[fic] The Great Pantomime
I was trying to figure out what Shisui could have been doing for Madara in The Burning of Paper Instead of Children. Anyway, this story isn’t it, but it was way more fun to write. It should either make you laugh or creep you out - if it does both, I'd be very chuffed.
Title: The Great Pantomime
Fandom: Naruto
Pairing: Madara/Shisui
Summary: A ( Read more... )
Title: The Great Pantomime
Fandom: Naruto
Pairing: Madara/Shisui
Summary: A ( Read more... )
I liked this more than Ascetic because of the density of the prose and the focus on the person in front of him rather than his general environment. There's a quote by some sci-fi writer, "A hero must have a feel for the myth he is in," and that was what I thought of; that that was almost inverted here to tell the story of the villain--the villain knows the tropes that make heroes, that inspire them, and that break them, and one of the best things about Madara is that he understands the psychology of the hero so well without wanting to emulate it himself. Also, beautifully imagined Kirigakure, which I've found myself more and more interested in lately--I was so excited to encounter the snippets of Mei and Yagura. ANBU Mei? I would go for that.
You mentioned that you used TBOPIOC Shisui for this, but I found myself placing it in a different continuity altogether, probably because of mentions of parents and siblings :/ And he seemed so overly childlike, almost delusionally so; it was unlike any Shisui I've seen, and I thought the different take was fascinating. I feel like I'm the only person who reads your stuff who likes TBOPIOC-Shisui more than your other Shisui...
Madara in the desert, screaming, was my favorite. It summed him up so neatly it was terrifying, especially since it's hard to take him seriously ever, but from that section, you get the sense that he does, and that makes it scary, a bit pathetic, bitter, infinitely petty, very Madara.
...and you know you chose "Kazuya" because you understand that he really does look sort of like Kame, COME ON ADMIT IT.
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This was probably not how you would have liked to see these two featured together in a story >.> You're on the money, though: this is basically a story about Madara being extremely genre-savvy. But the entire idea of Shisui the Hero in this story is a construct that he made up to begin with. Shisui was just a cute lonely kid, after the mission was over he would have gone home, and who knew if he'd have amounted to anything. But instead Madara took him in and pretty much wrote his story for him from start to finish. On the one hand, he drew out his potential and made him into someone who could change a nation; on the other, he broke him. Take the clan's brightest gem, make it really shine, and then use it to crush them. Seems to me like something Madara would do. And he did it all by making Shisui think it was his own idea. D:<
Uh, you're right. I don't know why I said that, because it's totally not true. I had a reason for giving Shisui parents and siblings, too. If he had a family like that, and was a favorite of the clan, he would be a simpleton slightly spoiled and naive, and more susceptible to deception. So he's not the manic-depressive from TBOPIOC at all. (I still don't know why you like that characterization...)
You may notice that this fic supposedly deals with Shisui working for Madara, but contains no actual details of that business. I have no idea what to do when called upon to write "concrete plot stuff", still need to read your Mei-fic to see how that scenario should be done. Why are my stories always about nothing? D:
IN NO UNIVERSE IS THAT TRUE. Okay, like this, maybe. This, not so much.
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Quite simply, because it jibes best with what we know in canon. And because he seemed more like an older brother figure in that, someone to admire and emulate and obsess over in both healthy and unhealthy ways for Itachi. That characterization hits the idea of the apex above the apex, which was the thing that really sold me on the Shisui/Itachi pairing--a genius like Itachi, especially, would have wanted to see one person in his life who was just unconditionally better than him, and beyond his understanding. This was really only true in that fic before he became the manic-depressive we all know and love, though.
/blah blah rant rant
Plot is for those who lack fabulousness, obviously. And it's nice of you to assume that Mei-fic has plot, when it is really just me blatantly making up nonsense and griping about my issues with kunoichi.
That peace sign picture is Tobi Madara CLEARLY. By the way, does your hatred of Maddie influence the amount of Tobi that should or should not go into this impossible ItaDei fic?
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AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE PLZ. He can run roughshod all over the fic -- and by extension, Itachi and Deidara -- just as long as it's funny. In a horrible way. But that's a given with the dude.
KAME'S HAIR LOOKS SO DISGUSTING WITHOUT PRODUCT. You guys are crazy, I just do not see the appeal.
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No time to read right now, but just wanted to say \o/ MAI IS WRITING MADARA AGAIN. No more shooting in the neck. We can call that progress, right?
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