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bebootsUnfortunately, I did lose several other fics, all in-progress: the layout for Rise of the Jinchuuriki (only a page or two long, but I'll have to reconstruct it and that will take several hours), an unnamed series of Hikaru no Go drabbles, the plan for a crossover between Harry Potter and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, a page of witty dialogue for a Death Note fic, and six pages of a crossover I've dubbed "Sasori at Hogwarts", among a few others that I can't remember.
I read over them many times as I worked on them, so I actually rewrote some of them, to the best that I can remember... which isn't good. They were like the epitome of wit the first time around! ;_;
Anyway, the point of this post (aside from wallowing in self pity) is twofold:
ONE: as a warning to all of you readers out there! If there's anything that you would cry if you lost saved onto your computer, back it up. NOW. I love you guys, and I don't want you to go through the same thing as me.
Two: I shall now follow my own advice and post the fic ideas that I've rewritten. They're fragmentary, un-beta'ed, kind of crappy, and subject to change. But they're my own form of backup. I'll never lose them completely again! Here they are, in all of their glory....
(Remember, these are VERY fragmentary, and aren't to be taken as any indication of my writing ability, or lack thereof. D: )
Random dialogue for an unnamed Death Note fic, a meeting between Yagami Raito and a grown up Kagami Taro (that kid from the pilot chapter, available in volume 13 of the manga - it's awesome, read it!)
"May I speak with you for a moment, Yagami-san?"
He didn't recognize the man; early- to mid-twenties, stylishly messy black hair, neat clothing... an average......
"You can call me Kagami Taro. Oh, and don't bother writing that name down. I never use my real name anymore."
"But you don't have this..." He held up a perfectly ordinary eraser. Identical ones to this could be found in any stationary store the world over.
"What's so special about it?"
"It can counter the effects of the Death Note."
"... I don't follow what you're saying." Inwardly, Raito was thinking fast. This guy knew about the Death Note...? How?
"You are doing what I didn't have the courage to do."
"And that is...?"
"You are trying to make the world a better place by becoming a murderer yourself."
Kagami withrew an apple from his pocket, and offered it to the apparation that they had both been studiously ignoring throughout their entire conversation. "Long time no see, Ryuk."
"You're still alive, huh?" The shinigami 'hyuk hyuk'ed in his typical manner.
Ryuk
. He should have known that this wasn't the first time that the Shinigami had become bored.
This was supposed to be a series of drabbles involving a hospitalized Sai (one who has come back to life after being a ghost, but being interned in the psych ward), and, later on, Shindou Hikaru, who is also hospitalized (but due to a car accident or something).
Hikaru no go Drabble
(Prologue?)
"Can you hear me? Mrs. Shindou?" (car accident, waiting room, Shindou in surgery, the shoulder of a kind stranger to cry upon)
"My name is Fujiwara no Sai. Don't worry. You're son's going to be all right."
"Are you a doctor here?"
"No, I'm a patient. But I know your son. He's going to be fine."
Another hole in the man's story was his knowledge of modern technology; he often used the ancient (well, 8-year-old) computer in the patient's lounge to play net-go. If he was really from the Heian era, how was it, then, that he knew how to use the internet? Once again, Sai would patiently explain that he had possessed a series of people, the latest of whom was a modern boy from Tokyo. He even had the gall to claim that he was the source of Shusaku's talent!
The only lead that they had to the man's identity was his insistance that he knew the boy known as Shindou Hikaru. They were going to let him call the boy, up until the point where he told them that he didn't know Hikaru's phone number. If they were really so close, how was it that he didn't even know the boy's phone number? They had never had to call home, he claimed! It was then assumed that, being an avid go-player, this "Sai" would have run across Shindou shou-dan's name in the media, and likely didn't know him personally. The doctors weren't about to trouble the boy with the delusions of an avid fan.
The forums were abuzz with the news: sai had reappeared on the netgo servers. He wasn't using his old account, but there was no mistaking his playing style; fifty-seven straight wins in the last month, and those were only the ones that were reported. Already, several self-proclaimed "sai" experts had independently identified the new user as the infamus sai. FujiwaranoSai, while unwieldy as a net-handle, wasn't too bad....
If his reappearance wasn't exciting enough, sai actually spoke with his opponents now. It wasn't idle chatter, being almost soley composed of shidou-go-like aftergame discussions, but the fact was that he was communicating. Apparently, he could only speak Japanese, although he apparently could stumble through basic chinese discussions (barely, the chinese netgo players claimed; he sounded like he had learned their language from classical textbooks, and was only barely understandable). His Japanese, of which they had numerous examples, was infallibly polite, and very fluent. This was taken as confirmation of the long-assumed fact that sai was Japanese in nationality. When asked about himself, sai didn't respond, so they couldn't confirm it.
He had even filled out his profile (minimally, of course), but some of the information, such as his gendre and birthday, could conceivably be true. His date of birth was listed as 964, but general consensus was that that was a typo.
Hikaru was horribly angry. How dare someone pervert Sai's memory like this! He had had to expose others who had tried to pretend to be sai before, but this guy... ... from what he could tell, this guy was good. He could have achieved fame on his own, without borrowing Sai's name. That just made it all the more worse.
Although, from the few kifu he had seen, the go was awefully familiar... but he couldn't allow himself to think that, to hope. If he got his hopes up, well... he didn't think he could take having them dashed. Not again. 5hindou was on the prowl.
To Sai's credit, he realized that he was playing Hikaru within seven moves. It took Hikaru another fifteen to be convinced of his opponent's identity.
"I'm actually a patient here. For some reason, the doctors didn't believe me when I said that I was a ghost who had returned to life after winning a game against the god of Go." This perfectly airy statement startled a laugh out of Hikaru. Sai's eyes crinkled behind his fan.
(Sai's request)
"Hikaru..." Sai began, cautiously, twisting his hands around the fan lying on his knees. "Hikaru, if you told them that I - that I wasn't lying when I said that I had possessed you..."
Shindou could see where this was leading. He dreaded what he had to say, but it had to be said. "Sai... I can't do that." The betrayed and hurt look on his mentor's face struck Hikaru to the core. "I can't. If I do, then they'll lock me up too, for having delusions. That, or they'll say that you threatened me into telling them what you wanted me to say, which means that it'll be worse for you. I can't. I'm sorry."
I swore to myself that I'd entice more people to read Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell with this fic. Again, it's only in it's point-form idea style, but... I"m proud of it.
(Why isn't the LJ cut working...?! D: I shall edit later! Give me a moment!)
Here's the remnants of the apple of my eye, my idea for a Naruto X Harry Potter crossover. I think it kind of explains itself... it's very chaotic, though, kind of beginning as a summary of events I want to include, but seguing into actual dialogue and narrative later on, then switching back to planning style... yeah, it's messed up, but there you are...
(Gah! Why isn't this one working either?! D: Okay, fine, I'll post them down there....)
If anybody has any comments/ideas/suggestions for these fics, please include them! :DD
(On a more bizzare note, I've never yet had the opportunity to use my "I'm having a bad day" avatar yet. Is it sad that I'm kind of happy to finally have the opportunity to use it? So there's that, at least.)
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no subject
Date: 2008-05-04 12:17 am (UTC)Harry is abandoned in an orphanage at the age of six or so. Meanwhile, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell are in need of a new servant, one who is hopefully proficient in magic. They manage to find Harry Potter, and adopt him legally as their ward (not their child). With the two magicians, Harry cooks, cleans, learns the basics of a classical education, the art of magic, and the history of magic in England.
Only, their history is "incorrect", or, rather, incomplete. Magicians (even the aureate and argentine magicians) are merely muggleborn wizards who were never told of the wizarding world, mostly because of ingrained pureblood prejudices. Magicians also had many more dealings with fairies than wizards did. Mr. Strange and Mr. Norrell prefer to be called "magicians" because "wizards" have an association with street-performers and frauds (Harry takes this perception with him to Hogwarts, and insists on being referred to as a genteman magician, not a wizard).
Mr. Strange & Mr. Norrell disturbed the delicate balance to keep the wizarding world separate from the muggle world in the 1820s, and the ministry (after several years of dithering) was just about to intervene when the events of the end of the book happened, and so the case against them was given up. However, the two magicians still have a charge of "magical misuse" against them, and an outstanding warrant for their arrest.
Strange and Norrell's mansion (still surrounded by the perpetual rainstorm) is unplottable, and so Harry is untraceable. The Boy-Who-Lived drops off the map for five years. Harry grows close to the two gentlemen, but he is always a servant, even if Strange acts more like a father with each passing year and Mr. Norrell the doting (if strict and kind of boring) uncle/great-uncle.
When he is sent his Hogwarts letter, there is hardly any debate: he's to go to this school and learn as much as he can about this alternate form of magic.
Dumbledore and McGonnagal come for Harry themselves. They arrive at the mansion prompty (apparation), and the door is answered by Strange. The four of them have tea in the library. Dumbledore asks about Harry, and Strange replies that he's out shopping. Later on, a servant (i.e., the only one that they have, Harry) enters and serves more tea. Somebody drops a teacup, and it shatters upon the floor. Dumbles immediately takes out his wand and offers to clean it up, but Harry declies and begins to pick up the pieces, placing them one on top of each other on the sidetable. As he does, they take shape, like a children's puzzle. Finally, he gathers the dust into his hands and blows on it, sending the dust spiralling into the air to pass by the teacup, which is suddenly perfectly whole. Strange praises Harry effusively for this display of magic - McGonnagal and Dumbledore are just astonished that he can do it without a wand.
Harry's "muggle" clothing is very old-fashioned and appears very formal.
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Date: 2008-05-04 12:17 am (UTC)"I bow to your superior knowledge, sir." "Ten points from Gryffindor for your cheek!" (Harry's old-fashioned politeness is often interpreted as condescention or sarcasm)
Harry actually enjoys Binns' history of magic lessons, because they tell completely different histories than what he is used to. Plus, Binns is no more boring than Mr. Norrell - sometimes less so. Harry even engages Binns in debate after a few classes, which the ghost is not used to but finds that he thoroughly enjoys. The rest of the students are shocked.
Harry doesn't trust house-elves, because he was taught by his guardians that fairy servants aren't needed, and their services always come with a catch.
(Srange saddles off "for a walk", very casually.)
"You've put ____'s spell of watchfullness on Mr. Potter, haven't you?" Norrell stated without looking up from his book.
"Er, yes. Harry's in danger."
"Well, report back afterwards. Do be careful."
Harry rescues Hermione from the troll by walking through the bathroom mirror with her to the men's washroom across the hall. He promised Mr. Strange never to enter the mirror world without him, though. Strange appears only moments after them (also through the mirror) and he tries to help Hermione with what little usefull healing magic he knows (she has a broken arm/leg, broken ribs, and is bleeding). When the teachers come upon them, Strange insists that Harry introduce him before he does anything else (not seeing Dumbledore or McGonnagal, his acquaintances, immediately, as they are taking care of the troll).
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Date: 2008-05-04 12:47 am (UTC)I like the Sai-returns-and-plays-NetGo-again idea. Although I'm wondering, wouldn't the new handle FujiwaranoSai make Shindou more open to the idea that Sai is really back? I mean, only he and Sai would know Sai's full name. :)
... ahhh, I must really read JS&MN now! :D Poor Harry, that his politeness is taken as cheek by Snape, but then again Snape is inclined to view Harry in the worst light possible. But JS&MN's magic lets people walk through mirrors? :DDD Cool!
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Date: 2008-05-04 12:57 am (UTC)You know... It totally didn't occur to me that Shindou would recognize "Fujiwaranosai". D: I feel like an idiot. Well... perhaps Shindou is even more enraged that someone's trying to pervert every aspect of Sai...?
Yep, there's a world beyond mirrors in JS&MN. :3 I don't think anybody goes mirrorwalking until like page 500 or so, but it's hinted at before then. It's a really awesome series - go read it! Now! (and then we can squee over it together. ;) )
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Date: 2008-05-04 01:19 am (UTC)Perhaps, but Shindou would be trying to figure out how the impostor would know Sai's full name in the first place. Maybe you could use something like "goSai"? :)
Yes, I'm definitely going to get a copy of it. :DD
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Date: 2008-05-04 01:35 am (UTC)Yes, get a copy! :D It's so pretty... and informative. The interviews with the artist and the mangaka are really nice, too, since they talk about some of the deeper meanings (like, at one point they mention that one of the reasons that Ryuk likes apples so much may be because the colour reminds him of the lifeblood of humans).
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Date: 2008-05-04 02:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-05 12:40 am (UTC)See, the pilot chapter doesn't quite fit in with canon, right? I mean, there's no other mention of that Death Eraser, so... yeah. But in the fic idea that I had, I'd just fool with the plotline a little bit, and have Ryuk simply become "bored" ten years apart...
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Date: 2008-05-05 01:42 am (UTC)I think that would work. Would you write Raito as having heard of the unusual heart-attack-and-came-to-life incidents before? Or would it be better to spring a surprise on him? :P
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Date: 2008-05-05 02:43 am (UTC)I think that it would be a complete surprise for Raito. The way I figure it, the two police officers who investigated Taro's case would have made up something as an explanation for the happenings, like "food-poisoning induced comas, which gave an appearance LIKE death, which the students later came out of" instead of "ZOMG it was a CURSED NOTEBOOK and deathy-defying ERASERS". That way, even if Raito investigated past cases for evidence of the Death Note (and there would be thousands of them, if not millions, to go through) he would have missed Taro's.
I also want to do something with the "eraser" pun. See, in Japanese, the verbe "erase", "keshite" (like, as an order) is a euphemism for "kill". Like, a mobster would say "aitsu wo keshite" ("erase him/that guy"). And here an eraser is, giving people life... XD
no subject
Date: 2008-05-05 03:19 am (UTC)Hmm, that makes sense. It would be rather strange to explain how the news reporters suddenly started choking on air, but if you really managed to work that in a widespread fashion, it could squeak through plausibly enough. Very widespread, randomly striking food-poisoning induced comas. :D
Wow, that's a great way to put in irony. :D I didn't know that, but now that you pointed it out,--wow. The irony! I suspect the mangaka was fully aware of the pun when he created the eraser. (what to call it? Life Eraser for a Death Note? :P)
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Date: 2008-05-05 01:46 pm (UTC)I am greatly amused by puns. :3 I find them more amusing that they should rightly be.
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Date: 2008-05-06 01:26 am (UTC)Puns are great. I have an old pun/funny story book on Abraham Lincoln. XD
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Date: 2008-05-06 01:30 am (UTC)I have my own punning story to tell you (shamelessly copy and pasted):
One night a man was walking through his local park. It was a beautiful night, crisp, clear, the full moon providing ample light for him to see by. He was really enjoying himself when, just a little way away, he saw this creature. It looked like some sort of dog or something, but it also looked a bit like a man.
He approached the doggish man curiously, and said, 'er... hello.'
'Piss off,' said the creature.
'Excuse me,' responded the man, shocked, 'that's not very friendly.'
'Go fuck yourself.'
The man was now quite offended. 'That's no way to talk to people,' he protested sternly.
'Fuckity bollocks hell wank arse!' snarled the creature.
The man was about to respond to this when he heard footsteps. Turning round he saw another man running towards him.
'I'm dreadfully sorry!' said the other man upon reaching them. 'Please, I just let him out of my sight for a moment! You must forgive him, he's not usually like this!'
'He isn't?'
'Oh no, he always suffers round the full moon.'
The man frowned. 'I don't understand, what ever is wrong with him?'
'Don't you know?' the other man sounded rather suprised, 'he's a swear-wolf, of course.'
no subject
Date: 2008-05-06 02:14 am (UTC)I can't find the pun book right now, so I Googled instead. >_> Here's one I thought was amusing:
Once, when Lincoln’s friend and fellow circuit rider, Ward Lamon, tore his pants at the seat just before entering court, several lawyers started a subscription paper and passed it around the courtroom to raise the money for a new pair of pants. When the paper got to Lincoln, he wrote, “I can contribute nothing to the end in view.”
Oh yeah, and one time he and a friend saw a fancily dressed woman wearing a huge feathered hat crossing the street before slipping in a puddle.
Lincoln: "Reminds me of a duck."
Friend: "Eh, why?"
Lincoln: "Feathers on her head and down on her behind."
It took me a moment before I figured out that he was also referring to the downy feathers on birds. XD
no subject
Date: 2008-05-06 03:05 pm (UTC)"If anime fans ruled the world, it'd be a much more peaceful place -- much more embracing of new cultures. It'd be a world based on sharing boxes of pocky and ramune soda... Well, there'd be big guns. But also a lot more cultural understanding"
-Darold Higa, AX opening ceremonies
Oh, and have you ever heard of the Devil's Dictionary? It was written in the early 1900s by this cynical journalist, and it's hilarious! XD
Electricity: The cause of all natural phenomena not known to be caused by something else.
Patience: A minor form of despair, disguised as a virtue.
Road: A strip of land along which one may pass from where it is too tiresome to be to where it is futile to go.
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Date: 2008-05-07 12:18 am (UTC)omg YES, the Devils Dictionary! :DD Ambrose Bierce, you snarky, awesome man! This work, right? It's one of those things that I've read quotes here and there, but not the entire thing--I really must get on that sometime. (btw, scribd.com is pretty cool :D)
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Date: 2008-05-07 01:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-07 03:36 am (UTC)Click Here
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