#annnnd that’s it i’m not putting it in the main tag lol

[cloudcastor]

Alright everyone AU down below!!!

I’ve been tentatively calling it “Destiny Islands AU”

On the surface, it’s a slice of life AU.In the general context of kingdom hearts, they never left the islands, Sora is just a regular school boy and all he’s worried about is what’s he gonna do once he graduates and how he’ll keep his childhood friends post-high school.

But underneath that, this is a post KH3 AU. Sora is stuck in a (wow! so original!) simulation a lá KH2. We get the “bad” and “true” end post Yozora fight, however, this AU follows the belief that the bad ending still happens. This is while Sora is asleep and in his crystal state. Using his powers, Yozora creates this as a way to keep Sora busy and ensure he doesn’t wake up any time soon to spoil any plans.

Sora’s connection to the Real World is through Riku, who has the power to reach out to him via Dreams, however, this starts to cause discrepancies. There is a “Dream” Riku and a “Real” Riku that unintentionally swap places. As Sora’s real memories start to come through, there’s hiccups in the simulation as well. Sometimes he’ll remember an experience that he knows he didn’t go through, he’ll see a ship in the sky where he once saw a boat, and sometimes people don’t remember…..Riku.

As these memories continue to surface, Sora constantly finds himself wondering what’s a dream and what’s reality.

As an aside, there’s a bit of added lore to the islands that goes as follows. The motto is Destiny Islands: of Fate, Fortune & Future.

This is thematically relevant:

FATE (memories): Play island; Where things are predestined to happen

FORTUNE(simulation): Main Island; prosperity from land, community, and tradition

FUTURE (reality): Big Island; Where those go who want change

How does this relate to Sora?

The Play Island is where the discrepancies start, and it’s where Riku first shows up. It’s a place that isn’t tied down to whatever rules the rest of the simulation is running on. A bit of a limbo if you will. This is where Sora starts to regain his true sense of self.

The Main Island is the simulation at large. It has the town, his family's shop, the school and the grocer. It’s as close to normalcy as you would imagine. If Riku hadn’t shown up Sora would probably still be stuck in the routine of it all…

The “Big Island” exists as more of a vague threat. Sora doesn’t realize that “Riku graduating and leaving the main island” means “Riku is somewhere where I'm not” to him. At least not yet. It’s also his feelings manifesting of Riku having left the islands already, except this time he has no way to follow.

Okay but where is the soriku?

It’s the Vibes™

My initial thoughts are that this is a place that’s familiar to Sora, but since it’s a world without “conflict”, it leaves him bored and reflective. Life has only ever been this hometown. Even before Riku shows up, Sora is slowly unlocking thoughts and emotions he hasn’t had the time to sit and think about for quite some time. We know he has feelings of sadness, anger, and hopelessness. Without the constant threat of the worlds falling to darkness, or friends being in danger, how would he deal with these emotions without the context. I’m sure it has him feeling confused and at a bit of a loss. The desperation starts to kick in as he imagines this dull life without Riku, he’ll do anything so he won’t get left behind(….again). It starts to break the simulation even more.

On Riku’s end… he has no idea what’s going on! Seeing Sora constantly “Dream” about the islands makes him feel guilty that he isn’t searching hard enough or that he’s not bringing him home fast enough. He truly believes Sora wants to “return home” and since he never sees himself in this simulation (because he takes his own spot) he believes it to be a home where he doesn't belong. A home he’s not welcome to return to.

However, that doesn’t stop him from at least trying to get Sora back. It’s the least he could do after all. He tells himself it’s strictly his responsibility and nothing more.

Buuuuut….. As they catch themselves meeting up from time to time, lines begin to blur. Sora thinks Real Riku is actually Dream Riku. Riku thinks Sora is simply stuck in a dream world cycle and unaware of what he’s doing. They let themselves be more honest, not knowing they are talking with each other and idk maybe they get to kiss as a treat…

The rest is a bit more of a secret since I might do something with this in the future (looks at my hands….i wanna make a comic. so bad…) but for now that’s the gist of it!

Thanks for lookin :-)

[someplace-that-is-else]

States of Grief: A Writer’s Goal for Entering 2019 Part the Second

I admit…I had been putting it off.

 It was the winding down of the holiday season. I had set a few things in motion. One of those things was I had books ordered for my Darkened Soul: Witch’s Abyss giveaway. Another one of those things was a new laptop.

 As I mentioned in my last blog (‘You Think You Know…What’s to Come…’: A Writer’s Goal for Entering 2019- http://someplace-that-is-else.tumblr.com/post/182330195413/you-think-you-knowwhats-to-come-a), my old laptop appeared to be done. So…I decided to head back to status quo. There were things that I needed for that. One of those things…was a TOSHIBA laptop.

 Annnnd it arrived. I was super excited. Now if I only had time to open it. LOL!!!

 In any case, I was ready. Once it was ready, I could keep on with my plans. After all, I had books to self-publish.

 It was then that I noticed it.

 I couldn’t find my recent flash drive.

 Ugh.

 DENIAL

 I ignored it at first.

 It was pretty easy to do. While the holiday season was winding down, there was still work for me to do. I really wanted to get back to my normal routine. My routine that involved me getting up, heading to work, heading to the gym, heading to work, and then home. If I was lucky, there would be time to write.

 It was then that I thought about my writing. After all I had been hoping by the end of 2018 to have Darkened Soul: The Breaking of Circles and Book 3 in my Darkened series out. And we knew how 2018 ended.

 My gym routine was quite easy to get back to. At first, it was not. Between my work schedules, the amount of time I would use for the gym…which was located in a separate location from where I lived or my work places…it could not be worked. But where there was a will, there was a way they said. I had considered during December having to change my gym schedule around. While I had been known to work out from home when need be, I would also been expanding what I did. I managed to take up jogging downtown and other general leg exercises. Yes, I am not a fan of Leg Day. LOL!!! So after debating it, I started to slowly move my gym time to really early morning. I was not at all a morning person, but if I was committed to my gym time as I claimed to be, that appeared to be the only time I could make it over there to the gym.

 Some weeks I made it. Other weeks I was just too tired from the shenanigans over at one of my jobs to get there. In those cases, I would have to adjust my schedules accordingly. So thankfully, gym routine was on the up and up. And if I could do that for my gym routine, surely I could do that for my writing time, right?

 I saw something on television. I had to binge watch Game of Thrones. I had to head to work. I would be tired from work. I noticed that I would do anything to not search for my flash drive.

 There was one day I was getting ready for work. I was always a multitasker in the morning. Part of it was to be able to get that good ole coffee to kick in. Part of it was my Gemini nature. In any case, I was reading, ironing, and cleaning a bit at a time. It was then when I saw it.

 No, not the flash drive. A few days ago, I was in a rush to get to work and knocked a thing of tape under my bed. I figured that I would remember it when I was less busy. However, I saw it along with one of my many name tags. I frowned at that.

 How had that name tag gotten under my bed? That far under my bed? When?

 And…I hoped. I hoped that that was a sign. A sign that maybe my flash drive was under my bed or somewhere I would find it in my room.

 So was it hope…or just denial?

 ANGER

 So it was time.

 It was time to get back to writing. First up…I had to work on my blog.

 I had managed before the end of the year to become more frequent. I used to be so frequent when I started out. Like any writer, it was so simple. All one had to do was make oneself interested. If you make yourself interested, others will be interested. If you built it, they will come.

 So I alternated. One blog would be about my writing progress and/or process. The next blog would be about something pop culture related. The next one was about my writing progress/process. And vice versa. Somewhere in there, there would updates on what I’m writing in that moment. Not to mention gifs and pictures. In a matter of time, I had a much-needed online presence for my blog. And that was awesome.

 Then December slowed that down.

 So here I was. Back at it again. This week it was working on a writing blog. It started slow. Once I made connections to Buffy the Vampire Slayer…it all was good to go. While I did not have my flash drive, I still had room on my old one enough that I could work on a blog. For that I was grateful.

 Then…blog done. Blog posted. My mind immediately started to wonder what to do next.

 But…another thought occurred to me. I had nothing to work on in between blogs. Usually that would be my books. But…no flash drive. So…what to do?

 First, I tried to retrace my steps. The last time I used my flash drive that I could think of was at one of my jobs. I had some forms that I needed to print out and fax. Once I realized that I left it there that day, I called and asked for it to be put away. And I’m sure that I picked it up. Still, I looked around my workspace. And…nothing.

 Next up…I figured it would be in my bag. I had already looked in it. However, I did have a tendency of putting it in odd places in my bag. Whether it was conscious or subconscious, my flash drive never winded up where I thought I put it. Sounds like my gym membership card in that regard. Annnd…NOTHING. After multiple tries and cleaning out every inch of my bag as best I could, there was still no flash drive.

 Then I started searching the odds and ends in my room. There were the spots where I had been known to put my flash drive if I decided I was not taking it with me that day. Or I decided I was going to bed and didn’t want to leave it on the bed and thus crack it or something.

 And I searched.

 And I searched some more.

 NOTHING.

 Flipping out would be an understatement. As I stared at my room, it looked like a tornado had hit it. And my nature as a pack rat probably did not help the case. Papers here. Bags there. An old laptop that no longer had a connection between its charger and battery. Clothes. Magazines. It was all just scattered around my room. And…STILL…NOTHING.

 I was about to throw something. I needed to throw something.

 How could I be so frakking stupid and lose my flash drive. I mean…really?

  BARGAINING

 It was still on my mind. The fact that I had been so stupid. That I had been oh so absent minded.

 I thought…perhaps if I had simply kept myself focused. If I had not allowed my jobs to take up so much of my time during December. Maybe if I just focused on what I was doing. So I decided that I should just…start working on my writing again, perhaps it would show up again. That if I just focused on working on Book 3 which was already waaaaaay behind, maybe right when I needed it my flash drive would fall out from some stray place that I had not even thought about.

 Book 3 had come along nicely from where I stopped. All of my plot threads were in the same room now. They were converging. While something was nagging at my gut, the plot threads were there. Humans, Nosferatu, witches, I even had some hunters pop in…I did not think there was a part of the Darkenverse that was not touched on.

 Yet…something was in my gut. Something was making me pause in my mind. I had learned when it felt like something was off, a character was trying to tell you something.

 I knew how this chapter would end. And that ending would lead into the last half of my book. So I was pretty excited. And yet…there was one plot thread that was important to my main character that was starting to not feel like it would be finished by the end of this book. It was with that realization that I felt that there was another book waiting in the wings. Otherwise, my gut was screaming that this would be a rushed book. And that I did not want.

 This would have been so much easier if I had my flash drive still. But…

 I had to shake myself. I had been like a song on repeat for the last few weeks. If my flash drive was this. If my flash drive was that. Eventually, I had to stop acting like it would turn up at any second if I just tried. If only I had time enough. If I could accept that I did not have time to do all of what I would like to do, then I could accept the truth.

 My flash drive…if not randomly stolen…was gone.

 ACCEPTANCE

 I finally made it home. I got some sandwiches in me. Then I collected my stuff. From there it was off to Starbucks.

 I got my last flash drive out. Then I looked through it. From there, I backed up all my pdf files and files I felt I might need later on…like those transcripts for writing applications for example.

 Then…DELETE, DELETE, DELETE.

 I looked at how much space was left. A smile crept onto my face. It looked like that did the job.

 I had available space again on that flash drive. That was about to be useful.

 I had taken the time to see what I had lost from my other flash drive when I lost it. I had hoped…to no avail. The majority of Darkened Soul: The Breaking of Circles had been lost. In my case, the novella and the epilogue. Not to mention apparently Fredrick’s first story. I would simply have to type it all out again.

 I know, I know. Ugh.

 On the good side, not entirely from starch. So yay for me for some backup…no matter how slow I had gone about doing it. I guess I could make frequent backups a New Year’s resolution then.

 So…now I had a starting point. Somewhere to start and build up to. I had a deadline for all of this. So it was time to get back to some forward motion.

 December might have taken a lot from me. But I guess in the end it had not taken my will. But to get it back, I guess I had to really go through some stages of grief…

   #statesofgrief #states #grief #goals #2019 #writer #thewritinglife #writing #nye #partthesecond #part #second #denial #anger #bargaining #acceptance #darkenedsoul #breakingofcirles #breaking #circles #laptop #darkenverse #thingstocome #gameofthrones #buffythevampireslayer #toshiba