[Fic] FFX - Clarion - Notes

[justira]

Clarion
Part I: Dreams of Memories | Part II: Waking Life | Part III: The End of All Things
(Notes)

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Notes


Credits

This story would not exist without a number of people.

The first version of Part I was written as a gift for darthneko during the 2007 round of ff_exchange. I want to thank darthneko for her participation and her prompt and her patience in waiting on Part I (I submitted it late and have since paid my penalty =P ). I want to apologize, too, that actually finishing this story took so long; I hope you enjoy it in this final form, as I always meant to give it to you.

Of course, I am also grateful to ff_exchange itself and to the other mods there for the opportunity, the atmosphere, the excuse and drive to get this done.

I am immeasurably grateful to my betas: owlmoose, renay, seventhe. They have put up with my terrible first drafts, my whining, my prodding, my itchy gimme-feedback feet, and with my general obsession with this story for years. Their feedback helped shape the story and definitely kept me from giving up or driving myself crazier. I love you guys; I can't thank you enough.

Finally, I want to thank regann for her Jecht shrine website (which, alas, I can no longer seem to find? where did it go??), particularly the section for meta, essays, analysis and interpretations. Some of the ideas here were definitely inspired by her analyses, particularly the tie between Jecht and Ifrit.


As I said, the first verion of Part I was written in 2007 and is still available in the ff_exchange archives. I really, really do not recommend reading it; it's staying up for archival and because it's a gift.




Story Notes

This story is one answer to a question that's been bothering me about FFX forever: Why would someone like Braska — someone presented in canon as smart and capable, someone who thinks outside the box, someone who fathered and helped raise someone like Yuna, someone who also had a guy from Zanarkand on his pilgrimage — why would someone like that just go off and die like every other High Summoner? Why didn't he do something different, like Yuna did?

This is only one answer; I have others and plan to write them. I love playing around with different versions, variations, and interpretations. I know a lot of people have one particular headcanon, one particular interpretation, but I think my attention span is just too short for that =)

So, this is one answer.

This story was a huge experiment in structure and layering for me. I love it when stories are layered, such that there's a surface layer that's a good story and can be enjoyed on it own, but below that are more layers, more stories, to be found on close read or reread or however a reader wants to look closer. I tried to do that here, a whole lot more than I've ever tried to before. This was also the first story where I concretely set out not only my plots and subplots, but also my themes, topics, and motifs. (Guys, I am crap at lit analysis; I don't usually care to use its vocabulary. As I said, this was an experiment.) I am not sure if the following is nerdy, sad, a measure of my obsession, or all three: I do actually have a notes document that, point-by-point, outlines each plot, subplot, and theme; sets the topic of each of the three parts; and discusses the characters and their motifs. I kid you not.

And I am not going to subject you to it, don't worry. (I might be interested in one day writing a DVD commentary on this thing but lord above, not now; I need a break from this story.)

I do want to mention a couple things here, partly about the story and partly just personal notes.

The central plot here is, of course, how Braska becomes a High Summoner. But running alongside that is the story of Braska's faith: how he loses it, and find it again. I've never explored the topic of faith much before in my writing; this was very interesting to think about. In this interpretation of Braska, I particularly liked the idea of Braska as a very spiritual man — that if there were a kinder god or philosophy to follow, he would have found his calling. His faith is a big part of him here, and it was a pretty personal experiment for me, working on that.

Speaking of faith: Auron. I definitely wanted Auron and Jecht to have some space to grow here, too. Beneath Braska's story, there's also Auron's, his own crsis of faith. And Jecht's story. And Bahamut's.

I had a lot of fun developing the aeons/fayth, trying to hint at backstories for them. Shiva was both my biggest headache and the most fun to work with. I played a little bit with the mythology of Shiva the Hindu god when developing her. I drew on mythology for Ifrit, too: an ifrit is a type of djinn. They're like lesser angels or demons, but most importantly, they are creatures of free will. (Fun note: Ifrit is known as Jinn in some of his other FF incarnations.) There are a lot of stories of rebellious djinn, and of djinn bound down— genie in a bottle =)

I also had a lot of fun with meta of all kinds. Meta-wise, too, this is only one take; I have others planned.


In general with a story like this I really worry about whether it's actually interesting enough to read when we know pretty much how things turn out in the end — does my take actually bring anything new to the table? I tried to take what we knew and flesh it out and give it a new angle or dimension. I hope, one way or another, that this was a decent read.


If anyone's interested in discussing my character and meta interpretations here, dude, I am SO, so up for that.

I'd really love feedback on any aspect of this thing — from concrit to a simple yea or nay on the overall story. I don't bite =)



Thank you for reading!

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x-post: Hosted on my DW justira [here], A03. LJ pointers on my LJ justira [here], ff_exchange [here].
 
 
 

Comments

[temples]

Review here, as I read it on AO3. (I am far too lazy to be bothered with all the hassle of clicking. And moving the cursor.)

Basically, I loved it. I had never really thought much about Braska (most of my FFX meta thoughts are reserved for Unsent and pyreflies and dream!Zanarkand), so this was really interesting. It hadn't even really occurred to me that him not doing as Yuna did was anything to think about, or that he needed a reason to be like every Summoner before him.

A few things I liked in particular:
- Takla and Zakel; particularly their lessons, and the different ways they skirt the edges of the summoning arts. Takla's lecture on remembering not to hate was beautifully done.
- Jecht. Being Tidus's only fan on the entire interwebs, I am delighted by how alike the two are -- Jecht sounds like his own person, but without the motivation of being Sin, his only real definable trait (aside from being a drunk) is being Tidus' father. You showed that really well. The Ifrit and Jecht connection was also really, really cool.
- Bahamut. His repeated refusals to Braska are quite interesting -- makes me wonder if an aeon is shaped by what is in the heart of the Summoner that calls on it.
- Shiva, and the way she bonds with Braska so strongly. Not much to say, it was just beautifully written. I especially like how they are both evil, non-Yevon worshiping heathens. (I always liked to imagine that there was a sort of intimacy between character and their summon that nothing else could compare to. But that might be just me, being sick and twisted.)
- Braska's affection towards Yuna, and the way he regards his late wife. It's very interesting how he only regards her in the abstract, never even thinking of her name. (Also the sneaky bastard bit, made me smile.)
- "You can't save people at arm's reach, Auron." ♥
- Braska... riding Ixion. The mental image made me laugh; probably had something to do with me imagining his robes flapping in the wind, revealing his bare legs. Yeah. I'm sorry.
- "What, that overgrown old bat?" At this, Auron's face grew suffused, flushed, and he made enough sputtering noises that Jecht noticed. "What? He looks like a bat that got berserked one too many times! And then got caught in an airship engine and came out with half the thing still attached." Again, I laughed.
- The bit about giving Yuna freedom, and wings. All the aeons finally cluing Braska in. It's just... lovely. And the ending, the last bit. Ow, my heart. Bahamut... if it's possible, Bahamut made up most of the story while having so little actual page time. You made him real.
- Everything? :D

(sorry, that got long. I was writing as I was reading.)

[momijizukamori]

So I've had this tab open for about a week now trying to think of something more coherent to say other than 'asjdfldjfk AMAZING', but I haven't come up with much. Basically - I love this. Easily on my top-five FFX fic list. It's heartbreaking and full of raw emotion, in some ways very much like the original game plot. I love your Braska and all of his imperfections, and I love the little glimpses of the backstories of the aeons we see - the reminder that they were once human, too.

[candyfloss]

Oh. Oh wow. The ending made me tear up, there.

I have been wanting a fic like this for so long, ever since me and a friend had a conversation that if there was ever another FFX spinoff (god forbid), it should be about Braska, Jecht and Auron. And here you did just that, in fanfic form, and it is amazing. ♥ I wanted to read the entire thing in one go, but I had to go travelling. I wish I could have printed it off and taken it with me!

You capture their personalities so well, and I especially love your Jecht, and how easily Braska can relate to and understand him, and his contrast to Auron. I also love all the detail you put into the Fayth, and their connection to summoners, and all the little things like spells, or how the Cloisters and aeons work. Really, I could tl;dr forever, but in short: best FFX fic I've ever read.

If you do go ahead and write any of your other answers, I would be all over that. :) Thank you for writing this.

[crankyoldman]

I hope you understand that saying it was depressing was not a slight. That means you're effective emotionally. And that was a very good way of getting across how someone so outside the box as Braska could still die. And I'm PLEASED that there is a different headcanon too! I do that a lot, myself, so I get that.

Anyway, I'm mostly here to give you that album that the story seemed to go with. The Appleseed Cast is a post-rock band, which means they use typical rock instruments (guitar, drums, bass) to sound really unlike typical rock music, delving into areas that trance and ambient music typically do. So if you go "what the hell IS this?" that's what it is. And trust me, it's neat.

Low Level Owl Volume 1
Low Level Owl Volume 2

Not trying to assimilate you into my music or anything, I was just struck at how well the tonality of this fit your story. UNCANNY.

[kunenk]

My heaaart ;A;

I think that this was beautiful. I loved the meta, the appearances of the Cloisters and what it entails to have the Aeons with him, your portrayals of everyone, and Braska feeling after the tendrils of what's going on. And then the last-!

♥