readingchameleon

[readingchameleon]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/60546739/chapters/170202961

Chapter 3 of my medical drama KH AU fanfic Kairi, D.O. is out now:

There's always a patient...

This chapter is rather self-indulgent. I dove straight into a special interest here 💖

What customisations do you think the clinic volunteers would make to their scrubs?

Chapter summary

Don't jinx it.....!

Original fic summary

“You should set up a clinic.” Yuffie suggested jokingly. “You know, that’s a fabulous idea.” Kairi grinned, and everyone gulped. “I’ll turn healthcare in this entire town upside down!” “Are you crazy?!” “People have called me that.” Kairi acknowledged with crossed arms and a sageful nod. “But I’m also a doctor who has patients but nowhere to treat them, so the rest should be obvious.”

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After Destiny Islands and its health clinic falls to darkness, Sora begins his epic journey. Meanwhile, horrified at the state of healthcare in Traverse Town, Kairi sets up a community health centre and works to treat patients from the worlds over as the trauma surgeon on shift. In the process, she may just change the Realm of Light and beyond forever. Or: What happens when I read Deku D.O. and now I’m in the mood for a medical drama too Episodical-esque with slow updates. Character suggestions open!

[readingchameleon]

💖 etho openings are the best openings 🌟

absolutely cannot get over this cold open from etho’s let’s play 13 years ago

[readingchameleon]

😭

ASHSIJLdksdjwlwhewoiji 💖💖

I think this is the first audio fanfic I've ever encountered, this is so cool! The emotion in your voice feels so REAL, wow Riku needs a great big hug 🫂 It also makes me cry its so sad but cool and ajfksdijdwin 💖

I can only imagine Sora doing the same thing in reverse too..... MY HEART

I woke up this morning with this unshakeable urge to ad-lib and record audio of Riku making a call to Sora on a wind phone. Did it completely off the cuff to better emulate the idea of Riku just saying whatever comes to mind rather than something rehearsed or scripted. This was entirely motivated by and inspired by the whole "wind phone" discussion the fandom's been having since the new KH4 screenshots dropped.

[readingchameleon]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/65427295

It be new fic time! Not sure if there's anyone here but thought I'd cross-post anyway.

Together, we will survive these darknesses

What most people didn’t realise is that Ven’s connection to Sora ran a lot deeper than anyone would ever have suspected. Is this what Master Eraqus felt like? Ven wondered. Ven is awake fic // 5 + 1 things exploring Sora and Ven’s bond in KHII and DDD: 5 times Ven helps Sora out from the shadows, and 1 time he steps out into the light. Canon-adjacent oneshot, can be read standalone. Prequel of sorts to The long night continues [8.4K words]

In short: Ven is awake in Sora's heart, and he is a great mentor 💖 💕

I do enjoy worldbuilding AUs like this, and while the 5 + 1 things format means it's difficult not to run away with myself for each one I do love how you can explore several different time periods at once without too too much effort.

This fic was supposed to be a bonus in advance of my March Caprice entry, but it ended up taking too long to finish 😳

Thanks to @yoroshiu for betaing!

Cross-posted on the fediverse 🌐 → https://sakurajima.social/notes/a7nnozmxyj

[readingchameleon]

Wow, this is an insightful analysis. Great work!

Kingdom Hearts and the Cost of Empathy

While making yesterday's post I was reminded of this other topic that had been giving me brainworms lately. And I was going to do this on another day but the thought bugged me constantly so I'm just gonna let this out now.

Part ??? of Yoroshiu just reiterating obvious points that have been chewed on a billion times

Kingdom Hearts presents empathy as a means to have characters connect with each other in both the emotional sense and as a literal ability of sorts. If someone is happy, that joy is shared, and if someone is sad, then it's felt on a visceral level.

We've had three characters be confirmed literal empaths:

Sora, Xehanort, and Baldr

And if you know, you know.

It says a lot that 2/3 ended up being antagonists and when we look at the events that shaped them, we see how Kingdom Hearts handles the negative effects of being that exposed to others emotions, especially when put it certain circumstances.

(I didn't really want to use screenshots I used in my last post but these two shots and the following one are important here, even moreso than in the previous one LOL)

In Dark Road, Baldr was shown to be attached to his sister, Hoder, because she being a heart of pure light made him feel safe as, the screenshot shows, he was sensitive to others' hearts. That's part of why it makes Hoder's death so devestating for him.

And for Xehanort, he was able to take in his caretaker's memories and felt a personal and genuine connection with Player and their friends. It's partly why the events of Dark Road hit him so hard. Baldr states that Xehanort shares the same dynamic with Eraqs.

And even for Sora, our current hero, we've seen this Empathy be harmful to him as well. He's felt echoes of the heartache of his Heart Hotel residents (KH2, BBS, etc.) and you can assume how difficult it is to have to handle multiple people's most intense emotions.

And what happens when these characters hit their lowest? Especially when it's in tandem to this Empathy?

They break down, they fall apart, their hearts get wrapped in Darkness.

And what's the factor that turns empathy, the means to bring people together in understanding, into a force that drives people into despair?

Isolation.

If there's one consistent pattern with these characters is that being alone ends up contributing to the downfall.

Baldr falls apart because he's completely isolated from his friends in a completely white room with no windows for SEVEN DAYS. How did Odin think this was a good idea?????

(Day 1 vs Day 7)

Xehanort is a person who prefers doing things on his own. This is what makes him use others and even other versions of himself as tools for his plan. He gets wrapped up in all his plans and essentially becomes a more refined Baldr by the end.

Sora is someone who's tied to a lot of different people and their hearts. This contributes to his heart being broken down and made vulnerable to Darkness, especially with how he was kept alone in his dreams, led further and further away from Riku trying to wake him up.

(Sora being mostly alone in the new saga is going to be interesting. Strel is there but there's probably going to be an effort to isolate him again.)

Being left alone with all these emotions, with no proper way to process it—empathy becomes the most destructive force.

Despite what the mainstream might think, Kingdom Hearts has always believed in the proper balance between Light and Dark, Good and Bad. Empathy is good, it connects hearts together, but at its most extreme, it poses a danger. It can overwhelm a person and make them expel it to the world in the worst way possible.

Being completely alone with no forms of support turns compassion into despair.

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Making Kingdom Hearts Stuff Until KH4 Comes Out (Day 66)

[readingchameleon]

Heya! Anyone interested in a list of worlds Sora visited in KH and languages they might speak?

Have you ever considered that people in Olympus Coliseum would speak Ancient Greek, or that there are like 4 worlds that would speak French, but each from a different century?

I wrote a fic for @marchcapricekh and decided to post some of the worldbuilding notes for it as a 2nd bonus chapter.

Let it not be said that Sora hasn't developed good study habits...... polyglot!Sora FTW! 📚

[readingchameleon]

MARCH CAPRICE IS HERE!!!11

MARCH CAPRICE V STARTS TODAY!!! (03/24/2025)

I impulsively made this piece in a short period of time to celebrate the start of March Caprice for 2025! If you have the time, drop by and look at all the cool stuff everyone's made!

Check @marchcapricekh for updates and the schedule on their website for the times in your timezone! (It's also the place to check all the content~)

I'll be posting my submission on Ao3 soon ^o^

Happy March Caprice!

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Making Kingdom Hearts Stuff Until KH4 Comes Out (Day 76)

[readingchameleon]

Wow.... this is so cool! This has to be in a future KH game - there's so much potential.....! Either that or I need fanfics!

Speaking of, I should finish my Atlantis × BNHA fanfic and post it.....!

💖🤩

worlds i want in kingdom hearts 1/??? - atlantis: the lost empire

[readingchameleon]

That's just how I stand...

[readingchameleon]

Yaaaaaaas this!

I did NOT intend to write one but it's almost finished and I'll be posting on ao3 soon!

Watched patema inverted today. It's a pretty good movie I really liked it, but after watching it I realized how amazing it would be for aus. Like put all your favorite characters into the same or a similar premise and that's soo interesting. How would they deal with being upside down? How would they feel with the cosmic dread of being faced with a literal eternal fall? The possibilities are endless!

[readingchameleon]

This is so cute ❤️

taking the train going anywhere 🚃 🌱

( find me here )

[readingchameleon]

I love stuff like this! It's like you can really imagine that something like this would be a real leaflet in a station in-world 💖 The worldbuilding potential from this is just so huge and cool and amazing 🤩

Unova Subway Map (own work). Based off the Battle Subway Map ingame and the NYC Subway map.

[readingchameleon]

Yo, hey you! Yes you! Go sign up for March Caprice 5!

Deadline to sign up is 11th January 2025!

Attendance is online & free w/no sign up, but you really wanna participate too! Categories: Art, Writing (e.g. fanfic), Cosplay, Videos, Streaming, Music (teh concert soirée last yr was AWESOME 🎵🎶), Merch, smash tournament, so there's always something to choose from!

Caprice Release 1 for March Caprice V!

Join us for our first Caprice Release for March Caprice V! It'll be 1 hour from this post! Join us to get the lowdown on all the information you need to know for the upcoming March Caprice season: youtu.be/fB1JzJ79W5A

[readingchameleon]

Traverse Town is my comfort place too 💕❤️💕❤️🌟🌟🌟

🏮🌟💕

traverse town is my video game comfort place <3

[readingchameleon]

Love comics and stuff - I especially like how this one integrates KH elements and tells a story ❤️ ⭐🌟🌱

🌱

🌟

Paopu Fruit

Throwing in some more Kingdom Hearts into Twisted Wonderland! Because, why not? It may not make sense, but who cares! Let's have some fun!

Anyways, have some fluff with the Red Tyrant and Magicless Prefect!

[readingchameleon]

This is just SUCH A GOOD PIECE and I love it! ❤️🌟

SkateNight! by MPKC | Kateecloud (Twitter Link)

This will be my fourth year in participating March Caprice 2024! This drawing took a lot out of me but I got the chance to learn a lot from it! I was originally was just going to draw three but then it just got out of hand. I really liked how the background turned out too!

Anywho, I hope you can enjoy my piece and happy March Caprice!

[readingchameleon]

My piece for the @problemchild-zine - an illustration for absolutely amazing fic by @fedzkun please check their ao3!