeth in frustration, Harry tugged his wand out of its holster and gathered a chunk of magic. “Reparo!”

His fingers tingled, his wand buzzed with warmth and a wave of magic shot out to his target. 

The crack glowed, rippled and smoothed out. 

His magic lingered around the doll as a visible glow before it dissipated through the doll and into the air with an audible shock-wave.

The doll's smooth surface rippled, bulged and shifted into a dark leathery surface. The leathery transformation continued until the entire doll had rough leathery skin. 

Within seconds, under a ripple of his magic, every doll in the room changed to have dark leathery skin as a thick smell of rot filled the room. 

Wary, Harry kept a tight grip on his wand as the last of his lingering magic sank down into the lifeless dolls. 

To Harry’s horror, the glassy eyes darkened with life and swivelled around in their sockets until all the dolls- no, the humanoid creatures now- blinked and turned to stare at Harry as one. 

Things that have been eating up my spare time!

1. Getting tons of Vitamin D by being out in the sun. Alas, also getting some nasty insect bites.

2. Eating far too many ice creams and smoothies.

3. Waiting for Sakura to kick ass and save the world in the manga. Having to settle for very elaborate imagination scenarios instead.

4. Writing a lot of nonsensical things that I'll need to edit in the future without going mad.

5. Watching way too much football and cursing at the television.

6. Reading some interesting things that were recommended to me.
Here are two of them

• Worm - A web serial that sounded like something I would never be interested in. But it sucked me in completely till the end. 
• Heartstone - A Pride and Prejudice fanfiction set in an alternate fantasy universe with dragons. Again, not something I would have looked at on my own but it kept my interest till the end.

Things I should be doing but haven't been doing at all:
1. Editing and revising. It's amazing how I suddenly find so many other things to do instead of editing and revising my writing. 

Anyway, I hope you're all doing fine.
Polar

Answering some questions.

Just some answers to questions from this blog's 'Ask Me' page.

Some of these answers are rather spoilerific with recent Naruto chapters. 

1. Have you caught up you are to recent Naruto chapters? What do you think about the history of the ninja world. And what do you think of Kaguya?

I have caught up and I have mixed feelings about both those things to be honest.

The history is fascinating but part of me goes- where did all this come from? Some of it just feels so sudden. Another part of me is disappointed at the lack of Uzumaki history. With all the Hashirama and Madara history, all I could think of was... where's Mito? Shouldn't there be something about her in all this? I'm hoping that some Uzumaki history and information comes up in future chapters instead of us having to see Sasuke as an ass all the time.

As for Kaguya. First of all, yay for female villain who's powerful. Not so much yay for her current reasons of villianry. I hope there's more to her character than just 'I want to rule the world blah blah'. I want to see more of her past explaining why she's like that. Am I too crazy to hope for some sort of direct connection between her and the Uzumaki clan? Probably.

2. Against the odds is not on your update list. Is it on another hiatus?

I got a similar PM on FFnet about this and I'll tell you the same thing I told the other person.

The short answer is no, I'm not updating AtO anytime soon. That doesn't mean I'm not working on the next chapter. I'm just concentrating more on the other story ideas because they're less of a hassle.

3.  Did you ever consider making Karin the first living Uzumaki that Harry met?

Alternate Jobs: Baker

Another possible job that Harry could have ended up with if he'd answered differently when getting his papers. You can find the previous jobs here: Gardener and Fortune Teller.

This idea sort of grew and grew and I had to stop it before it got too crazy.

Warnings: Un-editied, a what-if scenario, not part of AtO and probably full of plot holes.

“Not the right taste!” An angry man yelled as he slammed the door open and stormed out of the room. “You just don't want to hire someone that's better than you.”

Considering the person before the angry man had left in tears, Harry wondered if he'd be better off leaving before the interview itself.

“You're the last applicant,” A gentle voice said as the door slip open. Clad in large armour with purple markings on his cheeks, the red-haired man would have been intimidating if his eyes weren't so tired. He smiled and motioned for Harry to enter.

Keeping a careful grip on the box he'd brought along, Harry entered. Removing the cooling charms he'd put on the box, Harry placed it on the only table in the room and took a seat at the chair he was shown to.

“I'm Chōza Akimichi,” the man said, his voice still gentle as he took a seat opposite Harry.

“I'm Harii.” Harry hesitated before he added. “I just came to Konoha a few days ago. The gate guards, Izumo and Kotetsu, were the ones who told me about this.”

“Ah, yes,” Chōza said, “The had mentioned sending someone over.”

After some more polite small talk, Harry opened the box.

Chōza stared at the cake inside for a long moment before he cut out a generous portion. With each scoop of cake, he chewed slowly with an unwavering expression.

When he finally emptied his plate, Chōza looked at Harry with a serious expression and said, “This is... perfect. Not too soft and not too dry.”

Remembering the long string of spells he had leaned and used on the batter and then on the baking cake itself, Harry couldn't help but congratulate himself at the end result.

“You're hired!”

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Happy June!

Even though it feels like time's passing really fast, I'm actually glad we're in June.

The weather is nicer with lots more sunshine. The sun doesn't set till late which means more time to be outside for barbeques and stuff.

Only downside to this is the fact that I tend to stay up later to spend time on the computer. YouTube time. Seriously, the amount of times I've found myself on there watching videos instead of reading/doing productive things is crazy.

One minute I'll be searching for an old song I just remembered and the next thing I know, I'm watching a creepy game playthrough in the dark.

You're probably thinking- ah, this means there's been no writing going on.

And you'd be wrong.

I have way too many scraps of paper filled with writing that needs to be typed out. Lots of stuff for the blog- I found my old notes for 'A change in age' and other ideas from comments and reviews that I want to expand/fill out for AtO. Plus there's 3 deleted scenes I need to finalize and put up as well.

And the rest of the writing is for Fairy Tail story ideas and trying to see if I can blend some of the new Naruto manga info into my AtO mythos/backstory. Honestly, the only thing I'm keen to have in AtO is Sakura with her yin seal.

So, lots of writing and plotting but not enough editing- which is what I need to be doing to get some updates on FFnet.

I'm sure I'll get things done- I mean, I'll eventually run out of YouTube videos to watch, right?

No, seriously, I'll make June a productive month in terms of updates.

What about you guys? Got any to-dos for the month of June?

Polar

Review Celebration: Uzumaki Dinner Table

This post is a celebration for AtO getting 1500+ reviews because that's a ridiculously large amount of reviews.

Since I can't cover my readers and reviewers with glitter as thanks, I'll have to settle for uploading some AtO omake writing.

This is an expansion of Harry's imaginary dinner table from Chapter 14. It's missing quite a lot of people because I'm lazy I didn't want to make this very long.

Warnings: Unedited. Lots of ridiculousness, unrealistic wish fulfilment and plot holes (language barrier being the smallest of them) because of it. Not at all a part of AtO timeline.
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“Did you two go out and watch that ridiculous movie again?”

Naruto pouted. “It's not ridiculous, nee-san.”

Harry nodded alongside his cousin. “You liked it too.”

“That was the first time I saw it,” Hermione said with a huff as she pulled Naruto into a hug. “Even Ron got sick of watching it after the eight time. Why is it still in theatres anyway?”

“It gets better with every watch,” Harry said, unwilling to let his favourite movie get slandered. “Ron would have come with us if he didn't have a cold from travelling here.”

“Stupid boys,” Hermione hugged Harry.

Chapter 14 A/N

First of all, cake for everyone- I actually put the chapter up when I said I would (a few hours off from the May 10th date because I got distracted by some LPs on YouTube after uploading DtE)

Anyway on to the notes.

As I mentioned before, I had two versions of this chapter- each with vastly different events and ideas. No, I'm not kidding. The only real common point was the basic premise of going to Suna.

The first version-which will never see the light of day except for want to read it due to boredom- had Danzo conning/pressuring/guilting Harry into taking the Suna job, a visit to the Nara labs, Kakashi going to Suna, Gaara and Harry have some sort of awkward conversation through metaphors (literal metaphors, for some reason. I don't understand what I was thinking when I wrote it).

In the end, I just disliked the feel of what I had. So the alternate chapter 14 came into being a few months back.

Wordcount
AtO14 Ver.1 (unpublished): 10, 969
AtO 14 Ver.2 (Draft): 16,633
  '' (final): 13,370        
I didn't even realize that I'd edited out 3000+ words. That's crazy. I wonder what I edited out over the months.

Danzo
I couldn't imagine him not being in this chapter. At this point in the timeline, he must be thinking of how useful Harry can be and he'll probably want to get a better feel of the poor guy.
So Danzo, with his favourite rice tea, tries to understand Harry's mentality with a surprisingly non-hostile conversation.
Was he ultimately disappointed or happy with what he gleaned off Harry?- that would be telling.


The Wandering Tiger
Some  imagery that inspired the creation of the teahouse.

There was another one- with a vivid blue pond in front of a house, but I can't seem to find it. 

The Significance of a Date!

I know, I know! Today marks 2 weekends (Easter weekend doesn't really count cos it was holiday time) without an update.

No, life didn't kick me in the face again. I was actually very good with allotting time for writing and editing. Like I had to-do lists and reward systems for doing things.

I just didn't want to update... because of the date. 

The last time I updated AtO was May 10, 2012. And lo and behold, the upcoming Saturday is May 10, 2014.

It was like a sign.

I wanted to update AtO on May 10. It'll be a perfect 2 years since the last update. 

Isn't that cool?

No? Really? I think that's sort of cool- like, I didn't give up even after 2 years. That's just me being delusional and other readers won't even know the significance of the date?

Well, it's more of a for-me thing, anyway. A silly victory. Double updates (DtE& AtO) on the date that might have been the end of AtO updates 2 years ago. I sort of wish I had two AtO chapters to update on the 10th instead of using DtE but it'll have to do.

Hope you don't mind the ridiculousness.
Polar

Happy Easter!

It's good to be back in front of my own computer... even though I was only away for like 2 and a half days.

Unlike most people, I had the Monday after Easter off. It was probably meant as a day to relax after all the Easter celebrations.

But I'm home and I'm tired. It's a good kind of tired, but I really wish I didn't have to wake up early the next day.

Anyway, wanted to put a post up to reassure you that I haven't disappeared. And also to wish you a happy Easter- if you celebrate it.

Polar

The Last Fairy's Flight A/N

My second Fairy Tail oneshot story featuring Lucy. You can find it here, if you haven't read it.

I really loved working on this story. Not only did it contain awesoome Lucy but it involves (or at least hints at) my favourite topic- Time Travel.

It actually reminded me of the first fanfiction story I'd uploaded on FFnet- a time travel thing with Minato. I removed that story before I completed it because I realized that I had plot issues that I couldn't work out.

Anyway, back to the Fairy Tail Story.

Stats
Starting wordcount: 10,609
Final wordcount: 9,598

Lucy: Like I've probably mentioned in previous posts, I really like her as a character. And I see so many lost opportunities for her to be even more awesome in the manga- opportunities which I can't help but want to explore.
Future!Lucy's arc was something I was very curious about. The manga hints at how things were after the dragons came. But I wanted more. And so instead of Lucy travelling back a few days after the Grand Magic games, I decided to make Lucy travel back after seven years of hard work and suffering on her part (seven being FT's go to number).

Lucy holding her own against Rouge/dragons: After seven years of surviving and watching everyong she knows die, I definitely think Lucy would grow strong. Not strong enough to defeat Rouge, but strong enough to withstand their attacks for a while before she escaped.
It's not too far of a stretch because manga-Lucy has grown stronger in the short time since she joined the guild. So seven years or constant battle to survive would definitely make her strong.

Rouge: My headcanon for this story is that Rouge had a choice early on- he could have either helped Lucy fight the dragons or he could join Zeref. Tainted by his shadows, he chose Zeref. He learnt how to control dragons and decided to cleanse the world of people who didn't have magic/didn't follow Zeref. He's responsible for killing most of the mages that Lucy knew- both from Fairy Tail and other guilds who had been helping her.
Since Zeref's demons would have wanted to destroy all of humanity and human magic (according to the manga), he dealt with them when Zeref went back to sleep.
The last time he and Lucy met/fought face-to-face, Zeref was there. The battle was terrible. Any mages there with Lucy died. Only Dornabolt survived with horrible burns. Even Lucy got a fatal injury. And all her zodiacs had been trapped on Earthland by Zeref.  So the Celetial King intervened, came to Earthland and got terribly injured when he saved them all. His injuries left him unable to leave the Celestial Realm. And Zeref re-entered his sleep.

Celestial Spirits: It's hard for me to pick one as a favourite. They're all interesting and work well with Lucy. And it wasn't too hard to imagine how they'd be after seven years with Lucy- stronger than ever, overprotective of their owner and ready go the extra mile for her.

Polar
P.S. Can you guess how many more stories I have with Lucy as the main character?

My Updating Grade

Would be a 60% or a C- since I uploaded 3 out of the 5 things I had planned. And that's only if I'm lenient with my deadline date- since my 3rd update was technically uploaded on the 13th.

3 updates in two weeks- it's not too bad actually. In fact, it's very good for me. I feel rather productive at getting three stories out from my fanfiction folder. 

And I've realized the late Friday- early Sunday period is the go-to time for me to get updates on FFnet. If I don't get an update up during that time, then it'll be postponed to the next week.

But maybe the past 2 weeks were kind of easy because I was dealing with new stories. There were no expectations to live up to with those 3 stories- so I uploaded them without any worries.

The next 2 things on the update list -DtE and AtO- is completely different. Even without opening those files, I can't help but feel slightly intimidated by the thought of finally uploading them. It's been ages since the last updates and there needs to be a proper flow from the previous chapters or the readers will be...don't even get me started with the plot woes that will definitely spring up once I do open the files.

Anyway, I'm going to try and keep my updating grade somewhat passable and get the two monstrous updates up next weekend.

Wish me luck.
Polar
P.S. Another way that AtO is intimidating- I have two files for chapter 14! Yup, there are two versions of the chapter. Even though I've chosen one version for the update a tiny part of me can't help but wonder if the other version would be better.

Fairy tail OneShot A/N: Bonds that Bind

I put it up online today!

It was a bit weird uploading something on FFnet after so long. The layout was different (or felt different) and I completely forgot how to upload for a moment. I felt like a completely new user.

And then I clicked 'New Story' and FFnet went, "You haven't read the guidelines. Read and accept them..." which actually made me lose that new-user feeling and go, "Ah, good old forgetful FFnet."

Anyway some general A/Ns about the story.

Word Count: My rough draft was 6,023 words. Final version was 5088 according to my writing program.

Title and Summany: Both took the longest to edit. I went through 5 different titles and 10+ summaries- all completely different from each other. My final choice - the ones I ended up using- was solely based on both sounding sufficiently dramatic. (But not too dramatic.)

FT Movie: The movie was slightly predictable but it was likeable enough to inspire me to write a story. The ending was really touching and that was the main part that resonated with me when I watched it.

Lucy: I really like her as a character- she has so much potential. And she inspires tons of story ideas. I didn't have an opportunity to do much for her in this one-shot but the next oneshot will definitely giver her a better chance to shine.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the story if you read it.

Polar. 

Back!

Sorry about the lack of ...anything over the past year.

Life sort of kicked me in the face... a lot. It wasn't fun. But that's just how life is and all that matters is I'm back now.

So on to the fanfiction news.

Like I've put up on my ffnet profile, here's my updating schedule for the period of March 29th to April 12th.

• Fairy Tail Oneshot
• Another Fairy Tail Oneshot
• KHR Story: Chapter 1
• Detour to Evolution: Chapter 13
• Against the Odds: Chapter 14

I'll add the stories/chapters -one on any random day- in that specific order during the next two weeks.

I'll also try to update this blog with content in between those updates.

Speaking about the blog, some of you sent in messages through the ask page and I'm going to answer a few here.

1. To everyone who sent in the messages asking if I was all right/to give some proof of life/etc. There were quite a lot of you, which surprised me but thank you. Thank you for your concern and all the sweet messages. I'm sorry for worrying you guys with my absence. I wish I could explain why I had gone off the radar, so to speak, but I'd rather just focus on getting stuff done now. And I hope life gives you all some good karma for being so wonderful.

2. To the person who had this in their long message "...I'd be willing to put a dollar or three in the pot for a chapter - or even an omake. You don't update often enough I'd go bankrupt and hey, I'm earning money now (not much but $5-10 or so a year? Do able). It's just a suggestion, so please don't get insulted or anything, I just miss your work."

You, my reader, are crazy and awesome. I'm flattered that you'd want to pay anything for AtO's chapters but no, I'd never ask for money to get a chapter out. If you have money to spare, then do something positive with it- save it for your future or donate it to a worthy charity. I write fanfiction to level up my writing skills and to get some feedback. So, leaving a comment or review is all the payment I'll ever need.

3. "What do you feel about the latest naruto chapters and have you been reading the attack on titan manga?"

The latest Naruto chapters... well, they have some awesome moments. I especially loved Sakura's bits. Loved seeing Team 7 together for the little while. Loved Sai, especially when he noticed the still present cracks in Team 7. Liked seeing the Hokages and especially Minato. Like seeing bits of history of the ninja nations.
But I think on the whole, I'm tired of it. The villain(s) disappoint me. A lot. And there's other stuff, little stuff that piles on the irritation with each chapter.  Naruto, just end this agonizing war and become the damn Hokage already!

Attack on Titan- I remember reading it when there were 10-15 chapters out. But it didn't hold my attention enough to keep following it. Unlike others in the genre like Claymore and Berserk, I didn't actively anticipate new chapters so I didn't continue reading.

Polar.
P.S. It'll take time to reply to old PMs and stuff of FFnet, so bear with me while I get to replying.