How did I end up here?
HOW DID I END UP HERE?!?!?
It's the end. The END.
I mean, I knew this was coming. I knew I was going to end it with a wedding. I've known that for five years. Okay, maybe four.
BUT I PLANNED THIS OUT FOUR YEARS AGO.
I knew, that the end of everything, I would end it with a wedding. And that Xigbar would crash it. But that was all I knew. Rar and I joked about it. Because after AtP, when Xigbar was still alive, I joked that he'd come back and crash the wedding at the end of the next one.
Because I'd only ever planned on writing two.
Look at me now, I've written four. Five if you include Can't Escape. (I don't count Plan Beta as anything but drabbles and fun experiments in plot.)
When I sat down and outlined Remnants, when I had a pretty solid idea of who my main enemies were (how Xehanort was back, what was going on with Larxene and Marluxia, what Xigbar was up to), I planned it out through the end. Yeah, I changed out a couple of worlds here and there, electing to include Corona and Arendelle instead of recycling Atlantica and Beast's Castle. But I knew there'd be a wedding.
Initially, and I might have said this before, but I might not have, it was supposed to be Donald and Daisy's wedding. Because they were the only couple who I figured would be getting married. (I hadn't really considered much about the FF characters. I had always entertained the thought of continuing on and writing FF7 as if the KH characters might be a part. But that got scrapped sometime when I was writing the prequel and struggled to rewrite FF8 and KH1-2 and make them interesting.)
For the record, I changed the wedding-to-be-crashed to Aerith and Zack's wedding about when I realized Zack was going to propose to Aerith. I liked the way it was going to flow. Let's see, do I still have the original conversation with rar...
Oh look, I do! And it involves Cloud/Hades stuff as well. Bonus!
rar: i feel like us discussing potential Cloud and Hades ideas requires something more in depth than tumblr, so I'm messaging you
magik: probably
rar: I mean i still replied to you on tumblr but idk if we need to go more in depth
rar: anyway i'm cool with you using the idea {for Hades to send hellhounds after Cloud}
magik: woo! i just think... hades is the type to hold a grudge and Cloud did blow him off
rar: yeah exactly
magik: and now that Hades doesn't have Maleficent in his hair and pretty soon, he won't have Disney Castle, either
rar: yup
magik: and especially if Cloud shows back up in Olympus, Hades will be reminded of his grudge
rar: yuuuuuuuuup especially since he's LOOKING for like something to do or someone to use now that his plans have failed, right?
magik: yeah. i am loving this Cloud arc that i'm putting together. Cloud'll have to deal with Heartless and hell-hounds
rar: oh yeah
magik: because while Hades may be bound to Olympus, his hell-hounds won't be
rar: nooope they won't
So that's that... and here's some stuff as to other characters that were getting included
magik: and of course, i'm going to incorporate Denzel here pretty soon
rar: OOH!
magik: which may have nothing to do with the hell-hounds
rar: of course
magik: and i may have to drag vincent in because i love this line i just got: "These ones aren't too bad, some of them have three heads." "A three headed dog needs a three barrelled gun"
rar: that's perf, you may have to drag vincent in... just for that
magik: yeah
And now for the wedding part:
magik: i'm contemplating Zerith disappearing for a bit
rar: ye?
magik: and then coming back and they've actually eloped... and everyone's all like...
rar: AHA
magik: "And I wasn't invited?"
rar: man I feel like Aerith would've wanted a ceremony tho... tho maybe not? mabye she is the kind of person who'd wanna not make a big deal out of it?
magik: i think that's exactly it. though at the same time... UGGGG everyone's just geting married at the same time!!! aslgdkasdgh;
rar: IDK??? WHAT TO DO
magik: what if... i could replace donald and daisy's wedding for Zack and Aerith's....
rar: you could maybe do that
magik: their wedding was technically a place-holder... i just needed a huge ceremony...
rar: mmm
magik: the thing with donald/daisy was that i wasn't going to write the ceremony... just the reception... i could do that still with zerith
rar: you could
magik: aerith would alternate between wanting everyone in the ceremony and thus she'd have no one in the audience
rar: she would
magik: or only having one person in the ceremony so that there could be an audience... and zack's just like "I don't care, I could marry you on the moon with one witness and the justice and i'd be happy"
rar: he would
magik: hmm... if i did that... and xiggy crashed it i... heh... if he actually showed up during the ceremony... i think Aerith herself would murder him
rar: uhoh... that's not a good thing?
magik: it's amusing
rar: but probably not good for your plot
magik: honestly... it's like having your riku murder larxene... just so long as there's a remnant left to vessel or not to vessel sora, i'm good
Ima pause there for a second... This was EARLY in the planning stages. I was still writing the Disney Castle sequence. Pretty sure Rar was still working on Dead Inside. We hadn't begun to write the Larxene Sequence. Rar also didn't know all of my plot yet, as you'll soon see....
magik: honestly tho, i think xiggy would just sit in the back because "why would i want to interrupt a show like that?" {which got changed to: "Snuck in quietly and didn't want to ruin the show. Good show, by the way! Wouldn't interrupt that for the Worlds!"}
rar: that's good. and he probably would. (everyone would notice tho) also you're norting Sora???
magik: he could cloak himself. idk about norting him yet
rar: oh you did say "to not or not vessel"
magik: maybe there's a way xigbar could mask the smell of darkness that lingers
rar: (I missed it) yeah maybe?? he'd probably have to... tho i think canon says the org cloaks help hide your "scent" in general but whether or not that's true
magik: darn Riku and his sense of smell
rar: yeah unfortunately i can't remember if--oh yeah it wouldn't work... he definitely says "you reek of darkness" to one of the Org members (i think Vexen ha) and they were wearing the cloak so... the cloak wouldn't do it
magik: he'd have to have a special cloak
rar: yeah
magik: or something like it... some sort of spell he bought off the blackmarket labelled with "protection" so it would end up blending with the ones that Aerith and Rinoa throw up
I realize now that Xigbar totally still managed to sneak in and see the wedding and no one noticed him. Probably because everyone was too distracted. But I was still in the planning stages at the time of this conversation. I also will mention that at this point, I was still anticipating that the wedding would happen and then I'd nort Sora (assuming I norted Sora, which I did end up doing obviously). Because the plan was: wedding, Xigbar fight, Xehanort fight where Sora gets Norted. I changed it to Sora getting Norted beforehand, then six months later wedding, Xigbar warning, and Xehanort fight.
magik: Rinoa: "you're the bride, stahp!" Aerith: I'm not letting anything happen to my wedding!"
rar: yeah this could work
magik: but anyway... i think i like this idea
I'm actually gonna stop talking/ranting/reposting convos at the moment. This post is getting long and I have more to say about the wedding that's gonna take more than one post apparently. I'll come back tomorrow and post more, yeah?
Showing posts with label Xigbar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Xigbar. Show all posts
Monday, April 13, 2015
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Destiny Islands (Chapters 102-106)
I suppose I knew from the beginning that at some point I was going to try and Nort Sora. And I had to wonder where the best place for that showdown--the penultimate showdown--to take place. I eventually decided that Destiny Islands would be perfect for so many reasons. Destiny Islands is home and Xehanort is really hitting close to home here. Plus, it ruins their vacation because I'm mean like that.
I started out the arc calmly enough, with Riku and Namine talking to Riku's mom about what was going to happen next, and then comes the word from Kairi that something's going on. And, at this point, Sora is still fine. Because you don't necessarily know yet that he is who Xehanort is going after. But you can probably guess through process of elimination.
Riku, Roxas, Axel, Xion, and Namine have already been attempted. Kairi is untouchable. That leaves Sora. Sora, who Riku explains does not have the immunities to darkness that other people like Riku himself and Axel have had time to build. And poor Sora is so oblivious to it all, because to him, the Remnant is going to go after Riku again, because that's who he's always gone after. But not this time. But as soon as he realizes that it's him the Remnant is after, he's still fired-up to protect himself because he's not stupid.
So how do you start the norting process of the most fun-loving and optimistic kid ever? You start planting seeds of despair in his friends, who he relies on for power. And then you give them despair, and you do it better than Sephiroth.
I goofed a little, because right after that chapter, I had some daily life going on in Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden. And it wasn't even that whole contrast thing, it was legit I wasn't thinking about the overall flow, I was just braiding arcs together and I sort of goofed that one. So, after that whole crushing despair you've got Rinoa and Squall fluff, Denzel life, and Yuffie stream of consciousness. The chapter was there to symbolize a little bit that life in HB/RG is getting better and their all planning for their futures. And it gives a background to the following chapter from their arc when they all realize that something horrible is going on, I just feel that I might have placed it wrong and it should have gone before the chapter on Destiny Islands.
Because now, back to Destiny Islands and that crushing despair. I chose Kairi's POV because I felt that she would give the best portrayal of literally how awful it is that Sora's about to be norted. Riku was good for the first chapter, and now it's Kairi's turn. Because those three. Are amazing. And so interconnected.
Some of Kairi's Princess of Heart perks come into play as well, with her being light in the darkness. And then she has the task of convincing everyone else that Sora is worth saving and dismantling the lies that the Xehanort Remnant is feeding them.
Then Kairi faces Norted Sora. And it's disgusting and horrifying, but she stands her ground.
Kudos a bit to me for the whole "stopping" thing, because that's a bit of a reference to Rinoa in the Prequel. And funnily enough, Kairi had just been thinking about Rinoa. I have a thing. Sorry. Moving on.
I am also completely a fan of the line "I suppose I should help, little shit did save my life once or twice" from Axel.
And then, instead of doing the whole they fight Nort in Sora's body on the outside while Sora fights Nort on the inside, I decided to go for them all just fighting Nort on the inside for something different. It's not like they're not all connected or anything.
Switch gears to HB/RG again. The first bit is a bit awkward again with Shera and Cid. That probably should have gone in the previous chapter with the HB gang. I like seriously wasn't thinking very hard on that. But for the moment, enjoy all of that Cid/Shera fluff. Because they're cute.
Then we get into Cloud's healing, followed very closely by everyone feeling Xehanort Norting Sora. And how much a person was affected is directly correlated to their connection with Sora. So someone like Rinoa or Zack, who has minimal connection with Sora, only feels it a little bit, where people like Aerith and Squall feel it a lot more. And someone like Ven practically collapses with it.
Then, Roxas' POV for the rest of the battle. Brief mention of Xigbar being allowed to escape the battle of Castle Oblivion, because had he been killed they theoretically wouldn't be in their current predicament. Riku and Xehanort bantering like old rivals is a disgustingly beautiful thing. And yeah, they kind of are still fighting Xehanort in Sora's body in Sora's heart, but it's another layer still.
They knock Xehanort out by reminding Sora who his friends are. Terra, Aqua, and Ven join them.
And, I don't really know what to say about Sora casually having a Keyblade through his chest. It's a wonderful thing. But how I wrote it is probably the best explanation you're going to get. And so they banish him from having a Keyblade and Sora surrenders him to the darkness pretty much.
And then Xigbar shows up. I don't remember exactly if I had planned on Xigbar showing up from the beginning, but I definitely decided somewhere in there that having Xigbar showing up and shooting Xehanort in the face was a really satisfying way of doing things. There's some other stuff that went into this, but I can't talk about it just yet. But it has to do with Xigbar.
And, I'll think I'll leave it at that for now. Not very many chapters left anymore. It's weird.
I started out the arc calmly enough, with Riku and Namine talking to Riku's mom about what was going to happen next, and then comes the word from Kairi that something's going on. And, at this point, Sora is still fine. Because you don't necessarily know yet that he is who Xehanort is going after. But you can probably guess through process of elimination.
Riku, Roxas, Axel, Xion, and Namine have already been attempted. Kairi is untouchable. That leaves Sora. Sora, who Riku explains does not have the immunities to darkness that other people like Riku himself and Axel have had time to build. And poor Sora is so oblivious to it all, because to him, the Remnant is going to go after Riku again, because that's who he's always gone after. But not this time. But as soon as he realizes that it's him the Remnant is after, he's still fired-up to protect himself because he's not stupid.
So how do you start the norting process of the most fun-loving and optimistic kid ever? You start planting seeds of despair in his friends, who he relies on for power. And then you give them despair, and you do it better than Sephiroth.
I goofed a little, because right after that chapter, I had some daily life going on in Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden. And it wasn't even that whole contrast thing, it was legit I wasn't thinking about the overall flow, I was just braiding arcs together and I sort of goofed that one. So, after that whole crushing despair you've got Rinoa and Squall fluff, Denzel life, and Yuffie stream of consciousness. The chapter was there to symbolize a little bit that life in HB/RG is getting better and their all planning for their futures. And it gives a background to the following chapter from their arc when they all realize that something horrible is going on, I just feel that I might have placed it wrong and it should have gone before the chapter on Destiny Islands.
Because now, back to Destiny Islands and that crushing despair. I chose Kairi's POV because I felt that she would give the best portrayal of literally how awful it is that Sora's about to be norted. Riku was good for the first chapter, and now it's Kairi's turn. Because those three. Are amazing. And so interconnected.
Some of Kairi's Princess of Heart perks come into play as well, with her being light in the darkness. And then she has the task of convincing everyone else that Sora is worth saving and dismantling the lies that the Xehanort Remnant is feeding them.
Then Kairi faces Norted Sora. And it's disgusting and horrifying, but she stands her ground.
Kudos a bit to me for the whole "stopping" thing, because that's a bit of a reference to Rinoa in the Prequel. And funnily enough, Kairi had just been thinking about Rinoa. I have a thing. Sorry. Moving on.
I am also completely a fan of the line "I suppose I should help, little shit did save my life once or twice" from Axel.
And then, instead of doing the whole they fight Nort in Sora's body on the outside while Sora fights Nort on the inside, I decided to go for them all just fighting Nort on the inside for something different. It's not like they're not all connected or anything.
Switch gears to HB/RG again. The first bit is a bit awkward again with Shera and Cid. That probably should have gone in the previous chapter with the HB gang. I like seriously wasn't thinking very hard on that. But for the moment, enjoy all of that Cid/Shera fluff. Because they're cute.
Then we get into Cloud's healing, followed very closely by everyone feeling Xehanort Norting Sora. And how much a person was affected is directly correlated to their connection with Sora. So someone like Rinoa or Zack, who has minimal connection with Sora, only feels it a little bit, where people like Aerith and Squall feel it a lot more. And someone like Ven practically collapses with it.
Then, Roxas' POV for the rest of the battle. Brief mention of Xigbar being allowed to escape the battle of Castle Oblivion, because had he been killed they theoretically wouldn't be in their current predicament. Riku and Xehanort bantering like old rivals is a disgustingly beautiful thing. And yeah, they kind of are still fighting Xehanort in Sora's body in Sora's heart, but it's another layer still.
They knock Xehanort out by reminding Sora who his friends are. Terra, Aqua, and Ven join them.
And, I don't really know what to say about Sora casually having a Keyblade through his chest. It's a wonderful thing. But how I wrote it is probably the best explanation you're going to get. And so they banish him from having a Keyblade and Sora surrenders him to the darkness pretty much.
And then Xigbar shows up. I don't remember exactly if I had planned on Xigbar showing up from the beginning, but I definitely decided somewhere in there that having Xigbar showing up and shooting Xehanort in the face was a really satisfying way of doing things. There's some other stuff that went into this, but I can't talk about it just yet. But it has to do with Xigbar.
And, I'll think I'll leave it at that for now. Not very many chapters left anymore. It's weird.
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Castle Oblivion (Chapters 94-101)
The Castle Oblivion arc was a rough one in a couple of ways. Namine's head is always a fun place to be is one of them. The fact that Castle Oblivion is just an awful place is another. Granted, my CO has changed a lot since its original in-game incarnation, things are still rough there. Also, during the stuff at CO, I've also got the Sephiroth battle going on alongside of that. So, fun times.
Of course, I didn't even start us in CO during this sequence. I have us in Port Royal with the Wayfinder Trio. I liked discussing that perhaps Port Royal had forgotten about its magic. Because Pirates of the Caribbean is a much more realistic movie than the other included Disney movies. While yes, there are curses and some magic, it's not anywhere near the level that we see in say Cinderella, Aladdin, or Frozen. So, the "dried up magic/people forgetting about it" was an interesting thing to kind of allude to. And Aqua would think about those sorts of things, being so much of a heavy magic user.
But, of course, the tranquil ponderings can't last forever. Let me just dump a Remnant on them. And then they can fight for a bit, and then Kuin, whose glider is taking her all over the place, can show up and she can help them for a bit. Perhaps I made you think for a second that he was going to get Ven. Probably not. I've made it pretty clear that Ven's about as untouchable as Kairi. But that doesn't mean the Remnant still can't hurt Ven.
Then we've got Sephiroth showing up. Well, not quite at the beginning of the chapter, but it's alluded to. Cid can tell. Barret's POV is fun to be in though. Because he's never run into Sephiroth before, so he has no idea what's coming. Because, when Cid announces it, he really has no idea what to expect. And whatever he does expect, is not what he gets.
Oh, for the record, that teleportation block? That was Cloud doing things when I wasn't looking again. That's why Leon had no idea what it was but Rinoa did.
Let the battle with Sephiroth begin. Of course Cloud and Zack would be in the middle of it all. Tifa won't stay back forever. And neither will Leon. He just gets too itchy about not fighting. Man though, that battle was hard writing, trying to keep track of everyone. Because literally, everyone was there. Except Denzel, Marlene, and Merlin.
And then I've got Namine's feelings about something bad going to happen. The reason why she's not seeing any images, for the record, is because she couldn't see an image of Xehanort getting into her head. That's why her mind's drawing a blank. Fun times. I think it's completely legit, it also meant that none of you knew that he was going to go for her. Or maybe you did. I really just loved Namine's thoughts about talking to Leon about what he experienced inside of his head. Because, honestly, the two of them would have had the most similar experiences. (Them and Marluxia.) Riku and Terra had different experiences because it wasn't a Remnant who originally went after them. Terra had full-on Master Xehanort and Riku dealt with Ansem. Also, Namine banishing Xehanort from her heart with a combination of memory prowess and light=beautiful. I love Namine.
Ah, yes, Cloud regaining light attacks. Okay, more just like his limits again. I think that first one he used was Braver. And he's all like "Aerith, was that you?" and she's just like *shakes head* Because she knows that Cloud is regaining his power again and growing strong. Because, as far as my canon goes, Cloud had the ability to do light attacks and stuff. He just slowly lost them as Sephiroth drained on him. Of course, then the battle gets hairier as Sephiroth literally starts causing despair and Aerith is out of Megalixirs so she has a harder time combating darkness. (Which causes her to swear. Yup.) And then Zackgets skewered. And Aerith is having none of that. Absolutely none. I love the image of her jabbing her staff at Sephiroth. It's beautiful. So is Cloud beating Sephiroth into nothingness.
Then back to Castle Oblivion. Where everyone else realizes that Namine's in trouble and they end up relying on Riku's sense of smell to find him. I love poking at Riku's sense of smell and Xehanort's stench. Riku making up swears that Axel doesn't recognize is also a beautiful thing. Because while I hardly ever use actual swear words in my KH fics to keep ratings down, I can leave that up to your imagination. Riku and Axel are my biggest swearers. Namine fighting the Remnant in that form is also gorgeous.
Side note... while I initially wrote that chapter before Monty Oum's passing, it is certainly my tribute to him. I loved the concept of Namine with all those Keyblades and I loved Dead Fantasy and I'm sad to see that the story will not continue. RIP Monty Oum.
Now for some timey-whimey stuff. The Remnant in Port Royal could very well be the same Remnant that showed up in Castle Oblivion. Could be. It could also not be, depending on how many Remnants you believe are walking around at the same time. Kuin, of course, went straight from Port Royal to Castle Oblivion, where she gets momentarily stopped by Axel (really got attached to that lol) and then can't fight the Remnant until Namine gives the go-ahead.
Then we get to do clean-up in Hollow Bastion. Aerith and her massive need to heal everyone. Cloud of course, has got it the worst, having just killed his own shadow. Though, Zack is also not in too great of shape. Aerith expelling darkness with Rinoa, Tifa, and Yuffie's help was definitely a thing that was fun to write. Just, the concept of what rar and I figured darkness can and cannot do and it's reactions to different healing magic. Yup. And then it's raining, because it's always raining. But then Cloud wakes up and he's feeling lighter and happier, which is good. Very, very good.
Then we've got a transitioning chapter out of Castle Oblivion. This was my chapter 100. My fluff chapter. My chapter of: everything's fine at Castle Oblivion, we're all gonna go back to the islands now. Namine has a chance to recoup from what she just went through, everyone else gets a chance to splash around at the beach, which was just fun and cute to write. Writing SoRiKai derping around in the water because they're all such Island brats was also great. *nods*
Then closing off with more of the Wayfinder Trio. This time, instead of running into a Remnant though, they're on a beach and they run into Xigbar. Well, not before they have some fun playing with the beach ball. I had a lot of fun writing Xigbar's dialogue though, because he really just wants to live, but he's slowly coming to the realization that a world with him in it also means a world with Xehanort. And he's got too much pride to ask the Keyblade Wielders if they can destroy just a part of his heart. (There's also a good portion of him that thinks his heart is too far gone to Xehanort for that to even be an option.) Sure, he'll taunt them about it, but he'll do it while he's shooting at them, not during a pleasant conversation.
I remember having a hard time deciding how to wrap this scene up, so I wrote in the two boys with the beach ball (and then also the boomerang) interrupting and Xigbar being like "Nope, not gonna fight a couple of actual kids" and then he leaves. The kids, btw, are like unofficially my universe's Joseph and Toby.
That's all for now.
Of course, I didn't even start us in CO during this sequence. I have us in Port Royal with the Wayfinder Trio. I liked discussing that perhaps Port Royal had forgotten about its magic. Because Pirates of the Caribbean is a much more realistic movie than the other included Disney movies. While yes, there are curses and some magic, it's not anywhere near the level that we see in say Cinderella, Aladdin, or Frozen. So, the "dried up magic/people forgetting about it" was an interesting thing to kind of allude to. And Aqua would think about those sorts of things, being so much of a heavy magic user.
But, of course, the tranquil ponderings can't last forever. Let me just dump a Remnant on them. And then they can fight for a bit, and then Kuin, whose glider is taking her all over the place, can show up and she can help them for a bit. Perhaps I made you think for a second that he was going to get Ven. Probably not. I've made it pretty clear that Ven's about as untouchable as Kairi. But that doesn't mean the Remnant still can't hurt Ven.
Then we've got Sephiroth showing up. Well, not quite at the beginning of the chapter, but it's alluded to. Cid can tell. Barret's POV is fun to be in though. Because he's never run into Sephiroth before, so he has no idea what's coming. Because, when Cid announces it, he really has no idea what to expect. And whatever he does expect, is not what he gets.
Oh, for the record, that teleportation block? That was Cloud doing things when I wasn't looking again. That's why Leon had no idea what it was but Rinoa did.
Let the battle with Sephiroth begin. Of course Cloud and Zack would be in the middle of it all. Tifa won't stay back forever. And neither will Leon. He just gets too itchy about not fighting. Man though, that battle was hard writing, trying to keep track of everyone. Because literally, everyone was there. Except Denzel, Marlene, and Merlin.
And then I've got Namine's feelings about something bad going to happen. The reason why she's not seeing any images, for the record, is because she couldn't see an image of Xehanort getting into her head. That's why her mind's drawing a blank. Fun times. I think it's completely legit, it also meant that none of you knew that he was going to go for her. Or maybe you did. I really just loved Namine's thoughts about talking to Leon about what he experienced inside of his head. Because, honestly, the two of them would have had the most similar experiences. (Them and Marluxia.) Riku and Terra had different experiences because it wasn't a Remnant who originally went after them. Terra had full-on Master Xehanort and Riku dealt with Ansem. Also, Namine banishing Xehanort from her heart with a combination of memory prowess and light=beautiful. I love Namine.
Ah, yes, Cloud regaining light attacks. Okay, more just like his limits again. I think that first one he used was Braver. And he's all like "Aerith, was that you?" and she's just like *shakes head* Because she knows that Cloud is regaining his power again and growing strong. Because, as far as my canon goes, Cloud had the ability to do light attacks and stuff. He just slowly lost them as Sephiroth drained on him. Of course, then the battle gets hairier as Sephiroth literally starts causing despair and Aerith is out of Megalixirs so she has a harder time combating darkness. (Which causes her to swear. Yup.) And then Zackgets skewered. And Aerith is having none of that. Absolutely none. I love the image of her jabbing her staff at Sephiroth. It's beautiful. So is Cloud beating Sephiroth into nothingness.
Then back to Castle Oblivion. Where everyone else realizes that Namine's in trouble and they end up relying on Riku's sense of smell to find him. I love poking at Riku's sense of smell and Xehanort's stench. Riku making up swears that Axel doesn't recognize is also a beautiful thing. Because while I hardly ever use actual swear words in my KH fics to keep ratings down, I can leave that up to your imagination. Riku and Axel are my biggest swearers. Namine fighting the Remnant in that form is also gorgeous.
Side note... while I initially wrote that chapter before Monty Oum's passing, it is certainly my tribute to him. I loved the concept of Namine with all those Keyblades and I loved Dead Fantasy and I'm sad to see that the story will not continue. RIP Monty Oum.
Now for some timey-whimey stuff. The Remnant in Port Royal could very well be the same Remnant that showed up in Castle Oblivion. Could be. It could also not be, depending on how many Remnants you believe are walking around at the same time. Kuin, of course, went straight from Port Royal to Castle Oblivion, where she gets momentarily stopped by Axel (really got attached to that lol) and then can't fight the Remnant until Namine gives the go-ahead.
Then we get to do clean-up in Hollow Bastion. Aerith and her massive need to heal everyone. Cloud of course, has got it the worst, having just killed his own shadow. Though, Zack is also not in too great of shape. Aerith expelling darkness with Rinoa, Tifa, and Yuffie's help was definitely a thing that was fun to write. Just, the concept of what rar and I figured darkness can and cannot do and it's reactions to different healing magic. Yup. And then it's raining, because it's always raining. But then Cloud wakes up and he's feeling lighter and happier, which is good. Very, very good.
Then we've got a transitioning chapter out of Castle Oblivion. This was my chapter 100. My fluff chapter. My chapter of: everything's fine at Castle Oblivion, we're all gonna go back to the islands now. Namine has a chance to recoup from what she just went through, everyone else gets a chance to splash around at the beach, which was just fun and cute to write. Writing SoRiKai derping around in the water because they're all such Island brats was also great. *nods*
Then closing off with more of the Wayfinder Trio. This time, instead of running into a Remnant though, they're on a beach and they run into Xigbar. Well, not before they have some fun playing with the beach ball. I had a lot of fun writing Xigbar's dialogue though, because he really just wants to live, but he's slowly coming to the realization that a world with him in it also means a world with Xehanort. And he's got too much pride to ask the Keyblade Wielders if they can destroy just a part of his heart. (There's also a good portion of him that thinks his heart is too far gone to Xehanort for that to even be an option.) Sure, he'll taunt them about it, but he'll do it while he's shooting at them, not during a pleasant conversation.
I remember having a hard time deciding how to wrap this scene up, so I wrote in the two boys with the beach ball (and then also the boomerang) interrupting and Xigbar being like "Nope, not gonna fight a couple of actual kids" and then he leaves. The kids, btw, are like unofficially my universe's Joseph and Toby.
That's all for now.
Monday, February 2, 2015
Traverse Town AKA Mark of Mastery (Chapters 79-88)
This sequence started out more as a concept than anything else. I wanted there to be another Mark of Mastery (ever since Betwixt and Between). But I never got around to writing it because of how epically Betwixt and Between failed in so many ways.
But I still wanted to do the Mark of Mastery exam. Traverse Town seemed to be as good of a setting as any, so I went with it. The biggest question for me I suppose then was when I was going to put it. The sequence as a whole got moved around several times for various reasons. I didn't want to have it too early, to give the characters more reasonable time to be prepping for the exam (even if they didn't know it.) But I also didn't want it to be the last thing because, for me, it didn't really seem like an end-game sort of plot arc. So I wanted it in the middle. I do know it got pushed back a little because when rar and I cemented the Larxene sequence of events, it was happening right in the middle, and I couldn't have half my cast go gallivanting off while they were supposed to be taking their Marks of Mastery. So it got pushed back in that regard.
But overall, I'm fairly happy where it takes place.
I struggled a bit with pacing and POV. I wanted to keep things interesting and do a mixture of POVs from the scenes, but I also didn't want anything to come off as repetitive. There were a couple of near-entire chapter rewrites I think. But you all seem to like it, which is good!
The first stage of the exam was very much like Aqua and Terra's first stage. Yay element balls. And since that was overall self-explanitory and not much more interesting than comments on particular fighting styles, I was able to have Riku, Sora, and Namine catch everyone else up with what else had been going on.
Then, to break up the narrative, I stuck in the scenes with Mickey and Xigbar, and Marlene in Hollow Bastion. I wanted Mickey to run into Xigbar ever since the whole Xigbar arc got put in place. And I'm really happy with how that turned out.
The bit with Marlene was more because I wanted to include something from Marlene's POV than anything else. Because her and Denzel are such cuties.
But back to the exam... The second part was Master against student. Kind of like how Aqua and Terra fought each other, but at the same time, not really. I paired who I paired very intentionally, trying (obviously) not to pair couples or close friends.
Aqua versus Kairi was very much me experimenting with different fighting styles. I know I somewhat fell into the "Kairi as magic user" trope, and I should have had her do more power-house moves. And I kind of regret that. I don't regret Kairi just unleashing light when she feels like it though. It really was an exercise in fighting styles.
Riku versus Ven was also fun. Even more so because I told the whole thing from Aqua's POV. Riku's tank versus Ven's lightweight almost Airbender attitude.
Then came Marlynort bothering Hollow Bastion. That scene pretty much speaks for itself. Things I'm super in love with is Denzel and Marlene's attitudes toward everything, Pi standing up to Marlynort, and Barret calling Zack impulsive.
So Terra versus Sora. I wanted these two to spar because Sora brings out the best of everyone. And Terra could use that. (Sure, he's already gotten rid of some pretty nasty parts of his heart, but a little extra boost can't hurt.) Sora's thought process through that entire thing was great to write as well. Sometimes, Sora's hard to write for because he's so dang nice. Sometimes, he's super easy to write for--because he's so dang nice.
Then we got Ven and Kairi's thoughts thinking back on the exams, because I wanted to get more rounded scenarios. (I think these were some of the parts I had to rewrite, but maybe not. I honestly can't remember.) Through Kairi's POV we also get to see Aqua sparring with Xion and Kairi feeling a little like she's not all that great. But then Sora reminds her that she is fantastic and he's such a cutie.
Then Riku versus Roxas. And I couldn't resist a "Roxas-breaking-Riku's-hand" reference. Because I just love that whole exchange at the end of Days.
Ah yes, then the Leon chapter. This was one that I definitely rewrote a lot of to prevent being repetitive. The first part not so much because it was stuff before the exam even took place. Because the HB gang was at one point a Traverse Town gang and them wandering around seemed necessary. But then I refined and condensed things from the exam that Leon could gloss over because you all had already read it.
And then comes the final portion of the exam. I took inspiration from KH3D and had a little bit of a "dream-drop" sort of thing where they all fight something inside of their hearts. Sora and Riku pretty much take it in stride but then Aerith gets super antsy. So Namine starts delving to check. And then... well... Xehanort.
Because when else would he show up.
Ah yes. Then it was the chapter of Cloud doing things that I didn't plan on. Which is fine... I just... didn't plan them. Like the whole thing with the Hero's Medallion taken from Zack. I didn't plan that. Cloud went and did that on his own. Like I wasn't watching or something. But yeah, Cloud's done dealing with Hades. Did Herc help him? Yeah. But half of Cloud's character development right now is Cloud accepting that he can't do everything on his own.
Then comes Rinoa during the Xehanort fight. One of my favorite lines is "Was that a pattern they were in? How many times had they done this?" Because, Sora and Riku have done this. A lot.
Mmmmm. Ah. Yes. Leon almost getting Norted. That one surprised everyone. Including I think rar. Because it's just so unexpected. I wanted there to be one that came out of nowhere. Because Nort going after Cloud almost makes sense. In my notes, the Remnant tried to go after Rinoa first, but she's got so much power and even levels of light and darkness that he decided it wasn't worth it. So then he goes after Leon instead. And he gets close.
Then Rinoa is forced to fight Leon possessed by Xehanort much like Squall had to fight Rinoa possessed by Adel... and Ultimecia...
Then I switched gears and went backwards a bit into Namine's POV. Namine drawing stuff going on in everyone's hearts. And then Namine and Aerith coming to the same conclusion at the same time. Aerith needed to be in Traverse Town. And Aerith standing up to Yen Sid is a beautiful thing. Because Yen Sid's such this aloof character that nearly everyone in all of Disney reveres and Aerith's just like "not taking your BS, send me where I need to go"
But then Namine is just like "take my star shard, it'll be fine."
Okay, granted, I was jumping around all over the place as far as time is concerned... but Leon and Rinoa proposing to each other. Because Leon's been thinking about doing it for some time now, but he doesn't even get the chance to get all of the words out and Rinoa actually proposes first. It's great. And Aerith knows what's going on, but she just quietly gives them space.
Then we've got some wrap-up on Hollow Bastion's end. But that's pretty much it.
But I still wanted to do the Mark of Mastery exam. Traverse Town seemed to be as good of a setting as any, so I went with it. The biggest question for me I suppose then was when I was going to put it. The sequence as a whole got moved around several times for various reasons. I didn't want to have it too early, to give the characters more reasonable time to be prepping for the exam (even if they didn't know it.) But I also didn't want it to be the last thing because, for me, it didn't really seem like an end-game sort of plot arc. So I wanted it in the middle. I do know it got pushed back a little because when rar and I cemented the Larxene sequence of events, it was happening right in the middle, and I couldn't have half my cast go gallivanting off while they were supposed to be taking their Marks of Mastery. So it got pushed back in that regard.
But overall, I'm fairly happy where it takes place.
I struggled a bit with pacing and POV. I wanted to keep things interesting and do a mixture of POVs from the scenes, but I also didn't want anything to come off as repetitive. There were a couple of near-entire chapter rewrites I think. But you all seem to like it, which is good!
The first stage of the exam was very much like Aqua and Terra's first stage. Yay element balls. And since that was overall self-explanitory and not much more interesting than comments on particular fighting styles, I was able to have Riku, Sora, and Namine catch everyone else up with what else had been going on.
Then, to break up the narrative, I stuck in the scenes with Mickey and Xigbar, and Marlene in Hollow Bastion. I wanted Mickey to run into Xigbar ever since the whole Xigbar arc got put in place. And I'm really happy with how that turned out.
The bit with Marlene was more because I wanted to include something from Marlene's POV than anything else. Because her and Denzel are such cuties.
But back to the exam... The second part was Master against student. Kind of like how Aqua and Terra fought each other, but at the same time, not really. I paired who I paired very intentionally, trying (obviously) not to pair couples or close friends.
Aqua versus Kairi was very much me experimenting with different fighting styles. I know I somewhat fell into the "Kairi as magic user" trope, and I should have had her do more power-house moves. And I kind of regret that. I don't regret Kairi just unleashing light when she feels like it though. It really was an exercise in fighting styles.
Riku versus Ven was also fun. Even more so because I told the whole thing from Aqua's POV. Riku's tank versus Ven's lightweight almost Airbender attitude.
Then came Marlynort bothering Hollow Bastion. That scene pretty much speaks for itself. Things I'm super in love with is Denzel and Marlene's attitudes toward everything, Pi standing up to Marlynort, and Barret calling Zack impulsive.
So Terra versus Sora. I wanted these two to spar because Sora brings out the best of everyone. And Terra could use that. (Sure, he's already gotten rid of some pretty nasty parts of his heart, but a little extra boost can't hurt.) Sora's thought process through that entire thing was great to write as well. Sometimes, Sora's hard to write for because he's so dang nice. Sometimes, he's super easy to write for--because he's so dang nice.
Then we got Ven and Kairi's thoughts thinking back on the exams, because I wanted to get more rounded scenarios. (I think these were some of the parts I had to rewrite, but maybe not. I honestly can't remember.) Through Kairi's POV we also get to see Aqua sparring with Xion and Kairi feeling a little like she's not all that great. But then Sora reminds her that she is fantastic and he's such a cutie.
Then Riku versus Roxas. And I couldn't resist a "Roxas-breaking-Riku's-hand" reference. Because I just love that whole exchange at the end of Days.
Ah yes, then the Leon chapter. This was one that I definitely rewrote a lot of to prevent being repetitive. The first part not so much because it was stuff before the exam even took place. Because the HB gang was at one point a Traverse Town gang and them wandering around seemed necessary. But then I refined and condensed things from the exam that Leon could gloss over because you all had already read it.
And then comes the final portion of the exam. I took inspiration from KH3D and had a little bit of a "dream-drop" sort of thing where they all fight something inside of their hearts. Sora and Riku pretty much take it in stride but then Aerith gets super antsy. So Namine starts delving to check. And then... well... Xehanort.
Because when else would he show up.
Ah yes. Then it was the chapter of Cloud doing things that I didn't plan on. Which is fine... I just... didn't plan them. Like the whole thing with the Hero's Medallion taken from Zack. I didn't plan that. Cloud went and did that on his own. Like I wasn't watching or something. But yeah, Cloud's done dealing with Hades. Did Herc help him? Yeah. But half of Cloud's character development right now is Cloud accepting that he can't do everything on his own.
Then comes Rinoa during the Xehanort fight. One of my favorite lines is "Was that a pattern they were in? How many times had they done this?" Because, Sora and Riku have done this. A lot.
Mmmmm. Ah. Yes. Leon almost getting Norted. That one surprised everyone. Including I think rar. Because it's just so unexpected. I wanted there to be one that came out of nowhere. Because Nort going after Cloud almost makes sense. In my notes, the Remnant tried to go after Rinoa first, but she's got so much power and even levels of light and darkness that he decided it wasn't worth it. So then he goes after Leon instead. And he gets close.
Then Rinoa is forced to fight Leon possessed by Xehanort much like Squall had to fight Rinoa possessed by Adel... and Ultimecia...
Then I switched gears and went backwards a bit into Namine's POV. Namine drawing stuff going on in everyone's hearts. And then Namine and Aerith coming to the same conclusion at the same time. Aerith needed to be in Traverse Town. And Aerith standing up to Yen Sid is a beautiful thing. Because Yen Sid's such this aloof character that nearly everyone in all of Disney reveres and Aerith's just like "not taking your BS, send me where I need to go"
But then Namine is just like "take my star shard, it'll be fine."
Okay, granted, I was jumping around all over the place as far as time is concerned... but Leon and Rinoa proposing to each other. Because Leon's been thinking about doing it for some time now, but he doesn't even get the chance to get all of the words out and Rinoa actually proposes first. It's great. And Aerith knows what's going on, but she just quietly gives them space.
Then we've got some wrap-up on Hollow Bastion's end. But that's pretty much it.
Friday, January 23, 2015
Deep Space (various chapters between 70 and 78)
Let's talk about Deep Space and not about Larxene, kay? Because I want to give the Larxene post a ton of justice and Ima put it off for one more post, kay?
Deep Space kind of got overshadowed by the Larxene sequence, but it's still just as vitally important. It's not like Corona, which was kind of just there because the whole plot of that was Marlynort causing trouble while action was elsewhere. There's a major plot point in Deep Space which is Xehanort attempting to Nort Terra. Which is a Big Deal.
But unrelated to even that at the moment, is how in Hollow Bastion, Aerith's house is FINALLY done expanding. For once, I actually know how many bedrooms she's got there because I redid the entire top floor and just added more bedrooms because I knew they were going to need them. (Simultaneously, Zack's changed the plans so that one of the bedrooms can become his and Aerith's room when they eventually get married. Yup. That happened.) Also, Cid and Shera are adorable and it's great. They'll be together working on crazy projects forever and I love them.
ALSO ALSO is Leon asking Cid for relationship advice because he doesn't have anyone else to ask and he just wants to know what to do with Rinoa. And it makes me think back to in the Prequel where Cid's watching Zack and Aerith be all lovey-dovey and he has a passing thought that Leon'll never get a girlfriend and then Rinoa shows up and BAM, Leon doesn't know it yet, but she's gonna be his girlfriend.
And Cid as everyone's father figure even though he didn't want to be is just another level of great.
Anyway, so Deep Space. More like, LILO AS A SPACE PILOT. I read a headcanon on Tumblr a while ago that included that and I was just like... I NEED TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN. So, uh, I did. Her age is really something that I never ironed out, but whatever, she's still the youngest pilot ever amongst a whole ton of aliens and it's Super Cool.
And then Namine, Vexen, and Aerith show up and Axel's like: "Heheh, you're the real Vexen, I'm coming along to mess with you!" And then he volunteers Roxas and Xion while he's at it for maximized amazingness.
And THEN we have Ven, Aqua, and Terra showing up, which is just all sorts of beautiful because of their previous relationship with Deep Space and all that went on there. And the glorious reunion that gets to happen (as a couple of you have mentioned.)
Stitch's language was fun, because I actually went to Disney's website for Tantalog: http://stitchdatabase.wikia.com/wiki/Tantalog_language and got all of my information from there. It was a bit interesting working on sentences with structure that had all the appropriate words in them. But it was a fun experiment.
And mixed in with all of this is Tifa trying to figure out what's up with Zack and Aerith but also a great fight with Hades. I love integrating Tifa's future plans, because now that Aerith's house is done, everyone gets to think of the next projects and I'm setting things up for the end here. Also, small commitment apples are something that my Hapkido instructor called small apples (or pears) and I just had to use the phrase.
I really loved the image of Cloud and Tifa barreling through the Betwixt and Between trying to get rid of Hades' hounds. I think I got the idea from rar... But anyway... I realized that I couldn't really do it justice because I couldn't think of a way to write it that wouldn't be boring. So instead I just had Cloud blame it on being old and then impulsively go and fight Hades. Granted, he ended up with the Hero's Medallion on his own. I remember writing that sequence and Cloud's like, yup, got it from Zack and I'm like "WHEN?!? I didn't write that!!!"
But anyway, back to the Remnant trying to destroy Terra's life. I wanted a Remnant to try and Nort Terra from the very beginning, just not AT the beginning. Because I wanted it to be one of the stronger ones... I wanted Terra to be stronger and I wanted the Remnant to be stronger. The Remnant was probably banking on Terra's being successful, so he didn't try initially. Terra, meanwhile, had more time for his heart to grow and recuperate. And so then we get the really epic conversation in Terra's heart where he's trying to banish Xehanort.
But the line "How many times have you reincarnated yourself?" is just so amazing, because it's followed by "Only the one boy. If it had been more, rest assured you wouldn't be here right now." "You'd better not be lying!" "I assure you, if I had more practice, you would have remained a vessel."
Xehanort is just so dang cocky! But he's also matter-of-fact and that whole scene just gave me shivers.
And then we've got Kuin actually running into Xigbar. Xigbar who, before this, has literally just been beach-hopping and staying under everyone's radar. He managed because most people forgot that he didn't survive the battle of Castle Oblivion. I loved putting Kuin up against him because we've got two gunners who are full of themselves in different ways clashing and it leads to beautiful things.
Then we've also got Mickey going up against Marlynort. Because Mickey's been up to a lot of things, which is what this chapter was supposed to address from the beginning, but then I figured that Marlynort should also be up to something, so hey, why not make a few things line up. So Mickey fights Marlynort and gets an idea of what everyone's up against.
And then Xion, Axel, and Roxas return just in time for Terra to finish off his inner Xehanort. And he's rid of Xehanort for good. And all is well for Terra.
I feel like I should have more to say and I know I've done more in the past, but that's all I've got for right now. Prepare for a Larxene Sequence post in the next few days.
Deep Space kind of got overshadowed by the Larxene sequence, but it's still just as vitally important. It's not like Corona, which was kind of just there because the whole plot of that was Marlynort causing trouble while action was elsewhere. There's a major plot point in Deep Space which is Xehanort attempting to Nort Terra. Which is a Big Deal.
But unrelated to even that at the moment, is how in Hollow Bastion, Aerith's house is FINALLY done expanding. For once, I actually know how many bedrooms she's got there because I redid the entire top floor and just added more bedrooms because I knew they were going to need them. (Simultaneously, Zack's changed the plans so that one of the bedrooms can become his and Aerith's room when they eventually get married. Yup. That happened.) Also, Cid and Shera are adorable and it's great. They'll be together working on crazy projects forever and I love them.
ALSO ALSO is Leon asking Cid for relationship advice because he doesn't have anyone else to ask and he just wants to know what to do with Rinoa. And it makes me think back to in the Prequel where Cid's watching Zack and Aerith be all lovey-dovey and he has a passing thought that Leon'll never get a girlfriend and then Rinoa shows up and BAM, Leon doesn't know it yet, but she's gonna be his girlfriend.
And Cid as everyone's father figure even though he didn't want to be is just another level of great.
Anyway, so Deep Space. More like, LILO AS A SPACE PILOT. I read a headcanon on Tumblr a while ago that included that and I was just like... I NEED TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN. So, uh, I did. Her age is really something that I never ironed out, but whatever, she's still the youngest pilot ever amongst a whole ton of aliens and it's Super Cool.
And then Namine, Vexen, and Aerith show up and Axel's like: "Heheh, you're the real Vexen, I'm coming along to mess with you!" And then he volunteers Roxas and Xion while he's at it for maximized amazingness.
And THEN we have Ven, Aqua, and Terra showing up, which is just all sorts of beautiful because of their previous relationship with Deep Space and all that went on there. And the glorious reunion that gets to happen (as a couple of you have mentioned.)
Stitch's language was fun, because I actually went to Disney's website for Tantalog: http://stitchdatabase.wikia.com/wiki/Tantalog_language and got all of my information from there. It was a bit interesting working on sentences with structure that had all the appropriate words in them. But it was a fun experiment.
And mixed in with all of this is Tifa trying to figure out what's up with Zack and Aerith but also a great fight with Hades. I love integrating Tifa's future plans, because now that Aerith's house is done, everyone gets to think of the next projects and I'm setting things up for the end here. Also, small commitment apples are something that my Hapkido instructor called small apples (or pears) and I just had to use the phrase.
I really loved the image of Cloud and Tifa barreling through the Betwixt and Between trying to get rid of Hades' hounds. I think I got the idea from rar... But anyway... I realized that I couldn't really do it justice because I couldn't think of a way to write it that wouldn't be boring. So instead I just had Cloud blame it on being old and then impulsively go and fight Hades. Granted, he ended up with the Hero's Medallion on his own. I remember writing that sequence and Cloud's like, yup, got it from Zack and I'm like "WHEN?!? I didn't write that!!!"
But anyway, back to the Remnant trying to destroy Terra's life. I wanted a Remnant to try and Nort Terra from the very beginning, just not AT the beginning. Because I wanted it to be one of the stronger ones... I wanted Terra to be stronger and I wanted the Remnant to be stronger. The Remnant was probably banking on Terra's being successful, so he didn't try initially. Terra, meanwhile, had more time for his heart to grow and recuperate. And so then we get the really epic conversation in Terra's heart where he's trying to banish Xehanort.
But the line "How many times have you reincarnated yourself?" is just so amazing, because it's followed by "Only the one boy. If it had been more, rest assured you wouldn't be here right now." "You'd better not be lying!" "I assure you, if I had more practice, you would have remained a vessel."
Xehanort is just so dang cocky! But he's also matter-of-fact and that whole scene just gave me shivers.
And then we've got Kuin actually running into Xigbar. Xigbar who, before this, has literally just been beach-hopping and staying under everyone's radar. He managed because most people forgot that he didn't survive the battle of Castle Oblivion. I loved putting Kuin up against him because we've got two gunners who are full of themselves in different ways clashing and it leads to beautiful things.
Then we've also got Mickey going up against Marlynort. Because Mickey's been up to a lot of things, which is what this chapter was supposed to address from the beginning, but then I figured that Marlynort should also be up to something, so hey, why not make a few things line up. So Mickey fights Marlynort and gets an idea of what everyone's up against.
And then Xion, Axel, and Roxas return just in time for Terra to finish off his inner Xehanort. And he's rid of Xehanort for good. And all is well for Terra.
I feel like I should have more to say and I know I've done more in the past, but that's all I've got for right now. Prepare for a Larxene Sequence post in the next few days.
Sunday, January 4, 2015
Corona etc (58-68)
I know that the Larxene Sequence happens in here as well, but I'm saving that for another post because it deserves its own post, not to be lumped in with this one.
Granted, the Corona arc isn't a major arc. The main event is certainly what's going on with Larxene at the same time. However, Corona is important.
But, before I talk about that, let's talk about Zack and Aerith getting engaged!
It seems like so long ago that Zack ran off to get a symbol for their relationship. (Who all guess it was going to be an engagement ring?) I left it open originally partially because I wasn't sure what the trinket was going to be. I thought of other things he could get her that would effectively be the same thing. But I decided that the small ring was perfect anyway.
I wrote chapters 56 (the end of the last arc) and 57 back-to-back within the same day. The aftermath of Marluxia--excuse me, Marlynort--was exhilarating (regardless of how depressing it was) to write. And then there was chapter 57 which was all the happy Zerith feels. I didn't even have to work to hard at it. The words just flew onto the page. And now they're happily engaged and all is right with the Worlds. Or something cheesy like that.
Chapter 58 was a pain to write because after chapter 57, nothing was interesting. But I managed. Granted, nothing terribly exciting happens in that chapter, much of it is just Sora's thoughts, but hey, they get to Corona.
I don't remember, but I think chapter 59 was a quickish one to write. The ones where I split up the POVs tend to happen that way. Granted, it was all mostly filler: Kuin looking for Xigbar but not actually finding him, Marlene and Barret arriving in Hollow Bastion, Yuffie blowing up something in Cid's workshop and having to deal with it. Nothing terribly plot important, but did allow for character development. Mostly for Yuffie though, honestly. She's been growing up a lot this fic. And her actually taking responsibility for something without being coerced is good.
Then there's the events of Corona, or at least the first part anyway. Corona's not a place that's been having a lot of problems. Things are quiet. Rapunzel and Flynn are away at the coronation ceremony preceding Elsa's outburst that froze the place. The King and Queen of Corona are just going about their business when Marlynort shows up and starts to cause trouble. Naturally, Sora and his friends sign themselves up to take care of the problem. They take time finding Marlynort because he's a true Chaotic Evil and is enjoying causing a ruckus. This is where the Namine Replica shows up and those shenanigans begin.
The Cloud chapter makes me really happy. Because the first bit of it is him trying to figure out what's going on with Zack and Aerith--because they haven't told anybody yet. (Too much thought of elopement to say anything yet.) And then Sephiroth shows up and Leon and Cloud fight him and win. It's great.
And just when you thought I wasn't going to throw a Remnant at you because of Marlynort and Larxene and everything, a wild Remnant appears in Disney Town and tries to go after none other than Demyx. Poor Demyx. Not that that's going to happen if Terra, Ven, and Aqua have a say. And when the going got tough, Mickey and Minnie both showed up and were BAMF. I love writing for the two of them. They are amazing and wonderful and my forevership. I don't remember rar's exact reaction upon reading it, but it was definitely like "YOUREGIVING ME MICKEYXMINNIE FEELS AND I JUST>>> AAAAAAHHHHH...."
Cue battle with Marlynort that's really hard when your forces are cut in half. (Like seriously, imagine game mechanics where you're FORCED to do that battle halved because the other half of your party is off fighting Larxene.) (I'd like to think that you could choose the party that went, but for that battle with Larxene (and what follows it) it's kind of necessary that the people that went went.) And after the battle, cue everyone being uneasy because Marlynort talks a good show.
Then, HAVE SOME MORE FLUFF (which I'm sure is what I said to rar when I sent her the chapter) with Zack and Aerith announcing their engagement and upcoming wedding.
And Corona is quietly wrapped up and the others return and they head off to Deep Space for the next adventure.
Larxene stuff to come.
Granted, the Corona arc isn't a major arc. The main event is certainly what's going on with Larxene at the same time. However, Corona is important.
But, before I talk about that, let's talk about Zack and Aerith getting engaged!
It seems like so long ago that Zack ran off to get a symbol for their relationship. (Who all guess it was going to be an engagement ring?) I left it open originally partially because I wasn't sure what the trinket was going to be. I thought of other things he could get her that would effectively be the same thing. But I decided that the small ring was perfect anyway.
I wrote chapters 56 (the end of the last arc) and 57 back-to-back within the same day. The aftermath of Marluxia--excuse me, Marlynort--was exhilarating (regardless of how depressing it was) to write. And then there was chapter 57 which was all the happy Zerith feels. I didn't even have to work to hard at it. The words just flew onto the page. And now they're happily engaged and all is right with the Worlds. Or something cheesy like that.
Chapter 58 was a pain to write because after chapter 57, nothing was interesting. But I managed. Granted, nothing terribly exciting happens in that chapter, much of it is just Sora's thoughts, but hey, they get to Corona.
I don't remember, but I think chapter 59 was a quickish one to write. The ones where I split up the POVs tend to happen that way. Granted, it was all mostly filler: Kuin looking for Xigbar but not actually finding him, Marlene and Barret arriving in Hollow Bastion, Yuffie blowing up something in Cid's workshop and having to deal with it. Nothing terribly plot important, but did allow for character development. Mostly for Yuffie though, honestly. She's been growing up a lot this fic. And her actually taking responsibility for something without being coerced is good.
Then there's the events of Corona, or at least the first part anyway. Corona's not a place that's been having a lot of problems. Things are quiet. Rapunzel and Flynn are away at the coronation ceremony preceding Elsa's outburst that froze the place. The King and Queen of Corona are just going about their business when Marlynort shows up and starts to cause trouble. Naturally, Sora and his friends sign themselves up to take care of the problem. They take time finding Marlynort because he's a true Chaotic Evil and is enjoying causing a ruckus. This is where the Namine Replica shows up and those shenanigans begin.
The Cloud chapter makes me really happy. Because the first bit of it is him trying to figure out what's going on with Zack and Aerith--because they haven't told anybody yet. (Too much thought of elopement to say anything yet.) And then Sephiroth shows up and Leon and Cloud fight him and win. It's great.
And just when you thought I wasn't going to throw a Remnant at you because of Marlynort and Larxene and everything, a wild Remnant appears in Disney Town and tries to go after none other than Demyx. Poor Demyx. Not that that's going to happen if Terra, Ven, and Aqua have a say. And when the going got tough, Mickey and Minnie both showed up and were BAMF. I love writing for the two of them. They are amazing and wonderful and my forevership. I don't remember rar's exact reaction upon reading it, but it was definitely like "YOUREGIVING ME MICKEYXMINNIE FEELS AND I JUST>>> AAAAAAHHHHH...."
Cue battle with Marlynort that's really hard when your forces are cut in half. (Like seriously, imagine game mechanics where you're FORCED to do that battle halved because the other half of your party is off fighting Larxene.) (I'd like to think that you could choose the party that went, but for that battle with Larxene (and what follows it) it's kind of necessary that the people that went went.) And after the battle, cue everyone being uneasy because Marlynort talks a good show.
Then, HAVE SOME MORE FLUFF (which I'm sure is what I said to rar when I sent her the chapter) with Zack and Aerith announcing their engagement and upcoming wedding.
And Corona is quietly wrapped up and the others return and they head off to Deep Space for the next adventure.
Larxene stuff to come.
Friday, January 2, 2015
Arendelle (aka Frozen) (Chapter 41-52)
My longest sequence yet, pretty much entirely because I split the group in two and did alternating POVs within the main group to get more story. I had story with Elsa and also one with Anna. I split the group firstly in the most logical way I could think: Kairi, Namine, and Roxas with Anna; Sora, Riku, Xion, Axel with Elsa.
First I wanted to split up the couples because there always is someone who freaks that their counterpart is not there. I wanted to send Axel to Elsa because of the contrast in ice and fire. I also wanted Riku to have the opportunity to talk to Elsa about dark pasts. Sora's great at bringing even the most stubborn person to a place where they'll talk. And I couldn't just have all the boys go one place and the girls another, so Xion went with them. Plus, that enabled me to have fun with the Xion-Axel dynamic. I love their friendship. It's fantastic. This split allowed Namine and Kairi to become suspicious of Anna's "I just met him but I want to marry him" antics, and also allowed them to be terribly suspicious of Hans, but Roxas, who misses those social cues, would be rather oblivious to it. It also allowed for Roxas and Kristoff to kind of bond in a weird way over how women behave weirdly.
Of course, after they all meet up in Elsa's ice castle, everyone gets to talk to everyone. Namine and Elsa talking is particularly a necessity. (That and Namine fixes Anna's memory issue--something that I didn't think solved in the movie.) Then, when the guards come in and everyone gets split up again, it doesn't stick with the original splits, because I thought that would be weird. Granted, Namine and Xion were the only two that swapped, but that's how the battle ended up lining up.
Me doing a Frozen story was in part because I knew Frozen was popular and it fit well into the Kingdom Hearts universe. The other reason I did it was because I thought that the original story of Frozen had a lot of plot holes in it that putting it into the bounds of Kingdom Hearts could fix (granted, the movie itself could just have parts rewritten to be better, but this was my golden opportunity so I took it.) And I stuck pretty close to a story that Kingdom Hearts got a hold of. The most major difference I think was Hans' ability to use Fire. Something that I added because I saw a tumblr most months ago postulating that Hans might have fire powers, due to him always wearing gloves and how that would make for an interesting plot twist.
The biggest things that I chose to "fix" were Anna and Elsa's relationship to each other, the events in the ice castle, and Anna's trip to the trolls. I wanted some real stuff to be solved in the trip to the ice castle, not a whole bunch of people not listening to each other. Namine fixing Anna's memory and informing Elsa about it was also part of it and obviously something that can only happen in my canon. Even without that, some sort of explanation about why Anna can be told now would have been nice as far as the actual movie went. I took out everything unnecessary regarding the trolls (which was most of it as far as the middle of the movie was concerned.) All that needed to happen was the bit about true love--no obnoxious shipping songs, no bunny trails, just straight-to-the-point moving the plot forward. Fluff is nice, obnoxious shipping songs are not.
And I'm sure ya'll hate me now because I've critiqued Frozen. But I don't care. I rewrote this to make myself feel better about some SERIOUS issues with the writing. Come on, Disney, you're better than that.
And during all that I also have Cloud being more of a reasonable human being instead of his broody self. I'm not sure why he started acting happier, but he did. He started taking blows as they came instead of worrying about the next sixteen of them. Even Hades' hellhounds didn't put a damper on his mood.
Then I also have Terra, Aqua, and Ven poking around on Kuin's homeworld. I was thinking of a place that they could go to learn something about Xehanort and I remembered that he'd taken particular offense to Kuin's people so there was as good a place as any. They also had the overlaid negative feelings because negativity was a motif for this part of the fic. And Terra being able to recognize them was great. And then they run into Kuin--they run into Kuin more than anyone else this fic, go figure--and they talk some sense into her. Kuin's not been doing so hot because the events of the past 20 years are catching up to her. And the three of them are so great, they convince her that working together is better than not working together.
Ima take a moment and talk about Axel's relationship with Xion. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but I'll mention it again anyway. I love their friendship. It reminds me of me and a friend of mine actually. The age difference (his and mine and the apparent age difference between Xion and Axel) is definitely something fun to play with. It's almost brother-sisterly, but at the same time it's very much friendship based. And they just poke so much fun at each other it's great.
I also love Xion's reactions to the World around her. Because her time in the Organization didn't really give her a good idea of what any of that was. And then she went to Riku's place and spent all the time that anyone else would be sleeping reading books and so she has a bit of a skewed sense of reality and it shows up in funny moments. Like when the trolls started mentioning true love.
And just when you thought we weren't going to deal with a Remnant for a while, I throw one at you and he tries to Nort Aqua. Obviously it's not effective because Aqua's heart is strong and she puts up a great struggle (and Kuin very nearly becomes a huge coward) but Aqua now has a bit of Xehanort's memories to paw through and a lot to think about.
Then I've got quiet expansions in Hollow Bastion. Not taking too much time out of the story to go over minutia, but the school foundation has been found, Space Paranoids is being expanded (I half wanted it to include something like int he world of Wreck it Ralph, but I didn't have the time to do that in the fic as a whole.) Additionally, the magic is returning to the place, and everyone's quietly taking bets as to what Zack is up to. Oh, and Cloud's perkier.
Things I'm down with:
-The idea that there are some Worlds not touched by Heartless
-Sora channeling Goofy
-Riku insisting to Elsa that he's seen worse
-Xion being blunt
-Sora, Riku, Xion, and Axel helping Elsa get control of her powers
-Cloud getting better
-Cloud trying to get rid of the hellhounds by stopping random places inside and outside the Betwixt and Between
-Kristoff being shocked that Roxas, Namine, and Kairi have seen worse and weirder than his current situation
-Terra's ability to recognize that negative feelings were probably a result of external forces
-The line "butt singed through the ice yet?"
-Axel flipping Xion off
-Namine downing an ether before she gets down to business
-Axel setting fire to a staircase
-Aerith just casually saying Denzel can stay (but meaning it very seriously)
-Yuffie telling Denzel that "they'll tell you when you're older"
-Sora somehow managing never to wake up in prison until Arendelle and Riku's bafflement about that
-Xion wondering why Kairi uses "perhapsy" words
-Xion expecting Anna and Kristoff to kiss because that's what happens in the books
-Kuin deciding to go after Xigbar with utmost determination
-Xion correctly assuming that the others are in prison though having no way of proving it until later
-The line "Hey Sora, how about you come find me and save me the trouble of finding you."
-Axel telling Elsa that not feeling is not cool, because he would know
-Them all poking fun at Hades
First I wanted to split up the couples because there always is someone who freaks that their counterpart is not there. I wanted to send Axel to Elsa because of the contrast in ice and fire. I also wanted Riku to have the opportunity to talk to Elsa about dark pasts. Sora's great at bringing even the most stubborn person to a place where they'll talk. And I couldn't just have all the boys go one place and the girls another, so Xion went with them. Plus, that enabled me to have fun with the Xion-Axel dynamic. I love their friendship. It's fantastic. This split allowed Namine and Kairi to become suspicious of Anna's "I just met him but I want to marry him" antics, and also allowed them to be terribly suspicious of Hans, but Roxas, who misses those social cues, would be rather oblivious to it. It also allowed for Roxas and Kristoff to kind of bond in a weird way over how women behave weirdly.
Of course, after they all meet up in Elsa's ice castle, everyone gets to talk to everyone. Namine and Elsa talking is particularly a necessity. (That and Namine fixes Anna's memory issue--something that I didn't think solved in the movie.) Then, when the guards come in and everyone gets split up again, it doesn't stick with the original splits, because I thought that would be weird. Granted, Namine and Xion were the only two that swapped, but that's how the battle ended up lining up.
Me doing a Frozen story was in part because I knew Frozen was popular and it fit well into the Kingdom Hearts universe. The other reason I did it was because I thought that the original story of Frozen had a lot of plot holes in it that putting it into the bounds of Kingdom Hearts could fix (granted, the movie itself could just have parts rewritten to be better, but this was my golden opportunity so I took it.) And I stuck pretty close to a story that Kingdom Hearts got a hold of. The most major difference I think was Hans' ability to use Fire. Something that I added because I saw a tumblr most months ago postulating that Hans might have fire powers, due to him always wearing gloves and how that would make for an interesting plot twist.
The biggest things that I chose to "fix" were Anna and Elsa's relationship to each other, the events in the ice castle, and Anna's trip to the trolls. I wanted some real stuff to be solved in the trip to the ice castle, not a whole bunch of people not listening to each other. Namine fixing Anna's memory and informing Elsa about it was also part of it and obviously something that can only happen in my canon. Even without that, some sort of explanation about why Anna can be told now would have been nice as far as the actual movie went. I took out everything unnecessary regarding the trolls (which was most of it as far as the middle of the movie was concerned.) All that needed to happen was the bit about true love--no obnoxious shipping songs, no bunny trails, just straight-to-the-point moving the plot forward. Fluff is nice, obnoxious shipping songs are not.
And I'm sure ya'll hate me now because I've critiqued Frozen. But I don't care. I rewrote this to make myself feel better about some SERIOUS issues with the writing. Come on, Disney, you're better than that.
And during all that I also have Cloud being more of a reasonable human being instead of his broody self. I'm not sure why he started acting happier, but he did. He started taking blows as they came instead of worrying about the next sixteen of them. Even Hades' hellhounds didn't put a damper on his mood.
Then I also have Terra, Aqua, and Ven poking around on Kuin's homeworld. I was thinking of a place that they could go to learn something about Xehanort and I remembered that he'd taken particular offense to Kuin's people so there was as good a place as any. They also had the overlaid negative feelings because negativity was a motif for this part of the fic. And Terra being able to recognize them was great. And then they run into Kuin--they run into Kuin more than anyone else this fic, go figure--and they talk some sense into her. Kuin's not been doing so hot because the events of the past 20 years are catching up to her. And the three of them are so great, they convince her that working together is better than not working together.
Ima take a moment and talk about Axel's relationship with Xion. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but I'll mention it again anyway. I love their friendship. It reminds me of me and a friend of mine actually. The age difference (his and mine and the apparent age difference between Xion and Axel) is definitely something fun to play with. It's almost brother-sisterly, but at the same time it's very much friendship based. And they just poke so much fun at each other it's great.
I also love Xion's reactions to the World around her. Because her time in the Organization didn't really give her a good idea of what any of that was. And then she went to Riku's place and spent all the time that anyone else would be sleeping reading books and so she has a bit of a skewed sense of reality and it shows up in funny moments. Like when the trolls started mentioning true love.
And just when you thought we weren't going to deal with a Remnant for a while, I throw one at you and he tries to Nort Aqua. Obviously it's not effective because Aqua's heart is strong and she puts up a great struggle (and Kuin very nearly becomes a huge coward) but Aqua now has a bit of Xehanort's memories to paw through and a lot to think about.
Then I've got quiet expansions in Hollow Bastion. Not taking too much time out of the story to go over minutia, but the school foundation has been found, Space Paranoids is being expanded (I half wanted it to include something like int he world of Wreck it Ralph, but I didn't have the time to do that in the fic as a whole.) Additionally, the magic is returning to the place, and everyone's quietly taking bets as to what Zack is up to. Oh, and Cloud's perkier.
Things I'm down with:
-The idea that there are some Worlds not touched by Heartless
-Sora channeling Goofy
-Riku insisting to Elsa that he's seen worse
-Xion being blunt
-Sora, Riku, Xion, and Axel helping Elsa get control of her powers
-Cloud getting better
-Cloud trying to get rid of the hellhounds by stopping random places inside and outside the Betwixt and Between
-Kristoff being shocked that Roxas, Namine, and Kairi have seen worse and weirder than his current situation
-Terra's ability to recognize that negative feelings were probably a result of external forces
-The line "butt singed through the ice yet?"
-Axel flipping Xion off
-Namine downing an ether before she gets down to business
-Axel setting fire to a staircase
-Aerith just casually saying Denzel can stay (but meaning it very seriously)
-Yuffie telling Denzel that "they'll tell you when you're older"
-Sora somehow managing never to wake up in prison until Arendelle and Riku's bafflement about that
-Xion wondering why Kairi uses "perhapsy" words
-Xion expecting Anna and Kristoff to kiss because that's what happens in the books
-Kuin deciding to go after Xigbar with utmost determination
-Xion correctly assuming that the others are in prison though having no way of proving it until later
-The line "Hey Sora, how about you come find me and save me the trouble of finding you."
-Axel telling Elsa that not feeling is not cool, because he would know
-Them all poking fun at Hades
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Developments (62)
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See, first there's the addition of Demyx to the Organization. It's been a while since any new recruits. The last person anyone found was Cloud, and he was totally still a somebody. Still is. Always will be. But really, the last two recruits added were Saix and Axel. It's been a while. Not that it matters, Xemnas has a crapton of plans in place. *rolls eyes*
Then there's the development in Rinoa's training. Which is going well, I suppose. She just doesn't like fighting everything that's in her memories.
Then there's Leon trying to make that second entrance to the Secret Waterway--an entrance which Merlin puts there for him. And we've now entered the wonderful relationship that is Merlin and Cid not ever getting along. It's so amusing.
And then there's Tifa, who's getting closer to Cloud, but she's still a while behind him. However, I enjoyed making references to all of the people. Though, it's so weird, that Tifa knows none of them. I mean, she will eventually, but she has no clue who any of them are as of yet. And Yuffie's just so incredibly rude.
Anyway, review responses.
KKBeckett: Is Xigbar up to something? Oh, I probably suppose so. I think he's always up to something. :P Why was Master Yen Sid making Rinoa fight out of her memories? Well, I suppose it's because he sees the value of learning from past experiences, and he has the ability to literally make something like that happen. Rinoa, however, does not believe that she will gain anything by fighting Squall, and Master Yen Sid decides he's not going to argue her on that one, because that's not really his place. Rinoa, honestly, should learn to fight alongside him. Which, she already knows, so whatever. Yes, Tifa did see Aerith, but she really doesn't recognize her, which, as I mentioned before, is so picking weird!
*sigh* Another short blog post. I suppose they'll get longer in a bit though :P
Teaser Quotes:
"What's causing all of this?"
"If I knew, I would tell you."
"Stand back, I'm going to call a summon."
"If you haven't noticed, I can't move."
"I'm not going to aim it at you!"
"Do you have a Blizzard materia?"
"No! I can only carry four. And between my Cura, the Steal, and Bahamut, I've only got room for one more. You're lucky I didn't have the Fire equipped!"
"Summoning again!"
"But I want to!"
"Fine!"
"What are those green ones?"
"Focus on those! They can Cure the others."
"On it!"
More Christmas Videos!
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| by fortisisimo on dA |
Then there's the development in Rinoa's training. Which is going well, I suppose. She just doesn't like fighting everything that's in her memories.
Then there's Leon trying to make that second entrance to the Secret Waterway--an entrance which Merlin puts there for him. And we've now entered the wonderful relationship that is Merlin and Cid not ever getting along. It's so amusing.
And then there's Tifa, who's getting closer to Cloud, but she's still a while behind him. However, I enjoyed making references to all of the people. Though, it's so weird, that Tifa knows none of them. I mean, she will eventually, but she has no clue who any of them are as of yet. And Yuffie's just so incredibly rude.
Anyway, review responses.
KKBeckett: Is Xigbar up to something? Oh, I probably suppose so. I think he's always up to something. :P Why was Master Yen Sid making Rinoa fight out of her memories? Well, I suppose it's because he sees the value of learning from past experiences, and he has the ability to literally make something like that happen. Rinoa, however, does not believe that she will gain anything by fighting Squall, and Master Yen Sid decides he's not going to argue her on that one, because that's not really his place. Rinoa, honestly, should learn to fight alongside him. Which, she already knows, so whatever. Yes, Tifa did see Aerith, but she really doesn't recognize her, which, as I mentioned before, is so picking weird!
*sigh* Another short blog post. I suppose they'll get longer in a bit though :P
Teaser Quotes:
"What's causing all of this?"
"If I knew, I would tell you."
"Stand back, I'm going to call a summon."
"If you haven't noticed, I can't move."
"I'm not going to aim it at you!"
"Do you have a Blizzard materia?"
"No! I can only carry four. And between my Cura, the Steal, and Bahamut, I've only got room for one more. You're lucky I didn't have the Fire equipped!"
"Summoning again!"
"But I want to!"
"Fine!"
"What are those green ones?"
"Focus on those! They can Cure the others."
"On it!"
More Christmas Videos!
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Xiggy gets away with stuff (Prequel ch44)
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I thought up this idea over the summer when I wasn't quite sure how I was getting Cloud out of the Realm of Darkness. I was going to go with having the Sephiroth part of his heart (because that exists) decide that he'd get Cloud out of the darkness for some reason, but I couldn't think of a good reason why Sephiroth would bother with such a thing. I wasn't really sure what else would work.
And then this idea with Xigbar happened. Xigbar basically just took over. And he gets Cloud out of the Realm of Darkness because he thinks he's a Nobody because he's not showing too many emotions but he's totally still a somebody (yeah, that's kind of a jab at Cloud I suppose), and yeah... The banter between Xigbar and Xemnas is just beautiful, mostly because Xigbar's the only one in the whole Organization who can get away with saying such a thing. And he takes the whole situation well, basically just saying "well, okay, whatever" because he's Xigbar, and that's Old Man Xehanort in a different body. All the same, Xigbar does what Xemnas says and just leaves Cloud on some world. And no, I'm not telling you which one it is. rar was able to guess, you could probably figure it out. (Yes, I'm mean.)
Also, this cosplay is fairly renowned on tumblr for being awesome, just saying.
Anyway, one last thought ('cause it's late and I want to keep this short). The person they're waiting for is Larxene. Which, I've mentioned before. But I just love the idea of them keeping tabs on her because they KNOW she'll make a powerful Nobody and it's only a matter of time. Heheh. But, we're a long way away from that if the last people to be added were Axel and Saix, just sayin'.
Anyway, not saying what's following Cloud either. Muahahaha!
This is the other half of the video I posted the other day. It's originally sung by Gumi, but she's not designed for English, so this is a pretty nice cover:
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I thought up this idea over the summer when I wasn't quite sure how I was getting Cloud out of the Realm of Darkness. I was going to go with having the Sephiroth part of his heart (because that exists) decide that he'd get Cloud out of the darkness for some reason, but I couldn't think of a good reason why Sephiroth would bother with such a thing. I wasn't really sure what else would work.
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| cosplay by thru-apeture-eyes photo by AfterlifeUSEC |
Also, this cosplay is fairly renowned on tumblr for being awesome, just saying.
Anyway, one last thought ('cause it's late and I want to keep this short). The person they're waiting for is Larxene. Which, I've mentioned before. But I just love the idea of them keeping tabs on her because they KNOW she'll make a powerful Nobody and it's only a matter of time. Heheh. But, we're a long way away from that if the last people to be added were Axel and Saix, just sayin'.
Anyway, not saying what's following Cloud either. Muahahaha!
This is the other half of the video I posted the other day. It's originally sung by Gumi, but she's not designed for English, so this is a pretty nice cover:
Friday, October 18, 2013
Epic Blog Title for the Chapter, Yeah? (ch 41)
Clearly I don't feel like being too imaginative on that one. :P
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Dude... writing a blog when you're distracted is actually super hard. Meh. Anyway. So, in short, yay! Rinoa's possessed again and Leon has to save her, again. (I'm awful, I know.)
Originally, before I determined that Ultimecia's consciousness would fight back, it was actually just going to be a darkness-consumed Rinoa, because Ultimecia's magic was so infused with darkness that it ended up in Rinoa. But then, when I determined that Adel was going to possess Rinoa, it occurred to me that if Adel could do that, Ultimecia could/would as well.
And so here we are.
Poor Leon. And the Cures don't do any good because darkness. (It's a well-known fact in mine and rar's universes that Cures just don't work when there's too much darkness... see... haha... *sobs* ... Zack's death...)
Potions, however, work! Rar and I had a whole conversation on this, how potions just help the body heal, and the body doesn't want the darkness there, so it pushes the darkness out. As opposed to Cures, which are magic and just fix things... but the darkness can cancel them out. I mean, if there's only a little darkness, say, one dark bullet from Xigbar, it won't be a problem. But completely darkness-infused wounds, or a darkness-raging person... yeah, no, a Cure's not gonna work at all. Even if it's a Curasa.
Anyway, but Leon's gonna battle until someone dies (and hopefully it's Ultimecia.) Because Leon loves Rinoa and he admits this now. And Quistis isn't going to go down without a fight, either. So that was pretty fun to write.
I think, if I were to pick two favorite parts battle-wise, is when Quistis has Reflect on herself and it goes to Rinoa and Quistis just swears because she WARNED Leon about it, but then forgot it herself. And then the second is when Leon pulls the mega-potion out of his pocket and thanks Aerith and it works on Rinoa because Leon considers her an ally.
I'm also super a fan of the imagery of Leon holding Rinoa down, forcing her to get healed even though the battle is far from over. It's the tragedy-lover in me. I did the same thing in RE5 when you have to fight Jill when she's possessed. Yup. I'm a weirdo.
But, yeah, I think that's all I have to say on that note.
Have a completely unrelated video!
Chapter
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Dude... writing a blog when you're distracted is actually super hard. Meh. Anyway. So, in short, yay! Rinoa's possessed again and Leon has to save her, again. (I'm awful, I know.)
Originally, before I determined that Ultimecia's consciousness would fight back, it was actually just going to be a darkness-consumed Rinoa, because Ultimecia's magic was so infused with darkness that it ended up in Rinoa. But then, when I determined that Adel was going to possess Rinoa, it occurred to me that if Adel could do that, Ultimecia could/would as well.
And so here we are.
Poor Leon. And the Cures don't do any good because darkness. (It's a well-known fact in mine and rar's universes that Cures just don't work when there's too much darkness... see... haha... *sobs* ... Zack's death...)
Potions, however, work! Rar and I had a whole conversation on this, how potions just help the body heal, and the body doesn't want the darkness there, so it pushes the darkness out. As opposed to Cures, which are magic and just fix things... but the darkness can cancel them out. I mean, if there's only a little darkness, say, one dark bullet from Xigbar, it won't be a problem. But completely darkness-infused wounds, or a darkness-raging person... yeah, no, a Cure's not gonna work at all. Even if it's a Curasa.
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| by Kimika |
I think, if I were to pick two favorite parts battle-wise, is when Quistis has Reflect on herself and it goes to Rinoa and Quistis just swears because she WARNED Leon about it, but then forgot it herself. And then the second is when Leon pulls the mega-potion out of his pocket and thanks Aerith and it works on Rinoa because Leon considers her an ally.
I'm also super a fan of the imagery of Leon holding Rinoa down, forcing her to get healed even though the battle is far from over. It's the tragedy-lover in me. I did the same thing in RE5 when you have to fight Jill when she's possessed. Yup. I'm a weirdo.
But, yeah, I think that's all I have to say on that note.
Have a completely unrelated video!
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Rinoa's Inner Fight (26)
Well, I'm not behind on homework anymore. But I'm certainly not ahead either. Oi.
Anyway, link to the chapter: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9446325/26/What-s-all-Gone-on-Before
Link to the tumbl: http://magiksbrain.tumblr.com/tagged/ch26/chrono/
So, once again, I've got a chapter that's split up into four sections. The FFVIII arc takes up half of it, then I have Denzel's birth slid in as well as the ending sequence involving Lea and Isa (now Axel and Saix.)
I do feel bad for Zell, because he's kind of just standing there awkwardly while everyone else figures out their next move. Laguna's super apologetic after what happened and he wants to make it up to Leon and Leon's just like "go away, I never liked you anyway."
So, this is where I start being super mean to Rinoa though. Originally, Ultimecia was supposed to come and absorb Adel's powers before Rinoa could get to them. This would then of course spurn a ton of "oh crap, we have to kill her before she kills us all now!" But as I was writing, I got to thinking that I liked the idea of Adel trying to make Rinoa a vessel again. I thought "oh crap, that's mean", but I just couldn't resist! Once I had it worked out, I was super in love with the idea, so it stuck. It spawned this in my outline:
"Before they even leave Esthar, Rinoa suddenly loses control of the second set of Sorceress' powers. Adel's consciousness overpowers her and Rinoa is essentially possessed by Adel. She starts destroying Esthar. Esthar police come and lock Rinoa up in the containment facility."
So, yup, that happened.
Outside of that, I decided to give the chapter with Denzel's birth as a marker for where we are in the timeline, more than anything else.
Same thing goes for Lea and Isa. Though, they have a little bit more plot involved. This marks when they're found by the organization, specifically Xigbar. I also tried to show Lea's apprehension about the whole thing. Lea and Isa's friendship is still intact though, at this point. For now, at least.
Anyway, let's do review responses.
archsage from chapter 25: Yes. Oh dear is right.
From chapter 26: I'm glad you're finding things to be getting more and more interesting. To answer your question about locations of other people: Marlene isn't born yet, Vincent and the others are around. (I know, so specific, huh?) Other than that, no, I haven't read that particular fic, maybe I will when I get a chance.
KKBeckett: Yes, Leon would really like it if Laguna stopped helping. Not that that's going to happen anytime soon. And, yeah, Axel's a little over it all.
Anyway, this video is just for fun and giggles. There was a post on tumblr that highlighted the piece of music (one that my cello teacher had hanging on her wall for laughs). My friend (who doesn't play music) was talking about how that should be possible. But... it's not. It's just... not. Not for one person playing everything.
Anyway, link to the chapter: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9446325/26/What-s-all-Gone-on-Before
Link to the tumbl: http://magiksbrain.tumblr.com/tagged/ch26/chrono/
So, once again, I've got a chapter that's split up into four sections. The FFVIII arc takes up half of it, then I have Denzel's birth slid in as well as the ending sequence involving Lea and Isa (now Axel and Saix.)
I do feel bad for Zell, because he's kind of just standing there awkwardly while everyone else figures out their next move. Laguna's super apologetic after what happened and he wants to make it up to Leon and Leon's just like "go away, I never liked you anyway."
So, this is where I start being super mean to Rinoa though. Originally, Ultimecia was supposed to come and absorb Adel's powers before Rinoa could get to them. This would then of course spurn a ton of "oh crap, we have to kill her before she kills us all now!" But as I was writing, I got to thinking that I liked the idea of Adel trying to make Rinoa a vessel again. I thought "oh crap, that's mean", but I just couldn't resist! Once I had it worked out, I was super in love with the idea, so it stuck. It spawned this in my outline:
"Before they even leave Esthar, Rinoa suddenly loses control of the second set of Sorceress' powers. Adel's consciousness overpowers her and Rinoa is essentially possessed by Adel. She starts destroying Esthar. Esthar police come and lock Rinoa up in the containment facility."
So, yup, that happened.
Outside of that, I decided to give the chapter with Denzel's birth as a marker for where we are in the timeline, more than anything else.
 |
| by ~G-a-t-i-n-h-a on dA |
Anyway, let's do review responses.
archsage from chapter 25: Yes. Oh dear is right.
From chapter 26: I'm glad you're finding things to be getting more and more interesting. To answer your question about locations of other people: Marlene isn't born yet, Vincent and the others are around. (I know, so specific, huh?) Other than that, no, I haven't read that particular fic, maybe I will when I get a chance.
KKBeckett: Yes, Leon would really like it if Laguna stopped helping. Not that that's going to happen anytime soon. And, yeah, Axel's a little over it all.
Anyway, this video is just for fun and giggles. There was a post on tumblr that highlighted the piece of music (one that my cello teacher had hanging on her wall for laughs). My friend (who doesn't play music) was talking about how that should be possible. But... it's not. It's just... not. Not for one person playing everything.
Monday, December 3, 2012
This is the End of the Fic as we Know it (ch71)
And yes, it was/is Xigbar in that scene. A lot of you asked about him throughout the fic and he needed a cameo.
That's really actually all I have to say on the chapter/epilogue-like-substance thing. Well, other than this is actually the end. (Archsage, I made sure to file it as complete!) I mean, granted, I finished writing this over a month ago (time flies), but I spaced my last chapter postings out throughout November to avoid spamming and stuff.
Currently, I'm not really thinking about what I'm going to do next for the series. (It will probably be a short prequelish thing though, involving mainly the Final Fantasy characters to explain how they fit into my universe and whatnot.) Currently, I'm about halfway through my novel. (See my other blog for info on that.)
Erm. Yeah. Ugh, I just haven't been very good at blogging lately. Ah well! Good luck during exams and stuff everybody (because I know they're coming up, mine start tomorrow). See ya 'round!
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