#selfship: survivors of the dark (aqua/aria)

[flowering-darkness]

so I may or may not have been selfshipping with Aqua for over six years now

[tiny-cloud-of-flowers]

hello, aria! i hope you've been well :D! will you and aqua be doing anything special for valentine's day?

Hello, Nil!! Thank you so much for stopping by; I hope that you’ve been alright as well!

Umm.. well, my morning began with Aqua, so to speak, because I saw a very lovely artwork of her just after I woke up. So that was very nice. I have also been wearing my necklace that has a miniature replica of her Wayfinder on it, which I always enjoy doing. So, in that regard, I’ve had her with me all day ^-^

In terms of what we would do together within the setting of KH.. well, Valentine’s Day was a thing in the age of fairytales, so I definitely think it will have continued to be celebrated, especially given the theme of the day being so based around love for others, and the heart motifs that are the same shape as Kingdom Hearts itself. So, I think it would have been nice to spend a really special day together in each other’s company, away from any particular obligations as Keyblade wielders - I’d love it if it was almost like the whole day is one big long date ^-^

I hope that this is alright as an answer to your question! I’d really love to hear about anything that you might be doing with your own F/Os, as well~ and, thank you so much again for asking me this in the first place! I always really appreciate seeing you around~

[void-kissed]

My selfship with Aqua is about finding someone worth fitting in with and my selfship with Clio is about finding someone you don't have to fit in around

And yes I will elaborate (or try to, anyway)

[moved-to-void-kissed]

Skuld: "She looks very kind." Aria: "Hehe, I agree. Whoever this is - or, I suppose, will be? - seems to be a kind individual. ..I have to admit that she is very pretty, as well." (Not that I'll ever get to meet her, of course.. ..I can't help but wonder what that could be like.)

Here is my piece for today, which is the twenty-seventh day of the month! I actually did most of this back on Saturday, but I knew I wouldn't be able to work on anything today, so I scheduled it for today. It's part of a conversation that was RPed on the KHUX and Dark Road server on Discord, but this shows a bit more of Aria's perspective on the whole thing. I hope it's alright! ^-^

Tag list: @catake | @vampking | @wazzuppy | @cherry-bomb-ships | @call--me--home | @xenobabble | @beeon | @coralward | @crosshairswife | @pandapup | @altamont498 | @mercuryships | @lemonloven (to be tagged in what I make, please see this post!)

Comments on and reblogs of my work are always okay, and appreciated, but are by no means required! Also, if you'd like to know more of the context here, then please look under the readmore.

So! To explain what's going on here, this shows a conversation that Aria had with some others during the age of fairytales, which I and some others acted out on the server last week. Aria was talking to Skuld as well as Nyx (who is off-screen), and showing Nyx one of the Medals that she had to hand. That's why her Keyblade is summoned, specifically in its Diamond Dust-like form because that mode is magic-focused - the menu where you equip Medals to Keyblades in the game had each Keyblade's keychain in the centre of its carousel of slots, so that's where Aria took the Medal she's holding out of.

In this case, it was a Medal depicting Aqua - for context, the Medals used in KHUX are physical objects that allow Keyblade wielders in the age of fairytales to harness the powers of important and powerful people from the distant future (i.e. the time period most of the other games in the series take place in), in order to fight the Heartless. As you can see, Aria has found Aqua attractive since seeing what she looks like in Medals every now and then, although she evidently never expected to actually meet her in-person, considering that (to Aria at the time) Aqua was from a distant future.

However, because Aria became trapped in the realm of darkness, she was able to survive to the present time when Aqua and everyone else are alive, because time does not flow properly within the realm of darkness. And eventually, she ended up meeting Aqua after all, because Aqua herself also became trapped in the dark and Aria flew in to rescue her from a swarm of Heartless. Incidentally, our first meeting face-to-face was what my first ever piece of selfship writing was about, and if you'd like to read it then it is written in this document!

I hope that that clears things up for anyone who may have been confused! Thank you very much for taking the time to read all of this, it really means a lot to me ^-^

[tiny-cloud-of-flowers]

hi arii !! have u ever thought of xenoblade aus with ur other f/os? 🤔 i suddenly started imagining luna as a driver LOL but since uve been thinking abt xbc a bit more lately i wanted to ask since the concept is soo cool

Hello Clara!! Thank you so so much for sending this in, it really means a lot to me~

Ooh, I am not sure I have considered Driver Luna before, but I am now absolutely going to try to. Azami was my instant first thought for who she would resonate with, but that's more of an aesthetic thing. However, I also think Luna would work well with many healer Blades, though I can see her wielding Bitballs moreso than I can Knuckle Claws. (Which is perhaps ironic considering that there are no dark-element healer Rare Blades in XC2!) Did you have anyone else in mind from your sudden imagining (either in terms of who Luna would resonate with or perhaps how any other Reborn characters would be put in the game)?

Regarding Xenoblade Chronicles AUs with other F/Os, I have considered something like this in the past, but only for my selfship with Aqua, as far as I can remember. In that, the idea was less of an outright AU and more simply that Aqua and Aria had come to Alrest (hey, that's you) at some point after KH3, probably as part of their search for new potential Keyblade wielders in different worlds (partially because, while there's definitely scope for Heartless invasion, I'm struggling to think of how that would actually play out from like a game perspective). As part of their investigations, the two would pose as Blade and Driver, with Aqua pretending to be a Driver and Aria pretending to be her Blade, since - despite Gormotti being a thing here - Aria sort of has a few too many inhuman traits to properly pass as one, I think. Like the wings, and the seams, which may or may not be able to be mistaken for ether lines. She'd specifically be pretending to be a dark-element attacker Rare Blade of some kind, perhaps even being assumed to be Legendary considering the unique nature of her "Blade weapon" (which here would, I suppose, just be Aqua using whichever Keyblade she can summon that looks most like something Aria would have given her..?)

That is the only sort of AU-adjacent thing I can really think of having come up with beforehand, and even then it's more "XC in KH" than anything else. However, here are some other considerations, if you'd like them:

Calanthe and KOS-MOS getting thrown into XC1 instead of XC2 may not be overly feasible, but it's a concept and a half for a number of reasons. Like, imagine being Shulk and co. right after Citri and Fiora get captured at the start of the game - setting out to save them both and taking the fight to the Mechon, and then all of a sudden encountering someone who looks way too much like Citri and has a lot of her same interests (like tech!), alongside a potentially-mechanical? other woman who is incredibly powerful but whose abilities sometimes seem a bit too Mechon-like. Who are both apparently not from this world. And then starting to learn about Faced Mechon and their pilots. And then finding out that Citri and Fiora got turned into Face pilots. There's so much potential for an interesting up-and-down dynamic there, I feel!

My selfship with Zero feels like it could be pretty easily ported into XC2 with how Blades work there and how that can potentially be paralleled with voidsent pacts. You could either make Zero a Flesh Eater given her hybrid nature in FFXIV, or go down the route of her being a Blade that Zenos manages to steal and forcibly resonate with, then maybe Lorenza somehow restoring her memories to her after re-resonating with her? I feel like Lorenza could also fit well as a Blade, though, so hmm.. There are ideas there, but i'm not settled on either one yet.

I'm thinking about the recent Clio rambles.. I'm thinking about the whole "preserving her heart" aspect.. I'm thinking about how I literally described that as being able to take "the Sora route or the Jin route" (if you know then you know) and settled on something more like Sora's for KH.. I'm thinking about Aria taking the Jin route in XC2 and subsequently occupying a position like his in the story.. Yep, nope, that can fit, can't it

Both XC2 and DQIX have an Yggdrasil, and angel equivalents, and so on. I therefore really want to put Pavo and Ardea in here somehow. Maybe, Pavo and Aquila as the Aegis Blades (twin symbolism there would be fun), and then other Celestrians (so, including Ardea) as other Blades.. maybe Ardea becoming a Flesh Eater to represent her loss of wings and halo in DQIX? I feel like this could make Corvus Amalthus (he’s Aquila’s mentor, Amalthus is Malos’ Driver), but surely King Godwin would fit there better given how Indol is.. unless I say the Gittish Empire replace Torna..? Maybe Corvus would be better as the Malos equivalent (final boss and all), so maybe Pneuma could be Celestria - but then where do I put Pavo and Aquila, just ordinary other Blades like Ardea? Or would he be her Driver who then also pretends to be Ardea's despite her not needing one?? There is absolutely something here, I think, but I feel like I may be the only one with enough knowledge of both games to try and make it work. And I currently am not able to make it work, so.. take what you can make of my attempts, I suppose =P

It is now gone two o'clock in the morning and I have to be in the lab tomorrow (though thankfully not until the afternoon), so I should probably leave it there for now. Still, thank you very much for sending this in, friend, and I hope that these are alright as novel concepts ^-^

[tiny-cloud-of-flowers]

Hello good evening today on top 10 reasons why Aqua and Aria + Zero and Lorenza are really good. Number 1. They are canon in my heart.

(source: this post by prismatica-the-strange)

Anonymously tell me which of my self-ships is your favourite. - MERLIN IT SAYS ANONYMOUS /lh

aaah no but seriously: thank you so much for this!!! These two selfships are very close to my heart, so I’m really glad that they are also canon in yours. This really means a lot to me, so thank you ^-^

[tiny-cloud-of-flowers]

Aqua! How did you and your partner meet?? (@dzvagabond)

Aqua: "Oh, hello! Thank you for your question.

Aria and I first met shortly after I had fallen into the realm of darkness. She'd been trapped in there for a very long time already, and according to her, it was common for powerful Heartless to go after any new worlds or people who ended up there, so she would often track them to find out what they'd detected. I could definitely vouch for this, considering how many I'd had to fight off in the short time I'd been there - it was like the light in my heart was a beacon for them.

Long story short, Aria came to my rescue when I was attacked by a particularly strong formation of Heartless called a Demon Tide; she was able to fight it off without much trouble at all, and then she helped me get to somewhere less exposed. I was.. really not in a good place at that time, but she was the first other person I'd come across in the dark, and so.. I may have unintentionally broken down at her feet, what with everything that had been going on before then. There, ah.. there was a lot of crying. She really didn't know how to react, but she stayed there next to me anyway, and.. that meant I was able to finally let out all the feelings that had been building up inside me, and I think doing that helped me a lot. Even if I felt so vulnerable at the time.

Still, though, to move on from that - once I had pulled myself together and we could finally introduce ourselves to each other, it was only then that Aria found out how much time had passed in the realm of light since she had left it. We ended up talking for quite some time, and from there, decided to stick together for the sake of finding a way out. To think that she was from the age of fairytales.. an ancient age, as I know it.. Honestly, it took a long time to sink in. There was still a lot that I didn't know about her, and back then, the fact she harboured so much darkness still stood out as a sign of danger to me.. But she was the only person I had to turn to in there. So, I had to test the waters, so to speak.. and I'm forever glad that I did decide to trust her. She's taught me so much.

I hope that that answers your question! Thank you again for sending it in. Have a great day!"

[tiny-cloud-of-flowers]

MY FAVE SHIPS FROM U ARE AQUA AND PYRA I THINK. i love seeing your lore for aqua and kh in general but pyra i will always associate with you bc u got me into xenoblade

(source: this post by prismatica-the-strange)

Anonymously tell me which of my self-ships is your favourite. - KERMIT IT SAYS ANONYMOUS /lh

okay no but seriously: thank you so much for this!! Hehe, that’s really sweet of you to say about Pyra in particular, it’s really nice to hear that she has that association for you!! I do love her a lot, I really need to get back to playing XC2 hehe

Thank you again for taking the time to send this in, friend!!!~

[tiny-cloud-of-flowers]

You brighten my day so easily, you must be the Sun! ^^ (dragonsmooch)

(source: this post (I think?))

;w; that's so kind of you to say, dragon, thank you so much!!!

I will admit that I'm not sure whether I'm more like the sun or the moon. I think I would default to the moon, since it tends to come across as more calm/serious/darkness-associated, but I also know that I've described my selfship with Aqua as "moon in the day x sun in the night" in the past (with Aqua being the former and my self-insert Aria as the latter). But, to be like the sun because I brighten your day easily is a very kind compliment that I will hold close and remember for a while, because it really means a lot to me. Especially coming from someone I would also describe as a sun for the same reason!! I always enjoy seeing you around, friend.

Thank you so much once again for this!! I hope that you are doing well!!

[tiny-cloud-of-flowers]

All of your selfships are great, but if I had to pick one, then... Ok, I cannot pick a single ship, but Adriana x Luna and Aria x Aqua are two big favorites

(source: this post by prismatica-the-strange)

Anonymously tell me which of my self-ships is your favourite. - Aww, thank you so much, anon!! These are both selfships that I have had for a long time, and I've put a lot of thought into both of them, so it really means a lot to me that you like them both so much ^-^

Thank you again for sending this in!!~

[void-kissed]

oh hey so apparently today’s the anniversary of alluring secret black vow

a) what do you mean that song is 13 years old now

b) I wonder if I still have those models I put together for a selfship AU based on it?

[tiny-cloud-of-flowers]

survivors of the dark (Aqua/Aria)

A Guardian of Light who is the newest successor to the Land of Departure, and an enigmatic Keyblade wielder from the ancient age of fairytales with a powerful hold over darkness. Together, they become each other's only confidant as they wander the realm of darkness.

series: Kingdom Hearts romantic F/O: Master Aqua self-insert: Aria Fiore names for the selfship: survivors of the dark, aquaria selfship start date: 12th January 2017 (approximately)

Content for this selfship: on this blog | on previous blogs

Some more things you might like to know about this selfship are under the readmore!

Aqua's character tag is "love: wayfinding waters (aqua)", while Aria's tag is "self‑insert: darkness' champion (aria)". The tag for the selfship as a whole is "selfship: survivors of the dark (aqua/aria)".

In the story of this selfship, Aqua meets Aria shortly after the end of Birth By Sleep, after she falls into the realm of darkness and Aria saves her from the Demon Tide. The two get to know each other as they wander the darkness together for what turns out to be more than ten years, going through the story of 0.2 together, until the middle of KH3 when Aqua is rescued from the realm of darkness by Mickey and Riku. After Master Xehanort has been defeated, Aqua is able to go back into the realm of darkness to rescue Aria, and from that point on the two live together in the Land of Departure with the other Wayfinders (which includes a revived Vanitas).

This is one of my main romantic selfships, so there is a lot of story! This is especially true when considering that Aria is the self-insert I have had for the longest time.

[void-kissed]

how about 15 with aqua :3

Ooh, okay, I've got a fun idea for this one! Thank you very much for sending it!!~

(question source: “F/O Kiss Meme” by self-shipper-snowdrop)

15. Kiss on a dare (976 words)

Playing the part of an antagonist was something Aria couldn't help but look forward to doing every time it needed to be done. It was the perfect strategy for taking down many of the villains whose acts were throwing their home worlds out of balance - while Aqua worked more traditionally with the heroes of the world, fighting back invading Heartless, Aria would approach the villain and claim to be able to help them with their goal, only to in fact be siphoning away their darkness at every opportunity, and passing all she learned onto Aqua and the heroes to help them.

The most satisfying moment was always the grand reveal that she had never in fact been on the villain's side, especially because it often came just before taking them down and bringing peace back to the world. In this instance, Aria was looking down on her apparent adversaries - Aqua among them, as she could always spot instantly - from the balcony of a grand and twisted castle, standing steadfast with a smile behind her mask. The castle was protected by a dark forcefield, and this world's villain was in front of her - an arrogant sort, as so many of them were, who bought into her lies with the perfect amount of self-confidence that left him assuming he was somehow much more powerful than her.

"We've come to put an end to your evil, once and for all!" the hero was shouting, rallying confidence in the allies they had with them. They seemed a determined sort, willing to stand up for what mattered even if it was not always easy to work up the courage - Aqua's aid shone through in how their light magic coursed around them powerfully.

"Hah! You could never defeat me, no matter how many allies you have with you!" the villain boasted in turn. "With the Heartless at my beck and call, none will stand before my powers of darkness!"

Aria took the opportunity to speak up, stepping forwards to address the crowd, and still smiling behind her mask.

"Indeed. It matters not what friends you bring - why, I'm quite certain that some of them would be more than happy to be standing up here, in fact."

"You- you wouldn't dare!" yelled the hero, accidentally letting fear rise up in their voice but still standing their ground. Aqua quickly came over to place her left hand on their shoulder, before looking up at Aria determinedly, holding her Keyblade in her other hand. For once, the two had not quite had a chance to talk through their strategy in full, so she was unsure of what the exact next move would be.

Aria couldn't help but lean over the parapet, arms crossed casually despite the tension of the situation. Then she reached up and pulled her mask down from her face, showing off her catlike fangs as she spoke further.

"Oh, wouldn't I?~"

In an instant, she went from relaxed and carefree to laser-precise - she had leapt up and launched herself off of the balcony, piercing the sky on her pitch-black wings. She charged down towards the party below her, deftly avoiding the bursts of magic being thrown her way by one of the hero's allies as she easily flew through the forcefield of darkness. The hero, for their part, stood their ground, preparing to respond to an attack- but it was Aqua who was stolen, being effortlessly scooped up into Aria's arms before she spun around and shot back up to the balcony again.

"Aqua!"

Dark energy sent down in Aria's wake by the villain stopped the rest of the party from doing anything to prevent this, leaving them all huddled and despairing as she was carried back up to the castle. Then it got worse - as Aria held her in a bridal carry, she raised her left arm to support Aqua's back, and tilted her head downwards to give her a long, and loving, and clearly gladly-reciprocated kiss.

"No!!"

"Ahahahaha!" The villain's laugh boomed out over the scene, overconfident and gloating. "You are helpless now, little heroes! I've been watching how she's been the key to you stopping my plans. But now she's on my side, and there's nothing you can do about it!"

"Truly, a most excellent deceit on our parts." Aria nodded, but it wasn't in agreement with him. She gently let a smiling Aqua down, and they kissed each other again for the fun of it.

"A deceit of you, that is."

Before anyone could react to that, the two made their move once again - chains of darkness suddenly erupted from below the villain, entwining to encase him, while Aqua sent a beam of light downwards to pierce through the forcefield and form a shining staircase directly to the balcony. By the time the heroes had made their way up it, an aura of darkness was seeping out of the villain and coalescing in Aria's hand, while Aqua had her Keyblade pointed firmly at his captured form.

"Aqua, are you okay??" The hero was still trying to be courageous, but it was clear they were uncertain of what had just happened.

"Yes, you don't need to worry." she asserted. "Aria here has been helping us all along. We're actually together, as you may have gathered just then."

At the mention of her name, she gave a bow, and smiled with her mouth closed to hide her fangs. "I apologise for scaring you then. We couldn't risk him thinking me untrustworthy - this was how we've been able to help you all get to this point. You've a strong heart, little hero - both you and your friends here."

With all tension settled, the party - now with one extra member - prepared to defeat the villain once and for all.

[void-kissed]

actually you know what while I remember

I have now officially added.. *checks the carrd* SEVEN new familial F/Os to my carrd! ..All of which are my own OCs, haha.

In no particular order, we have:

Tobias and Charlotte, who are FE3H OCs I created to be my self-insert Catarina's older (half-)siblings! They would appear as part of her Paralogue and then also be the people in charge of the Battalions you get from successfully completing that Paralogue; not super major characters, but an important aspect of Catarina's own theme of family. Charlotte is a Falcon Knight but also went to the Royal School of Sorcery in Fhirdiad and still currently lives in Faerghus, while Tobias is a gauntlets user (maybe a War Master?) who went to the Officers Academy as a Blue Lion, so probably also would still stay in Faerghus as well. Their tags are going to be "sister: azure stormrider (charlotte)" and "brother: indigo gauntlets (tobias)" respectively!

Ruby, who as previously mentioned (quite recently in fact) is my fankid for my selfship with Pyra. I still don't have a tag for her yet, but she's on the carrd now, since I hadn't done that prior to now!

Mistral, Rime, and Virga, who are my fankids for my selfship with Aqua! Specifically, they're a trio of Keyblade wielders apprenticed to Aqua, but we very much have a familial dynamic with all three (as shown by their names all being types of weather phenomena, reflecting Aqua and Aria's names meaning "water" and "air" respectively). For reference, Mistral's tag is "son: masterly gales (mistral)", Rime's tag is "child: feathered frost (rime)", and Virga's tag is "child: raining skyfall (virga)". I'm still in the process of figuring out each of their characters, but having their names finalised is definitely helping with that!

And finally, yet another fankid, Sophie! She is my fankid for my selfship with Skye, because.. I forgot you can canonically have a child in his game, haha. I still haven't figured out a tag for her yet, but.. she exists now! And maybe one day I'll have a save file with her in it, as well.

So, yeah, that's all those! I might possibly use some of my remaining sparkles to talk about some of them if that's alright, just so that a) every sparkle ask from that batch has been for a different OC or version of an OC that I selfship with in some way, and b) I get to have fun developing each of their characters more. Or, if anyone has any specific questions, they're welcome to ask those as well!

I'm just doing this because it's fun ^-^

[void-kissed]

maybe I can work on something for my selfship with aqua. as a treat for myself. and also for the people who said that they liked that selfship (thank you very much for being so kind, it means a lot)

[moved-to-void-kissed]

Aqua: "To spend another night beneath the same stars as them again.. That was all I wanted, and now that Ven's back, we're one step away from it. You promised the stars would shine down on us again, too - but this view doesn't mean anything without you here next to me!"

Here is my piece for today, which is the sixth day of the month! Last year, there was a prompt week running this week, and the theme for today's date was "pining". So to update my piece from back then, which was Aria longing for Aqua while holding her Wayfinder, I created this two-image piece of both of us pining for each other. This is during KH3, after Aqua has been rescued from the Realm of Darkness - but even though she should be happy to be back in the light and with her friends again, the fact that Aria is still trapped there alone and Aqua can't go back to save her still hurts.

Tag list: @catake | @masterofmasters | @wazzuppy | @cherry-bomb-ships | @call–me–home | @xenobabble | @beeon | @coralward | @sanderswife | @pandapup | @altamont498 | @mercuryships | @lemonloven (to be tagged in what I make, please see this post!):

Comments on and reblogs of my work are always okay, and appreciated, but are by no means required!~