#dcmk postcanon fic

[awake-my-oceans]

I already know about it but i want to know MOAR also Emily Dickinson ftw and sweetest in the gale is heard

That line is from a poem about hope, and that’s what the fic grounds itself on. It’s about. Hope. It’s really about hope, and believing things can get better. Kaito has spent all of canon digging his own grave, both metaphorically and somewhat literally. He’s grown, he’s improved, he’s matured, and I’m delighted, but once you pull back from his performances of silly/carefree (as a civilian) and charming/untouchable/obnoxious (as a thief)….from his perspective, things are rather depressing and hopeless. His father’s murdered, his mother’s barely there, he never got over the grief of his father passing, and he’s achieving every conceivable success as Kaitou KID except for what he’s actually working so desperately on, which is catching his father’s murderers and destroying Pandora. And literally anyone who could help him is either not very involved with his life, dead set against Kaitou KID, or both. Furthermore, this fic is postcanon, so these things have been weighing on him for longer than current canon depicts.

There are things he would benefit from changing, but it comes down to this: he has to believe there’s a point to reaching out. Right now, vulnerability only looks like hurt, like arrest, like getting murdered for not being cautious enough.

A lot of changes happen, but ultimately, it’s about hope, and about taking a step into the dark because you hope that, beyond it, there is light.

Snippet! Kaito leaned fully into KID. “I keep a great many secrets for a great many reasons. For this situation, I would give you the truth, full and straight. But that would risk putting you, and them, and a great many innocents, in unfathomable danger. For your sake, I would give the secret. For everyone’s sake, I will not.”

Aching with the need to know if this would work, he watched Jirokitchi.

“You are real,” Jirokitchi said.

KID didn’t answer.

“That was real,” Jirokitchi repeated. “You, KID, are an act, and one of the best I’ve seen in decades. But what you just said—that was really you. Whoever you are. You’re wrapped up in something quite serious, aren’t you? Something to do with gunshots and people who would murder children.”

[awake-my-oceans]

Day 12

Let’s do some discovery writing. I give you a prompt, and you write at least three paragraphs of a character reacting to it. Let’s see who you discover.

The prompt:

Unfortunately, things never go according to plan around here (@the-wip-project)

“Well, most units have a well-rehearsed plan for active shooters. Unfortunately, things never go to plan around here.”

“When do they ever,” Ginzo muttered. “KID is a misspelling of 1412, and 1412 is a misspelling of ‘pure chaos.’ Anyways, I’ll be fine—KID’s taught me to react fast. You have to, if you want to avoid showing up at the station in pink glitter.”

“Sir,” Meguire said, compassionate and wary all at once, “with all due respect, homicide scenes are rather riskier than glitter.”

And that, that was where people went wrong. They heard “KID” and thought “showy, harmless thief.” They didn’t realize that with the stunts KID pulled, “harmless” demonstrated a greater level of skill, creativity, and resolve than anyone was really equipped to handle. If KID wanted to be harmful, Ginzo would be dead. Simple as that. Chasing a thief like that for years, Ginzo understood something of risk and danger.

[awake-my-oceans]

day 11

How do you create your characters? Do you make a profile of them? Do you know your character before you start writing the story? (@the-wip-project) Ok, here’s the honest process. I think about them and consider how I like portrayals of their characterization as I read canon and fic and as I think about how their likely-underexplored backstory is psychologically affecting them.

And then I think “I should write this all down! And develop it until it’s solid and comprehensive.” So then I do my level best, but the words feel real flat and empty, and there’s not much coming from this process that I’ll use a month from now. And then I give up on that and continue thinking about the character for literal months. And eventually, I just. I just know them, bone-deep.

It’s like—some people do well with a “blind dating” version where they sit down and identify significant characteristics of interest within a relatively short window of time. I’m the “childhood friends” version. I can’t metaphorically blind date a character to save my life, but if I sit down with them and learn their everyday ins and outs over a quite long period of time, then yes, I have something that feels real to work with. 

And just. “‘Living” with a character for a while makes me think about things in so many contexts I wouldn’t have thought of otherwise. For example! I got locked out of my apartment last night, so I gave up and broke in through the window screen and open window. Super easy, tbh, but getting the window screen back in was an Experience. This is 100% of the reason I now have a well-developed understanding of window screens and a rather well thought out scene of a thief character who is annoyed at how easy it is to break in through the window, then annoyed again at how maddening the screen is to replace. It’s the little things in life. Like the screen that still isn’t in all the way—

[awake-my-oceans]

Days 8 and 9

So I said I’d do this every day and then promptly skipped a day. Whoops. In all fairness, I did write out my response and planned to post it later, but then I got sucked into the black hole of a very well-executed, very stressful fanfic until 1:30 and then promptly passed out. Anyways, my responses to both days are under the cut. (Some people in this challenge put NFSW stuff under the cut. None of my stuff is NSFW, but it’s under a cut anyways since it’s longer than normal.)

What is your favorite trope to write and/or read? And is there a difference between reading and writing the trope?

Found family found family found—

I used to think my favorite trope was angst and/or whump. But then I realized that the darker parts were an unhealthy outlet for various mental health stuff, and the healthy stuff was essentially “character A is legitimately suffering, but then found family makes it better. It doesn’t necessarily fix the situation, but it makes things possible where they were not before.”

So, like. Found family that’s not afraid of angst but doesn’t intend to go in circles with the angst, either.

If I write it, I like the specific brand of trope/characterization/etc more than usual. Whether it’s because it takes stronger-than-normal like to get me writing, or because writing makes me like it more, is anyone’s guess. Probably both, tbh.

This is on full display in my current wip. I could easily and accurately summarize it as “therapy ain’t happening, lol, so throw found family and a few much-needed breakdowns into the pot for a home brew version.” (Admittedly, two protagonists are cousins, but, like. They basically have to decide whether to let that family claim matter to them, and they way they do it is essentially by found family-ing each other so, like? Classify that as you will.)

Tell us about ideas you have floating around. Worldbuilding snippets, or ideas for new stories. Just a few bullet points.

Underneath Kid and Conan (friendly rivals) is thief and detective (legally opponents). But underneath that is Kaito and Shinichi (lonely, the both of them, and worldshakingly kind).

Kaito is soft, around his doves, in ways the masks of Kuroba and KID otherwise don’t allow.

Toichi taught Kaito a whole lot about acting, but the thing that really drilled it into Kaito’s bones was the days, weeks, months, and years after Toichi died. His father was dead, his mother was emotionally and perhaps physically absent, and Kaito was a wreck. Adults, and Aoko, were understandably concerned. And Kaito, oh so kind underneath it all, was upset because his behavior was making people sad and worried, and he didn’t like it. So he fiddled around with how he presented himself until he discovered that “quiet, silly kid and occasional class clown” made people think he was bouncing back. He wasn’t, but after a while, only Aoko really suspected it. KID is a weirdly honest way for him to express how behind the easy humor is grief and skill and steel self-control.

Akako’s magic can make anyone besotted with her—except for the people she genuinely does or will love. Her journey to accepting this is complicated.

Kaito initially started being KID for the opportunity to connect with his father and for the thrill, in that order. But after only a few heists, he starts realizing that while those things have value, it’s not worth the damage it will do to his future—legally, mental-health-wise, and with Aoko. If he hadn’t found out the details of his father’s murder via his father’s murderers, he would have kept an ear to the ground because of Jii saying his father was murdered, but he otherwise would have dropped KID within a few weeks.

When he moves back into his own house, Shinichi is a little disgruntled and a little mad and a little wistful to discover that he sleeps easier when someone else is in the room snoring, now.

[awake-my-oceans]

What ideas came to you recently from daydreaming? (@the-wip-project)

At this point, I daydream mostly about this wip, which is creating a large depth of worldbuilding and character nuance. The challenge is not having enough content, but trying to express the content, honestly.

Today I was thinking a lot about Kaito’s newfound confidence as this postcanon chain of events unfolds. Not the kind KID has, which is unshakable, and, quite frankly, fake. It is faked well, with grandeur and presence, but that doesn’t reap benefits for Kaito beyond what it lets him get away with on heists.

The stuff Kaito is getting ahold of is quite different. It’s quiet, for one, not dramatic, and it’s steady, and it’s real. It’s certainly prone to ups and downs (if it wasn’t, that would be perhaps the only clue Kaito might slip that it was another fake). However, he is starting to trust and assert himself in ways he hasn’t done before. In precanon and canon, he tends to get railroaded by events (his father’s death, everything about learning about KID) and then do a stunningly skilled and determined job of making the best of it. But now—he can stand up to the event itself and say “no, I’m going to handle things right here and now before it spirals.”

(Some spoilers for the sequel, yes this whopper has a sequel in the works. The basic premise is exploring the Nakamoris and Kaito trying to navigate a proper relationship instead of the autopilot care but painful disconnect of canon.)

There’s a moment Nakamori Ginzo, knowing something about the Organization (Shinichi’s and Kaito’s are connected for purposes of this fic), tries to arrest Kaito. And Kaito, quiet and rock-solid sure, says “understandable, but I won’t allow that until five months from now, because I’m holding together critical parts of the Organization investigation and it can’t lose my skill set yet.” Just like. Yeah. Kaito has absolutely held massive, painful secrets, and he knows it, and is tentative and apologetic about most things here, but that’s not going to stop him from putting his foot down on the stuff he needs to.

Frankly, I don’t know if canon Kaito can do that, yet, when it comes to the Nakamori’s dealing with his everything. That’s not derision, that’s loving assessment—it’s a skill he needs, and it’s a skill he doesn’t have yet for quite understandable reasons. And I am determined to give him enough self-esteem and quiet confidence to get him there eventually.

(yes, my daydreams are often like this. I try to keep it to fluff or angst or whatever, sometimes, but it tends to rapidly turn into multifaceted analysis of character motivations and suffering and growth, and how various situations can manifest those facets. yes, I was indeed sitting in the doctor’s office today thinking about how Kaito interacts with pacifism under a variety of pressures.)

[awake-my-oceans]

Day 14

Do you have figures/creatures of folklore in your WIP? If not, can you think of something that would fit? (@the-wip-project)

Oh, definitely. It’s Pandora.

I’m interpreting “folklore” a little loosely. A strict definition would probably say “common mythical-eque ideas of a culture.” My definition is more along the lines of “the thing that hovers half between myth and reality, and everyone has a different stance on how real it is and how seriously it should be taken.”

Aka, magic. I’m splitting the difference between Detective Conan’s “no of course magic doesn’t exist” and Magic Kaito’s “good luck telling that to the literal witch” by saying magic has a status more or less like it does today. A few people will scoff and say of course not. Most people will scoff right alongside, but quietly have a few moments where they wonder if there’s something that’s, well, not fully explained by “rationality.” And a few people will wholeheartedly devote themselves to magic.

Thing is, magic is for-sure confirmed as real in this ‘verse. And inside its community, there are legends of great power, and one of them is, of course, Pandora. It’s non/existence is never actually stated within the series. I—look, the pathos of Pandora involves exactly how it’s half-real, yet always so, so influential. I tried versions where it’s found, or proved not to exist, and they just don’t work. They don’t land. I think that years down the road, when Kaito has a real hold on himself and has a more in-depth understanding of the magical community, it could land. It just doesn’t work within the timeframe of the story I’m trying to tell, so it remains half-real and omnipresent, a figure of folklore that never quite comes into sight.

In a show that spends so much time showing the tricks behind the apparent magic, in a show that works so hard to show that the larger-than-life figure of Kaitou KID is actually ridiculously, heartbreakingly human—in all that, my conception of the show partially loses its anchor if it’s not allowed to hold things that are truly unknown, truly mythic, truly beyond our reach. Again, I can see it work in a distant future. But not now. That would feel like too neat and tidy an ending, and while life can work out inconceivably well, it’s never quite as small as we like to claim. And I want to honor that, with Pandora.

[awake-my-oceans]

Day 17

Think about an interview question for your main character/s and then write down what they don’t say. What secrets do they keep? What do they lie about? (@the-wip-project) What doesn’t Kaito lie about? The interesting thing here is that Kaito and Shinichi are both neck-deep in all their canon lies and secrets—they understand what it is like, in a way they’re relieved they don’t have to explain around each other—but they react quite differently. Shinichi goes “this ordeal has made me appreciate honesty all that much more; whenever possible, I want to be completely honest and truthful with the people I care about.”

Kaito, by contrast, goes “I sure can’t get out of this mess of lies. I guess this is my life. I’m undeniably skilled at it, and I’ve poured most good parts of myself into Kid; there’s not much left for me as a civilian.”

Shinichi crashes in to the tune of “trust me, I get being stuck in a lie, but also no, you can be honest with me, also wow you need better self care.” (Kaito fires back with “excuse me, you have the moral high ground in self care how?” and like yeah. It’s a fair point. They’re working on it.)

[awake-my-oceans]

Days 15 & 16

Does your WIP have fairytales? Do your characters tell mythical stories to each other? (@the-wip-project)

Pandora. I’m not trying to be short, here, I’ve just already given all my Pandora thoughts on day 14. tldr/recap—Pandora exists halfway between myth and reality, and for all it deeply shapes the story, it’s working best for me when I give no final answer on whether it really exists.

Do you have prophecies and superstitions as part of the worldbuilding in your WIP? Could you add some?

Prophecies, check, although it’s plays a blink-and-you-miss-it role. That’s courtesy of Akako, because she’s the only canon character who actually uses magic. Superstition—well, it’s not in the current worldbuilding. That said, I achingly adore the quiet, easy respectfulness of KID’s superstitions in some fanfic characterizations, and this is a good reminder to work it into my fic.

[awake-my-oceans]

Day 19

How do you decide which WIP to work on? (@the-wip-project)

I swing between “this is the one I’m focusing on” and “different wip just possessed me so I’ll write it down I guess.” So it goes.

[awake-my-oceans]

The Rules: Post seven sentences from a wip, and then tag seven others! (Tagged by @redrobin-detective)

The morning news was about the same as it had been for weeks, now, although Kudou Shinichi’s triumphant return has downgraded from front-page news to a few pages in. Kaito scanned the paper—there wasn’t much new news on Kudou-san, at least for him—and tried not to think

—about standing as a weary pillar against the night, “farewell, meitantei” a lingering echo as never-again-Conan walked away—

about the past. He had things to do and places to be, even with Snake arrested. Pandora was hardly gone, and Kaito would not allow another Kuroba Toichi to

—die, they were going to die, and Kaito had wanted to see his father again but not like this—

fall victim to men seeking power. If it took the rest of his life—well, truthfully, he hadn’t quite expected to survive this long, anyways.

Someone knocked at the front door, crisp and firm.

[awake-my-oceans]

I am very understanding that you may be too busy to answer but I gots to know, tell me about and sweetest in the gale is heard which is from one of my favorite dickinson poems. You rock :)))

ask game about wips

It’s deeply appropriate that you’re the one asking about this, because you’re the one who dragged me into DCMK in the first place. I also picked the title partially because I know you liked the poem, ngl. This is the postcanon DCMK fic that I’ve been working on for months. Part one. It………..got away from me a bit skgkengkwnjgjsnjfs.

It’s, uh, at 21k and growing.

Snippet!

“Is he with his children again?” Kaito asked dryly.

“See, I told him—“ Ran paused for an audible eye roll. “He’s still denying that he’s adopted three eight year olds. I’m telling him you said that.”

Kaito snorted despite himself. “Did you expect to be a parent of three after six months of dating him?”

“Honestly.” Ran sighed with a bite of exasperated fondness. “I’m telling him you said that, too.”

[awake-my-oceans]

oi BNHA-only fans

tldr—this might be a good time to either block the tags #dcmk and #dcmk postcanon fic and/or unfollow if you really want to avoid non-BNHA. Will I still reblog BNHA stuff? Sure will! Will I stay in the BNHA fandom? Sure will!

But, @redrobin-detective dragged me deep deep down into DCMK and HHHHHHHHHHHH YEAHHHHH.

Anyways, I’ve been working on a DCMK postcanon wip for seven whole months, and I’d really love it to exist in more places than 1) my head, 2) a possibly-sentient outline, and 3) random scraps of written scenes. So, I’m joining @the-wip-project‘s 100-day challenge to engage with the wip in some way, shape, or form for 100 days straight. That doesn’t mean I must write every day; it does mean I’ll be talking about DCMK and/or the wip on tumblr most days.

I’ll tag it as #dcmk postcanon fic and everything DCMK already gets tagged as #dcmk and #not bnha. Blacklist freely. I’m yelling into the void about my wip, but I’m 100% ok if the void does not answer at 11 at night. If you’d rather avoid a multifandom blog, you have my blessing to unfollow. You don’t need it, it’s always your call no matter what, but you have it anyways in case you were feeling awkward.

Go! Be free! Hydrate! Go to the bathroom! Do the thing, you know the thing, procrastinating won’t fix the thing. Snuggle into bed and go to sleep! Yes, this is a callout post. Yes, it’s for me too.

Have a lovely time-zone-appropriate experience!

[awake-my-oceans]

Day 7, I think

And my involvement with @the-wip-project begins! I think we’re on day 7, but tbh I don’t want to go check cuz then I’ll have to retype the post. So here we are.

Today’s question: Do you have a writing day? Or a writing hour? When do you get most of your writing done?

Uh, I probably should have a writing time. That sounds helpful. Honestly, I just write a scene whenever inspiration really hits and I don’t rationalize myself out of it, AKA every week or so. 

…….typing that out was an enlightening exercise in why this wip is taking forever.

Ok, uh, some days just won’t work. I’ve got other commitments filling up Sundays, Mondays, and Thursdays. I’m happy to write on those days, but I officially give myself permission to not be mad at myself if I don’t write on those days. Time-wise, it just might not work. 

On days I’m not all day busy with other projects? (Family, work, social, etc etc) Many days, I’m really vibing with one scene or another. Let’s set the goal to get some prose on that scene written that day. Seems like a non threatening yet engaging bar.��

Note to self: editing already-written scenes is just fine, but it doesn’t count toward this goal.