Mr Takiyama, on lecturing Inko about Hisashi: one, don't pick up the phone, you-
Inko, rolling her eyes: know he's only calling 'cos he's drunk and alone...
Five Years of FanFiction
Back in 2013, after being a guest on the site for some time, I set up my FanFiction account. I wasn’t going to write anything, and I certainly didn’t intend to post anything - but here I am in 2018 with half-written stories everywhere.
I didn’t realise where the time had gone... My first fic, [RPG] I forcefully removed from that account back in 2016, because ohmygosh was it terrible. I remember being so proud of it at the time though.
Anyway, the reason I’m writing this is to try and generate a bit of hype.
I had an idea back in April (2018) for a fic, and never got around to writing it after planning it extensively. (Fans of Pom-Pom Pom! and Rabbit Heart are probably groaning in the background right about now, haha!) After working on the idea a bit more, and sending the first chapter off to a fantastic Beta, I’m really pleased to say that this project, Late Hero Academia, will be up on FF.net and AO3 for the 22nd of this month! A full five years after I made my account and posted my first - now removed - story.
One might think, with how this story is shaping so far, that perhaps it is to be a long-winded rhetoric on the nuances of the Quirk-Privileged against the Quirkless – or that a dissection of Hero and Villain politics may be the main focus of this tale.
It is not.
No, this is no longer the origin story of one Izuku Midoriya, or even anyone closely connected to the boy. This is a tale of reluctance, otherness, and lassitude. It begins, not with a bang or even Midoriya's anxious whimpers, but with a gentle –
"POP!"
One of the buttons from her shirt popping away from its cotton confines and slapping against the full-length mirror of her room, really should have been the first sign for Hajime Itou that her day was already starting off badly.
-Late Hero Academia, Chapter One
I hope you’ll give this fic a glance over, because like with Heartbreaker? Pfffsh... it’s something I’m really enjoying writing for at the moment!
Here’s to another five years, I guess?
So, having sat on the idea for a month and slowly chipping away at an assigned word count, I’ve finally published the first five Chapters of my new(-ish) story ‘I Still Don’t Understand Why You’re all Obsessed With Balls’.
I say “new(-ish)” because, frankly, I’m a terrible Tumblr blogger and I should have posted a message about this weeks ago. I mean, the first five Chapters and an Omake have been published at this point for crying out loud.
Anyway... Ta-dah?
Pom-Pom Pom! Arc Three!!!
Ah, I should have uploaded this earlier, but I took a nap…
Finally, the first chapter from Arc Three of Pom-Pom Pom! is up on Fan Fiction.net. Why not check it out? Here’s a taste of Episode Seven:
"’Saihō-shi’ Hari, worth β20,000 dead or alive."
Hari reddened; "At least they're somewhat right. It was my profession after all- still is, kind of."
"A bit uncreative though, isn't it? 'Seamstress'?"
"… Captain fights with needles though…"
Li-Anne's eyebrow twitched; "Chatty now, ain't we? 'Sairento Mori' Hideki? Still β15,000 isn't to be sniffed at."
Hideki hunched in on himself, Hari giving the teen an absent pat on the arm.
"How bad is yours then?" Hari asked Li-Anne. The elder woman quickly hid her own bounty poster behind her back. "That isn't fair, Li-Anne. You got to read ours before us, told us of our monikers first- so why withhold your own? Surely it's only fair that we know of it."
"That would be fair, yes," Li-Anne pandered, "But I'm not goin' to tell you."
The Navigator wedged herself behind the table, successfully distancing herself from Hari as she shuffled closer- hand outstretched to rip the crumpled paper form the older woman.
Hari tensed. Li-Anne flinched slightly in response. Hari lunged-
"Ah-HA! 'Aunty Brat' Li-Anne, worth β17,000!" Hari flapped the bounty poster in the air triumphantly as well as she could whilst sprawled inelegantly over the kitchen table. Li-Anne flushed from head to toe.
I realised that I’ve never uploaded images of Hideki and Li-Anne, but remembered that there were a few things I had drawn during drafting Arc Two when my writing didn’t want to flow onto the page.
So, from your left to the right we have Hari, Hideki and then Li-Anne sketched in various biro pens.
Ishi
He’s one of the characters I’ve looked forward to writing the most, ever since I began ‘Pom-Pom Pom’.
Many of the characters in ‘One Piece’ who have eaten Akuma no Mi seem to resemble or have characteristics of that fruit- parts of their personalities and appearances are reflected by their obtained talents. For example, Marine Captain Ishi ate the Oni Oni no Mi (“Oni” being the closest I could get to “gargoyle”), Type: Paramecia.
Above are some of my rough sketches from the early hours of the morning. I wanted Ishi to resemble a gargoyle when fully using his Devil Fruit. This transfers over into his appearance from his features being sharp and chiselled like a statue, as well as the twin horn-like pieces of hair that sweep upwards from the side of his head. I wanted to add texture to his skin- as though he were an old monument beginning to erode.
Some of these ideas didn’t quite map out well with my infamous blue biro, and my proportions are off quite a bit. Waste of an Art A-Level I tell you. However, not long afterwards I went back to the idea with a trusty ol’ pencil, and look what happened:
A sketch of Ishi before his Devil Fruit transformation. Here you can clearly see how defined his face is and the idea I was originally going for.
The List
As you can see, this was a work in progress during Arcs 1 & 2 as I scanned in the document to my laptop. Honestly, I had both of those Arcs planned out in detail- this list was part of said plans, but most things either got swapped around or cut out completely in the drafting and editing process.
The highlighted sections took priority as I was drafting, and if they haven’t made the cut in Arcs 1 & 2, they may just end up in Arcs 3 & 4...
(Please click on the photos to see them in full and to enlarge them)
I thought I’d pick up my old colouring pencils again (as I haven’t been able to use them for a while) and give some Oda-Sensei inspired drawing of Hari a go. I forgot how tedious colouring backgrounds with pencil crayon is. This is why I always stuck by paints or smudgy pastels... Got a bit antsy near the end, and my final design for Hari changed somewhat from the earlier drafts- as did her background information.
“Pom-Pom Pom!” - Getting to know you #2: Li-Anne
“[...] “Six speed gearbox- made for cruisin’! We’ve had some good times, have Junky and I, travellin’ through the Blues this way!” Li-Anne, while focusing intently on travelling up Junky’s faster gears, laughed; the sound swung between fond and wild and honestly made Hari a little nervous.”
“Pom-Pom Pom!” - Getting to know you 1# : Hari
“[...] Inside the store, sat on a stool behind the counter and working away at a torn cuff on a pinstriped shirt, we find out heroine: Nineteen-year-old Hari, sole inheritor of the remnants of her father’s little business.”