Fic: "Smoke and Mirrors" - Act 5 “Flood Tide” ¤ Rosu x Saga ¤ NC-17

[necchan]

Title: “Smoke and Mirrors”.
            Author: Nemesi.
            Fandom: Saint Seiya.
            Genre: Mystery. Romance. Fluffy and mushy stuff ahead, plus angst.
            Word Count: 1540.
            Characters/Pairing: Aiolos/Saga.
            Overall Rating: ***R***
            Chapter Rating: NC-17
            Disclaimer: Saint

Comments

[cirdan_havens]

Yup, *nod* does work for me at least. I can see where it'd work for Aragorn too. Maybe the reason it didn't work for the original novel is that people didn't know where it was going? This is fanfic after all. We're all expected to go in with at least some knowledge. The pacing ends up being different because it takes longer to know what the baseline for "normal" is. Without it, we don't know if the person's always like this because madness can be cyclical with better and worse days.

Well, Saga's logic makes a lot of sense to me. Am I revealing too much of myself by now? ^_^;;; I probably have anyway. But it's like you say, there's only so much you can do or so much anyone can do. But even if you think you're being objective, it's hard to know when you're past that point of being under control and needing help. Is it _that_ bad? Maybe I'm just saying it's that bad. Maybe it's bad but not _so_ bad. I can really empathize with Saga.

Yup, that's exactly why I said Aiolos couldn't help again. :p Sleeping on the job! Bad Aiolos! Why aren't you there to take care of Saga? *whine whine* Though having Aiolos probably did help the madness from getting worse faster. I feel sorry for Saga too. *sniffles*

Well, if you feel it's not sparkling, I could always help beta it for you and try to pin down what it is you feel is not working in the chapter. Although, in truth, it's hard to get to that point of feeling ready to release it even to a beta reader. :p

No problem. :) Thanks for replying. It gives me more opportunities to fawn over them. :D

[necchan]

*nods* Yes, I definitely see the sense in what you say about readers not knowing the "background" of characters in original novels, which leads to a different pace between original and fiction. X3
It just flabbergasted me how... utterly pointless the fic became when turned into an original. Of course, I realized I had quite a few changes to make, so I had modified the premises, added a few chapters at the beginning to better introduce all the characters, and so on. Still, when it came to the core of the story (the part about falling in love and madness), the tale became incredibly dull, whereas it was eerily pretty when starring Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and all the rest. o.o;;
Mysteries of the written word, I reckon. XD;;

If be "revealing too much", you mean hinting to what an interesting person you are, and how pleasurable it is to trade ideas and concepts and opinions with you, then the answer is 'yes'. ^_- *LOL*

*giggles* Poor Aiolos is just a bit exhausted! Let's not be too hard on him! *cuddles* :P I say later on (in a scene I'm not sure I'll keep, though) he not only has to guard Saga, keep him calm, keep him awake, amused, and all that. But he also has to train, help the Kyoukou, serve Athena, protect Sanctuary... he's busy, the poor fellow!!!! XD XD XD *loves him utterly*

You're so nice to ask, but I really wouldn't want to bother you so much! >_< I've such much ideas, and so jumbled together, and so many things to say in this tale, I *know* I could bore a beta-reader to frustration, sending drafts upon drafts and asking question upon question XD;;;;

Also, I might have found a solution! I was thinking to fuse together chapter 7 and 8, and approach the whole thing from a different angle. You see, chapter 8 existed mainly (only...??) because it felt odd to write a story about Saga, and not having him taking a bath *anywhere*. So, after writing chapter 7, which was so slow, I decided to threat myself to a little Saga bath-scene. But I ended up writing another slow, slow chapter; don't get me wrong, it's not a bad chapter per se... it's just not essential to the story.
A winning strategy may be to blend the two chapter in one, cut away most of the scenes and link the dialogues into a longer, but quick-paced talking session. This might make the final stage of Saga's malady too quick - but after all, it *is* worsening at an almost exponential pace, isn't it? Also, having this final stage spread from chapter 7 to the end would have been *really* too slow. XD;;

I'll try to approach the story this way - blending the two chapter into a new one. This might lead me to rewrite most of what I'd wrote in chapter 9, as well (it started in the bathroom, but if I'm erasing that scene, I'll have to shift the action someplace else), but it seems worth it. We'll see. I'm confident that with some effort, thinking and love, I can improve the chapter until it meets it'll be worthy to be posted ♥ *Neme is oddly optimistic tonight :P*

Other than that, I really ought to focus on something to post for the Leo Festival... ¬.¬;; I've got a few drabbles in my sleeve, but conceiving a full-color pic, or a longer fanfic would be nice! XD;;

[cirdan_havens]

Yes, very busy man. And spend time with his little brother and maybe even prepare to be the next Kyoukou. But Saga sure is a demanding lover. :p

Oh well. If you change your mind later, the offer stands. I suppose it's true that any Saga story requires a bath scene. *nods seriously* I can't say for sure if the blending of chapters would work better but I trust your judgment. I do agree that Saga's etting worse though so I don't think it's unreasonable to have things happening faster.

Optimism is good.

Alas, I wish I could do something for the festival but nothing comes to mind. Guess I'm not festive enough?

[necchan]

Not feeling festive may be a synonim of feeling down... and I hope it's not the case, for you. :(( *pats*
As for wishing to do something for the Festival... oh! Believe me: I want to draw and write something *every* time a Gold Saint Festival comes up, and then end up doing nothing at all. ç___ç
For example: I was so looking forward to post something for the Aries Festival - I'd got the "Mu" issue of the "Staccato of Aiolos's life" almost ready, and had an old-Shion pic in the working... and then I finished, and posted, neither. >_<
So I think it's a matter of... destiny? chance? luck? I dunno how to call it exactly, but not always when we are unable to do something, is because we do not want to do it. On the contrary, most times chance and luck intervene, to keep us from doing something we most desire to do...

W-E's been too busy to work on the fanfiction as well - I'll look it over tomorrow, since my folk'll be at the beach *rubs hand, thinking of a yaoi-filled morning XD*

[cirdan_havens]

I hope not too. Maybe it's because I felt more separate from the SSY community before too. Now that I'm getting more interactive, maybe it'll be different. It's not quite as alive as the LotR one was when I was in it.

Awww. You don't want to post them belatedly you mean? That's too bad. Heh heh. Yaoi-filled morning... that's a great start to the day. :p