#lc hiruko

[luckystarchild]

Okay this might be an odd question but what is Hiruko up to when he's not "on screen" in the story? What's a day in Hiruko's life like? Is he on his own all the time? Besides y'know plotting his next move;;

Probably heading to spoiler territory but I had to ask, this has been keeping me from sleeping Σ(-᷅_-᷄๑)

This is what I imagine Hiruko doing when he's not on screen in the story, just idly waiting for his next scene ʱªʱªʱª(˃̣̣̥˂̣̣̥)

He's got a specific place where he hangs out. The nature of it has been hinted at in the story, but we'll describe it in the story eventually, so I won't spoil it here. Let's just say it's remote and very private.

I think he's filled that space with a lot of artifacts and relics from his past, from the pasts of the Not Quites, and records of various kinds. Trying to avoid spoilers, but he's a bit of a magpie and collects a lot of stuff.

I think he spends a good bit of his time spying on people and nudging things in the directions he wants. Bit of a voyeur, that one.

Sadly, he's alone almost all of the time. It's not great for his mental health. Hiruko's life is a sad one. When he's around others, he's inevitably not being honest with them, so even with company he feels a sense of isolation.

Random headcanon: I think he's donned a disguise and joined a D&D league somewhere. It's a lot of pressure to puppeteer others. Sometimes it's nice to be part of someone else's story for once. He plays a selection of video games for the same reason.

Hope this was enough!

[snupy]

aaaaand it's finally done!! this had been rotting away along with my other wips for far too long lol

it didn't quite turn out how i had envisioned it but i'm happy with it, enjoy this little gift from me! @luckystarchild

[luckychild]

I remember you sharing the not quites pin-boards, I was wondering if you also had one dedicated to Hiruko/any other ocs

I have one pin board/pennant dedicated to LC that includes sections for Minato, Kagome, and two sections for Keiko (one for past life and one for present). I've updated those sections a bit since I last posted photos of them; will have to snap a pic soon.

But more to the point of your ask, there's also a whole section just for Hiruko, the Fates, and the Makers!

The pin of the young person is representative of Hiruko himself.

"Nothing is Real"... well, I imagine that one is self-explanatory!

"Lies & smiles"... also probably self-explanatory, haha

The cherry blossom pins are a nod to his hair color and the theme of impermanence/fragility

Koi are considered lucky, so the koi carrying a lantern pin does double duty for his "god of luck" and "god of fishermen" status

And the pin toward the top left is a fishing lure, which is another nod to his "god of fishermen" status

The origami unicorn is a reference to Blade Runner and connects to Hiruko; this will come up in a future chapter.

There are three pins that represent the Fates, including Cleo: the starry measuring tape, the handle bearing a needle, and the scissors. Love that set. There's also a little pair of scissors with the word "maker" included, which... another self-explanatory pin, I guess.

Some pins you see in the photo that aren't related to Hiruko are the starry bunny (a Minato reference), the ace of swords (NQK), and the "We're all just stories; in the end, just make it a good one" is a reference to... well, the entire Lucky Child universe, really, but that'll be more obvious later on.

Hope you liked this and thanks for asking! I have SO MANY enamel pins; remind me to show y'all some of my collection sometime. The LC board is just one part, haha.

[luckystarchild]

Teenager who’s actually, like, 42 years old has an identity crisis. It could end the world but no one’s actually sure?? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  

[hongkoredpanda]

Soo, I made another drawing for LC.^^

I had this idea since chapter 105 and wanted to illustrate it since chapter 109. The idea was just too angsty to ignore. :-)

I wanted to draw the gang in casual clothes but I realized it would have make them more “real”, I guess? (don’t know if it makes sense) For reasons, I wanted to draw them the more “cartoon-like” possible. It’s the reason behind Kurama’s red (and not black) hair, too. And the hooks. There are 4 in the air and one on the floor, attached to a broken red thread.

(For me, it represents NQK’s knowledge. She knows what is (possibly) different between her and them and refuses to let Hiruko do his shit. Or something like that. Maybe I look too much into things, I don’t know.^^ What do you think?)

Kei’s eyes are grey but I don’t know if we can see that, here.

And philosophy is scary as hell. Thank you for the reminder, author-san. (-; Can’t wait for more.

[snupy]

he has yet again occupied my mind 🫡 @luckystarchild

[luckystarchild]

Lucky Child Progress Report

The next story arc of Lucky Child (the Territory Training Arc) comprises several smaller subplots working toward a larger goal. It's a surprisingly hard section of the story to choreograph, let alone write (hence how long it's taking me).

Without spoilers, some of the subplots are as follows:

The technical development of a new ability (duh, haha)

The character development prompted and informed by that ability

NQK's interpersonal growth and development prompted by the recently introduced Training Arc OCs

Investigating Hiruko's implications with the Not Quites

Developments with certain key characters, both canon and original, that will HEAVILY inform the story's final arc (AKA even more character development, separate from what's listed above)

General housekeeping regarding NQK's relationships with the core canon cast, because NQK still needs to make up with Kuwabara (or at least find some equilibrium) and deal with the fallout of her secret being exposed

And importantly for many of you: "What's Kurama's deal!?"

The real magic trick is making all of these moving parts flow cohesively AND remain interesting for the readers.

I... have a lot on my plate, in case that wasn't clear. LOL!

Good News: The next chapter is underway, and I will hopefully be able to tell you the next update window sometime soon. Thanks for keeping up with LC despite my long hiatus, and have a great day!

[luckystarchild]

Other Characters' POVs in LC

A long time ago, I received a comment urging me to place other characters' POVs into Lucky Child. I replied to say I would not do this for several reason.

First, at the time the comment was submitted, the story contained 40+ chapters of story told exclusively from one character's POV, in first person. Suddenly switching to another POV would be jarring and strange if it wasn't justified by the narrative. To this day I can think of no justification for such a switch.

Second, certain plot points prevent the insertion of other POVs into LC itself. Omake/side material? Sure, I can include other POVs there because those side fics are not necessarily canon. But the actual canon of LC's main story could NOT support another POV without completely undermining the plot I was building toward. I assured the commenter that the single POV was the intentional and correct choice for the story I was telling. I couldn't tell them the exact reasons, of course. That would be spoilery.

They replied, "I personally don't see the problem in inserting other POVs into the story."

That comment has stuck with me. "I personally don't see the problem." The author is telling you it would be a problem, but... anyway.

I realized today that I can't recall if I've ever revealed those problems to all of you? And I realized that while I can't explain 100% of the problems (the rest of them will rear their heads in the final act of the fic), I can explain at least one huge one.

Spoilers for chapter 100+ under the cut.

In chapter 103, Hiruko dropped an absolutely bombshell on Not Quite Keiko. The bombshell was revealed to audiences in chapter 105:

NQK has been wrestling with this revelation since it occurred. Hiruko's assertion has them asking: Is this world real? More importantly, are my friends real? Are they figments? Is this all a hallucination? Are my loved ones philosophical zombies who only act the part of real, feeling people, mimicking consciousness like robots from a sci-fi film? Or do they have real thoughts and emotions, true consciousnesses, able to make choices of their own will and volition? Are my friends real, or aren't they?

We still don't have answers to those questions. But here's a question for all of you, in return:

Would this question pack nearly as much punch if we'd been treated to those friends' POVs throughout the story?

I'm going to answer that for you: No, it would not. If we had seen the story from their POVs throughout, this question would come across as silly and unnecessary. "Of course they're real!" readers would say. "We've been seeing their emotions, consciousnesses and agency from their perspective this whole time! That proves they're real!"

And I know this is true because some people are already saying Hiruko's question doesn't matter and NQK shouldn't waste time on it, and they're saying this without the inclusion of other POVs! Including those POVs would have been the kiss of death. No amount of questions from NQK could make readers doubt the reality that they had seen with their own eyes. "Of course the other characters are real. We've been reading from their perspective all along!"

Anyway. That's the reason I've never put anyone else's POV into LC directly, spelled out in plain language at last. It would have undermined everything about that revelation from Hiruko, and in turn, it would have undone everything I've been building toward since chapter 1... but that commenter was 60 chapters too early for me to explain why.

And for those still wondering if Hiruko's question matters: I'm telling you it absolutely does. ;)

(Sorry if I've actually talked about this before. I couldn't find a past post. It was on my mind today!)

[luckystarchild]

So, yours anonymously truly has been snooping around Wikipedia, and I see that Hiruko isn’t the only abandoned child! Izanagi and Izanami had other children they cast aside, along with “unblemished” children they chose to keep.

This raises the question: in the LC universe, does Hiruko have siblings? If so, will we get the chance to meet them? What’s their relationship like? Haha, I hope this isn’t an odd question—I’m just really intrigued!

Great question!

As far as this story goes, Hiruko is acting on his own without involving his siblings. While conceptualizing the story, I briefly considered having one of them ally with Keiko to work against Hiruko, but there are certain plot points (yet to be revealed) that made this idea difficult to justify. This character's role would have also overlapped quite a bit with the role Cleo fills, so it felt superfluous from a storytelling POV as well. The role is best filled by Cleo, so that's what we've got. :D

Will other deities from Japanese myth make an appearance, however? That's a big mystery, and we'll have to wait and see! But Hiruko's goals may provide a clue to where his story eventually leads the Not Quites, so keep those peepers peepin'. :)

As for their relationship, that's another very good question. We've learned a little bit about the construction of Spirit World in LC, namely that it's incredibly vast. I think his relationships with his siblings are extremely distant, mainly because they only talk once in a blue moon.

Not a whole lot, I don't think? The cool thing about myth and legend is that there's a lot of room for interpretation, and some of Hiruko's origins are disputed or overlap with other gods, so going with any one version of it over another feels like someone could accuse you of taking liberties even when you're just using different (but still valid) details. There's a bit of room to play, as a result, but I don't think I strayed very far from the roots of his origin myth in the end. Cast out as a kid, god of luck and fishermen... I didn't really change that, and that feels like the core of him. The rest is cosmetic, really.

Thanks so much for the ask! Have an amazing day!

[luckystarchild]

If you were gonna do a Lucky Child but for One Piece what character would Reincarnate as?

In terms of writing an OP SI fic, I probably wouldn't reincarnate my avatar as anyone to be honest! The Hiruko plot is intrinsically tied to YYH (and my relationship to it), and the idea of being reincarnated as a specific character is in turn tied to Hiruko and his goals withing the LC-verse. So if I did an OP SI, it would just be a simple transmigration situation.

If I had to pick a canon character, though, I think Vivi might be interesting. She's crucial to the narrative without being a main cast member (similar to Keiko in that way), and I can see actions with Vivi changing the narrative in interesting ways.

Also she and Nami are clearly in love so that's very fun!

[luckystarchild]

Hello there! I've been diving deep into the depths of the internet, scouring for any and all information about Hiruko, and stumbled upon the revelation that Hiruko has siblings! Will they also make an appearance in LC? Additionally, how deeply rooted are Hiruko's origins in Japanese mythology? I'm brimming with inquiries! ❤️

GREAT QUESTIONS.

I can safely say that in this story, his siblings will take a back seat. There are a few more "Big Reveals" coming that will explain why they're not around, so I won't spoil that here, but it's such a great question!

Anyway, skipping the in-universe Watsonian reasons for their absence, the main reason I didn't include any other children of Izanagi and Izanami in the narrative is simply because that's a lot of characters to introduce and keep track of. It's the same reason I didn't include the seven gods of luck. Hiruko is the only one of 'em that's purely Japanese, anyway; the others have roots in Chinese and Indian myth/religion, and working all of that into the story felt a bit superfluous.

In the end, I think Cleo fills the role any of his siblings could've played, so I was hard-pressed as an author to find a reason to include any more of them. It's kind of hilarious for ME of all people to talk a big game about preserving some narrative economy, but... I contain multitudes, I guess!

As for his origins and their importance, they inform his motivations and are therefore extremely important to the story. I won't say that every little detail of the Hiruko/Ebisu myth has a direct impact, but the core of his origin story is absolutely crucial to the events of Lucky Child.

Thank you so much for this ask!

[luckystarchild]

Who would survive the longest on an abandoned island out of the LC gang (including the not quites and hiruko and anyone else u want)

No powers or anything, just pure skills and knowledge!

Oh, I love this ask! I'm going to limit the characters to the core YYH cast + my notable OCs.

BORN SURVIVORS: Kurama, Hiei, Hiruko, Genkai, Minato, and Post-LC Not-Quite-Kagome

Stranded solo or in a group, either way these characters wouldn't have any trouble surviving on an uncharted island for any length of time. Thanks to natural affinities, extensive training or past experience, they know how to obtain food, build shelter, and avoid perilous plants/animals/weather. The ideal people to get stranded with!

Strong Skills: Kurama's knowledge of plants and animal instincts, Hiei's time spent living in the Demon World badlands, Minato is basically a Navy Seal, Hiruko has existed for thousands of years so there's no way in hell he doesn't know how to exist without modern conveniences, and Genkai... is Genkai. Enough said! Also note that Not Quite Kagome will be taking survivalist courses eventually, and once she has those under her belt, she'll basically be unstoppable.

STRUGGLING SETTLERS: Shizuru, Not Quite Keiko, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Botan

These characters have some skills suited for survival in the wilds, but they lack key abilities or haven't received formal enough training to get by easily. By banding together with others (and with enough luck and practice while stranded solo), they could probably learn to survive... but it will be an uphill battle to get comfortable, that's for sure!

Notable Traits: Yusuke's cooking skills and time spent with Genkai, Kuwabara's time being trained by Genkai, NQK was raised by an outdoorsman in their previous life, Shizuru is simply too tough to let anything kill her without a fight, Botan's training with Hiei and roughing it in Spirit World when she fled prison

STRUGGLE-BUS RIDERS: Pre-LC-Not-Quite-Kagome, Koenma, Kaito, Amanuma

It's not that they don't have the ABILITY to learn survival techniques. It's just that they've never had need of them before they got stuck, putting them at a major disadvantage. These characters will try so hard, though. So, so hard. Alas, they don't have any training that might have prepared them for this kind of situation, and/or they're very, very scared of bugs and dirt. Sorry, friends. They're toast.

Dangerous Deficiencies: Koenma is a prince and has never roughed it in his life, Kaito knows some things from reading but has zero real-world survival skills, Amanuma has spent his life indoors playing video games, and Not Quite Kagome pre-training wouldn't be caught dead peeing in the woods

[luckystarchild]

What year will your One Piece SI get isekai’d So many questions, so little knowledge!

I wonder how the first chapter will play out. XD Will there be any mention of *Yu Yu Hakusho*? 🤣

Of course, there probably will be—who else is writing this but the biggest YYH fan? It’d be funny/ironic if your OP avatar wishes they got isekai’d into *YYH* instead. i mean LOOK at how stressed Kei is in the YYH. 🤣🤣😭 Who/What's the hiruko in OP! So many juicy questions!

Whether or not you end up writing this, i just want you to know that I'm completely behind this idea ❤️

Like what year in One Piece canon? Good question. It depends on the crew they interact with, I think. I'd probably do pre-canon if it were the Whitebeard pirates at the forefront of the plot, but present day if it were the Straw Hats. If you're asking about years in our world, probably now-ish?

The first chapter would play out with a kind of mystery element? I've already outlined it, LOL...but it starts with the transmigration and contains a bunch of hints that they're not in the world they think they are, and it ends on a cliffhanger. The actual reveal that they're in the OP world doesn't happen until chapter 2.

Fuck yes, there would be mentions of YYH. Since this is my avatar and I wrote Lucky Child, I get the feeling my avatar would often say, "Oh, I know what to do/what not to do! I handled this kind of thing in LC!" Or "Thank god I've written an SI fic before; I've had some training about how to handle these situations." There would be some great meta humor, and I do think they'd lament they didn't get to visit the YYH world. I love OP, don't get me wrong, but if I were to be isekai'd, it's hard to not want to visit the YYH-verse.

I don't think there would be a Hiruko equivalent figure in this one. I love having the big, overreaching plot found in Lucky Child, but so far I haven't conceived of anything quite so grand for this SI fic. Maybe I'll figure one out eventually, but as of this moment, the transmigration aspect doesn't have a big explanation. I think I'd be better able to come up with one if I knew how One Piece ended and could see all the canonical pieces Oda has given us to work with, though. Hiruko as a character is hyper specific to the world of YYH and the themes/goals/tone of LC itself, so he isn't a character I can just 1:1 import into the OP world.

Thank you for the support!! You're awesome!!

[luckystarchild]

I'm really curious about what would happen if the not quites somehow went back to germany/usa, do their family members exist in this world? if they do, did hiruko also make replacements for them (kei minato nqkag) or did their existence completely get wiped?

then again, i don't see any reason why hiruko would do that but what do i know 😂

So I actually have a plan to address this! IDK if I'll ever end up making it a formal part of LC, but I do plan on writing an omake/extra covering it. Stay tuned!

I think NQK has pondered these thoughts before, at the very least, as has Minato. One day hopefully they'll go on a roadtrip to find out...

[luckystarchild]

Sometimes I get a little... frustrated... by the reactions to Lucky Child.

(No one is doing anything wrong. This isn't a callout post.)

Fiction that is serialized one chapter/installment at a time over a long period of time suffers from "No Instant Answers Disease." In a book, if you have a question about something that occurs midway through the narrative, you can read to the end and (most of the time) get your answer unless the author forgets the plot thread or something. But with serial fiction that is incomplete, you can't keep reading. You just have to sit with whatever the plot point is, wondering.

Sometimes LC (and most ongoing work probably) gets comments that express frustration over something that I, the author, know will get resolved eventually. But on a few specific topics, folk consistently will write comments that accidentally imply I'm like... writing about pointless stuff?? And I KNOW they don't mean to imply that, and that they're just giving an emotional response to the drama I MYSELF CREATED, which means it's impacting them emotionally and that means my writing of the subject was successful, BUT it's still a little frustrating on my part when people seem to imply that I'm wasting time/words/story on something "useless" or "pointless" or something that "doesn't matter." FRUSTRATING that they think I'm just wasting words!

But it's not frustrating in a "they're wrong" kind of way, mind you. It's frustrating in a "I can't give them any assurances without dropping massive spoilers and now I'm caught between a rock and a spoilery place" kind of way!

Big LC spoilers if you haven't read past chapter 110 or so. Click to keep reading.

Specifically I'm talking about the "None of this is real" plotline. For those who need a refresher, Hiruko implied that the world/people around NQK may not be "Real" by some obscure definition, and NQK spends a lot of time agonizing over what that means in both a practical and philosophical sense, and if it means anything at all.

In chapter 109, NQKagome reacts super emotionally to this whole idea, insisting that the people around her MUST be real. She loves them, and she feels they love her, so the idea that they're "philosophical zombies" that are basically just really good fake people makes her have an anxiety attack. And a lot of readers SWIFTLY sided with NQKagome, and/or they argued "It doesn't actually matter if they're real or not."

It's that last argument I find really frustrating. The implication that "this topic they're spending time on doesn't matter and they shouldn't even worry about it" is, unintentionally, kind of implying that the time we're spending talking about the concept itself doesn't matter, which is in turn an implication that it has no bearing on the plot/story/characters, which is kind of a sideways comment about my writing/storycraft itself. It's implying I'm spinning my wheels on useless crap.

And I know that's not what's intended by those comments, which are instead likely just emotional reactions to a heavy concept, but like... "Hey author, this thing you've devoted thousands of words to doesn't actually matter or have a point, I think it's useless for the characters to care about it" is a frustrating thing to hear.

Because it does matter.

I wouldn't be writing about it at such length and in such detail if it didn't matter.

But I can't like... explain why it matters, or even the DEGREE to which it does or doesn't matters, because even hinting at how big (or small) of a deal it may be could be SUPER spoilery if you're even a LITTLE good at deducing metanarrative. So I just have to sit here nervously laughing to myself going, "Heheh, yeah, uh, it toooootally doesn't matter at all, noooo... (*nervous fidgeting*)" and feeling frustrated that the reader doesn't trust me to write about things that "matter."

Oh god, this is a trust issue. I just figured that out now while writing this.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if LC were complete, you could just read to the end and figure out why/how it matters instead of implying it's a useless waste of time, but LC isn't complete, so...you can't. BUT I also know that the impassioned responses to the "Is this Real?" question show just how deeply the topic gets under people's skin, and that's great for me as a writer, because it shows me where I can focus to get people emotionally invested. Even the most hostile "this sucks and this topic shouldn't matter" responses show me I've struck a nerve, which is a GOOD thing in the end. I should take those comments as compliments.

But all in all, I GUESS those frustrating responses and my reactions to them indicate how much I need to finish the damn story, so maybe this frustration is a good thing in the end... but please, for the love of fanfic, please TRY and trust that if I spend a long time talking about something in the story, it's probably because I'm laying the groundwork for plot later. Don't fall prey to "No Instant Answers Disease."

"Just trust the process and let me cook." That's the moral (antidote?) here.

And that's my rant. Thanks for reading.

[luckystarchild]

How would LC have gone had NQK cut instead of Botan? Would it have changed a lot? Thank you!

Similar response to the ask I just answered: What do YOU think would happen? How much do YOU think would change?

NQK getting the demon powers she was after would alter the entire trajectory of the story, and my themes and plans would all go up in smoke as a result. That's the reason I had Botan get cut instead of Keiko: because NQK getting demon powers wasn't the story I was trying to tell. It would actually make delivering my intended narrative more difficult, if not impossible.

Imagining the "what if" of this would create an entirely different fanfic than the LC we know today. I'd need to rewrite all the beginning chapters to better support the weight of that moment from a narrative/thematic standpoint. Basically you're asking me to outline a totally new fanfic. Her getting cut instead of Botan doesn't just "branch off" into a new what-if scenario. It creates a new narrative I'd need to write in an entirely different manner, with new themes and probably a new plotline entirely (to the point of maybe even writing out Hiruko).

For this kind of ask, I think it's more interesting to hear what YOU think.