>> timeless 8, before nightfall
Jul. 11th, 2017 12:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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noyabeansabout Timeless 8, now titled Before Nightfall.
spoilers under the cut, so don't open this unless you've read it. I mean, if you're not going to read it, then you can open the spoilers, but-
spoilers under the cut, so don't open this unless you've read it. I mean, if you're not going to read it, then you can open the spoilers, but-
Konoha and Noya were a pair I've been wanting to write since late last year when Elly and I were coming up with the most ridiculous combinations of characters and making them into ships. I need a better pastime. I found their dynamic really interesting, because Konoha's the kind of character who's really laid back and goes with the flow, while Noya... is the flow. I've compared Noya multiple, multiple times to a hurricane or a whirlwind or some other force of nature, and I wanted to explore how Konoha would react to that - does Konoha resist? Or does Konoha run with it?
I mentioned last week that I had trouble defining their relationship, which was in part due to this dynamic. I wasn't sure how far into each other's they would fall, so in the end I just ran with whatever... I ended up with lol.
Narrative-wise, this was a very straightforward fic that was a direct spin-off from Noya (and by extension, Konoha)'s cameo in Ages. In Ages (5) - 37th Century x1, Noya tells Yaku to go look up bralzt as a possible way of curing Kenma's mysterious illness, saying that Konoha taught him how to use it to treat silver burns.
Silver burns a number of supernatural creatures, including vampires and werecreatures. I already ruled out vampires tbh, because of Kenma (and a few more that may be cameoing in future), but I'm not entirely fond of werecreatures either - plus, what werecreature? We have no wolves in Haikyuu.
That train of thought led me to stumble upon the newest team of Haikyuu kids - Inarizaki. Around the time that I started plotting Timeless 8 seriously, they'd just returned to the manga (iirc the Miya meltdown happened in the same week?), and they very conveniently had been pointed out by fans to be represented by foxes.
So, werefox it was... or, wait! Japanese folklore has foxes too! supplied my brain. I have to thank Inuyasha's Shippo for that lol, my baby kitsune! I went and did some research, and decided that okay, it would be a Miya they rescue and save with silver wounds, but would they be a kitsune or a werefox? The main difference was that a werefox is primarily a human who can transform into a fox, while a kitsune is a fox spirit that can transform into a human.
I have no idea how I came to a decision, but yeah, I ended up going with kitsune. Probably because, as stated, I'm not fond of werecreatures. My original plan, however, was for a werefox. - "Konoha teaching Noya how to use bralzt after coming across an injured werecreature - Miya" reads the line that I jotted down on my Timeless masterlist while planning sequels and followup fics.
I mentioned last week that I had trouble defining their relationship, which was in part due to this dynamic. I wasn't sure how far into each other's they would fall, so in the end I just ran with whatever... I ended up with lol.
Narrative-wise, this was a very straightforward fic that was a direct spin-off from Noya (and by extension, Konoha)'s cameo in Ages. In Ages (5) - 37th Century x1, Noya tells Yaku to go look up bralzt as a possible way of curing Kenma's mysterious illness, saying that Konoha taught him how to use it to treat silver burns.
Silver burns a number of supernatural creatures, including vampires and werecreatures. I already ruled out vampires tbh, because of Kenma (and a few more that may be cameoing in future), but I'm not entirely fond of werecreatures either - plus, what werecreature? We have no wolves in Haikyuu.
That train of thought led me to stumble upon the newest team of Haikyuu kids - Inarizaki. Around the time that I started plotting Timeless 8 seriously, they'd just returned to the manga (iirc the Miya meltdown happened in the same week?), and they very conveniently had been pointed out by fans to be represented by foxes.
So, werefox it was... or, wait! Japanese folklore has foxes too! supplied my brain. I have to thank Inuyasha's Shippo for that lol, my baby kitsune! I went and did some research, and decided that okay, it would be a Miya they rescue and save with silver wounds, but would they be a kitsune or a werefox? The main difference was that a werefox is primarily a human who can transform into a fox, while a kitsune is a fox spirit that can transform into a human.
I have no idea how I came to a decision, but yeah, I ended up going with kitsune. Probably because, as stated, I'm not fond of werecreatures. My original plan, however, was for a werefox. - "Konoha teaching Noya how to use bralzt after coming across an injured werecreature - Miya" reads the line that I jotted down on my Timeless masterlist while planning sequels and followup fics.
After that, it was pretty straightforward, but also at the same time not. I knew what would happen - Miya gets rescued by them, he attacks Noya and fails pretty badly, gets a warning from Konoha, Noya jumps to the future to ask future-Konoha for help and gets bralzt (which was only available after the 27th century according to Akaashi in Ages (5)), Miya shifts into a human, Miya insists on going home, therefore Miya-Konoha-Noya friendship is born.
Sounds very easy, but in reality it was nothing short of a nightmare. I totally overlooked the fact that I wanted to include character/relationship backstory, hint at fate's hands drawing coincidences, draw parallels, write a history for Miya - how the heck did he even end up there - and on top of everything, I had to figure out how to write a bunch of characters who have never interacted with each other in canon besides being on opposite sides of the court, barely have any canon characterisation, and all this in a situation where one's life was literally in the hands of two others. Every character reacts differently when put into a different situation, and considering it was Atsumu, someone who is canonly characterised as very impulsive, occasionally childish and even arrogant, whose life was at stake, I had a lot of issues with trying to write him in a believable way.
My logic in him cooperating so quickly with Konoha and Noya is because Atsumu is smart. He knows that his life is in the hands of these two people, who are actually trying to help him and bring him to safety. But once he's recovered somewhat - enough to change into a human - his demanding, stubborn side appears, and he doesn't want to stay here longer than he needs to. He has valid reasons, too - he's a pack leader, his brother will be worried sick - but so does Konoha in not wanting to let him go, because it's too far and there are Circumstances that should be avoided (like Konoha's magic affecting Atsumu's if he teleports).
Essentially, it's two equally stubborn people arguing over a single thing. In my original draft, Konoha decided not to let Atsumu return, and instead sent Noya in his place as messenger. I scrapped it, and to everyone's surprise, in the end it's cannonball Noya who acts as mediator and solves the problem. Honestly, the pods being portals was...something I plucked out of thin air because I only figured out as far as "Okay they all go together even though Konoha says it's too far." and didn't have a solution -_- although I do think Suga would be the meddlesome kind who tinkers with stuff. Even time-space altering stuff. Because he's Suga. I was exactly like Konoha when I first thought of that: “What kind of healer hacks a system like that?"
The transporting of a third party was also something that I was contemplating for some time, but since they're not bringing the third party across centuries, it probably works since there isn't the risk of a soul duplication (or whatever that thing is called when a person is in two places at once). Noya is foreshadowing something, btw.
Since we were on the topic of the travel pods, I decided to take the opportunity to flesh out the system a bit more... but that was about it, really.
Another theme I was exploring is how easily Noya gets people to warm up to him. I was doubtful at first, but in my head Noya's the kind of person who would make even strangers comfortable. Also he obviously has a soft spot for animals orz;; so it became kind of like, Miya and Noya growing really close in the span of a day, or maybe as Konoha says, it was just that Miya had no escape :3
Writing both Miyas was a challenge. I've been prompting a lot of Miyas in SASO, and all the fills I've gotten for them are really great, so my characterisation of both Miyas was heavily based off those fills but I still don't think I'm quite there... I wanted to make the scene at the kitsune den last longer but didn't know what to write, lol, since it would all have ended up as dialogue and I'm not a big fan of dialogue-driven fics.
Other stuff that I considered:
- Future-Konoha and his affiliation with the Inarizaki. Perhaps it was by chance, perhaps it was not, that he would also befriend the Inarizaki in the future. I wanted to write Kita but Kita was just "..." when I asked him if he wanted a cameo, so he didn't get one. (I mean, it was intentional that Konoha would meet the Inarizaki in the present and the future, but...)
- Atsumu stealing Konoha's pants. I mean, if you wake up in someone else's house with burns down one side of your body and you desperately want to shift into human form but have no clothes, you're obviously going to have to make do. What are manners, right? It's better than him shifting into his birthday suit in front of Konoha and Noya, I guess. Plus Atsumu has a penchant for stealing stuff, anyway.
- Konoha's morning grumpiness. I don't know, he really doesn't seem like a morning person to me. He'd definitely be grumpy if woken up too early, which I imagine happens all the time at training camp with Bokuto around.
- Cameos from Ushijima and Shirabu! I've been wondering where Shiratorizawa fits into the whole universe, and it seems like they'll be scattered around just like Karasuno is.
- Hoshi no tama - I already knew I was going to have a scene where Atsumu says that the kitsune don't like to owe debts, so I went to look up the kitsune and tada! Turns out there's the hoshi no tama, which grants the owner a favour from a kitsune. I thought it would be apt that Atsumu offers it to them.
Sounds very easy, but in reality it was nothing short of a nightmare. I totally overlooked the fact that I wanted to include character/relationship backstory, hint at fate's hands drawing coincidences, draw parallels, write a history for Miya - how the heck did he even end up there - and on top of everything, I had to figure out how to write a bunch of characters who have never interacted with each other in canon besides being on opposite sides of the court, barely have any canon characterisation, and all this in a situation where one's life was literally in the hands of two others. Every character reacts differently when put into a different situation, and considering it was Atsumu, someone who is canonly characterised as very impulsive, occasionally childish and even arrogant, whose life was at stake, I had a lot of issues with trying to write him in a believable way.
My logic in him cooperating so quickly with Konoha and Noya is because Atsumu is smart. He knows that his life is in the hands of these two people, who are actually trying to help him and bring him to safety. But once he's recovered somewhat - enough to change into a human - his demanding, stubborn side appears, and he doesn't want to stay here longer than he needs to. He has valid reasons, too - he's a pack leader, his brother will be worried sick - but so does Konoha in not wanting to let him go, because it's too far and there are Circumstances that should be avoided (like Konoha's magic affecting Atsumu's if he teleports).
Essentially, it's two equally stubborn people arguing over a single thing. In my original draft, Konoha decided not to let Atsumu return, and instead sent Noya in his place as messenger. I scrapped it, and to everyone's surprise, in the end it's cannonball Noya who acts as mediator and solves the problem. Honestly, the pods being portals was...something I plucked out of thin air because I only figured out as far as "Okay they all go together even though Konoha says it's too far." and didn't have a solution -_- although I do think Suga would be the meddlesome kind who tinkers with stuff. Even time-space altering stuff. Because he's Suga. I was exactly like Konoha when I first thought of that: “What kind of healer hacks a system like that?"
The transporting of a third party was also something that I was contemplating for some time, but since they're not bringing the third party across centuries, it probably works since there isn't the risk of a soul duplication (or whatever that thing is called when a person is in two places at once). Noya is foreshadowing something, btw.
Since we were on the topic of the travel pods, I decided to take the opportunity to flesh out the system a bit more... but that was about it, really.
Another theme I was exploring is how easily Noya gets people to warm up to him. I was doubtful at first, but in my head Noya's the kind of person who would make even strangers comfortable. Also he obviously has a soft spot for animals orz;; so it became kind of like, Miya and Noya growing really close in the span of a day, or maybe as Konoha says, it was just that Miya had no escape :3
Writing both Miyas was a challenge. I've been prompting a lot of Miyas in SASO, and all the fills I've gotten for them are really great, so my characterisation of both Miyas was heavily based off those fills but I still don't think I'm quite there... I wanted to make the scene at the kitsune den last longer but didn't know what to write, lol, since it would all have ended up as dialogue and I'm not a big fan of dialogue-driven fics.
Other stuff that I considered:
- Future-Konoha and his affiliation with the Inarizaki. Perhaps it was by chance, perhaps it was not, that he would also befriend the Inarizaki in the future. I wanted to write Kita but Kita was just "..." when I asked him if he wanted a cameo, so he didn't get one. (I mean, it was intentional that Konoha would meet the Inarizaki in the present and the future, but...)
- Atsumu stealing Konoha's pants. I mean, if you wake up in someone else's house with burns down one side of your body and you desperately want to shift into human form but have no clothes, you're obviously going to have to make do. What are manners, right? It's better than him shifting into his birthday suit in front of Konoha and Noya, I guess. Plus Atsumu has a penchant for stealing stuff, anyway.
- Konoha's morning grumpiness. I don't know, he really doesn't seem like a morning person to me. He'd definitely be grumpy if woken up too early, which I imagine happens all the time at training camp with Bokuto around.
- Cameos from Ushijima and Shirabu! I've been wondering where Shiratorizawa fits into the whole universe, and it seems like they'll be scattered around just like Karasuno is.
- Hoshi no tama - I already knew I was going to have a scene where Atsumu says that the kitsune don't like to owe debts, so I went to look up the kitsune and tada! Turns out there's the hoshi no tama, which grants the owner a favour from a kitsune. I thought it would be apt that Atsumu offers it to them.
