Tag: brainstorm

Hope you don’t mind more prompts. I’d love to see any more Shikasuke? <3 Maybe in some kind of festive setting, maybe they're trying to work/spy/fight/dance-off, haha I'm not sure.

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

Okay, anon, so in my somewhat feverish state I’ve pondered your prompt and while I do like the idea I’ve come up with I also don’t quite know how to fill it. And part of me feels like this could very well mimic something in canon, as in, maybe it has yet to happen and I don’t want to presume, so I guess what I’m saying is, here’s a brainstorm:

The Fire Daimyo’s heir is getting married and, as heirs to Noble Clans themselves, Chiyako(+Shino), Chouji, Hinata(+Hanabi), and Sasuke are expected to attend. In part to “renew ties amongst all of the noble clans of the Land of Fire” but also, implied, to show off the eligible nobles and create some arranged marriages.

Unsurprisingly, the above listed heirs are not pleased with the second possibility. Luckily, as nobility, they are allowed to bring servants, “bodyguards” and, in the most desperate situation, “fiancees.” Guess who has the most desperate situation? 😀

Chouji obviously has Ino and Shikamaru as heirs to the Akimichi’s vassal clans and the Akimichi, I imagine, frequently intermarries with the non-shinobi nobility enough that he’s fairly safe for now. He might actually be in line for the throne (so to speak) if rather distantly.

Chiyako and Hanabi are both too young to be involved in the more aggressive match-making attempts, whereas Hinata and Shino have the benefit of being trained by older members of their clan to avoid marriage proposals (either getting or receiving).

Sasuke should have had the same except… well, you know. And while the Nara family is pseudo-adopting him now, they themselves aren’t Noble Clans and the Akimichi’s stance was to marry into the daimyo’s line so… not exactly applicable.

So how does anyone in fanfiction avoid arranged marriages? By “already having a fiancee” of course! Heck, yeah, I’d want to throw in some “fake engagement” into this prompt.

So of course, with that kind of set up, the Konoha Twelve/Thirteen go to the capitol with three main goals:

1) honor the summons that the wedding invitations implies and display the strength of Konoha to reassure the daimyo in these upcoming times of trouble
2) avoid arranged marriages
3) political espionage / cultivate more clients for the village

And, of course, things cannot be easy with all/most of the Konoha Thirteen along so it turns out there is something going down (maybe they sniff out some possible treasonous nobility who are making a deal with Cloud nin in order to take out the happy couple?) meanwhile Sasuke and Shikako have to play the part of happy couple themselves (and resist falling in love with each other only to find out that it’s too late to avoid doing so).

There very likely is, as per usual in an action romcom, a dancing scene where, in order to get closer to the suspected traitors, Sasuke and Shikako have to join in the dancing only to get ~mesmerized by each other~ and miss the traitorous exchange entirely. Luckily, some of the other members of the team catch it and it’s all okay.

While trying to hide the political espionage from the daimyo (but not the Twelve Guardians who know but are neither helping or harming their mission, in the same way separate agencies are meant to function) of course they make a giant scene but the nobility being very much like Prince Michiru are somewhat obliviously charmed by it and it becomes a new tradition/fashion trend/dance craze?

And, of course, at the end Sasuke and Shikako realize that, hey, why don’t we try going out for real?

🙂

Can I have some Shikako/Neiji?? (I’ll try to be general) umm.. how about them just being intimidating together? With their genius, and long hair and (probably) great legs.

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

Ooh, okay, so let’s see… there’s a specific direction I want to go for this, and it’s not necessarily Shikako/Neji as much as it is building a foundation for the ship.

So it’s canon!DoS ‘verse and playing up on the Sensor Squad thing–because I think this would be the most likely way Shikako and Neji end up on a team together. And for some reason, I kind of want it to be from Hana’s POV.

Like, Hana wants to make the jump from chuunin to jounin (and *fingers crossed* become the jounin sensei for Hanabi, Chiyako, and Ranmaru) and the best way to do that (outside of wartime, that is) is to prove you can handle leadership in really bizarre missions.

And, well. Tsume knows which set of people has the most bizarre missions.

It makes sense, I think, because Neji and Shikako are both part of the newest crop of the Sensory Squad and even though Shikako is higher ranked than Hana, the age difference and lack of experience means she wouldn’t chafe under Hana as team leader. (And, probably, not being in charge is a relief to her).

It’s also not as if Neji has a set team to run with (not like Team Eight) and for a complete sensor team you would want a Hyuuga, an Inuzuka, and a chakra sensor of some sort. So maybe not only is the Sensor Squad a roster for individuals, but there are also semi-permanent teams so that for those who weren’t on a genin team together they can develop rapport.

Anyway here’s a little of what I’ve got for that:

What a mess they must look like, the three of them standing around awkwardly, uncertain. Well, perhaps not Neji–Hyuuga’s don’t really do awkward so much as displeased, perhaps the heiress is closest but even that’s more shy than ungainly–but she and Shikako definitely carry his share.

Zou, bored, head butts her thigh, and Hana shakes herself out of it. She’s going to be a jounin, she can’t be deterred by such a minor thing.

As if sensing Hana’s resolve, Shikako’s posture straightens out as well, the three of them now standing less like a group of children told to play nice together and more like a proper team.

“We’re a little too familiar with each other to need introductions,” Hana starts, “but we don’t exactly know how each other works, and I know better than to suggest sparring.”

Against the Hyuuga prodigy, there’s exactly one way a taijutsu-only spar would work. But given the scale of Shikako’s other abilities and Hana’s own Haimaru-bolstered attacks, there’s no other option that wouldn’t end up someone hospitalized. Which isn’t exactly the best way to get the Jounin Commander’s attention–good attention, anyway.

“What are you suggesting then?” Neji asks, almost bracing himself. Well, his jounin-sensei was Gai, he’s probably had to deal with a lot of non-sparring exercises.

Hana smiles, all teeth, and brings out a bright red ball. She can feel the slight breeze of Mitaru’s tail wagging, can hear the way Sanji shifts onto all fours.

“Let’s play a game.”

—

For most people, the Haimaru Brothers are identical. And, well, that’s not exactly a surprise–they are from the same litter, after all, and most people don’t have the benefit of a Inuzuka’s keen sense of smell. Even then, sometimes Hana’s mum gets them mixed up, though usually she’ll cover that up by picking up two by the scruff of their necks and having Kuromaru pick up the third just to remind them that in comparison to the Alphas, they are still just puppies. Kiba and Akamaru don’t particularly care about differentiating them, they just start annoying whichever one is closest.

But the Haimaru Brothers have been Hana’s partners for years: she raised them since they were actually puppies, and named them all. (Granted, she was four at the time and not terribly prepared for the responsibility, so it’s no surprise that they ended up with the names they did.)

Mitaru is the excitable one, easily distracted, but the best sniffer because of it. Sanji is an old soul in a young body, calm and logical and, if she’s going to be honest, kind of lazy. Oh, he won’t shirk his duties, but he’s definitely the kind of dog who would rather lounge in a sunbeam than run around in the grass. Zou is the most aggressive, usually the one who joins a fight first, and the one who gets into the most trouble with Kuromaru and mum.

(Yes, they’re all named three.)

Some of their personalities are reflected in their bodies: Zou has a bulkier front to better support his attacks. Mitaru is leaner, faster than his brothers, constantly moving around. Sanji… could probably stand to lose a few pounds, but his fur is always the neatest so at least there’s that. But those are all such minute differences that to even the Byakugan the Haimaru brothers look identical. She’s not sure how they fare chakra-wise, but most chakra sensors’ focus on differences in human chakra signatures, not animals.

So for her new team’s introductory exercise, they’re going to play a game called Three Dog Monte.

… and I would continue, except it is approaching midnight and I have to get up early in the morning :/ Clearly I’d follow through with a Hana POV of how Shikako and Neji kind of blossom into a terrifying set of shinobi with long hair and (literal) killer legs, while she remains oblivious to the fact that she, too, also falls under that categorization. And she kinda watches fondly and amused at how Shikako and Neji (maybe literally) dance around each other and their feelings.

Anyway, if you like it, anon, let me know? I might have time to write more of it tomorrow *fingers crossed* schedule permitting.

Rockstar!AU thoughts: If Shikako has any musical inclination, it’s something classical/doesn’t mesh well with the Sand Trio/that she does solely as a hobby and isn’t looking at professionally. Admittedly, I’m in love with Lindsey Stirling’s ‘Shadows’ so this might influence this headcanon. (Or she plays Smooth Criminal on traditional instruments.) XD

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

jacksgreysays:

I don’t mean to cast aspersions on Silver Queen in even the most roundabout way, but I always assumed that–as a character–Shikako would view extensive musical training as impractical. Like, sure, she can read music and maybe she has some minimal training (in both canon DoS due to kunoichi classes, and in the rockstar!AU, because I feel like most parents at some point try to get their children to play an instrument for a few years and if it sticks then they continue and if it doesn’t they let it go) but, as you said, it’s at most a hobby for her.

I don’t know of many instruments that haven’t been adopted into indie/alternative rock, though. I know of several pop songs that have violin now, if not also piano or cello or banjo or ukulele. Hehe, I just had the thought that what if she played something like trombone or tuba.

I think of the twins, Shikamaru has more musical talent. He also probably doesn’t do it as more than a hobby, but if needed he could just break out a guitar and do a quick acoustic cover of a popular song with little prompting. Shikako is more interested in translating notes into their exact frequencies and playing around with crystals.

Oh, yeah! That definitely makes sense–how could I forget that :/

So I guess both twins are not particularly gifted with music?

In this softer world without shinobi and bijuu, I suppose there’s no reason for Karura to have been pressured into turning her youngest child into a jinchuuriki and thus there are no/reduced complications to the birthing process. So, probably, Karura is alive. And the musical one.

I like the idea that she and her brother probably run a music store or a school teaching music (most likely piano), and that the sand siblings all grew up around music. It’s kind of how they learned to express themselves/communicate which also explains why they still have a strained relationship with Rasa because their father is not all that good at music. He appreciates it but it’s kind of… does not compute (which I guess means that the sand siblings may very well continue the tradition of musicians falling in love with people who can’t music at all).

But Rasa is very successful in his chosen field of business (the gold dust thing might be mining? jewelry? hm…) so there’s an additional layer of, not only can he not connect that well with his children but none of them chose to join the family business so it’s just… mrgh. He’s proud of them, but he does not understand them.

Which I think means the Sand Trio’s parents would approve highly of Shikako? Rasa thinks she’s a practical and level-headed young woman (he has no idea of how bizarre engineers can really be) and that she’s definitely heading places and thank god his youngest child has found someone because the other two were loud enough but Gaara was the kind of child who would silently sit somewhere and be accidentally left behind (no, Rasa did not leave Gaara in a grocery store on accident. Twice.) Karura, on the other hand, is absolutely delighted by Shikako and the fantastic music she inspires in all of her children.

Yoshino and Shikaku aren’t easily starstruck or judgmental, so when Shikako brings Gaara home for the first time, Yoshino is mostly worried about dietary restrictions and whether or not she needs to lecture her son into behaving. Shikaku is just: my daughter’s relationship means my daughter’s rules, but most importantly does he play shogi?

I kind of like the idea that this is after the Sand Trio’s big debut, which means a few enterprising paparazzi try to trespass and take pictures of Gaara (and Shikako), and that’s mostly what Gaara is worried about except Yoshino just smiles calmly and says, “Don’t worry about it: it’s mating season and the deer are free range.” 

Getting caught for trespassing is the least of these paparazzi’s concerns.

Rockstar!AU thoughts: If Shikako has any musical inclination, it’s something classical/doesn’t mesh well with the Sand Trio/that she does solely as a hobby and isn’t looking at professionally. Admittedly, I’m in love with Lindsey Stirling’s ‘Shadows’ so this might influence this headcanon. (Or she plays Smooth Criminal on traditional instruments.) XD

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

I don’t mean to cast aspersions on Silver Queen in even the most roundabout way, but I always assumed that–as a character–Shikako would view extensive musical training as impractical. Like, sure, she can read music and maybe she has some minimal training (in both canon DoS due to kunoichi classes, and in the rockstar!AU, because I feel like most parents at some point try to get their children to play an instrument for a few years and if it sticks then they continue and if it doesn’t they let it go) but, as you said, it’s at most a hobby for her.

I don’t know of many instruments that haven’t been adopted into indie/alternative rock, though. I know of several pop songs that have violin now, if not also piano or cello or banjo or ukulele. Hehe, I just had the thought that what if she played something like trombone or tuba.

I think of the twins, Shikamaru has more musical talent. He also probably doesn’t do it as more than a hobby, but if needed he could just break out a guitar and do a quick acoustic cover of a popular song with little prompting. Shikako is more interested in translating notes into their exact frequencies and playing around with crystals.

ooohhh your dragon rider!team 7 au sounds so fascinating?? what sorts of dragons would they ride? what would they even do as dragon riders??

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

Ooh, okay, okay. So there’s some differences between the Temeraire style versus the How To Train Your Dragon style of dragon riding, and I feel like in order to best translate the Naruto world, I’d have to pull bits and pieces from each.

So in HTTYD, the dragons are more like pets–cats/dogs/birds–with roughly the same level of intelligence. Maybe the bigger ones (the Queen and the Alphas/Bewilderbeasts) are a little more intelligent but, over all, they’re animals. Amazing, magical animals yes, but animals all the same.

In Temeraire, the dragons are sentient (if not sapient–because they are a different species and would have different way of thinking/prioritizing) and they’re massive. The majority of the dragons in HTTYD would be in the courier or light combat classification, and Temeraire has an additional two larger classes of middleweight and heavyweight.

Maybe the Queen and Alphas/Bewilderbeasts are middleweights? But the heavyweights are like ships–they have captains and flight crews of up to forty people as well as a ground crew and they can straight up carry smaller dragons easily. The larger the dragon, the longer the lifespan and dragon’s captaincies tend to be passed down in a family for multiple generations.

And while Temeraire style dragons don’t quite have a telepathic bond with their captains there’s a little bit of a… imprinting process? Like, if newly hatched dragons don’t imprint on a person, they go feral and won’t ever take a captain. And while captaincies can and will eventually be transferred it’s not as good as the original imprinted captain. (I think? It’s been a while since I read any Temeraire stuff)

Probably, the bijuu are the only heavyweights that exist in this dragon rider AU. The problem is, though, that I’m pretty sure the Uchiha clan would at least have had some light combat dragons that Sasuke would have inherited–if not middleweight–and those also require crews (but probably smaller, about ten people). Unless Itachi killed them all? But how would that even… hrm…

Okay so if we want Team Seven to have similar relationships in this AU as what they have in canon, then they either need to be part of the same dragon’s flight crew OR they are each captains of different dragons who are part of the same flight formation. On the one hand, Naruto really ought to be captain of Kyuubi and Sasuke ought to be captain of at least one if not multiple Uchiha clan dragons, but it would be weird for Shikako (from a “clan of ground walkers”) to be captain of her own dragon as well.

So maybe… maybe the Uchiha only had the one middleweight–for the clan head’s line–and a bunch of light combat/couriers. So Itachi could have killed his father, inherited the family dragon, and killed all the light combat/couriers leaving Sasuke without a dragon to captain. Then the Kyuubi, who had not liked Kushina and won’t even give Naruto the time of day, is hibernating away. The threat of his existence is enough to deter the other countries from invading, but it’s true that they can’t utilize his full potential until Naruto can convince him to fight on Konoha’s behalf.

So Team Seven is the crew of Pakkun, the Hatake clan’s middleweight (and maybe the other dog summons are Pakkun’s ground crew?). The other members of Pakkun’s flight formation are Ningame carrying Team Gai, Enma (who Asuma has a strained relationship with) carryin Team Ten, and… Akamaru carrying Team Eight?

Yeah, so, Enma is the oldest dragon and has loudly stated that he prefers Hiruzen–his first captain–to Asuma so there’s that drama. Pakkun and Ningame are about the same age and imprinted on their respective captains at about the same time. Akamaru is the youngest and only recently imprinted on Kiba–so while they have enough potential to be combat ready, and Kiba is technically Akamaru’s captain, Kurenai is captain of the crew. Hinata might or might not inherit her father’s dragon–or, like in canon, it might end up with Hanabi.

Erm, well, most likely because battle styles are different, flight formations aren’t used very frequently so the different Teams are independent of each other.

In Temeraire, this is during the Regency Era so Britain is at war–hence flight formations and flight crews. While I’m reluctant to say there’s full-blown war going on in the Elemental Nations, it’s very likely that the Air Force is meant to maintain the territories/borders. Akatsuki is probably trying to instigate full blown war in order to capture the bijuu (as per canon) although this time they’re actually doing it to take over the world not to do a giant genjutsu or summon an alien princess monster.

So they’re starting a world war as a distraction for some heists and murders to take over the world? … yeah. That sounds about right. And, hey, this actually makes Nagato’s Uzumaki heritage important rather than just some bullshit throwaway thing that wasn’t explored at all! 😀

So Shukaku is near feral. Technically Gaara is his captain, but only technically–Karura was his captain before and, as per canon, died in childbirth, and Shukaku is so pissed off and bitter and basically Shukaku and Gaara have a worse relationship than Enma and Asuma, not even bringing up how Shukaku is at least twice as big and powerful as Enma.

The Nibi and Hachibi are, again, as per canon, pretty well behaved and captained by Yugito and Killer B. Professional, if not intimate. Sanbi has already been stolen and is captained by Kisame. Akatsuki’s threat is due to that they probably have a way to rewrite dragon imprinting/brainwash them like Drago and the Bewilderbeast in HTTYD2. Etc. etc.

I like the idea that Waterfall has Nanabi–the sole heavyweight not owned by the Big Five–and no middleweights whatsoever. Only couriers and light combat class. So there’s just this massive sparkly dragon surrounded by tiny dragons.

I feel like the jinchuuriki who are missing nin wouldn’t translate all that well because how do you lose track of a 50 ton dragon? And their forty person crew. It’s not like being a single jinchuuriki where it’s just like I, an individual, will leave the village in the middle of the night and hide from hunter nin. A bijuu leaving would be like a battleship just sailing away and no one being able to find it–not only would the entire crew have to agree, the captain and bijuu would have to as well and continuously hide?

… Actually… I guess that’s not too out there if they focus more on threats than subtlety. “I am leaving now, if you try to make me and my captain stay I will attack you and I am the most powerful dragon in your military” instead of “Lalala, I’m a massive dragon disappearing in the night, no one can find meeeeee.”

And a lot of the adventure is Team Seven flying around, stumbling across the Akatsuki conspiracy, and trying to convince the other countries to listen/trying to convince the missing captains to join the efforts to stop Akatsuki/trying to convince Kyuubi to accept Naruto as his captain.

Ultimate big bad in this AU would be Pein aka Nagato, I think, because I don’t know how an Obito-Madara storyline would work, much less the Zetsu-Kaguya and Indra-Ashura nonsense. LET THE UZUMAKI NAME BE RELEVANT!

For the rockstar!Shikaara I really love the fact that Shikako has a “What did you do this time?” song. Now imagine since Shikako and Gaara met before the Sand Trio hit it big and started touring then the press probably doesn’t know about her. Because Gaara is a private person, Temari too. Kankuro can pretend he’s not but those who really know him are few. So it’s a huge shock when this unknown girl slips into the band area just before a big show in their home town and isn’t thrown out. (1/2)

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

jacksgreysays:

I don’t know if that’d be the title, necessarily, because despite all appearances the Sand Trio are actually a kid friendly band. They have a surprisingly big pre-teen and teen following…

But that’s probably what it amounts to, yes. 🙂 

It probably is a very “no means no” and “anti-stalking” and “consent is not only beautiful but mandatory” kind of song without being a straight PSA. Which is a breath of fresh air in comparison to all the skeevy rape-y songs going around.

“Brothers, Sisters, Brutality” is a Temari song! I pulled it from the conversation the Nara twins had with her post Sasuke Retrieval. Good eye, anon! 😀

So is “Quality of Mercy” because, arguably, that decision to let the Sand Siblings go was a conversation between Temari and Shikako.

I haven’t really thought of lyrics for the songs, but I do have a general idea of what they might sound like. “Spark Boom Pow” is Kankurou’s and terribly catchy, I guess it’s a little bit like:

jacksgreysays:

image

“Always You” is hilariously misleading and romantic sounding if it were metaphors, but since Kankurou means it absolutely literally it really is a “Shikako what have you done?” song. Probably something like:

When the ground breaks,
and the sky opens up,
amongst all the noise,
it’s always you.

Then the earth shakes,
and the stars come to life,
sword through the chest,
it’s always you.

Doesn’t it sound like a really beautiful way to explain falling in love? But y’all know what I’m talking about here. 😀

Yep, Shikako and Gaara’s relationship really comes out of nowhere for the media. Like, first of all, tabloids mostly were keeping their eyes on the other two members of the Sand Trio–they never even suspected Gaara of dating someone. Second of all, Shikako is an unknown. She’s not a celebrity at all–outside of academia, that is–so it’s just like… whaaa?

I do think, though that’s they’d be a pretty careful about that sort of thing? Like, they’re not really a PDA kind of couple, and they always make sure Shikako has backstage passes and such, so on the surface reporters just think she’s a particularly devoted fan.

I more like the idea that it’s not the tabloids that out it but a fan who accidentally does so? Or it’s, like the relationship, out of nowhere. Like they’re getting interviewed and the interviewer asks about inspirations for their songs and their answers kind of accumulate into the idea that it’s the same individual for each of them.

And maybe some enterprising and devoted fan–not maliciously–pieces together from the different songs that, oh, the person they’re singing about would be this this and this characteristics. And another fan goes like, hey I’m looking through my pictures of the concert and I mostly focused on the foreground which was a selfie with Kankurou but now that I examine the background I notice that there’s this woman sitting rather close to Gaara.

And then it just starts pouring in–other fans are like, oh hey she’s in here, too! And then someone, probably an undergrad student in one of the classes she TAs for, is like. Hey, I think I know who this is–it’s Shikako Nara, etc. etc.

And THAT’S when the tabloids swoop in. And obviously they play on the whole “WHICH OF THE SAND TRIO IS SHE DATING? IS SHE DATING ALL OF THEM?” Because tabloids are awful.

And then people show up to her university. Non-students are trying to sit in on her lectures/discussion sections/labs and campus security has to basically assign her a bodyguard (her classes end up having perfect attendance without the threat of pop quizzes, though, so that’s nice. It’s less nice that most of the questions she’s fielding are about the Sand Trio and not, you know, curricula related).

Her friends are pretty good at helping her dodge paparazzi–swapping outfits with her or just getting in the way or giving her an escape route. At one point, Naruto takes all of his clothes off as a distraction. Sasuke just breaks their cameras. Kakashi, being somehow more and less subtle, just slouches around her strategically so any shot of her is obscured by his lanky body. Seriously, every shot he’s just there… somehow.

Shikamaru really does not appreciate these hordes of paparazzi harassing his sister while she does something simple like take a breather from all the research and rumors and get a fucking cup of coffee with him. He punches a paparazzo in the face.

The Yamanaka clan–along with being very PR savvy and already spreading word to stop stories about Shikako–has many members that are lawyers. Which is good for keeping one Nara twin out of jail and protecting the other with an entire MOUNTAIN of restraining orders. The Akimichi, consummate businesspeople, begin smothering the life out of the more venomous/less classy tabloids by getting advertisers to retract their deals and messing with their finances.

The Nara take care of their own, of course, and while I’m pretty sure they’re more into pharmaceuticals than private security, no doubt they have a decent amount of pull in certain areas, too.

And despite being musicians, the Sand Trio are very highly connected. They don’t like the way some of the tabloids have been talking about their muse.

Spark Boom Pow!
And the world goes crazy,
head turns hazy.
Spark Boom Pow!
Give a little push,
flip the ambush.
Spark Boom Pow!

And then a huge drum solo, which is why the club remix is very popular. His songs are mostly hook lines and repetitive beats, and it translates over to hiphop easiest.

Temari’s songs are a little more Bastille-y. Like, there’s definitely a story being told here and it’s in the format of a conversation and it just happens to in the medium of rock music. “BSB” plays a lot with the siblings harmonizing–even Kankurou who doesn’t so much sing as he does shout rhythmically–and each of them have different lyrics during the chorus. “QoM” is almost entirely Temari’s vocals–there’s one verse where Gaara joins in–and it has a vibe like this cover of Florence + The Machine’s Heartlines except swap Mike and Aleka’s roles around.

I feel like Sand Trio probably isn’t the name they chose, but that’s what their early fans called them and then it kind of just stuck when they became famous. It was probably something long and grandiose like “Scions of the Desert in Triplicate” so it’s just easier to refer to them as the Sand Trio. 😛

So, in Pokéani lore (not sure about the games), there’s Aura, and apparently that is what makes Pokémon moves work? Would Shikako be able to sense it, the way she can sense Natural Chakra (there’s a feeling that it’s there; she’s good at spotting trainers ahead of time, because of the refined nature of their teams’ aura, and she’s trying to figure out how it works basically without a teacher)?

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

jacksgreysays:

jacksgreysays:

image

Ooh, yeah. Aura powers! I know Lucario is the Aura Pokemon and that humans can have it too? (Or, at the very least, Ash has some) and it’s game canon that some people have psychic abilities which might be based on aura…

I like your idea, anon! From now on, the equivalent of natural chakra is aura! 😀

So obviously, Orochimaru is someone trying to experiment on people/Pokemon for aura. Which–and, I might be wrong on this, but is Ash supposedly the reincarnation of mythical aura user of the past?–kind of works with his original reason of wanting immortality to meet his parents’ reincarnations? Like, aura is linked with reincarnation somehow?

I don’t think Akatsuki have many natural chakra users, but the whole Kaguya/Zetsu thing definitely did. Ooh, maybe aura abilities was more common in the past but something sealed it away. Psychics now are kind of like the mutated version of aura that managed to sneak out of the seal–so Akatsuki is trying to break the seal but so as to keep all of the aura to themselves??

Shikako probably has the closest thing to real aura powers of any human alive now, whereas Naruto and Sasuke’s abilities are both activated because of Kyuubi or whatever Orochimaru’s Curse Seal equivalent is in this world.

Obviously, Team Seven is like the Ash of this world. Just split up that boy’s luck three ways. And, hey, you know what? A lot of Legendaries come in sets of three.

I was considering linking the Nara clan to Xerneas somehow, but that seems almost too grand for them? I mean maybe a looooooooooooong time ago to the point where it’s just a “oh, probably it was just a particularly powerful Sawsbuck and the story has been exaggerated over time” (lol, nope).

So maybe Shikako gets to meet or temporarily partner up with Xerneas, but no way does she actually ever catch it. And probably same thing with Sasuke and Yveltal. OR, maybe there’s a bit of a switch around where somehow Shikako ends up with Yveltal, Sasuke ends up with Zygarde, and Naruto ends up with Xerneas? Temporarily, of course.

I feel like that’s the way with a lot of Legendaries, anon, but I get what you’re saying. Of the XYZ Legendaries, I think Xerneas is the most elusive/skittish of people. Given that Yveltal’s whole schtick is, when it wakes up, it absorbs the life force of everyone around it, it would have to seek out said life forces to absorb. With Xerneas I figure it’d be cool to just make another forest uninterrupted and then go back to sleep. And then there’s Zygarde which is some kind of walking science experiment, so…

Maybe the forest that the Nara live in/cultivate was the one that Xerneas made millennia ago. There might be one tree in particular that is more special than the others, but the Nara have been protecting the entire forest so there’s no real way to figure out which one it is. And the Nara teach their children about how their forest is a gift from a might deer legendary (which, given it hasn’t been seen in literal millennia) might very well have been assumed to be an exaggeratedly powerful Sawsbuck.

With this in mind, I’m actually really fond of the swap-around version. Because if Zygarde is being experimented on by Orochimaru (and maybe the Curse Seal is having Zygarde cells injected into you?) then there’s Sasuke’s connection there. And Shikako probably was first on sight to Yveltal’s awakening–and because she does have aura and affinity for Dark Pokemon, maybe Yveltal kinda just: hey, a little meat puppet, cool.

And even though Naruto wants to fight and rescue her, Kakashi knows when they are in over their heads and rushes back to Konoha League to warn them/inform the Nara that Shikako’s been taken?

And Yoshino is crying and Shikamaru is raging and Shikaku just sits there stony faced, calmly listening. At the end of it, the boys of Team Seven carved out at the idea that they’ve left one of their own behind, Shikaku stands up and tells them to follow him.

They go to Sembei-obaasan, the oldest living member of the Nara clan who has all the oral history and tells them about the Life Pokemon that wakes up every millennium and can defeat the Destruction Pokemon. It’s a long shot, but Naruto will take it–he goes into the forest and searches for the Xerneas tree.

And it’s probably one of those Philosopher’s Stone type deals where you can’t get the power if you want it for yourself, but if you want it for a pure selfless reason you can have it? And Naruto just wants to save his friends. HE IS WORTHY.

Something like that, I think.

Yeah, that sounds about right. I guess I’m not really sure just how Legendaries are viewed in the Pokemon world. Like, which ones are religious versus which ones are cryptozoology. And given that it’s literally been a thousand years since Xerneas and Yveltal have been awake I kind of feel like that’s a lot of time for people to forget or “rationalize” Xerneas.

Like, the Nara clan has a lot of clan myths, one of which includes Xerneas, but as science rises a lot of it’s been written off as overblown exaggerations and such. They do have a shrine, yeah, and there’s a statue of a Xerneas, but it’s ambiguous enough that it also just looks like a particularly majestic Sawsbuck. And, well, given Xerneas is a Legendary deer that turns into a tree and Sawbuck are Grass-type deer whose antlers are tree like, the conflation can be explained away.

If there were any similar Uchiha clan myths of Yveltal, they were lost before Sasuke could hear them as more than a bedtime story better left forgotten. Although I do think the Uchiha clan patron Legendary might be the Lunar duo Cresselia and Darkrai–given the whole moon/dream theme with the Sharingan? Hrm, I dunno…

I do think not all Legendaries are universally known. Certain Legendaries are only known by certain Leagues, some by certain clans, etc. Xerneas is definitely only known by the Nara, I think.

(Thanks, anon!)

So, in Pokéani lore (not sure about the games), there’s Aura, and apparently that is what makes Pokémon moves work? Would Shikako be able to sense it, the way she can sense Natural Chakra (there’s a feeling that it’s there; she’s good at spotting trainers ahead of time, because of the refined nature of their teams’ aura, and she’s trying to figure out how it works basically without a teacher)?

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

jacksgreysays:

image

Ooh, yeah. Aura powers! I know Lucario is the Aura Pokemon and that humans can have it too? (Or, at the very least, Ash has some) and it’s game canon that some people have psychic abilities which might be based on aura…

I like your idea, anon! From now on, the equivalent of natural chakra is aura! 😀

So obviously, Orochimaru is someone trying to experiment on people/Pokemon for aura. Which–and, I might be wrong on this, but is Ash supposedly the reincarnation of mythical aura user of the past?–kind of works with his original reason of wanting immortality to meet his parents’ reincarnations? Like, aura is linked with reincarnation somehow?

I don’t think Akatsuki have many natural chakra users, but the whole Kaguya/Zetsu thing definitely did. Ooh, maybe aura abilities was more common in the past but something sealed it away. Psychics now are kind of like the mutated version of aura that managed to sneak out of the seal–so Akatsuki is trying to break the seal but so as to keep all of the aura to themselves??

Shikako probably has the closest thing to real aura powers of any human alive now, whereas Naruto and Sasuke’s abilities are both activated because of Kyuubi or whatever Orochimaru’s Curse Seal equivalent is in this world.

Obviously, Team Seven is like the Ash of this world. Just split up that boy’s luck three ways. And, hey, you know what? A lot of Legendaries come in sets of three.

I was considering linking the Nara clan to Xerneas somehow, but that seems almost too grand for them? I mean maybe a looooooooooooong time ago to the point where it’s just a “oh, probably it was just a particularly powerful Sawsbuck and the story has been exaggerated over time” (lol, nope).

So maybe Shikako gets to meet or temporarily partner up with Xerneas, but no way does she actually ever catch it. And probably same thing with Sasuke and Yveltal. OR, maybe there’s a bit of a switch around where somehow Shikako ends up with Yveltal, Sasuke ends up with Zygarde, and Naruto ends up with Xerneas? Temporarily, of course.

I feel like that’s the way with a lot of Legendaries, anon, but I get what you’re saying. Of the XYZ Legendaries, I think Xerneas is the most elusive/skittish of people. Given that Yveltal’s whole schtick is, when it wakes up, it absorbs the life force of everyone around it, it would have to seek out said life forces to absorb. With Xerneas I figure it’d be cool to just make another forest uninterrupted and then go back to sleep. And then there’s Zygarde which is some kind of walking science experiment, so…

Maybe the forest that the Nara live in/cultivate was the one that Xerneas made millennia ago. There might be one tree in particular that is more special than the others, but the Nara have been protecting the entire forest so there’s no real way to figure out which one it is. And the Nara teach their children about how their forest is a gift from a might deer legendary (which, given it hasn’t been seen in literal millennia) might very well have been assumed to be an exaggeratedly powerful Sawsbuck.

With this in mind, I’m actually really fond of the swap-around version. Because if Zygarde is being experimented on by Orochimaru (and maybe the Curse Seal is having Zygarde cells injected into you?) then there’s Sasuke’s connection there. And Shikako probably was first on sight to Yveltal’s awakening–and because she does have aura and affinity for Dark Pokemon, maybe Yveltal kinda just: hey, a little meat puppet, cool.

And even though Naruto wants to fight and rescue her, Kakashi knows when they are in over their heads and rushes back to Konoha League to warn them/inform the Nara that Shikako’s been taken?

And Yoshino is crying and Shikamaru is raging and Shikaku just sits there stony faced, calmly listening. At the end of it, the boys of Team Seven carved out at the idea that they’ve left one of their own behind, Shikaku stands up and tells them to follow him.

They go to Sembei-obaasan, the oldest living member of the Nara clan who has all the oral history and tells them about the Life Pokemon that wakes up every millennium and can defeat the Destruction Pokemon. It’s a long shot, but Naruto will take it–he goes into the forest and searches for the Xerneas tree.

And it’s probably one of those Philosopher’s Stone type deals where you can’t get the power if you want it for yourself, but if you want it for a pure selfless reason you can have it? And Naruto just wants to save his friends. HE IS WORTHY.

Something like that, I think.

For the rockstar!Shikaara I really love the fact that Shikako has a “What did you do this time?” song. Now imagine since Shikako and Gaara met before the Sand Trio hit it big and started touring then the press probably doesn’t know about her. Because Gaara is a private person, Temari too. Kankuro can pretend he’s not but those who really know him are few. So it’s a huge shock when this unknown girl slips into the band area just before a big show in their home town and isn’t thrown out. (1/2)

jacksgreysonLeave a comment

jacksgreysays:

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“Always You” is hilariously misleading and romantic sounding if it were metaphors, but since Kankurou means it absolutely literally it really is a “Shikako what have you done?” song. Probably something like:

When the ground breaks,
and the sky opens up,
amongst all the noise,
it’s always you.

Then the earth shakes,
and the stars come to life,
sword through the chest,
it’s always you.

Doesn’t it sound like a really beautiful way to explain falling in love? But y’all know what I’m talking about here. 😀

Yep, Shikako and Gaara’s relationship really comes out of nowhere for the media. Like, first of all, tabloids mostly were keeping their eyes on the other two members of the Sand Trio–they never even suspected Gaara of dating someone. Second of all, Shikako is an unknown. She’s not a celebrity at all–outside of academia, that is–so it’s just like… whaaa?

I do think, though that’s they’d be a pretty careful about that sort of thing? Like, they’re not really a PDA kind of couple, and they always make sure Shikako has backstage passes and such, so on the surface reporters just think she’s a particularly devoted fan.

I more like the idea that it’s not the tabloids that out it but a fan who accidentally does so? Or it’s, like the relationship, out of nowhere. Like they’re getting interviewed and the interviewer asks about inspirations for their songs and their answers kind of accumulate into the idea that it’s the same individual for each of them.

And maybe some enterprising and devoted fan–not maliciously–pieces together from the different songs that, oh, the person they’re singing about would be this this and this characteristics. And another fan goes like, hey I’m looking through my pictures of the concert and I mostly focused on the foreground which was a selfie with Kankurou but now that I examine the background I notice that there’s this woman sitting rather close to Gaara.

And then it just starts pouring in–other fans are like, oh hey she’s in here, too! And then someone, probably an undergrad student in one of the classes she TAs for, is like. Hey, I think I know who this is–it’s Shikako Nara, etc. etc.

And THAT’S when the tabloids swoop in. And obviously they play on the whole “WHICH OF THE SAND TRIO IS SHE DATING? IS SHE DATING ALL OF THEM?” Because tabloids are awful.

And then people show up to her university. Non-students are trying to sit in on her lectures/discussion sections/labs and campus security has to basically assign her a bodyguard (her classes end up having perfect attendance without the threat of pop quizzes, though, so that’s nice. It’s less nice that most of the questions she’s fielding are about the Sand Trio and not, you know, curricula related).

Her friends are pretty good at helping her dodge paparazzi–swapping outfits with her or just getting in the way or giving her an escape route. At one point, Naruto takes all of his clothes off as a distraction. Sasuke just breaks their cameras. Kakashi, being somehow more and less subtle, just slouches around her strategically so any shot of her is obscured by his lanky body. Seriously, every shot he’s just there… somehow.

Shikamaru really does not appreciate these hordes of paparazzi harassing his sister while she does something simple like take a breather from all the research and rumors and get a fucking cup of coffee with him. He punches a paparazzo in the face.

The Yamanaka clan–along with being very PR savvy and already spreading word to stop stories about Shikako–has many members that are lawyers. Which is good for keeping one Nara twin out of jail and protecting the other with an entire MOUNTAIN of restraining orders. The Akimichi, consummate businesspeople, begin smothering the life out of the more venomous/less classy tabloids by getting advertisers to retract their deals and messing with their finances.

The Nara take care of their own, of course, and while I’m pretty sure they’re more into pharmaceuticals than private security, no doubt they have a decent amount of pull in certain areas, too.

And despite being musicians, the Sand Trio are very highly connected. They don’t like the way some of the tabloids have been talking about their muse.

I don’t know if that’d be the title, necessarily, because despite all appearances the Sand Trio are actually a kid friendly band. They have a surprisingly big pre-teen and teen following…

But that’s probably what it amounts to, yes. 🙂 

It probably is a very “no means no” and “anti-stalking” and “consent is not only beautiful but mandatory” kind of song without being a straight PSA. Which is a breath of fresh air in comparison to all the skeevy rape-y songs going around.

For the rockstar!Shikaara I really love the fact that Shikako has a “What did you do this time?” song. Now imagine since Shikako and Gaara met before the Sand Trio hit it big and started touring then the press probably doesn’t know about her. Because Gaara is a private person, Temari too. Kankuro can pretend he’s not but those who really know him are few. So it’s a huge shock when this unknown girl slips into the band area just before a big show in their home town and isn’t thrown out. (1/2)

jacksgreysonLeave a comment
image

“Always You” is hilariously misleading and romantic sounding if it were metaphors, but since Kankurou means it absolutely literally it really is a “Shikako what have you done?” song. Probably something like:

When the ground breaks,
and the sky opens up,
amongst all the noise,
it’s always you.

Then the earth shakes,
and the stars come to life,
sword through the chest,
it’s always you.

Doesn’t it sound like a really beautiful way to explain falling in love? But y’all know what I’m talking about here. 😀

Yep, Shikako and Gaara’s relationship really comes out of nowhere for the media. Like, first of all, tabloids mostly were keeping their eyes on the other two members of the Sand Trio–they never even suspected Gaara of dating someone. Second of all, Shikako is an unknown. She’s not a celebrity at all–outside of academia, that is–so it’s just like… whaaa?

I do think, though that’s they’d be a pretty careful about that sort of thing? Like, they’re not really a PDA kind of couple, and they always make sure Shikako has backstage passes and such, so on the surface reporters just think she’s a particularly devoted fan.

I more like the idea that it’s not the tabloids that out it but a fan who accidentally does so? Or it’s, like the relationship, out of nowhere. Like they’re getting interviewed and the interviewer asks about inspirations for their songs and their answers kind of accumulate into the idea that it’s the same individual for each of them.

And maybe some enterprising and devoted fan–not maliciously–pieces together from the different songs that, oh, the person they’re singing about would be this this and this characteristics. And another fan goes like, hey I’m looking through my pictures of the concert and I mostly focused on the foreground which was a selfie with Kankurou but now that I examine the background I notice that there’s this woman sitting rather close to Gaara.

And then it just starts pouring in–other fans are like, oh hey she’s in here, too! And then someone, probably an undergrad student in one of the classes she TAs for, is like. Hey, I think I know who this is–it’s Shikako Nara, etc. etc.

And THAT’S when the tabloids swoop in. And obviously they play on the whole “WHICH OF THE SAND TRIO IS SHE DATING? IS SHE DATING ALL OF THEM?” Because tabloids are awful.

And then people show up to her university. Non-students are trying to sit in on her lectures/discussion sections/labs and campus security has to basically assign her a bodyguard (her classes end up having perfect attendance without the threat of pop quizzes, though, so that’s nice. It’s less nice that most of the questions she’s fielding are about the Sand Trio and not, you know, curricula related).

Her friends are pretty good at helping her dodge paparazzi–swapping outfits with her or just getting in the way or giving her an escape route. At one point, Naruto takes all of his clothes off as a distraction. Sasuke just breaks their cameras. Kakashi, being somehow more and less subtle, just slouches around her strategically so any shot of her is obscured by his lanky body. Seriously, every shot he’s just there… somehow.

Shikamaru really does not appreciate these hordes of paparazzi harassing his sister while she does something simple like take a breather from all the research and rumors and get a fucking cup of coffee with him. He punches a paparazzo in the face.

The Yamanaka clan–along with being very PR savvy and already spreading word to stop stories about Shikako–has many members that are lawyers. Which is good for keeping one Nara twin out of jail and protecting the other with an entire MOUNTAIN of restraining orders. The Akimichi, consummate businesspeople, begin smothering the life out of the more venomous/less classy tabloids by getting advertisers to retract their deals and messing with their finances.

The Nara take care of their own, of course, and while I’m pretty sure they’re more into pharmaceuticals than private security, no doubt they have a decent amount of pull in certain areas, too.

And despite being musicians, the Sand Trio are very highly connected. They don’t like the way some of the tabloids have been talking about their muse.