More Plotting

So I left off yesterday after some reposting of an old conversation between me and rar.  I thought I might continue what I have of that for your guys' benefit.  Because, honestly, there's a lot of good stuff about how the whole idea for Zerith's wedding came up.  

Though, tbh, I almost wished I'd remembered this whole conversation when I wrote the chapter of Aerith's wedding day, because that first line there is beautiful! Then again, I do like it better where there's some week-before set-up, and the line wouldn't have flowed with all that leading into it.

magik: "it was in a church--Aerith's doing... Zack didn't care (would have married her on the moon for all he cared)" nice, simple... She'd probably settle for Yuffie, Tifa, and Rinoa for the bridesmaids.  Zack would have Cloud, Leon, and I'd think of a third person

rar: shoot since when were there THREE flies?? sorry i just, we had two and killed one but now there's two

magik: they do this thing called breeding. I'm channeling hades, apparently. 

rar: yeah but they're all big and have only been around for this afternoon??

magik: I"M NOT WRITING FOR HIM TOMORROW DARNIT< I"M WRITING CLOUD AND TIFA

rar: I'M SORRY

magik: and sephiroth

rar: THAT'S FRUSTRATING

magik: i need to get in a sephiroth mood

rar: write Hades anyway??? ??? just write it now. go back and do cloud later

magik: no, because then i either A) have to get into Mickey's head or B) have Aqua hover over his shoulder. the time for hades will come. he just needs to hush.

rar: okay, just trying to help

magik: but i need to deal heavily with mickey for that chapter

rar: riiight

FYI: This was the Hades' attack on Disney Castle sequence.  Just for anyone wondering.  I changed Donald/Daisy's wedding into Zerith's wedding very early on into Remnants.  But I am SO SO SO happy with that change.  

This here is some more plotting for the Cloud arc:

magik: hmm... do i want to throw Cloud into Agrabah?

rar: idk? you could

magik: thank you, Tifa, for that line

rar: what line? 

magik: "Cloud, we are wandering around in the desert, and for what?"

rar: stick 'em in Agrabah then

magik: because like, he'd park his bike, and then just start wandering aimlessly, though Tifa knows it's not aimless

rar: how'd they get back to the bike?? he should not lose track of it. just saying, that'd be bad

magik: Tifa can get herself right to it.

rar: goooood point

magik: Cloud just doesn't ask. Tifa's "job" is to go get the bike and save Cloud's butt.

rar: ha yeah 

Because that was before Tifa'd really revealed to anyone that she could form light corridors.  Not that it's a huge deal, but as a point of reference. 

And this upcoming bit was some plot arc that I'd intended on using for Sora.  It kind of made its way in, but not entirely.  

magik: spam you some feels about charrie development: because Sora... Sora's got a darkness problem. not huge, but it's there. because he no longer has so much light in his heart. yup, it's a thing. and while it's not a "problem"

rar: oh yeah, now that Ven's gone

magik: it's a problem in the fact that he has NO IDEA how he's supposed to take care of it, so he has to learn

rar: thaaaaaaaaaaaat's true

magik: and Riku and Kairi have to help him through it, once he admits he needs help. I think it's the only topic he and Kairi fight on, actually. And Kairi... Kairi's learning how to wield a Keyblade, and that's all find and dandy. but then there's Xion, and Xion's just amazing because she's a perf replica

rar: of course

magik: and kairi knows that xion and roxas technically wielded before her and it shouldn't matter, but it does. And Roxas, who just spent a year training and that's all he did. and Kairi's just like... "why can't I be that good?" and then there's Riku... 

rar: (they do have like a year on her tho. both of them. I GET KAIRI'S FEELS I'M JUST SAYING)

magik: shh... it shouldn't matter but it does to her, anyway... but then there's Riku who's kinda just quietly bettering himself

rar: that's Riku for you

magik: he's over most of his demons/skeletons. he's coping. except for when he's not. he and Namine get locked in this "you need to stop being so hard on yourself" thing, because they're both struggling with it. and idk about Roxas and Xion's development at the moment, outside of them wanting to become masters. it'll come to me

but then there's Axel, who gets a double-whammy of character development. first of all, because he's finally coping with everything that involved Isa/Saix, which is huge and major. then he thinks that it's weird that he's included in Sora's friends because, sometimes, he sees himself as the enemy, still. anyway, i'm sorry, did I saw two, i think I meant three... the third one involves Kuin but not in a romantic way, in a "i need to respect you" way, because that whole thing with Xehanort and she has to come to terms with that, and apologize, and realize that she can't do it alone. And Axel can respect her for that

Wow, that was a lot of character talk.  As you can see, a lot of that made it into the 115 chapter monstrosity that is Remnants.  Some of that didn't.  

I never really did deal with Sora's darkness problem.  It came up a bit.  Here and there.  But not overly so.  I think I'd wanted to include it because I knew that Ven was no longer in Sora's heart anymore, and Sora had less light to combat the darkness--plus, Nomura had hinted at stuff like that for KH3.  Well, it didn't make it in to the extent that I'd originally thought it would.  Sure, in my headcanon, he and Kairi probably do argue about it a bit.  I just never wrote it because it never really seemed to flow.  Sora's optimistic and happy, and he wants the best for everyone.  When he worries, it's not because he has darkness problems, it's because he's trying to figure out how he's going to kill four people--all of whom he's killed before and now he has to kill them again.  He's afraid of Xehanort getting one of them and it never once occurs to him that Xehanort'll come for him, too.  At least, not until Xehanort does do that.  

Meanwhile, Kairi's apprehensions about Roxas and Xion being amazing do show up, when it comes time for them to take their Mark exam.  But even that worry was lessened because Kairi is reminded that different people are good at different things.  

Riku and Namine do have this "you need to stop being so hard on yourself" for literally everything.  But, honestly, the best interactions between them are when they're dealing with the aftermath of her shattering Marluxia and her throwing Xehanort from her head.  Good, solid, conversations.

Roxas and Xion are quietly adorable on their way to becoming masters.

Ah yes, and Axel and Kuin.  I'll talk about that now.  Sometime during Betwixt/Between, I realized that trying to pair Axel with Kuin just wasn't going to work.  It might have worked in someone's vague crack-fic after AtP had BB never been written.  But Axel being who he is and Kuin being who she is meant that that two of them would never be a healthy relationship.  And I wasn't in the mood to write an unhealthy one.  So I turned them into rivals and acquaintances, who'd never pursue anything romantically.  It felt better that way.  

Also, it let me subtly ship Akurokushi.  One of my biggest OT3s as of late. My final chapter does contain a reference to that.  

I'll continue in another (and probably final) blog about wedding traditions. 

Axel and Kuin

Okay, so since Kuin exists only inside of my head and there is no fan art of her and Axel because I haven't drawn it, there won't be any pictures in this post.  But I can't leave this couple unmentioned. 

Now I have to do this without spoilers.  Axel and Kuin's "relationship" is developing all out-of-order in my head.  It's developed differently inside of my head than it has on paper.  And it's developed more on paper than I have actually posted.  Yay timey-whimey stuff!

Hmm... now, what to talk about exactly.  Axel and Kuin are the couple that cares about each other... but doesn't want to admit that they care about each other.  That's a good start.  They're not even a true couple yet, really.  (Which is good, honestly, because they've just met each other...)

However, despite having just met each other, Axel and Kuin are also good fighters together.  Remember the giant Heartless in Enchanted Dominon? Or the time in Twilight Town? (granted, that ended up with Axel injured… but it was a preexisting injury so it hardly counts.) 

They don't have any combos (yet).  A lot of this is because they've only fought alongside each other a few times.  And some of it is because I don't have a complete concept on the extent of Kuin's powers. 

When it comes to light and darkness... Kuin is probably as close to "balanced" as she can be.  She has to be.  It's her job description. 

Axel... well, he's certainly dabbled in darkness (heheh... such a fun term) in the past.  He's certainly done dealing with it though.  (As in, working alongside it.)  His sense of self-preservation has kicked in in that regard.  He won't do anything that's super-uber-obviously detrimental to his heart. 

Hmm... do I have anything else to say...

I don't think so... not at the moment...

On the Couples and their Darkness Levels

There are a TON of different pairings/couples in my KHverse.  What's amusing is the differing levels of darkness within any individual couple.  And, I'm posting about it because it's interesting.

First, the obvious one, Sora and Kairi.  Both have incredible amounts of light in their hearts.  Kairi contains no darkness whatsoever.  Sora has a little bit more darkness now that Ven is gone, but he's completely in-check when it comes to his darkness.  There is a SMALL possibility that I may play with Sora's darkness growing, but I mean, if I went too horribly far with it I might as well just be writing rar's story, so I'm not going there.  This is why their combo is called Fated Faith and is completely light-based. 

The next one in high lightness is Zack and Aerith.  Aerith has only the TINIEST bit of darkness inside of her.  Zack's is under control and not causing problems for him.  They don't have any epic combos together, but I mean, both of them are pretty darn powerful.  (Zack isn't the strongest magically, especially compared to Aerith, but he's all for the brute-force hack-and-slash.)  The reason why they don’t particularly have any combos together is BECAUSE they have such different fighting styles. Aerith is mostly magic with a little bit of melee, Zack is all melee with magic when he has to.

Anyway, Next comes Roxas and Xion.  Roxas has got a lot of light, but nothing when put up against people like Aerith and Kairi.  Xion's a replica with her heart built pretty neutral in light versus darkness.  She was originally put together like that by a Nobody who couldn't know the workings of a heart if he tried.  Her next design took on that essence to keep Xion's personality intact.  They can bust out light-attacks pretty quickly though, like Event Horizon and Call of Light.  

The one in perfect neutral balance is Squall and Rinoa though.  Well, they're at least in the middle of all the couples.  Though Rinoa has to maintain complete neutrality because of her Sorceress Status and Squall has to uphold her to that.  They can bust out both light and dark combos (holy vs meteor etc.) with no negative effects.  They are a force to be reckoned with.  I mean, come on, chain-casting Angel Wing and a Lionhearted Renzokuken on the side? You're dead if you're on the receiving end of that.  (Ultima Weapon, anyone? I could probably kill Omega with that too if I went and tried.  (It's on my list of things to do.)  That’s how I did it.  (Well, actually, I think with Ultima, I had Angel Wing going and then he killed Rinoa and I had a Limit lined up for Squall and I just got LUCKY and got Lionheart.))

Then, it's honestly a question of who's dealing with least darkness: Riku, Terra, or Cloud?

Riku's surprisingly dealing with the least.  Even though you could argue that Tifa has more light than Namine, Cloud CERTAINLY is dealing with more darkness than Riku to make up for it.  Riku will still have problems with his darkness.  He tries to keep it in check, but there are times when the power gets the better of him and he starts to slip.  Namine does her best to keep him in check and he's grateful for it.   Namine, on the other hand, it quite light.  She was formed from Kairi's heart which is pure light.  The only thing that can contain darkness is the data that was built into her to make up for her Nobody status.  In no way is Namine innocent and darkness free.  However, she's in check with herself--just a tad guilty and mopey sometimes.  Regardless of their (Riku and Namine’s) darkness levels, they're still ridiculously powerful.  I mean, just look at their Limit Decompression! And, I’m working on getting them a combo too.  (It’s coming up in a chapter that I haven’t written yet, but I’m in the sequence at least!)

Next comes, well, probably Terra and Aqua. Yes, I'm shipping them.  Or, I intend to.  They're not anywhere near a couple yet.  But, I figure they will be eventually.  I like Tequa better than Venqua.  They're closer in age.  Granted, this is a couple I haven't particularly explored all that much.  Terra's dealing with darkness moreso than Riku however, considering he was possessed by Xehanort for way longer than Riku was.  Aqua's pretty neutral and in check and she'll do her best to keep Terra in check.

Cloud and Tifa are at the bottom.  Cloud's got way more darkness to deal with, considering his is a physical manifestation of it.  Yay.  Once Sephiroth is gone, things'll probably change, but, Sephiroth has to die first.  And that's gonna be a while.  Tifa is a very bright person and is just what Cloud needs to help him.  However, he needs to learn to listen a bit more.

So, where do Axel and Kuin fit on this? Well... heheh... probably right after Squall and Rinoa now that I'm looking at it.  Kuin fights for the side of light, but in no way does that make her heart completely pure.  She's a flexor like Rinoa, as explored in the Magical Meeting chapter.  Axel is... well... heheh... far from completely light.  He's got his own darkness to deal with, though it's more in check than Riku's but less in check than Leon’s. 

And... yeah... that's the couples and darkness levels.