[Fic] Withdrawal
Feb. 8th, 2010 02:50 pmCross-post from my archive.
Fandom/Arc: Katekyou Hitman Reborn, Standalone
Characters/Pairings: Yamamoto/Gokudera
Summary: Yamamoto is only concerned for Gokudera's health. Gokudera really doesn't appreciate this at all. Written for the Drabble Game prompt: TYL!Gokudera, quit smoking.
Meta: Fluff with Swearing, I-3
Wordcount: 538
( Withdrawal )"I am going," Hayato said, low and deadly, "to kill you."
Yamamoto just smiled, the bastard, cheery as if Hayato had offered to take him on a fucking picnic. "Okay."
[Fic] Naked Truth
Feb. 8th, 2010 02:49 pmCross-post from my archive.
Fandom/Arc: Bleach, Standalone
Characters/Pairings: Byakuya/Senbonzakura
Summary: Under the stress of dealing with Muramasa, Senbonzakura could do with some reassurance. So could Byakuya. Written for the Prompt Battle prompt: Byakuya/Senbonzakura, behind closed doors.
Meta: Porn with Romance, I-4, light D/s
Wordcount: 1379
( Naked Truth )As they returned to Muramasa's suspiciously ill-concealed hiding hole, Byakuya turned away from the mindless chatter of the swords. He could only stand to listen to their foolishness for so long, and today had been more than enough.
[Fic] Benefits of Friends
Feb. 8th, 2010 02:48 pmCross-post from my archive.
Fandom/Arc: Bleach, Standalone
Characters/Pairings: Renji/Ichigo
Summary: Ichigo doesn't exactly ask Renji for a favor; fortunately Renji knows what he means anyway. Written for the Drabble Game prompt: Ichigo, clueless and curious.
Meta: Fluff, I-2
Wordcount: 473
( Benefits of Friends )Renji blinked and looked over. "What, you've really never...?"
Ichigo couldn't help bristling. "That's perfectly normal, you know!"
[Fic] Under the Sky
Feb. 6th, 2010 05:30 pmCross-post from my archive.
Fandom/Arc: Choice, Katekyou Hitman Reborn, Sugar and Spice
Characters/Pairings: Xanxus/Squalo
Summary: Part of the Sugar and Spice arc of Choice. Xanxus doesn't like the way most mafia men drool, but she does like the way Squalo approaches her. Written for the Porn Battle prompt: Xanxus/Squalo, genderswap.
Meta: Porn with Characterization, I-4
Wordcount: 1739
( Under the Sky )It wasn't unusual for Xanxus to storm into her office, possibly destroying things in her path depending on how much of a snit she was in, but today her lips were tighter than usual and her glare was sharper. Squalo took his feet off the table, getting ready to move if he had to, and tossed the file on the latest Leone sprig aside. "Something up, Boss?"
[Fic] Between One Moment and the Next
Feb. 6th, 2010 05:29 pmCross-post from my archive.
Fandom/Arc: Bleach, Standalone
Characters/Pairings: Aizen/Ichigo
Summary: Inspired by iss. 388 of the manga. What if that moment between Aizen and Ichigo had taken a darker and more personal turn? Written for the Porn Battle prompt: Aizen/Ichigo, touch.
Meta: Porn with Mindgames, I-4
Wordcount: 470
( Between One Moment and the Next )The fingers resting so casually on his chest froze him for half a breath, and maybe that was what made the difference.
[Fic] Tools of Persuasion
Feb. 6th, 2010 05:22 pmCross-post from my archive.
Fandom/Arc: Katekyou Hitman Reborn, Standalone
Characters/Pairings: Hibari/Dino
Summary: Unadulterated kinky porn featuring bondage, object penetration and spanking. Hibari decides to fuck Dino a little differently than usual. Written for the Porn Battle prompt: Hibari/Dino, Dino's whip.
Meta: Porn, I-4
Wordcount: 1118
( Tools of Persuasion )Dino moaned a little, low in his throat, as Kyouya pushed his knees wider against the cool, rumpled sheets. Tonight promised to be something special.
Discourse of the kimono
Feb. 5th, 2010 04:45 pmWhen you read that site about jyuuni-hitoe, or that book about the history of kimono, or that message board about how to wear kimono today, and they all talk about "the history of kimono" or "the types of kimono" nary a word will you find about the fact that all these fashions and rules and standards and layers were exclusively those of nobles or the warrior class. Or that there were a lot more people than that walking around with clothing on that was, of necessity, far simpler and more utile, and that they are just as much part of this clothing history.
And I don't know if a similar erasure is part of the Japanese discourse of kimono. I suspect it is from the little snippets I've seen but a bit differently shaped--more part and parcel of the post-Civil War arrogation of warrior-class privileges to the general populace. Compare with the way everyone in the US will say they are middle class, blue collar and white, taxi driver to CEO.
Of course, the part of all this that amuses me mightily, from an historical perspective, is that the modern wearing of kimono, despite having been frozen by largely ceremonial use, has still managed to steadily inch its way further and further toward the working class and even peasant mode of clothing: one layer, simple ties. It reminds me, albeit reversed, of the way the merchant class got around the sumptuary laws: put the good stuff on the inside. Or, in this case, reduce the layers and ties on the inside by using clip-ons and decorations that are stitched in place.
But is there any mention of this, or even of the fact that people existed who were not wearing twelve layers of silk according to the season? Vanishingly little. Argh.
Life =/= bling
Feb. 2nd, 2010 12:31 pmThere was a booth in the dealer's room that had a big rainbow flag up behind it. Now, normally I'm pleased to see the flag wherever it's shown, but not in this case. Because that booth was selling doujinshi and appliqued across the flag was the acronym "YAOI".
That. That right there is the line getting crossed. Because yaoi doujinshi in very particular are not about celebrating diversity or about gay pride. The vast majority of yaoi is direly heteronormative and doesn't even make a pretense at representing the shape or variety of gay culture (either in Japan or anywhere else they may be set). Printing "yaoi" across a rainbow flag is one of the most stunning examples of not-getting-it that I've seen in a long while, and something I have no hesitation to call both disrespect and defacement.
The issues surrounding representation and who and how don't always lend themselves to simplification, but I think one point does boil down very consistently:
My life is not your bling.
And if that thought makes me or anyone else uncomfortable to think while standing in the middle of an anime convention ninety-eight percent of which is distinctly not-Japanese-at-all, well it should. The lack of that thought and awareness is one of the reasons there are large sections of Western a/m fandom I don't engage with, that and the lack of the related awareness, "Liking it doesn't make you Japanese".
Kind of like having two dicks on the page doesn't make it gay. So get those grubby paws off my damn flag.
Informational note: if this is picked up by any of the link comms I will probably limit commenting to my circle, having no interest in hosting general idiocy.
[Fic] Six Pomegranate Seeds
Jan. 8th, 2010 02:19 pmCross-post from my archive.
Fandom/Arc: Bamboo, Pine and Peach, Card Captor Sakura
Characters/Pairings: Eriol, Touya/Yukito/Yue
Summary: Yue has a wish for his future; Touya is a little startled and a lot enlightened.
Meta: Romantic Drama, I-4
Wordcount: 2071
( Six Pomegranate Seeds )Family gatherings were always pretty lively. With three magicians, four magic creatures and a ghost, Touya supposed they couldn't be anything else, and he was pretty used to it by now.
[Fic] A Better Trap
Jan. 6th, 2010 02:36 pmCross-post from my archive.
Fandom/Arc: Kuroshitsuji, Standalone
Characters/Pairings: Ciel/Sebastian
Summary: Sebastian and Ciel tease each other a lot. Sometimes Ciel gets the better of that game, and sometimes Sebastian likes it when he does. Featuring demon-esque bondage kink.
Meta: Mind-Porn, I-4
Wordcount: 618
( A Better Trap )Sebastian was a demon who appreciated artistry, and that was why he liked his current master so much. To be sure, Ciel's early efforts had been a bit rough. It had taken a year or two before Ciel realized that simple physical feats wouldn't trouble Sebastian and turned his ingenuity to devising more subtle traps and conundrums.
[Fic] A Good Show
Jan. 6th, 2010 02:23 pmCross-post from my archive.
Fandom/Arc: Kuroshitsuji, Standalone
Characters/Pairings: Ciel, Sebastian
Summary: Sebastian stays with Ciel for his perfection--by demonic standards.
Meta: Character Sketch, I-3
Wordcount: 279
( A Good Show )Sebastian stood in front of his mirror and adjusted his cuffs minutely. Aesthetics were important. He was currently a butler, and a proper butler was always perfectly turned out.
The difference between manga and comics
Jan. 5th, 2010 05:57 pmI agree that fuzzy Orientalism is the most regrettably common way Western fans of similar media from different national/ethnic groups (eg comics and manga) express their differentiation. That particular expression is generally a lot of hot air, yes.
But I also think there are real fan-culture differences, touching on though not always rising directly from the mother-culture differences of the sources. This is my attempt to articulate the ones that I've seen. Warning: generalizations ahead, though not baseless ones.
ETA: To elaborate, this post is based on my own and my circle's experiences in various fandoms; unfortunately I managed to phrase things rather more generally and universally than I quite realized at the time. *rueful* None of the following is actually meant to be a Declaration Of How Fandom Is Everywhere. That said, the experience in question is not a narrow one, and I think the following is representative of a significant section of manga (and anime) fandom participants.
( Let's look at this. )
Now, what I would be interested to know is: do the same kinds of differences show up in the Western fandoms of Western and Asian TV? Or of Western bands and Asian bands? And do they manifest in gaming fandoms? That last especially interests me, since the game sources seem to be the most self-aware of the trans-Pacific trade.
ETA: As per suggestion, I would like to point out that I have not been present for the bulk of wrangler discussions on associated issues. These are thoughts going off in a different (somewhat) direction, so please to be not be bringing other fights in here. I am an unaligned polity.
ETA some more: Will not be replying to further comments on this one because work has descended for the term. Talk among yourselves if you like.
[Fic] Sweet and Spicy
Jan. 5th, 2010 01:20 pmCross-post from my archive.
Fandom/Arc: Bamboo, Pine and Peach, Card Captor Sakura
Characters/Pairings: Touya/Yukito/Yue
Summary: Touya keeps trying to draw Yue out, and Yue wrestles with his fear of losing again.
Meta: Drama with Romance, I-4
Wordcount: 2297
( Sweet and Spicy )Touya was enjoying a very nice afternoon, lying on the couch with a book in one hand and Yuki dozing against his chest. Yuki had finished his writing for the day, making three chapters of his second novel to send along to his agent tomorrow. The day was just cool enough to make Yuki's warm weight feel extra nice. In fact, it was just about a perfect afternoon.
So of course it was interrupted.
[Fic] Two Birds
Jan. 4th, 2010 04:04 pmCross-post from my archive.
Fandom/Arc: Carnivale, Generations, Katekyou Hitman Reborn
Characters/Pairings: Eleventh gen, Fedele, Mari
Summary: Mari has to deal with choosing a husband and a right hand. The one actually solves the other.
Meta: Drama with Romance, I-3
Wordcount: 6812
( Two Birds )Mari shifted her bag of pastries to her other hand and rapped on the door. When Fedele opened it she stomped inside, declaring, "Men!"
"I noticed," he said dryly.
/heavy sarcasm
I have little sympathy for casual whining that it isn't perfect yet. It's in beta; that's why it isn't open enrollment. Presumably the people who sign up for it now know what they're getting into, and if they don't they should.
I have even less sympathy for pure idiocy. In fact, yes, the project admins know what copyright and IP law is about, even if they don't agree with you personally (or with the RIAA et al, which is more to the point). Fancy that, it is indeed possible!
I also, frankly, have very little sympathy for those trying to shoehorn distinct fandom cultures (for example anime/manga and comics) into a single, undifferentiated category, especially when their reaction to predictable resistance is to suggest that everyone in resistance is Just Wrong and Thoughtless.
( This does not mean I am unsympathetic to the problem. )
So you see! I have sympathy for everyone but the crazy people engaging, as Hambly has so pithily put it, in recreational hysteria! Go me. *jams on the halo of heavy sarcasm* In the short form, a lot of things still need work. Some of them are really big things. None of them, however, involve dark conspiracies, so please to be sliding back under your dank rocks little trolls.
[Fic] Omiai
Jan. 2nd, 2010 02:46 pmCross-post from my archive.
Fandom/Arc: All Your Wishes, Choice, Katekyou Hitman Reborn
Characters/Pairings: Gokudera, Hibari, Reborn, Squalo, Tsuna, Xanxus, Xanxus/Squalo, Yamamoto
Summary: In the universe where Xanxus is the Tenth, what happens to Tsuna and his friends?
Meta: Drama with Humor and Tangential Romance, I-4
Wordcount: 7224
( Omiai )Tsuna stood in the shade of the small 'control tower' building and watched as a sleek private jet rolled to a stop, and tried not to fidget.
"Why did the Tenth have to come here?" he asked Reborn one more time. "I haven't even graduated from high school yet!"
"Because he's the one you'll serve when Iemitsu retires and you take over CEDEF," Reborn told him. "It's about time you met each other. Quit complaining."
"Who said I was going to take over CEDEF?" Tsuna muttered, more out of habit than hope at this point.
"I did."
Soul shapes, somewhat for fandom purposes
Dec. 30th, 2009 02:41 pm( First the cosmology and speculation. )
And now we get to the fandom applications of this.
The cosmology of Egypt did not go in for reincarnation.2 Literary adoptions, eg Yuugi-ou, tend to ignore this. But consider the concept of ka and ib and ba in comparison with the Buddhist concept of five skandha, aspects or modes of existence, which, translating loosely here, make up a particular instance of being which is neither divorced from nor identical to the previous instance. Using the former to shed light on the latter, we may have a helpful way to think about how reincarnation or rebirth are sometimes presented in anime and manga.
One of the most recent and notable examples isn't, strictly speaking, anime at all, but Avatar: The Last Airbender takes a lot of sources from Asian cosmology as well as art, and can be folded in. So consider the way different incarnations of the Avatar are presented. They do not form a single existence--each life/individuality is distinct from the next, to the point that different incarnations can meet and talk as individuals. If we discard the unitary notion of soul/self and instead look at this through the lens of multiple soul-parts, such as ib and ba, this actually makes plenty of sense.3 The "incarnations" are, as it were, ba, and remain after death/dissolution as something remarkably similar to akh (the re-unification of ba and ka after death).
I have, as yet, found no references in Buddhist (or Taoist, or Shinto) cosmology to such lingering instances; in fact, what I have found would appear rather to militate against such a thing. But clearly the idea is entrenched in popular consciousness.
Some other examples of this basic premise: Pandora hearts, Card Captor Sakura, Fullmetal Alchemist depending on how you interpret the homunculi, Inu Yasha.
1. That is to say, it was builders "really" doing the building, but they acted in the role of the king/priests, took on that iru or ba, and therefore were considered to be the king/priests for that time. This is, necessarily, speculative, but personally I agree that it makes all kinds of sense, considering the mythology.
2. No, really, they didn't. Please don't link me to crystalinks or theosophy et al. If you read reputable sources, you will find that reincarnation was attributed to Egyptians by Greek thinkers who didn't quite get the whole deal with the divergent aspects and evolution of the soul.
3. Note that I am not suggesting Egyptian and Buddhist cosmology are identical, or even that they have a direct philosophical connection. I would not be surprised if this were the case, but I do not, personally, know of any evidence of this. I'm just saying the basic notion of the soul is similar and obviously pops up in a lot of places.
[Fic] Archimedes’ Lever: Six
Dec. 27th, 2009 02:10 pmCross-post from my archive.
Fandom/Arc: All Your Wishes, Choice, Katekyou Hitman Reborn
Characters/Pairings: Ninth gen, Rafaele, Squalo, Xanxus
Summary: Xanxus and his people take up their place in the Family.
Meta: Drama, I-3
Wordcount: 2992
( Archimedes' Lever: Six )Xanxus made a grumpy sound and slouched down a little further into his chair. Rafaele was quite willing to admit that Xanxus had come a long way since the day Squalo had walked into his life and turned it on its side, but he could still beat any five year old for marathon sulking. And wasn't it just typical that he was sulking because he hadn't personally gotten to tear Rokudou to bits? Timoteo was right; it was high time Xanxus learned that it didn't matter who did it as long as it got done.
[Fic] Archimedes’ Lever: Five
Dec. 26th, 2009 02:18 pmCross-post from my archive.
Fandom/Arc: All Your Wishes, Choice, Katekyou Hitman Reborn
Characters/Pairings: Mukuro, Squalo, Xanxus
Summary: Just when things might be settling down, Mukuro appears, targeting the Vongola's heir.
Meta: Drama, Action, I-4
Wordcount: 4709
( Archimedes' Lever: Five )Seven months and sixteen days--he'd counted--after Reborn started shadowing them with his measuring looks and annoying observations, Xanxus walked into the old man's office to find both Reborn and Sawada already there.