Fanfic Idea
I've been pondering an idea for a Bleach fanfic. It was inspired by a line in someone else's (crack) fic that I thought I'd misread: "gave him another anchor." And I sort of did; it actually said, "gave him an anchor." Still, though, for whatever reason that particular line sparked an idea - not that I really needed one, not for Bleach. I need some for my current WIPs.
So, anyway, the idea - what is it? Basically, it'd be an AU. Ichigo is a full Shinigami living in Soul Society. Actually, hang on, let me start again. All that really came to me was one scene. I have to build everything from there. The scene is of Ukitake handing Ichigo - you guessed it - another anchor. Ichigo moans and groans, but takes it like a good little soldier. The point of these anchors is to maintain balance of... something. I was thinking maybe the spirit particles in Soul Society. Every Shinigami would have to carry some, and store a bit of their reiatsu in them; the anchor would take care of the rest of it. Each Shinigami carries a certain number of anchors according to their level of reiatsu, so of course the captains and Ichigo would have a lot.
But I don't want it to turn out like Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron. (If you haven't read that, here's a quote from Wikipedia for you. "In the story, social equality has been achieved by handicapping the more intelligent, athletic or beautiful members of society. For example, strength is handicapped by the requirement to carry weight, beauty by the requirement to wear a mask and so on.") That's not my intention, so then I thought that I needed a different idea; I don't want them to have to haul around bags full of marbles or something! When I spoke to my sister, Sarah, about it, she suggested that maybe everyone has only one object in which they can vary the level of reiatsu stored. Or maybe everyone has an object that automatically uses a certain percentage of reiatsu. Or, no one actually carries an object, and instead it's one big, massive object somewhere in the middle of the Seireitei that everyone pours energy into. Another idea was that it was an item of clothing, or patches/strips of cloth tied to their clothes. Add more strips or take them off to decrease or increase the stored reiatsu. They'd work sort of like Kenpachi's eye patch. They'd be lightweight and generally not cumbersome. Annoying, yes, cumbersome, no. I like this idea because then I'd still get to use that original scene that I pictured in my head, unaltered.
But now I've run into yet another problem. What's the point of this? Why would they need these anchors in the first place? The reishi in Soul Society makes up everything, and no one has ever needed to stabilize it. It'd be like the idea of matter itself melting unless we do something to stop it. Sarah suggested something along the lines of an environmentalist issue. People started experimenting and inventing new things to do with the reishi and inadvertently altered the makings of their world. Or new inventions simply forced everyone to change the way they interacted with their environment.
This would all just be back story, mind you, but that last sort of takes away some of the connotation of the word "anchor." It's a base, a stabilizer. You float away without one. *shrugs* I don't know. This is all just conjecture, and I probably won't ever actually write this story.
I love thinking about it, though. The main conflict of the story would be that their anchor methods are ceasing to work properly. Everyone has to carry more anchors to fix it while they try to figure out what's going on and what to do about it. The stronger Shinigami would hear about this first when they're asked to carry more - namely Ichigo and the Captains. It'd all be hush-hush, since the Central 46 don't want to start a panic. Then the news would trickle down as more and more Shinigami are required to carry more anchors until finally everyone knows about it. This would be a great drain on the Gotei 13, of course.
Now, this is where I've run into another snag that requires yet more speculation. Would the anchors require mental effort? Like hearing a song playing over and over in the back of your mind, would you need to have a certain level of concentration on it at all times? This doesn't seem very practical, but maybe that's how the prototypes first worked. And what about when the Shinigami are fighting? If they needed that extra bit of power, they'd have to withdraw it from the anchor and hope that everyone else picked up the slack. Sure, there are tons of Shinigami - we have no idea how many unseated ones there are, after all. So this wouldn't have much effect on a day-to-day basis, but if they ever went to war, it'd be a huge problem. They'd never be able to use their full numbers; some would have to stay behind simply as anchors.
Ooh, maybe that could be part of the problem anyway. I've already established that the anchors are starting to fail. This could be a further impetus for reform, for invention. They needed a better solution anyway! There's a certain level of disgust among the Shinigami to begin with, and this would only increase it. However, this would have to fall into the background a bit, since disaster tends to make everyone bond together through sheer survival instinct. Actually, no, emotions would be high and people would be volatile. Soul Society is ripe for change!
That's all well and good, but I'm a sucker for the protagonists of most any story. This fic would have to be centered around Ichigo, too. I'm not sure exactly what he'd do, but maybe when a big battle starts, Ichigo stays behind and uses his massive reiatsu for the anchor. Then when they come back, he's unconscious and twitching. Kinda cool image, huh?
But what would that battle be, anyway? What's the cause of the failing anchors? Would I have some antagonist who's messing with it for his/her own purposes or would it be just a general failing of the invention itself? Group vs. group or group vs. environment? The canon of Bleach likes group vs. group, but that doesn't mean that I have to do it. Group vs. group is a bit more clear-cut, solution-wise, anyway. Defeat the enemy. But when your enemy is the environment in which you live, what do you do? It's trickier, then.
And what would happen if they let go of the anchors entirely? Would the reishi start to dissolve or something? Buildings start disintegrating, rivers go off course... I don't know. Are the souls made of reishi, too? Would they dissolve? If they did, that'd sure make the anchors important; lives are at stake in that scenario. Or maybe I could go a bit more real-world and less supernatural if it just starts up a series of natural disasters, like earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions and the like. That would also take lives, but in a less direct manner. Morale might be a bit lower in that version, because Mother Nature is unpredictable and wild. I like that. Cool.
If I ever actually wrote this fic, it'd be a whopper. Gigantic! Aw, intimidating. *shivers* Just that thought might scare me off.
Okay, that's weird. My cursor just disappeared. I can't see it. I can type, and the words appear, but there's no blinking cursor. Maybe if I post and then edit? Yes, it worked!
Well, you know what? I think that was actually all I really had to say. This is a long post, anyway. Now if I could just unplug my perfectionism-induced paralysis, I might actually be able to get something done...
So, anyway, the idea - what is it? Basically, it'd be an AU. Ichigo is a full Shinigami living in Soul Society. Actually, hang on, let me start again. All that really came to me was one scene. I have to build everything from there. The scene is of Ukitake handing Ichigo - you guessed it - another anchor. Ichigo moans and groans, but takes it like a good little soldier. The point of these anchors is to maintain balance of... something. I was thinking maybe the spirit particles in Soul Society. Every Shinigami would have to carry some, and store a bit of their reiatsu in them; the anchor would take care of the rest of it. Each Shinigami carries a certain number of anchors according to their level of reiatsu, so of course the captains and Ichigo would have a lot.
But I don't want it to turn out like Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron. (If you haven't read that, here's a quote from Wikipedia for you. "In the story, social equality has been achieved by handicapping the more intelligent, athletic or beautiful members of society. For example, strength is handicapped by the requirement to carry weight, beauty by the requirement to wear a mask and so on.") That's not my intention, so then I thought that I needed a different idea; I don't want them to have to haul around bags full of marbles or something! When I spoke to my sister, Sarah, about it, she suggested that maybe everyone has only one object in which they can vary the level of reiatsu stored. Or maybe everyone has an object that automatically uses a certain percentage of reiatsu. Or, no one actually carries an object, and instead it's one big, massive object somewhere in the middle of the Seireitei that everyone pours energy into. Another idea was that it was an item of clothing, or patches/strips of cloth tied to their clothes. Add more strips or take them off to decrease or increase the stored reiatsu. They'd work sort of like Kenpachi's eye patch. They'd be lightweight and generally not cumbersome. Annoying, yes, cumbersome, no. I like this idea because then I'd still get to use that original scene that I pictured in my head, unaltered.
But now I've run into yet another problem. What's the point of this? Why would they need these anchors in the first place? The reishi in Soul Society makes up everything, and no one has ever needed to stabilize it. It'd be like the idea of matter itself melting unless we do something to stop it. Sarah suggested something along the lines of an environmentalist issue. People started experimenting and inventing new things to do with the reishi and inadvertently altered the makings of their world. Or new inventions simply forced everyone to change the way they interacted with their environment.
This would all just be back story, mind you, but that last sort of takes away some of the connotation of the word "anchor." It's a base, a stabilizer. You float away without one. *shrugs* I don't know. This is all just conjecture, and I probably won't ever actually write this story.
I love thinking about it, though. The main conflict of the story would be that their anchor methods are ceasing to work properly. Everyone has to carry more anchors to fix it while they try to figure out what's going on and what to do about it. The stronger Shinigami would hear about this first when they're asked to carry more - namely Ichigo and the Captains. It'd all be hush-hush, since the Central 46 don't want to start a panic. Then the news would trickle down as more and more Shinigami are required to carry more anchors until finally everyone knows about it. This would be a great drain on the Gotei 13, of course.
Now, this is where I've run into another snag that requires yet more speculation. Would the anchors require mental effort? Like hearing a song playing over and over in the back of your mind, would you need to have a certain level of concentration on it at all times? This doesn't seem very practical, but maybe that's how the prototypes first worked. And what about when the Shinigami are fighting? If they needed that extra bit of power, they'd have to withdraw it from the anchor and hope that everyone else picked up the slack. Sure, there are tons of Shinigami - we have no idea how many unseated ones there are, after all. So this wouldn't have much effect on a day-to-day basis, but if they ever went to war, it'd be a huge problem. They'd never be able to use their full numbers; some would have to stay behind simply as anchors.
Ooh, maybe that could be part of the problem anyway. I've already established that the anchors are starting to fail. This could be a further impetus for reform, for invention. They needed a better solution anyway! There's a certain level of disgust among the Shinigami to begin with, and this would only increase it. However, this would have to fall into the background a bit, since disaster tends to make everyone bond together through sheer survival instinct. Actually, no, emotions would be high and people would be volatile. Soul Society is ripe for change!
That's all well and good, but I'm a sucker for the protagonists of most any story. This fic would have to be centered around Ichigo, too. I'm not sure exactly what he'd do, but maybe when a big battle starts, Ichigo stays behind and uses his massive reiatsu for the anchor. Then when they come back, he's unconscious and twitching. Kinda cool image, huh?
But what would that battle be, anyway? What's the cause of the failing anchors? Would I have some antagonist who's messing with it for his/her own purposes or would it be just a general failing of the invention itself? Group vs. group or group vs. environment? The canon of Bleach likes group vs. group, but that doesn't mean that I have to do it. Group vs. group is a bit more clear-cut, solution-wise, anyway. Defeat the enemy. But when your enemy is the environment in which you live, what do you do? It's trickier, then.
And what would happen if they let go of the anchors entirely? Would the reishi start to dissolve or something? Buildings start disintegrating, rivers go off course... I don't know. Are the souls made of reishi, too? Would they dissolve? If they did, that'd sure make the anchors important; lives are at stake in that scenario. Or maybe I could go a bit more real-world and less supernatural if it just starts up a series of natural disasters, like earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions and the like. That would also take lives, but in a less direct manner. Morale might be a bit lower in that version, because Mother Nature is unpredictable and wild. I like that. Cool.
If I ever actually wrote this fic, it'd be a whopper. Gigantic! Aw, intimidating. *shivers* Just that thought might scare me off.
Okay, that's weird. My cursor just disappeared. I can't see it. I can type, and the words appear, but there's no blinking cursor. Maybe if I post and then edit? Yes, it worked!
Well, you know what? I think that was actually all I really had to say. This is a long post, anyway. Now if I could just unplug my perfectionism-induced paralysis, I might actually be able to get something done...