#Roxas is the definition of MORE than just a dude friend

[nadziejastar]

Absolutely love your akusai analysis stuff its so good omg.

Do you have any more thoughts on them?

Thank you for the kind words, I really appreciate it! As for my thoughts on Akusai, well, after beating Fire Emblem Three Houses recently, I do have a few thoughts. I know, I'm late to the party on 3H. (I actually loved 3H and would love to write metas about those ships lol). But anyways, regarding Akusai. It's a bit of a rant and there's minor spoilers for FE3H, so I'll put it under the cut.

Okay, so Sylvix felt like it was everything Akusai was supposed to be. It touched on all the same themes, too. In 3H, you've got a childhood friend trio. The standard two males and a female. On the surface it seems like the girl and the outgoing redhead goofball are a thing. But they treat each other more like bros. He and the quiet blue-haired sword guy had a much more intimate bond with each other, complete with a special promise™ to always be together and redhead being protective of blue. The redhead never wants to grow up and change because he doesn't wanna fulfill the heteronormative life script of getting married and having kids.

He is longing to go back to his childhood days but is sad at how much blue has changed since they were kids and has apparently outgrown their closeness. He hides his angst behind a smile and womanizing. Blue was once a meek clingy crybaby but now he is surly and obsessed with growing stronger. Deep down he is still an uke who secretly longs to be redhead's waifu. But he has a lot of shame related to his sensitivity and gender nonconformity. He distances himself from others, but boy does he get irritated if redhead flirts with anyone else.

I do wish the game would have just come right out and tell you that they're gay for each other (and so does this gaming site). I get why it didn't. Still, it didn't really hide it too much. They have a paired ending where they spend their whole lives playfully teasing each other like just when they were kids, never get married, and die together in each other's arms. It's the most romantic ending in the whole game, if you ask me. And Sylvix is SUPER popular and well received by the fandom. Both in Japan and the West. They have soooo much fan content. There are still some dudes who say they're just friends because ew icky gay. But most people in the fandom are able to tell they're queer-coded and are fine with it. In fact, the fandom was so fine with it that they released an overtly queer dude in the DLC, strictly due to popular demand.

3H is not a slam dunk with gay romance since much of it (particularly MLM) relies on subtext. But it still had more balls than most JRPG series and it definitely was a step in the right direction. We all know that Soriku is the most popular ship. The end of KH2 was total fujoshi fuel. But Soriku never had any chance in hell of being canon. KH is a video game shonen anime. Sora/Riku bromance is "safe". They can capitalize on shipteasing them to their female fans, but they won't alienate their male fans because Kairi is still very obviously the love interest for Sora. I found Akusai to be a lot more compelling because it was legitimately queer-coded.

Axel was queer-coded from the very beginning. His close friendship with Roxas in KH2 made people question his sexuality all the way back in 2006 and Akuroku rivaled Soriku for a time. And I do think that Axel always meant to be queer. Although personally, I did not get the impression that he was in love with Roxas. I got the sense that he probably had a best friend back when he was a human. And it was this dead best friend that he truly yearned for. The sweet and innocent Roxas reminded Axel of his human best friend and he latched onto him to help him forget the memories of days long past. That was my headcanon back in 2006 when KH2 first came out.

So, I was really happy when Days/BBS came out and it basically confirmed my theory that Axel was truly hung up on his human best friend and saw Roxas as a kind of replacement for him. And Isa was also very queer-coded. BBS!Isa has a more distinctly feminine design than any other boy in the series. He had very girlsh eyes and lips, small hands, long hair. And Saix's Mystery Gear is very cutesy-looking. Traditionally, the moon is viewed as a feminine symbol. And Saix's weapons in 358/2 Days were named after moon goddesses. They could have easily picked male moon gods, but they chose female goddesses like Selene and Artemis. It signifies to the player that, "Hey, this character does not follow the conventional gender stereotypes."

When you play 358/2 Days, and you get to the part where Axel is talking about love, you realize he's talking about his most precious memories from his human life, just like with all the other stuff like summer vacation and the red sunset. Akusai was not just superficial fujobait. Even if it was all subtext, it was a genuine depiction of two queer male characters who loved each other romantically. Axel is not straight. That’s a big reason why I was so mad that KH3 pushed their relationship off to the side and treated saving Isa as so much less important compared to saving Roxas. And it was so annoying how Saix had to mention Subject X whenever he might have seemed a little too obsessed with Axel otherwise.

Last year, Nomura said that he intended to show more of Lea and Isa's backstory in the future, so I've just been waiting for more content. I hope that we can get their story without Subject X overshadowing them like she did in KH3. I'm...cautiously optimistic. I expect this subplot to be included in Missing Link, since it is quite literally a missing link of the story. Axel is super popular and a queer-coded backstory with his childhood best friend would be very well received by the modern KH fandom, IMO. People are a LOT more accepting of gay content than they were in 2006. We've come a long way. And personally, I just love the idea that the tough cold asshole Saix's human self was actually a super sweet cutie who was in love with Lea. I really think the KH fandom would love that idea, too, if the writers were ever allowed to actually explore it. And a niche mobile game is probably a safer medium for that type of content than a mainline console game overseen by Disney, I guess. At the very least, if they ever put an Isa figurine into ML, I will whale for it if I have to. 

[naho-monogatari]

Soriku - haunted Riku

(I am half asleep while writing this so sorry for spelling errors)

Sora brought home a cute white-haired doll from the local charity shop. It said ‘Riku’ on its little boot.

Roxas tried to tell him how creepy the doll was - it’s definitely haunted.

Sora just wanted to put it next to his plants for the ~aesthetic~.

- Now he’s dreaming of a very handsome white-haired man, and it’s making his morning shower just that little bit longer -

Deep down he knows the doll isn’t quite right, it moves slightly when he’s not looking. Its eyes seem to follow Sora’s every step.

After the first week, he started to wake up with it on the end of his bed. Weirdly, he wasn’t bothered by it.

Truth is, Sora’s been lonely for quite a while. A lot of his friends moved away and Roxas is too busy for him these days. The thought of having someone else in his apartment is oddly refreshing.

He’s even started to talk to the doll. Only simple things, like ‘good morning, Riku’ or ‘be right back!’. Enough to make Roxas pull weird faces whenever he comes over.

Nothing major really happened despite living with a haunted doll.

- Until Sora’s recent university project meant a guy named Seifer came over.

Seifer was a true jerk, everyone knew it, Sora especially. The only reason Seifer came over to Sora’s apartment was because they were lumped together in a pair project.

He came crashing into Sora’s apartment one afternoon, somehow going straight to the fridge.

In the first 30 minutes of being in Sora’s space, Seifer had managed to insult Sora’s apartment, hair, fashion, furniture AND still have time to eat Sora’s food from his pantry.

Sora was pretty annoyed, but he knew that he could ditch this guy straight after the project was finished.

Riku however, was livid.

Ever since sora took him home his dormant consciousness was slowly coming back.

It started with his creaky movements, then eventually, his thoughts.

He quickly realised - He’s never been more happy than when he’s with Sora. The warmth, the comfort, the companionship sora provided were all things Riku thought he could never get.

That he didn’t deserve.

But that didn’t mean he didn’t yearn for it.

The first night he scraped, clawed and crawled his way up and into Sora’s bed was heaven to him. Riku was in utter bliss in that bed, he couldn’t bring himself to hide before Sora woke up.

He was careful to not scare sora, he tried his best not to look alive, to not stare too intently. Luckily, he’s only been caught a couple of times.

His favourite time is when it’s raining, Sora would sit by the window and stroke his hair. He wanted that to last forever.

Now there’s a strange man in their intimate space, and Riku wants him out.

———-

Sorry had to cut it short - my brain turned to mush ☔️

Inspired by ‘the boy’

- was I the only one voting for the girl to get with the creepy puppet?? The wall dude was pretty hot too ngl

[beastfury5580]

Donkey Kong Z Epilogue

Epilogue (The Shadow Alliance has been defeated and the crossover heroes saved their worlds and the lylat system combined. Everyone celebrated their victory on planet corneria  before departing back to their universes and dropping off DK and Diddy back to DK Isle so DK can put the Fruity Crystal Gem in a safe place and began his long earned rest.)

Party at Planet Corneria  - Hideki Naganuma - The Concept of Love

*On planet Corneria, every cornerian civilian even general pepper were dancing and cheering while most of them were talking and feasting on a lot of food*

Crowd: Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Diddy and Slippy: *Break dancing together* Peppy: *Inhales the ballon and talks funny* Whoooa I feel weird and tiny! *Laughs* Russ: *Laughing hysterically from peppy's voice* Crash: *Bang my hand on the table and fell over laughing* Aku Aku: -_- Falco and Sora: *Chanting go while donkey kong and Yoshi are having an eating contest* DK and Yoshi: *Eating a bunch of food as fast they can like wild animals* Koriju: Ugh, so uncivilized. *Drinks my sake and sighs* Fox. Fox: Huh? Koriju: Relax a bit, my friend, it is a party. Have some sake. Fox: Hmm...*Grabs the sake bottle, sniffs it then drinks* Roxas and Klonoa: *Talking with each other while drinking fruit punch* Dillon: *Just stood by and watch* Guntz: *Stood beside Dillon then looked over to him and ruffles his head* You were pretty cool out there man. Dillon: *Gave a thumbs up* Russ: He said you too. DK: *Enjoying all the foods from around the world* ^~^ Yoshi: Man this is all SO good. ^_^ Falco: You two nearly destroyed the whole buffet. Sora: Not even I could do that. Roxas: Even if you did that would still be impossible for you. DK: *Hoots happily and laid back with a big belly* Diddy: Okay, I'm tapped out. *Lays back then grabs some water and drinks* I've been partying hard dude. DK: Yeah I saw. Say you know what I wish? That crash could talk. Diddy: Yeah so- Wait DK!!

*The fruity crystal gem glowed as crash started glowing too*

DK: Whoops, I forgot I still had it in my hand. ^^; Crash: ...Well that didn't work. AH! *Covers my mouth then uncovers it* Crikey! I can talk now! Struth, that wishing gem really is something! James: You have very interesting friends son. Vixy: Most of them are funny too. *Giggles* Fox: They sure are. *chuckles as my face turn red from the sake* Daisuke: Rurraru.. Koriju: He's right. I think you had quite enough. Aku Aku: Great now Crash won't be able to stop talking. Crash: Are you kidding me aku? How can I? Wait hold on...g'day, mate, drongo, dinkum, yonks, noggin, furphy, barbie, chinwag, bloke, bonzer...hooroo, Shelia. Well shit, I'm full-on Aussie! Aku Aku: Welcome to the club I suppose... Spyro: You know that would explain why crash is a bandicoot, they're from Australia, and well...they have Aussie accents. DK: AH what the heck let Crash have his fun. Will probably go away once he gets back home. Diddy: So true. *Sat down as I grab a smoothie and drinks* Fox: *Looks into Koriju's face* You have icy blue mouth. Koriju: ...What? Fox: *Wheezes and laughs* Koriju: *Takes the sake away from fox* Krystal: After we finish the party we'll be going back to donkey kong's island while sora and Roxas take everyone back. Spyro: Sounds good to me. Sora: Sure no problem! DK: *Stomach rumbles* Uh oh.. Klonoa: I just realized something... where is Lucario? Lucario: *on top of a roof watching everyone* .... Yoshi: Doing the usual thing lucario does. To be fair resurrecting his planet was more than enough for him. Diddy: Most definitely. He was very pleased with that. DK: Hey Diddy.. I need help. *Stomach rumbles more* Where's the near by bathroom?? Everyone: !!

*Everyone immediately went to DK and help him up and carry him to the closest portable toilet*

Fox: You guys go ahead *hics* I'm far too drunk right now. *giggles* Vixy: *Giggles* Goodness dear you alright? Fox: Never better mom. *Giggles*

*Everyone managed to help DK sit down and immediatly shut the portable toilet door*

Diddy: Whew...man that was clo-

*A loud bomb happened inside the portable toilet*

Roxas: What was that?! Diddy: *Noticed stink stench is oozing out the cracks* Don't go next to the portable toilet what ever you do! Lucario: "Unless all of you would prefer passing out." Sora: Nope I'm good. Link: Same here.. Diddy: In that case I sure had fun. Slippy you sure know how to bust moves. *Laughs* Slippy: Yeah I'm a really good dancer, you should see me when I shake my butt whenever I taunt enemies. *Shakes my butt at diddy and laughs* ^_^ Diddy: *Laughs* Good one! Fox: *Fell asleep from the sake* Falco: I think he might have drank too much. Peppy: At Least he had fun, cause I sure have.

Next Party Song Came on - EPTM feat. Kodai of KinKieS (Booty Bronx Remix)

Falco: Welp, I got to get my boogie on! *Went to go dance* Spyro: Leave some for me! Peppy: Oh ho not me, I'm far too old now. *Chuckles* Lucario: *Teleported to the dance floor and started dancing myself* ^_^ Crash: Whoohoo there he goes! Go Lucario! Woohoo!

*Spyro, Falco, Lucario, and Crash started dancing in sync*

Diddy: *Records for memory and cheers* Krystal: *Chuckles* This is marvelous ^_^ Candy: *Knocks on the portable toilet door* DK come on, I wanna dance! DK: In a minute! *Groans as I rub my tummy* Shouldn't have ate so much.. Candy: Krystal I'm a little nervous... Krystal: About being a mother? Candy: Yes, I've never been a parent before. Krystal: Don't be. You'll be a wonderful mother and I'm sure DK would be overly protective of the baby. Candy: The thing about DK is, he's always been this...wild and carefree man and he actively agreed in us being married years ago in his 30s and after which, he's still the same as he's always been...do you think he'll change once our kid is born? Krystal: Of course I do. It happens to everyone. And soon it'll happen with me and fox too. Candy: What do you mean? *Looked to her belly then gasp* You don't mean.. Krystal: *Nods* But it's a secret. DK: *Came out of the portable toilet after washing my hands while waving my hand from the stink lines flowing in my face* Wooooo! Awe man, nobody EVER goes in there, I really destroyed that toilet. Peppy: We plan not too^^; Candy: DK! *Walks over to him* Ready? DK: Let's dance! ^_^

*Eventually everyone started dancing until the music finished and the screen went black*

Back to our worlds / Bring it in guys - SDGF Taisetsuna Nakama

*Now the scene goes to the great fox flying back to planet earth on DK's Isle*

Fox: Well this is where we part ways. Krystal: What are you going to do with the fruity crystal gem? DK: I'll probably keep it safe where no one could ever find it. Slippy: *Cries as I hug diddy* I'm really gonna miss you guys when you leave! Falco: Please man, you are embarrassing ya self. -_-* Diddy: *Chuckles* I'll miss you too man. *Pat slippy back* DK: Say, instead of opening portals I could just wish everyone back home. Sora: Sure. Lucario: "I want to thank you all again for helping me get my planet back and stopping Mewtwo for good." DK: No prob lulu, it's what we do. Lucario: "Please....never call me that again." -_- DK: ^^; Diddy: In all seriousness, we're glad we found you when we did and brought you back to life. We've learned so much during our journey. I learned so much, this warrior lifestyle has helped me improve on myself mentally and physically. Not to mention that we saved the entire universe and the lylat system included. I'm never going to forget that. Lucario: "I am happy that I got to help." Krystal: Well.. this is it. Fox: We're ready when you are DK. Link: Farewell! Klonoa: We should do this again soon. ^_^ Guntz: That's up for the fans to decide. Crash: Yea I had fun! Spyro: You really gonna tell the others you can talk? Crash: Hmm...Nah. Think I'll keep this a secret. Aku Aku: That would be best... Crash: Thanks for meeting me again old friend. Spyro: No prob crash. Sparx: *Buzzes* ^_^ DK: *Looks at my fruity crystal gem* I wish for everyone to go back to their homes.

*Everyone vanished except for the star fox team*

Krystal: Well I guess that settles it. Fox: Onward to DK Isle rob. ROB64: Affirmative.

Back to DK Isle / Guys! We're Back! - Donkey Kong Country - Simian Segue [Restored] Extended

*DK and Candy are holding hands while the great fox warp jumps into a hyperspeed tunnel, everyone on DK Isle is waiting for Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong then the great fox came onto the island*

Honey Kong: Honey look, they're back! DJ: Yes I see them, dear.

*The great fox landed on the beach sand shore as DK and Diddy walked out*

DK: Hey guys we're back! ^_^ Dixie: Diddy! *Ran over to him and hugs him and kissed him five times* Diddy: *Laughs as I hug Dixie and kiss her back* I missed you so much Dixie! Dixie: I missed you more! Funky: Donkey Dude, how be the journey man?! DK: Oh everything went great. Not to mention K Rool is gone for good. Cranky: You destroyed K Rool? DJ: See dad? I told you he would do it. Cranky: Don't rub it in boy. -_- Kiddy: *Giggles* Baboo! *Laughs* Chunky: Couldn't agree more little bro. Honey: *Hugs DK* Donkey Kong, sweetheart. DK: It's good to see you again mom. Honey: So you've used the crystal coconut. DJ: That's not the crystal coconut it's the- Cranky: Fruity crystal gem! You've connected all the fruit gems! DK: Yep, and I'm gonna make sure no one gets their hands on it. DJ: No. DK: Why not? Diddy: Why not? DJ: Now that the fruity crystal gem is in its full potential, that means it has infinite wishes and anyone can use it even villains that want to erase us from existence. I think it's best if it goes back to our deity and ancestor caesar. It will not undo the wishes you've granted. But...thank you for bringing your mother back to me. DK: No problem dad. Honey: I think you know what must be done. DK: Yeah...I wish the fruity crystal gem is back to its original owner, our kong deity Inka Dinka doo.

*The fruity crystal gem glows and flew straight up into the air and vanished as everyone watches*

Candy: We have wonderful news! DJ: What kind of news? DK: You're gonna be a grandpa! ^_^ DJ: ?! Cranky: HA! How do you like being an old grandfather?! *Laughs* DJ: DAD!! Tiny: Donkey Kong's gonna be a father?! Lanky: No way! Dixie: Now I've seen everything. Chunky: Congrats you two!

*Everyone started cheering*

Credits / The End - Donkey Kong 64: Kong-clusion (Staff Roll) HD

*The star fox team looked at all the kongs then went back inside the great fox and took off back into outer space as everyone waved goodbye while walking back inside the jungle. Ten months later, DK walks inside seeing candy holding her infant son jacky kong aka donkey kong IV as he went over to them, sat down, and hugs them both, the credits rolled down then a small picture shows funky and chunky kong's wedding along with diddy and dixie kong's wedding as they both kissed and dixie throws the bouquet flowers and it fell straight into cranky's face. Another scene shows the galactic kremling dreadnought flying back to planet earth into kremling isle while kaliga came out in his new uniform as all the kremling salute to him. The next scene shows donkey kong teaching jacky kong how to use the bongo drums as candy watches while funky kong and chunky kong made out at the beach shore by the sun watching the ocean then the small screen vanished as the credits kept rolling until the end*

Many Events have Changed - Star Fox Command DS - Peace For The Galaxy

After James and vixy McCloud were resurrected, vixy went back to corneria while James joined the star fox team with fox and his friends. After general pepper died from a mysterious illness from the aparoids, the star fox team went on an infiltration mission to the aparoid homeworld to destroy it with a purified nitrogen bomb after which neither star fox assault nor star fox command ever happened. Marcus McCloud, now as a rookie fighter pilot went on a pursuit of Pigma to get his revenge for James McCloud, and with no hesitation, Marcus shot Pigma down several times until he was dead. After which Marcus made Star Falco after finding the legendary ace fighter pilot falco to join him along with his three friends. Spyro and ember came back to their world and became such good friends after the kaliga incident and years later, Spyro and cynder made children of their own as well as ember and her boyfriend now husband. Spyro and cynder now protect the dragon world together with their kids as a family. With neo cortex destroyed along with the other villains, Crash is now back on the island but with tiny tiger and dingodile becoming a family with crunch and coco, even though crash can talk, he kept it to himself for all these years of peace, until new villains arise which were the evil twins that teamed up with Nina cortex along with evil crash. Like DK's Diddy, crash bandicoot found himself, little buddies of his very own after witnessing two bandicoots, male and female washed up on N Sanity Island, both were failures like crash was and crash decided to adopt them and take care of them like they are his kids. Dillon and Russ did their usual thing as western cowboys, saving villages from grock threats yet since  Gallo, Boone, and Nomad formed an army with the amiimals, Dillon and Russ have been taking a vacation that they earned until they are needed once more. Yoshi went back to his island of Yoshi's and settled his rivalry with boshi once and for all before he departed from the island. Yoshi and his father the Yoshi chieftain had a meeting about having him be the king of Yoshi's while he takes a vacation and sure enough he did. Yoshi took up a huge responsibility guarding his people but it was well worth it to know what it's like being king. With Gruntilda gone for good, banjo and Kazooie met up with yooka and laylee, their new friends, and went on a brand new adventure together in fighting against new villains because retirement just doesn't suit them. Link went back to the kingdom of Hyrule to confess his love for Zelda and become the king of Hyrule alongside her to stand a better chance of defeating Ganondorf for good including keeping the triforce safe. Lucario went back to the pokemon planet and went back to ash at the start of their new journey to conquer the sword and shield pokemon tournaments as well as gained a gigantamax form in the process, whatever the future holds for Lucario, he just knows he'll get stronger with ash by his side, he would later fall in love with a female Mewtwo after ash caught it, so he can never feel alone again. Sora went back to the time of Kingdom Hearts II to defeat xemnas with Riku while Roxas went back to after Kingdom Hearts III when sora vanished after the keyblade war was finished. And as for Klonoa and Guntz. Klonoa went back to breezegale to become the guardian of the wind and storms while guntz rides on his motorcycle and drove back to Guntzland to continue being a bounty hunter until he was needed again. Koriju koopa went back to shinko island into the frost mountains to reunite with his boyfriend lucky and continue to live a peaceful life until they are needed at the village again. The righteous path in the soul of the samurai continues with Koriju but also, he visits his brother bowser and nephew bowser jr more often now that he's come to terms with him.

*Meanwhile at kremling Isle. Every kremling turned to kaliga and salute him*

All Hail King Kaliga / Ascended to the Throne - Which Pounds Part 1

Kaliga: *Walks in a middle line as the kritters salute to me and went over to my throne, sat down and looked to my kremling soldiers then gave out an evil laugh that went lower and louder then he stopped* This time it's personal. There is blood on your hands DK and this time my father's death will not go unpunished. There WILL be vengeance.

Donkey Kong and Family - Final Fantasy VIII OST - Fisherman’s Horizon

*Meanwhile there is a sunset in the sky and donkey kong is holding his child jacky kong in his arms while watching the sun go down*

Jacky: *Coos and hoots* DK: Yeah, you like the bright sun don't you? Don't worry, it'll come back up tomorrow. Jacky: *Giggles and coos* Candy: *Walks over to DK and sat down next to him* It looks like you got this parenting thing down. DK: Yeah. Though I dunno how my parents managed to raise me and diddy. Candy: Same thing you're doing now. DK: Oh yeah... Jacky: *Cries* DK: Aww someone's hungry. Candy: I got it. *Gives jacky his bottle* There you go little one. Jacky: *Drinks my bottle* Cranky: You know I never thought I'd see the day that DK becomes a father. DJ: I did, you just need to have faith in him. Cranky: ...I do. Diddy:... Dixie: What's wrong? Diddy: Do you think our lives will still be the same but with jacky? Dixie: Of course, it will, why? Diddy: It's just... Dixie: Look, things will probably change but it won't affect you or DK because I'm pretty sure DK will be the same even before jacky was born. Diddy: You think so? Dixie: I know so. So, let's talk about us. Diddy: Sure thing. DK: ..... *Thinks* "I got a suspicious feeling that won't be the last I see of kaliga." Candy: Something wrong DK? DK: Nah, I'm just thinking about something is all.

The End

[komoryriku]

Queering KH: Part 2

How to Queer this Anime Game? By me, an American nerd lol

Pictured: Dream. Drop. Distance. Sequel. 8)))

What is Queering 

I’m so excited to talk about this okay this is literally the only fun thing I get to do as an English major anymore lmao.

“Queering a text” is the academic term for taking a given text and extracting the queer subtext of it, or applying a queer reading to it. It is taking a piece of literature, film, or art and reading into it for the gay coding. It is an especially important tool for reading old literature written during periods of extreme homosexual oppression, wherein the author would be forced to hide hints of homosexuality under layers and layers of superficial text.

Pictured: Sora and Riku battling Ursula as she means to wreck their ship, mirroring the disaster that Sora’s friends Eric and Ariel (lovers) faced at sea.

As a post-structuralist, I am also here to inform you that every text is made up of intertextual influence. This means whether the JK Rowlings of the world intended it or not, their characters may well be queer coded because of the unconscious influence of homoerotic customs in our culture that have permeated the text. It’s why people speculated that Newt Scamander was gay, because he showed little interest in Tina and preferred to focus on his beasts, which is not normative for a male protagonist in straight media. People likewise considered that Merida from Pixar’s Brave might be gay, because she had no interest in dating men and wanted to live a wild lifestyle traditionally associated with masuculinity, things that are pretty in line with lesbian coding. And let me tell you, lgbt claimed Queen Elsa IMMEDIATELY for very good reason. Pretty much everything about her journey, purposefully or not, makes for an strikingly overt gay metaphor. Let it Go is a coming out song for a woman suffocating under normativity all her life, deal with it.

Same, Elsa.

Oh whoops I accidentally pasted this picture of Riku here.

Keep Cultural Distinctions in Mind

Something else important I want to point out is that different cultures are- different lol. They are going to vary. What is queer coding here is not necessarily queer coding in Japan. A man presenting femininely in American media would certainly get him coded as gay. A bishonen in an anime though? Not so much. Men bathing together in Japan is common practice so that would mean nothing gay over there. In America however, you have things like this vine. 

In which 2 dudes are chilling as far away as possible from each other in a hot tub to prove they are not gay lol.

So when I say the male members of Organization XIII bathe together, it means literally nothing in a Japanese context.  

But let me tell you this: homosexual mlm tend to enjoy bathing with other dudes. Sexual attraction is sexual attraction no matter where you go. So how would you queer code a Japanese character as gay in a hot tub context? 

By American logic, if the straight thing to do is sit 5 feet apart in a hot tub, then the inverse, the gay thing to do, would be 2 men sitting very close together in a hot tub. So if I were to code 2 American male characters as gay in a hot tub context, that is what I would do. But if I really wanted to hammer it home, I would ALSO have them blushing so there is no straight explanation for their closeness. 

And for a Japanese character, for whom bathing with men might well mean nothing, I’d definitely have them physically blush, so that you know it does NOT just “mean nothing” to him...

Oh look at that. Amano went out of her way to draw Roxas blushing at the concept of bathing with men. So when I say “the members of Orginization XIII bathe together”, you know that means something to Roxas, cuz the coding tells us so. There are indeed certain ways you can depict a shonen being either interested in or at least affected by that idea. You just have to mind those codes telling you what the character really feels, especially when they can’t really say it.

Speaking of blushes, Amano uses them a lot. 

They’re a pretty effective tool for hiding gay coding into your characters cuz an anime character might blush for any number of reasons, from being flustered by their crush, 

to being flustered because they don’t have a crush.

If you’ve ever translated Japanese media, (I haven’t, but I have friends who do), you know that Japanese is very vague which means you need the whole context to properly understand a scene. It’s a similar situation with queer coding. Consider this scene of Roxas blushing. 

If Roxas felt positively about the insinuation that he and Xion are holding hands, how might one code this? Well, if he’s feeling really excited about it in a positive way, you might draw him smiling or expressing flattery on his blushing face. However, Roxas reacts negatively, with a frown on his blushing face. This insinuates he does not like this idea at all, especially since he also shuts it down right away in his dialogue.

But you might say “Well how do we know he isn’t just shy?” to which I say- well we can’t know. That’s the whole point of queer coding in literature. It is to say a character is queer but without actually saying it, to give plausible deniability for safety. It is to suggest a character is queer but without any confirmation. It does not mean that the character isn’t queer, however. It just means it cannot be confirmed by the text alone. However, a bold text that is very determined to have hidden queer characters without any straight explanations, will provide coding that has very little or no straight explanation. 

Back to the Roxas and Xion dialogue^. This scene alone cannot confirm or deny anything. As I explained however, the suggestion that Roxas is not straight IS there. Considering the whole context, also, this scene is another piece of “evidence” to add to the pile of suggestions that Roxas isn’t straight. This coupled with the bathing panel, and this panel of him admiring Axel, his male mentor, with deep flattery during his first day of adventuring, all exist.

Roxas does not express negative sentiments in his blushing at men, nor does he say anything dismissive to them. When he blushes at Xion’s comment, however, it is with a negative reaction. Consider also that if the author wanted Roxas to appear straight, she would present them in ways that allude to straightness and NOT in ways that allude to queerness. Roxas would not do suggestively queer things like blush in flattery at Axel calling him special and then dismiss Xion’s suggestion that they are holding hands if he were simply coded as straight. Queering a text sometimes requires a lot of critical thought like this. This is because again, these things are hidden, and sometimes hidden really well so that unsuspecting straight people will not even consider the queer suggestions. This is one of the advantages Nomura has in his favor with Kingdom Hearts: by making it so convoluted, the gay text can be forward, strong, and blatant but remain undetected by straight powers. This keeps the series safe from oppressive scrutiny. Characters like Namine and Xion can exist as literal illustrations of compulsory-heterosexuality. And people will still think Sora and Riku are straight. 

Even if I don’t know all the queer codes Japanese culture might specifically have, (and I do not, I do not live in Japan nor have any semblance of what that is like beyond what my friends who have lived there can tell me, and what I can research while sitting in my pajamas in Kentucky lol), there are certain things that are rather universal. Blushing, physical contact, lingering gazes, etc etc. Attraction is attraction and certain body language and other physical symbols will translate and will travel. So that’s the majority of what I will have to focus on. 

But I do want you to know that rainbows are still gay in Japan. 

Finally I also want to express that cultural intermingling is a thing. We do not live in bubbles, especially with the internet. Our cultures affect each other ALL the time. Although Kingdom Hearts is primarily a Japanese series, it is consciously tailored to appeal to both America and Japan. This is by design given the idea was to marry a Japanese hit like Final Fantasy with an American phenomenon like Disney’s media. This is why they take special care in minding the English translations and dubbing of the KH games (when they are able to do so, mistakes are still very often made and i hate it cuz they’re usually heterosexual-agenda-pushing “mistakes” =~=). The games are so intimately tied to both the Japanese and American cultures they are derived from which is part of why accurate translations are so important. And given what they would mean for queer audiences, what they represent for queer people makes accurate translations even MORE important. Some things get quite lost in translation, and some things are grossly added in translation. We will discuss that down the line...   

A brief aside that I implore you to ignore:

On the subject of Roxas not being straight, I have heard of one really fun queer motif in Japanese media which is ”ryoutoutsukai (両刀使い)”, “the two sword fencer”: the dual wielding bisexual. Now- I do not necessarily think this is a means of coding Roxas as bisexual, and beyond that, from what I’ve heard in my research on bisexuality in Japan, certain age groups don’t even believe in bisexuality there. However, a love of more than one gender exists no matter who is willing to acknowledge it or not, and this motif is there. And Promisekeeper and Oblivion do rather fit the bill of representing homosexuality (Oblivion/Soriku) and heteronormativity (Promisekeeper/Sora and his childhood friend Kairi). So- while i don’t think it means anything, this fun idea is there~  I will say, however, that as far as I can tell, Nomura and his staff know exactly what they’re doing with their queer coding and are well connected to it in both cultures. So I mean- if any anime team would know bisexuality exists and how to code it, I firmly believe the KH team would, so. There is some food for thought for you~

Get ready for part 3, I hope you like TWEWY~ B)

[absinthemadness]

We are sorely deprived of ballet dancer Roxas

Yes. Yes we are.

Imagine Axel being dragged along to a ballet. Like 'Why would I want to watch a bunch of girls dancing on their toes?'

'Dude, just wait.'

Axel gets his first look at Roxas in tights and is smitten, looking through the program to find who he is. His friend is like, 'I told you so' smug face.

From there he finds whatever ballets that Roxas is in and goes. Finally he gets to meet the man backstage or outside after a show. They hit it off.

In the off time, Axel sees Roxas around town. Turns out they live in the same town. One of them eventually invites the other out for dinner or coffee. And thus they start dating.

When they eventually move in together, they find a place with a big living room where Axel is more than happy to push back the furniture and watch Roxas practice.

Roxas tries to teach Axel how to dance, and Axel isn't bad, but is definitely all lanky leg. Roxas tries to lift him once but they both wind up on the floor, laughing and then kissing.

Afterwards they sit on the couch and Axel massages Roxas's feet. And then legs, and then up and up much to Roxas's amusement.

And then Axel gets to find out just how flexible Roxas is.

[snowpeawritings]

Let’s say Sora, Roxas, Tetra, Ven, and Vanitas. If a partner wanted to explore BDSM with them, what would their roles be and what would their interests and hard limits be? - @ride-the-bifrost

Previous ask got deleted so im rewriting this!

Also idk much abt the topic of like... Actually discussing bdsm than... Yknow doing it but i'll try my best. The topic isnt really my preferred thing so if i have any inaccuracies, pls let me know!

Reader is gender neutral

ALL ARE AGED UP

CW (CONTENT WARNING): Sexual scenes, swearing, BDSM warning

| Sora |

Wait, you want to do that with him? He could barely utter a single word when he does it with you, what more with this? Though you grabbed Sora and settled down to have a long talk. Sora was raised with loving care and loving friends so that love is transferred to when you two get on the bed. He'll try to attempt it as best as he could, but even then it feels like the usual times you've done, only this time he was rougher with you; more marks, specifically teeth marks. Honestly he would never hurt you despite the marks so using flogs or any form of impact play is out the window. Never has he went past your line where either party utters their safe word so BDSM with Sora is very chill and aftercare is just as loving as he is.

| Roxas |

Would it be bad if Roxas got some form of knowledge of the topic because the older Organization members couldn't keep their mouths shut? Probably but Roxas has some knowledge compared to his Somebody. However, somehow he's even more touch-starved so he really wouldn't mind giving you control. Just don't ever let you ever know how he knows all of this, Axel will never live it down. He's pretty flexible but same as his Somebody, he doesn't like impact play or the like. Turns out Roxas is a whiny dude when the deed is done so he expects a lot of sugary sweets (preferably sea salt ice cream or the like) so you pretty much got your hands full for the night.

| Terra |

Again, would it also be bad that once Terra had been norted he had these exact same kinky thoughts? Maybe so but Terra is definitely more experienced than the first two. Sure, he has been in training for a long time but that doesn't mean he doesn't know a thing or two about pleasing you. He's naturally rough so he already asks you to plan a safe word just in case, even before talking to him about it. He really does go the extra mile to mark you but his only limit is that no degrading words and no bruises to bleed. Aftercare with him depends on how rough he was but the norm is drawing a hot bath and letting all of your thoughts about the activity out.

| Ventus |

Supposedly he's the Light half to counter Vanitas but that doesn't mean he's off the grid about BDSM. The topic makes him blush but he doesn't mind to entertain your preferences. He's not against using toys but he prefers vibrators on each party. His only hard limit is that he doesn't want any sort of derogatory word being uttered since... Well, we sorta get that. Aftercare with Ventus is just you guys calming down and telling each other what you liked and disliked about the session.

| Vanitas |

This man is both a sadist and masochist, good luck with him lmao. Honestly, you allotted more time in explaining aftercare rather than BDSM because of how he was born. Because he's a freak in the sheets, he doesn't really have a particular hard limit since he wants nothing more than for you to scream and cry out his name (and maybe claw up his back). I guess a big no for him is that he doesn't want any of that mushy shit like 'making love'. Laugh at him because of this revelation but he doesn't feel like he deserves that yet. Let him come to that time in his own terms then he'll get back to you. Again, since he doesn't know anything about aftercare, you'll be the one guiding him, such as giving you some food to eat, drawing a hot bath, and talking about how the session went.

[poguesofthebau]

yo um so i saw your ships and uh 👉👈 i may have been hella unholy today but i'd like one if they're still open 🥺😔 anyways i'm roxa, i'm bisexual, 5'1, i have fairly tanned skin, freckles, and curly brown hair. i surf, bake, and paint in my free time. im a history major and im pretty loud, got a nice chaotic energy following me around 😔 im a hopeless romantic but also way too committed to every relationship im a part of and im really bad at cutting people off 😔 anyways tyty :')

i can not express how gassed i was when i saw you send me a request. i fuckn LOVE YOUR BLOG (including all of the unholiness)

i ship you with kie!! (honorary mention that i touch upon more below: jj’s bestest friend probably ever, even more than john b. you two would definitely give off sibling vibes, like those two kids in middle school who somehow convinced the entire class that one of you was adopted into the other’s family? did y’all have those kids at your school or was that just me? idk but that’s you and jj regardless)

you were definitely running with the pogues before she made her way into the group. that chaotic energy of yours would definitely have attracted jj to you years ago, even before he and john b became friends, and you two would quickly become inseparable. like i said before, the kind of best friends that just radiate sibling energy. you two were always shoving each other around, slapping and punching and pinching, but the second anyone else looked at one of you wrong, it was war. when john b finally came into the picture a couple years later, you would sneak into the chateau during their sleepovers, raging against the power of all of your parents frowning upon co-ed slumber parties. after you doing it a few times, big john probably caught you hiding under the bed the boys were pretending to sleep in, but he just gave in, figuring that if you really wanted in that badly, that you at least deserved a chance to hang out with your friends. and then pope would come along a bit after those days, expanding those sleepovers a little more. (also, i would like to say that coming out as bisexual to the three of them would be the absolute most wholesome thing ever. not gonna go into that on this bc i’m already getting carried away, but just know it would be such a Pogue Hall of Fame night, and none of the four of you would ever forget that convo, ever)

now, i wish we knew when exactly the boys met kie, bc that would make this a lot more stable of a blurb, but let’s just pretend for now. let’s say you and the boys were in 7th grade at this point, and you were all starting to realize how much free reign over the island you really had. none of your parents cared much about where you spent your days as long as they got word every once in a while that none of you were dead, and that’s when you’d stumble across kie. jj and john b would have somehow convinced you and pope to go surfing, so you’d end up at the beach with your boards, but by the time you actually got there after a long walk, you were so unbelievably pissed off at jj that you wanted nothing to do with surfing anymore. he’d just been getting on your nerves the whole walk there, doing whatever annoying shit jj does, especially to a little sister figure, so you’d slam your board into the sand as soon as you reached it, sitting on it and flipping up your hood to let them know you wouldn’t be going into the water with them. “are you seriously not gonna come in now? don’t be a baby, you know i’m just fucking with you!” you didn’t notice her, but as jj began to argue with you, kie was a few yards away listening in. “fuck you, jj. just go get in the water. you wanna surf so bad, then go fuckin’ surfing. i don’t want anything to do with you right now.” kind of harsh, but the two of you always were when you fought. pope and john b, knowing this, had barely flinched when you’d stopped in the sand, and were now paddling out to start catching waves. “fine, dude. be dramatic. suit yourself, but don’t complain later that you didn’t get to surf!” with that, jj was running off to catch up with the others, leaving you to draw lines in the sand until they came back. “you really let him talk to you like that?” kie’s voice scared the shit out of you, making you jump a little before you settled again after seeing the girl tower over you. “he kind of seems like a douche. and he definitely shouldn’t be talking to a girl, or anyone, for that matter, like he just did to you.” you’d look at her with interest before chuckling. “that’s just jj,” you’d explain, causing her unimpressed expression to morph into a confused one. “he’s like my brother. we’ve been best friends forever, and he can be an asshole but he doesn’t really mean it. he just pisses me off sometimes. are you-- is that garbage?” finally, you noticed the half-filled trash bag in her glove-clad hands. she nodded, dropping the bag down next to her feet before she sat in the sand in front of you. “yeah, i’m trying to pick up some of the shit the high school kids leave behind after their parties. and, just so you know, even someone who’s like a brother to you shouldn’t treat you like that.” sliding over so that half your board was exposed, you patted the spot for her to sit on. “an earth girl. interesting, for this island-- i didn’t think anyone really cared about the environment around here. and if it really bothers you that much, you should hang around and meet jj and the others when they come back. maybe you can give him a taste of his own medicine, since i apparently don’t know how.” kie would smile at that, a glint in her eye that told you she would be sticking around for more than just the day. “i would love to. you really seem like you could use a protector, and i think i’m just the girl for the job. so, you surf?”

[oveliagirlhaditright]

Since I'm finally watching KH Days, I've started to try to get an idea of how the girls' personalities differ from one another. So KHI Kairi is a bit sassy and a little bit of a tomboy. In subsequent games she seems to become a bit more feminine, even as she learns how to fight. Namine seems to be timid and anxious, but she's also very capable. Xion so far seems to be very soft spoken, and she reminds me a bit of Namine. Would you say those are accurate descriptions of them?

I think so:) Though I think Kairi still has a bit of tomboy to her even during and after II. In terms of girlyness (from most girly to least), I think it goes Naminé, Kairi, Xion.

Naminé is timid and anxious, as you say, but I think others way to describe her are shy and traumatized. She also smiles less than the other girls--because they’ve had better lives than she has. She’s barely been loved or had the chance to have fun at all--and... it’s not that she has less of a sense of self than them, but that she doesn’t think she deserves to have a sense of self or that she’s needed in the world. And Sora needs to convince her otherwise.

Xion is self-conscious, I think--probably because of how Saïx treats her--so this can make her hang back as well... but I don’t think she’s as shy as Naminé. She’s also desperate to prove herself. She can also be pretty happy and smiley (one of the things that used to annoy me, was when fans--and I mean, to be fair, it really wasn’t their fault--would portray Xion as “emo”, because they only knew of the DS cutscenes and I was like, “Dude, that girl was happy all the time in the in-game cutscenes. They just didn’t make those into actual cutscenes for some reason”) and pretty energetic and outgoing (but not as much as Sora or anything like that. I also think she gets this from both Sora and Kairi, though some people are trying to argue now that maybe Kairi is less energetic than we saw in KHI and maybe even KHII. IDK). 

Also, Xion can actually sass people and does (something else that I think she gets from Sora and Kairi). Not as much as Kairi does--but aside from Larxene, who does so in a cruel way--I think Kairi and Xion are our only original girls in this series who sass people. Because Naminé definitely doesn’t... Avi and Invi never have, nor Strelitzia. Neither has Stella 2.0 from what we’ve seen so far... And while Aqua and Skuld can be biting, in some ways, I don’t think they’re sassy, if you feel me. Like, some Aqua lines that come to mind are these: “My name is Master Aqua... now return my friend’s heart, or pay the price!” and “We have unfinished business. I fell into darkness, and for ten years I wandered through the dark realm. Now... I’m finally here. And I want only one thing... with all my heart. Xehanort... I’m casting you out of Terra forever!” And they’re badass, don’t get me wrong, but not sassy, imo. Same thing with Skuld’s lines, I think.

But one thing I think is true of Kairi, Naminé, and Xion, is that all three have some form of self-doubt about them.

Edit: And yes, I think Naminé and Xion are a lot alike... but I also think Xion and Kairi are. I actually think Xion is kind of the bridge between Kairi and Naminé. Because even though Naminé is Kairi’s Nobody, I think Kairi and Naminé are both more like Xion than they are each other... but I also don’t think that’s weird,  because Roxas is way different from Sora, too. At least in the form of Roxas and Naminé as Nobodies, they seem to be the other side of the coin to their Others rather than being exactly like them.

Edit: Olette isn’t sassy, either.

[nobodies-png]

How would the members deal with a deaf s/o?

( Another disclaimer, i’m not deaf myself so I apologize for any things that could offend deaf people ! I used to have a deaf friend as a kid, so I kinda took most of the inspo from that - as usual, y’all free to add to this or teach/correct me ! )

With love and respect, ofc. They might be a sketchy heart-stealing organization, but they have morals and will adapt to having a deaf S/O ! A couple of members already know sign language and the rest are eager and willing to learn, so it’s all good.

The more quiet members would have no problem communicating with you through sign language. (I headcanon Ienzo as a child used to be selectively mute, so all apprentices learnt a bit of sign language to properly understand and talk to him better.). You might see Xaldin struggling to remember how to say a few things, but he’ll be too stubborn and prideful to ask you for help - give him some time lolol. 

On the other hand, Lexaeus becomes quite the talker - at least by his standards. He thinks sign language is more intimate and personal, and it helps him communicate his thoughts better as well ! He also knows how to read lips, in case you want him to teach you lolol. And speaking of personal, Zexion definitely suggests sharing a little notebook with you to communicate apart from using sign language - like it’s def filled with little doodles, cute message and conversations you two have had while chilling in the library and such. 

Xemnas and Saix prefer to listen to their partners rather than doing all the talking, so they barely gesture and use sign language themselves cause they just learnt so they could understand you. But the two are also busy dudes, so chances are you and Saix communicate mostly through sticky notes that you leave on each other’s rooms and such. (Don’t tell anyone, but he saves the cute notes you leave for him). Xemnas can’t do much but he does make sure that everyone else respects you and your disability!

If you’re able to read lips, you can bet Axel, Marluxia and Luxord will be mouthing compliments for you in the middle of meetings - or in Axel’s case, funny shit that’ll make you lose your cool and send you rolling on the ground. Luxord wouldn’t make a big deal out of you being deaf though, just taking everything in stride. He adapts pretty quickly to new things ! Axel would practice sign language in private or with Xion and Roxas just so he can surprise you and show off next time you two meet. 

Marluxia like the hopeless romantic he is, just likes finding more ways to subtly communicate his affection for you (aka, flowers, letters, actions) so he does the same as Axel. But like. 200% more extra. Oh and he also loves gossiping with you - right next to the same people you’re gossiping about. But this can also apply to Xigbar and Larxene wheez e.

Demyx will probably sulk for a while, since you won’t be able to hear his music - but this will turn out to be a good opportunity to expand his horizons and practice composing songs with stronger beats and vibrations, which is something y o u can enjoy and sense ! If you’re vocal, though, he’ll insist on hearing you sing at least once so good luck with dealing with him lolol. 

People used to make fun of my deaf friend for not being able to regulate her voice properly sO if this ever hapened to you, Larxene would gladly step in and casually yell and be as annoying as posible until those people left the fuck out. And then she’ll try to play it off with an off-handed comment like “oh wow, can’t believe puberty is still messing with my voice, oh wELL FUCK THOSE GUYS RIGHT ? Let’s go on a date right now.”

You might have a hard time with Vexen, specially when he’s absorbed in a new brand experiment - cause he gestures way too fast for you to keep up whenever he rambles about science. And his handwritting is kind of chicken scratch that only two people can actually decypher. And also he doesn’t vocalize when he’s excited or nervous. But hey, the guy loves you so he’s working his ass off to find a way for you to either communicate better or hear once more with hearing aids ! 

Roxas and Xion are the usual curious pair - they’ll ask you a bunch of questions about your disability, awkwardly trying not to be invasive or rude because they don’t know much about deafness. But the two are overall sweethearts about it. Though they might forget you’re deaf from time to time, so don’t hold it against them whenever they try calling out to you from the other side of the room for a solid 10 minutes.

Xigbar ‘s vision got pretty fucked after losing an eye, so he kinda gets you despite having a different issue. Ironically, he’s the least sensible about this lol. He won’t babysit you as much as the other members or treat you like glas - and you can expect some light hearted teasing or a few harmless jokes here and there, but the guy really just goes with the flow.

[nadziejastar]

Let's imagine an alternate universe where Isa/Saix is female, but otherwise she's written exactly the same. How do you think audiences would react differently from the male version? Would she be more popular or less?

I think Saix would have been very popular in a similar way to Larxene. People are longing for female characters that aren’t stereotypically nice and feminine. Saix was cold and sociopathic, and I can see a female version being popular in a similar way to Azula from ATLA. If we were just going by KH2 and Days, I think a female Saix would have been more popular.

BBS, now that’s a bit different. Isa was already a very feminine pretty boy in that game. He is described as shy and only comes out of his shell for Lea. There was nothing creepy about him; he was very cute design-wise. He was sarcastic, so he might have been seen as slightly tomboyish if he had been female. Either way, Isa steps outside the gender stereotype box. I think he/she would have been equally popular either way. 

I think really, the main thing Isa needed was a proper backstory and character development to explore his/her friendship with Lea. If he/she received that, then he/she would have been a very popular character. Isa never got that, though. If he had been a girl, I think it would have been FAR more easy for people to see the intended romantic hints between her and Axel/Lea, especially in the novels. I think the only reason people couldn’t see it was because Axel and Saix were both guys. 

One of the creators of The Legend of Korra made a comment about watching with a hetero lens. Well, that’s exactly how I feel about Axel and Saix. They were intended to be a gay couple that would kinda slip under the radar due to it being so subtle. But for some reason, Square changed their minds and became terrified of LeaIsa/AkuSai by the time KH3 came out. I definitely think it was more than just Nomura changing his mind on a whim. It was self-censorship. They needed to focus on a girl so they didn’t seem too gay.

I think if Saix were a girl, people would have been a LOT more critical of her relationship with Lea and what it was reduced to in KH3. Saix’s relationship with Axel/Lea was handled in such a dismissive and hands-off way in KH3. Saix, even after he admitted he was jealous, simply grumbled that Lea wouldn’t get it out of him a second time. That was their heart-warming reconciliation. Without a doubt, it came across as extremely homophobic to me. But homophobia is normal in society, so many people didn’t really see the problem. Saix and Axel were just normal dudes being bros. And bros don’t get all touchy-feely with each other, right? 

If Saix had been female, people would have been extremely confused about why the story was so quick to resolve her relationship with Lea, and why it was so insistent on focusing on Subject X instead. Why would a female Saix be so obsessed with a girl she barely knew and completely destroy her relationship with Axel over it? On top of that, almost ALL the focus went to the Sea-Salt trio’s reunion. Perhaps that was because that trio was less controversial. There was no potential homoerotic undertones with them. They were deemed as “safe” to depict. LeaIsa? Nope. Too risky.

If Saix had been a girl, I think her bond with Axel would have been given waaaaaay more focus. I definitely don’t think the game would have been so terrified to show their closeness and intimacy, like it was in KH3. That was solely the result of them being two men. KH3 went running and screaming in the opposite direction at the idea of two men expressing that type of intimacy.

Kairi

Kairi, who was a tomboy in KHI, became a little bit more mature in KHII. She changed a lot outwardly since at that age girls grow a lot faster than boys, but her lively personality didn’t fundamentally change. Enough that ‘with Riku and Sora gone, right now Kairi is the strongest person on Destiny Islands’ is an actual premise. I like the scene in KHI, when she watches the sunset with Sora, and tells him not to change. I thought it showed very well her anxiety and loneliness over how as we get older we find a distance growing between us and our close friends. –Nomura

If Isa had been a girl, I think a LOT more people would have been able to notice that her story line was unfinished. One of the main recurring themes in KH is the idea that things change as we grow older. We grow apart from our closest friends.

“Kingdom Hearts is not too realistic, but I do want my players to grasp a sense of reality from it as well,” Nomura said. “For example, I’m sure you had friends when you were young, a good group of friends, but as you grow older things change and it doesn’t always stay the same. I think all I can say is please play to the very end and see what happens. But I think Kingdom Hearts 3 does depict how each character feels about each other in this new storyline.”

This idea was carried on even in KH3. For better or worse, it influenced the ending. 

RoxasA lot of thought was put into this character. Based on the premise that he was ‘an expression of the reverse, hidden inside Sora’, I gave him pretty much the exact same face as Sora, just with slightly narrower eyes. And then, I made white the basis for his clothes, in contrast to KHII Sora. The black and white checkered pattern, ‘neither darkness nor light’, was to be a hint. My absolute favourite scene of his has to be the one at the end of the opening of KHII, when he says 'looks like my summer vacation is over’. I put a lot of feeling into creating that, as I intended it to feel, for a moment, like the end.–Nomura

Roxas had the same issue to deal with in KH2. He was growing up and things weren’t going to stay the same between him and his friends. The end of Roxas’s summer vacation was an iconic scene.

This was also one of the main themes of Roxas and Xion’s tragic relationship. When Xion stood up slowly, the shot was extremely similar to the one where Kairi slowly stood up in KH1, with Sora just watching. Then they were watching the sunset and Kairi told him to never change. Xion literally changed—into Sora.

IMO, Roxas and Xion’s romance was a further exploration of Kairi’s relationship with Sora. Only the roles were reversed. Xion was even based on the KH1 tomboyish Kairi. The day Xion disappears is called “Tears” and Roxas cries. Afterwards, that’s when Axel discovers the WINNER stick that Roxas left him.

Talking to Roxas and Xion always brings back memories of my human life, back when I was a kid. It’s a weird sensation. I ought to be able to share all this with Saïx, but I just don’t feel like it anymore. It’s strange, but I’m content with just missing what’s gone. I’m not the one who changed. You did.

Axel was dealing with the exact same thing. After a while, there was a distance growing between him, Roxas, and Xion. Not to mention the fact that Axel wasn’t growing up. He was already grown, which presented a unique hurdle. And at the same time he was growing apart from Roxas and Xion, he was remembering how Isa had changed. This was something that needed to be resolved. Clearly, this was something that caused Axel a tremendous amount of pain. Did his relationship with Roxas and Xion need to be resolved? Of course it did. But I’d argue that his relationship with Isa caused Lea more pain than any other. Yet, it got comparatively little focus.

“Yeah. As long as we remember one another, we’ll never be apart. Got it memorized?” Roxas grinned.

A wish that they could always be together—was longing for the impossible. But at least they could always remember one another.

Saix stood up very slowly in their clock tower scene in KH3, like Kairi and Xion did. He also got a WINNER stick, which I’m sure had a lot to did with the backstory of Axel’s tear marks and him being a “crybaby”. All very deliberate. If Saix had been female, I don’t think anyone would have had trouble seeing that Axel was thinking about Saix all the time in Days. He wasn’t just the friendly “dad” of the sea salt trio. He was NOT happy in Days. He was watching Roxas and Xion grow more intimate, and remembering how he and Isa used to be the same way. He was miserable the entire game.

Axel cared about Roxas and Xion, but he didn’t really want to be a dad to them. At least not from what I could see. He wanted to protect them from experiencing the pain that he felt. And he also wanted to relive his lost innocence through them. I think if Saix had been a girl, people would have cared more about her relationship with Axel getting an actual resolution in KH3. 

I wanted us to stay together. All I wanted was to hold on to our happiness as a trio in the Organization. But I told myself to grow up and stop wishing for the impossible. Well, I’m done with that. That’s not the answer I want.

If Saix had been a girl, people wouldn’t have treated Axel’s relationship with Roxas and Xion as SO much more important than his relationship with Saix. There would have been no mystery about the origin of his tear marks. They were due to Lea wanting to be together forever with Isa, and crying over thinking that would be impossible. Lea couldn’t bear to lose Isa. If Saix had been a girl, Axel would have been able to cry for her without shame, the way a Roxas was able to cry for Xion.

If Saix had been a girl, I don’t think anyone would have been okay with their relationship suddenly revolving around some random new girl that was never mentioned by either of them before. That wouldn’t be something exciting that players are meant to look forward to. People would have been wondering: what happened to their bond with each other? If Saix had been female, I think waaaaay more people would have been confused about why Axel and Saix weren’t a couple at the end of KH3, the way Roxas/Xion or Sora/Kairi were.

[starcharmfunzies]

Xiiiiiiiooooooonn xD

oh boy okay here we go

I’ll just say it. I don’t like Xion. She’s a bad character, but it’s not her fault it’s the writers’.

My argument is divided in the following points:

She has no personality, and is only a blank slate for anyone to be able to relate to.

She has no flaws, and is never in the wrong.

Her only character trait is the “tragedy” of her story, and it’s shoved down the player’s throat so she can earn our sympathy only for it to be meaningless later on.

Her bad writing is so contagious she makes other characters around her act out of character.

She serves no purpose to the story.

I’l explain each point after the read more:

She has no personality, and is only a blank slate for anyone to be able to relate to

Kingdom Hearts characters, including heroes and villains, have distinct personalities of their own that makes them unique between them and believable. If you closed your eyes and I started describing someone via character traits you wouldn’t have a hard time figuring out who I’m talking about.

How would you describe Xion though? She’s kind, cares for her friends, is determined and has a strong sense of justice.

That could be literally anyone.

If I added to that description “cool, composed, collected.” you could already narrow it down to Terra, Aqua or Riku. If instead I added “cunning, sly, nonchalant” you could think of Axel. 

But you can’t add anything else to Xion, she just has a bunch of generic character traits that anyone could relate to, including us the player. Who doesn’t care about their friends? Who doesn’t want to do the right thing? Everyone does! While some people could see themselves in Sora or others in Riku almost any KH fan can somewhat relate to Xion because she’s very standard in personality.

She has no flaws, and is never in the wrong.

Characters make mistakes man. Terra trusted Xehanort, Aqua blindly obeyed Eraqus’ orders, Ven left LoD to chase after Terra, Riku accepted the darkness, Naminé fucked with Sora’s memories, Roxas tried to fight against the Organization by himself with no plan. The list goes on. 

You ever notice Xion never does anything wrong? Whenever there’s conflict she’s always right. Roxas wants her to come back? Can’t, she has to go to Sora. Axel tries to bring her back? She fights back (even tho she loses she still tried to not lose). She has the chance to stay alive and ditch Sora? Nope, that wouldn’t be the right thing. Overall her moral values are always right, she just doesn’t make mistakes. And no, following the organization’s orders doesn’t count as a mistake because she was brain dead when she first joined and only started thinking for herself later on.

She’s a perfect character. A character that does no wrong, and y’know what? Perfect characters are fucking boring because they never cause conflict. You know what to do with perfect characters like her? You kill them so the main character goes through development. Mufasa and Tadashi ring a bell?

Her only character trait is the “tragedy” of her story, and it’s shoved down the player’s throat so she can earn our sympathy only for it to be meaningless later on.

When you think of Xion what is the first thing that you think of? Her death, and that’s because that’s the only thing she has. What else could she possibly have? Eating ice cream in a tower? Hiding from Roxas and Axel? Nah dude, the only striking thing she has that left an impact is her death. When you think of Roxas you could think of the KH2 intro, his fight with Riku, his fight with Axel.. Roxas has a lot of amazing moments, and so do the rest of the cast!

But not only is her death the only thing she has, but the game tries real hard to rub in our faces just how tragic and sad it is oh no :v

The reason why she has such a hard time deciding to go to Sora is because she’ll pretty much disappear from existence. We know this way before she makes her choice, and the whole thing is building up the more she thinks about it and you know it’s unavoidable. Naminé even explained to her, and I quote, “There won’t be any ‘you’ to remember.” So according to Naminé there literally won’t be any trace of Xion left. At all.

Okay so you can be like, well fine, her death is the only thing she has going for her, it was sad and all so I’ll take it. 

Except she’s not fucking dead.

Despite Naminé telling us that she’d disappear for good, that there was no fucking chance she’d ever be remembered, SOMEHOW she still shows up in Re:Coded and DDD because aylmao deal with it. If there really were not going to be ANY memories of her left then why the fuck is she still “remembered” deep in Sora’s heart? And wait a minute, then that makes her super tragic death pointless! She was brought back, what was the point of forcing me to feel bad about her?

Because yes, I felt pretty forced. Even her fucking theme is shoving it in our faces.

You have Aqua, who was trapped in the RoD for a goddamn decade, almost succumbed to the darkness, lost her two friends to a creepy old man that wanted to end the world, and had to fight the embodiment of all her fears. She gets: Aqua’s theme.

You have Naminé, who was isolated for an entire year and used to hurt the only person that showed her kindness ever since she was born. Her mistake was so big and tremendous she spent another year fixing that mistake with the help of a revenge-thirsty old man that treated her like shit. She gets: Naminé’s theme.

You have Kairi, who lost her home, has no memories of her early life, lost both her best friends after their first journey and was left behind by herself for a year with no idea of whether they were alive or not, and was later used as fucking bait to lure Sora into danger. She gets: Kairi’s theme.

And then you have Xion, who had to fight Axel and Roxas like once, and then died but not really because she came back. She gets: MUSIQUE POUR LA TRISTESSE DE XION.

jfc talk about subtle.

Her bad writing is so contagious she makes other characters around her act out of character.

You remember what happened to Riku after Chain of Memories? When he found Sora asleep, he was determined to do anything to help wake him up. Anything. And that included beating the shit out of Roxas with no room for debate, conversation or argument, relying on the power of darkness so much he changed his appearance into the guy that had tortured him for the last year, kidnapping Roxas and aiding Ansem in placing him inside a fucking computer so he could die.

When Riku spotted Roxas about to try and set Kingdom Hearts free Riku did not play around and did what he had to do. He didn’t tell Roxas to think it over, didn’t sit down with him and tried to come up with a better solution. Nah dude, he beat the shit out of him.

And yet, what happened when Riku encountered Xion? He knew Sora needed her too to wake up. But instead of being as merciless as he was with Roxas he gently cradles her in his arms, brushes her hair out of her face, and talks with her about what she wants to do. Uh, excuse you? Why on earth would you give her the choice of not going with Sora when you want him to wake up? What if she decided to not go? Would he have let her? Well either way, the same Riku that kidnapped Roxas would have kidnapped Xion too, especially since he found her unconscious and would have been pretty easy. But no.. this is Xion, she’s special, she needs to make her choice. Ugh.

Riku is not the only one affected by this. When Roxas found out Axel was hiding information about him he got fucking pissed. He lashed out at him, yelled at him, accused him of not being a good friend because friends shouldn’t keep that kind of secret from each other. Roxas was not having it, and he let Axel know.

But when Xion kept avoiding Roxas without saying why? No that’s okay! Roxas is just worried and he wants her to come back! It’s okay! 

Wtf dude? He had all the right to be angry at her too! She’s clearly hiding something from him, something that is a huge deal. Why is he not getting angry at her too? Why is Axel the only one that gets put in his place? I’ll tell you why, because this is Xion and she’s special, and she has the right to make her own shady choices that affect her friends.

She serves no purpose to the story.

And so we find ourselves here. Have you thought about it for a second? How exactly did Xion affect the story? Because obviously she did, didn’t she? After all, her death had a huge impact. What was that impact? In her final moments just as she’s vanishing, Xion asks Roxas to set Kingdom Hearts free, and thus that’s why Roxas left the organization. If it hadn’t been for Xion, Roxas would never had been pushed to do so.

Except that’s not true.

Prior to Xion’s death, Roxas was already getting distraught, impatient and angry because of all the questions he had about himself. Why is he so special? Why can he wield the keyblade? What does the organization want with the keyblade? Who is Sora and why is he so important? 

Axel was not giving him answers, and he was definitely not going to get any from the organization either. Even without Xion’s death, Roxas would have eventually reached a limit and tried to search for answers himself, thus betraying and leaving the organization. Xion’s death only made it happen sooner than later.

So then, what did Xion do?

Let’s try to figure it out. If you were to remove Xion completely from the story, from the franchise, would anything change?

If for example we removed Terra Xehanort would never have found a young body to posses, Terranort would never have become Ansem’s student and the emblem heartless wouldn’t have been born.

If Kairi was removed Sora and Riku would never have been motivated to leave Destiny Islands, after arriving to Traverse Town Sora would have gone to search Riku directly instead and would have joined him when he found him during his second visit to Traverse Town thus avoiding the conflict of Riku thinking he got replaced by Donald and Goofy. Sora would never have sacrificed himself to save Kairi, and Roxas and Naminé would never have been born and it only snow balls from there…

If Axel was removed Naminé would never have escaped from Marluxia and Larxene in Castle Oblivion and wouldn’t have been able to help Sora. The organization’s plans wouldn’t have been foiled, and Sora wouldn’t have been able to make it to the World that Never Was by himself to save Kairi.

So now that we have a few examples, let’s think it over again. What would change if Xion was completely wiped from the story?

Nothing. Maybe Roxas and Axel would have remained as a duo instead of a trio of friends, but that makes no difference since KH2 was originally written with that in mind anyways. And maybe Xehanort would be one darkness short in KH3, but if he really wanted to he could pick Demyx, Vexen or bring another version of himself from the past.

When you have a character in your story that contributes with nothing you have a huge problem there. You either change that character’s influence, or you remove the character entirely. You can’t leave things as they are.

So there you have it. Unless Xion is given a crucial role later in the franchise (which I seriously hope she doesn’t), my opinion on her won’t change. She was pointless, served no purpose, and is overall a bad character in my eyes. 

I want to clarify though that it’s not her fault, she just had bad luck and was the character that got stuck with bad writing.

[square-enix-headcanons]

How would Lea, Xion, Roxas, Ven, Sora, and Kairi react to their friend, who is usually more on the quiet and reserved side, revealing they're the lead singer of a band? On stage they're surprisingly confident, and their bands music sounds a lot like that of Will Wood & The Tapeworms? (Their song 2012 is a good example! This parts pretty self indulgent, I know 😂)

Self indulgence is always good on this blog, my friend~

Sora

!!!!!!!

So excited!!!!

He immediately wants to listen to you! Whether that’s just you singing for him or if it means going to a concert, he wants to hear you sing!

He just thinks it’s so cool!

He isn’t even really surprised that you seem that much more confident on stage; he’s too excited about it

And he will tell you afterwards you cool it was! Including stuff like his favorite lines and favorite parts of the performance

Kairi

She’s impressed! Especially since you normally seem kind of shy; going up there must’ve been really scary at first

(Kairi is kind of the opposite - Pretty confident normally, but she does get stage fright. Not much, but still.)

Asks if you’ll have a concert anytime soon; she’d love to hear you sing

Afterwards, she goes to hug you and tell you how amazing you were!

She’ll remember to buy your bands CDs when there’s a new one coming out; she likes the music, and wants to support you and the band

Ventus

He’s surprised; after all, you don’t really seem like the type of person who’d willingly stand in front of a crowd or anything like that

Very curious about what your music sounds like! So he’ll ask if you’ve got a CD or something he can listen to

A little surprised when he hears it. He didn’t know what, exactly, he expected, but not quite this

He does like it though! He just had a short “?!” moment when he first heard it

Very supportive; he may not get all the CDs or go to all concerts, he does buy them/go to them occasionally

And if your band has a social media account, he definitely follows it and retweets/reblogs/etc info about coming CDs and concerts

Lea

Not too surprised, actually. Sure, he didn’t expect it, he’s aware people can be very different depending on the situation

(He’s friends with Isa, and that dude may usually seem Very Serious, but can often be persuaded to very silly stuff. Your revelation isn’t more surprising than that)

Definitely wants to hear you sing, though! So he asks if you’ve got a CD he can listen to, or when your next concert will be

100% into your music. Not just because it’s yours (though that might’ve helped), he just legit loves it, and he will buy as many CDs/go to as many concerts as he can

Roxas

Kind of surprised, but he’s witnessed more drastic changes (Zexion vs Ienzo), so you being confident when singing isn’t that out there

He pretty much instantly asks if you and your band would play for him; not because he’s impatient and excited like Sora, but because he never really had to deal with bands before and as such isn’t quite sure how they work

He gets it pretty quickly once you tell him he’ll have to listen to a recording or come to a concert (obviously you can’t just make the entire band come over)

Agrees to listen to a CD instead; he takes a few moments to get into it, but then he really likes it, and asks when your next concert will be - He really wants to see you perform live!

He invites Lea and Xion to come along, too; stuff like that is best if it’s shared with friends, right?

He’s kinda lowkey about liking it, and bought maybe one or two CDs; however, he does go to your concerts fairly often, and always makes sure to tell people about it so they can go see your band, too

Xion

She’s probably most surprised out of the bunch

After all, in your day to day lives, you’re quite a bit more timid than her, but she’s got pretty bad stage fright, at least if she has to know stuff by heart and/or if others would be relying on her

Similar to Roxas, she first asks if you can sing to her so she can hear what it sounds like

You can just offer her to listen to a CD instead, so she can hear the whole band and not just you

She’s glad that you’ve found something that makes you happy, and think being in a band is really cool

She definitely tells Roxas and Lea about it, and goes to the occasional concert

[mellz117]

Hello all and welcome to part 4 of my playthrough of KH2 on the PS2. If you haven't seen the previous entries please go do that.

[ _1_ ] [ _2_ ] [ _3_ ]

To recap: The Wonders of Twilight Town are boring as hell. We spoke to Namine again, Roxas finally realizes his life this week is a lie and starts to remember his life in the Organization. DiZ is racist against Nobodies but we already knew that. Roxas and Axel fight, I wanted to cry. Roxas meets Sora in his sleeping pod before disappearing, I wanted to cry.

And the adventure continues

I wanna know how Sora wakes up in the real world when Roxas merges with him in the virtual one. How in CoM does Sora go to sleep in Castle Oblivion, the whole-ass chamber and then some get transferred to Twilight Town, Roxas meets him in a virtual version of the mansion, and Sora wakes up in the real mansion in KH2? Nomura please explain this series. Is Final Fantasy ever this convoluted?

Donald and Goofy call out to Sora and we're once again reminded this is a Disney game. I don’t know why but the fact that Disney owns the original Kingdom Hearts characters bothers me. It means, unless DISNEY gives the OK, Sora will never be in Smash Bros. and that makes me sad.

I don't know much about comas but after a year of total inactivity, wouldn't your muscles atrophy like, A BUNCH? At least is wasn’t 7... OR VENTUS WITH A WHOLE DECADE WTF?

Again WHY COULDN'T JIMINY JUST KEEP EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED IN CHAIN OF MEMORIES WRITTEN DOWN IN HIS JOURNAL INSTEAD OF A CRYPTIC MEMO TO THANK NAMINE?

The trinity trio wanders out of the mansion, loot some chests, and find their way to the back alleys of town.

Hayner is rude RIGHT outta the gate, wow. Ok I remember that Pence actually met Roxas in Days, and so to me he seems to recognize Sora through his memories of Roxas despite the two sharing like, one visual similarly: blue eyes. But KH3 to my understanding reveals that the virtual versions of characters affect the real version so I dunno!! WHAT IS THIS SERIES?

"Have you finished the summer homework yet?" Olette asks Sora and his two ANIMAL COMPANIONS as if seeing two anthropomorphic animals is fucking normal in a town comprised entirely of humans and exactly one moogle.

Sora doesn't have any homework. For over a year he's been away from home and his mom couldn't make him go to school. I wonder how she's doing? Does she miss her son? Kingdom Hearts and parents don't gel.

I like how.. When Pence describes this cloaked figure who was looking for the trinity trio, as having big, round ears, they have to think about who it could possibly be. They’re not too bright.

Why is “sofa” capitalized? Also they weren't even sitting on it, neither of them were!

HAYNER IS A RUDE BOY! He tells us so ask Seifer about the town, as we are new. Bruh, if you’re this rude to us I’m sure how much worse Seifer and his posse are.

Seifer is immediately confrontational. “You here to pick a fight with us?” and Sora’s all like “No, we’re new here.” and DONALD FUCKING DUCK! INSULTS SEIFER AND NOW EVERYONE’S READY TO THROW DOWN! THANKS TO THIS DUMB FUCK DUCK!

But thank Christ big chungus appears out of nowhere and stops the children and two adult furries from causing a scene.

This dude is WAY too into the Struggle tournament. Seifer has an unwanted faaaaan! Bro, go away, you’re creeping on a teenager.

I wanna fight Seifer.

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I'm not working on this like I should be. I'm going on vacation soon and since we're all in quarantine I can't really do anything fun so this is the opportune time to catch up.

Moving on! We make our way to the train station and oh no, we're ambushed by Dusks! Because of COURSE we are. Who could've seen THAT coming? /s

I- I like how, even after hearing his voice, and seeing his fucking mousey silhouette, the gang STILL might not be sure this is their stupid rat king. One brain cell between the three of them, I swear, and Goofy is the primary carrier, and it only sometimes works.

Why do we need to purchase tickets to travel on a magical train embarking to an ethereal plane of existence? I guess it's the principal of it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I HAVE A MIGHTY NEED TO HUG THIS BOY. LOOK, HE'S CRYING!

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Pence is so cute. I didn't care much for him when I was younger but he's such a cutie. 

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I HAVE A MIGHTY NEED TO HUG THIS BOY. LOOK, HE'S SAD!

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It's fat cat Pete. For like ever, I had no idea he was a cat. Wonder what Maleficent saw in him to ally with him.

The trinity trio laughing about killing (or at least taking part in killing) Maleficent. "She's toast!" this sure is early 2000's dialogue...

Heartless everywhere! "You mean the worlds aren't at peace after all" well, no sweetie. It takes time for things to recover from horrible events. *looks at current state of the real world*

So like, I had no idea Yen Sid was a Keyblade warrior??? I had read about that in his Wiki page when I googled if any Keyblade warriors were left handed. (Ven might be, but more likely ambidextrous) But I guess being Mickey's teacher would imply his Keyblade wielder roots but whatever, I didn't pay attention when I was a teenager.

Yen Sid's decor is baffling. What are these bookshelves? What are these BOOKS? They're huge!

Good on Yen Sid for using singular “they” pronouns in 2005.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

On to our change of wardrobe. Without a doubt Sora's best look in the whole series, in my humble opinion. Lookit my handsome boy. 

And Sora learns about drive forms, blah, blah, blah, powerful forms, gotta sacrifice something like in Duel Monsters, in this case an ally.

Yen Sid is so boring.

All seriousness and tension is just broken as soon as Goofy’s name is uttered, at least Sora and Donald have normal names wtf.

It’s interesting how like, 15 years later, Union X explains how Maleficent was able to return after her defeat. Something about, as long as someone from your original time remembers you and you have a physical object to represent you you’re able to basically some back from the dead. Right? Am I right on that? I haven’t played it but I’m hanging by a thread on this loop.

Sora’s hard work down the drain...

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Hollow Bastion! And of course there’s trouble. Heartless, Nobodies, and Yuffie, oh my!

A problem sequels have to work around is when the protagonist needs to relearn their abilities. KH does a well and good job with this one. In CoM, it’s a different battle style, in KH2 Sora’s been asleep for a hear prior.

Also, Merlin “leant” Sora some magic spells? How does that work? Like, once you learn it you can’t just... give that knowledge back...?

……………………………………………………………………………………………

How old is Leon? He has no right being this pretty.

Another ambush by Nobodies. Give it a rest, would ya? Battle ensues, Leon deals the final blow against an enemy, and as the camera usually does, zooms in on the victor and we get a nice slow-mo crotch shot of Leon. Thanks, game... Then, Xemnas’s very sexy, very manly voice echoes across town and the organization appears before our protagonists. I’m weak.

Demyx’s laugh, dude. I love it. Sora is ready to throw hands with anyone in his way. Honey, you’re barely out of a magic coma and this dude is like, two whole feet taller than you. Not to mention very fit.

I’m done thirsting over Xemnas...

After a few taunting words, the new villains depart, Donald attempts to give chase somehow? Where you gonna go? They disappeared behind dark corridors. It seems Goofy is still holding onto that shared brain cell.

The Bastard

I like the majority of the Organization. Xigbar is definitely one of my favorites based on this next scene alone. He’s so snarky and full of shit. I love it. He’s great. He was definitely a stoner at some point.

I’m confused though. “He used to give me that same exact look!” the Wiki says Xigbar’s talking about Ven but I always thought he was referring to Roxas? Did Braig and Ven have a history? That’s implied in Days (which released before BbS) IDK dude. I’m surprised I’ve gone this long without spoiling myself too much on BbS. Like, a few story beats here and there but a lot of it isn’t gonna be known until I play it.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

The dialogue for KH2 was so different from the first game. It dates itself so much in comparison.

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Xiggy stands like this for 7 whole seconds parting with a condescending “Be a good boy now!” before disappearing. I love this fucker.

Leon, who’s been sitting on the sidelines this whole time, joins Sora and the others after the real threat is gone. We chitchat for a little bit and say our goodbyes. It’s time to leave this place and move on to one of two available worlds.

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At the Beast's Castle. After fighting a hoard of Shadows, the least intimidating enemy in the series (although the demon tower in kh3 is quite frightening nlg), the Beast himself makes his appearance, takes out the Heartless that suddenly stop multiplying upon his arrival, disgracefully shoves his supposed friends aside, and takes his precious rose to the west wing, which is where it SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN THE FIRST PLACE. ADAM WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!

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No joke one of the funniest actual gags in the whole series is:

*Donald Duck manhandling Cogsworth*

Cut to Sora saying "I'm glad you're OK." to Lumiere

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OK the minigame where you gotta light the magic torches, why do we have to make sure Cogsworth  has enough strength to keep the lever down when we have two perfectly capable companions that can hold it down instead? I remember this sequence being a lot more annoying when I was a teen.

Xaldin's voice makes me feel things. Ahhh he sounds so tired lol. He peaces out and we fight the Beast. I remember getting him to calm down being harder.

"Xaldin used my anger to control me!" Says Beast. He angers very easily so this must have been a cinch. Xaldin's been obsessed with him since Days so I would imagine this intel would come in handy.

More fodder to fight and on to the boss. Phase one is just an angrier version of the Darkball Heartless. Phase two is just skinny Ganon. I like its design though.

“Belle, I’m sorry. I wasn’t myself, being all rude and overall kind of a jackass to you and my servants” Except that’s kinda how you’ve always been lmao. Just because you couldn’t choose not to be an ass here doesn’t change that this IS in character. Still gotta work on that a bit.

“You don’t have to apologize” No, no he still does.

They all reconcile and the Trinity Trio departs until Xaldin shows up again to wreak more havoc.

Time to move on to the next world.

[phoenix-downer]

Hiya! Thanks for doing the analysis on the Sora finding Kairi in the darkness scene, very interesting to see the different lines! (and my sokai heart sang). haha but also it reminded me about that moment he was like 'i can't do anything without them' and I bet Riku was like 'true but also okay thanks dude, not like im still here or anything' lol (feels like the kind of thing that would be commented on if kh3 had a Shiro Amano manga)

Of course! Glad you enjoyed it!

And lol yes, poor Riku in that scene. 

I’m gonna take a moment to brag on him though because LOOK AT HIM GO OUT IN A BLAZE OF GLORY, DAMN RIKU WHAT A WAY TO GO

And that’s when Sora realizes he really is alone…

“Sorry, Riku, you were my strength, too! Come back, please!”

My horrible jokes aside to help me deal with the trauma, I still can’t watch this scene without getting emotional, and even just looking back at my screenshots of it… a;asghlkdagjsalsfdk. But I want to do a translation post about this scene too, ESPECIALLY SINCE IT BOOKENDS THE SCENE WITH SORA AND RIKU IN HOLLOW BASTION WHERE RIKU LEAVES HIM ALONE AND DESPAIRING BUT IN KH3 RUSHES TO COMFORT AND PROTECT HIM EVEN IF HE’S AN AWKWARD TURTLE ABOUT IT, so I will have to force my heart through Sora’s despair again (Miyu and Haley both kill it, by the way, and both of them will break your heart with Sora’s heartbreak).

Seriously, though, I’m sure Riku knows Sora doesn’t really mean it… he knows Sora isn’t speaking logically in that moment, he’s speaking from his grief and anguish and despair. Sora seems to have a closer than normal connection to people, too, so I wonder if he could actually feel his friends dying? Feel their heartbreak and pain as they were separated from their loved ones, from him?

We have evidence of this being the case from earlier in the game, when Sora reacts to Anna’s heart getting hurt:

This continues the pattern we saw in DDD when he was able to feel Roxas’s pain… though that was because Roxas willingly shared it with him. 

Here, it isn’t a voluntary thing. It just happens. He seems to have become so empathetic that he can feel when his friends’ hearts are hurting and share their pain while they are still feeling it. And not to throw Anna under the bus or anything, but Sora just met her, and while he did form a connection with her and would consider her his friend, he hasn’t known her nearly as long as his other friends.

How much more deeply would he hurt, then, over the pain of someone he’s really close to?

Well, the scene at the Keyblade Graveyard potentially gives us our answer.

Look at the way he reacts to losing all of his friends (except Riku), culminating in Kairi being torn away from him as he reaches out to her:

That anguished scream he lets out makes a chilling amount of sense, because it’s possible he wasn’t just feeling his own pain in that moment, but Kairi’s pain, too, on top of everyone else’s.

So yeah, I’d say his anguish and despair is justified in this scene. Riku, the one who usually tells him to pull it together, is at a loss for words, even:

“How am I supposed to comfort my despairing friend who’s normally the one cheering me up? Uh…”

“Nope, still got nothing.”

But then he does a very Riku thing in that he tells Sora exactly what he needs to hear and goes out in a blaze of glory.

Yep, this scene’s definitely getting a closer look later on. It deserves it.

And a Shiro Amano take on KH3 would be lovely! Who knows, maybe he’ll decide to return to the series someday.

[ckret2]

tumblr you need to stop deleting the question when i edit an ask:

What characters can you think of, that you like, fall under unhealthy obsessive romance?

Sit down we're gonna be here a while.

God is anyone gonna be surprised if I cite the yandere trope? Is anyone gonna cringe away if I say Gasai Yuno from Future Diary? No? We're all good? Okay.

Yandere characters are really hit or miss with me. Too often, I've seen yandere characters portrayed like their bloodlust, their willing to kidnap their beloved or kill potential romantic rivals, is working in tandem with their apparent sweet, affectionate, self-effacing devotion—rather than in contrast. Like a yandere character who's willing to draw blood is an exaggerated romantic ideal. I'm not about that. To me, a proper compelling yandere is a horror character disguised as a cute love interest.

Yuno pulls that off. Even as Yukki gets used to her and even begins to grow attracted to her, he still remains very reasonably terrified of what she might do—and his terror is validated by her actions. What really sells her for me, though, is the series's awareness of the arbitrary nature of her obsessive love. She flat-out tells Yukki, the target of her obsession, with shocking coldness and self-insight, that she doesn't love him because he's really that unique or special, but because he was there and she needed someone. When it feels like so many generic dull lead boys "win" the attentions of the cool interesting yandere for no obvious reason as a sort of wishfulfillment, Yuno's open acknowledgment of Yukki's plainness and the arbitrariness of her own affections would be a great deconstruction of common yandere tropes, if it wasn't for the fact that Yuno was basically the codifier of the modern yandere archetype.

Another character who hits all the right yandere notes is Tarantulas from the IDW Transformers comics. Mad scientist who makes wicked inventions for a high-ranked military officer who's rattled by the brutality they inflict together and terminates their professional relationship by attempting to terminate the scientist; scientist comes back from the apparent dead to kidnap the officer with the help of a gang of terrorists, blackmails him by threatening to reveal confidential information about the officer's army that could tear it apart from the inside and that the officer has gone to great lengths to keep hidden, reveals that he's invented a way to make enemy soldiers effectively invisible and untraceable, and shows off his secret lab powered by a devastatingly powerful superfuel that he's invented... and then reveal he doesn't want revenge, but for the officer to be his partner in crime again, and all these wonders will be used FOR him instead of AGAINST him. He calls the officer his "muse," and feels like he can't reach his peak scientific potential without the officer there, requesting new weapons and acting as his inspiration.

He's willing to burn down the universe if his muse wants it or burn down the universe if his muse scorns him, he kidnaps him just to beg him to be his partner, and he does all this despite the fact that the officer destroyed his life work and tried to kill him. It's fantastically messed up.

Moving away from the yandere archetype: Venom—comics Venom, from their intro through the 90s and then again once Mike Costa got hold of them—is a fantastic obsessive love story, about two people who reject everything that both of their societies defines as normal and acceptable in order to be with each other, and are incredibly tender and affectionate and mutually supportive; but like, they also validate each other's worst beliefs and tendencies in a way that lets them egg each other on into oblivious villainy, and even if "live with and for one and only one person, literally in 24/7 physical contact," is normal and psychologically healthy for the symbiote's species, it's not for a human being. Impressively, they're SO obsessively codependently in love with each other, that they each independently decide that they want to be the best possible versions of themselves for each other, and violently wrest their relationship from the jaws of toxicity in order to become an emotionally mature couple with a support system, outside friends, and the ability to communicate about their fears and insecurities, and it's a beautiful thing. It's too bad nobody's written anything with Venom since Mike Costa's run ended, but I'm sure someone will bring them back around eventually.

The knight-in-love-with-their-liege trope is one that appeals to me in theory, but in practice I basically never see it written as zealously as I'd like, so I usually have to headcanon it up myself. Pearl in Steven Universe is the only solid canon example I can think of that hits all the right notes for me.

Not strictly canon but: Drift from Transformers, who goes from grim street rat survivalist to bloodthirsty mass murderer to repentant ninja vigilante to faux-spiritual warrior with weird flashes of extreme violence while under the wing of four different mentor/leader figures, I like to interpret as a serial zealot whose repeatedly shifting morals and loyalties have nothing to do with his newest leader actually convincing him of the righteousness of their perspective, and everything to do with Drift's becoming smitten with their charisma and being willing to reinvent himself completely to conform with his new beloved leader's worldview. Drift's last writer even ship teased him pretty heavily with leader #4 (for any of y'all that don't read Transformers: not like "ship teased" in a queerbaity way, Drift eventually hooked up with a different dude), and he's shown to go out of his way to perform roles that he thinks will impress leader #4; so like, there's some canon basis to read him like that—even if my main reason is "because I want to."

I also like to slip in shades of knight-loves-leader in how I write Zim being shipped with a Tallest; the unhealthy, destructive obsession with them is definitely canon, even if the romance isn't.

"Characters that are otherwise emotionless for scifi/fantasy reasons except for ONE emotion and that emotion is love and therefore they get really obsessed with their love because it's the only thing in their void of a life, but it's not portrayed in a cutesy 'robot learns to feel' or 'demon is saved by love' way but rather in a 'this is almost as unbalanced and unhealthy as not feeling anything at all was' way" is like... a trope that I keep writing but don't think I've ever actually seen done EXACTLY like that in canon. The Nobodies in Kingdom Hearts are good for this—I've written them as having meaningless sex to try to counter the fact that they can't feel emotions, on the justification that sexual arousal is a physiological sensation rather than an actual emotion but is still close enough that they can almost feel a feeling, and end up getting extremely attached to their cooperative let's-pretend-we-can-feel sex partners. (i realize that physiology and emotions can't actually be disentangled like that but like, it's fantasy.) Axel, you can argue, latched onto Roxas in what can be (and often is) read in a romantic way, also arguably sheerly on the merit of the fact that Roxas makes him feel anything at all.

Shockwave in IDW I've also used to played around with this idea, although I haven't published the main work I've done that with. Yet.

And from what I’ve seen, it looks like the main character in Yandere Simulator is gonna have a backstory kind of like that? I’m looking forward to that game, haven’t played any of the demo versions yet but what I’ve seen from the dev’s videos looks fun.

Also: very frequently, unrequited love. Especially secret unrequited love. "Unrequited-to-requited love" doesn't fit the bill at all. It's gotta be perpetual pining. There's NO satisfaction. The longing just builds and builds eternally, until the internal pressure causes something to shatter. I can think of ships I like to imagine this way (Drift w/ any of his mentors, Starscream/Wheeljack, Hashirama/Madara, Ψiioniic/Sufferer), but off the top of my head no canon ones that reach those dizzying heights of eternally unfulfilled yearning. Sure, plenty of stories have unrequited love—but rarely the all-consumingly obsessive kind, and even more rarely is that portrayed as—oh! I got a couple canon ones, albeit more villainous/predatory ones: the Phantom in Phantom of the Opera and that dude with his mouth stitched shut in the Abarat books, I haven't read those in years. And some spins of Dracula and Mina, although it's no fun if she loves him back. You can also do this with Hades and Persephone, although for this to work it's imperative that Hades still feel like he doesn't actually "have" Persephone even if she's contractually obligated to live with him so long as she doesn't love him, and just sort of wistfully watches her from afar whenever she's in the underworld. (But to be honest I generally prefer "Persephone and Hades: Hypercompetent Goth Power Couple" to spins that lean on Persephone being an unwilling unhappy victim.)

The further I go down this list the more obscure and/or headcanony these examples are gonna get, so I think I'm gonna stop here. But feel free to send any follow-up questions if u wanna hear me ramble more about my extremely specific tastes in romance.

Shoutout to "The Maiden and the Minstrel Knight" by Blind Guardian for being a song that captures peak romanticized out-of-control love.

[complicatedandstained]

The Other Day at Hot Topic: Unwanted Advice

Roxas didn’t know how lucky he was that Vanitas initially intended to give him the silent treatment this morning.

Axel’s barely taken three steps out of Hot Topic before Vanitas starts in on Roxas again. Dude saunters up to him, swiping his tongue across the back of his hand and then cringing. Vanitas leans an arm against the checkout counter and tilts his head to squint up at the ceiling.

“I think there is actual vomit in my mouth right now.”

Talking with Axel’s left Roxas slightly fuzzy-headed, with a smile that’s starting to hurt his jaw. Roxas runs fingers through his hair and strains to mirror Vanitas’ scowl. “Shut up.”

Vanitas’ smooth, throaty voice lifts into a falsetto to mimic Roxas’ earlier words, “‘You want to pierce my what?’”

The falsetto drops off as Roxas grips the edge of the counter, tan knuckles whitening, and not just because he does not sound like that. 

“Cringe.” Vanitas shifts to better visually appreciate Roxas’ growing discomfort. “I know grandmothers with better game than you.”

How had he and Axel not realized sooner Vanitas was listening in?

“Friends.” Roxas pushes back from the counter with both hands. “We’re friends.”

Vanitas’ smile stretches wider. “You were getting friendly alright.”

He has unexpectedly perfect teeth and that’s somehow unnerving.

“Chin up, though, Fight Club.” Vanitas pats the counter in lieu of trying to touch Roxas again. “I think your crush found it all endearing and such.”

Crush, Roxas considers. Because when someone else finds out about it, that’s the feeling that you get in your chest.

Vanitas prattles on, unaware that Roxas’ lungs have collapsed and he ought to be calling a paramedic.

“He was laying it on pretty thick. I don’t think a piercing’s the only thing that slut wants to give you for free.” Vanitas winks, like Axel had when he’d extended the offer, and Roxas feels like he’s been snapped in the face with a rubber band. “Be careful though. You’re a tiny thing, wouldn’t want him to break you.”

And then Vanitas starts to turn to walk away. And Roxas absolutely can’t have that. 

“What’s your problem with me?” Roxas blurts before his common sense can grab him by the shoulders and restrain. “Do you want me to deck you again or what?”

The words don’t feel natural. He isn’t one for threats or unprompted violence, but he’s starting to wonder if that’s the only dialect of ‘stop talking’ Vanitas understands.

The guy’s smile drops straight off and he lifts both hands. Unfortunately, his mouth is still running, “No, no, no, hey, I get it now, sensitive topic: you and your new—ahem—close personal friend.” Vanitas’ dark brows bounce, and Roxas dated Seifer long enough to know when he was intentionally being baited.  

Roxas places his hands back on the checkout counter and leans forward like he might vault himself over it. His next words edge through gritted teeth. “Drop it, man.”

“Hey,” Vanitas steps back, looking genuinely alarmed for half a second, apparently just now remembering that time when Roxas knocked him to the floor like a deflated punching bag. “I’m going to, because you didn’t rat me out earlier, and that was surprisingly not horrible of you.”

Vanitas nods like he’s about to go his own way.

“Not that it particularly helped,” he mumbles to himself, and then pauses, glances back over his shoulder with narrowed eyes. “Why didn’t you rat me out, by the way? You had plenty of chances to tell you-know-who what I said about him.”

Roxas scoffs. It’s like this Vanitas kid physically can’t not mock him. “Because I hit you? Because I can’t afford to lose this job?”

Vanitas’ pockets his hands and leans back, considering this new information with a wince. 

Roxas stares Vanitas down. “And because you told me we were good. Are we good?”

“Of course, Roxas.” Vanitas makes no attempt to sound convincing.

“You’re not going to say this stuff to anyone who will listen?” Roxas prompts, and he’s starting to sound a touch pleading, “Because Axel has a boyfriend.”

Vanitas smirks. “No kidding.”

“And if he thinks I’m into him he might decide he doesn’t want me around.” The admission hurts worse than Vanitas’ mocking, burning at the edges of his tongue like something hot. 

Vanitas rolls his eyes, voice smooth as ever, “You need to relax, Roxas. I’m not going to say anything to anyone, and I’ve got the bruised ribs to remind me.”

Roxas stares at Vanitas, trying to make himself sound like some kind of victim, as if Roxas wasn’t there.       

“Actually,” Vanitas continues, drumming fingertips against the counter, his matte white polished nails not as chipped as his own.  “I meant to be nicer earlier, it’s just, never in a million years did I think Axel’d actually be into a cute, insignificant, little nothing like you. But he must be, right? Because otherwise—and I’m still trying to process this part—he would have torn your throat out for talking trash about his boyfriend. Talk about ballsy, Roxie.” 

“What?” Each word out of Vanitas’ mouth sounds more and more absurd. “I didn’t…”

Vanitas’ hand goes flat against the counter and he leans in like a poker player upping the ante. “Didn’t you?”

“You’re trying to say that Axel and Saïx are… actually together.” Roxas’ brows furrow. “Axel and Saïx.”

“Our type A, emotionally void, drill sergeant boss? That’s his man.” Vanitas shakes his head wistfully. “No wonder his thoughts are straying…” 

As awful as this description sounds, it reminds Roxas of what he had said to Axel. About his... boyfriend? But Axel is nothing like that. And Axel had been so nice afterwards. And Vanitas is such a prick there’s no telling…

“Ah-ha.” Vanitas giggles and it’s terrifying. “You seriously didn’t know. Well, there goes half my respect for you. But hey, consider my honesty your payback for not ratting me out. Axel and Saïx? They’ve been together since the dawn of time, dumbass. It’s why Axel’s always here.”

Roxas shakes his head. It doesn’t add up.

“Quit messing with me.”

“Wish I was,” Vanitas picks up a round, pokéball shaped chapstick from one of the counter display bins and rolls it between his fingers. “Most days I feel like a ping pong ball being smacked between the two of ‘em. They don’t want to let me get away with anything, but they don’t want to fire me, free me.”

Vanitas clenches the chapstick in his hand and seems to realize he’s gotten off topic.

“They live together,” he elaborates, gesturing with his open hand like a reluctant orchestra conductor. “They’ve got like a dog, a flower garden, throw cushions, plans to honeymoon in Italy.” He stops, nose wrinkling. “I could keep going, but I’d vomit, and you’d be cleaning it up for making me explain this.”

Roxas tries to picture it—it just seems so unlikely. Axel’s so easygoing, Saïx, so uptight. They’re like hot and cold, an oven and a freezer.

“They’d strangle each other in five minutes,” Roxas objects.

“Had a lot of time to make it work. Grew up together. Childhood sweethearts,” Vanitas draws a mocking smile, shoulder bouncing again in a nonchalant challenge. “Ask anybody.”

Roxas’ arms cross, and it feels childish but necessary. “I will.”

“And when they confirm, you and I’ll be even.” Vanitas tosses the chapstick up, catches it. “How about that?”

“If they confirm.”

“When.” Vanitas gives Roxas another triumphant stare that makes his stomach feel like he’s chugged a large, freezing milkshake. “Now,” he jerks a thumb to the backroom where piles of boxes still await them, “let’s get back to work.” 

Roxas snorts, taken aback. “Did you just say ‘work’?” 

Roxas hasn’t forgotten that Vanitas’ definition of ‘working’ earlier had been standing around while he and Aqua lugged boxes.

“Yeah, yeah,” Vanitas rolls his eyes, “gonna pull my weight and all that jazz. Getting fired’s off the agenda for a while.” His annoyance darkens to a glare. “Don’t make me say it twice.”

“Fine.” Roxas shrugs and moves to head out from behind the register to join him. Whatever Aqua’d said to the guy must have been pretty darn inspiring. “But you need to start minding your own business.”

“There, there, Fight Club.” Vanitas pats his shoulder and slides between Roxas and the rounder of hair dyes, toward the back, wearing a smile that makes Roxas twitch. “Your dirty little secret’s safe with me.”

 *         *

Axel’s always thought that if he and Larxene had friendship necklaces they would say something passive aggressive like “Best B*tches” or “You Suck Slightly Less Than Other People.” And the way Axel sees it, we all need that friend who tells it to us straight. It just so happens that, in Axel’s case, all of his friends tell it to him straight: Saïx, Demyx, Xigbar... 

But Larxene is next level. 

There had been a break in the Claire’s crowds, and Axel and Larxene were back in the staff lounge again, him disinfecting his piercing equipment at the tiny sink by the mini fridge, her, a few steps away, clearing out a cubby for their new coworker. 

Axel had told Larxene everything. He usually does. And when he doesn’t, she gives him hell until he wises up and fesses up.

Which is fine. He trusts her. She doesn’t spread his tea around like she might somebody else’s, and her unwanted advice is surprisingly solid, as far as unwanted advice goes. 

When Axel stops talking for a minute, she clings to the sides of the stacks of cubbies like she’s fighting to hold herself up. “You are such an idiot I physically cannot stand it.”

Maybe not that straight. 

“I’m sure Demyx will stop them from doing anything too crazy,” he insists.

Axel is not sure of this at all, but he’s not desperate enough to bug Luxord to come in when he no longer owes Axel a favor. That’s how you end up owing Luxord a favor. And that’s how you end up mostly naked flipping burgers on a yacht for some bachelorette, while your buddy hosts casino night below deck. 

Or so he’s heard. 

“I’m not talking about Demyx. Although,” Larxene chews on the thought, “you’re probably wrong about that too.”

“So, give me some advice then.” If she has any ideas on placating Saïx or getting Vanitas’ toes on the line, he’s all ears. 

“Hm,” she pretends to consider. “Um, fire Roxas and Vanitas like you should have done in the first place?”

“Useful advice.” 

“Alright. Stop tormenting the new kid, so you can get your skinny butt to work on time.”

Axel suspects she’s just upset that they got lectured by Marluxia. Axel usually doesn’t drag her down with him. Then again, she usually isn’t the one who broke the rules. 

“I was going to leave on time, Larx, but you didn’t see him.” Axel musses his hair. “I couldn’t just go.” 

He can still picture Roxas, slumped over a box of earrings, back in zombie mode. “He gets this sad, vacant expression like he’s been through something…” He shakes his head, feeling something tiny in his chest compress. “And between Vanitas, Lex, and Saïx, he kind of has. I had to try to cheer him up, y’know, make him feel welcome.” He stares at the ceiling for a second, voice quiet and wry, “Can’t count on anyone else to do it.”

“Right,” she sasses, pausing in her work to turn on him, hand on popped hip, “and how d’you think that went?”

“Hm? Think I overdid it.” He grins—he can’t not grin. “He got a little…flustered.” His equipment jabs at his hand and he glances down to refocus, lip still quirked up. “Was absolutely adorable, though.”

“You’re a douchebag.” 

Well, it’s not Thursday if she doesn’t tell me that at least three times. 

She slaps her hand against the white wood of the cubbies. “New advice: Stop talking to the new kid altogether.” 

“It’s called being friendly,” Axel counters, slowly. “You could try it some time.”

She jeers, her green eyes fixing on him as he rubs his equipment down with a soft rag soaked in an alcohol solution. “Your definition of cheering someone up is flirting with them.”

He wants to deny it completely, but she’s not exactly the first to tell him so. 

Liquid trickles down his arm, and he uses the rag to clear it up, slow circles, considering the words he traded with Roxas. “Maybe, a little,” Axel concedes with a small smile. “He didn’t seem to mind.”

Larxene dumps an armful of somebody’s shit in the pink-pearl-hued trash bin Xigbar donated to them on Demyx’s behalf. Papers, deodorant, candy wrappers, and a handful of the origami stars Naminé made fall in. Axel hopes they’re not his.

“Did you touch him?”

He doesn’t glance up. “Probably.”

“Axel.”

Their eyes meet. “Only a couple times.”

“So, yes. Did you tell him he was pretty?”

He returns his attention to the sink. “I—not exactly.” 

“So, yes.”

“No. Larxene…” Cleaning fluid splashes the wall as Axel jerks the bottle too hard. “It’s fine.” 

“You don’t know what it was like for Roxas,” she accuses, sneering, brushing off her hands above the bin and stepping closer. “What if he didn’t like it?”

“He liked it.” Axel rolls his eyes. “Trust me.”

“Then what if you gave him the wrong idea?”

Axel shakes his head, vaguely miffed, one palm bouncing up, “That I want to spend time with him?”

“You know I’m all for playing the field, but you’re dating Saïx,” she annunciates in that shrill way she has.

“Which means I can’t just ‘spend time with’ somebody? You’re starting to sound like Xigbar,” he teases, not as gently as he means to, but still, with a smile.

Larxene winces at this particularly low blow. She and Xigbar are too alike to get along at all—unapologetically stubborn, willful, profane. 

“It’s not like that.” His towel is dripping cleaner and he twists it. “Roxas knows I’m seeing somebody.”

“Saïx is not just somebody, Axel. He’s Roxas’ boss. And boy doesn’t like to share his toys.” 

He rings his towel harder, Saïx’s bracelet sliding down his wrist. “I know.” 

He thinks of Marluxia. Just because Saïx hadn’t fired Vexen for hitting on a tipsy, flirty Axel like everyone seems to think he did, doesn’t mean he wouldn’t have gladly done so.  

She glares at Axel haughtily as she pitches a final paper star into the trash, like she’s not yet convinced.

Axel sighs in concession. “Okay, okay, okay, like I said, I overdid it,” his head tilts, smile tight, “but it worked, alright? Roxas was happy. I made him happy.” He stops smiling. His green eyes can pierce souls too. “I’m not gonna apologize for that.”

“You wanted my advice.” She grabs a Sharpie from the cup on the desk beside the cubbies and points it toward Axel, capped marker jabbing the air emphatically, like a throwing knife. “When this blows up in your face, I’m going to be the one with the margarita and the big old sign saying ‘I told you so.’”

He wonders if she might be right. Again, he thinks about the weeks of silence that greeted him when he got Vexen sacked. He doesn’t want that, not from Roxas. Or worse, he doesn’t want Saïx turning on Roxas if he thinks they’re spending too much time together. 

He’s got to get in front of all this. Spin the narrative in his favor. Get Saïx on board with his new buddy. Get Roxas out of his slump. “It might help if Roxas believed me when I told him the truth.”

“Well, you and Saïx ain’t exactly a matching set.” 

“How long did it take you to figure out?” Axel asks without looking at her, although his equipment hasn’t needed its past three rub downs. She doesn’t answer and he glances up. “That Saïx and I are together, I mean.”

The Sharpie she’s taken to the new employee label halts mid letter. It takes her a long moment to answer. 

“I’d been at Hot Topic for maybe a day or two. Saïx was in the middle of teaching me some register bullcrap and you walked in. He froze up for a second. That was strange by itself, he’s usually so put together and customer friendly. He barely looked up, said, ‘Be with you in a minute.’ 

“But you completely ignored that, walked right up behind the counter and put these nice aviators with the tags still on ‘em on his forehead while he was talking. He shut up again and you said, ‘Beach later?’ And I just stood there waiting for him to chew you out, like, who the hell did you think you were to talk to Saïx like that? But he cracked and gave you this gag-worthy, million-dollar smile. Thumbed the sunglasses and said, ‘Yes, alright.’ And you said ‘Alright’ and smiled like you got away with something, and then you left. He was in a freaking sunshiny mood for the rest of the day.”

It all sounds vaguely familiar. They were Saïx’s favorite sunglasses for months until Xigbar took them surfing and a wave swallowed them away. Still.

“Not exactly the height of romance,” Axel mumbles, a brow rising, but he’s smiling again, something softer.

“It didn’t have to be. I could just tell, the way you two, I don’t know, respond to each other. So, if you insist on babysitting the new brat instead of canning him, might wanna come clean before he figures it out himself. I don’t need anyone else fawning all over you, and it sounds like his week’s been crappy enough as it is.”

Roxas. Fawning. Christ. If anyone’s fawning, it’s me. 

She doesn’t get it. 

I just want to pick up the melancholy little thing and put him on a tall shelf. Maybe a tower. 

Someplace high up where nothing bad can touch him. Someplace that’ll make him smile. 

Someplace close to the clouds with a salt breeze and a sunset, ocean view. 

“Alright,” Axel hears himself say, “I’ll set him straight later.”

Finished clearing out the cubby and penning the label, Larxene turns to him, pale, thin, blonde brows arching. “Later?”

“I’m supposed to meet up with the cuddly-looking little badass after my shift.”

Her brows furrow. “Axel.”

This conversation is starting to exhaust him. Axel wraps up his tools in a dry cloth and glowers. “I’m allowed to have attractive friends, you know. Saïx’s therapist said it was okay.” 

Words catch in her throat. Overhead the speakers go silent between songs. He feels like he’s swallowed something with sharp edges. 

A new song starts, something upbeat, more One Direction, and the moment passes. 

“Yeah, yeah.” Her eyes roll and her elbow jabs his bicep. “Just keep your hands to yourself.”

He manages a smirk. “No promises.”

Larxene smacks his arm, and he raises both hands in self-defense, toning down his grin. 

“Alright, alright. I’ll try.”

He holds the door for her and they file out of the staff lounge. 

“But he’s just so cute.”

“There you two are.” Marly is already approaching with light, quick steps, arms raised as if he intends to drag them out forcibly if necessary. “Come on to the front for a minute, there’s someone I’d like you to meet.”