#switch in scala

[isaddeos]

rossini originality TWO! will it do as well as the first one? probably not. will it get flagged as mature? probably.

[cq-studios]

Got possessed by some demons and made graphics based on two of the image IDs from this chapter

(Combination of digital art and some pictures of tables in my house)

'It is impossible to truly understand Keyblade wielders without understanding the world that birthed them—and so, we must begin with a time long before they were even a concept.'

[keykidpilipili]

Coping with KHML's cancellation by imagining the most horrifying ways Scala could have made themselves descendents of Ephemera:

Norting themselves with tiny fragments of his heart stuck in a bottle on a shelf;

Founders are just Ephy clones/replicas routinely switched out every decade or so with the original kept unaging in a timeless pocket world(a prison surrounded by water);

Ephy's chosen successors/children being replaced with his memories altered Namine style. Of course you always wanted a blood caste system dude don't you remember?

[siena-sevenwits]

Liveblogging Rossini’s Cinderella

11. “Non so che dir,” 12. “Scegli la sposa”

Link to the music here and here

The story so far, in case anyone wants to jump on board mid-opera (but, hey, it's Cinderella, you'd probably be able to intuit it): Cenerentola shows kindness to a begging pilgrim, while her stepsisters try to chase him out. An entire men's chorus interrupts with a message that the prince is throwing a ball tonight to find a bride. The stepsisters inform their haughty but impoverished father, Don Magnifico, of the news, and he has great hopes one can marry the prince, as things are getting so dire financially that their baronial manor house is quickly becoming a ruin. Meanwhile, Prince Ramiro himself arrives, disguised as a servant. His tutor has advised him to pretend to be a commoner and observe the ladies, so he can see whether they truly have good hearts or are just after him for rank and wealth. He encounters Cenerentola in the kitchen, and the two are much struck by each other, though the Prince does not reveal his true identity.

In these two songs, the plot advances. The Prince reminds himself that he musn't drop any clues as to who he is. Don Magnifico arrives, and wonders what this stranger is doing in his house. The Prince tells him that the royal entourage is on the way to escort them personally to the ball, and have just come through the front gate. Don Magnifico panics, as his daughters are still at their mirrors. As he rushes off, the Prince smiles, wondering how his valet, Dandini, will do posing as him. Because of course he has to have someone stand in for him! The royal entourage parade in, including Dandini, who has been done up in high fashion. He pretends to be enraptured by the beauty of the stepsisters, and waxes poetical, but the Prince thinks he's hamming it up and dropping double meanings a little too often. Dandini confides to the audience that he has a feeling that while this is a comedy for now, it will probably end up as a tragedy. (He sounds delighted by the prospect.)

This Prince has a sort of muted quality to his tenor - I don't quite know how to describe it. Perhaps it is only in contrast to my usual Prince, Raul Gimenez. I do kind of like that when he says, "Che buffone!" ("What a buffoon!") after Don Magnifico leaves, he laughs and sounds amused rather than showing scorn or frustration as he does in my production. Both reactions make sense - the Prince has just heard how Cenerentola is ill-treated by her stepfather, and his defensiveness of her might rise to the surface. On the other hand, the Prince comes off throughout the opera as a cheerful and easygoing type, and it feels right that he would also enjoy the goofiness of this weird household.

ALESSANDRO CORBELLI as Dandini! I'm so glad you're here and not played by someone else! My favourite operatic actor of all time! By which I don't mean his baritone is the most beautiful ever - it's actually rather rough and run of the mill - but that this guy is the best at sheer acting I've seen in the opera world! He commits so hard to staying in character, and is just so much fun to watch. There are plenty of singers out there who focus purely on vocal performance, but Corbelli always gives a rounded character with lots of little character moments to look out for. I have seen so many opera DVDs with him in them, because he's a sheer delight and worth seeking out. I doubt the charm will necessarily come across in pure audio form, but he's a joy.

(I can't find any gifs of him as Dandini, so we'll make do with this one of his performance as Germano in Rossini's lesser known "La Scala di Seta," which I also grew up with.)

Interestingly, the whole "Prince and his valet who is named Dandini switch places" is a staple of the English pantomime tradition. A certain amount of Brits know him not from Rossini, but from those goofy shows they go to at Christmas. I don't know if the opera gave rise to the panto tradition, or somehow the other way around, or if they're inspired by a common source. I should look that up.

I do enjoy the contrast between the first movement of the Dandini song, which is a slower passage with lots of opportunities for him to make little "I'm totally royalty" flourishes, and the later passage where everyone jumps in, and the music speeds up, and goes full on comedy! Though there are definitely undertones of comedy in the first part - the orchestra seems to be chuckling a little even while Dandini does an imitation of a grand and serious aria.

In the production I grew up watching, Dandini has a lot of fun quietly teasing the Prince during this scene, rubbing it in that he has to be the servant for today. Purposely dropping things and making him pick them up, swishing his cloak so it hits the real Prince in the face, completely ignoring the Prince's "whispered" cautions not to be too over the top, etc. He also has fun playing up his disgust at the stepsisters and their father, hurrying to have his hands washed by his retinue after the baron and daughters kiss his hands.

[thetwilightroadtonightfall]

Notes on “do you think we’re together in every universe?” (skulmerayer multiverse post):

Putting pain aside for a moment, this was a really neat mini project to make! I put some thought into what kinds of universes I wanted to have a peek into. There are just so many to choose from! This ain’t even the tip of the iceberg, I’m sure. But I hope the ones I did choose were interesting enough to think about and/or familiar to some of y’all :)

On an artistic note: I love using grayscale every now and then! I have some experience with charcoal and ink wash drawings so the style here is lightly inspired by that (even though I used pencil and gouache brushes 😅)

Composition-wise: Allow me to introduce you to the multiverse rubix cube lol!! The placements of each universe are meant to parallel each other. Universe A and C are branches off of union cross canon, so they’re across from each other. D and F are branches off of missing link. G and I are branches off of the era between. And B and H are about childhood innocence.

Here are each of their descriptions, in order:

Main Universe [in the context of the art]

The ataraxia universe, where Skuld, Ephemer and Player get together and stay together (my khux/skulmerayer copium universe)

Universe A

In which Darkness says “We could take over one of you here and now.” and actually commits to it, choosing Ephemer as its vessel.

Universe B

A universe in which Skuld is not Subject χ. After she and Ephemer awaken in Daybreak Town’s rubble, they found Scala and raise a family together.

Universe C

AU where the lifeboat roles were switched. Ven, Ephemer, Skuld, and Player escape the data world first, while Brain, Lauriam and Elrena stay behind. But it was never supposed to be this way.

Universe D

@corishadowfang’s Fallen Stars universe, in which Skuld arrives in Scala during Missing Link’s era.

Universe E

The current presumed canon universe, unless Skuld being Subject χ is proven otherwise.

Universe F

A universe where Brain and Player2 become close friends (perhaps more?) in Scala. Also known as the plain universe, because what’s a multiverse post without mentioning a bagel or two? 😄🥯

Universe G

I had my fic A Light That Never Goes Out in mind, but this is pretty much any universe in which the whole gang gets to stay together, and Ephemer and Player have the chance to properly build on their relationship. lots of copium in this one

Universe H

High school/modern/real life AU. (Special shoutout to @rosie-kairi’s idea of giving Ephemer braces!)

Universe I

Ephemer lives his life. Open to interpretation!

and finally, a Bonus (Everything Everywhere All At Once reference):

[darkvolley]

Excuse the YouTuber in the corner I'm too lazy to switch to a different video but, it's probably a pretty easy conclusion to come to that KH might function off a somewhat stable time loop but nothing has really made it feel blatantly obvious than realizing that actually, since Ansem SoD sent Young Xehanort to Scala, that would mean there would have to be a starting timeline where the first SoD went back to start the loop, meaning there has to be a timeline where Xehanort never left Destiny Islands MEANING there has to be a timeline where SoD never existed, and as such neither did Xemnas and Terranort never happened along with basically everything else. So are we in fact confirming that KH does indeed function off a stable timeloop that never truly "started" somewhere and has just always been this way, or what in the world could have happened to still lead Xehanort to Scala without interference? Cuz now I have to wonder, if we're going by stable timeloop, then either Sora creates the tear in time every loop effectively creating endless ones over and over which could lead to a bigger problem(or not a problem at all if it's supposed to happen??) OR this is somehow the first deviation, which doesn't feel likely considering obviously Quadratum and Srelitizia being there seems to be decidedly factored into the equation here, but maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it hasn't been. Or maybe the problem is that Sora's genuinely not supposed to be there. Idk where I'm going anymore, but basically if time started somewhere and it hasn't always been a loop, how did we get HERE to the point in the screenshot where SoD/practically everything was able to exist to "create itself" essentially??? And I don't think that's possible without outside intervention, so it's gotta be a stable timeloop!

[katkeyboardmastah]

The Young Xehanort inconsistencies

Originally posted: September 3rd 2022.

I want to slowly migrate some of my Kingdom Hearts lore musings instead of just sharing links:

Speaking of links, the original Google doc version of this post can be read HERE.

First up! The YMX doc that I had made after playing through the remainder of Dark Road's story.

Disclaimer: I will only reference material such as in-game cutscenes, interviews and Ultimanias, so other supplementary pieces such as the novels and the like will not be considered. Everything written here is my own personal interpretation. Interview translations were done by KHInsider.

Putting everything else under the cut cuz boy this is gonna be a long one-

First of all, let us review the updated timeline provided by KHDR itself:

----------------------------------------------------

So, Kingdom Hearts Dark Road did not shed light on a couple of things, Xehanort’s eyes becoming golden being just one example. While I cannot say anything concrete about the hows and whys behind the fact that his eye colour changes at some point in time, I CAN, however, make an educated guess as to why the time-travelling Young Xehanort seems to flip flop between gold and silver eyes.

(Xehanort throughout time: 9 years ago, KHDR’s story, 7 years later and 54 years later)

Xehanort’s eyes are naturally silver throughout his youth. Chronologically, the first instance we see him with golden eyes, if we rule out time-travel, is when he is already in his late years, as an old man, 54 years AFTER KHDR. The latest point in time shown to us before that era is when Xehanort leaves Scala Ad Caelum, 7 years AFTER KHDR’s main story. Meaning, the point in which Xehanort’s eyes change colour can be ANYWHERE between age 22/23 and 69/70, assuming the Xehanort in the main campaign is 15/16 years old (if we take Nomura’s statement from TGS 2018, that old man Xehanort is around 80 into account).

Here’s the big kicker though: What about the time-travelling Young Xehanort? In both KHDDD and KHIII his eyes are gold. But then you might say: Well, maybe he was pulled from that blank period of time you just mentioned, his early 20s onwards? The problem with that is the fact that the encounter between Xehanort and the Master of Masters takes place only ONE YEAR after the main events of KHDR. Additionally, in the second part of that very same encounter Xehanort implies that he has already time-travelled at least once:

The MoM: Sounds like you already know where you’re headed. YX: It’s funny. Somehow, I can sense where I’m supposed to go, and what I’m supposed to do. Yes, even this coat, there’s something familiar about it, as if I’m meant to wear this.

This corresponds with what he told Sora in KHDDD:

Since in both KHIIIRM’s and KHDR’s version of the scene his eyes are silver, this means that upon time-travelling they become gold but upon returning they go back to silver. My answer for this ‘switch’ can only be the following:

YX: I will return to my time, and grow into the man who becomes all these others. While I know this future now that I have lived it, returning to my own time will erase the memories and experiences I have gained here. Still my appointed path is now etched in my heart, which will first lead me to seek the outside world. (will return to this part later in the post)

The old man Xehanort gave Young Xehanort a piece of his heart.

Which sounds kinda ridiculous (even for KH standards), but I can prove that might be the case. Let’s remember who makes up KHIII’s true Organization XIII:

The recompleted Master Xehanort, the version furthest on the timeline;

The recompleted people turned once more into Nobodies: Xigbar, Saix, Marluxia, Larxene, Luxord, Demyx and Vexen. The last two being reserve members;

The versions of Xehanort pulled from the past but came to be after KHBBS-era Master Xehanort: Terra-Xehanort, Xemnas and Ansem Seeker of Darkness;

The non-Xehanort characters pulled from the past: Vanitas, Xion and Dark Riku (Replitwo);

The first of the Xehanorts, the Xehanort of the most distant past: Young Xehanort.

You can see that none of the other members aside from YX originate from a time before KHBBS. And as it is now established, this iteration did not originally have golden eyes. To add onto that, as stated in group 4, these 3 were the only characters that travelled to the future by having their hearts be placed inside replicas and are not a version of Xehanort. Vanitas is debatable because we don’t  know if he had that eye colour inherently even when his face changed to reflect Sora’s or was it because of old man Xehanort. The statement about Vanitas originally having red eyes while he was still faceless does not apply because its source is solely the KHBBS novel, which is not canon material. Replitwo’s change is more noticeable since you can directly compare him with the original Riku Replica who even appears in the same scene as him at the very end. As for Xion’s change, it’s only visible if you bump up the brightness while her face is not fully covered or mod out the shadow cast by her hood. If there is a need for official confirmation that these 3 characters do come from the past look no further than this chart from the KHIII Ultimania:

Do note that ‘eliminated’ can also refer to simply returning to their own time period but ceasing to exist in KHIII’s time as it’s said in Young Xehanort’s section of the very same chart.

Ok but, why would there be any need for this. Simple, that version of Xehanort was not ready to handle the darkness the same way old man Xehanort does yet. He needed the Black Coat or the armour or any other form of protection. And as seen in KHDR itself, were it not for the MoM saving him in the Dark Corridor, he would have perished. The following lines from the second encounter cement this further:

The MoM: No… you’ll ditch it soon. YX: What do you mean? The MoM: I mean that one day you’re going to outgrow it. YX: How so? The MoM: If you truly possess great power, the darkness can’t control you. You won’t need a silly old coat to stay safe. In fact, you’ll be the one controlling the darkness instead.

It wouldn’t seem far-fetched either knowing that the explanation behind the Young Xehanort boss fight at the end of KHDDD that the Ultimania provides is this:

Question: Did King Mickey’s time magic not work properly on Young Xehanort because Young Xehanort has the power to control time? Nomura’s answer: Not Young Xehanort’s but rather Master Xehanort’s power. King Mickey was surprised at the time, seeing his Keyblade and noticing he harboured the power of Master Xehanort…

Additionally, aside from King Mickey, Master Xehanort and Young Xehanort are the only other characters who directly take note of Sora’s reckless usage of the Power of Waking in KHIII and KHIIIRM, meaning that at the very least, YX was imparted with such knowledge as well the power to transcend time, which he receives from potato sack Ansem SoD.

The secret endings to KHRe:Coded in the KH HD II.5 Remix collection are another piece of evidence, because we see YX already in place before KHDDD begins, ready to gather the remaining vessels. Meanwhile, since both Ansem SoD and Xemnas have been vanquished, Master Xehanort should by now exist at this point in time as himself given how the same thing has happened with the other ex-Nobodies of the Organization.

To add onto that video we finally have a confirmation from Nomura himself that yes, the design used in KHDR that depicts Young Xehanort’s time on the Destiny Islands is the correct version while the one used in KHBBS and KHDDD is outdated according the most recent Q&A:

Now here’s the funny part. When did Young Xehanort time-travel? Or a better question, if KHDR has revealed that his initial encounter with potato sack Ansem SoD was not the point from which he began his journey to the future but rather his what led him to Scala Ad Caelum… did he encounter him again at some point which finally did spur him to time-travel?

Sonny Novus made a video about how fleshing out Xehanort’s backstory by deaging him even further caused more problems in hindsight and I believe it still holds up so I recommend watching it if you haven’t done so by now.

Question: In previous titles, we saw the Xehanort who leaves Destiny Islands as a young man. He seems a lot younger in KHDR. Nomura’s answer: KHDR presents the correct version. For previous games, we used the young man model we already had as a catch-all symbolic representation of "his youth," in order to save cost modelling a young boy version. In KHIII, they were specifically split. I'd like you to interpret it as the symbolic representation becoming a rich one.

So the only time Young Xehanort could time-travel to the future while still having a consistent design with the one we see in KHDDD and KHIII can be anywhere between the point he changes his hairstyle and his second encounter with the MoM that takes place 1 year after KHDR’s main campaign. Thus, confirming that he could not have possibly transcended time after his first encounter with potato sack Ansem SoD. While it does go in line with the implication that at the time, Xehanort did not realise he was talking to a version of himself, it still contradicts another line in KHDDD by suggest that his now forgotten time-travelling escapades were not the reason he sought out the outside world by rather his dreams of the Player’s life (or lives).

YX: Still my appointed path is now etched in my heart, which will first lead me to seek the outside world.

Putting this contradiction aside, there should have been a second encounter between these two during that 1 year year interval. Either YX found his way back to Destiny Islands or has met potato sack Ansem SoD somewhere else, realising that he is a future version of himself, which would finally spur him to travel forward in time.

Now let’s address the other elephant in the room, Young Xehanort’s Keyblade. We still do not have an official name for it but what we do know is that it’s supposed to be No Name (the goat themed Keyblade) with the hourglass keychain you can see on No Name (the Keyblade you receive after defeating Mysterious Figure aka. Young Xehanort in the Land of Departure).

Nomura: That Keyblade was designed as the one Master Xehanort used in KHBBS combined with an hourglass, you see. (KHDDD Ultimania)

It’s weird, because you can easily interpret that scene in KHDDD as him technically borrowing MX’s. Not to mention that he does not use a Keyblade at all in his fight as the Mysterious Figure in KHBBS. But come KHIII and KHDR, where in the former, YX still uses his unique Keyblade, while in the latter he uses the nameless default Keyblade of that era (KHML has its own default Keyblade too judging from the footage) even during his encounters with the MoM. Let’s try to wrap our heads around this without just saying it’s a retcon that we should move on from:

Nomura changing his mind about plot beats and having genuine oversights is nothing new, there are more examples in this series one could ever hope for, like the eye colour switch that started this whole document. If you recall, the first time we have ever seen an even younger version of Xehanort was in KHIII’s E3 2015 trailer (man I feel old), where his eyes were gold. And in the finalised version of the same scene, his eyes have been changed to silver.

Ok, so let’s say that from YX’s own youth, without his time-travelling escapades, he wields the default Keyblade all the way until him and Eraqus become Keyblade Masters 6 years after KHDR’s main campaign, then they inherit No Name and Master’s Defender respectively to use them from that point onwards. Now winding back to the interval of about 1 year between the ending of KHDR and YX’s meeting with the MoM, you can say that he somehow gains another unique Keyblade upon travelling to the KHDDD era and decides to stick with it in KHIII as well. The time of KHBBS in which he travels to become the Mysterious Figure in order to grab Vanitas for the true Organization XIII, you can maybe stretch it and say that he possibly has foregone that unique Keyblade (or any at all) during that particular fight, much like how Xemnas does throughout the whole series despite also having the ability.

From that you can guess that Nomura reconsidered the meaning of the golden eyes. Because from DDD (not counting BBS since that game only implied it) up until KHIII, when someone would have that colour it would mean they were a vessel of Xehanort or, if we are to use the fan-coined term, ‘norted’. I think we all collectively assumed that Anti-Aqua was actually one of the 13 vessels when she was revealed in KHIII’s Frozen trailer in E3 2018, only for that to not have been the case at all. If anyone needs a refresher for her Gummiphone entry:

Anti-Aqua: Aqua, after she fell to darkness. Years and years of wandering through the realm of darkness ended with her being cast into the watery depths beyond its margin.

Sure, for the members of the true Organization you can say that this still applies (again, Vanitas being debatable) but it’s not exclusively golden eyes = Xehanort’s influence anymore. It’s as if they are meant to represent darkness like they have been prior to KHDDD. And this change sort of makes sense, since the story’s focus is shifting heavily to be about the primordial darknesses and shifting back to how one can fall to darkness due to strong negative emotions. One can conclude that maybe Xehanort’s eyes have changed from silver to gold over time due to him actively trying to become a “dark vessel” as seen in KHDR, and that subsequently, since he has gained them, they have become a trait of his other selves. A parallel to this scenario is how the characters on the protagonist's side associate the Black Coat with the Organization even though, in truth, it dates back much further back into the past.

Like I’ve said before, KHDR did not manage to cover and explain every single facet of Xehanort’s life, for better or for worse. However, it did give a lot of context to preexisting scenes and other character moments in the series, and I think it did a good job at that. As for the remaining mysteries such as the now discussed golden eyes, the fate of Scala Ad Caelum and more, depends entirely on whether or not Nomura wants to or has the chance to flesh out, much like how KHDR’s existence itself was once in a lifetime opportunity to dive deeper into the mind of one of the most important antagonists in the series.

I know what you're probably thinking: the Dark Seeker Saga, which depicted the battle against Xehanort, finished with KINGDOM HEARTS III, didn't it? Well, it's a grey area, but I wouldn't call this title part of the Dark Seeker Saga. Why? Because this isn't about battling against Xehanort—it's about the battles of Xehanort.And maybe you're thinking that's a bit of a reach, but… okay, maybe it's a bit of a reach. However, I had the concept in my head for many years. It got shelved because it never really fitted what our team wanted. But around then, I heard from the Union X team that they'd like to do a parallel title with a new protagonist. And, since it seemed there was an unexpected number of Xehanort fans out there, it all came together like it was destined to be. I do tend to believe in destiny. (Tetsuya Nomura on the launch of KHDR in June 2020)

Author’s note: Sorry if this turned out to be more of a ramble than an actual theory post but… I wanted to say that… I feel content with this story, even without the answers I may have wanted. I still thoroughly enjoyed following Xehanort’s journey from start to finish, which made me like him more as a character even. Anyhow… thank you for bearing with me and I hope you have a wonderful day!

[aitsuheart]

Today has been a road of emotions

First I want to say I'm still very upset about Khml being cancelled. Maybe it's not that important to some people, however I was looking forward to learning about the characters in this game

I remember liking Nept and Freya designs and thought they really looked cool

Also the ancestry segments seemed interesting. Could our main cast of characters actually have ancient ties to these characters, however, now we'll never know or know for awhile because it got cancelled.

It would also be fun to play a multiplayer Kingdom Hearts game and since I entered the fandom after the 2021 when the mobile games ended, I never got to experience that.

I remember feeling bad for the devs since all their hard work is being thrown away and it sounded like they were almost done. It's so unfair that it's just cancelled. People are speculating that they will try to put this lore from this game for kh4 in another form, but can they really? Are they just going to put it in kh4 itself? It might be really out of place or make the game bigger than it needs to be. KH3 had to cut a lot out with Dream Drop Distance and 0.2 both originally going to be part of KH3. If they make it like 0.2 it could work, however, I think it will be a short summary of what it was originally planned for. What I really hope to happen is that it's just on pause for awhile where they switch gears and I guess work on KH4.

I know Khml is supposed to have more for kh4 that's why it's already a major issue. However in KH they've released things out of order before such as releasing Birth By Sleep— a prequel to KH1 and all of the mobile games are considered prequels. If they release KH4, maybe afterwards they can continue KHML once again and release it.

Now that I've said all of that, those KH4 screenshots look really cool. I am not forgiving the company for cancelling KHML nor do I believe it's the people working on the game itself at fault. However, I still do enjoy seeing these images after so long of nothing. We get to see how Strelitzia and Sora look in the new engine and they look fantastic.

There are also new looks for the heartless which again look really interesting. We also See Sora in front of some cars and it makes me think, could we drive around in a car in KH4? Speaking of Sora, I've noticed his design is mostly the same except a few differences since the new engine. I also like how in the images with the heartless it shows a chain and stars and hearts which I am led to believe is an attack Sora is doing.

Another thing is that it's in English meaning they're far enough to be designing English texts. I don't think they are voice recording yet since that is very final, however, they're probably working on some of the translation and text change for the different languages.

We see Mickey in what looks like a library in Scala and we possibly could be able to control Mickey of all characters which is incredible. I don't think anyone expected that if this is the case. At the end of Melody of Memory I remember Yen Sid had want Mickey to go to Scala ad Caelum so this could be here.

I also want to point out the dark side which looks even more different. Maybe I haven't noticed before but now it seems to have wings. The graphics look to be really good even if the image quality themselves were clearly put out last minute to satisfy all the complaints. I'm not forgiving them for what they did, however I still like getting these images.

Also in the center we have what looks like an old phone. I don't know why there's an image of that and what it means, but it all looks cool.

Again I am still disappointed and I'm not brushing it off, but today was absolutely insane how it went from dread to slightly positive on the chance we might get more information soon. I started with the cancellation because I needed to tell how important it is that this game being cancelled is and we can't just forget it.

[vogel-lynne]

Henriette and five real-existing people that inspired me for her character building:

Victoria de Angelis from Måneskin, for being the only girl in an all-male team/band

Gunnhild Sundli from Gåte, because I imagined Henriette as a singer before switching to dance, and because she is well aware of her roots

Lindsey Stirling, after I discarded the idea of her being a singer, she became the Lindsey of beyblading world

Laura Marzadori (1st Violin from Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala), due to Henriette's formal Violin training

Sabrina Carpenter, for her character, playfulness and body build

[goldensunset]

I miss ya :_)

anyway do you think that there’s gonna be a Romulus in ml, since the series has moved towards family and Scala seems to have switched slightly towards Roman naming?

pleeeeeaaasseseessspleeeeaaaaaaseeeewepleeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaseeeeeeee

honestly it could go either way. either there is no romulus or (more likely in my opinion) there is one, but he either isn’t related to remus or they together have a totally different role in the story than their names would suggest. like how in dr we got thrown for a loop with most characters’ names

[lightandfellowship]

A really underrated line, imo. "As light watches over us" is such ominous imagery. I don't know if he's referring to the light of Scala or Eraqus, though. (Or maybe even Hoder if Darkness is aware of her presence in Xehanort's heart?)

Also, I only just now realized that Baldr uses "me" and "he" here in the same sentence to refer to "himself". (Even "us" could refer to himself, though I know he's probably talking about Xehanort and himself more specifically.) Like I know he switches up between "I" and "he" in other places but here he does it all in the same sentence.

[ok4ru]

The Eraqus and Xehanort swapped AU… 👀 @autumn-may-main @clankythecranky

So, in the Dark Road Swap AU, I decided not to change anything for the first part of the story so Xehanort still grew up on Destiny Island and was raised by Player.

But, this time Xehanort is a successful child of Destiny Island and also has the kingdom necklace since in this AU it's a pass-down gift in the Ephemer bloodline.

Sadly, Xehanort manages to lose it while going through the door of darkness.

But, he makes it to Scala and enjoys his time with also the people there. With one of the people being Eraqus. Eraqus was wary at first cause reeked of darkness but didn’t mind he had a new friend! A fast and close relationship grows between the two with also their love of chess and Scala ad Caelum's ancient history.

(Also maybe Grandchildren of Masters but hey, Xehanort doesn't know who his Grandpa is yet and only Eraqus so…)

Now I decided to make Eraqus more like Brain and have more of an interest in stuff and digging into it a lot than he usually should to the point it drives him crazy but Xehanort is always there to stop him. But most of the time Eraqus is just his normal self.

Xehanort also makes friends with Baldr and starts to bond over feeling light and darkness in people's hearts. They become close friends and Eraqus joining aside from them.

Now as for the Baldr and Hoder: I decided to switch to Baldr and Hoder which is funny because Hoder is originally associated with Night and Darkness but Square Enix uses that for Baldr's role instead of her so I guess I'm going by the original role.

Now in the story, one day Baldr informs Eraqus that he thinking of going to find his sister since he hasn’t seen her in a while, and the Mark of Mastery is coming up, and doesn't want her to miss it.

Eraqus got an off feeling about it but shrugged it off and encouraged him to find her.

During the main everything kinda plays out the same, that gang has to look for Baldr as well as their missing Upperclassmen. Except in each world, Xehanort and Eraqus started to feel a bit of dread and uncomfortableness building up every moment.

Not making it any better that learning Baldr is dead and they don’t know anything about whether their other classmates are safe since they also went through the Corridor of Darkness.

The boys find themselves in darkness alone, nothing else, not knowing how or if they’ll get home. Before Xehanort can tell Eraqus to put his armor on he sees Eraqus's almost lifeless body lying there. Eraqus gives up, he is tired. He told Xehanort to go without him and I told you, I wouldn't go as far as you…

Xehanort was baffled by his yet he wasn’t having any of it… “Not on my watch.” He said.

He helps Eraqus get his armor and tries to drag them out of there…

Xehanort thought to Eraqus's words but tried to not feed into them as much. “Maybe it’s just the darkness talking…” The boy could hold on any longer and ended up collapsing on the ground…That was until Master Odin found them.

The next day back in the classroom Eraqus seemed to be doing much better but a bit tired but still the same old Eraqus. It kinda gave Xehanort a bit of whiplash.

Everything after that, the duo fights the upper-classmen and Vor dies in the hands of Hoder which…Damn :(

Now as for the battle, I decided to do two things: The talk between Hoder and Xehanort is the same but Hoder starts to realize that Xehanort may not be as similar to her as she thought at the end…

As Hoder is being held down by Master Odin's chain she mentions to Eraqus that she realizes Xehanort seems to be his light while Eraqus seems to be always in his shadow…

Eraqus didn't really wanna hear this because to him it wasn't true. Defended him and said he would never be jealous of his best friend…Right?

Hoder begins to taunt Eraqus making him angry and leading him to strike her down.

Xehanort was shocked it was like the whole world was silent at that very moment…

So was Eraqus. He couldn’t even believe himself…Xehanort felt a sharp bit of pain in his heart and slowly started to realize…Those feelings of dread were from Eraqus but Darkness hadn’t taken his heart… Oh no, it was only the beginning of his heart going down a dark road…

I’ll go into debt about Xehanort and Eraqus’s relationship so more later this post is already long…

Edit: The first part of the story didn’t even get paste but it is here now!

[corishadowfang]

coda Fic Notes

"coda" was supposed to be a one-shot! It wasn't supposed to have fic notes because it was supposed to be short...ish. ...But obviously that didn't work out, and uh. Well, there are enough things for me to go over that I figured, "Sure, I can do fic notes for this one." Some of these are things related to actually writing the story; others are details about the characters/future scenarios/etc., in case I never get around to writing them.

So unlike most of my longer fics, there isn't a playlist for this one. That said, I'd say if "coda" had a theme song, it'd be King by Lauren Aquilina.

I keep saying "coda" was supposed to be a one-shot, but uh...that's only half true. At the very beginning, when I first started thinking that I might want to do other stories in the Fallen Stars-verse, I actually did plan for "coda" to be a five-chapter story--one chapter to focus on each of the main characters' (Skuld, Brain, Kvasir, and Mimir) individual journeys over the course of the first year, and an epilogue following all of them. Some of the first bits I wrote for "coda," however, were...well, the first two scenes of the fic, haha, and those meshed together so well that I decided not to split Skuld and Brain's sections, and instead just focus primarily on the two of them in a one-shot; if I wanted to cover more about Kvasir and Mimir, I could do separate one-shots or add more chapters to the original. I did think about switching back to the original idea when I realized it was going to be a series, after all, but between how intertwined Skuld's and Brain's stories were and my burnout making my chest feel tight at the idea of re-writing things...that kind of got put aside.

Most of Kvasir's journey still got touched on in "coda," thankfully, but Mimir...definitely got the short end of the stick here. A lot of their personal journey involves more of them actually taking the time to sort out more of what it means to be reincarnated and how that affects their relationships with their classmates, the rest of Scala, and of course the main crew. That's...a little bit harder to show from someone else's point of view, so if I end up doing any other short fics for the crew, it'd be Mimir.

SPEAKING OF OTHER FICS--Brain doesn't figure out how to wake up the Dandelions here. That's in part because for a while, he and Skuld are just. Kind of in "recovery mode." And when they aren't, they've still got to figure out the actual mechanics of getting the Dandelions out. Which isn't something they actually start to parse apart until around their mid- to late twenties. This is the other fic that I have a really solid idea for, and that I'd almost kind of like to do--BUT this one was actually envisioned as a short series, and given my track record on keeping things short...it's, uh. Going to be a while before I get to this one, if I ever do.

On My Heart notwithstanding, this is probably the story I've done the most rewriting and reorganizing for. There are scenes from my original snippets that didn't make it into the final story; there are scenes that I added in, then decided didn't work and removed there; there are scenes that I thought I wasn't going to include, then decided, "Actually, no, I think this'd be a good idea," and reworked them a bit to shove them back in. There are even scenes that were taken out and re-added multiple times. For something that mostly exists because there wasn't enough of the content I wanted to read, there was...a surprising amount of editing involved.

For once, I really didn't have to put much thought into the title, haha; the name popped into my head as soon as I had the idea for the story (though I don't have an explanation for why it isn't capitalized beyond "it felt right"). The name itself is pretty self-explanatory, haha; it's basically a story that caps off the original story.

And some character things!

Mimir regains custody of the cat.

Skuld eventually settles on the name "Dandelion" for her Spirit pet.

Yes, Brain does eventually get glasses. Sunglasses or something else with a tint, specifically; the "golden eyes" thing is mostly cosmetic, but they do make him a lot more light sensitive, so on particularly bright days he can get headaches. On the plus side, he has very good night vision!

I think he also ends up with more of an affinity for darkness-based magic, but he discovers that like. Accidentally. Like--tries to use magic and accidentally falls through a Corridor of Darkness or something. With some practice, he ends up being able to use both Light and Dark magic pretty well, but I'm sure that initial discovery is a bit jarring.

Skuld's ability to use magic never fully recovers, and Brain's always going to be a bit more limited physically. This does the opposite of slow them down, because they decide to work together to cover each other's weaknesses. Brain basically uses a lot of support magic to boost Skuld's physical abilities/heal her/block attacks, etc., and this kind of just lets Skuld go ham on their opponent (plus block any attempts they might make to attack Brain). Nobody is very anxious to spar with them if they're on the same side.

Brain does end up joining Skuld in the Exploration Department for a while! He ends up liking it quite a bit. Kvasir and Mimir end up joining them on missions, sometimes, which often ends in...chaos. Meili gives up on trying to ban them from working together.

I know that Skuld and Brain end up living at the Land of Departure full-time, though I've gone back and forth on whether they just never move back to Scala fully, or they do move back for a time, and then return after the Dandelions wake up. That said, the Land of Departure is the best place to house a group of displaced children, so they'd definitely move there after that point.

I imagine that both Skuld and Brain feel responsible for the Dandelions (for obvious reasons), and so they both end up stepping away from the Exploration Department for a bit to focus on trying to help them re-adjust. Skuld eventually goes back; Brain actually finds helping with the Dandelions is more fulfilling, so he basically becomes the Keeper (in spirit) of the Land of Departure.

I think Brain ends up making more Spirit pets for people. Specifically, he ends up working with Mimir to provide them to people who are struggling.

Speaking of Mimir! They also end up becoming a therapist, haha. They start as a member of Kvasir's department, and then kind of branch out. They end up finding that they really enjoy it!

Both Kvasir and Mimir do end up going on diplomatic missions, even if it's not their primary jobs! Kvasir is good with people, and Mimir is good at being able to tease out and smooth over potential problems, so they end up being a good team. Skuld goes with them sometimes if they're visiting a new world. ...Brain has been banned from diplomatic missions.

Meili does not agree to take Frigga's place as the Head of the Council, in large part because they actually like their job. (Bryn is the one who eventually takes over the role.) They stubbornly stay as the Head of Exploration long past the point they probably should, but eventually turn the role over to Skuld when they do decide to retire.

I do think that both Brain and Skuld like. Have individual moments where they both realize they wouldn't want to go back to Daybreak Town, if given the chance. Like--not that they don't want to see their friends again (they'd still be thrilled if they got to see Ephemer, Ven, and/or Lauriam even once), but that they're happy here and wouldn't want to give up the lives they have now. It's...definitely a bittersweet realization.

I don't know all of the ripple effects that Fallen Stars' events would have on canon, but I do know a few: namely, Eraqus wouldn't hate darkness quite as much, Xehanort wouldn't be taken away to the Destiny Islands, and Baldr's whole deal would likely be noticed quicker and actually, you know. Dealt with properly. I...only really have loose ideas of what actually happens in the far future, aha.

(Despite this, I still imagine Xehanort and Mimir end up being very close.)

[houseofsannae]

Do you plan on doing anything with TWEWY in Chi? (Related, did you play NEO? I found it a decent enough game but there wasn’t the love of life TWEWY vibe IMO)

So while 3D did confirm that a TWEWY world exists (and happy 17th TWEWY release anniversary, by the way - July 27th, 2007) the metaphysics of the UG, the RG, and the Higher Plane are very... odd, even by Kingdom Hearts standards. If I was to use it, I'd have to explain why this one world functions like this and not any other... or I'd have to say that every world functions like this, and it's just never come up before. I'm going to sidestep the issue by just never going there, although I might pull the characters from it for the intended grand finale to the third arc (I'm intending to pull a Smash Ultimate - EVERYONE IS HERE!)

HOWEVER, I do plan on having Coco Atarashi be one of the non-union leader Dandelions during the Keyblade War, and covering how she ended up in the TWEWY world instead of going into the vault in Scala ad Caelum with (most of) the rest of them. Her Keyblade was Skull Noise. Unlike with Strelitzia, I don't intend for her to join the main narrative again; she likes being a Reaper much more than being a Keybearer.

I did play Neo! I liked its gameplay much more than the original TWEWY (I never beat it on the DS because I couldn't wrap my head around the touch screen controls; I did beat the Switch port, though). I'd agree that the two games are trying to say two different things, and the original is better at making its point. I enjoyed all of the characters in NEO (with the exception of the annoying math freak that should've stayed dead), and it's a real shame I can't use them in KHΨ.

[cq-studios]

I’d love to hear your thoughts on Ephemer!

First Impression

Honestly, I’m not too sure. I think I was pretty indifferent to him at first, mostly because I hadn’t actually played the game/experienced the cutscenes. I watched Tennelle and Whitney’s recap of it so I was just hearing about what he did, not necessarily about him.

But I guess since he kept ditching people (Player, Skuld, Player again, but this time in Wreck it Ralph), I figured he was kind of a flake. I found that amusing more than anything tho.

Current Impression

He.

I’m a massive fan of all the NULs, but Ephemer is in the top spot very often (and Skuld is normally right there with him but she’s not who we’re talking about right now). I probably should have more to say but like I dunno

Favourite Moment

Ooh this one is tough.

I’m tempted to say when he comforts Skuld about, you know, how the is literally ending by saying “It’s not over til it’s over”, because it is simultaneously the most human and unhelpful thing to say, and it makes me laugh every time.

But there’s also the scene where he first meets Player, which I also think is fun.

Idea for a Story

I’ve had a little AU idea for awhile where, after Union X, Ephemer figures out that he’s never gonna see his friends again and uses the Unchained State to switch worldlines to one where the glitches hadn’t started yet.

He’d have memory loss with a subconscious feeling that something isn’t right, a la Sleeping Realm Theory. So like, he starts noticing that details of past events are different than what everyone else remembers, he’s much clingier than usual and doesn’t seem to know why, or he sees Player and breaks down out of a guilt he can’t remember ever having.

Skuld notices something is off pretty quickly, and Ephemer feels the same. So they, with the help of Brain (who they also roped into this), try to work out what’s going on. Eventually they’d figure it out, and Ephemer would go back to his original worldline.

I’m not entirely sure what would push him to go back. Maybe reading his Book of Prophecies and learning that Brain wouldn’t have a world to appear in if he didn’t. Or learning that he can move on (about Scala and his kids and stuff), once again with the help of the BoP. Or maybe the glitches start again, and the world ends again, and he realizes that there’s nothing he can do to change what he went through. He just has to accept it. Or you know, some combination of those.

I started writing this a bit ago but haven’t gotten very far. Don’t know if I’ll ever finish it but I’m still working on it on and off.

Unpopular Opinion

Uhh, I’m not entirely sure to be honest…

Like I don’t think I have one??? But I’m also not even quite sure what would be considered a popular opinion about him???

Favourite Relationship

Him and Skuld.

I love their friendship. I love that Kingdom Hearts lets a guy and a girl just be friends, and close one’s at that.

I feel like they have a very teasing friendship (definitely a believer of the prank wars dynamic for them), but like, if push comes to shove, they will stick together through the actual end of the world. I find so much comfort in that, even if in the end they get separated.

Favourite Headcannon

Dude’s a massive conspiracy theorist, and I like that for him. Especially because he ends up in a position of power and, due to the all but normal circumstances, I’m sure that suddenly the conspiracies that he would’ve believed were about him and his friends.

I live for this concept but have no clue how to apply it in a practical way.

[somethingboutafic]

Dom Louis

Give It To Me (I'm Worth It) by sweaterpawstyles (E) word count: 3,812 Louis can't resist Harry in the red shorts that he wore during the James Corden skit. Featuring locker room sex.

Can We Pretend (honestly reality bores me) by SadaVeniren (E) word count: 4,218 Harry comes and supports Louis at his Scala concert

Chew You Up Like Candy by LetTheMusicMoveYou (E) word count: 4,354 (Alpha/Alpha) the one where Alpha Harry falls down a Reddit hole, that leads him to discover a few new kinks he never knew he had. It also leads him to Louis, an Alpha unlike any other Harry’s ever met. Louis’ more than happy to help Harry explore his new interests

redder than the devil by mercutionotromeo (E) word count: 4,639 It's half past 9, and all Harry wants is for Louis to touch him. Preferably after a good spanking. If you combine a lazy Saturday afternoon with a distracting, pouty Harry, you'll end up with Louis spanking his baby over his knee in the middle of a paused FIFA match

I'm Gonna Love You (Until You Hate Me) by sweaterpawstyles (E) word count: 8,825 Louis wears glasses and Harry doesn't like to be teased.

Could you love me anyway by SadaVeniren (E) word count: 13,444 Dear Mistress Lorin: I’ve been reading your blog for a couple weeks now and was hoping you’d give me some advice for something that happened with me and my boyfriend. I’m really worried that I hurt him. aka Harry and Louis begin playing ping pong during the X-Factor Tour. It quickly gets out of hand.

I Can't Change (But I Wanna Be Yours) by Cy_v (NR) word count: 19,150 Or the one where Harry has anxiety and let's Zayn talk him into getting a tattoo, and that's fine except for the fact that Louis is his tattoo artist, and well...

precious little thing by mercutionotromeo (E) word count: 21,034 a university AU featuring phone sex operator Louis, copious amounts of sweet, soft kink discovery, and Louis being Harry's Daddy.

Even If It's Just Tonight by nothing_but (E) word count: 26,009 Louis and Harry happen to switch their suitcases in the airport's bathroom and it's possibly the best mistake Harry has ever made.

Santa Baby Honey by SadaVeniren (E) word count: 28,736 Louis is the CEO of a toy company and Christmas is a stressful time of year so his assistant decides the best way to make him chill out is by getting him laid through a Secret Santa

Just Breathe by Awriterwrites, dimpled_halo (E) word count: 50,779 the one where Harry and Louis are on a journey through life together — one that includes discovering dark, hidden parts of themselves that only the other can find.

The Pain Is For Pleasure by lovelarry10 (E) word count: 67,227 Louis and Harry have been together for a few months. Everything is great, but there’s one question burning in the back of Louis' mind - why won’t Harry have sex with him?

Opulence Thrills by brightgolden (E) word count: 68,834 Where a well-versed submissive, Harry Styles has spent eighteen months in BDSM abstinence after an irreconcilable difference in kink preferences with his ex-dom, and a random winner for a charity auction might just be the one who brings him back.

May We Stay Lost On Our Way Home by LoadedGunn (E) word count: 74,226 On March 31st, Harry Styles disappears. Though many speculate, only two people know where to find him: Niall, his former guitarist, and Zayn, who follows where Niall leads. The fact the biggest boy band in the world broke up two weeks earlier might be related to the disappearance. The fact Harry meets a fairy named Louis in the woods is a whole other matter.

Switch Out The Batteries by istajmaal, LoadedGunn (E) word count: 88,302 Two years after meeting in a sex shop, Harry's just returning to Louis from a month-long tour in the States, and they come up with a wholesome bonding exercise.

Crave by dimpled_halo (E) word count: 90,765 All eyes are on Louis Tomlinson to bring new talent to save Hanover Records from the mess the previous executive left behind. His newest artist, Harry Styles, is charismatic and everything Louis needs to revive the label. It’s up to Louis and his team to make Harry the star he was born to be. When Harry and Louis come face to face, it isn’t the first time they’ve met, and their worlds are about to be turned upside down.