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*The Vira Ananta is broodmother Sarisha

Here’s a run-down of the representatives and what we know of them:

Bertliana of Little Ala Mhigo. Wilred’s friend, who honored him at the Tomb of the Forgotten Sword.

Stark Woad of Radiata. She helped the Warrior of Light, Lyse and the Leveilleurs sneak into Castrum Abania at the tail end of 4.0.

Raganfrid of Ala Gannha. The village elder, who knew Curtis Hext well.

A Vira Ananta, presumably Sarisha or Vajra.

An unknown and very colorful Qiqirn. Presumably not one of the murderous ones.

Tibost of the Ala Mhigan Quarter. He can be found in the markets, straight ahead of the gates to the Royal Menagerie. Previously, he was the “Tattooed Troublemaker” in one of the mobs clamoring for Fordola to be executed - the only one who was still reluctant to accept Raubahn’s placations.

J'dyalani of Ala Ghiri. She references Baut, a character in one of the Peaks’ sidequests: Baut is a former Garlean commander who betrayed the Empire to let the Alliance take Ala Ghiri without bloodshed, and the questline ends with J’dyalani confessing her love to him.

Watt of the Saltery. A smuggler in the time of Theodoric, his knowledge of Ala Mhigo’s sewers was instrumental to the Scions infiltrating the capital.

M’rahz Nunh of the M tribe. M’naago’s father and nunh of the Seekers around Peering Stones.

It’s such a diverse group - not only in terms of age and race but also in terms of their perspectives, values and abilities.

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A pretty stunning sunset rainbow during a dust storm over the Sultantree in Central Thanalan. Probably on a par with the one I saw during a thunderstorm a couple of years ago.

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Natsuko Ishikawa went over her process for character writing, including the comprehensive background document she creates for each character. This information doesn’t necessarily make its way into the story, but it’s nevertheless helpful to determine people’s personalities.

She revealed information from some of the Doman characters as an example, confirming that Gosetsu did, in fact, have a wife and daughter before Garlemald.

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Let’s all take stabs at guessing how many dates Hancock’s musty self has been on in Kugane.

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Oh noooooooooo, Cirina…

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I’ve maintained for months now that Ilberd’s character was ultimately shafted throughout 3.X (and even 4.0!) for a multitude of reasons. One of the main things that’s rankled me is the fact that we know so little of his past aside from a casual mention in the lore book, despite the fact that the loss of his family was apparently one of Ilberd’s biggest initial motivations for betraying the Crystal Braves.

As it so happens, the French script actually describes Ilberd’s family in the 2.3 quest “Brave New Companions,” as Ilberd himself shares that he had a wife and multiple children.

A very rough, literal translation:

Ilberd: The Calamity took everything from me: my wife, my children, my village… The despair of the refugees, I know it only too well. It’s for this reason that I’m going to do my utmost in order for this organization to succeed in its mission effectively and so that it serves the needs of the most vulnerable.

Not only does the same line of dialogue in English say nothing about Ilberd’s family, it also completely disregards his apparent desire for the Crystal Braves to “serve the needs of the most vulnerable”… the “most vulnerable” doubtless being Ala Mhigans. In comparison to the French script, Ilberd’s introduction in English sounds much more self-serving.

Is it possible that Ilberd’s French dialogue is nothing more than talk? Of course. That said, in my opinion, it’s much more compelling to think that he means every word he says here: it makes his eventual nihilism and suicide that much more tragic, even in spite of the horrific things he did from this moment onward.

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KH 358/2 Days Snarl of Memories

Ok, so while rewatching the entire KH story chronologically, I was once again reminded by how confused I was about this particular cutscene in Days. Even after searching online for answers from KH experts, all of them were either too vague or have some kind of logic flaw to them. After looking up all different interpretations of this scene, I have come up with one that makes the most logical sense. But this interpretation also requires the most conjecture.

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Deduction. Skip ahead if you don’t care about the logistics

My main problem with this day 255 scene is the setting and location. Could Roxas and Riku/Xion be at the SAME location when this scene takes place? And the only logical answer is NO, they can’t be in the same place. Why? Because there are only 2 possibilities for the location, it’s either in the real Destiny Islands OR the fake Destiny Islands pulled from someone’s memories in CO. PS: There is no dream DI and the journal’s data DI doesn’t make sense here.

Roxas couldn’t have been to the CO Destiny Islands because the Organization wouldn’t send Roxas alone into CO. In fact, on day 297, Saix did not want Roxas to go alone to CO. Plus Roxas starts to have migraines the moment he enters CO later on day 297, yet in this scene he seems fine in the beginning and in the end. If he was really at CO DI, he should’ve been writhing in pain the whole time. He also clearly recalls the beach to Axel afterwards. So it all makes more sense that Roxas went to the real DI for a mission.

Riku and Xion, however, are more likely to be in the CO DI. Xion WOULD pass out from the CO DI since it’s made from actual memories. Xion, the memory sponge, would be overwhelmed there. CO is just chock full of memories. Plus, the last time we saw Xion before this scene, she was shockingly staring into the crystal ball at Castle Oblivion. She could’ve been pulled into the CO DI via that crystal ball. She has also been to the real Destiny Islands before (picking seashells for sleeping Roxas) and she didn’t seem to be overwhelmed with memories then, so why would she now?

Riku should also be in CO’s DI since all he’s been doing is hanging around Castle Oblivion. His recent conversations with DiZ or Namine all took place within CO or the mansion’s white room (he likely goes back and forth b/t these locations). Also on day 297, Saix also says that “the impostor” is always prowling CO still. Seeing as many of Riku’s activities taking place at CO, it’s way more likely he bumps into her within CO.

Finally, what about if Xion just fainted in the real DI and Riku just happens to visit there too? All three could just be at the real Destiny Islands then. That wouldn’t make sense neither since Riku holding Xion is CLEARLY VISIBLE on the Islet. If Roxas was in the same place, he would no doubt check out who the stranger holding Xion is, especially since he admits he DID see someone familiar. For this theory to work, Roxas either has to be so fucked up that he doesn’t notice 2 people in black coats on a white islet or Riku has some kind of invisible cloak that keeps Roxas from seeing Riku and Xion or Roxas does an out of character runaway. Personally, I don’t like any of these wacko justifications. 

So to me, it seems like Roxas was on the real DI while Riku/Xion were on the CO DI. And the memory jumbo is making both everyone temporarily see things that aren’t really there physically. So in a sense, real DI and CO DI kind of bleeding into each other.

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Explanation

Xion looks into the CO crystal ball and enters the CO Destiny Islands. This DI is made from someone’s memories of DI. It could be made from Riku/Roxas/Xion/Sora’s memories or even a combination of them. Due to how the memories are scattered all over the place, it’s hard to say who the source is. Regardless, it’s filled with memories and Xion is sucking them in, causing her to faint and enter a dream state. In her dream, she begins to see what Roxas sees at that moment in real time and in a sense delving into Roxas’ CURRENT ongoing memory.

Meanwhile, Roxas is at the real DI picking up a seashell by the beach. He sees someone that looks like Xion going towards the Islet. He chases that figure, but by the time he catches up, the figure is gone. The figure could’ve been pure hallucination caused by Xion currently being in Roxas’ head OR it could’ve been the real Kairi who was there but walks off by the time Roxas gets close.  “There was this girl who looked kind of like Xion, but I couldn’t get close enough to tell for sure.” “Maybe I saw Xion there because I WANTED her to be there” - Roxas to Axel. Thus it’s implied that Xion wasn’t actually there in reality.

By this point, Roxas probably went back to his mission. However, Xion’s dreams continue and diverge from Roxas’ perspective from this point on. Instead of seeing nothing, she sees a hooded “Xion” who takes off her hood to reveal *STATIC* Zexion. It’s at this point Xion goes from dreaming about Roxas’ current memories to Riku’s past CO memories even though her presentation still looked like Roxas. 

The reason is because Riku finds the unconscious dreaming Xion in CO DI at that moment. And due to their proximity, Xion naturally reaches into Riku’s old memories (though she probably didn’t successfully absorb them since Riku’s memories weren’t unlinked like Sora’s) This Destiny Islands COULD also be the one on Basement Floor 3 of Castle Oblivion aka the one Riku made during Reverse Rebirth. If true, that might also be a source of influence.

So this time Xion experiences it like an event unfolding around her. More and more memories are going into Xion as even more are twisting together into a snarl. Thus the dream becomes a jumbled mess of multiple memories glitching together to the point where Xion’s own identity becomes unstable. Even Zexion and Riku’s individual lines blend together as if they were one.

When Xion absorbs Roxas’ memory, she becomes Roxas. When she absorbs Riku’s, she becomes Riku. When she absorbs Sora’s, she becomes Sora. Even though she tries so hard to retain her original identity. And ultimately in the end, since most of her stolen memories came from Sora, she becomes Sora. This is clearly foreshadow to the ending.

Finally she wakes up to Riku’s arms. Now, I believe because Xion also tried to delve into Riku’s mind, Riku’s perceptions were also influenced in some way. That’s how Riku was able to “see” Roxas exiting from the real Destiny Islands.

The dream afterwards with the sea salt trio sitting on the tree is most likely just a normal dream. It’s like her subconscious is talking to her via Roxas/Axel. This likely isn’t as complicated as the memory nightmare from before.

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Anyway, that’s my take. I’m probably thinking way too much about this.

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Father uses sons’ drawings as inspiration for anime transformations

By: Thomas Romain (twitter | instagram | youtube | patreon)

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Buttermilk Panna Cotta

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Happy 2nd Anniversary Final Fantasy XV ♥ November 29

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he Did That.

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Japanese teens Maria and Megumi on the street in Harajuku wearing chokers, utility vests, and boots with items from Never Mind The XU, MYOB NYC, Hellgarden bkk, Another Youth, and Demonia. When we first met Megumi, she was 14 years old, today (11/26/2018) is her 16th birthday. Happy Birthday!! Full Looks

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Marble Layer Cake

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hmmm

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15-year-old Japanese model Jaycee on the street in Harajuku wearing a vintage purple faux fur jacket with a Fig&Viper crop top, a Kate Spade graphic skirt, F21 heeled boots, a Victoria’s Secret purse, and tinted Police glasses. Jaycee is one of the bilingual Harajuku kids, speaking fluent English as well as Japanese. Full Look

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ku:nel