Less Than Ideal - Chapter 3

This chapter, like the previous ones, stands pretty well on its own but would probably make more sense when read together with the prologue, first chapter, and second chapter. Same warnings as before, but I'll put them up again since it's been a while:

Series: Naruto
Title: Less Than Ideal
Rating: Still G, although at this point I'd have to say it's because I'm a coward.
Genre: Future Fic which will probably become AU in a few weeks, supposedly Naruto-centric. This chapter is, at any rate.
Pairings: Could be read as SasuNaru, but no more so than the show itself. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Summary (whole story): Since the plot got revealed last chapter anyway: It's Naruto's first solo mission. The stakes are high for any number of reasons, but mostly because the target is Uchiha Itachi. Sasuke will forgive him somehow. He thinks.


( Chapter Three: Preparations for Certain Victory (Naruto) )

In the original script, Naruto's disguise for infiltrating Akatsuki was going to come from all the bad self-insertion fics I'd read. In that version, he basically disguised himself as a Mary Sue; you can still see a bit of this in his choice of outfit. The end re-introduces angst.

What else? I probably shouldn't be posting this now since it's late and I haven't gotten more than 5 hours of sleep all week, but... it's late. My inhibitions are lowered. Plus, I'm out of town this weekend and want to leave something of mine behind. If I have time tommorrow I'll also leave the Les Mis soundtrack up for download at the website (where currently there is Saiyuki) for keraha.

Less polish means more comments for me, right? Please?

Superfan Character Theft? The Truth Behind Neil Gaiman!

Appologies if anyone's said this before, but in bestseller American Gods by superfan comic-book author Neil Gaiman, page 27, second paragraph, there is a character described as:

_{"...a tall woman dressed cartoonishly in too-tight silk shorts, her breasts pulled forward and pushed up by the yellow blouse tied beneath them."}

Obviously, this is Faye Valentine from Cowboy Bebop. Later, on page 180, we observe the following interaction:

_{"A crane-like man with gold-rimmed spectacles was coming up the sidewalk... [Shadow] asked, "Which one of you is Jackal?"}

And that would be Dr. Jackal from Get Backers.

Okay, okay, I know the second one isn't Dr. Jackal. He's named as Ibis and is probably actually some god or other. But, the first one bears an uncanny resemblence to Faye, at least until the part where her vagina swallows a stock broker. Given that Gaiman is the man behind the mega Marvel/Victorian England crossover series 1600, he could easily have taken his character appearances from elsewhere.

So far, I kind of like American Gods and kind of don't. Gaiman's not a bad writer, but his style started to irritate after me a little after 100 pages. And this book is 588 pages. Plus, Scott Adams did the whole "old gods don't fit in" bit much better in The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul.


First half of the Les Mis Soundtrack is up for download, second half will be up on Monday.