I don't think I had originally anticipated sending Rinoa off on a mission to spy on her father, it just sort of happened. I think I decided it would be an ironic situation and I went with it.
I hope that I accurately reflected Rinoa's initial panic on being told to go spy on her father, and then her maturity when she realizes that, despite all that, she's actually the best one for the mission and she's not going to let the Timber Owls down.
I had planned that Rinoa would start losing her magical abilities. You'll see why later. I can't say why now because spoilers. I knew that she'd be living in Timber, making her way in life without revealing herself as a Sorceress, which admittedly gets easier when she has less magic to draw on.
I actually don't have too much to say about this chapter, honestly.
I remember having trouble writing it. I actually started both this chapter and the chapter after it simultaneously and got stuck on both. Not fun. But, I finally got the inspiration for this chapter and finished it!
Picture on the right by *procerdecrepusculum on DeviantArt. He does a lot of good art, you should go check it out.
Review Responses:
Just the one from KKBeckett: I'm really glad you liked the development of both Rinoa and the world!
Video:
I have a newfound obsession with this song. It's the cellist in me. You should check out the Piano Guys altogether, however, because they're awesome.
It kind of is a "stepping stones" chapter, considering it's made up of four smaller parts. Each of these parts is a step away from what happened before and/or a step towards what's coming next.
We hadn't seen Cloud yet, but I needed to set up several things with him:
-His relationship with Tifa
-His unhappiness of where he's at
-His want to go adventuring
And so I did just that. Sure, in a future chapter with him (minor spoilers), he's still in Nibelheim, but he's working towards his goals.
We had yet to see a chapter featuring Isa and Lea as main characters, only as side characters. I didn't particularly have enough information on them to warrant a full chapter. It's not really an area I'm exploring and what happens to them is relatively explained in the games themselves. I took what we knew and made a snippet of a chapter.
Kairi's chapter featured both her and Zack. It was a step away from Kairi in the first chapter and it certainly pulls from that. It's also a step away from the last chapter where Zack was featured. He's now in Hollow Bastion and looking for his own means of transportation outside of the black feathers. Kairi's part of the chapter is also a step towards what will happen next--both in Hollow Bastion and for Zack.
Then there's Aerith's part of the chapter, which also features Kairi. Go figure. Aerith's part of the chapter, similar to Kairi's, pulls from the first chapter, as well as leads into future chapters. Just you wait and see. The plot is moving forward!
The picture on the right depicts the characters ALMOST at the age at which I'm writing them. (I'm a year off.) I saw the picture and really wanted to use it. I feel it reflects how they all look at this point in their stories. Picture courtesy of ~sakurabatou on DeviantArt (though she has since moved to a new account). I realize I could just use the picture when the characters ARE those depicted ages... but I have other images I want to use heheh...
Review Responses!
WritersProse Chapter 2&3: I really appreciate your analysis and such! I'm also glad you found Rinoa's relationship with Angelo cool :) I do apologize for how this ends up coming across with the constant switching every chapter. Though, I do promise that several chapters down the road, things are a lot more connected. It helps that several characters will meet up and start interacting with each other on a semi-permanent basis, the stories will become connected and there won't be such jarring switches. On that note, I will strive not to do recaps of previous chapters as I switch to a new one like I seem to have done with chapters 2 and 3. I'm trying to keep everything set in a KH universe, though a lot of Final Fantasy VIII and Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core will bleed through. I'm glad to hear my characterization and dialogue is solid, however :)
KKBeckett Chapter 5: Yes, that was definitely a reference to the Buster Sword (though in my canon, Cloud has YET to get it come Betwixt and Between--which is a function of Zack having it lol). But yeah, totally a reference. I'm glad you like the Lea/Isa bits, even though you found them eerie. I find that entire relationship eerie and a bit tragic (as you can see by the end of AtP...). KH3 isn't going to change that I don't think. I question if Isa is redeemable. I'm up for a little debate on that, however. Anyway, it's seen later in the chapter how Kairi knows what a star shard is--she heard Mickey and Aqua talking about them likely. (If that doesn't actually happen in BBS... whoops....) However, some of that is Kairi just knowing things like that as a function of being a Princess of Heart. And Zack is all for taking the tip. And yes... darkness is coming. (I don't consider this spoilers, considering the games themselves dictate Radiant Garden's/Hollow Bastion's history.)
Video!
I love TSFH. You should listen to them sometime. I watched this video and had feels. So I'm sharing it with you all.
So, again, all I knew when I started Zack's story was that he had been travelling around for about a year. As I said in the author's note of the fic itself, this takes up right at the end of Birth By Sleep's secret ending. And that is probably the most definitive time line-up you'll ever get for this fic, considering the time between BBS and KH1 is all wishy-washy and timey-whimey. (Like the connection between my universe and rar's universe... heh)
by chibipasta
Then I went into a little bit of Zack's backstory, trying to explain why he was out and about and also a bit on how he was out an about. (The how will continue to get explained in a future chapter with Zack). Then the interesting parallelism between Hercules and Zack and how they're both striving to become something in order to be welcomed back home. (Spoiler alert, neither of them actually gets what they're going for, but instead finds something better.) (Not that I'm following Herc's story, but if you pay attention to the Disney version, you'll see what I'm getting at.)
Meg getting a cameo was a given. I went off of some of her lines from the original Disney movie. Granted, instead of some weird horse-dude, she was trapped by an Unversed, but whatever. It was amusing.
I'm not sure what made me decide to give Aladdin a cameo. I'm not even sure why I decided Agrabah. I might have done the thing where I click "random page" on the wiki and take the first applicable world. It happens sometimes. (A lot of times.) But yeah, Aladdin got a cameo.
Timeline-wise, we're getting to the end of the Unversed being around. Vanitas has been destroyed by this point, so the Unversed will stop appearing. Heartless, however, will begin to appear. Muahahaha!
But yeah.
Review Responses:
Chapter 1:
WritersProse: I'm glad you liked it! And thank you for your kind words about characterization! I really do try! (And I say that in a very non-facetious manner). I suppose that is a bit of an odd chapter ending. I'll take that into account for the future.
Chapter 4:
KKBeckett: That was totally Meg. As for the feathers, spoilers! Wait till the next chapter or two with Zack. You'll see :)
Video time! (excuse me while I scroll through my YouTube history for a bit, I've been listening to FFVII and FFVIII soundtracks.)
Excuse me while I get that all in your heads. Muahahaha. KH is surprisingly lacking of obnoxious ice worlds now that I think of it. Interesting. (My DnD game is ENTIRELY an obnoxious ice world. Oi.)
Well, I've sent out two queries since last week. No responses yet, but this stuff can take up to two months anyway. Probably going to send out another one this weekend. But you guys probably aren't here for that. (Or, well, maybe you are, I know I've got three readers of my fanfics who also read my book, so.) But anyway, this is about the latest chapter.
Quistis isn't my favorite character in the world (heh, almost said Worlds), but I really do like her. I must, considering she made a cameo at the end of AtP and continued on through BB and now I'm writing about her in the prequel. I think my love of Quistis has grown since that very first time playing FFVIII. I love her even more after this chapter. She kept giving me feels, as I mentioned to rar.
When starting this, all I knew was that Quistis was a SeeD at Balamb Garden with Zell. I then had to do a ton of reading on the ffwiki to remember everything about her because it's been a while since I've played the game and I'm not particularly in a position to pick it up and play it. (My copy isn't with me. Though, random fact, my roommate has one. However, I basically re-read the entire plot of FFVIII anyway, and I don't have the time devotion to play again, honestly. Before I even wrote this chapter I plotted out how FFVIII happened in my canon, you'll get to see how some of that plays out.)
cosplay by TLM123
I had already established that Quistis was the one sent to recruit Rinoa. It wasn't much of a stretch to figure out that she wasn't going to put up with Rinoa's dad's bull crap. Sure, this is vastly different from the original game, but I've already breached into my own canon by accepting that Squall is in Hollow Bastion and not in Balamb Garden.
Also, apparently Quistis and Zell are fairly okay friends. I think the biggest thing in between their friendship is rank. Quistis is unsure of how to treat Zell because she's SeeD and he's still only a cadet, but. Yeah. (Also, if my SeeD terminology is confusing or wrong, I apologize, I'm confused by it, to be completely honest, so I'm trying to be specific and consistent.)
Anyway, not much else to say about it that isn't just rehashing the entire chapter. Everything else I want to say is spoilers. Next round of chapters.
Excellent cosplay up there, by the way. Moving on.
Review Responses:
KKBeckett: To your first question, spoilers. However, Cid is acting nervous because Edea is a Sorceress. Last time Cid checked, the only way new Sorceresses started popping up is if a previous Sorceress died. He has to hope that it's not Edea that died and he hadn't gotten news yet. Honestly, that's why he's nervous. It has nothing to do with scary Sorceresses.
So, yeah, that's all for now.
Video!
I am in love with this song right now. Particularly this cover. Anyway.
Crazy stuff, writing this will working on query letters for my book. I'll have a post on my other blog about that in the next couple days. (Hopefully after my query letter's DONE being written.) Anywho...
I love Rinoa. I know she doesn't actually appear in the KH verse and is really only referenced, but I ship Squinoa so hard that I HAD to include her. Plus, I included her at the end of AtP, so... of course she can make an appearance in my prequel.
art by RinoaWolfheart
At first, when I plotted out for Rinoa to appear in my timeline, all I knew was that she was on her own World, growing up. Literally, that's all I wrote. That, and her age.
Somewhere along the lines, I came up with the idea that her dad was trying to send her to a girls' school. That idea happened so long ago, I don't quite remember where it's even based. (I've been thinking about doing this since I was at Disney, for reference. That was basically a year ago.) I know from playing FFVIII that Rinoa and her dad did not get along and that he had unrealistic expectations for her. So, I figured, why wouldn't he want to send her to an all-girls' school to further his military career?
Meanwhile, all Rinoa wants to do is become SeeD.
But then she uses magic and figures she must be a Sorceress. Sorceresses are bad in the FFVIII world, after the Sorceress War destroyed so much. So she freaks out, and runs away. Plus, she's freaking out because she used magic on her father. (Whoops! Almost typed magik there.)
On an interesting note, Rinoa's World is a World that has a concept that there are other Worlds out there. I'll go more into depth on that later. Rinoa's World also has more interconnected cities than the average KH world. Her world is set up more like it is in the FF side of Squeenix. There's a giant world map that features many cities.
Review replies:
I only have one so far, so I guess I'll probably backtrack in my next post.
KKBeckett: Yes, magic does work like that. Raw magic is something that only Sorceresses can use and Sorceresses are feared BECAUSE they can use such raw magic with little drawbacks. Everyone else uses para-magic through Junctioning and their Guardian Force (straight out of FFVIII). But even then, only some people can use para-magic. (Part of me wants to say it's only SeeD's, but I could be wrong. And I can't find the page I'm looking for in the ff wiki, so...)
But yes, Quistis is absolutely lovely! Just wait until the next chapter!
Hello everyone! Likely you're hardly paying attention to this blog anymore, since I've been dark since January. (However, I seem to have a lot of pageviews over the past couple of days, so maybe you all have been watching it.) Anyway, I have a new story! It's a prequel for everything, tracing the Final Fantasy charries through... well, snippets of their lives. (Ugh, I use the word tracing like an English major--I mean, I am an English major, but it sounds super like language for my thesis. Meh. University killed my darlings...) ANYWAY!
So, I started off this whole thing with Leon, because I adore him. I appreciate his character immensely.
As I was initially writing the plans for all this up (which was initially just a huge timeline that I was gonna post on the blog, but then I did a poll and most of you wanted to see it in story form, so here we are) it wasn't that hard for me to determine that Squall, Aerith, Yuffie, Lea, Isa, and Kairi would have all been in Radiant Garden all at the same time. I figured that people had probably seen others at school, honestly. Thus the setting for this first snippet was born.
Then, I connected Squall to Cid, which I greatly love what happened with their relationship. The interactions between the two of them now COMPLETELY set up how Leon can be "Gosh Cid, why don't you just..." one second and "DARNIT CID" the next. Which brings me to this image:
Art by GaarasGirl86. The description is lovely. Check it out: http://gaarasgirl86.deviantart.com/art/Cid-going-to-work-again-67963380
Squall and Cid have a HISTORY now. And it makes so much more sense for their characters, honestly.
Yes, I am aware that Cid's age doesn't fit into anything. I've decided he's timey-whimey like Donald's nephews.
General comment, to new readers who find my stories and find plot points/character names/etc that conflict with things brought up in KH3D, keep in mind that I started AtP before KH3D was announced, so many things that were introduced simply do not line up with what I'm writing. Hence, my canon. (I say this mostly because of the large amount of reviews I still get saying I should have used names like "Lea", "Isa," and "Braig," instead of "Axel," "Saix," and "Xigbar."
Review Replies:
From ravyncl: I can definitely say that there will be some pairings going on. Just you wait and see.
Exodin: I can't say too much about who is going to be interacting with whom. Spoilers!
Cookie: How long do I think this'll be? Well, hopefully not longer than AtP, and if it DOES get to be the length of BB, then hopefully not as draggy. (Bleh, kinda embarrassed for that one.) It will go through Radiant Garden's plunge into darkness, my plan is to take it right up to KH1. So, ten years to cover. Ish. And... um... Ansem's title. Well shoot, I don't know. Whatever his title is. It's such a small detail in my opinion for this story. *shrug*
In general, I'm glad you guys are enjoying this so far and are waiting to see what comes next! Should have more up soon.
Also, I have a video to share here (I think I'm turning into rar) . I have an obsession with the song below. I even can sing it. (Well, as well as I can hit all the notes that Len sings. It's disturbing when he can sing higher than me. I mean, I know why he can, but still!)
