#short-haired kairi for the reasons listed above

[oveliagirlhaditright]

So, if Kairi has to have short hair again in Kingdom Hearts IV--which I imagine there's a good chance that she will. I feel like Kairi herself prefers short hair. And it makes sense for her to keep short hair now that she's a warrior, so that her hair can't be used against her in battle--one hairstyle I would personally love for her to have would be this one:

Something akin to Maria Deluca's from Roswell season 1.

It does that flippy thing, like Yuna or Selphie's, but it's also different from theirs, because instead of doing that on either side of the head, the hair is flipping out behind the head, if that makes sense.

I just think it's pretty. And it bonus points in that it could seem like Kairi was inspired by her friend Selphie, or something like that, while also still being original.

[angelshizuka]

For send me a character, can you do Cinderella and Riku (Kingdom Hearts)?

Send me a character and I’ll list:

Cinderella

Favorite thing about them: I love how she's a good balance of being genuinely nice and trying to keep her chin above water in a bad situation, while still having her limits and breaking points. At the end of the day, she's just a human trying her best with limited resources.

Least favorite thing about them: This isn't the character's fault at all, but I will forever hate how many people completely misinterpret Cinderella's character and story (I wanna bet at least half of these people haven't even watched the movie).

Favorite line: The lyrics from A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes

BROTP: Jaq

OTP: Charming

NOTP: Her step-family

Random headcanon: Cinderella manages to get the Tremaines out of her old home (Anastasia eventually moves in with the baker, and they don't care where Drizella and Lady Tremaine go) and turns it into an orphanage.

Unpopular opinion: Getting back to what I said earlier, I really don't vibe with those "Cinderella is a weak damsell in distress just waiting for a man" kind of people (not to mention I'm someone who doesn't shame damsells in distress in the first place, I don't care if someone "has to be saved").

Song I associate with them: Pretty straightforward, but the songs from her movie.

Favorite picture of them: You go, girl!

Riku

Favorite thing about them: Riku arguably has the most character development of any character in this game franchise. And I have to admit I was the kind of an emo-phase teenage girl who was into guys like him back then... (like around 2007-2010).

Least favorite thing about them: Honestly, I said "back then" for a reason, because Riku has kinda of overstayed his welcome for my taste. He's the most focused on character after Sora, constantly leaving Kairi in the dust (Square Enix be like: Destiny Trio? I thought you said Destiny Duo). I still like him, just not as much as teenage me did.

Favorite line: "Neither. I'm taking the middle road. The road to dawn."

BROTP: Mickey Mouse

OTP: Kairi

NOTP: Sora

Random headcanon: Though, the short hair was an accident (free Heartless haircut) he actually quite likes it.

Unpopular opinion: If not shipping him with Sora isn't an unpopular opinion, I don't know what is... (You don't wanna get me started on why I don't ship it, because that's 15 years worth of bagage...)

Song I associate with them: I have none.

Favorite picture of them: I never really have a "favorite" so have a random screenshot.

[nyctoheart]

is roxas a replica? he existed as a nobody but sora, body and all, was in the pod the whole time sleeping so how did roxas exist? i feel like the whole needing an actual physical body in order to be a person wasn’t a thing until later in the series

Roxas was not in a replica body until KH3 (which i feel like is different from saying ‘a replica’. A ‘replica’ is a replica that grew a completely new heart, like Replica Riku and Xion, while in KH3, Roxas is his original heart just in a replica body. Just for clarification).

And actually, the thing about Sora, Roxas, and Namine as well as Xehanort and Ansem is that from the beginning they were considered to be incredibly unique and special cases by DiZ (Secret Ansem’s Report 13). And that normally, yes, they would need another body, even back in KH2.

below i go over the listed characters above and why do or do not need a body. Which is more than what you asked for, i’m so sorry asdfasdf.

Roxas is a standard nobody, with his appearance differing from Sora only in a similar way that Vanitas’s appearance differs from Ventus. Because their hearts are connected to one another. It’s important to remember that Roxas never had Ven’s heart inside. Other wise, Roxas would not have been a “zombie” his first few weeks alive, completely lack of any emotion. KH3 spells this out for us when Ienzo confirms with Ventus being “the third [heart that] has resided in Sora’s heart for even longer—most of his life, in fact.”. So basically, between Roxas and Sora, Roxas rightfully has his body, and does not defy logic in anyway except he doesn’t have Sora’s memories because Sora regained himself in a short time (Secret Ansem’s Report 12). Sora having his body is the anomaly, which I explain further down.

Kairi’s own body in KH1 is similar to Roxas, a standard Nobody. Her body too was practically a doll because her heart was inside Sora. The only difference is that because Kairi is completely composed of light, her body never was reborn in the twilight realm (Twilight Town) and stayed in the Realm of Light to be found by Riku. This is explained in Secret Ansem’s Report 9. If Kairi’s own body in KH1 had been empty long enough, it would have grown a second heart, seeing as Riku and Sora kept interacting with it.

Because Kairi’s heart wasn’t inside her own body when Sora stabbed himself with the Keyblade of Heart, the nobody that was created from her heart leaving Sora was a Nobody that used assets of Sora’s soul and body– creating Namine. But because Roxas already typically used Sora’s soul and body already, Namine was deemed an incredible (and unstable) case by DiZ in Secret Ansem’s Reports 9 and 10. Because Namine used Sora’s soul and body, and Sora is not a heart of pure light, this could explain why Namine was also born in the twilight realm (Castle Oblivion). So yes Namine’s situation would have been more stable, had she have her own body initially–even if that body was a replica. So now that she IS in a replica body in KH3, her situation is much more stable. She may still have her powers though, as in the Final World she still contacts Terra’s will, which she was only able to do the first time because he’s connected to Sora’s heart via Ventus. [[this is NOT confirmed, but long-time speculation suggests the reason Namine has blonde hair instead of red or brown, is because using Sora’s body and will as an asset, she too was affected in appearance much like Roxas was. Though being that she’s still Kairi’s nobody, this wasn’t as extreme seeing as she still resembles Kairi a lot]]

I bring up Sora later, as his situation is similar to that Ansem SoD. First, neither of the two lost sight of themselves to the darkness; they willingly lost their hearts, so they maintained their sense of will (Sora following and not attacking his friends, Ansem running errands as Mr Robe Guy). The second factor into their anomaly, is that they both used another person’s heart to store their own bodies. Sora uses Kairi’s (Secret Ansem’s Report 12), and Ansem uses Riku’s. Because both Roxas and Xemnas already existed and had Sora and Xehanort’s body and will, Sora and Ansem’s bodies were completely recreated.

[and here we get into speculation, not confirmed facts] And this seems to be impossible in the future for Roxas, Ven, Namine, Xion, and the other vessels of darkness, because they were simply hearts, NOT heartless. Following this pattern, only Ansem SoD could have repeated what he did in KH1 and used someone’s heart to create him a new body in KH3, but it seems in KH1 it needs the persons permission, and can’t be done without their will involved, as Kairi hugged Sora, and Riku gave himself to darkness (off screen). But I think to make sure that each and every character (Guardian of Light OR Vessel od Darkness) existed in a stable, reliable, and predictable condition, they needed actual, reliable, bodies– aka replicas. 

[oveliagirlhaditright]

What are all your Kingdom Hearts pairings?

I am so sorry I never answered this:( I kept meaning to, but every time I’d get distracted with family being over for the holidays.

I used to have a ton of KH ships, but I’ve kind of cooled down on a lot of them now (for some reason. IDK why I think I’m just not as interested in romance as I used to be. I still love it, of course, but now I value other kinds of relationships in series, too.) So for the most part, I’m really only going to tell you the ones I search for in the tags every day and maybe a few others.

SoKai is my ultimate OTP forever and ever. It always has been and it probably always will be. I don’t really ever see that changing. I should maybe mention that I also like the fandom’s invention (that I helped to create;)) of dark Sora and Kairi. And, yes: that even includes the rare dark Kairi… that I should really finish my fic of.

I love RokuShi a lot, but I’ve even cooled down on them a little. They used to be one of my ultimate OTPs–and to be fair, they still kind of are–and were my second favorite KH pairing (heck, there was a hot second where I even liked them more than SoKai. Weird, I know), but now they’re probably more equal with my other ships and most don’t even come close to reaching SoKai level for me.

Namiku. I love it a lot and mostly always have. RokuShi and Namiku are my ideal pairings when it comes to shipping Roxas, Xion, Riku, and Naminé with people. Though I do love RokuNami now, and have for a while.

Speaking of: RokuNami.

Terqua. But maybe not as much as the above. IDK. I’ve kind of flip-flopped on this one over the years. And KHIII really made me love them again… but at the same time, I’m okay with them being platonic and like siblings… which is apparently what their relationship in canon is, along with their relationships to Ven and vice versa. (According to the KHIII Journal and Ultimania).

Gulava. They’re precious and I love them a lot.

Skulmera.

PlayerStrelitzia.

Epheplayer (I’m also okay with SkuldPlayer, or EphemerSkuldPlayer being OT3d, but I probably prefer PlayerStrelitzia and Epheplayer first… and the latter one is funny, because I think I used to prefer SkuldPlayer over it. But not anymore. I blame all you people who make cute Epheplayer stuff:)

ElrenaStrelitzia.

VentusStrelitzia, because of the fandom. Because of the fandom (also with a side bit of VanitasStrelitzia because of the fandom). But not if Ven in any form is her killer.

IraInvi… just because of that one line in Back Cover about Invi not wanting the others “to get the wrong idea about them”… even though I kind of don’t like Ira that much (yet. Hopefully that’ll change), because he kind of feels like a wet blanket to me so far.

Maybe Aced and Invi, but just because of Terra and Aqua feeling somewhat similar to them, if I ship AcedInvi at all. I don’t know if I do. Also, maybe Ava and Invi. IDK. 

AkuSai.

XehanortEraqus, I guess (even though I hate Xehanort).

Xionami.

The one Sewer Squad girl with the newest girl added to the Sewer Squad?

SoRiKai… Because I can take the things I don’t like about S*Riku if Kairi’s involved, though it’s not my favorite (I’ll always prefer SoKai by itself. But I’ll still happily take SoRiKai posts, since it’s better than the alternative… which is Kairi being left out of everything, that I can’t stand).

RiKai. I ship RiKai a lot. Mainly because my old best friend loved loved loved loved them (and a few other of my RL friends, oddly enough), and she was always trying to pull me over to the RiKai side… And while I still prefer SoKai, she did make me like RiKai a lot. And because this pairing is made up of tropes people usually love, so I don’t get why it’s not more popular. And because their story in KHI (mainly on Riku’s side) breaks my heart in the best way possible.

Roxiri… for some reason. I blame awesome YouTube editors for this one.

Vanaqua (that I actually ship a lot, and also look for in the tags a lot. Even though I don’t love them as much as the first pairings I posted here, but still maybe moreso than some of the other ones I put in the middle here. I don’t know why I put this ship so low).

Vennami (same thing as VanAqua).

Venaqua… or at least I did until the age difference.

Vannami.

Slightly VaniKai now, but just for the good fan art.

Some Kailette…

SoNami in CoM only (and also kind of one-sided on Naminé’s part).

Replinami. But I probably don’t ship it as much as I should, especially if Nomura’s now trying to sell that Naminé’s always had some great love for him (that I don’t really buy, but shh).

Rion… but more because so much of the fandom ships them, and I feel I sort of have to because of that and not so much because I really want to. They’re okay. And I get why people ship them, but they’re kind of meh for me, but maybe getting a bit better. I’ve just… always had some issues with them (mainly that I feel like Riku kind of goaded Xion into committing suicide to save Sora: which is an issue I had with RokuNami for some time, too, and took me many years to get over for them. But now I have and they’re one of my fave pairings). But at the same time, I wouldn’t hate it if it happened.

Riku and Aqua, for some reason (though that darn age difference!). Maybe because I ship Terqua and this ship has stuff in common with it, and Riku’s sort of the version of Terra that passed with flying colors?

RikuShiki.

ZackAqua.

Perhaps Marluxia and Larxene, since I think that’s where the narrative is going. Perhaps.

Haynette. I also don’t mind Pencette. I also like Roxette quite a lot.

I shipped Larxel long ago, but not anymore. And yet I always feel the need to still put it down for some reason…

EphemerAva

Ira and Aced, maybe: they did have a good arc in Back Cover.

Brain and Lauriam, possibly, because of the fandom. I’ve seen some Ephemer ships here too, I think, that could be cute.

I feel like part of me would have shipped Sora and Roxas somewhat, if they weren’t Nobody and Other…

TerraVen a bit… Well, maybe I did a bit before I knew their ages… probably not now (I shipped them a bit back in the day, when I felt like in BbS they cared way more about each other than they ever did Aqua).

Xion and Repliku a bit… maybe. But I’d prefer them more to have a sibling bond.

Sora and Ariel for crack… and a bit of Sora and Rapunzel.

Terra and Cinderella and Aqua and Cinderella (also, Aqua and Philip) for the above reason. Maybe even Ven and Snow White.

Roxas and the Accessory Shop Girl for crack.

A bit of KairiXion.

Yozora and brown-haired Stella! I will go down with this ship, as I’ve been shipping “them” since Versus XIII, essentially. And maybe Yozora with some of his bros, but we’ll see.

There are probably some FF ones, too (though I don’t care about them that much)… usually the canon ones, like CloTi, Zerith, Clerith, TiYuna, Squinoa (because Nomura eluded long ago that she was a part of the fall of Radiant Garden and why Squall changed his name to Leon, in losing her for the time being), and maybe Seifer and Fuu. But I’m also okay with things like Selphie and Tidus, Leon and Yuffie, Leon and Aerith, and even Leon and Tifa because of one amv (where he started liking her in seeing her as a replacement for Rinoa, and then began to fall for her as her).

Oh, and Neku and Shiki… slight JoshNeku, and maybe Joshua and Rhyme (because I’m still somewhat Joshyme trash, gosh darnit) and some BeatJoshua (though this is moreso for TWEWY, of course, than KH. But they seem to be their true TWEWY selves in KH, so…)

All of the canon Disney couples, of course.

Edit: Maybe Ven and Skuld, now that Ven asked her to build a snowman together and all. Their interaction there was cute.

Aqua and Axel for crack.

…I realize I told you I was going to make this list short, and really I pretty much put everything I could think of. I apologize (and a lot of this did not end up in any good order whatsoever), but SoKai, RokuShi, Namiku, RokuNami, Terqua, Gulava, Skulmera, PlayerStrelitzia, and IraInvi (for some reason) are the ones I look for in the tags every day (also, Vanaqua. And sometimes Vennami). Then, it’s probably RiKai and SoRiKai at this point? With some of these others thrown in there? Like the “If Kairi died and sadly stayed dead, maybe Sora and Naminé could be a thing” kind of ones? Even though they don’t come close to the other ones? IDK.

Edit: XioRokuNami is a major one!