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jacksgreysays · 1 year ago

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YOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

THAT'S RIGHT, THE ORIGINAL TWO SONGS COMBO WAS ALSO AN INCEPTION AU!!!!

And I have thrown Tetsuki in an AU with Shikako before so, like, not entirely out of left field for me to stir everything together...

I have been thinking about this DoSxInception fusion and my brain was thinking about how:

Extractor = Ino

Architect = Shikako

Chemist = Sakura

Is pretty clear translation of their DoS abilities into Inception roles, but except for maybe Kurenai, none of the other kunoichi really fit as a Forger. Or, rather, because all kunoichi are trained in disguises to some extent, all of them could have some forging ability. And in terms of Point Person, neither Tenten nor Hinata fit it more than Shikako or Ino does, or, alternatively Shiho who isn't SO big of a character that I'd want to put her on the "main squad" as it were.

But then, not that I remembered it before you reminded me, that IS what that particular Viridescent installment was about in the sense that the Japanese professional dreamers don't necessarily consider themselves specific roles--better to be a jack of all trades, fluidly covering whatever needs to be covered, than to have highly specific roles and soo many possible points of failure.

And also, the Three Beauties of Konoha being an absolute powerhouse in the dreaming industry just with the three of them being to cover all potential roles (although for bigger jobs, they'll sometimes bring on the other member of the kunoichi club) is very fun. Inception meets Ocean's Eight, as it were.

ALTHOUGH, I'll be honest, I did tangent once again thinking about the Ino-Shikako-Sakura genin team and how that would mean, functionally, Sakura would function as the Chou of Ino-Shika-Chou. And, like, with her eventual Tsunade super strength she could hit just as hard an Akimichi AND she has healing.

Which led me to a sort of... what if there was a Canon Divergence AU of DoS in which, rather than having all the heirs in one basket, the ANY clans sort of split it up so that Shikamaru and Chouji were on one genin team while Shikako and Ino were on another genin team. So they would still have the allied clan to fall back on enough that the synergy of their abilities would still benefit, but not so clustered together that anyone taking out canon!Team 10 would wipe out the entirety of the ANY heirs in one sweep.

(I did, briefly, consider what if they swapped Shikas--but while a Shikako and Chouji team up would be effective, a Shikamaru and Ino dynamic without Chouji to mediate would ROUGH. And they would be jealous of the other pairing anyway, lol)

THEN my brain went, okay, obviously what even got me on this train of thought was Sakura taking the Chou place (although really what it should be is... well, I'll get into it later) for Ino-Shikako-Sakura. But who would take Ino's place in a ????-Shikamaru-Chouji team?

Sasuke would. Because, well, with pre-graduation skills/assessments being what they are, and given their respective blood limits, the Uchiha are known for the Sharingan which is 1) Genjutsu bullshit and 2) Information copying/gathering bullshit. Which isn't necessarily a one-to-one with the Yamanaka "jump into your body and read your thoughts" but isn't TOO FAR OFF all things considered.

Also, Shikamaru and Sasuke being on the same team is so funny to me.

But then, and I do feel bad about this, I realized it wouldn't be Sakura replacing Chouji, it would be Naruto. And, like, maybe they originally the Academy had Sakura slated for that spot before Naruto's altercation with Mizuki and field graduation then had to shift things around--although, considering pre-graduation skills/assessments again, Sakura was weak as shit.

Like, her stat for Strength pre-graduation was literally 0.5--the only other person who had 0.5 in anything was Lee and that's in his ninjutsu and genjutu and he LITERALLY CAN'T USE CHAKRA, so that should tell you how physically weak Sakura was before graduation. No one would have predicted her for being Tsunade "only ever took one student in the three decades of being a jounin level or higher shinobi" super strength strong.

And then, backtracking a bit, with this set up of Sasuke-Shikamaru-Chouji and Ino-Shikako-Naruto, you do sort of get protection for Sasuke and Naruto as well, in a way. Because on Team Ten you have a very obvious Akimichi and, if it weren't for their clothes, two boys with dark hair and dark eyes. It's been YEARS since an Uchiha was seen and, yes, Shikamaru and Sasuke don't necessarily look alike, but from description alone it would be hard to figure out which one is the Nara (very smart and good with shadows but no actual blood limit) versus the Uchiha (ALMOST THE MOST ENDANGERED BLOOD LIMIT IN THE ELEMENTAL NATIONS)

Then, on Team Seven, you put blue eyed, blonde Naruto on the same team as blue eyed, blonde Ino Yamanaka. And obviously Naruto's last name is Uzumaki. Which does imply he is the jinchuuriki (no matter what the Sandaime's convoluted "don't talk about it" protections were supposed to do) in line with the other Uzumakis before him. But theoretically in world no one knows (somehow?!!?) who is dad is. So implying that Naruto is a Yamanaka bastard by associating him with the Yamanaka heiress does give him a level of clan protection that he literally doesn't have because all the Uzumaki are dead (T_T)

Alternate team formations is pretty far from Inception AU, but I do think it would be fun if the Three Beauties of Konoha were professional colleagues of Tetsuki in the dream industry. <3

Hey, guess who's got a pair of songs for you? I heard "Cant Stand the Rain" by The Rescues ages ago, and just recently heard "Rain" by grandson & Jessie Reyez. The moment song 2 hit my ears I was like, "These have to be smashed together, somehow." And since I once sent you that prompt for "Thunder and Lightning" and "Thunder", I thought of you. <3

!!!!! <3<3<3<3 Hello, loveelemental!

Okay, after checking out these songs and their lyrics, I just want to say that none of the following is a value judgement—I do like both of these songs that you’ve brought to me—but the POV/personalities of these songs are VERY… hm…

You’ve brought to me two songs that are in a dialogue with each other and, on the surface, could appear to be in opposition with each other. BUT, I do think they’re both rather… cynical in a sense, so they’re not truly opposite ends of a spectrum.

Because, okay, Can’t Stand the Rain is very cynical, post-relationship, everything is bad and I hate it and why should I do anything to change it? “My blackened heart,” “I’d empty [the pots and pans filling with rainwater] out but why?” even the repeating “Love, no such thing as love,” FEELS very “I just got broken up with and I’m going to wallow in my own sadness” not even necessarily “I miss/still love the person I broke up with” but a very selfish, cynical “the world sucks so now I’m going to be miserable.”

Which is certainly one way to handle a break up.

Another way is in Rain, the difference most embodied by “I don’t mind the rain sometimes.” Emphasis on the SOMETIMES. And while the person in this song is slightly less cynical—in that crying/rain is what makes roses bloom and that “it’s better to have loved and lost…” although it doesn’t include the rest of the saying which IS IMPORTANT “than to never have loved at all.”

This person ALSO is wallowing in their own sadness post-relationship but almost… reveling in it? Very emo. A+ They’re literally “making peace with the rain” and “dancing with the pain,” and turning the break up/end of the relationship into a learning opportunity of sorts? It’s not AS cynical but it IS as selfish… or maybe self-centered…

I think what I’m trying to articulate is that both of these songs represent people who are HURT by a break up/end of a relationship, but not necessarily HEARTBROKEN if that clarifies anything at all… Because there’s no YEARNING either for their former partners or even for the relationship itself. It’s just… here is the new normal, how do I react to it.

Now to step away from song analysis, into potential fic writing.

Immediately I can think of two ways to go with this:

The two POVs of the songs are the two people in the relationship that ended and this is how each of them deal with it. Or,

This is the same person after some time has passed.

I’ll be honest, both of them are kind of funny.

Because with (1) it just really shows how, probably, it was the best for the relationship to end considering how selfish the lyrics are on both sides. Rain is slightly more romantic in the sense that it’s “because of this break up I can grow as a person” but it’s still pretty selfish, lol. Like… both of them are stewing in their own misery and meanwhile their respective friend groups (if they have them) are just like, “Oh thank god, they’ve broken up.”

With (2) the less time passing, the funnier it gets. Going from Can’t Stand the Rain into Rain after a week is funny, but after a day? That’s hilarious… I guess you can go in the other direction and it would also be funny—Rain into Can’t Stand the Rain, that is—but regardless the shorter the time jump the better.

I suppose there is option 3) in which these are two people who were in two different relationships and then the fic could be about them learning to be less selfish in love with each other? Or maybe being in love with someone who is as selfish as you and being okay with it? I don’t know.

… I’m trying to think if there’s a pairing for (1) or a character for (2) that would work but I don’t really do comedy, much less this anti-romantic comedy, so the I don’t know if my go to characters really match the genre. Although there is something to be said about how my reluctance to cast anyone into these roles speaks more about me wanting my characters to not be this kind of selfish/self-centered which isn’t accurate to real life. I should probably have more selfish/self-centered character to play around with. Or, rather, I should realize that some of the characters I write DO have the capacity to be this way, I have just been softening/glorifying them without exploring their full personalities.

Then again, I also don’t really write relationships as the main focus? Like, even my shipping fic is more of a method to explore various AUs or themes that aren’t necessarily romance based. Even Dreaming of S(omething,) my ShikakoxGaara series, and which I consider to have some of my most romantic writing in it, is more about how home can change from one place to another, or to a person. How a different environment can reveal as much about yourself as it does the new place you’re in. Even Dreaming of S(elfishness) doesn’t even have them being that selfish and has less to do with jealousy over an engagement and more about, like, establishing clearly what you want rather than just letting something passively come to you and passively watch it go.

Although… while I don’t write much in the (anti-) romantic genre that often, I do LOVE reading about, hm, estranged exes reuniting and having to hash out the mistakes from their past and bittersweetly getting closure before maybe giving the relationship another chance or starting a new relationship knowing the follies of their younger selves. But these songs feel freshly out of the relationship, whereas my preference for estranged exes reuniting usually has the benefit of years (if not decades, I do love when it’s like… ex high school sweethearts meeting up as full grown adults) in between the break up and the reunion.

If these songs are the initial response to the break up and part of the aforementioned youthful follies, then… okay. So I’m still kind of in Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint headspace, and while I MOST love Yoo Joonghyuk x Kim Dokja estranged high school exes reuniting, the dichotomy of these two songs FEELS more like what Han Sooyoung and Yoo Sangah would throw at each other in a fight.

Like, Can’t Stand the Rain feels like Han Sooyoung’s response to the break up—an almost destructive, heedless misery—whereas Rain would represent Yoo Sangah’s external perfection versus her internal flaws. Like the argument would contain:

YSA: At least I didn’t go around making my misery everyone else’s problem. HSY: Oh, as if you’re any better Miss Every Experience Is A Learning Opportunity, bullshit!

Like, I don’t know the whole argument, but that’s the vibe I’m feeling…

Surely there’s another couple that embodies this dynamic in my usual fandoms, but I am STRUGGLING to think of them for now…

And then, unfortunately, as I was writing this, I realized (2) was pretty much just 500 Days of Summer so… ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Probably not what you were looking for, loveelemental, but I appreciate you reaching out :D

#jacksgreyson #loveelemental #reblog #brainstorm #inception #dreaming of sunshine #ino yamanaka #shikako nara #sakura haruno #shikamaru nara #chouji akimichi #sasuke uchiha #naruto uzumaki #links

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migila · 2 years ago

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MitsuChouWeek

Day 7: Wedding

Chou Chou stares blankly at the dancing newlyweds as she munches on a large serving of the sweet wedding cake. It was delicious, no doubt, but right now, her mind was focused on something else entirely: Shikadai tying the knot before her was a hard pill to swallow. She wouldn’t have minded had it been Boruto or Sarada, or Boruto and Sarada, but Shikadai? His engagement, and wedding soon after, had come as a complete surprise to her. What next? Would Inojin throw a surprise wedding, too?

Chou Chou snorts at the idea. It was impossible; it’s not like he had anyone… but then again, that’s what she’d thought about Shikadai, too. Most likely because she had only focused on the women around them, and had completely overlooked the possibility that one or the other, or even both of her team mates, might have interest in men as well. What if Inojin had a boyfriend, too?

Finishing her cake, Chou Chou chuckles at the idea. No way. Shikadai was a genius, so if he’d purposely avoided letting her know about Ryogi, it was no wonder he succeeded, but Inojin was different; the blond wouldn’t be able to hide something like this from her the way Shikadai had. But if he did have a boyfriend, who could that even be? Denki seemed to have zero interest in these kinds of things, Metal was still mourning that one girl from the land of water who died years ago and would likely not look at anyone with such eyes for a long time, Iwabe had finally asked Wasabi out last year… that ruled out Team 5. Boruto had a thing for Sarada, everyone knew that, and Kawaki spent so little time in the village these days that there was no way him and Inojin would have time for anything together… how about Mitsuki, then?

No, it couldn’t be. Those two got along of course, but they never even attempted to hang out together if their friends weren’t there as well. They were friends, but not really close. Chou Chou knew all this, yet somehow the possibility, however small, made her uncomfortable for some reason. It shouldn’t, for they were both great guys, if not equally annoying at times in their own weird ways. Somehow the possibility of Inojin being with Mitsuki just irritated her to no end for no clear reason.

“Aren’t you going to dance, Chou Chou?”

Speak of the devil and he shall appear, Chou Chou mused as she turned to look at Mitsuki. Having always been a direct person, she decided that she could just as well continue on that path and ask what was on her mind: “Are you and Inojin involved?”

Mitsuki blinks.

“I don’t think I understand the question.”

“As in, are you two dating?” Chou Chou clarified. She knew most people, herself too, she had to admit, would get flustered or angry for such a question, but with Mitsuki-

“No” he said easily right away, seeming a little amused “Why do you ask?”

Chou Chou shrugged.

“Shikadai had a boyfriend I didn’t know about, so I was wondering if that was the case with Inojin, too. You were one of the options that came to mind, and since you happened to be there, I had no reason to not ask.”

“I see” Mitsuki replies. Then he stays silent, but doesn’t avert his gaze from Chou Chou. She knows that look; it’s the one he tends to give her when he’s about to say something he thinks she may not like “If Inojin and I were involved, would that bother you?”

She knew it. Otherwise, she wouldn’t mind answering, but since she didn’t know why it would bother her, she wanted to keep the information to herself. If she admitted it, Mitsuki would probably make a follow up question of “why.” So, she kept quiet.

“I’ll take the silence as a yes” Mitsuki says after a while, and Chou Chou glares “Why?”

She knew it, but she definitely wouldn’t admit that she didn’t even know it herself. She stayed silent, frowning at her now empty plate in front of her. Eating the cake would’ve been a good distraction right about now.

“I have two theories” Mitsuki says as Chou Chou once again leaves him without an answer. The woman looks at him, undeniably curious about what the man might have in mind.

“Well, out with it.”

“I think the fact that Shikadai is already married while you yourself aren’t even in a relationship is making you self-conscious. When you consider the possibility that Inojin might do the same as well eventually, you get even more worried. It makes you question your self-worth.”

…That was actually spot on, but it didn’t answer the question of why the specific idea of Inojin in a relationship with Mitsuki of all people bothered her more than the idea of Inojin in a relationship in general.

“And the other theory?”

Mitsuki smiled in that annoying way of his strangers wouldn’t categorize as a smirk but which Chou Chou knew to definitely be one.

“You’d be jealous because you have feelings for one of us. The romantic kind of feelings” Mitsuki says. It’s not like Chou Chou had needed the clarification, she caught on before it was added and Mitsuki knew she would, but it made her reddening face go even redder, so it was worth it.

“I do not!” Chou Chou yelled, getting a few curious looks, but thankfully, the music covered enough of the shout that their friends missed it.

“Why so loud? It’s just a theory” Mitsuki says, tilting his head with the same smile still present “Did I perhaps hit a nerve?”

“LIKE HELL YOU DID!” Chou Chou yells, louder this time. And it just happened to be the exact time when the song in play ended, causing her yell to ring through the space loud and clear, turning all eyes to her. Face reddening, Chou Chou rushes out of the room. That was embarrassing. Normally, she didn’t mind attention, but she mustn’t steal spotlight on Shikadai’s big day.

Chou Chou spent quite a while on her own, lost in her thoughts, stubbornly trying to think of anything else than what Mitsuki said, but with not much luck. But it’s not like that could be true; Inojin was like a brother to her, which would mean that if Mitsuki’s theory had some truth in it, she’d have-

“Nope, no way” she says to herself, shaking her head “Never!”

“Never what?”

She almost jumps at the sudden question that Inojin makes when he rounds the corner. Angry, she hisses at him: “Don’t do that!”

“Do what?” Inojin asks, but doesn’t wait for an answer “You need to go back to the hall; the bouquet toss is about to happen. Shikadai lost to his husband in rock-paper-scissors, so he has to do it, and he’s annoyed by it. If you, who insisted that a wedding needs a bouquet toss and pretty much forced him to include it, miss it, he’s gonna be pissed.”

Oh yeah, she did demand that. Guess she had to go.

When she reached the hall, the other girls were already prepared. Sarada was there, along with Sumire and her team, Himawari and several others, even that Yodo -girl from Shikadai’s cousin’s team. Out of all of them, Wasabi looked to be the one most fired up.

Well, Chou Chou decided, she wouldn’t lose. She got ready, right at the front of the group with Wasabi and, surprisingly, Himawari.

Shikadai, looking rather grumpy for the first time today, walked to his position with the bouquet in his hands, muttering “what a drag.” He turned his back to them and threw the bouquet in their direction. Chou Chou saw Wasabi make a cat like jump, but she’d get there first. With her family technique, she made her arm huge and swung it past the brunette, catching the flowers right before the other woman.

“That’s cheating!” Wasabi screeched when she landed.

“You used your ninja techniques, too!” Inojin defended his friend before Chou Chou herself could “So stop being a sore loser!”

To Chou Chou’s delight and to the blond best man’s relief, the cat woman did stop. Chou Chou admired the bouquet together with the other women, and didn’t put it down even when she went to get snacks. She was eating a muffin, the bouquet on her lap, when Ryogi announced that he would now throw the garter, and Chou Chou wondered if he would get it from the place, it was usually gotten from and how he would do it if that was the case since Shikadai, naturally, wasn’t wearing a dress, but it turned out that the Nara heir had it wrapped around his arm. And that’s where Ryogi took it from, simply with his hands. How dull.

Ryogi backed away, ready to throw the cloth at the group of men, mostly young ones, plus the older one of Shikadai’s uncles and few of their teachers, Boruto must’ve somehow tricked Konohamaru-sensei in to the crowd, or perhaps it was Lord Seventh’s doing, who were still unmarried. She saw Boruto and Iwabe at the very front, eager to get the cloth, while Inojin was physically holding Shinki in place by the back of his suit jacket so that he wouldn’t escape the tradition. It made Chou Chou snort.

Ryogi made the throw, and Boruto and Iwabe jump up, ready to get the cloth. Iwabe jumps just a little higher, it seems like he’ll get it, but just as his fingers are about to brush against it, a hand reaches from above his head and snatches the garment. A hand that reached it all the way from the back of the crowd, so there was only one person it could be, Chou Chou knows as her eyes follow the long arm to its owner. Mitsuki is grinning, a smile more innocent than his usual one, pulling his hand back. Chou Chou is surprised, having not known that the man had interest in this sort of thing. It makes her wonder if Mitsuki would have attempted to catch it anyway, or if he did it simply because she’d caught the bouquet. The later would make sense; he’d been a bit in to her for years already after all.

Their eyes meet, and Mitsuki’s smile changes in to that slightly smug smirk again, but it turns to a look of confusion when Chou Chou actually smiles back at him.

Finishing her cupcake, the woman decides that she would give him a chance and ask him out, since he clearly didn’t have the courage to do it himself even after all these years.

But the tab would be on him.

END

A.N: I knew I wouldn’t come up with anything for MitsuChou wedding, I love the ship but have hard time imagining them as adults, so I decided to write about them in someone else’s wedding. The first idea was that of Karin and Suigetsu, but then I wondered why would Chou Chou be there, so I settled on Shikadai’s wedding instead. Briefly, I also considered a BoruSara wedding, but that felt less interesting, so shogi boys it is!

#mitsuchouweek2022 #mitsuchoweek2022 #day 7 #mitsuchou #mitsucho #mitsukixchou chou #mitsuki #akimichi chou chou #shikadaixryogi #what's their shipname?#shikaryo?#dairyo?#daigi?#...shogi?#I've seriously seen that one being suggested #nara shikadai #ryogi #only tagging the major ships of the fic #at least I got something done for this year

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