Tag Archives: fanfiction

Crossing Over: Chapter 6

As this has been on Fanfiction.net for quite some time now: Chapter 6 of Crossing Over my Bleach-Naruto-Crossover Fanfiction that I started to write to improve my English skills. If you haven’t already read it you can start here with the Prologue (or click the link above for the Fanfiction.net pages of the story).

With chapter 6 the second „main“ character of this Fic – at least from the tags I used on the Fanfiction side – entered the stage: Abarai Renji from Bleach. (The other one being: Gaara from Naruto.)

And just like in the previous post about this Fanfic I’ll tell you which music I listened to while writing/editing. An as back there: The songs do not necessarily fit the storyline and you might want to read the chapter beforehand to know to which part I’m referring to. 😉

I listened to „Fade to black“ by Sonata Arctica their Metallica cover song for Rukia’s part. Which is kind of funny as the Rukia-centered Bleach movie is also called by that title. I am not really sure whether I was aware of that when I first started writing the raw version of her part.
The movie is by the way quite interesting. You not only see more of Rukia’s (possible/non-canon) past in Rukongai, but also see how people are effected by the influence of the enemies. I think I should re-watch the movie some day and maybe write something about it and the other Bleach movies.
However, for Rangiku’s part I used HammerFall’s „I Believe“ and beside hinting at my last post about concerts for a little review of a Hammerfall concert I’ve been on last year,there is not much to say about it. Other than you should give both songs a try. 😉

When I couldn’t properly write a chapter for quite some time I added this little sneak preview on Fanfiction.net:

While Rangiku tries to fill her two moronic colleagues in on what had happened, Byakuya reaches a part of the forest where he can sense a familiar Reaitsu and is finally reunited with his beloved sister.

At the point I wrote that I did not see any sign of time that I might have been able to spend on what I have so far as chapter. I wanted to let my readers know that I needed quite some time longer on finishing this story.
By now this problem has changed a bit as I am currently waiting for the results of an important exam and can’t really do anything else – beside working and stuff.
Therefore I might find some time and motivation to continue with the editing of the remaining chapters.
What I have so far for the next chapter is not satisfying…it contains the ideas I had for it, put the way it is portrayed is not what I wanted to show with it…
Just as I am not satisfied with the length of this post…put I’m probably just bugged by it because of the length and more or less importance of my other posts…
Anyway, throughout the last semester I at least managed to change one tiny part of the next chapter.
But it’s still not what I would like it to be.
Therefore I need some more time and see if I manage to get it right this time.
We’ll see what I can do about it.
PoiSonPaiNter

Mephisto

One of the most fascinating characters that ever originated in German literature.
Johann Wolgang von Goethe used him as the antagonist for his tragic novel: Faust.

Faust is the story of Doctor Heinrich Faust, who strives for wisdom and uses any means necessary to satisfy his thirst for it. Even making a compact with the Devil –  in this case the devilish character that is Mephistopheles (or short: Mephisto).
An ambiguous man that even describes himself as such:

Part of that Power, not understood,
Which always wills the Bad, and always works the Good.[…]
I am the Spirit that Denies!
And justly so: for all things, from the Void
Called forth, deserve to be destroyed:
‚Twere better, then, were naught created.
Thus, all which you as Sin have rated,—
Destruction,—aught with Evil blent,—
That is my proper element.
(See [PGE])

Or in the old English version:

Part of that power which still
Produceth good, whilst ever scheming ill.[…]
The spirit I, which evermore denies!
And justly; for whate’er to light is brought
Deserves again to be reduced to naught;
Then better ’twere that naught should be.
Thus all the elements which ye
Destruction, Sin, or briefly, Evil, name,
As my peculiar element I claim.
(See [HCE])

Or the ever so great original version:

Ein Teil von jener Kraft,
Die stets das Böse will und stets das Gute schafft.[…]
Ich bin der Geist, der stets verneint!
Und das mit Recht; denn alles, was entsteht,
Ist wert, daß es zugrunde geht;
Drum besser wär’s, daß nichts entstünde.
So ist denn alles, was ihr Sünde,
Zerstörung, kurz, das Böse nennt,
Mein eigentliches Element.
(See [PGG])

Sorry, I simply had to show these different versions.
I personally prefer the last one. Not just because I am German, but simply because I adore the German language so much. If I find the time for it I might record those three quotes to show you verbally the difference in the sound of them, which in my opinion makes the German the outstanding winner – if it would be a competition.

Anyway, by now I am not so sure if the idea for the Mephisto-character really was created by Goethe or even the old stories about the Faust content (the lore about Johann Georg Faust, Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus).
Simply by reading quite some bit of Norse mythology made me realize that one „character“ does have quite similar traits…

Mephisto is the master of lies, Lord of the Flies, Rats and what not. Someone who wants the human existence to end. Permanently. By all means he tries to win his bet with god. To win Fausts soul. The ambiguity I mentioned earlier is kind of his trade mark. He tries to win by causing evil deeds, but the result is not always evil. For example does he cause – through Faust’s wish – Gretchen’s tragedy, but instead of wanting his live to end (by saying his catch-phrase: „Verweile doch du bist so schön.“/“Ah, still delay—thou art so fair!“/“Linger awhile! so fair thou art!”) because of the bliss he had with the girl, Faust simply wants more. Knowing more. Experiencing more. Living more. He is not satisfied. Yet he learns what the girl had to suffer through because of him and it makes him realize his mistakes and trying to save her. And even though Mephisto claims the girl to be lost, god claims her soul to be saved.  Faust kind of grows character-wise from this and strives for a different woman – Helena.
The point is: Mephisto tries to get to his goal without a care of what happens to the ones around him: The deaths of Gretchen’s matron and brother, the pregnancy and the punishment of the girl for killing her own child is the content of the tragedy. Yet the devoted girl is still able to ascent to heaven.

A similar ambiguity can be seen in the myths concerning the Norse god of mischief: Loki.
If you look at the story about Balder’s death for example you can see a similar tragedy.
When everything except the mistletoe had vowed to not harm Balder and everyone was throwing things at him, Loki simply did what he considered fun: He disguised himself and talked Balder’s blind brother Hodur into throwing a sharpened mistletoe at his brother, while guiding his hand. Never intending to kill the beloved god he caused his death by this, as the twig went right into Balder’s heart. As everyone mourned for him they hoped to fulfill Hel’s (Loki’s daughter’s) condition for Balder to return to the realm of the living. Only one person – a giantess who is said to be Loki in disguise again – did not care whether he returned or not, thus Balder would have to stay in the realm of Hel (Helheim) till Ragnorök, where he would be one of the sole „survivors“ and creators of the new world, after the end of everything.
In short: Loki tries to mock the Aesir’s behavior regarding Balder’s invulnerability and causing the biggest tragedy in the Edda, still his „victim“ later has a new role in the recreation of the world, which wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for the trickster.
On a German (unofficial) page [LGM] about the Norse mythology it is even concluded, that his doings, despite their evil intent, caused more good things then bad. And that sounds fairly familiar. 😉
Even though I only display shortened versions of both „stories“ and there would probably be a more fitting one for Loki (e.g. the tale of Mjölnir), you might be able to see my point nevertheless: Two characters – one from German lore, one from Norse mythology, who display the same mind set. Doing how they please to accomplish what they want. Making intentionally evil deeds that cause more good than ill. Characters that play with the people around them, to trick them into doing what they see profit in.
Neither of them is (completely) evil (hence the ambiguity). They both just follow someone else’s plan. Bound to act according to it, regardless of all their effort to act on their own „free“ will.
(And seemingly I was not the only one who came to this conclusion, though I did not find an official source [UPG] either…)

I find this characterization quite fascinating and not just for me it is the source for inspiration for characters with similar traits. It is hard for me to grasp – let alone explain – why I like it, but I am mostly compelled to favourite them over the simple minded or less complex characters. Therefore one of my favourite characters in the book I’m co-writing is not even based on/inspired by Mephisto, but will also get a scene that is inspired by the myths concerning Loki – looking forward to officially writing that one.

Reading Faust and being taught of it by a teacher with so much passion for this piece, simply made me inherit this passion. Therefore I think I can claim it one of my favourite books.

Still other authors used Mephisto in their work as well. Not just in Marvel Comics did he became „real“ again (which is pretty funny, as they also have a Loki…), no also a quite new Manga series has a character named „Mephisto Pheles“ (honestly: Took me a while to get that one, as I’m too used to the short version …). I am talking about Kazue Katou’s „Ao No Exorcist“ (Blue Exorcist).
A story about two brother’s whom discover their heritage as sons of Satan. One of them (Rin) who has inherited their father’s (blue) flames and the other (Yukio) already being an Exorcist, who is now guiding his brother to become one as well.
Mephisto is the (demonic) headmaster of the Exorcist school and seems to have his own plan(s) concerning the brother’s. He puts them into several trial fights to see how they are able to cope, even using his own (demonic) brother as bait.
He is capable of using magic. Even going as far as to turn himself into a small terrier like dog. (Another trait all three characters share: Shape shifting 😉 )
In the Anime-version there even is an episode where it is said, that he is the Mephisto Faust made the compact with, though I still prefer the Manga-version…
My fascination for this series – and the kind of character – caused me to write this: Not His Day
A little parody about Mephisto. (Some more information on the creation process can be found, if you follow the above link to the story on Fanfiction.net.)

One thing is clear to me: If I ever would get to own a poodle, I’d call it Mephisto – just for the heck of it. 😀

PoiSonPaiNter

Sources:

Crossing Over: Chapter 5

Nearly a year after I’ve posted the prologue I can give you the fifth chapter of Crossing Over.
My Bleach-Naruto-Crossover Fanfiction.

It is quite impressive that I managed to write six chapters in one year. And I’m not sure whether this is positive or negative.

Every now and then I write in the Author’s comment on Fanficion.net, what music I’ve listened to while writing or editing.
As I leave out the comments when I post the chapters here I thought I’d use this chance to give you the playlist for all the chapters so far – including the new one.

A word of advise: The topics/lyrics of the songs don’t necessarily fit to the part they apply to. Still I hope some of you might like getting to know new stuff.
That goes for about every song I will introduce you to. Please bear with me here. =)

And I’d suggest you read the chapters beforehand to understand the references, but you could also skip that and just look for the different song titles (in italics) throughout this post.

Chapter 2 – The Lion’s Den:

I’ll begin with the one starting to play in my head, well and on my player, whenever I read the headline „In the Forest“, or worked on that part of the chapter: It’s Blind Guardian’s wonderful „The Bard’s Song (In the Forest)“ (There is also a version by Van Canto, if you want to try out something different.)
To raise money for Japan after the Fukushima and tsunami incident they also participated in an auction offering a singer to put his touch on one of their most famous songs.
Anyway, it’s one of the most amazing acoustic songs I’ve ever heard, only topped by it’s even more amazing live version. Especially if you’re standing among those thousands of people and everyone is singing this song…totally epic…
Awww…man I wish I could turn back time…=(
Same goes for „Mirror Mirror“ another Blind Guardian song I listened throughout the first part of the chapter and I don’t really have anything to say about it.
Therefore we just go to the third and last song for today: Grave Digger’s „Rebellion“ – a song for freedom and independence (according to their singer Chris Boltendahl) – , that I listened to during the Suna – part. Next to the original version and again a Van Canto version there is a recording of their concert in Wacken 2010, where they play it in an amazing version together with both Van Canto and Hansi Kürsch from Blind Guardian.
Well, and this leads us to the first song again. 😉

Chapter 4 – Traces:

In this chapter we have Sonata Arctica’s „Don’t say a word“ for the Suna part and „Reign of Fear“ by Crematory for the other two. Both are pretty interesting songs,  helped me to get this put together.

And for the new chapter – Chapter 5 –  First Stages:

As I tend to do mean things I am going to tell you which song I’m starting to sing when I read the beginning phrase of the first part – „Early in the Morning“.
It is an evil song.
A song that will stick with you for a long time. An „Ohrwurm“ (literal translation: „earworm“, metaphorical: A song that sticks in your head and won’t leave) as we’d call it over here.
You cannot flee from it.
It’s the „Drunken Sailor (Song)„. =D
There are so many different versions of it out there that it’s hard to pick one, but currently I’m fascinated by Saltatio Mortis‚ way of playing it.
They are a folklore/medieval band that only sings one strophe and the refrain, but have an awesome instrumental part afterwards…if you like bagpipes as much as I do, then you will like this version a lot. =D
And of course sing it for the rest of the day. 😉

Part two is somewhat dedicated to Blind Guardian’s „Hallelujah„.
A song I really enjoy listening to currently and therefore want to introduce you to.
A song originally played by Deep Purple, but the cover is way more epic or as acrisiocam put it on Youtube:

„Blind Guardian didn’t make a cover. Hansi just decided that he was too awesome for mankind, so this song would have eliminated 97% of the population due to an overwhelming amount of epicness. So, he let Deep Purple do it before them so, that the mortals could get used[to it].“

I totally second that…=D

For reasons unknown to me I picked „Fullmoon“ by Sonata Arctica for the last part. I just like the song, as one of the most interesting werewolf – themed songs I know.

Ah and: Yes, I know. I picked a pirate – like song to listen to while writing a story about Ninja and „Samurai“. I’m just weird like that. 😉 And it will probably happen again, as I have quite a variety of sailing related songs…it only can get worse. 😉

Have fun listening to those and reading the chapters, if you don’t already have done that and liked/hated what you heard/read.
And even if you did, just listen to them/read them again. 😉

Aside from all those fantastic songs, I will be giving this story an AU tag on Fanficion.net.
I mean, the way Naruto flows right now it would be pretty unlikely that there will be a truce or even the people I am using in this still alive. =/ It’s more likely that the story will end than that…
Besides what’s your opinion on Rangiku/Kakashi? Right now I put it off the list of what I want to write in each chapter, but I do have an idea for some interaction between them, I’m just not sure if I should use it or not…
Just tell me what you think about that or generally about the chapter/story in the reviews. I’m looking forward to it. =)

PoiSonPaiNter

Hello World

„Hello world“

Two words that symbolize a lot of meanings.
One way to „translate“ them could be:
„Hello world, I’m here, waiting for you to notice/acknowledge my existence.“

And of course those words are used in different contexts.
Normally one could think of a child’s birth at first.
Their crying merely saying: „Hello world, I’m here, entertain me.“
Then again it could simply stand for being the starting post for a Blog – just like this one.
Introducing yourself to the masses with a friendly „Hello“.

Though my personal association with those two words is different.
It is a way to try out something new in a foreign language.
Just as I am writing this Blog in my second language.
Therefore the meaning I learned is as follows:

public class HelloWorld{
public static void main(String[] args){
System.out.println("Hello World!");
}
}

(Please forgive the weird format, WordPress wont let me change it properly…)

And no, that is not what you can expect from this Blog.
It’s way more random than that…

There are way more interpretations of the words, but it is more fun to think about them yourself. 😉

With this I close for today and send you off to explore what I already added to this site.
Which basically are several stories of mine.

Enjoy your stay. 🙂

PoiSonPaiNter