We are all made up of the ashes of dead stars.
- John Polkinghorne

I'm young enough to be naive, old enough to be cruel and young enough (again) to believe that this is excusable. I write, enjoy writing, and will probably write for two hoots that are not given. I also enjoy drawing terribly, roleplaying, surfing the Internet, talking to you and Asakura Hao. I would like to believe in deities, any kind of karma or dogma that runs my way, and that beauty exists in people who can appreciate it.

I also enjoy playing guessing games with people about my age. Of course I'm very short of entertainment; what did you think?

Name: Shadowed Mediocrity is the name I chose for because it was inspired by a patch of song lyrics my friend once pasted me, involving the phrase "shades of mediocrity". I was immediately intrigued by their phrasing, but had to twist it to fit myself- I'm not really a shade, a ghost, something cool (as in cold) to soothe a summer's sultry heat. I'm more of a shadow, I think- twisting everything to fit my own warped.. senses.. and everything I touch grows dark.
I generally go by Lasakura now, though.

Purpose: Ah, I appear to be on FanFiction just for the fun of it, but actually I have an alterior motive! I plan to take over the world!
...Not particularly original, I realize. Actually, I'm working on a book. With Luck (TM), I may finish its editing this year, send it out to be minced into tiny bits by any unwilling passersby who instantly become my betas upon sight, and will send it to an editor as the holidays. Being on FanFiction is to learn what to improve, what to keep, and to locate a few betas.
Although I don't mind admitting that a great deal of my other alterior motive is composed of loving to write about Hao and Yoh and Lust. (The Homunculus, not a relationship between them.)

Fandoms: I love a load of fandoms- most mangas and animes, for starters, except for the ones involving a ton of machines- can't stand those. (Like Digimon- it used to be okay, before they collapsed into merging and machinery.) But the fandoms I love.. hmm..
- Shaman King (naturally!) - I love all the characters. This probably explains why it exists as one of my favorite animes. Well that, the fantastic art, the wonderful plotline, and the ending that leaves you shouting at the producers.
- Yu-Gi-Oh - Seto Kaiba, Yami, Jonouchi/Joey.
- Artemis Fowl - Artemis Fowl, Julius Root, Foaly, Holly Short.
- Saint Tail - Meimi.
- Inu-Yasha - Everyone except Shippo. I have nothing against Shippo, he's just not a particularly striking character to me, and never has been.
- Harry Potter - I like it because I go with the crowd, because hey, it's fantasy for kids.
- CardCaptor Sakura - Sakura, Yue, Kero, Li, Meilin, Tomoyo. (A great love for the Tsubasa Resevoir Chronicle is attached to this fandom.)
- Digimon - I liked the first two seasons, appreciated possibly the first ten episodes of the third (mostly, I suspect, because the idea that a Digimon would appear because you created them was too fascinating to give up). I saw some other episodes, felt that the two brothers might be vaguely incestuous, and gave up from there.
- Ah! My Goddess! - Belldandy, Skuld.
- Yu Yu Hakusho - Yusuke.
- FullMetal Alchemist - It seems to be the year's current anime fad. The art is better drawn than in Shaman King - for which I have to blame the producers, the cretins - and the idea in itself is magnificent. I'll probably be coming out with a lot of fanfic for this, as the characters are astounding. Consider this the Shaman King for Older People who want a lot of blood in their animes.
- Terry Pratchett - His stories, not his characters, are the characteristics that draw me in.
- DragonRiders of Pern - This fandom has faded slightly for me over the years that I have adored it, due to the fact that Anne seems to have made a tragic mistake in passing the fandom onto her son. Still, it doesn't stop me from roleplaying her fandom with great vigor and enthusiasm, because judgment errors notwithstanding, she is still a brilliant woman who has created a vivid world.
- Trigun (a little) - This is mostly because of Vash. Who doesn't love a broomhead now and then?
- Cowboy Bebop - The art in the show just sold me (alongside the careless violence). I'm still waiting to see if the manga is worth it.
- Naruto - This also seems to be a popular fad at the moment. The manga's art is lovely (albeit bloody, which may be the same thing), and I'm in the process of acquiring the anime.
- Gordon Korman - I know, there's no fanfiction for this section anyway, but he may be one of the most hilarious writers I have ever known, barring Terry Pratchett. Also, he lives in Canada (and writes about small towns near Toronto, hurrah). He is a wonderful, wonderful man who deserves to live in Canada.
- Diana Wynne Jones - I love her books. My favorite so far has to be Howl's Moving Castle.

There are more, of course- I just can't be bothered to name them, or else I'd be up half the night trying to think of more.

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Random Thoughts on 10/17/05

- I find it very fascinating how one of my fanfictions can make it onto someone's favorites list without garnering a single review from them. Or at all, for that matter.-amused-

- My gerbils are doing Strenuous Physical Activities with each other. Again. Considering they are both male, I think it's a wonder I didn't grow up slashier than I already am.

- Ocean's Eleven is an excellent movie. I need to write Asakura's Eleven, or something. It would be crackfic, but it would be holy crackfic. Edited to note: Oh my god. Am I writing Asakura's Eleven? I do believe I am not (yet), but in the meantime I'm writing Mr. and Mrs. Asakura. -dead-

- My teeth hurt. Also,I need a new fandom.

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Look! Look look look! (Behold my drawings of doom.)

http:///albums/v188/evaweyr/Asao1.jpg- Guess who?
http:///albums/v188/evaweyr/Sketch.jpg- In case you're wondering who the person in the background is, let me assure you that a waitressing gig is not easy.
http:///albums/v188/evaweyr/FMA.jpg- I love Ed. And FMA. But not the way that his hair turned out in this picture.
http:///albums/v188/evaweyr/Syaoran.jpg- No, that's not Rock Lee. Props to whoever can discern who it is.

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.Coming Fanfictions.

Wallets and Sodas - rated PG - (HoroTamao) How did HoroHoro manage to get enough of a clue to figure out that Tamao liked Yoh? Ah well - to comfort her, he takes her out for a soda. Being HoroHoro, however, he's managed to forget one very important thing on the 'date'... What kind of a cretin makes a girl pay?
Inspired by my rant on pairings, naturally. :P This is still heavily into the editing process, but I think it's a cute fic idea.
January 26, 05: Okay, it'll become a one-shot in the Every Pairing Under the Sun fanfic. Later. When I have time. After I stick HoroHoro with Hao, poor man.

Courtship - rated PG-13 - (HaoOC) Tentative title, WIP. 12-part story that will be completed before ever being submitted to . Alternate story that starts at a certain point, deviates from the plotline, ends at a certain point that ties in with the original plotline, about Hao's first life. I will say no more at this point until I get the outline completed, but, depending on many things, it could work as a stand-alone, do-not-have-to-know-Shaman-King-to-read ficlet.

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On Pairings

My take on the pairings in Shaman King? The popular ones are, for the most part, very, very unrealistic. The only pairing I actually believe in for the series is either Anna/Yoh or Hao/Tamao (and the latter generally doesn't have very good reasons for Hao coming back to life).

Even with the latter, the only way I could see the two is if Hao were using Tamao for something; probably antagonizing Yoh.

I believe in a one-sided Tamao/Yoh relationship.. Tamao does love Yoh, because he's strong and everything that she idolizes about men, but if they got together, she would be too indulgent of him for the relationship to survive. The reason that Anna/Yoh works for me is because they're opposites of each other; Anna would never let Yoh have his way, and Yoh's fine with that.. it helps his training, in any case.

I certainly don't believe in Hao actually falling in love with anyone; he takes too much care to exert control over himself to allow such a thing to occur. But for the sake of the plotline, I believe that he would pretend many things.. especially if he cared to keep the person happy.

Hao/Yoh I would like to pause a moment to discuss: I think that I can see why other people would dream it plausible, but I don't see it, myself. Hao does want Yoh, but in the sense that he wants more strength, that he wants his ambitions. He doesn't want him physically, regardless of what all those Yaoi fics out there say. And Yoh is too easygoing, too languid to engage in that sort of thing; particularly since Anna would shoot him through the head if he did.

I think Tamao/HoroHoro is a suitable pairing, because he's her opposite, and closer to Yoh in personality than anyone else in their group. I can honestly see him comforting her over Yoh's inability to like her back, and taking her out for an ice cream soda.. only to realize that he doesn't have any money with him, so he has to stick her with the bill.

Tamao/Manta should probably be considered as well.. although a pairing of timid/timid doesn't really suit me.

The only way an OC pairing could come in, I think, would be involving Ryu. He seems rather underplayed in fanfics, perhaps because he's just a goofy character and those don't fit well in romances. But what I'd like to see? Someone writing a romance fic involving Ryu, not getting him out of character, but allowing an OC to enter in the relationship. Or maybe one of the Lily five.. that would be cute too.

Faust/Anything-but-Eliza is out of the question. She's his bloody Spirit, for spirits' sakes. No. Leave that one alone.

Oddly, I can almost see Ren/Yoh.. in fact, I've had a little fluff-bunny nudging me with a scene for this pairingfor a while. (January 26, 2005: Going to stuff this into Every Pairing Under the Sun as a true drabble.)Maybe sometime I'll use it in a fic. But I can't see Ren with anyone currently in the series. He'd need a fighter-type girl.. someone like Anna, but not as controlling, because he wouldn't like being controlled. But she would need to be strong.. and so people would probably end up calling her a Mary-Sue. So Ren/OC romancefics would be almost impossible to write without severe criticism.

My favorite triangle? Hao/Anna/Yoh. It seems quite plausible, because Hao requires someone strong, and Anna/Yoh is perfect in my mind. Not to mention the English dub for where Anna first meets Hao makes Hao/Anna out to be quite reasonable. I might write a fic for it sometime.. or maybe just a spin-off of As Far as the Soul Goes.

Sorry for the rant. ; But it's one of my biggest subjects.

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Original Character Pairings

Don't people think any more? Why is it that people write the most rhetorical summaries on Earth? "a gurl meetz ren on da street & beats him. will romance blossom b-tween them?" Well now that you've asked it probably will, won't it?

I no longer have an objection to OC fanfiction. OCs can probably be played right- and this, coming from a roleplayer,seems to me to be an enormous concession.What I do object is that people seem to foist their own unwanted dreams and thoughts into what are essentially characters that were granted life, but not for this purpose.

What I also object to: people writing gay love for the sake of the pretty pretty boys. I write characters together not because I think they'd look pretty, or I want to be original. I write them because they seem to fit what I want, and they just come together from there. I write because I believe, the way you'd believe in a religion, or that the chair will be there when you sit down.

What I object to is that people will write OC pairings for characters that they can't even keep in character. If you can't keep your character acting as their canon counterparts do while they're with their lovebunny, obviously there is something wrong and you shouldn't be writing that fanfiction in the first place.

For that reason, I strongly object to most Hao x OC fanfictions. Not to my own, obviously (hypocrite), but because I'm experimenting, and because Hao is a coy manipulator who deigns to allow me to do this to him.

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Fic Requesting Status: For those of you who are kind enough to read my bio.. yes I do take fic requests, pairing requests (not for any of my present fanfics, but a one-shot or something).. Sometimes I run out of ideas. Thereby, I need other people to fill in for them. So go ahead and throw them at me.

Needing: A beta. I would love one so very much right now. Not someone who sits there and tells me my fic is good, although they're terribly helpful as ego-boosters as well. Obviously I think that my fic's decent, myself, or I wouldn't inflict it on everyone in the Shaman King section.

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Drop me a line, for I am an unsocialized being who needs to be spoken to. :)

MSN: shadowed_adept@
(Fiction) Journal: http:///users/lasakura/