Hey, I don't know if it's too much trouble, but I was wondering if you are planning on finishing 30 Cases, and if you aren't, what were your plans for it? I just really love this fic, especially the almost Outsider POV towards the Kaishin developing friendship. Some chapters still leave me laughing after many rereads, and the Kaishin development just kind of warms my heart :).
Hiya! It’s definitely not too much trouble right now!
So okay, 30 Cases is my first DC fic, the one that brought me some amazing friends, and is planned out to the very end. This is Fact! I am going to finish it. This is also FACT!!
That said, when I was working on 30 Cases some time ago (Nov 2015), I had been away from the characters for so long that I had a REALLY hard time writing the next chapters. So I’ll need to watch a few movies or read some of the manga again to get their muses back before I’ll be able to hammer out the chapters. With my mood, time, and energy fluctuating as they do, plus all the things I Need To Do To Adult And Friend Properly, I can give no estimate on when. :(
I swear I’d posted teasers or something on what was to come in 30 Cases, but I...can’t...find it?? I wonder if some of my posts on lj went missing hm. I’m probably just bad at tagging, go figure.
So I’ll share the THREE false starts I had to the next chapter, and the notes about it. *puts head in hands* So embarrassing lol, unfinished writing
Okay so I was going back in the revision history to remember which one I wrote first and all, and I found ANOTHER version I’d done first and deleted entirely. And like...it’s pretty good?? Almost good enough to be the next chapter???
I think what happened is that after writing it I decided the readers NEEDED or would WANT to see the talk with Akako (probably do lol), so I scrapped it to write that. That is the three false starts below. But re-reading it now, it really fits as a Conan&Ai chapter. I think I won’t share that bit just now, since I miiiight just make it the base for the real chapter. Anywho, enjoy my terrible writing below
Case 13 – Ai & Conan
Try 1 2
Ai watched Conan flop face down on the uncovered couch. With how often he'd been hiding out in the Kudou study, the dust covers were no longer needed on certain furniture pieces, though the entire house could still use a good scrubbing over. She picked her way over to an adjacent armchair and pulled herself into it with a sigh. The silence stretched between them, not strained, but filled with a thick sort of anticipation. She wasn't looking forward to trying to rationalize this to Conan, but that wouldn't hardly stop her. She was used to unpleasant tasks.
Yet…. She eyed the unmoving form critically. He had taken the meeting with Koizumi-san with more grace than she expected. Perhaps Hattori-kun had been more convincing than she'd believed he could be. Conan wasn't one to hide his disdain normally, but he was very good at hiding it from strangers, at this point. If that was the case, then about now he'd start in on her for the tasteless 'joke'.
Well, she certainly hadn't expected such an unusual...opportunity...to arise. Part of her wished that it had been the vain venture she'd expected when Hattori-kun had made the absurd proposition. It had certainly sounded ridiculous. She's only said yes on a whim; her frustration at her own lack of progress, coupled with the tiny possibility that a different viewpoint (even one as off the wall as a self styled witch) might bring a new angle to tackle the problem of the cure with.
Because despite the quick and neat job done with bringing about the final blow to the Organization, no sample of the Apotoxin or copy of her notes had been recovered. That disappointment had been a difficult (ha) pill to swallow. She'd always held out hope that she'd be able to reconstruct the volatile formula that had
Try 2 3
The Kudou household was dark and quiet. It was, Ai reflected, the perfect place for brooding, especially the vaulted library with the drawn curtains keeping the interior in a constant gloom and the thin layer of dust lending to the abandoned feeling. So it was really no surprise that it was Conan's destination of choice when he was feeling particularly melodramatic. She refrained from letting her exasperation get to her only by reminding herself that she'd been the one to bring them to the house in the first place.
Not that he'd reacted as she'd expected. When she'd asked Hattori-kun to convince him to meet with her and Koizumi-san, she hadn't held out much hope that the Osakan would dull the edge of Conan's disbelief. She'd relied on the fact that the request came from her that Conan would listen, coupled with Hattori-san's dogged determination to help his friend out whether he agreed or not. That, and his desperation to return to his old life.
Ai had expected Hattori-kun to come dragging a reluctant Conan by the scruff of his neck. Instead, Conan had arrived without fanfare, Hattori-kun trotting at his heels like a faithful puppy. She expected him to immediately demand explanations from her, loud in his disbelief and sarcastic as only he got when his views of the world were being challenged. He had merely greeted her, before turning to Koizumi-kun and studying her as closely as she was him.
When Ai had met Koizumi-san, she'd been expecting...well, someone older, to her chagrin. She of all people should have realized that apparent or actual age meant nothing. Not that she let it phase her. It would have made sense too if Koizumi-san was a witch in the more practical sense; a practitioner of rituals and old, herbal recipes. Ai had already exhausted what she could of that avenue in her search for the cure, but one never knew what hidden family secrets might be useful. So she'd been willing to listen.
Then Koizumi-san had taken one look at her and had said, "You are like him; all twisted up inside."
She had a look of interest on her face, her gaze seemingly to look right through Ai. It didn't feel anything like the dark and terrifying gaze of an Organization member, but there was still something dangerous in the air about her. That feeling was magnified when...something had tugged inside of her, and Ai hadn't been able to stop the gasp of surprise. Hattori-kun had reacted instantly, putting himself between Ai and the witch, one hand on Ai's arm. Immediately the sensation stopped, and Koizumi-san had given them both an amused smile.
Hattori-kun had been ready to grab her and make a break for it then and there, but Ai had swallowed the instinctive fear and stepped around him before he could move. That one moment had been enough to make her believe there was a chance, and she was willing to take it despite the danger. Conan had risked himself for her; for the cure, she would give up her worthless life for it in turn.
Her action had met with Koizumi-san approval, and the meeting had gone much more smoothly as they came to an understanding. Ai had kept a tight hold on her inner cynicism. She had made a decision, and no matter how outlandish Koizumi-san's ideas seemed, Ai had to trust that there were things in this world she couldn't explain. It was easier than having a meltdown over it, though now she could understand Hattori-kun's belligerent attitude.
There had been no need for such theatrics when Conan had confronted Koizumi-san.
It should be possible to release all that...potential. I cannot guarantee it won't be kill you
Try 3 4
Ai gave her companion a sideways look. "So glad you could join us," she said quietly, humor obvious in her voice. Conan gave her a dry look in return.
Across from them, Hattori-kun was currently engaged in a staring contest with Koizumi-san, as he had done every time he'd met the witch. She regarded him in amusement, but made no move to either stop him or encourage the attention. Ai didn't know what she was thinking, other than Koizumi-san liked games.
"Are you sure she can be trusted?" Conan asked, using their distraction to take time to study Koizumi-san. He had that look in his eyes, the focused awareness he used when working out a particularly difficult case or motive. There was none of the doubt that Ai had expected, no resistance or questions about their sanity, no comments about how crazy he thought they all were. That was more grace than she'd expected from him.
"I wouldn't have called you here if I thought it would kill you," she said, turning her attention to the papers stacked in her hands. She'd had them ready for what she'd thought would be inevitable demands for proof, but something had convinced Conan without her interference at all. Had Hattori-kun been that persuasive?
He didn't take his eyes off Koizumi-san as he replied, "That's not an answer." Hm, so perhaps someone else had tipped him off? Ai knew that Koizumi-san had an ulterior motive beyond the interest she had in an impossible reaction caused by science and not magic.
It was disheartening to know that Ai's biggest contribution to her field was a legacy of death. She'd never let it bother her overly much. If she dwelled on all the people she had inadvertently killed, well, she wouldn't be able to move forward. And she had no choice but to move forward. That was her penance, the price she paid for her sins. She'd been given a chance to try to make up for her mistakes in the form of a teenager turned child. Somehow he'd survived, and had given her the courage to escape or die on her own terms. Since then, he'd saved her over and over until he'd kept his promise to take down the Organization, to take that threat out of her life forever.
And she still couldn't keep her promise to him. Sleepless nights and endless days of research poured into the search for a cure, yet despite taking them out not one sample of the poison had been recovered. While much of the data had been saved from the attempts to destroy them, the science research had been one of the casualties of the final raids. So she was stuck with nothing to work from but the blood samples from herself and Conan, and the vague memories of too many possibilities and failures to sift through. There was no way she'd be able to find the cure. Not in time, at least.
If it had just been her, she'd never have bothered to look, either. Without her sister, there was nothing of her old life to return to. Shiho hadn't had any close friends, and she wanted Sherry to vanish completely. But Ai did have things to care about; she had a life to live, friends who would miss her if she left, and a sort of family in an eccentric old man and a dysfunctional teenager pretending to be a child. Things that were important to her. It was a feeling she'd never had the luxury to experience before, and she was loathed to give it up for anything.
Conan, however, did have things to return to. What bothered Ai was that he didn't seem to acknowledge what he'd be giving up. Too caught up in his own brilliance to acknowledge the other people in his life. That was one of his biggest flaws.
Koizumi-san turned her attention to Conan.
And the original notes for the chapter. gggg Ai was killing me, I could not cold-write her!
Ai, contemplating the Black Org, things that have happened, her talk with Heiji and subsequently Akako, and her decision on the future of Conan.
She already knows she will never be able to make the cure, not without the original formula, which was destroyed in the take down of the organization.
She’s willing to grasp at any straw, because of the guilt and her desire to see Shinichi happy, and because surprisingly Akako convinced her it was a good bet.
She finally tunes back in to Conan’s complaints about Heiji, stupid superstition, the ridiculousness of it all, and she of course was going to tell Heiji where to stick it. She answers quite calmly that yes, she’d like him to try. While he’s busy gaping, she continues a perusal of notes or somesuch she got from Akako (because magic aside, she wasn’t about to let anyone hurt Shinichi, so she /was/ going to understand every single step of the process, like any good scientist). When he finally sputters out a protest, she gets a bit annoyed, explaining this is the last chance, there is nothing else,
and if he /really/ wants to return to normal, he just has to trust her one more time.
He gives a quiet ascent after a moment’s thought, and she is once again torn at his baseless (to her) trust in her.
Longer answer, is that I was working on this “recently”, as in last November. Also last November I was in so much pain no matter how much I tried to pretend it wasn’t that bad (at times). I also got to the point where it literally felt like I’d never be free of pretty intense pain ever again, because it just never got better, or something else flared up, etc.
I have good days, I have inevitable bad days. I haven’t been writing anything lately despite a mild desire too, because I spend so much time lying around letting the pain of being forced to sit at a desk all day fade.
Excuses? Sure, but life is full of them. I’m sorry to keep people waiting, but I’m not sorry for trying to keep my physical and mental self together.
That crap aside, I did work on 30 Cases chapters during November, like I said. I finished and posted that one chapter, then worked on drafts for the next....5 chapters. Bad news is the next chapter to post is one of the hardest I have ever attempted. I restarted it five times before giving up and moving on for the sake of Nano. Good news is that when I do finish it I will have four more chapters nearly done, so they should go faster.
30 Cases is the one DC fic I am determined to finish, no matter how long it takes. I can’t give any estimates, because it seems I’m sliding back into a flare up and work has been...stressful...lately. But no, I have not abandoned it.
Fic Meme: 30 Cases...if answering all of them is too much then...2,4,11,13 please!
Eeeh let’s see how far I get!
1: What inspired you to write the fic this way?
....I know I’ve written this out before, but for the life of me I can’t find where. *snickers* Well, long story short, I was bored one day and wrote down all the DC characters I could, stuck ‘em in a bag and pulled ‘em out in pairs and wrote down all the results. Got bored of that and went over what I’d done, starring the ones that sounded like interesting characters to interact. Finished, and counted, and found I had exactly 30. Decided it was fate, somehow figured out a cohesive way to order them, and thus there you go!
2: What scene did you first put down?
Chapter 1, scene 1. :p I started at the start, and marched through it pretty much straight through up until I tried picking it up again now. I have five rough chapters that I need to finish, but at the time I couldn’t so I did skip around to what I could write at the time. But yes, Conan & Aoko was the first part of it I ever wrote!
3: What's your favorite line of narration?
HMM. ...What if i shared a bit of an unposted chapter? Ehehehehe~ (It’s rough and more than a line, but I think you’ll enjoy anyway :p)
If Kaito had taken the time to think about it, he would have realized what a terrible idea it was to act right away. Kaito's impulsiveness coupled with Kid's incorrigible nature usually led to a situation spiraling wildly out of hand, and he was still too shaken to rein in his control. And one of the first things either did when surprised was—
Using the grip on Shinichi's shoulder, Kaito pulled the detective into forward while at the same time stepping in to his personal space. He could see those (pretty) eyes narrow in confusion, before widening as Kaito used his free hand to tilt Shinichi's head up just a fraction. Just enough for Kaito to cover his lips with his own. Shinichi's first reaction was to jerk backwards out of reach, but Kaito anticipated it and slid his hand into his hair, using the grip to pull Shinichi in further.
It was...soft, and hot, and Kaito couldn't help the teasing flick of his tongue against the pliant mouth. A moment later Shinichi gathered himself enough to shove Kaito away, stepping back and pressing a hand against his mouth as he blushed bright red.
—flirt. Shit, shit shit shit Kaito really hated acting first and thinking never. Taking a step back himself he forced a lazy grin onto his face, bringing up his poker face with a vengeance. No need to let Meitantei know he was cursing himself for his impulsive stupidity. He could still work with this.
4: What's your favorite line of dialogue?
Okay, when I re-read all my chapters, I must admit I was laughing way to hard at this part. So I must choose darling Sonoko and her fangirl moments. (Yes I know it said line, but eh, don’t really want to go re-reading it all to pick just one.)
"No, no, I can see how it happened," Sonoko cut him off, imagination already spinning images wildly across her mind's eye. "A boy, overwhelmed by the crowd of a heist, ducks into an alley to clear his head. Above him there is a soft tinkle, and a shining jewel falls into his hands."
"O-oi!"
"Kid-sama appears on the other side of the alley, wreathed in the soft tendrils of fog that permeates the night, glowing under the light of the moon, requesting back his prize for the night."
"Excuse me? Hello??"
"Daringly, the boy refuses, offering instead a bold trade; a kiss from his idol and secret crush for the precious bauble!"
"Oh god…"
"And with a soft chuckle, Kid-sama reprimands the boy, saying that that was his prize all along! The temptation of the forbidden fruit! Ah~ Kid-sama, how could you be lost to my charms?"
5: What part was hardest to write?
AI IS KILLING ME I TRIED TO WRITE HER CHAPTER SO MANY TIMES AND FAILED THEM ALL!
6: What makes this fic special or different from all your other fics?
Hmmm, the format? It never focuses on the same two characters, so it’s a bit of a character study, rather than telling a story. Though there is a story to tie it all together as well!
7: Where did the title come from?
Uh, well, there were 30 of them, DC is all about cases, so it just kinda came to be.
8: Did any real people or events inspire any part of it?
See answer 1 I guess? Boredom, man. Dangerous thing!
9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?
Nnnno, not this one. Each chapter (bar the ones I have in progress) is the only version of itself.
10: Why did you choose this pairing for this particular story?
Because KaiShin is my OTP for the series, one of my favorites ever, a forever pairing, etc etc etc. :]
11: What do you like best about this fic?
...The format. XD I like exploring the characters, and I like tying together the “plot” without being able to focus on the two characters it’s all about. *snickers* How do you tell a romance from the eyes of everyone but the ones in the romance? It’s a fun exercise!
12: What do you like least about this fic?
My own writing, really. It’s not actually that bad, but while writing it and for a while after, I’m never happy with it. And there are a few parts of it I wish I hadn’t written, but eh, that’s part of maturing as a writer. I think I did pretty good, and I’m honestly not sure how I’d change it even now.
Also how hard it is to write it these days. *groan* Ai, cooperate already....
13: What music did you listen to, if any, to get in the mood for writing this story? Or if you didn't listen to anything, what do you think readers should listen to to accompany us while reading?
This one, I don’t have any particular music. I just tend to listen to whatever’s on my playlist at the time.
14: Is there anything you wanted readers to learn from reading this fic?
*scratches chin* Not really. I just want people to have fun with it. If someone enjoyed reading it, then that’s all I want! It’s not terribly complex, and there’s no hidden meaning in it. It’s as straightforward as it can be. So yeah, you like it? I’m happy<3
15: What did you learn from writing this fic?
Ai is the devil to write. :p Nah, I suppose one of the things I’m currently learning is that you can’t just dump pages of information that happened between chapters. You either have to cut it out, imply it, or be more succinct. It’s a tough lesson, man....
Ah, Night of Writing Dangerously, you are always a great time to get some good word counts out. (I am still behind tho fffff)
So, for anyone interested, here’s an update on my Cases progress!
Chapter 13: Kill. Me. Ai is not cooperating! I have tried writing this four times from scratch and have not been able to get a chapter that even mildly works. UGH. If I had time to piece together my attempts and edit and stuff, I could probably come up with something ok, but I can’t edit yet. Not until Nano is over! Siiiiiigh.
Chapter 14: So fine, I’ll just move on to the next one, right? Except...it kinda depends a bit on what happened in chapter 13. *lies down* I wrote some on this, but it’s a bit too unfocused. I’ll need to come back and finish it up.
Chapter 15: Finally! Okay, I can write this. Yes indeed! Not 100% happy with it (am I ever), but it’s done! *applause*
Chapter 16: You know, I thought this chapter would be really difficult to set up. ...I was wrong. *laughs* Though the pivotal conversation is giving me some trouble, I must admit. Almost done, but still needs a few pieces to be completed.
Chapter 17: So then I decided to start in on this one. Going well so far, but I only just started!
Wow, that’s more chapters worked on than I thought! I...actually, worked on 3 tonight. *shakes head* Welp. I still have an hour and a half before the night is over, so we’ll see how far into 17 I get! (This means that Cases in December is probably going to work! I’m so happy!!)
