YnM: Sky Diving: Polarization - Part Three

[branchandroot]

Fic post from my archive.

Polarization: Part Three

Watari finally succeeds in becoming a woman, and Tatsumi finally finds out why he wanted to so badly. And why Enma is so upset about it. Drama with Romance and Porn, I-4

He suspected he'd get a lot worse than a docked paycheck if he was found out, but the tightness around Watari's eyes and the tension of her mouth were more than he could ignore. He liked most of his co-workers, even when they were being idiots or breaking expensive things, but Watari...

Watari was the only one who laughed at him.

Comments

[lady-readwolf.livejournal.com]

>.< Damn. I'm going to have to hunt up the manga in order to understand this arc, aren't I?
I've seen the OVAs. Tatsumi is the guy with glasses, right? Tsuzuki's friend? And, of course, I remember Watari. :)

[branchandroot]

Yep, that's Tatsumi! Definitely reread the manga, it's lovely. All death and Doom and trauma, but lovely. It's also totally unfinished. >_<

Glad you liked it!

[meph-kurama.livejournal.com]

I love your Watari and Tatsumi! So lovely! And you're last line makes my heart melt!

Thank you for sharing this!
meph

[branchandroot]

*hearts* Thank you! I had a lot of fun with these two.

[written-in-blue.livejournal.com]

Damn, damn, damn, Watari has balls. Even if she doesn't anymore.

*amused* And the bit about Watari's humor rubbing off on Tatsumi? Priceless.

*melts over the last line*

[branchandroot]

*sparkles* Thank you sweet! *grins* Watari is just way cool, and has more balls than a herd of bulls.

[7veilsphaedra.livejournal.com]

This is such an interesting story. The interaction between Watari and Enma reminds me of the myth of Hercules and Atlas, if Hercules were a transexual shinigami from Kyoto. Yay!

"Not in your lab," almost sounds like "not on your life" --- for good reason. Tatsumi is the essence of cautiousness.

Good work!

[branchandroot]

Thank you!

*nodnod* From the whole Golden Bird, Jade Hare thing, I have to figure Enma is trying to create something of great power. And I could only think that he wants either conquest or freedom out of it; that seems to be the YnM pattern. And after this long? I thought freedom made more sense, the poor schmuck.

[giving-ground.livejournal.com]

Mmm. Still loving Watari here. :)

[branchandroot]

*hearts* I really like Watari. He honestly seems like the healthiest, most sensible one of them.

[cutter-tekka.livejournal.com]

Whew, I'm glad I came back this morning to read Part 3 and see how all of this shook out! Honestly, more than the porn or the romance or any of the rest of it, I found your explanation of the Golden Bird and the motivation behind Watari's experiments captivating. I mean, with Watari, you never know--he could have been experimenting with sex-switching potions because he had some greater goal in mind, or he could have been doing it just because it seemed cool. But tying the two together to create a workable answer to one of YnM's unresolved questions is truly satisfying to read and, I'm sure, to write. I really liked that.

Also, this line made me unspeakably happy (as well as grounding me more firmly in the story): "The difference may not actually be quantifiable. How curious." So very Watari. I heart. <3 ("Yutako" also sounds very much like something the Enma-cho gang would come up with.)

As porn, though, I'm not sure I got into it as much as I often do your porn, at least not until the unquantifiable difference. And I asked myself why that was: it shouldn't be the heterosexual nature of it, because I can pretty happily read porn of all stripes. What I think it was for me--which is not to say anything was "wrong"; I just offer my conclusion in case it is useful to you--is that it has rather less lead-in than many of your other sex scenes. I think I was expecting a little more from Tatsumi's end first. It wasn't hard for me to see him sleeping with Yutako, but it was hard for me to see him doing it without a touch more visible deliberation. Yes, he has the confidence, and perhaps the question of whether a sexual encounter/relationship would unduly upset office politics might not be such a major issue (though would it affect his image?), but Tatsumi's always seemed rather more of a deliberator to me; someone who comes to your answer but has quickly run through the other possibilities in his mind first. This might just be my spin on him, though. Then I thought, well, maybe he agreed with so little explanation because he's always rather wanted to sleep with Watari anyway. Which totally works for me too, but in that case it would've been kind of touching to see Watari figure that out about him and confront him with it.

But I also need to tell you what gave me 100% satisfaction: "Well, I mean," she waved her hands as if to shape an answer out of the air. "It might reverse. Or it might not. That part isn't vital to the experiment!"

Seriously, my little Cutter heart was filled with joy when I read that. I could hardly read the rest of the chapter because I was just laughing too hard! Oh Watari, how I love you. <3

[branchandroot]

*hearts* Lovely feedback all around, thank you!

*considers* Tatsumi is hard to work with that way, because he keeps his emotions very much to himself--reticent even in his own head. I think he agreed partly because Watari was so serious and so desperate, he figures this must be important, and perhaps I'll lean on that harder in the first part. *pokes part two* There may also be room for Watari to intuit more of Tatsumi's feelings and motivations, though his own urgencies are distracting him pretty heavily there. It's true I don't want to push it too far, though; they haven't really gotten to the place most of my characters are by the time it comes to porn. They've only started getting there. Hm. Maybe I'll see about making /that/ more evident.

Thank you again! *grins* This was, indeed, very satisfying to write, and Watari is just the most fun muse ever.

[cutter-tekka.livejournal.com]

You're welcome as always. ^^

I can certainly see where you're coming from with Tatsumi being "reticent in his own head," now that you mention it. And I also may get part of my deliberation thing from the fact that he can clearly and coherently explain NOW why he had to leave Tsuzuki THEN--but that doesn't mean his reasoning processes weren't very quiet at the time...maybe like a computer in which the emotional processes are running in the background? And the company budget is the program that's running in the front. [laughs]

[branchandroot]

*laughing* Excellent metaphor for him!

I also tend to think that Tatsumi isn't very good at dealing with raw emotion, witness the way he just couldn't handle Tsuzuki or, before that, his mother. That may be part of why I picture him as 'courtly' when he's with a partner, and why he really wants Watari to relax from that manic multitasking edge that's so very Watari.

*rumples hair* Now how do I get that into the narrative... Hmmm.

[cutter-tekka.livejournal.com]

Oh, Tatsumi would so totally be "courtly." ^^ Yes, raw emotion + Tatsumi = failure. I'm not sure why I didn't integrate that knowledge more into my reading experience, either. But that must be why Watari makes so much sense as a partner for Tatsumi, since Watari's got a very good handle on his emotionality (unlike the rest of the office) and isn't threatening in that way.

Okay, I'm stopping now; it's just an interesting train of thought. ^^