Not as angry as the name would suggest.
Well that's good! You've got your finger on the pulse!
Oh God! Natural light!
Hey, have any of you read Heart Is Where The Home Is
yet? I found it a while back and I've been keeping up with it ever since.
It's one of those "Ven, Vanitas, Roxas, and Xion interacting" fics, which I've seen at least a few times before, but I'm really enjoying this take on it. It's long and interesting and very character-driven. The chapters usually alternate between two points in time (one with just Ven and Vanitas, and the other with all four of them), and sometimes the two narratives contrast each other and sometimes they compliment each other, but it all comes together really well. It's a mix of sweet, sad, funny, introspective, and just about everything else. I'm having a hard time explaining, but I like it.
And yeah, it does ship Ven and Vanitas, which I normally don't like at all...but this one surprised me. It helps that it builds up slowly and carefully and goes hand-in-hand with the two of them growing to understand each other better as people. The romantic bits are there, but they're...hmm...I don't think "subtle" is the right word. Understated, maybe? It's part of the story, but it's not all of it (otherwise the others wouldn't have anything to do!). It's just as much about their interactions as people than it is about shipping them, if not more so.
It also doesn't gloss over what a shitty person Vanitas is to start with, and I think the author went on record saying they made a point of that. Things definitely don't start out friendly, and the road to that point is a rocky one. There's a lot of "one step forward, two steps back" situations in this fic, and it goes a long way towards making it believable. Like I said, I don't usually like that pairing (or Vanitas himself, honestly), so the fact that I don't mind in this case says a lot.
It updates once or twice a week, so I end up going back to it a lot. If any of you are interested, I'd say it's worth a look
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
You're right, it's good.
Day 12.8 is the piece of fanfiction i called myself most proud of, but If there's no one beside you puts it to shame.
dont mind me im just stewing in an unhealthy and unattractive mix of petty jealousy and admiration
somehow I am especially mad I don't have as many comments or hits as other fics
like even if its just to tell me im garbage i could take that
holy shit i am a thirsty bitch
ill write any way even without the encouragement but dang
I wrote this series because I was thinking about it too much and I decided I wanted to put it out there. Be the change you wanna see in the world and all that.
Not getting any views or feedback just makes me wonder why I bothered. It might as well have stayed in my head if nobody else was going to give it the time of day.
Anyway, I'm cranky because the structure of my next chapter is getting cramped and confusing and I think I might actually hace to outline it.
I think this might be the first moment the entire AU has been building to so far, plot and character wise.
Not the turning point, because nothing gets resolved, but the moment where all the initial setup is finally finished. The board is set and the players are ready. Everyone guided to their proper places. Finally done with the dress rehearsal, now it's curtains rise on opening night.
Lets see, I need Sora and Kairi to talk about their memories because I am doing two floors at once.
I need Axel to set Larxene up, and I need Larxene to drag Nams away from Marly to get her dressed for her stage debut.
I need Riku to meet Repliku, and then I need Repliku to break.
...I spent so long on the wonderland chapter I think it broke me.
edited 12th Jun '18 8:52:41 AM by unnoun
So I wrote my own bio for my KH OC Flint Fasayan in the Hero Critique thread. I've had the fanfic Rising Dawn in my head and a few documents, one in script format for a long time, and now I feel like sharing some info, without actually writing the fic. Because I have minimal experience writing in a novel format.
Shout out to Land of Oblivion for the best line:
As well as the realization that Castle Oblivion is totes a character.
Other fics in the series like More Affection Than You Know, Ground Rules, Penpals, Kairi and Lea's Excellent Adventure and Naminé's Bogus Journey are all fantastic too.
So, I'm still chipping away, but I sorta wanna get feedback on the fic as usual?
I sorta have memory!Hook as, like, the literary archetype of everyone's dad. Because in Peter Pan adaptations he's always played by the same actor as Mr. Darling.
I like the implication that Wendy's dad used to be Tom Hiddleston because that's amazing and hilarious.
"Where?" Goofy asked, grabbing Kairi and looking behind her to see if she was hiding someone there.
"No, on the islands," Sora explained.
"The four of us used to play together all the time," Kairi added, her gaze far-off and wistful.
Donald frowned, his eyes narrowing in suspicion and beak twisting into a scowl. "That's strange. Why are you both remembering all that now?"
Sora shrugged, unconcerned. "I'm not sure, but it's been coming back in bits and pieces the farther up we go."
"What was she like?" Jiminy asked, scratching furiously in his journal.
"She was quiet," Kairi said. "Always drawing pictures."
"Whenever we went to the beach, she'd draw a picture of us instead of swimming," Sora continued.
"But one day..." Kairi trailed off, before turning away and covering her mouth with her hand.
"She vanished," Sora said, seemingly not noticing Kairi as she folded more and more into herself. "Just like that. I think our parents knew the reason. They might've even tried to explain it to me. But I was little. I probably didn't understand what was happening. I remember crying a little after she was gone. But that's it."
"So, what's her name?" Donald asked, looking between his two young charges, while Goofy approached Kairi hesitantly, trying to figure out what was wrong.
Kairi scoffed, causing Sora to look, surprised at the ugly and miserable look on her face. "I don't r-remember," she admitted. "This whole time we've been saying we won't forget our friends... and I can't even remember her name."
Sora frowned, and tears started welling up in his own eyes. "Me either."
Donald, panicked at the prospect of having to deal with actual emotional engagement, immediately tried to head it off. "Oh, I bet you'll remember it in no time!"
"Yeah, a-hyuck! Maybe our lost memories will come back too!"
As the friends walked and talked, Axel sighed at the crystal ball with a smirk. "Looks like their memories took root, just as we planned."
"Marluxia's checking on 'it' in the other room," Larxene said without concern, prompting a glare from Axel.
"She's as much one of us as anyone!" he snapped, before he shut his mouth, gritted his teeth and turned away, attempting to feign disinterest.
Larxene, for her part, didn't need to feign, having seemingly not even noticed his outburst.
"...Anyway," Axel began awkwardly. "Let's see how far our kids can go."
Before he could move, Larxene was up and in his way. "You already had your fun," she said with an exaggerated pout. "This time it's my turn."
Axel look away, before tossing her a card, which she brought to her lips in a teasing kiss. "Don't break them."
"Aw, do I detect a soft spot?" Larxene purred, tracing her hand across his chest before grabbing his jaw, forcing him to look in her direction while she looked away and at the card.
"They're both our comrades, at least partly."
Larxene shrugged off this explanation. "I'm not going to break my toys, Axel. I'm not dumb."
"In that case, you shouldn't mind a fair warning. They're the keys to taking over the Organization-"
Larxene interrupted him by pressing a finger to his lips, an unexpectedly serious look on her face. "If you're in on it too, you should know to keep it under your hood until the right time."
She started to open a corridor, before she stomped off to the doors and threw them open, posing dramatically in front of the tableau of the girl in black pressed to the front of a hooded man before she kicked the door closed behind her.
Axel shook his head at her antics. You would have been wise to do the same, Larxene.
Lexaeus fidgeted awkwardly on his feet as he rubbed Zexion's shoulders, the smaller man thinking impassively.
"What's happening to Kairi," the giant finally rumbled, prompting an amused look to cross the schemer's face in reply.
"Naminé's shuffling her and Sora's memories as we speak. At this rate, Marluxia will easily get his puppets. He's a danger to us all. Larxene can't be trusted either."
"Nor can Axel," Lexaeus said firmly. "Who knows what that one is thinking?"
Zexion simply smirked, and leaned further into Lexaeus's touch. "Well, Vexen's replica should be finished soon enough. Once he's finished we can speak with him then."
Lexaeus frowned, then shoved Zexion away. "Vexen despises Marluxia," he said warningly. "Think of the mess it will make."
Zexion, for his part, seemingly anticipated the push, and stepped forward at the same time, turning it into a graceful sweep as he turned to face his companion. "That's precisely why it has to be Vexen," he chuckled, his eyes glinting unnaturally in the dark room.
"Better that he clean up the mess than us."
Riku stomped onto the ship's deck, his face pinched, ready to be Done with all of this.
"Where do you think you're scurrying off to, brat!" called a voice attached to a hook that suddenly landed on his shoulder, digging in.
Riku paused in his stride, closed his eyes, counted to three, and got to two before he spun and lashed out at the failed pirate, only to pause in shock when Soul Eater was deftly knocked out of his hand with a simple and dismissive twirl of the older man's wrist.
Captain James Hook just raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think you can just come on my ship and do whatever you please? You've made a mess all over me cabin!"
Riku felt himself going faint, as his skin turned green with nausea and he failed not to wonder what, exactly, the mess Hook was referring to was. It's not real, it's not real he repeated to himself like a mantra.
...But neither is he, and what did he see?!
"Far be it from me to discourage a young lad learnin' the ways of the world," Hook continued, pulling from his somewhere within his coat what Riku sickly and distantly recognized as Kairi's black sports bra and Sora's briefs, "But you've got to learn to clean up after yourself, at least somewhat," he added. "I take ye aboard my ship-"
"ENOUGH!" Riku yelled, wanting, more than anything, for this man to stop. Talking.
Hook scowled, and for an instant Riku was horribly reminded of the disappointed scowl of his parents, and what they would think if they knew what he wanted to do and have with his best friends, both of them, one of whom was a boy, just think of how inappropriate it would be Riku, what will the neighbors think-
"Don't talk to me that way!" Hook roared, slapping his hook across Riku's jawline and causing a stinging scar that echoed with pain and the feeling of dripping blood.
Injuries from these phantoms tended to fade once back in the white hallways, but here in the memory rooms themselves they were quite painfully real.
Riku dove for Soul Eater, and brought it up just in time to deflect a furious rain of blows from the pirate, each strike rattling him through his arms and jaw, until as suddenly as Hook was on top of him, the pirate hopped away, leaving Riku dazed until he noticed the wrapped box at his feet. Riku turned and sprung away, towards the edge of the deck and away from the supposed present, only to find Hook in front of him once again, furiously swiping with his cutlass and leaving Riku unable to move until he felt an explosion and a wave of heat burn against his back.
He growled and focused on the pain, feeling it as it washed away and melted into anger, channeling the anger into his hand and bringing it into the pirate's stupid face-
There was a shriek, high and girlish, and for a second Riku just smirked as the pirate burned until he looked up and saw Sora and Kairi, with their hair mussed (well, more mussed in Sora's case) covered in bruises and scratches and imprints in the shapes of mouths and lips and hands.
Their eyes were wide, and for a moment Riku felt another stirring of shame, and looked away from them, until to be forced to look at the visage of Hook as his skin burned away until underneath his generically paternal face was the face of Riku's mother, always stern and distant, suddenly surging up to wrap her-his hands around Riku's throat.
"Ahahaha!" cackled a voice that sounded like both of Riku's parents, and Captain Hook, and Maleficent, and even Ansem, echoing unnaturally in the open sky on the ship until Riku couldn't take it any longer and, with a strangled scream, poured everything he had into a flash of shining blue rage into that impossible open mouth.
The grip slackened, and a belch of smoke erupted from the lips and nose, before eventually the figure melted into the floor like a shadow, and then releasing black smoke as even that shadow burned itself away.
Riku looked at his friends across the deck, the identical looks of judgment on their faces, before he shook his head and turned to walk off the plank.
You're gonna have to try harder than that you shitty fucking castle.
Not as angry as the name would suggest.
I love it. Especially the part where Donald’s terrified at emotional engagement. 
I’m a little curious as to what Marluxia’s plan is, considering that as it currently stands, he can’t really replace Kairi with Namine.
I will say that you seem to be playing up the sexual angst here. Not sure how I feel about that, but considering that these are teenagers, it makes sense. I’d shy away from making it to graphic, though I don’t think you’ve veered into that yet.
Oh God! Natural light!
I mean, for Kairi, I sorta already showed and hinted at Aqua being replaced with Naminé.
I'm not sure Marluxia cared about the particulars of Kairi or who replaced whoever, the plan was getting his puppets.
To that end, he constructed a narrative of a girl in a tower, a prisoner of the bad guys, in order to motivate the heroes to keep going forward, to get caught further in the web without questioning the parts of the story that don't make sense.
It's something that. Sorta makes more sense about Marluxia in the context of Chi? Before he seemed like just a. Theatre nerd. But, no, actually, he's from what is literally referred to as the "age of fairy tales" so of course he'd have to have his plan set up that way.
Not as angry as the name would suggest.
Ah, missed the part about Aqua.
Oh God! Natural light!
RPG Hillbilly
I'm thinking of writing some Kingdom Hearts AU fanfics in the near future.
So far none of my ideas feature any Disney characters (though I am not opposed to the idea) but I have considered including characters from other Square Enix games like Final Fantasy XV as well as other non-Square games and even films.
One of the ideas is a medieval fantasy adventure AU in the vein of Dungeons & Dragons or The Elder Scrolls. I may be open to including some of the more fairy tale-inspired Disney characters in this idea.
Another idea is a modern horror AU, with possible appearances from horror franchise characters such as Aya Brea (Parasite Eve), Roger (Dawn of the Dead), and Claire Redfield (Resident Evil) as well as the main four characters of Final Fantasy XV.
Edited by DocSammy on Aug 4th 2018 at 8:55:37 AM
my favorite thing about Kingdom Hearts is Mickey Mouse being bad at helping people deal with depression
I think part of why things are getting sexual/romantic is I keep listening to Don't Think Twice/Chikai.
"Kiss me Once, Kiss me Twice, Kiss me Three times"
Anyways, some things I bump into are.
I kinda sorta partially wanna bring Kainé in to be a mentor for Xion?
But then I remember the part where holy shit does she not fit with KH, it is amazing.
And writing Day 12.8 gave me the insight that. I sorta like writing Keyblades as having sorta personalities? They're made from hearts, so they are. Alive. And aware. In some sense. Maybe a more eldritch one, but still.
But more than that. I like writing Xehanort's No Name keyblade specifically? And it's tough because Xemnas won't summon it and "Ansem" can't I've been assuming. So I dunno how to bring it in without ruining everything.
I sorta keep wanting to make it really creepy. In ways that arent in the games but I think are cool. Like the eyeball swiveling in the socket and staring at people.
Like, I already sorta wanna go back and rewrite some of the earlier bits of the series just because some of the retcons and additions in Union and Back Cover have added some legitimately interesting things, if not to the KH "canon" then to my fic.
Like, Marluxia always creeped me out with the way he interacted with Naminé, and KH 3's Tangled and Frozen worlds seem to be playing up the abuse stuff with him and Larxene and COM thematically.
But Lauriam and Strelitzia adds a weird new layer and twist and depth to it. How similar Strelitzia seems to be to Naminé.
Like, there's still a potential. Creepiness. There. But before I almost imagined Marluxia as like this. Serial abuser of children. Which might even still be true, but now there's the. Context. That it seemingly started when he was a child himself.
Before, I had the thing of Xemnas not wanting to summon No Name because he was worried it might control him and make him more Xehanort, but. In hindsight, that doesn't even fit with how I'd been writing Xemnas up to that point. Xemnas and "Ansem" are, to my mind, their own people, and are 100% Xehanort, 100% Terra, and 100% Eraqus all at once.
Even if I sometimes think of "Ansem" as less a person and more an animal.
...Thinking of it, in a way they're as much twins as Roxas and Naminé are.
...Man, it kinda sucks that I didn't have any insight into how to write "Ansem" until after I killed him in the KH 1 fic.
But anyway. It's now that I'm thinking the Keyblade wouldn't have any impact on Xemnas's mental state or composition, he just doesn't want that fucking eye watching him anymore.
EDIT: Anyway, maybe more importantly, I have sorta been low-key planning on changing Kairi's look because I hate her KHII design, but.
Then I noticed the thing where Kairi tends to always get the same hairstyle Utada Hikaru has at the time??
Which blows because I was planning on Larxene accidentally giving her a messy undercut in this upcoming fight. And I don't think Utada has ever done her hair that way?
idk, maybe Naminé can get the undercut.
...I feel weirdly creepy and stalkerish looking for art hairstyle references of a real person like Utada, but not fictional characters.
Edited by unnoun on Aug 11th 2018 at 12:45:02 PM
...I'm in the odd situation where I don't entirely know what I want to do with Maleficent now that I've got her, except maybe possibly have her briefly become real and then get killed by Sora in his side.
It's weird and unfortunate, because I know for a fact that I would criticize the games for doing that sort of shit, but equally I love a comedic anticlimax.
Anyway, I'm having her provide running commentary on the Repliku fight, because I can, and because she's weirdly good at it.
...Also I want her to tell Riku that DiZ isn't Ansem Seeker of Darkness, but I keep running into the issue where the only lines for that are along the lines of "that's not the real Ansem" which is. Unfortunate and sorta true and untrue. And ironic and. Gives me a headache, to be honest.
I've come to think of Ansem Seeker of Darkness as. Well. Ansem. And DiZ as DiZ. Because those are both names they chose for themselves? And DiZ is easy to type and I'm lazy lmao.
Part of it also has to do with Doctor Who and "The names we choose are like a promise we make" and part of it is I've gotten to know trans people and have more knowledge of, like, trans politics and philosophy and the concept of deadnaming.
A name a person chooses matters, basically.
...Before that though I'm dealing with Riku's visit to Traverse Town, which is really weird because I don't know entirely what to have him do.
Like, Riku's visit to Traverse Town in KH1 is, in its own way, really weirdly significant?
But I don't know how to focus on what story I actually want to tell with it. Because on the one hand there's the issue of "man Maleficent was sorta transparently manipulating you and gaslighting you in hindsight" but then there's
"this is the first time you saw the keyblade, YOUR keyblade or any keyblade, since you made the promise with Terra Xehanort Ansem," and then there's "I know Sora didn't abandon me, but holy shit this duck is an asshole".
There's like three directions this world visit can go, and I'm getting pulled by all of them.
EDIT: And, fuck me, the moment I made that post, my drafts started going down a fourth option, where it becomes a Ducktales 2017 crossover.
Lets be honest, I want to think that if the 2017 version of Ducktales had existed in 2002, that's the version of the triplets that would be in Kingdom Hearts.
The moment the 2017 Ducktales started airing, it got a bunch of Medals in Union Cross.
Like, ignoring everything else about this series and Disney and the rights and all of it, Tetsuya Nomura likes drawing clothes, and he likes hoodies and modern fashion. The modernized looks of the triplets are 101% up his alley.
Or, at the very least a hell of a lot more so than their classic designs are, which I personally at least sorta hate now that the 2017 version exists.
If I'm going to retcon the shit out of it, and fuck it I am, in my canon or series or verse or whatever, Birth By Sleep has the triplets in their classic designs, Kingdom Hearts 1 and onwards has their 2017 designs. Because I can.
...Basically my version is probably the same where they're NPC merchants, only now Webby is there as one of the shopkeeps, and when she isn't behind the counter her idle animation involves hanging upside down from the ceiling with a grappling hook.
Also Lena De Spell is skulking around in the back alley beside the shop looking shifty but not really doing anything besides that.
Edited by unnoun on Aug 16th 2018 at 8:14:14 AM
Not as angry as the name would suggest.
I don’t really know what to make of the Maleficent idea, so I don’t know how much help I can be there. Maybe Riku fights her along with Ansem for his final boss?
Also, maybe you could have her say something like “That’s not the one you know,” or something? Phrase it in a way that you don’t have to use his name?
By all means, go for the Ducktales stuff. I’d probably do it myself if I didn’t feel like it was too late to get started on the fic I have in my head.
Oh God! Natural light!
...fuck it, I have a Riku scene.
He was simultaneously feeling an inviting warmth, the same he had felt the first time he held it in the real Traverse Town, and when he stole it in Hollow Bastion, and a hostility and coldness, hatred, and rejection he felt from it later, when—
—Your heart!? What can that weak little thing do for you—
—My friends are my power!—
—Riku repressed a gasp and simply stood stock still, forcing down any reaction of any kind, even as he felt the Maleficent's smirk at the back of his neck.
He risked a glance at Sora, at the chocolatey brown hair, the adorable look of confusion on his face, and his blue eyes that...
...No, that was right. He stepped towards Sora, and brushed his hand along his friend's cheek, causing him to blush, and the dog and duck (Donald and Goofy, his mind supplied, they're the King's friends too) looked uncomfortable. Sora's eyes were blue, the same as they'd always been, but here, now, it was like there was another layer to them, a filter the same deep, dark indigo Kairi had always had.
Was Sora's hair different too? Were there streaks of red, maybe dark red, or, what was the colour, auburn? Somewhere in the locks and strands?
Was this real? Was that how Sora had really looked at the time? Or was it just his imagination, brought to life by the castle.
Riku scowled and shuddered at the thought of what his imagination had brought out on the last floor.
Sora was in a daze, unconsciously leaning into Riku's touch, so flustered he seemingly hadn't even noticed that Riku was still holding onto the Kingdom Key. "You're coming with us, right?" the younger boy said excitedly, seeming to come back to himself at the memory that they weren't alone. "We've got this awesome rocket—"
"He can't come!"
"Why not?! He's my friend!"
"Forget it!"
"Uh... guys?"
The two looked up from their argument, only to find Riku nowhere to be found.
"Nice going," Sora mumbled petulantly, and Donald huffed "Good Riddance" under his breath.
Suddenly, a series of purple parts fell from the sky, hands and feet and claws, and as the two adults summoned their weapons to their hand, Sora reached out for his...
...But nothing came.
"W-What!?" Sora squeaked.
"Riku still had the keyblade when he left!" Goofy cried in alarm, "I tried to tell ya fellahs!"
"WAAAK!?" Donald quacked in what might have been a word or just a general enraged exclamation, looking at Sora in shock, and then suspicious calculation, and then anxiety as he glanced back at the large Heartless in front of them.
"M-maybe we should leave the kid—"
Whatever Donald was going to suggest was interrupted as Riku charged at the Heartless and knocked it to the ground with the Kingdom Key, channeling the revulsion and disgust the weapon sent at him in waves through his hand into a fireball that knocked the Heartless away, before it summoned a portal of darkness around itself and vanished to figuratively lick its wounds.
Riku couldn't pay any attention to any of that because of how furious he was. Now, rationally, he wanted to believe the duck mage wouldn't actually have left a child, a teenager, a friend to be eaten by a Heartless right in front of him, that this was just another trick of the castle wanting him to see and think (and become, again) the worst.
Even more rationally, however, he knew for a fact that the duck wizard had, in fact, in reality, abandoned the same child to be alone and defenseless on a world more filled with more and stronger Heartless than any other world combined.
He lunged forward, grabbing the duck by the collar with one hand, raising the keyblade with another, pointed at the mage's throat, and for a moment he could pretend that the contempt it radiated wasn't directed at him but at the fowl creature in front of him. Goofy, the knight captain, was startled and raised his shield, before adopting a more passive, placating stance and expression, seemingly attempting to defuse or negotiate the situation.
"H-hey now, t-take it easy," Donald pleaded nervously, as the end of the keyblade sparkled briefly with dark magic.
Riku stared at the duck, then at the dog, then at Sora, who simply stared dumbly at the keyblade, his mouth hanging open and unwilling to properly close, his hand outstretched and grasping feebly at a weapon that wouldn't return to him.
"He doesn't even know you're just using him," he muttered aloud. "Do you really think I'd let you do the same to me? And, more importantly, would your king really want you to just leave a friend behind?"
Of course not! came the King's high-pitched tones in answer, his voice echoing and reverberating warmly through from Riku's chest to his fingertips where they had tried to shake hands a few floors ago. I'll have to let the real Donald and Goofy know I'm very disappointed in 'em.
The Donald and Goofy and Sora in front of Riku looked around in shock. "KING MICKEY!?" Donald cried, looking around, forcing Riku to drop him, only to kick his foot upward on instinct and plant it in the duck's wide feathery bottom, in a punt that sent the wizard hollering and flying through the air and with a splash into the fountain shaped like a pair of kissing dogs.
Goofy, meanwhile, took a more contemplative expression. "Real?" he murmured.
Riku turned away in disgust, but with every step away from the scene the weight of the golden-guarded keyblade in his hand grew heavier and heavier, and almost seemed to pull away from him, like it was dragging him backwards to some point.
He looked back, at where Sora sat on the ground, staring straight ahead, while Goofy stood by hesitantly, unsure whether to comfort the boy, or drag his older feathery friend out of the water. Seeing Riku turn around, he seemed to make up his mind, and gently tiptoed over to Sora, a gentle, pleading, apologetic look in his face and posture, pressing a ridiculously soft kiss into his hair that made Riku ache with envy for such a display of paternal affection, before turning and stalking towards his zipper-hatted companion with an abrupt change in attitude to barely-contained rage.
"Who never never starts an argument..." the knight seemed to almost growl, in a bizarrely sing-song tone that, frankly, didn't make sense to Riku, as he continued on his way to Sora, who looked up at the older teen, vulnerable and upset, but with a fire in those indigo eyes that briefly made him worry about a potential dressing-down from his girl friend later before remembering that, of course, none of this was real.
Just gotta think of it like a way to work out my issues ahead of time.
Riku stood in front of Sora, before kneeling, and stabbing the keyblade down into the ground between them.
"In your hands, take this key," he recited from memory, prompting Sora to look up in confusion.
if something happens, and Riku is about to get lost—or say, he starts wandering down a dark path alone—you make sure to stay with him and keep him safe
Riku flushed at the sudden memory, more specifically the way he remembered the blue-haired woman's figure more than anything else about her appearance dammit puberty—
—"I wanna be strong some day", Riku had said, and, "Like you, Mister," he hadn't, looking the dark-haired stranger up and down, at those well-defined muscles under that incredibly tight top—
Riku willed himself not to react, for his waders not to tent and for his breathing to remain even and his circulation to remain normal. "And so long as you have the makings, then through this simple act of taking, you will find me, my friends." He placed his hand on Sora's chest, and, after a moment's hesitation, willed himself to lean forward and kiss the other boy on the cheek, and then the other. "So long as we champion the ones we love."
With that said, he leapt to his feet, and hurried out of the door to the district, feeling the three fade away like the constructs of memory he knew they were.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the Wayfinder that Kairi made, and it felt as warm to his hands as the shells of the islands themselves, warmed by the sun.
He didn't notice the way his shadow had changed into something less like his own body shape and more like a hunched over hood.
The Ducktales stuff didn't actually pan out. I mean, yet.
I'm sorta intending the next Riku scene to have Riku and Lena just. Leaning against an alleyway being broody emo teens next to each other, and then Ansem shows up and Lena's vaguely surprised because usually it's her weird shadow relative bodysnatcher thing causing trouble.
...See. I'm justifying it that. We don't know how Riku got to Traverse Town in the game, and I want to believe he wandered around town a bit before he met Sora leaving Merlin's, and as a result he ran into the duck kids, and that's how he knows they exist.
Maleficent could have dropped him off right where Sora was, but. I feel like Maleficent summoning Heartless to attack Riku and Sora like they do right there might have been a deal-breaker at that point? So I think she just. Set him loose.
...Mickey's role in Chain of Memories is weird, actually, because he's not actually there for most of it, just lending Riku "his power" or. Whatevs.
...So far I'm writing it that while Mickey and Maleficent are both there for Riku they aren't really. Aware of each other. Or at least Mickey isn't aware of Maleficent. She's hiding from him.
No Mickey+Maleficent sleights for Riku.
EDIT: Also Mickey's still in the Realm of Darkness so he can't really pay too much attention to Riku's situation because if he gets distracted he might get eaten.
EDIT: I think my point with this scene so far is, really, factoring in the Disney characters Riku met before Mickey, Maleficent honestly seems like a better person than Donald.
EDIT: "Ansem" showing up early is basically because he was summoned by Riku's Terra-boner.
If that's gross then good, "Ansem" is a pretty gross character tbh
EDIT: Actually, you mention Ansem and Maleficent working together as Riku's Final Boss, and that actually inspires me to do the opposite of that? No offense?
But, like, I just realized that I really want to write a Maleficent v. Ansem confrontation scene over him betraying her.
Edited by unnoun on Aug 16th 2018 at 10:10:10 AM
Not as angry as the name would suggest.
Oh no, that's probably a better idea anyway. By all means, go for it.
Oh God! Natural light!
...God writing Marluxia now just reminds me how much I fucking hate Union Cross.
Like. If you're going to do this dumb fucking retcon then actually do it, don't start it then make us go to Agrabah again for months.
I mean, even if they don't want to spoil Kingdom Hearts 3, then why even start it now in the first fucking place.
...I mean, shit, fuck it, I hate kingdom hearts 'canon' (and, more specifically, the writers) anyway, and I can always go back and change things in rewrites, but still though.
Also it's a miserable, grindy gatcha with exploitative business practices.
...God help me though, but Back Cover's Case of Luxu was really good. And actually got me invested in the Chi subseries for all its bullshit garbage.
...Anyway, writing Larxene's POV sure is a thing, because she is just such a mean bitch.
For example. Freeze-frame. She's rude. Good thing the ESRB didn't notice.
It's weird though, because.
She's also really kinda dumb.
Like, it's frankly unfortunate, is the thing, in the Unfortunate Implications sense.
It would be nice if there was a strong independent villainess who don't need no man, but that character would not be Larxene as she is in Kingdom Hearts.
The novels and manga and all that note, in various ways, how stupid she is when she reveals the plan to betray Xemnas to Axel the first time he brings it up. Doesn't even try to deny it or hedge around it.
And so my impulse is to just have everyone around her talking borderline openly about all the things she doesn't know, and it just. Goes right over her head.
...But at the same time, there's something weirdly charming about that aspect to her? Like, a lot of the time villainesses are more cerebral, it's sorta rare for them to be just. Dumb muscle. Comparatively speaking.
There's a simplicity to Larxene that I find similarly appealing to my interpretation of "Ansem".
It's basically the same flowchart, only replace "darkness" with "inflicting pain".
...Except I think of "Ansem" as, in fact, knowing things and just not caring.
I love his "take a look at this tiny place" speech, because, at least as I'm interpreting it. There's a certain amount of dismissal and contempt for Riku, Young Xehanort and Master Xehanort. Even Terra-Xehanort. And there's a trace of irony in his tone there. Amusement. Self-deprecation.
Sure, he could just be making fun of Riku, because Xehanort being from Destiny Islands hadn't been written yet...
..Except the Ansem's Reports were already making that connection.
But I should stop speaking of such unrealistic dreams. For now, there is no way to venture outside this world. My people and I are all but prisoners of this tiny place.
Even when the first game was first written, we were meant to draw that parallel.
And so I've come to imagine "Ansem" as thinking of himself as. Well. Enlightened. Endarkened? He does say "still confused? then perhaps this will enlighten you" so. His language sorta betrays his pro-darkness agenda there.
He thinks he's above everyone else, that he knows better, that he's not caught up in all the petty squabbles. All because he has a clarity and simplicity of purpose.
I'm not sure Larxene could spell all of those words though. With Ansem there's a sense of getting to the heart of the matter, of cutting the Gordian knot, philosophically speaking. There's steps that he's taken to get to "darkness darkness darkness" and now that he's taken them he thinks those steps were so obvious he shouldn't have to explain himself or reexamine them.
About the greatest philosophical or ethical defense or general statement Larxene could offer is "having a heart means you deserve to have it broken". No proofs, no real reasoning, just vindictiveness and spite.
EDIT: Also somehow this boss fight just keeps degenerating into. Larxene stomping those heels into people's crotches and tits.
I can't imagine Larxene not fighting dirty and viciously.
Edited by unnoun on Aug 22nd 2018 at 4:25:16 AM
Not as angry as the name would suggest.
She does seem to let pettiness and sadism guide her actions, and she doesn’t really display much in the way of, say, book smarts that could shore that up, so your read on her seems valid.
...What do you think she would have been like as a Somebody?
Oh God! Natural light!
World's Cutest Direwolf
So the Orgy's axe-wielding behemoth is thoughtful and intelligent, and their knife-throwing ninja type is a thickheaded brute. I can dig it.
On Chi, the most excited I've been about the game for a while was when I found out that we can now skip the story missions without plot. When the game improves by letting you play it less, that's not a great sign.
I mean, because of the way I interpreted the parts of the novels about it I read, I imagine Larxene's somebody as being more like Strelitzia or Naminé. A sad, abused, vulnerable, lonely girl.
At the very least, I like that idea because character parallels are my shit. God knows if I can pull it off, but I like having them, and I like them being there. It's why I love Xehanort being from the Destiny Islands. Xehanort and Riku being so similar, while Sora and Xehanort are so antithetical is really cool.
But equally I'm not sure how much baring it should have on who she is now, as Larxene. Who she's chosen to be.
Sometimes a sad backstory is just a sad backstory. It doesn't actually justify or validate anything. Certainly doesn't give you the right to go around kicking children.
To the extent that Larxene deserves or has earned anything, it's to be taken as who she is. Not what she was or could have been.
...Like, Nomura in KH3 specifically has a plot point where he's mentioned in interviews that the returning Norted Organization members were turned back into Nobodies offscreen.
Which, like. God I don't think that's good writing, but equally, it does show the idea that we're not meant to think that who these people used to be actually matters.
...Or that someone is too lazy or stupid to come up with names.
...Except fucking Lauriam. Apparently.
Edited by unnoun on Aug 22nd 2018 at 5:37:39 AM
Not as angry as the name would suggest.
Understandable, though I’d at least like a name, and I hope that they’ll provide one.
Anyway...I’m not the only one who sees Larxene’s somebody as having a sort of punk aesthetic to her, am I?
Edited by KarkatTheDalek on Aug 22nd 2018 at 5:37:10 AM
Oh God! Natural light!
I think caring too much about Larxene's somebody in the same room as Larxene is a good way to get stabbed in the face. She does not want pity. She wants her past buried and cooked.
In this chapter Naminé gets to find all of this out the hard way. It gets messy, fast.
Honestly, if the way I interpret her is canon, and if Kanemaki, the writer of the novels, still has as much sway over Nomura and the rest of the staff as she evidently did during 358/2 Days when Nomura let her become his editor, and let her name and design Xion, I can see Larxene, at least, volunteering to be renobodied by Xehanort.
...In fact, the most salient line in the novels, about how seemingly her biggest motive for betraying the Organization is that getting a heart back is quite specifically the thing she doesn't want. There's frankly a certain irony where knowing the full truth about the Organization's goals would have made her betrayal less likely.
I mean, I dunno, maybe. Maybe getting some old dude's heart is just as bad in her book, I dunno exactly how she thinks.
Edited by unnoun on Aug 22nd 2018 at 5:55:43 AM
Not as angry as the name would suggest.
I really don't care enough to lmao
i want the record to state i was planning on having larxene's eyes turn yellow in the next chapter before the trailer
just fyi