Saturday, February 23, 2019

Walking To Siberia: A Yuu Yuu Hakusho Fanfic

 
 
 
Disclaimer: Kenshin does not own the Yuu Yuu Hakusho characters (they are the property of Togashi Yoshihiro et al), and makes no money from said characters.
What Kenshin does own, however, are all the original characters in this work. Any attempt to "borrow" these characters will be met with the katana, or worse.
Idiot Beloved takes place shortly after the Dark Tournament; Firebird Sweet directly follows.
Title: Walking To Siberia
Author: JaganshiKenshin
Genre: General
Rating: K+/PG-13
Summary: Why is Hiei on a tiger to "Siberia?"
A/N: As always, thanks for your reviews and faves.
"Come to the summit if you want her back alive!"
 
Walking to Siberia
by
JaganshiKenshin
 
'He who rides the tiger cannot easily dismount.'
 
Said someone or other, somewhere. Hiei realized this was true; the great beast's powerful shoulders shifted beneath his clutching knees with each step. To dismount before they reached the summit could prove fatal.
 
Shafts of light pierced the dense forest, igniting the tiger's fur to gold. A Siberian with flaring ruff, the beast dwarfed the narrow trail. On either side loomed pine, fir, larch, and spruce, heavy with resin, glistening with dew.
 
"Are we there yet?" The tiger spoke in a semi-comical whine. For a wild creature just given his freedom, the tiger seemed lazy and ungrateful.
 
"No." A pine branch smacked Hiei's face. "Siberia's at the top of this hill."
 
Except that this was Montana, and the hill was a mountain.
 
Hiei was compact, tough, a born fighter with bristling black hair decorated by a white halo, and, though he could pass for human easily enough, he was not. He was a youkai, with powers some might see as magic.
 
'With great freedom comes great responsibility.' Who had said that one? On this particular day, Hiei had more responsibility than he wanted, and if he let himself dwell on what had brought him here-
This was different from riding a horse, closer to the ground, the back long and dangerously flexible. Horses might stomp, bite, and toss you, but they weren't equipped with fangs like butcher knives and claws like grappling hooks.
 
It all started with that miserable crow.
 
Which was actually a jaki-one of those small youkai that often act as messengers. It had startled Hiei as he strolled the grounds of the Kidd's California estate. This jaki very much resembled a crow, if you ignored the three yellow eyes lined up in a row above its blood-red beak.
 
Alighting on a branch just beyond Hiei's reach, the creature delivered an imperative: "We have your Firebird. If you want to see her alive again, come to the summit riding a tiger."
 
 

Monday, December 3, 2018

MI # 21: In Which Dr. Inkenstein Has The Gall

Dr. I does not know what to make of this Iron Gall ink yet...but loaded a Safari and plunged 'write' in. 

In the vial and the chroma, it's a cerise/fuschia color. But it dries dark. I believe it will flow better once it settles in to the pen.

 

Not very complex flower chroma, but interesting in that it retains the brighter color element:

 

The ink was very unhappy when Dr. Inkenstein wrote to a pen pal using Clairefontaine paper. It writes better on Rhodia Ice. Which hardly even makes sense.

In any case, I love doing Mystery Inks; this one turned out to be Platinum Lavender Black. Thanks, Scooby!

Monday, October 8, 2018

Dimensions: A Yuu Yuu Hakusho Fanfic

 
 
 
 
 
 
This particular tale casts Shayla Kidd in the role of detective.
Title: Dimensions: A Shayla Kidd Mystery
Author: JaganshiKenshin
Genre: Action/Adventure, Mystery
Rating: K+/PG-13
Summary: A house of horrors, and Shayla Kidd walks into it.
When a black cat crosses her path, the nightmare begins
 
 
 
 
 
Dimensions: A Shayla Kidd Mystery
by
Kenshin
 
 
 
 
"Are you alone?"
 
The girl plucked at her sleeve, a jerky, nervous gesture. "For now," she murmured.
 
But why, she wondered, would the girl's captors leave her alone in the house, even for a few minutes? "Then... could I please impose on you for another favor?"
 
"Certainly." A refined girl, Shayla estimated, of good background, innocent, but fallen into evil hands?
 
"I'm very thirsty. Would you...?"
 
"Oh," said the wan girl. "Please help yourself. The kitchen is down the hall, then again to the right."
 
Shayla Kidd went into the kitchen, glanced at the bare kitchen counters, then rifled through the cabinets. Nothing that screamed human trafficking, just a dreary assortment of rice crackers and ramen packets.
 
Been here too long already. She opened a base cabinet, balanced on one knee.
Youki! Faint, but-
 
Better get out now, take the girl with me, bring her somewhere safe. Say something along the lines of, 'I know we're in the same boat, we can flee together.'
 
A touch startled her; she almost yelped, then breathed out in relief. It was only the small black cat from outside, at her elbow. Nice kitty. Go away.
 
She reached out toward the silent, urgent cat, trying to brush it aside, but it disappeared from under her hand-
 
Shayla Kidd lost her balance, slipped forward, sensed a faint whistle of air. The blow connected with the back of her head. Stars exploded before her eyes. Then darkness.
 
 
Read the rest HERE.

Monday, August 20, 2018

MI #20: In Which We Discover Green

We give you...Mystery Ink # 20.


Green is the opposite of dry, right? Green fields, green leaves, mint-green liquor drinks with green umbrellas and a pineapple spear.

This is green. This is dry. 

 

Ink flower chroma:

 

Hana no inku shows a teeny bit of a yellow halo. And maybe even a hint of red center? I like it.

Paper was Rhodia Ice. 

Shading? Maybe the nib wasn't broad enough. And Dr. Inkenstein keeps waiting for the ink to get dark. Because in the bottle, it looked dark. 

Changing the ink cart to a UPS-logo pen of uncertain ancestry did not change the dry-itude.  But it has grown on me, and the UPS pen was refilled when it ran low.

As to guessing the brand and color.... NO idea.  But it was revealed as...another Colorverse ink!  Sea of Tranquility, to be exact.  

Mystery Inking is so much fun.

Monday, July 23, 2018

The 19th Mystery: In Which etc. And So Forth

Ahhhh! One of Dr. Inkenstein's favorite color families, judging from the  approximately one million turquoise inks in my possession, and this is timely, because in the summer I always have one turquoise-loaded pen, and it just got cleaned.

MI #19 was tested in a Parker Reflex and on Rhodia grid. I just happened to have a turquoise Pilot Varsity on the desk, and grabbed that for comparison's sake. They look vewy, vewy similar.



I also ran a paper towel chroma on both MI #19 and the Varsity. Even this is quite similar.



So far, no hard starts, no southpaw smearing, but mayyybeeee a touch of sheen? Judging by the amount on the Reflex's feed....


MI #19 started to run dry in its Parker Reflex and needed dipping to start.  Dr. Inkenstein believes this to be a converter problem. After advancing the ink, it seemed to flow again.  And as another bonus, we discovered that the Parker Reflex takes Lamy carts just fine.

Just when it was decided that this is a good ink, MI #19 was revealed as 'Special Edition ink' Lamy Pacific Blue.  Which, it turns out, is the same ink as Lamy Turquoise.  Which Dr. Inkenstein already has.  

Win!  

Monday, July 2, 2018

Number 18: In Which Dr. Inkenstein Is Baffled, Though Pleasantly Surprised

Dr. Inkenstein is by no means a Poiple Ink lover, but some of them do appeal to me. This ink is one of them (the other, not suprisingly, is also a MI, but an earlier one, with 'Aubergine' in its name.)

The chroma showed no complexity, and I saw no shading or sheen, but it DOES go down with a reddish tint that vanishes almost on contact, leaving a sort of periwinkle tone very similar to those Rhodia dots.


No guesses this time...but the ink was revealed as Akkerman (coolest inke bottles ever) Parkpop Purpur.  And continued thanks to FPG Scooby for letting us in on the fun.

Monday, June 11, 2018

The 16th Mystery: In Which Dr. Inkenstein Misses the Guess Yet Again

(Can this be true?  Is Dr. Inkenstein the first one to get MI # 16 in the mail this time? Woohoo!)

Here we go, then, live, as it happened.  Over to you!

In any case...I like this ink! It's a slightly green-leaning blue with excellent behavior. NO hard starts at all at first, but when it lay in the pen awhile, alas, yes.

Plus, it looks pretty in that Dollar demonstrator.

Here it is also compared it in color to a couple of similar-looking inks.


The guesses which were wrong: Monteverde Horizon Blue, Iroshizuku Kon-Peki.  Actual Mystery Ink was Colorverse Crystal Blue Persuasion, I mean, Crystal Planet.  No chroma this time.  Dr. Inkenstein pleads forgetfulness....and more Mysteries to come.