Fragments | 1: Another Time, Another Place

[luxken27]

Link to MM.org
Link to FF.net

Pairing: Miroku/Sango
Rating: T
Inspiration: mirsan_fics Prompt #10 | Lie
Based upon: “Sometime Around Midnight” © 2008 Mikel Jollett [The Airborne Toxic Event]

This story was borne of struggle - part personal, part creative struggle. I've been adamant about not wanting to start another story or series while I still had three in various states of progress. I saw the prompt at mirsan_fics and, almost on a whim, I decided to write for it the day before it was due. I've been wanting to write a lemonfic based around the inspiration song since hearing it for the few time a few months ago, but instead - the muses demanded a series.

So, here we are. I fought the muse...and the muse won. The overwhelming reception at the community definitely had something to do with it, too - I've never been so excited and overwhelmed by the reactions to a fic, which apparently were universal. It's not just anybody who can claim to win the first contest they enter in a new community, but I managed to do just that.



There was an automatic inkling for expansion; of course: when I wrote the fic and submitted it to the community, I had every intention of using it as a set-up prequel of sorts to the planned lemon. The song is full of great angst and regret and wonder and need, which are just the sorts of things I love capitalizing on in my work. However, the day the next prompt was released, I had a sudden flash of inspiration, to flesh out the universe more fully. I'm always tempted to write series fic because I enjoy the creativity necessary to write a true serialized story, but I fought this pretty hard. I've enough going on in my life to justify starting yet another fanfiction WIP, but something about this dynamic, this situation just rubbed my often-absent Mir/San muse the right way.

Eventually, I gave in, and the details of the series starting flowing together. I figure, if nothing else, this is a chance to strengthen my Mir/San skills, and maybe finally conquer the pairing I enjoy immensely and yet find so difficult to write myself.

So, this is a two-part author's notes entry: part on the series itself, and part on the actual entry that won me so much amazing regard at the community, where I'd only previously just commented & voted. I had no idea so many people were looking forward to my experiments with this pairing, and - not gonna lie - that encouragement means a great deal to me. So, I can only hope I don't disappoint =)

This first chapter, entitled "Another Time, Another Place," is the setup of the universe. Miroku is a bartender at a local place, someone quite comfortable in his life and his work, handling his crowd of regulars and his staff with the same practiced ease. He finds himself attracted to a quiet, glum patron, but he's seen enough of the world to know better than to get in too deep with a crying stranger. Still, he can't ignore her distress, and the story he learns is at turns chilling and heartbreaking. He cuts her off and walks her outside, all the while thinking what a shame it is that they couldn't have met under better circumstances than this.

The setup is directly related to the inspiration song, and a few of the lyrics were woven into the piece itself. I thought it an interesting and perhaps novel idea to give Miroku such an occupation, one where he's in contact with the public and used to dispensing advice, even if it isn't professional, medical, or always welcome :P I downplayed his hentai side, wanting instead to highlight his caring and compassionate nature that's so often overlooked by fan writers. He's intelligent and curious and knows just the right thing to say. I was really happy with the almost casual sort of style used here, as I think it suits him - and the contemporary setting - rather well.

Sango is more of a mystery, revealing bits and pieces of her past as she commiserates living "the perfect lie." I tend to go a bit overboard with the angst when it comes to her - rather stereotypical of her fanon characterization - but the comm readers seemed to find it realistic, so *crosses fingers* Of course, she had an excuse to be blubbering about her missing brother and broken relationships - people have a tendency to get really honest after they've had a few drinks - so that probably helped. She's tough, but even she has a breaking point...and I think I found it for her. That moment of vulnerability will change her life in more ways than she even realizes.

Now, as for the actual series itself: when I start these projects, almost immediately I set "invisible guidelines" to write by. For example - with Allegiance, I'm only writing from Sesshoumaru's point of view, its based exclusively on contest prompts, its being written non-linearly with no clear story arc in mind, etc etc.

For this series, which I've entitled Fragments, I haven't yet set all the boundaries, but a few are already in place: It's serialized, probably exclusively to mirsan_fics (though I haven't decided definitively on that just yet). The summaries will all be famous quotes, culled specifically to represent the prompt word as well as an actual summary of events in the chapter (this is much, much harder than it appears). The chapter titles will all be rather over-the-top and pretentious, as opposed to my usual preference for one or two poignant words. It is based exclusively on the original Airborne Toxic Event song, and hopefully will include a lyric or two in each actual chapter. And, most importantly, this sucker is going to be linear, with a full-blown lemon at or near the end.

So - yeah. Quite the challenge I've set before myself, but I'm looking forward to it. Writing Mir/San is so completely different, for me, than writing Inu/Kag or Sess/Kag or any other pairing in this fandom, so I expect this little experiment to keep me on my toes. I feel like I'm growing more and more confident with each piece I post, and hopefully that growth and depth and strength will show in my work.