araine's writings and stuff

icon unimportant i just like it

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 03:01:34 GMT

What have I been doing for the past while:

-Finished finals. Took the jlpt, but I still don't know how well I did. (Crossing my fingers like mad.)

- Watching Supernatural. I am only just starting in on the second season. I liiike it. Second season is a lot darker and edgier than the first season, which, umm, not sure if that's a good thing or not yet. (Probably good, even though I was for serious a fan of Sam and Dean buddying it up and hunting demon things in monster-of-the-week fashion. I will get over it, because, umm, apocalypse plot = pretty freaking awesome.)

- Joined the roleplay On Dawn's Highway as Ran. And we kicked off our plot with poisoning and epicness. Our only canons are Ran, Gin and Vermouth. (So uhh, if you're into thread roleplaying, coome check it out?)

- Writing that House-Conan crossover I promised myself I would write someday. Mostly it is Haibara snarking about her boss. Probably it will be a much longer story than I anticipated.

-Wrote fic for the 25 Days of Christmas at the SasuSaku comm. Had fun with that. It was based off a Christmas song so... go me?

- I want to go ice skating soon-ish. I want to go to that one outdoor skating rink.

- Planning to see The Princess and The Frog movie asap, especially after hearing things about how Tiana is full of awesome ladydom and things.

- Probably gonna go shopping for Christmas gifts later this week. I still have no idea what to get for anybody. Probably will end up getting gift cards for people because I am lazy and uncreative about gifts.

-Writing fic memes for the lulz. If you have any spare fic memes, link me?

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 03:12:19 GMT

So... Kaito Kid x Carmen Sandiego?

Personally, I could ship it.

How about you?

(I think this is my... second crossover ship for this show??!!)

Icon Pairing Meme

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 05:25:07 GMT

Taking a break from finals with a crack-pairing meme!

Make a list of all the characters in your icons. (Although you may have more than one icon of a single character, they only go on the list once.) Alphabetize it. Take the first two people on the list; that's your first pairing. Second two people; second pairing. Etc. Then write your reaction to each pairing (or a snippet of a hypothetical fic featuring each pairing).

Breda x Falman

[I don't know any of their characters at all! DDD;]

Breda grinned at his coworker. “How about a game of chess?” he asked.

Fuery x Haruno Sakura

Haruno Sakura rolled her eyes at the man in the hospital bed. He was ridiculously cute – and giving her the most convincing puppy dog eyes she had ever seen.

Still, they had rules in the hospital for a reason, and even if he wanted more food, his stomach couldn't take it at this critical moment.

"I said no, and I'm your doctor!"

"Ehh? But..."

Hatake Kakashi x Jean Havoc

[I could ship it]

“Do you always have to smoke a cigarette after sex?” Kakashi grumbled, rolling over with a sigh.

Kudo Shinichi x Kaitou Kid

[lol, a legit pairing. Not one that I ship, but still legit.]

“Ja na, tantei-kun.” The monocle-wearing thief gave a mocking salute, and was a second later surrounded by a cloud of pink smoke.

This did not deter the shrunken detective. He’d had a soccer ball ready three seconds earlier, and was kicking it into the mist. “Come back here, you bastard!”

Predictably, the Kaitou Kid was already gliding off the roof. But with a nice, soccer ball sized bruise forming on his shoulder.

Miroku x Mouri Ran

“If you might permit me, I’d like to ask a simple question,” Miroku said, with a calm and steady smile. “Would you bear my child?”

Ran’s round house kick sent him sprawling to the ground seconds later.

Riza Hawkeye x Roy Mustang

[Err, hullo thar otp?]

Riza stared hard through the sniper’s scope, and listened to Mustang’s voice over the telephone. “Elizabeth, darling,” he said, and even if it was a cover, she kept one ear tuned to the sweetness of his words, the other listening for danger.

Sango x Sokka

“That is… one big boomerang!”

Sango smirked. “Want me to show you how to throw it?”

“Yes please!” Sokka blurted. Then, attempting to be more suave, he cleared his throat. “I mean, I would be delighted.”

[boomerangshipping = <3]

Suki x Uchiha Sasuke

[Suki tops. Just btw.]

He was good, she’d give him that, Suki thought, staring up into the dark eyes of her sparring partner with powers like a firebender’s.

The Kyoshi Warrior flashed him a winning smile, and – with a combination of three strikes – flipped the shinobi expertly. He landed on his back, her atop him.

“Checkmate.”

Uzumaki Naruto x Nobody cause I have no more icons

Uzumaki Naruto sighed dejectedly, as he watched Sakura put her arm around that military kid with a perverted grin, and Sasuke leave to spar with his warrior girlfriend. Why didn’t he deserve any lovin’?

[It's cause you're at the end of the alphabet. Sorry 'bout that]

fullmetalalchemiissstttt~

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:43:43 GMT

My Chinese workbook had "Xiao Mei" as a name in it.
It made me happy.
<33

nowbacktofinals

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 22:52:28 GMT

I'm not gonna be able to finish NaNo. I have finals like next week and should work on those instead of my novel. (T-T) I'm going to continue the plot though. Because I like it still.

Umm, have a meme? (Which is among the things that I should not be doing right now, I have essays to finish.)

"One True Pairing" ship : Nita/Kit forever. (From Young Wizards.) They are in so, so many ways, totally meant for each other. And everyone knows that they are OTP. And umm yeah. I’mma go write fic about them making out now.

"One True Threesome" ship : Naruto/Sasuke/Sakura. From Naruto obviously. Umm because they are sexy and fraught and I love them forever and they should just have sexytiemz together forever and ever.

"Canon" ship : Miroku/Sango. They were probably my first OTP (well, if you don’t count all of that shipping that I did when I was young) and my favorite, and I love them forever. Like a lot. Sango is awesome, and Miroku is awesome, and they complete each other really well, and all of their interactions are really sweet, and they’re always sacrificing for one another… it’s beautiful.

"Not quite canon but should be" ship : Isida/Orihime, of Bleach. Because the dude’s got a humongous canon-crush on her, which she cannot see. But they would be ridiculously cute together. Liiike, a whole lot. And they would be good for each other.

"If this happens I'll stab my eyes out with a spork" ship : Err… possibly Ichigo/Orihime? I’m not really into dismissing ships, but, as IchiOri is currently canonically written, I can’t really get behind it when the relationship is greatly unhealthy for her. Plus, umm, Ishida is a bundle of valiant awesome and just what Orihime needs, and Ichigo is a bit busy having eyesex with Rukia.

"You are one sick bastard" ship : Err, probably Itachi/Sasuke. I realize that the ship’s intent is to be about one serious fucked up relationship, but … the incest piled on top of abuse and attempted murder is just too squicky.

"I'm one sick bastard" ship : Ran/Conan, with, y’know, Conan as a kid. (Helloooo, pedobear~!) Except that it’s kind of ridiculously hot. And umm, Shinichi is Ransexual and Ran is Shinichisexual, so it should not really be a problem at all. Also probably Hikaru/Mansairaku (from Otogizoushi) because it is Sociopath/Good Girl in its purest form. But umm they are hot and awesome.

"I dabble a little" ship : Spock/Uhura. Mostly because I don’t know the fandom very well (like at all??!!) so I only write it when a prompt shows up on comment_fic. But they make a great pair and I love them.

"It's like a car crash" ship : Light/Misa? I mean, Light/Anybody = kind of a car crash. But then you add in Misa’s own issues, and it’s kind of a ship that is doomed to fail. (And ohhhh, did it fail.) But I was into it while it lasted? Idek.

"Tickles my fancy but not sold quite yet" ship : Err… the one that comes to mind is Kirk/McCoy? Mostly because, well, I don’t know the fandom all that well, and I also ship Kirk with Gaila like a little bit. But they acted really boyfriendy in the movie, and also mirror the narrative structure of Spock/Uhura, so, uhh, yeah.

"Makes no canon sense but why the hell not" ship : Snape/Sinistra! No, really. Snape and the astronomy professor who never figures into a single scene in the books. Go read Lamentations of a Starry Eyed Twit. It will convert you, I promise!

"Everyone else loves it but I just don't feel it" ship : Hahaa, this one is hard, because I’m not into dismissing ships. I think I’m gonna have to go with Itachi/Anybody for this. Except for His Unnamed Girlfriend (umm because Itachi/HUG is the best ship ever??!!), but then I only ship then with her already dead so that he can angst about it. Otherwise, umm, no. (Oh, and also, White Rain kiiinddaaa changed my perspective on this one. But not entirely! Still, umm, it’s the very best Itachi/OC ever.)

"When all is said and done" ship : Riza Hawkeye/Roy Mustang. Because they’re not gonna makeout until the work is done for the day. (Well, Roy might want to, but Riza won’t let them.) But after the journey’s over, well, no promises.

"Guilty pleasure" ship : Aro/Sulpicia, probably. Guilty pleasure because of the fandom (ohhh, Twilight, continue to be like none other!) but also because Sulpicia has no character except the one in my head. That said, in headcanon she is a wealthy aristocrat who’s into politics and power and being sexy and using that to get what she wants, and what she wanted was Aro, so she got him.

"I can't believe I read it and liked it" ship : Umm… Nita/Ed? Because, uhh, yeah… pairing a girl transformed into a whale with a shark. Suuuuchhh craaaaccckkkk. Not to mention the he was gonna eat her thing. But umm, I still kind of shipped them like a little bit?

"Favorite 'Older/Younger'" ship : Probably Haibara/Ayumi (older in mind at least, if not in body.) From Detective Conan

"My first I could never abandon you" ship : I have had a lot of these over the years. (Normally, I abandoned the show before I did the ship, oh self whaaaat?) My current would probably be Sasuke/Sakura. I have written extensive meta over why I can never abandon it, even if it is an unhealthy relationship (for me.). I guess I just have to accept that Kishimoto is my abusive-boyfriend mangaka.

Favorite "Never-met" ship : Haibara/Akai. They have never talked in canon. In fact, Akai makes a point of not talking to her. But they would bond over angst and hating the Black Organization and their smartness. It’d totally work.

Favorite "Pervy" ship : Hakuba/Akako. Umm yeah. They are both sexy, and they would have a sexy relationship. My pairing theme-song for them is Livin La Vida Loca. That should tell you something.

So, yes, that is my pairing breakdown. Which is by no means the complete list of all of my pairings (that list is quite long) or all of the things I am fannish about. Mostly they're from fandoms I kindasorta participate in because I have a lot of fandoms where I don't participate.

Uhh, hope you have fun? This is perfectly gankable!

oh, conan crossover fuel, why is there so much of it?

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 21:52:08 GMT

I just learned, via the detective_conan community, that there is an informational comic created by the Japanese government to raise awareness about the World Summit.

This is giving me so many Hetalia pings.

Also, lol, I am amused that the Japanese Government writes fanfiction for my manga fandom.

ETA ::
HEIJI/KAZUHA IS SO ENGLAND/AMERICA! TRUUUUFFAAAXXXX!
(Also, loooool, Genta as France? In what universe??!! Poor Mitsuhiko doesn't even get a country.)
Of course Conan is Japan.

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 01:04:16 GMT

My NaNoWriMo Status:

29775 / 50000 words. 60% done!

I am still behind! DDD;

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:15:39 GMT

Araine just got a new laptop.

Araine just got a new laptop for $450.

Araine just set up her laptop and it has Windows 7 and internet and will fit in my backpack and came with a free case.

Let me show you my face now:
8DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

That is all

in which I talk about movies a bit

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:31:08 GMT

Just went to see Zombieland (yes I know it came out like forever ago, but I was busy so nyeh) and it was fun and hilarious and all characters were pretty equally kickass and Wichita and Little Rock were my favorites forever.

It gets a pass from me, at least. Fun times all around. Go see it if you haven't.

But then the theater was filled with Twifans going to see New Moon and it was kind of scary??!!

I also saw a New Moon trailer, and you guys, IT LOOKS RIDICULOUSLY BAD, but in the very best way possible! (Vampire royalty peeps are gonna be so hot, I just know it, and Dakota Fanning is the best!)
And then right after that was a trailer for Transylmania, and it was like THE BEST TIMING EVER IN THE WORLD (I am betting they planned that) because like, Twilight is so ridic, and then Transylmania capitalizes on that by starting their trailer off with, "There were three things about which I was certain..." or whatever the fuck that line was. I don't even know if the movie is gonna be good, but IT MADE ME GRIN LIKE MAD.

I cannot wait until New Moon gets to the cheap theater so that I can see it and laugh at it without feeling bad about spending money on a terrible movie (that I actually want to see, lol what is this??!!) just for the lulz.

Aaand, I am kind of feeling the want to rewatch parts of Otogizoushi. Hahaa oh sociopath/good girl set in ancient times Japan and also modern-day Tokyo! (I still have the series on my computer though ha!) Except that I can't rewatch all of it because of things to do, and I do not know which parts I want to watch. Maybe I'll just watch the addendum Mansairaku episode that was super philosophical because he is hot and I am shallow.

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:17:05 GMT

Thanksgiving break. I go to work on NaNo now! Am like 8,000 words behind, but hopefully I will catch up quick-like.

DYSTOPIALAND HERE I COME!

(I don't even know if my plot takes place in a dystopia anymore. I mean, it doesn't even sound like a utopia much whuuutt?)

Losing internet on my computer may be my greatest windfall yet.

Also I have lots of homework and studying to do like two essays and a bunch of translating and also an Astronomy project. DO THEY NOT KNOW THAT I HAVE NOVELS TO WRITE HERE??!!

Araine will hopefully be less crazy come December and get back to like, writing fic and such things, but no promises.

(Also, should I post my NaNo here? It is bad I warn you!)

i haven't used this icon in awhile

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:50:43 GMT

Newsflash: I can actually understand Japanese news articles.

At least, after days of grueling work looking up kanji and translating. Fun times!

In other news, it looks like I'll definitely get that laptop. Probably within the next week or so.

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:33:29 GMT

I may get a new laptop on account of my computer breaking something terrible.

I am very happy about this. The timing could be better (really, computer? right before finals? and right in the middle of nano?) but I have needed a new machine ever since it broke last year.

In other news, I made an icon. It is not very good but it is an icon and it is Kaitou Kid and panties!

i'll talk about my show-breakup with naruto later

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 01:49:25 GMT

Procrastinating from studying for my finals by watching anime and now I am posting about it!

InuYasha: The Final Act continues to be awesome and epic and the best thing ever and has kind of restored my faith in shonen anime once again oh show ilu so muuuchhh!

They managed to make the Moryomaru arc rather painless and kind of short which was a surprise, I was expecting him to last like at least 10 episodes but he was finished after six! (And what an episode it was!) I am probably remembering that super-long arc a bit too much, hahaa.

The End of Moryomaru was a great episode, and so loaded with so many things! Wonderful! Miroku's piece was so sad and so tense especially when he started bleeding from his eyeballs and was STILL using the Kazaana (all for Sango, ffft, houshi-sama). I knew that it was coming but it was still painful and fraught and OH MIROKU!

Ohmygoodness, I cannot wait to get into the Hiraikotsu arc because that is a bundle of loveliness in and of itself!

The latest episode was alright, but you can definitely tell that they're gearing up for a big episode next week because that is when everything is gonna go down!

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood has also not failed to be awesome. THIS IS WHAT ANIMATED FMA SHOULD BE! (Not that the original series was not good too, but... not as good as this.)

(Also, Envy as Conan's voice looool.)

But I have been loving each and every episode with its lovely pacing and music and character voicing and everything!

So in summation, these two shows (along with Wolfs Rain) were like my favorite anime of ever in my preteen-hood and now that they are back I am so freaking EXCITED!

Now to go back to translating Japanese.

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:48:10 GMT

So question: Why call an episode "Ran's Investigation Part" when... she doesn't ever investigate?

Oh, show.

(I may still picspam it. Just for the fun. And to laugh at the absolutely misleading title.)

In other news!

I had a pretty awesome birthday party this weekend, which basically consisted of working on NaNo for about 12 straight hours - interspersed with ADDing on youtube (John Williams is the Man!) and a whole lot of junk food (and cheesecake!). Best. Birthday party. Ever.

And then I got sick. Which sucked. A whole lot.

But that means that I got to read a whole lot in Uglies, one of the books that I got (the other one is Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrel, yay magic plus Napoleonic wars!) that is about a dysopia based in The Hills... or something. Very fun, very interesting, also kind of amusing in strange ways. Even if the plot is a little bit predictable, I am having lots of fun with the world! (Oh, my own pet dystopia, it sucks in comparison.)

Also, preparing for finals kind of sucks. Blehhh. No fun.

picspam time!

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:20:18 GMT

I think that I make it no secret that Ran happens to be my very favorite Detective Conan character ever, and that when she does awesome things (which she does with an amount of frequency, despite Conan stealing the show every single damn time, darned main characters!) I basically love it the most?!

Therefore, when an episode is named "Stork Mystery Tour (Ran's Investigation Part)", I immediately become OVERCOME WITH GLEE, because omfg, Ran investigating, I think that this has honestly happened only three times and this will make it four?!

And then the trailer came out, and I realized that this episode was going to be loaded with so much more awesome than I ever anticipated ever, at least judging by the fifteen seconds of everything relevant to my interests!

AND THEN I COULD NO LONGER RESIST PICSPAMMING YOU!
(Also, I will probably do this again once the actual episode airs??!! Except with better quality because these are from youtube and I have full intentions of downloading the episode in hq if possible.)

So the preview begins with Conan on crutches

CONAN IS UNAMUSED BY HIS NEW GIMP STATUS!

Then Kogoro and Conan are in the hotsprings together?!

Kogoro: So you totes have a crush on Ran, huh? You know she's like ten years older than you right?
Conan: I don't want to be having this conversation.

AND THEN HEIJI AND KAZUHA SHOW UP! OUT OF NOWHERE!

OSAKA HIJINKS! (Also, why is Kazuha playing peekaboo with Heji's ridiculously orange jacket?)

They are apparently looking at this picture

CUTE RANDOM GIRL FROM NOWHERE WITH A TOY DOLPHIN!
<33
(I'm thinking she died loooong looong ago. Or was kidnapped. Or both?!)

AND THEN THE TANTEI-DAN ARE THERE UNEXPECTEDLY TOO??!!

Ayumi: Genta? Mitsuhiko? What are you doing...?
Haibara: oh fuck this
Conan: ...the hell is going on?
(Also, Ayumi/Haibara in there! YESSS.)

AND THEN WE GET TO RAN INVESTIGATING! IT IS HOT!

THIS LADY IS NOT AMUSED!
(Also, random Japanese graveyard?)

She hops the fence!

AND THEN LANDS EPICALLY!

DETERMINED FAISE!

Also, she can totally kick your ass.

Multiple times, in fact.

In short: RAN! OSAKA HIJINKS! TANTEI-DAN! RAAAAAANNNNNNN!!!!

THIS AIRS TOMORROW YOU GUYS!

(Watch the episode preview here!)

memeing time!

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:15:47 GMT

I figure that I way as well take part in some memes because... they are fun? And I am procrastinating on my NaNo.

Pick a paragraph (or any passage less than 500 words) from any fanfic I've written, and comment to this post with that selection. I will then give you a DVD commentary on that snippet: what I was thinking when I wrote it, why I wrote it in the first place, what's going on in the character's heads, why I chose certain words, what this moment means in the context of the rest of the fic, lots of awful puns, and anything else that you'd expect to find on a DVD commentary track.

You can find all of my fic either under the fanfiction tag here on my livejournal, or on ff.net. (Also, if any of you have read any of my multichapter fics, please feel free to bug me to finish them?)

Also, I'll post more of my things from comment_fic, and those are all absolutely fair game.

akakuba fic forthewin!

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:55:46 GMT

Title: of pentacles and tea leaves
Author: Araine
Fandom: Magic Kaito
Pairing(s): Koizumi Akako/Hakuba Saguru
Rating: PG
Summary: Akako seems immune to all logic. He cannot figure her out - and that only serves to make her all the more fascinating.
Author's Notes: A oneshot of the DCMK variety. Inspired by hattergems and her AkaKuba post. Also inspired by Livin' La Vida Loca. Yes, that song by Ricky Martin. It kind of drifted away from its original intent, though, so don't ask me how it matches up with the song.

This is not beta-ed or even particularly proofread. I will come back to this when it's not two in the morning.
--

Koizumi Akako wraps herself in secrets – she practices her magic in dark, hidden places, where none but the most observant will ever set eyes on her.

Hakuba Saguru is among the most observant. He is one of the most observant people she has ever known.

She seems, at first glance, a normal high school girl – if a beautiful one. He notices with a glance the indent of her pentacle necklace, worn underneath her uniform, and the charms around her wrists. He can catch the faintest whiff of scented candles and tea leaves from her, and it is his first deduction that she is merely a trend-follower, into the idea of magic more for the mystery and allure than anything. Someone who can be safely ignored.

This theory is revised when he catches her in the school hallway one day after school. Her plum-purple hair rose upward – courtesy of some wind unnoticed by Hakuba – and her eyes close, as she murmurs words that he for some reason cannot hear in the empty corridor.

A moment later, there is a book in her hand – a large, bound tome, clearly more suited to a medieval library than a Japanese high school. Hakuba wonders where she managed to hide that on her person. There are not nearly enough places within her seifuku, he thinks clinically, and she isn’t carrying a bag.

She stares him down with unnervingly red eyes. He does not look away.

After a moment, she smiles to herself and walks the other way.

Hakuba remains in the hallway for a while longer, wondering.

He watches her closely from then on.

His gaze is on her from across the classroom, warm brown eyes narrowed like he is attempting to solve a puzzle.

She could read his mind with a simple incantation, but she finds herself severely disinclined to do so. If her study of magic has taught her one thing, it is that hunches usually have a grain of wisdom to them.

Instead, she waits until class is over and they are cleaning the classroom. He is dutifully clapping the chalk erasers out of the window. She takes her time in wiping the desks down. When she is finished, they are alone – the class representative has already asked Hakuba to lock the classroom.

“Where do you get your book from?” he asks suddenly. “I’ve seen your trick three times, and I still don’t understand it.”

It must be frustrating him dearly, she thinks, that he cannot explain this away logically. She smiles to herself.

“It’s not a trick,” she says calmly. “It’s real magic.”

“That’s absurd,” he says, without missing a beat. The flatness of his intonation says it all: he is abundantly clear in his world view. “There’s no such thing as real magic.”

Akako does not feel like arguing with him. She knows the true power of magic – if he doesn’t want to believe, then it is merely his loss.

“Then you figure it out,” she says. She walks away – but she cannot resist a parting shot at the nonbeliever. Under her breath, she whispers an incantation, and she presses her fingers to the pentacle that rests on her breastbone.

A moment later, she vanishes from sight.

It is a simple invisibility spell, of course – she would need a lot more preparation to really transport herself – but it appears as though she is gone in less than a puff of smoke.

Akako sneaks one look back at Hakuba’s expression. He is surprised, and puzzled, but absolutely determined. She likes that look, she decides, as she walks away.

“How did you turn invisible yesterday?”

She raises two plum-colored eyebrows artfully at him. “How did you know I turned invisible?”

“The classroom door was open two centimeters wider that it had been,” he says, his amber-colored eyes flickering toward the sliding door. “And you have a promotional tissue packet in your bag that they began to hand out yesterday at the train station.” His smile is calm, his gaze collected, speaking of all that is rational and easily intelligible.

“Very good, meitantei,” she says, quietly amused.

He doesn’t mention that he first suspected when he had caught the lingering smell of tea leaves in the hallway.

He pauses. “How did you do it?”

“Magic,” she replies, with a smug, infuriating smile.

“Hey, Koizumi,” he greets her after school. There is a car waiting for him, but he is ignoring it for the moment.

“Hakuba,” she replies, with an acknowledging bob of her head.

He gives her another one of those stares with his unnervingly calm amber eyes – the one that says that he is trying to figure something out. “Will you show me how you turned invisible?”

She meets his gaze with her own flame-eyed regard. “And what will I get out of this?” she asks.

Hakuba is momentarily taken aback. She allows him to think furiously for a moment. “I’ll tell you the probably identity of the Kaito Kid,” he says quickly.

Akako laughs. “The Kaito Kid? I already know who he is,” she says.

She is rewarded by his shocked silence. He must be insanely jealous, she thinks, and he must wonder how she knows.

“What do you want, then?” he asks suddenly.

It is Akako’s turn to be surprised. When has anybody ever asked her that question?

“A kiss.”

They are both surprised at her answer. Akako nearly sighs as he takes a step forward – he is a little awkward, but his eyes are intense as they meet hers.

She is suddenly nervous, her stomach doing flips, and she laughs at him. “It was just a joke, Hakuba,” she says, her tone light. She doesn’t think that she can manage anything else. “I’ll show you. You don’t have to give me anything.”

There is a strange look in his eyes, and he is frowning. Still, he nods, to say that he is ready.

Akako suddenly wants to do nothing more than turn invisible.

She speaks the words under her breath, and sets her hand against her breastbone. She can feel her heart pounding, sounding echoes throughout her chest.

And then she disappears.

Hakuba finds Koizumi Akako on his mind far too often lately. She is always there in the classroom, pentacle tucked into her school uniform, smelling faintly of tea leaves and candles.

He thinks of her while he watches Watson drift on thermals in the Tokyo skyline, and when he catches the kikyo flowers in bloom, and – even worse –on a case while he investigates behind beaded curtains to a room containing an English tarot set and crystal ball.

He never sees her summon her book anymore. She does not turn invisible in front of him. But he cannot forget her, just the same.

He can figure anything out, given enough time and evidence, by using logic. He can even figure out most of Kuroba Kaito’s most fascinating tricks.

Akako seems immune to all logic. He cannot figure her out – and that only serves to make her all the more fascinating.

Kuroba Kaito stares at her with his wide blue eyes only just peeking over his newspaper. It gets so unnerving that Akako demands that he spit it out.

“Not that it’s any of my business,” he starts, and she thinks that he will make it his business anyways, “but I thought that you didn’t ensnare men anymore.”

“I don’t,” Akako says flatly, raising her eyebrows at him.

“Oh, really?” Kuroba asks her. He does not sound like he believes her.

“Yes,” Akako replies, wondering if she should ask Aoko to chase him around with the broom for awhile. It might make him a little less smug.

“Then how do you explain why Hakuba can’t seem to take his eyes off of you?”

Akako feels her cheeks heat up. “I didn’t put a spell on him, if that’s what your asking,” she says, and she promptly turns around in her seat.

She ignores his other pointed questions, and instead stares at her math homework. It is all finished, and perfectly, too, but that is beside the point.

Still, she cannot stop the smile that creeps slowly across her face. Hakuba can’t keep his eyes off of her, can he?

For some reason, she’s fond of the idea.

“That is a beautiful hawk,” she says, looking up toward the blue sky. It is a chance meeting – though perhaps not so chance. The weather is perfect for a visit to Haido Park.

Hakuba smiles. “Yes, she is,” he says. “I call her Watson.”

“Holmes’ famous partner?”

The grin he gives is self-deprecating. “Is it pretentious of me?”

Akako shakes her head. “I doubt that there’s a mystery that you couldn’t solve,” she says.

“That’s not true,” he corrects her, and there is a detached, clinical quality to his voice. “There’s one problem…”

“The Kaito Kid?”

Hakuba laughs under his breath. “No,” he says. “I’ve pretty much got him figured out.”

Akako is impressed in spite of herself. “Then the problem-“

“That would be you,” he says. His brown eyes are unreadable. “I must confess, I don’t understand you at all.”

Akako shrugs her shoulders. “I’m just a girl who happens to know some dark magic.”

Saguru frowns and his eyes are troubled. “What is magic, anyways? How does it work? Why-“

“It’s all around us,” Akako replies. “It’s inside of us. It responds to different tools, to will, to intention-“

“That’s not how it should work!” he snaps suddenly, and Akako falls silent. Hakuba’s fists are clenched, and there is true anger in his face. “That’s not logical at all-“

“Why is it with you and logic?” she demands, suddenly affronted at his immediate dismissal. “Maybe not everything has to be logical!”

“Because things have to make sense!”

“That is so cold,” she says to him, a fire in her red eyes. “Unless you can explain something, it’s not real to you—you have to grab it and take it apart before you’ll even acknowledge that something like magic might exist!”

“I can’t stop thinking about you,” he says, honestly – his amber eyes are bare of any safeguards. “And I can’t make any sense out of it.”

Akako regards him quietly for a moment.

“Does it need to make sense?”

He scowls. It looks utterly petulant on his half-Caucasian features. “I was hoping it would.”

She smiles softly at him. “Would you like to know what it feels like to turn invisible?” she asks him.

He nods.

“Come here,” she says. He steps forward – so close that the smell of tea leaves overwhelms him. He smells other things, too, like sage and sugar cookies and the persistent scent of melted wax.

Akako presses his hand over the silver pentacle that she keeps around her neck. It rests just above her heart. Hakuba can feel it beating, a steady thrum under his fingertips. Her hands drop, until they are resting against his stomach.

She begins to whisper the chant, and this time he can just make out the words of a foreign tongue. He looks downward, trying to catch her eyes with his, and his other hand makes its way to her slender neck as the pentacle grows hot beneath his hand.

And then they are both gone from the sight of the busy Tokyo park.

The taste on her lips reminds him insistently of good English tea.

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:42:24 GMT

I am steadily staying up on my NaNo. Well, right now, I am about 30 words ahead of the suggested wordcount. It is getting more interesting to me at least?! Hahaa, I hate the beginning, but I will not worry about that. I am finally having fun with the story, now that people are leveling guns at each other and having angst-ridden flashbacks!

I just wrote 3,000 words in two hours. I am feeling decidedly awesome about myself at the moment?

Also, I am planning to screencap and probably picspam the hell out of the preview for next Saturday's Detective Conan episode. And then I will almost definitely screencap and picspam the hell out of the episode?! BECAUSE IT IS RAN INVESTIGATING YOUGUYS!

In addition, I want to write Akako/Hakuba, inspired by Ricky Martin. This desire, what is it?! Where did it come from?
(I blame hattergems. That is probably the closest to the truth that I will ever get on this matter.)

And... my The Raven Chaser bag inspired amusing stories today at lunch. Apparently crows make off with Starbucks cups now. Up in the mountains. I don't even get it, but it was funny. And it's probably inspiring my DC fic muse more than should be inspired, because I should be focusing on finals and NaNo and stuff.

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:52:00 GMT

I only have one thousand words of my NaNo done! I am realizing that I want to start over and write something different! Auuugghhh. Mostly because... I feel like I don't know my characters and settings well enough? And I can't pull in crazy hijinks to compensate for that?

Except that I don't want to give up on it because I've already told so many people about the plot and I would feel really weird if I backed out now.

Also, I find myself wanting to write fanfiction. I will bash out another six hundred words of my NaNo before I do that, however.

I am extremely excited about the upcoming DC episodes, though! That being: Episode 554: "Stork Mystery Tour (Ran's Investigation Part)"!
RAAAANNN! INVESTIGATING!
(This has the potentiality of becoming my favorite episode this season?! Even over the Ikkaku Iwa one, which was hot and everything, but RAN!)

Also, I just watched a movie called Westender. My sum up of the movie? It was a film that was supposed to be a fantasy epic... except that it had almost no plot to speak of, nothing was ever explained, and the main character was a raging asshole. Oh, fun.

demotivationals

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 02:08:30 GMT

Shipping is srs bzns, of course. But before I get too into it, I remember this Detective Conan episode:

And I don't take "die for my ship" too literally.

(The guy killed his girlfriend - for a book!)

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 05:43:57 GMT

DID I JUST CREATE A NEARLY PAINLESS VIDEO WITH WMM?
OH YES I DID!

Check it:

(Hahaa, it's another Conan fan trailer.)

wizards of the sky

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:35:35 GMT

Why am I including genetic evolution and my only rudimentary grasp of physics into my fanfiction? Oh, right, because I wanted an innerstellar empire. Which meant that (in staying true to the series), I had to make it somewhat plausible.

Self, what have you done?

At least this is forcing me to study my astronomy?

IN OTHER NEWS

I am starting work on that Conan/Airplane trailer I promised myself I would make so long ago?
(Yaaay for procrastination?)

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 06:00:21 GMT

From TVTropes

Diane Duane loves including this trope in her Star Trek novels, adding such members of the Enterprise crew as giant snowflake-shaped silicon creatures, two meter long lizards, a Starfleet captain who is basically a giant slug, and a Horta lieutenant (basically a sentient lump of rock that looks like a giant pizza). The Federation gets a lot more multi-cultural when she's writing.
- See also Diane Duane's Young Wizards series. The first book involves an intelligent stellar body.

OH DD, ILU LOTS.

Kay, you can go back to what you were doing now. Or go waste your time on TVTropes. I don't care.

english dubs are hilarious

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 02:52:10 GMT

I have a soft spot in my heart for the Detective Conan english dub (aka, Case Closed.) Mostly out of nostalgia and genuine amusement at how they change all of the names, but don't even try to change a lot of the cultural context of things, or any of the kanji. I even still watch it sometimes.

Which I am doing, and, umm...

HARLEY IS CANADIAN?! BECAUSE APPARENTLY OSAKA TRANSLATES TO ALBERTA NOW?
(Hahaa, oh, Hattori. What have they done to you?)

... y'know, they could have totally played up a Canadian accent to fake over Hattori's kansai-ben. I do not know if that would make it more ridiculous or not?!

Hahahaahaaaaa

Edit ::

They made okonomiyaki their dessert?! In what universe?!

Oh okonomi, I know how wonderful you truly are!
(Also, takoyaki went unnamed. Udon, at least, got to stay udon.)

Double Edit ::

ALBERTA CASTLE??!!

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 03:48:17 GMT

My Chinese textbook reads like a soap opera. Or at least the dialogues do. We've got two girls into the same guy, and another guy into one of those girls. It is very hit and miss. I find this extremely amusing.
Right now, I am shipping Gao Wenzhong/Bai Ying'ai, and Li You/Wang Peng. Just because I can.

I just learned that I have an essay due on my birthday, and that my Japanese final is November 30th. Ffffff, whyy? Will I never be able to do NaNo?! (I will still try valiantly, though.)

I am tempted to write meta re: the recent Naruto spoilers, about how, if SasuSaku becomes endgame canon, it did not actually come out of nowhere and is thematically consistent with the series. I do not know if I will actually do that, mostly due to my sheer lack of free time. But I can try!