Ooh! Okay, so part of me feels like any weird technological gaps that canon has could easily be handwaved away in DoS specifically because they’re already on track for that and also Shikako just expects more from tech that even if she’s not the one inventing/improving various tech she’s at the least hinting at something like–hey wouldn’t it be neat if this phone was also a camera? Or, have you considered a wireless network?–but that still will take about a decade or two for the Naruto world to get to modern level.
I imagine, at first, since cameras have been noted to be like clunky for elites and still film based, that she would have to either pay ridiculous amounts of money OR justify why she needs one. The easiest reason I can think of is to further her fuinjutsu research. So at first its very official, almost like police officers with using their weapon: she has a set amount of film and has to keep account of every roll that she uses.
So most of her photos are very cut and dry “see Figure 3” in academic papers on the remains of the Gelel shrine or something like that. But as a sort of protest/she has a few more cells left over she’ll take some pictures of some really spectacular scenery: the view of the galaxy (are they in the Milky Way?) in the desert, sunrise on the horizon from Uzushio, etc etc.
Someone in Intel (maybe Shiho?) is in charge of directing her reports to the right places, but since the landscapes aren’t actually for intel, she just collects it (with proper labelling because Shiho is a proud paperwork nin) until Shikako returns to Konoha for a bit.
And it’s like: oh, I’ve collected your landscapes, Shikako! And there’s just this huge album of them neatly arranged and labelled that Shikako doesn’t actively remember taking. Like, she remembers taking these pictures but she didn’t realize how many of them there were that had accumulated.
And maybe this exchange is during a kunoichi meetings, so the other ladies see it and are all oohing and aahing over it (because no one really vacations as a shinobi. They travel for missions or for training, but hardly ever just to sightsee) so it’s greatly appreciated.
And then someone (probably Ino, because the Yamanaka own a publishing company on behalf of the Ino-Shika-Cho clans) has the idea to publish it. And it is REALLY well-received by the civilian population because they get to travel for sightseeing purposes even less frequently than shinobi. (And there are some views that literally no person has seen in decades or centuries because Uzushio has been abandoned or it’s a place that’s too dangerous with little return). So it’s really just accidental, I think, this following that Shikako garners from photography.
Then, as technology advances so too does her camera (and the Nara clan probably sponsors a really nice one both for the fuinjutsu research and the landscapes) and then the medium that its shared.
Copycats follow (because its an easy way for a shinobi to make money, and no doubt Cloud nin would be all about risking their lives for the perfect shot) but by the time blogging is around, Shikako herself has a following and that in itself has accidentally become a bit like “Man vs. Wild” even though she was originally aiming more for a “How It’s Made” or “Wonders of the Ancient World” or one of the other less action-packed National Geographic/Discovery Channel shows.
Whoops. (The Director of the Princess Fuun movies is probably involved somehow)
“This seal says something about ‘caging the dragon’ but considering chakra pathways used to be called dragon’s veins that’s probably just a metaphorical phrase. Most likely they mean harnessing a point of high natural chakra emissions.”
Twenty minutes later,
“NOT METAPHORICAL. I REPEAT, NOT A METAPHOR!”
Kankurou is her camera person just the once (he refuses forever after that) but it’s one of the favorite episodes despite the low-res video and frequent shaky cam and that static from corrupted data (this is pretty early on in the series, before heavy duty tech). After that, regardless if she’s the adoptive Mother of the NGSS, it’s poor Shinki who gets conscripted as her camera person.
Then again, I feel like The Director probably trained a group of similarly-minded camera people who would be not just excited, but honored to be official camera person of “Konoha Nara versus *insert adventure setting here*”
Ooh! Okay, so part of me feels like any weird technological gaps that canon has could easily be handwaved away in DoS specifically because they’re already on track for that and also Shikako just expects more from tech that even if she’s not the one inventing/improving various tech she’s at the least hinting at something like–hey wouldn’t it be neat if this phone was also a camera? Or, have you considered a wireless network?–but that still will take about a decade or two for the Naruto world to get to modern level.
I imagine, at first, since cameras have been noted to be like clunky for elites and still film based, that she would have to either pay ridiculous amounts of money OR justify why she needs one. The easiest reason I can think of is to further her fuinjutsu research. So at first its very official, almost like police officers with using their weapon: she has a set amount of film and has to keep account of every roll that she uses.
So most of her photos are very cut and dry “see Figure 3” in academic papers on the remains of the Gelel shrine or something like that. But as a sort of protest/she has a few more cells left over she’ll take some pictures of some really spectacular scenery: the view of the galaxy (are they in the Milky Way?) in the desert, sunrise on the horizon from Uzushio, etc etc.
Someone in Intel (maybe Shiho?) is in charge of directing her reports to the right places, but since the landscapes aren’t actually for intel, she just collects it (with proper labelling because Shiho is a proud paperwork nin) until Shikako returns to Konoha for a bit.
And it’s like: oh, I’ve collected your landscapes, Shikako! And there’s just this huge album of them neatly arranged and labelled that Shikako doesn’t actively remember taking. Like, she remembers taking these pictures but she didn’t realize how many of them there were that had accumulated.
And maybe this exchange is during a kunoichi meetings, so the other ladies see it and are all oohing and aahing over it (because no one really vacations as a shinobi. They travel for missions or for training, but hardly ever just to sightsee) so it’s greatly appreciated.
And then someone (probably Ino, because the Yamanaka own a publishing company on behalf of the Ino-Shika-Cho clans) has the idea to publish it. And it is REALLY well-received by the civilian population because they get to travel for sightseeing purposes even less frequently than shinobi. (And there are some views that literally no person has seen in decades or centuries because Uzushio has been abandoned or it’s a place that’s too dangerous with little return). So it’s really just accidental, I think, this following that Shikako garners from photography.
Then, as technology advances so too does her camera (and the Nara clan probably sponsors a really nice one both for the fuinjutsu research and the landscapes) and then the medium that its shared.
Copycats follow (because its an easy way for a shinobi to make money, and no doubt Cloud nin would be all about risking their lives for the perfect shot) but by the time blogging is around, Shikako herself has a following and that in itself has accidentally become a bit like “Man vs. Wild” even though she was originally aiming more for a “How It’s Made” or “Wonders of the Ancient World” or one of the other less action-packed National Geographic/Discovery Channel shows.
Whoops. (The Director of the Princess Fuun movies is probably involved somehow)
“This seal says something about ‘caging the dragon’ but considering chakra pathways used to be called dragon’s veins that’s probably just a metaphorical phrase. Most likely they mean harnessing a point of high natural chakra emissions.”
Ooh! Okay, so part of me feels like any weird technological gaps that canon has could easily be handwaved away in DoS specifically because they’re already on track for that and also Shikako just expects more from tech that even if she’s not the one inventing/improving various tech she’s at the least hinting at something like–hey wouldn’t it be neat if this phone was also a camera? Or, have you considered a wireless network?–but that still will take about a decade or two for the Naruto world to get to modern level.
I imagine, at first, since cameras have been noted to be like clunky for elites and still film based, that she would have to either pay ridiculous amounts of money OR justify why she needs one. The easiest reason I can think of is to further her fuinjutsu research. So at first its very official, almost like police officers with using their weapon: she has a set amount of film and has to keep account of every roll that she uses.
So most of her photos are very cut and dry “see Figure 3” in academic papers on the remains of the Gelel shrine or something like that. But as a sort of protest/she has a few more cells left over she’ll take some pictures of some really spectacular scenery: the view of the galaxy (are they in the Milky Way?) in the desert, sunrise on the horizon from Uzushio, etc etc.
Someone in Intel (maybe Shiho?) is in charge of directing her reports to the right places, but since the landscapes aren’t actually for intel, she just collects it (with proper labelling because Shiho is a proud paperwork nin) until Shikako returns to Konoha for a bit.
And it’s like: oh, I’ve collected your landscapes, Shikako! And there’s just this huge album of them neatly arranged and labelled that Shikako doesn’t actively remember taking. Like, she remembers taking these pictures but she didn’t realize how many of them there were that had accumulated.
And maybe this exchange is during a kunoichi meetings, so the other ladies see it and are all oohing and aahing over it (because no one really vacations as a shinobi. They travel for missions or for training, but hardly ever just to sightsee) so it’s greatly appreciated.
And then someone (probably Ino, because the Yamanaka own a publishing company on behalf of the Ino-Shika-Cho clans) has the idea to publish it. And it is REALLY well-received by the civilian population because they get to travel for sightseeing purposes even less frequently than shinobi. (And there are some views that literally no person has seen in decades or centuries because Uzushio has been abandoned or it’s a place that’s too dangerous with little return). So it’s really just accidental, I think, this following that Shikako garners from photography.
Then, as technology advances so too does her camera (and the Nara clan probably sponsors a really nice one both for the fuinjutsu research and the landscapes) and then the medium that its shared.
Copycats follow (because its an easy way for a shinobi to make money, and no doubt Cloud nin would be all about risking their lives for the perfect shot) but by the time blogging is around, Shikako herself has a following and that in itself has accidentally become a bit like “Man vs. Wild” even though she was originally aiming more for a “How It’s Made” or “Wonders of the Ancient World” or one of the other less action-packed National Geographic/Discovery Channel shows.
Whoops. (The Director of the Princess Fuun movies is probably involved somehow)
It’s been a couple of months since I wrote anything for it, but it’s still definitely a thing. (Though there was a time when I was wondering whether or not I should officially on hiatus, mostly because I was worried it overlapped too much with @cyb-by-lang‘s Catch Your Breath). I’m definitely fond of it, though, and I kind of feel like it’s the most probable series for a Kakashi-POV though I’m still a ways off from that, I think.
A lot of my other DoS recursive fic is listed on my fanfic master list so if there are any other oldies-but-goodies you’ve missed you can check them out there.
Not with a start–it wasn’t her sense of danger that prodded her from unconsciousness–no need to wake up Rin’s sleeping form, gentle breathing beside her.
It reminds her of her childhood, in a skewed and almost desperate way, curling up next to her brother for warmth and comfort. In war, comfort is a scarcity, she will not take it from Rin if she doesn’t have to.
Shikako keeps her movements slow, doesn’t stiffen up either, opens up her chakra sense to investigate what woke her. Rin’s dual nature calm and soothing, Obito’s volcano banked for now. Kakashi, then. Which makes sense, considering it is his watch right now.
She eases away from her bedroll, lined up parallel to Rin’s so close as to nearly be touching, and silently makes her way over to where the newly summoned Pakkun sits.
In her chakra sense, summons are multidimensional (pun only slightly intended). Each creature has their own chakra, their own signature, but summons have an additional layer of their summoner’s chakra:
Pakkun is familiar to her–both then and now–rich and thick and surprisingly dense for a dog his size, like the best kind of hot cocoa. With the added zing of Kakashi’s electric-ozone signature, she can easily picture a stormy day, lightning incoming, enjoying it from the safety of her own home.
The pug gives her an ear flick–acknowledgement and not so subtle request for scritches–and, once she’s seated, jumps into her lap.
“He’s restless,” Pakkun says in a voice that isn’t at all higher than the one she remembers, “Went to check out the perimeter.”
Shikako doesn’t bother to ask if he took some of the other summons with him, Kakashi isn’t stupid, but it still seems… risky. Overly confident, maybe.
The Kakashi she knows has decades and a Sharingan on this one, and she still worried about him.
There’s no campfire–not much of a camp, really, just an arrangement of their bedrolls to reduce wind chill and detection, and traps all around–but the moon is nearly full, and it’s just enough to cast a weak shadow.
Pakkun critiques her shadow puppets while they wait for Kakashi to return.
—
Dawn rises, cold morning light turning the sky a gentle lilac for a few, breathtaking moments. She is tired, but she doesn’t regret sitting up despite Kakashi’s terse words then or the brutal pace he sets now.
After all, they’re heading to the Sangaku Outpost for her benefit: Sembei-obaasan is stationed there, deer summons a vital part of Konoha’s intel dispersion.
Which is just a fancy way of saying glorified messenger hawks, but no Nara would dismiss the importance information in battle.
“Are you excited?” Rin asks cheerfully, as they jump from branch to branch, both of them ignoring the way Obito complains at Kakashi for the demanding speed. They’re all still on alert despite heading inland and nearer to Konoha–home doesn’t always mean safety, she learned (will learn that) long ago–but hours of travel is still boring regardless of if it’s in a vehicle or by her own two feet.
“About the summoning contract?” Shikako clarifies, perhaps a bit unnecessarily, considering the whole point of this mission is to meet with Sembei-obaasan. Ostensibly Team Kakashi is delivering some of the more critical intelligence reports to the Sangaku Outpost, but they all know the real reason.
“Yes,” Rin confirms, “I think it must be nice to have summons,” she muses, “The Nohara clan isn’t exactly big, and we’re mostly medic nin–well, obviously–so there aren’t many of us in the front line, so there isn’t much need for summons, I suppose…
“There might be someone who has a contract with cranes,” she continues after a considering pause, “but I don’t think I’ve met them.”
Shikako nods, wondering herself about such a summoning contract. As far as she can remember, no one in her time uses crane summons. While she isn’t close with anyone from the Nohara clan, they and the Nara are both entrenched the Medic Corps. Surely such a useful summon would have been mentioned at least once.
“I am excited,” she says, finally answering Rin’s original question, “And a little nervous,” she admits, “as far as I know, Sembei-obaasan is the only summoner for the deer contract and I don’t know whether or not she’ll let me sign it.”
Just because she did in the future (past?) before, doesn’t mean she will again.
~
A/N: I missed this series, I’ll be honest.
I guess the advent calendar thing is a no go, but have some more winter imagery anyway courtesy of Pakkun’s hot cocoa chakra!
(At the heart of winter is one truth: not even death can stop a memory.)
Snow falls, continuously, eternally. Thick, cloying flakes collecting heavily on hibernating trees.
There has not been any other weather for so long, no sunshine to melt the ice, the entire world in stark white and somber grays.
No creatures dare brave beyond their burrows for long, risking more than just the cold and hypothermia. For if they intrude on Her perfect world, they may find themselves drawing undue attention.
Outside her castle of sharp towers–edged in icicles and cruel stone, metal so frozen it burns at a heedless touch–a crowd of such fools stand.
The Lions, first, those made in the image of Aslan, the only one who might threaten Her reign. Talking or silent, majestic or cowardly, trapped before they could unsheathe their claws.
Then, oddly, the denizens of the rivers and sea–the hippocampi, naiads and nereids both–caught before they could escape Her lands. Waves stopped mid crest, movement halted, faces immortalized in desperation to flee.
By then most Narnians had begun to hide, a mad scramble to avoid her clutches. But the frost continued: dryads protecting their trees, unable or unwilling to leave them behind. The gryphons and eagles, too brave, too proud, grounded and caged in unforgiving ice.
And yet the thought remains through the years, whispered furtively from mother to cub:
Hope for spring to come again.
~
A/N: This is actually canon Chronicles of Narnia compliant, but I figured it’d be a nice opening to Once Then Always since just look at these pictures! Aren’t they nice?
And, well, frozen fountains seemed like a good way to thematically start off December.
In the wake of my whiplash writing emotions/self-esteem and the realization that tomorrow is December 1st (and thus one month from this blog’s second birthday) I kinda want to do an Ask Box Advent Calendar event of sorts but I’m not entirely sure what I want that to entail…
Because I don’t want this to just be another Ask Box Three Sentence Fic session (though that was fun and I will probably do that again in the future)–mostly due to the fact that I’d like to step away from the medium of three sentence fic for a while–and I also do have some DoS prompts pending* (most of which I do plan on filling eventually**) so I don’t want to just invite a whole flood of other prompts that will, undoubtedly, push them even further back.
So I guess what I’m saying is that I’d like to do a Schrödinger’s cat sort of thing in which y’all send me prompts (or personal questions if anyone is at all curious about me and/or my opinions on things) via the ask box for the month of December and I’ll either try to fill/answer them or write an outline/brainstorm/rant of how I would fill/answer them or why I can’t… if that makes any sense?
Like, y’all can even “resubmit” some of the prompts from the Ask Box Three Sentence Fic session–I can try to do larger fill for it or at the very least outline how I’d attempt to make a full fic for it. Or if you’re wondering what my headcanon is for if/how a certain ship would/could work. Or, I’ll admit, that ask about mono vs poly relationships was pretty fun to answer so if anyone has similar questions that’d be cool, too.
Does that sound at all interesting to anyone?
* (list of pending DoS prompts under cut) ** (if anyone sees their prompt on the list and would like to “resubmit” that prompt for the Advent Calendar because it’s been a really long time since you’ve submitted it and at this point you’d rather have an outline/brainstorm than wait whoever knows how long for an ever decreasing chance of a prose fill then let me know because, well, I’ll be honest, some of them have been languishing for an embarrassingly long time and now they’re beginning to haunt me like the various Ghosts of Christmas Insert-Relative-Time-Term-Here)
Pending Dreaming of Sunshine Prompts
Down Every Road, 4/?
— anonymous’ giant list of prompts: 1) enraged/emotional/protective Sasuke (in context of Grass Chuunin Exams) 2-4) Ino, Naruto, and Itachi’s POV of Shikasuke 5) Ino, Naruto, Itachi, and Shikako bonding over being part of the “protect Sasuke” squad 6) Ino, Naruto, and Itachi bonding over being part of the “get Shikako and Sasuke together” squad 7) long distance relationship Shikasuke (via letter writing and unamused summons, no doubt) — anonymous: (Walking Around) Down Every Road aka Shikako and Sasuke planning/dealing with pregnancy. [#: parents-to-be] — flamingosspace : Shikako gussied up by Yoshino and Sasuke looking awe-struck and Shikamaru giving him the stink-eye
Gambling Away The Past, 5/?
— anonymous: deer summon shenanigans
Hail To The Queen, 5/?
— anonymous: sometimes in the future, somehow ends up a temporary daimyo for a foreign country
Stars Also Dream, 10/?
— book14reader: the other padawans, saving force sensitive children (people preventing massacres) — Celeste @ ao3: jedi or sith oath
Walking Around ‘verse
— anonymous: more Sakako and Boruto (and Mitsuki) bonding feels — anon(s?): Sakako versus ghouls (and her badass Shikabane-hime equivalent name => Reaper?)
future-tongue: Tsunade and Sasuke bonding fic (Walking Around ‘verse or otherwise)
anonymous: in which Shikako is totally oblivious to romance and Shikamaru is the master of the (lazy) date
She wears wire in her hair, braids of red and metal winding round and round her head. Pins blunt against her scalp, sharp points outward, everything hidden under a bandana rigged to blow.
Uzushio’s legacy, beneath dark cloth.
—
Kiyoshi Utsugi – (In)Difference
(Neutrality brings peace.)
Lightning thrums under her skin, running along her nerves, writhing. Wind at her fingertips, whipping at her cheek, waiting to be unleashed.
Conscious clear, target in sight: shoot.
—
Tetsuki Kaiza – Trailblazers / Externality / Iron Will
(Fate worse than death.)
The first time around she is furious-regretful-afraid-satisfied, at least, she will be swiftly avenged.
The second time she is desperate: she doesn’t want to go, doesn’t want to do this again, doesn’t want this curse.
By the third she is hollowed out and resigned.
—
Aomi (Inuzuka) – B*tch Please
(Humanity is beastly.)
The rage in her has nothing to do with the fangs in her mouth or the growl in her lungs. She dreams of hunting intangible things–justice, strength, the future–plans like shaky ground beneath her paws.
Truth and loyalty require sacrifice.
—
Windy Strife – Into Thin Air
(Steps ahead, left behind.)
The suit sits heavy on her shoulders, fabric stiff and blue still new. The bow, long carried, doesn’t quite match but it fits perfectly in his hand.
Zie is a weapon, forged and honed, then and now.
—
Reyniero Chason – Running Backwards
(Battle fiercely for the king.)
There are no options, train on the track, future written down and read in the past. And yet, here I am, poised to defy the fate put on him.
If anyone is the spare, it’s me.
—
Branton Evans – Growing Strong (Burning Bright)
(Thorns, sparks, and silver linings.)
He knows much about regret, had felt it even as he continued to walk away, needing to follow through. Time doesn’t always heal, sometimes it erodes instead.
Nevertheless, things can still be salvaged.
—
Haru Kuwabara – (En)Closure
(Winning might be everything.)
Go is a battle, is a conversation, is life–according to her grandfather anyway. But she knows death, so she knows that despite all the drama, go is just a game.
But against gods and murderers and the stark face of justice, it’s a nice thought.
—
Ember Ketchum – A Year With The Moon
(Knowledge is double edged.)
Sight beyond does not make her immune, does not make her anything but a liability. Her entire existence is a dilemma and now, it seems, she has made the wrong choice.
Behind a glowing wall in her mind, she watches herself attack her brother.
~
A/N: Surprisingly, the word prompt is relevant to the writing! Except for the last one, each section is basically a motto + three sentence fic (or four sentence fic) summarizing my various OCs. Almost like little trailers for the different series… (The last one isn’t because I realized that Ash having a twin during the first Pokemon movie, ie the one featuring Mewtwo, would have the potential for EPIC FEELS).
So… last day of November. Unsurprisingly, did not meet the NaNo quota but that’s okay because a lot of my posts this month (like this one) were three sentence fic and for some reason I wrote a lot of poetry…
JackSGreyson Says 