Define: Me

Reflections…Impalpable Attraction Chapter Eleven

My impression of this new installment is rather positive. One thing that I achieved was showing more of a background to Amaranta’s character and background history. I didn’t want to immediately have the big baddies kidnap her grandfather because Amaranta’s development would have felt REALLY forced and the flow of the story would have been greatly affected to the point where I feel that I could have made her into a possible Mary-Sue by giving her balls of steel that she hasn’t even begun to develop. I mean, Impalpable Attraction is one of my longer projects that I am writing and I feel that I have to take my time fleshing out my characters by giving them flaws to grow out of and flaws to develop throughout the story.

To tell the truth, I wanted the chance to create Amaranta’s grandfather of whom I have yet to name and to show a side of Amaranta that no one has seen yet. I roughly gave him the personality of my grandfather on my mother’s side that had passed away when I was in fourth grade. He was a tough kind of guy, rough around the edges, hotheaded but had a big heart. He always was sensitive about things, almost like he had a sixth sense for finding out what was up. After writing the conversation she had with her grandfather, I reminded myself of how much I miss him. The conversation itself is not quite like how the conversations between us would go since he would always pamper me out of me and my siblings. I never complained about it though, I liked the attention since I’m one of the middle children in my family.

When I researched Reborn’s apartment from the little parts we could see from the manga, chapter 350 that his apartment is rather empty. By the entrance of the apartment, there is a wall lamp and a long bureau. Above the bureau, there is an array of photographs. From the look of things, once Reborn has completed a hit, he punches in a pin on the person’s photo. In the room, there is a potted plant where we can assume is Leon’s home. One of the rooms in Reborn’s apartment is an office with a large file cabinet, a large arm chair and small table by this chair. But because I did not remember to take the notes that use them for this chapter, I decided to deviate a little and created my own space for Reborn. Hopefully, I can add these canon features in later chapters of the fanfiction. By emphasizing the fact that Reborn lives alone and that his apartment from what I had remembered from the top of my head, it made sense for the kitchen area to be pretty empty. I figure Reborn is the type to go out and eat rather than to stay home alone, with the exception of doing a bit of research/planning at home – I imagine him to do things like Sherlock, but without experimenting with human body parts. It would be weird if Amaranta was to find a head in the refrigerator.

In this chapter, I managed to figure out where I was going to place the timeline. Although some of the readers may have thought that the story took place in the 1950s, I did gradually leave hints to show that the story takes place in about the 1980s. I estimate that Timoteo is around fifty years old at this point in time. I had made the mistake of trying to place this timeline in the 1950s since I had originally planned to make Reborn and Timoteo out to be the same age. I realized that the two are not that buddy-buddy with each other because in the anime and manga, Reborn has proven to know what Timoteo was thinking and vice-versa, but the relationship between them was never shown to be that of great acquaintances. Therefore, I think that Reborn’s loyalty to Timoteo might have been built and fortified over time since he is a pretty sceptical and cautious person as seen in the flashbacks of both the anime and manga. Therefore, Reborn would have probably met Timoteo when Reborn was young.

This scepticism and distrust is something that I do try to incorporate whenever he and Amaranta are talking to one another, but at the same time, I feel that since he’s close to a larger group of people – assuming he is friends/well acquainted with the rest of the acrobalenos including Luce and Timoteo and the Vongola that he has become more open…? But there is still a guarded feeling in Reborn that still exists, it’s not that pre-dominate since Amaranta is considered to be a “job” rather than someone who has to work with.

From the darker aspects found in the beginning of the chapter, I started to build it up to a lighter toned pacing just to balance the dark parts before getting back into it. I thought a party would have been a nice set-up, especially to create an opportunity for some fluff and trying to tap into the Amano-sensei style of humour. The party also gives me a chance to show off another side of Reborn and Amaranta for sure. In this case, it would be delving into the sensitive girlish side of Amaranta since we see her as an opinionated woman who craves for female independence and equality. For Reborn, it could go into several directions.

It was pretty difficult to find something for Amaranta to wear, but I decided to make her wear a pretty simple black evening dress from the 1970s. I, pretty much, googled the keyword, “evening dresses from the 1980s/1970s” and found the dress itself. I hope to draw her in it sometime soon if I’m not too lazy.

(Source: fanfiction.net)

3 hours ago

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