Pot: Standalone: Relational

[branchandroot]

Fic post from my archive.

Relational

Twenty thoughts of Niou Masaharu. Character Sketch, I-2, manga continuity

To deceive is to control the perception of others.

Comments

[fromastudio]

*fascinated * ooh. This is delightful. I love the first set, Niou's thoughts of his team members. Yanagi vs Niou - I confess I'm still wondering as to which of the two is the more intuitive.

You know I love the Sanada one already, and the Yukimura one, about positive and negative solutions, is just genius. Ditto with Kirihara. (although you have me wondering about Kirihara now. parabolas? hyperbolas? logarithmic curves? combination of all three, with an exponential curve thrown in to boot?) And Marui of course. Marui and Niou. The festival mask is a really apt image.

Your thoughts as per the weight, weight weight are really interesting. I find Niou almost unreal, as in his ability to seperate himself from the world and observe - it's why I cast him as the Rikkai precognitive in Streets of Nippon. I like the thought that these things - darts, meat, tennis - are what ground him in the world.

The greens with sesame and the fresh air is just brilliant. Niou the rational, drawn to the irrational? And that segues so nicely into flaring, irrational Yagyuu. And the Niou and Kirihara thing just makes me laugh, because they would have such different reasons for telling the truth. (although has anyone in Ou-sama ever seriously asked Kirihara some penetrating question with regards to Sanada?)

*really wants to see Niou vs Atobe now*

*grin* And seriously? Niou-chan is one of the Rikkai characters who defeats me fic-wise, at least for now, so I'm so delighted that you've written this one and it's just fantastic. The voice you've used here strikes me very much as something Niou would use, in that far-off place where he is all thought and observation.

Your last line sums up things beautifully.

[branchandroot]

Ah, good, the voice worked, then. Man, Haru-chan gave me so much trouble with this one... It's his expression, though, really; all though the Rikkai matches, that distant, watching expression.

*laughing* Actually, my thought about Kirihara and calculus was the whole change-over-time aspect. If the younger generation has an ensign, I think it would have to be a delta.

I really think Niou is drawn to the irrational, the wild and messy, in a way that Yanagi isn't. For one thing, there are those constant anger-marks, with him. For another, well, there's Yagyuu, and even his profile calls him the fiercest and most aggressive on the team. My own theory is that Niou likes occupying the two extremes, rational and not, and feeling the tension between them. Yanagi is intuitive, but his match with Inui also shows that he has a weakness when it comes to handling strong emotions. *considers* I bet he still wins against Niou, though I couldn't immediately tell you why I think so.

*grins* This was a pain, but it was fun too.

[fromastudio]

*hmmm* I think Yanagi wins against Niou because logic, if far-reaching and all-encompassing enough, defeats even inuition. It might not defeat pure intuition at its finest (i.e a Yukimura) but Niou is not pure intuition, but as you said, straddles the two.

*thinks* I have to confess great curiosity as to what Sanada's Rin consists off.


*nod* His expression really is like that the whole time. He really is the least emotionally expressive of the team. Which makes me wonder as to the general fandom portrayal of him as the constant 'Bad Boy with Attitude'. I do think he has Attitude, but it's more the attitude of utter freedom, as your fic suggests - Niou sheerly doesn't care. He doesn't piss people off for the sake of pissing people of - not unless there's some interesting reason to do it - a psychological conundrum, something potentially sparkly and attractive.

A pain but fun does seem to describe an alarming proportion of ficcing. *g*

[branchandroot]

I have to confess great curiosity as to what Sanada's Rin consists off.

*vigorous nodding* I mean "immovable as the Mountain" is fairly obvious; it almost has to be a defensive posture. But the original for Rin is "In marching slowly, as stately [or deliberate, or silent] as the Forest". My first rendering, for Challenge, was a variation on concealing one's ki, one's intent to strike. But I wonder whether it might not be a counter-tennis thing? Deliberate, measured, waiting, unrushed. *boots Konomi a few times* We're dying of suspense, here, hurry up!

*makes face* I think the Bad Boy thing might come from the anime, which did give Niou a good deal more expression and obvious Attitude. I also see it attached, a lot, to his hair, in particular. *wry*