[Meme] Headcanon questions

[edenfalling]

Via penknife:

1. Pick a pairing or a character
2. Ask me my particular headcanon regarding something about them
3. Post to your journal to share your own headcanon!

Comments

[branchandroot]

Sasuke. Just because he's always had such a lot of wiggle room where we have to make things up.

[edenfalling]

Hmm. Something about Sasuke... with the caveat that I haven't read a lot of post-timeskip chapters, of course.

I didn't realize this until it was pointed out to me, but when I was writing "What Isn't Broken (Can Still Be Fixed)," it never occurs to Sasuke to be deliberately bad at any of the jobs Konoha sets him. He does all the gut-work chores to the best of his ability, and when he's assigned to the academy, he doesn't even think about trying to subtly skew the development of the next generation of ninjas, even though he's still consciously telling himself he's going to escape and destroy the town. Even if he doesn't want to be a teacher, if he's accepted a job he views it as his duty and responsibility and a challenge to perform to the best of his ability. And it never crosses his mind that he could go easy on himself.

I think this automatic pursuit of excellence goes back to his childhood, when he was always trying to catch up to Itachi and his father. But it may also trace back to his mother, who was also a ninja in her youth and seems to have been a steadier personality than Fugaku. I expect that Mikoto, by example if nothing else, impressed on both her sons that if you're going to do something at all, you do it right, you do it thoroughly, and you do it to the utmost of your ability. And you make it look graceful and easy while you're at it. Sasuke later on seems not just to want to be able to beat people, but to be able to make it look like he's beating them effortlessly and without having to care. Something about that strikes me as a sort of kunoichi mindset. It's very much a psychological assault.

Then again, that may be common to the Uchiha in general, given that they deal with illusions and illusions work best when you can break your enemy's confidence and convince him/her that your point of view is the only real and possible one.

[branchandroot]

*nods* I could definitely see that either way. Fugaku never seemed much involved with the child raising, so maybe he just has the insane expectations and it's Mikoto who taught them an actual work ethic--hers, of course.

[snacky]

Since we were talking about The Problem of Susan, tell me what you think is Susan Pevensie's biggest problem.

[edenfalling]

Caring too much about the opinions of others, particularly when it comes to social structures and appearances, and trying to avoid direct confrontations. She fits herself to her context, which is both a strength and a weakness. It's a strength because she's more able to get things done, by knowing what approaches will work and what approaches will only put people's backs up; it's a very practical approach to life in many ways, and Susan is a practical person. But it's a weakness because I think she can too easily slide into thinking that what works is what is right. And it's not, not always.

For instance, when she's put in a position to be a mother-surrogate to her siblings, that's what she does. When she's a medieval-ish queen, that's what she does. When she's a young woman in England treated as the child who gets the most out of social opportunities, that's what she does. I am not sure any of those roles necessarily make her happy.

Also I suspect a bunch of the mess with Rabadash could have been avoided if she'd voiced her doubts to herself sooner (I am fairly sure she had doubts, which is why she didn't just say yes to him in Narnia but went along with the extended courtship in Tashbaan), and some of her conflict with her siblings in England reads to me as a person trying to avoid an issue that causes her emotional and moral turmoil, and laughing it off and fleeing into situations she understands and can control instead of confronting her discomfort head-on. (Regardless of what conclusions she might have come to.)

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

I love your take on Susan that her practical sense of duty gets in the way of her being happy. Also, an excellent point about how if she had been better at voicing doubts to herself sooner, she would have never gone to Calormen with Rabadash.

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

You know I'm going to ask about this... Shezan Tolkheera and Ilgamuth Tarkaan and the end of the Courting Dance

[edenfalling]

Clearly Shezan and Ilgamuth get married! :-) I am not sure if they do a hurried private ceremony before the big public one, but they definitely have a big public wedding. In fact, they end up using it as a propaganda thing, to distract from some of the public discomfort with having a cursed Rabadash in line for/on the throne. (Shezan gets a very nice perfume collection out of the courting process, and Ilgamuth is inspired to try writing poetry again, which he'd given up on after some abortive attempts in his teens.)

If you mean the end of Aravis and Cor's courting dance, they end up back in Archenland and have a northern wedding and generally keep their mouths shut about marrying in the Calormene fashion first. But Ram grows up knowing that his parents really got married in Narnia with his aunt Hwin and his uncle Bree as witnesses, and he decides that when he grows up, he wants to run away and have adventures and get married along the way because that's much more interesting than standing around in Anvard while somebody reads from a book. *grin*

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

I had meant Shezan and Ilgamuth's courting dance, but I'll take both!!! And he starts writing her poetry!!! I had not thought it would be a big public thing, but I can why they would do it -- Priestess and Companion, it would be a big deal in Tashbaan. And Ram, oh I love you and I've never even met you.

[pencildragon11.livejournal.com]

Over at FFnet, I go by OldFashionedGirl95. I stumbled here through rth's LJ, and I just had to comment because I LOVE the Courting Dance and all your Calormene worldbuilding, and these few lines about Aravis and Cor and Ram and Aunt Hwin and Uncle Bree made me insanely happy. Do write it, please?

[edenfalling]

Thank you! I am still working on "The Courting Dance," I promise! Chapter 8 is at about 800 words in rough draft. I am just having a little trouble with Hwin's narrative voice.

[pencildragon11.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you for telling me! I thought it was dead, but I can completely understand problems with a voice. Hwin would be tough. Keep it up!

[hungrytiger11.livejournal.com]

I would love to hear about Lucy in England post the dawn trader or about Arthur post inception

[edenfalling]

For Arthur post-inception, I refer you to When You Have To Go There -- I think he takes a week to go back to his childhood hometown, visit his mother, and sort through the implications (technical and ethical) of what he and the team have just accomplished. Then he calls Eames and Ariadne and maybe some other dreamworkers he's met and liked (both professionally and personally) over the years, and asks if they'd like to form a semi-permanent working group, because while he's not an extravert, he definitely likes having friends. (He also dislikes having to shake out the kinks of a new team for every job. It's simpler to concentrate on the subject when he doesn't simultaneously have to figure out the strengths and weaknesses of his new coworkers and make sure they play well together. *grin*)

Lucy in England post-VDT is indeed awkward around the friend she magically eavesdropped on, but she makes a determined effort to forgive, forget, and let go of her own guilt, and they end up in some ways closer than before, perhaps because their respective betrayals of each other make them value the connection all the more. Lucy also starts trying to get involved in local charitable endeavors, and spends far more time outdoors than her parents quite know what to make of. I think in an earlier era, she would have ended up in a convent and probably risen to become an abbess and also someone known for prophetic wisdom or what-have-you, but in post-WWII England, she's simply that odd Pevensie girl who somehow makes your day feel brighter when she smiles, and who's always willing to listen and help out when you're feeling blue or having trouble.

If she hadn't died, she would have become a doctor.

[hungrytiger11.livejournal.com]

think in an earlier era, she would have ended up in a convent and probably risen to become an abbess and also someone known for prophetic wisdom or what-have-you

This seems very Lucy and also somewhat how I picture her in Narnia. Not as an abbess or anything but having somewhat of a reputation for prophetic wisdom/spiritual-ness.

[hungrytiger11.livejournal.com]

Also, can I be greedy and ask for one of two more questions? Either:

1) Any Hyuuga. Anything you care to share

OR

2) What character do you secretly rather expect and/or hope will be asked about?

[edenfalling]

Neji's pre-timeskip hair always looks to me like a sort of sack of heavy cloth he draped over his head rather than actual hair. I think the little buckle swingy thing that dangles from one side contributes to that effect. Someday I should write a stupid comment!fic to that effect, with people refusing to believe his hair is actually hair and not, oh, I dunno, an alien monster secretly spying on Konoha or something. *grin*

I have no expectations, really. I have been in too many fandoms with too many characters to even begin guessing which ones anyone on my flist is especially interested in hearing me talk about right now. But I suppose I was hoping a little for Homestuck characters, if only because that is my current new SHINY!!! fascination, and there's a delicious little kick whenever I get an excuse to ramble on about my new shiny fascinations. (I never lose my old fandom loves. They just mellow out to a comfortable familiarity instead of white-hot obsession. Obsession is not sustainable, but man, it's fun while it lasts!)

[askerian]

Haruno Sakura, what made her decide to become a ninja? :D or anything about Sakura really.

[edenfalling]

...I could just email you the unfinished version of "Friends and Neighbors," which, aside from being set in the Apartment Manager AU and dealing with social reactions to Naruto is basically my thoughts on the Haruno family, let me show them to you. 6,000+ words' worth. *headdesk* (I should really sit down and just finish that fic already.)

But anyway, Sakura! Her mom (Haruno Tanrei) is a freelance artist and has white-blonde hair; her dad (Haruno Senzai) teaches civilian school and deep red hair. Sakura is an only child and grew up somewhat pampered and sheltered. Her mother works from home doing comissions (painting and calligraphy, mostly, though she dabbles in sculpture as well and also puts a lot of time into making a really elaborate garden on their small property), so Sakura's not used to being on her own. (The gardening thing is the source of Tanrei's professional landscaping business in the summer camp & politics AU, btw.)

I think Sakura decided she wanted to be a ninja partly because it's the cool thing to do in Konoha, but also because she has a strong drive to be useful and save/help/protect people, and because she has that violent streak and temper she generally tries to repress. And then once she'd made that choice, she carried through because she hates the idea of giving up and "proving" that she wasn't strong enough, or smart enough, or whatever enough, to stick it out and be awesome.

Her parents are a little baffled by her choices, but supportive. They are both only children themselves and come from middle-class artisanal/intelligentsia backgrounds rather than business or farming backgrounds, so they wanted Sakura to choose her own way. They just... expected a less militaristic path, I guess, something more intellectual and less physically violent. On that note, they were quite pleased when she apprenticed with Tsunade, because medicine is a field that makes more intuitive sense to them than punching people in the face.

From a young age, Sakura has tended to keep her emotional problems to herself because she doesn't want to make her parents worry. This is partly because she doesn't like when they're unhappy, but also partly because they tended to be a little overprotective at first, which did not help with her social isolation problems. (This is why she thinks parents are annoying at the start of the manga.) So they mostly hear the good parts about her training and her fights, and are very unclear on the details of her emotional investment in Sasuke and Naruto. Tanrei and Senzai are intelligent enough to know Sakura's keeping them in the dark, but they assume that she's protecting them from violence-related details rather than emotional and ethical conundrums. (And to be fair, she IS also keeping some of the worst violence from them.)

[askerian]

... ngh. I love how your headcanon is, apart from the pale hair parent and red hair parent, so completely different from mine, even the sociocultural background (haha, and more developped too), and yet it still ends up in Sakura as Sakura.

and because she has that violent streak and temper she generally tries to repress.
Pff yes v. good point.

(ALSO YES PLZ SEND ME FIC. :D)

[edenfalling]

Sure, where should I send it?

[askerian]

:DD

askerian@hotmail.com

[justicevoles.livejournal.com]

As long as the Naruto universe is in play... Aburame Shino, and the Aburame in general.

[edenfalling]

Pretty much everything I have to say about the Aburame I already said in Compatibility, sorry. But feel free to suggest another character, or a pairing!

[lady_songsmith]

I'm just going to poke my nose in to say, "I love your icon!"