#kairi's grandmother is one of the only living family members who looks close to what a “true ogre” does

[as-above-is-moving]

got to some NPCs today! Riot's PR and Case manager Sophi, and Kairi's god AWFUL mother, Himino <3

[bluerosesburnblue]

I noticed the topic of kh parents brought up and I was wondering, do you have any headcanons concerning the parents of the kh characters? What about characters who don't have biological parents in the traditional sense, like Nobodies, Replicas, etc? Do you think the parents of their Others or Originals would count as their bio parents? Would Sora's parents count as Roxas's? And do you think any of the characters have siblings? Sorry I've just been thinking about this stuff A LOT lately.

Actually, not really. Which is surprising because I’ve said the familial relationships are some of my favorite. The most I have are that Sora gets his spiky hair from his mom, who I imagine to have more dirty blonde hair, and that Sora’s dad has been close friends with Tidus’s dad their whole lives (with Tidus’s parents just being the KH versions of his Final Fantasy parents. Jecht has a lot of energy and nowhere to put it except sports, but I imagine that without the fame he had in FFX that he’s a lot more mellow and closer to his personality in Dissidia. Still a troublemaker, but less of a fame-obsessed jackass. Closer to what he was like with Auron and Braska in the spheres)

For Kairi, I do think that her biological parents are dead and that she was raised by her grandmother. Sometimes I toss around the idea that they were killed along with Ienzo’s parents in an accident together, the only difference between the two being that Kairi still had biological family to take her in while Ienzo didn’t, so Ansem the Wise took him in

As for if they’d count as anyone’s biological parents, it’s hard to say since EVERYONE’S situation is wildly different. Roxas takes more after Ven in appearance but was originally Sora’s body, so do his genetics reflect Sora because that’s literally the body he’s in or Ven, who he appears as? Nobody knows what the deal with Namine is in terms of her body. Frankly, I’m not entirely sure she had a physical one before being placed in a Replica body. Xion’s body is clearly based on Kairi, but distorted. Is it distorted enough to be almost unrecognizable from a genetic standpoint? Not to mention the fact that she didn’t have a stable appearance at first (being able to appear as different people to others at the same time) and so shouldn’t have had anything resembling a genetic signature until getting her finalized Replica body in KH3. The only one who’d clearly be able to trace their genetics to someone is Repliku, who should be a 1:1 copy of Riku and he’s no longer in the picture SO...

I’ve said in the past, though, that the series generally doesn’t seem to care about genetics in terms of appearance, moreso the “impression” each character gives. Looks are simply a form given to the “heart” and can symbolize the connections between characters. So I think it’s ultimately a moot point. I mean, if we were to apply our universe’s understanding of genetics, then the situation is still that Xion and Namine may resemble Kairi and may, genetically, be similar enough to be considered biological sisters, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the changes in their appearance would align with Kairi’s parents, you know? Same with the Roxas/Ven/Sora thing. We just don’t know enough about anyone’s parents to make that call. It’s really all up to interpretation at the moment

I do think Sora and Kairi’s parents would be cool with adopting the Nobody/Replica kids. Sora’s because they’re probably very nice and welcoming people, Kairi’s because she’s already adopted (on Destiny Islands) and she can easily just claim “long lost sister(s)” and HOW could you break them up now that they’ve found each other? Riku’s seem like they’d be stricter to me and may have had some resistance about taking Repliku if he was still around, but I imagine Riku would insist on it

As for if any of them have siblings? Not Sora and Riku, at least. If only because siblings are never mentioned, not even when Riku says that they’d never see their parents again the night Destiny Islands fell. He specifies parents, not family. Kairi and the members of Organization XIII (sans Ienzo/Zexion because if he had a sibling then why didn’t Ansem take them in, too?) are the only original characters I’d say could have siblings that we simply don’t know about (I mean, just look at what they did with Marluxia/Lauriam... who I’m also excluding from this statement on a technicality BECAUSE I don’t think he has any siblings besides Strelitzia). Kairi due to how little we know about her home life on Radiant Garden (IF her parents were still alive, then it’s possible they could’ve had another kid after their daughter was abducted or she had an older sibling that she doesn’t remember) and the Organization due to how little of their backstories we know. I’m sure even then, not all of them have siblings. Maybe add Terra and Aqua in, but that’s entirely dependent on the circumstances that Eraqus took them in under, which we currently know nothing about. I’m more iffy about the two of them, though, because making a probability call is entirely dependent of the ages that Eraqus actually took them in (if I’m remembering right, the earliest possible are 14 for Aqua and 16 for Terra, but at least Terra was probably a good deal younger just based on how close he is to Eraqus)

[jackidy]

If You Let Me: Chapter 1

Rating: T Pairings: Demyx/Zexion, Demyx/Ienzo (Eventual/Slowburn) Characters: Various, Zexion/Ienzo Centric Setting: BBS to KH3, Canon compliant mostly 

Warnings: Canon Character Death (Temporary)

Summary:  “It’s almost a shame really, that you probably won’t survive this.” Only he did. Spending the prelude to adulthood as a nobody, a supposed empty husk of a being was never an option any of them considered, least of all a newly named Zexion who would be living every last one of them.

Note: I’ve been wanting to write this since KH3 came out, finally got round to planning everything after a recent stint in hospital haha. I’ve not written Multi Chapter in a while so lets hope I can keep going with it. 

Chapter One | Next Chapter

---

Year 0

He’s half asleep when the shouting begins, Even shaking him awake with a panicked look on his face and Ienzo doesn’t understand it, not fully, blinking slowly as he attempted to register what was going on. Panic. Shouting. Even holding his arms, a little too tightly with a frantic look in his eyes that does nothing but scare Ienzo. Why was he so scared?

“I need you to hide for me, hide for me and don’t make a sound. Can you do that, Ienzo?” Ienzo doesn’t get chance to respond, Dilan shouting something outside catching Even’s attention, something hissed under his bis breath that’s drowned out by the noise outside before he turns back to Ienzo. His expression softens, hands brushing hair from blue eyes as a kiss is placed against his forehead. “Go on now, go hide.”

The child does as he’s told, ducking under Even’s desk, curling up in the corner. Hands slide over ears as there’s a scream, something thudding against the door. Was Dilan hurt? Shouldn’t they help? He doesn’t understand, why are they hiding when they could help? Even could heal Dilan and then they could find everyone else and leave before whatever attacked Dilan attacked them all too.

He doesn’t want to lose his family. Not again.

The office door doesn’t slam open so much as creak, eerily quiet and somehow more terrifying than if it had slammed, Ienzo clamping his lips together to stop himself from letting out a shuddering breath. Even had told him to be quiet so he would be quiet, he’d looks so serious, so afraid. What was scary enough to make Even scared and Dilan shout?

Where were Aeleus and Braig?

“Where is Ienzo?”

“Not in here, what do you want?”

Static seems to build in his head, setting his brain alight as his heart rate spiked. He knows that voice, the new member of the family who didn’t speak to him much unless he wanted something. The one who told him to ask Ansem for the lab where the bad things always happened.

“Research.”

The pressure on his ears grows as he hears them fight, clamping his eyes closed and counting to ten and then back again in his head, the static almost painful when he feels it. The desk pushes against him as a thud echoes above him, eyes flying open to look above him then to the side as a hand comes into view. Pale, weathered, almost as familiar as his own.

Why wasn’t Even moving?

Hands clamp over his mouth as a whimper leaves his lips, pacing footsteps stopping before coming closer, slowly as if the owner didn’t know he was here and he didn’t, right? He’d behaved, he’d been quiet. Even wasn’t going to be mad with him when he woke up, he stayed quiet like he was supposed to. He’d behaved. He’d been good.

The creak of wood beside him makes him jolt, eyes flicking from the hand to the side of him. The static stops. Everything stops bar the impulse to run, wanting to desperately to move but paralysed as blue meets orange, a tanned face flickering between a lack of surprise to something almost feral and beast like. Lips curve up into a smile, in no way friendly, the need to run growing larger and more desperate as Xehanort leaned forward.

“Found you.”

Ienzo bolts, not making it far before he’s grabbed, a scream ripping from his throat as he’s dragged, over Even’s crumpled form, the grip ever tightening the more he tried to pull away and he knows. He knows he’s not felt fear like this since he lost his parents and now, he was losing them all over again, desperately reaching for Even before being thrown to the floor.

“I really should thank you, if you hadn’t convinced that old fool, we’d never have reached such marvels.”

It was his fault? He’d caused all this? Ienzo looks from Even to Xehanort, another whimper escaping his lips as the tears welled up. It was his fault Even and, most certainly Dilan, were hurt. Were Aeleus and Braig hurt too? What about those two strange boys who kept wandering in and bribing his silence with ice cream? How many people were going to be hurt because he convinced Ansem to build a new lab?

“It’s almost a shame really, that you probably won’t survive this.”

He only sees the glint of light on the keyblade before he succumbs to the darkness.

---

Year 1.

“You need to focus!”

He hates the lessons, Zexion swallowing back a retort as Vexen’s voice cut through his concentration once more, the image of what he was trying to manifest crumbling into nothing, leaving nothing but the dark space of the lab once more. As Even he’d been warmer in voice and spirit, he’d lectured him enough when he’d misbehaved but his voice was never as cold as ice when he did it, never cutting in the way it lacked encouragement.

“I’m trying.” Zexion responded, training the anger out of his voice least he be admonished for expressing emotions as well. We don’t have hearts, we’re not supposed to feel, he’s been told this time and time again yet each one of his mentors has exhibited something close to the human range of emotion. Was it one rule for them and another for him?

Letting out a deep breath he tries again, taking his time as he tries to picture what Vexen wants. A Shadow Heartless. This should be easy, there were thousands of them outside in the city below, Zexion furrowing his brows as he focused on the image, managing to drown out Vexen’s ever helpful criticisms.

It’s then he feels the shift, staring in confusion at the blank space before him before looking up to Vexen who was quiet but not mad. Why wasn’t he mad? He hadn’t don’t as the other had asked, there was no Shadow Heartless, just the blank white floor of an overly white castle.

“Not what I expected but impressive all the same.” Vexen mutters, scribbling something down on the clipboard he held, Ignoring Zexion in favour of recording whatever feat Zexion had apparently performed. Looking down at his hands, Zexion falters, expecting gloves hands but instead finding small black claws.

He hadn’t made the heartless, he’d become it.  

---

The library is the safest space to hide, Zexion has found, heavy book in hand and a secluded corner to hide from the other seven but someone will find him eventually, they always do and, as always, he can only hope its Lexaeus as opposed to Xigbar or Axel, the latter of which continues to look at him like everything was his fault.

Maybe it was, Xehanort had stated as much before he became this husk and now, now someone who wasn’t there joins in the conviction.

The guilt gnaws at him, book abandoned on the floor beside him as he tries to remember the smell of the gardens in spring, when Kairi’s grandmother would bring her to visit whilst she talked with master Ansem. The ever-present rain around the Castle the Never Was fades away, replaced by a gentle breeze and a shadow of the feeling of sunlight on his skin.

Was Kairi okay? He can barely remember her voice now but he remembers the red hair, how she’d pull him round the gardens, telling him about the different flowers how one day they’d go on an adventure today. How she’d make sure to keep him safe from monsters. He’s not sure how she could do that now, since he had become the monster.

“Do you think we could still be friends?” He mumbles to his silent illusion, watching her run amongst the flower beds, picking one or two and always bringing them back to him as their guardian and protector until she’d finished collecting one flower seemingly of every colour and every type. “I think she’ll love them; she always does.” He replies to her mouthed question of if he thinks her Grandma will like her make shift bouquet.

He’s not sure how long he lingers in this illusion of his own memories, all most lost in the sea of flowers and warmth when he smells it. The scene shatters into nothing as fire and ash fill his senses, swallowing thickly and curling up as the smell got ever closer. It hadn’t worked before when he was under a desk, why would it work now?

He’ll be shouted at. He doesn’t want to be shouted at. Tears already pricking at his eyes when the smell of a forest fire becomes too much, he has to become smaller, has to disappear. He needs to hide. He needs to hide. HE NEEDS TO HIDE. His body screams at him to move as the footsteps finally round the bookcase, a click of a tongue and the sound of a hand hitting another body.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the li- Oh shit, are you crying?”

Two bodies press against him, fire on one side and something almost beastly on the other, Saix had joined Axel then, Ienzo finding some comfort in the sudden warmth and pressure but it was still not enough to fully dampen the sudden spike of anxiety. The silence isn’t as tense as he first believed, Zexion slowly calming down to the point he could look at the pair who had joined him only to find Saix glaring at Axel who at least looked sheepish.

“I feel-“ A clearing of the throat interrupts, Axel glaring at Saix before sighing. “I have misplaced anger towards you, I’m sorry for snapping at you. You’re a kid, I don’t see how you could be involved.”

He wasn’t expecting an apology, Zexion looking between the pair again, knowing he was missing something important in the discussion but perhaps not something to ask about. The last time he’d tried to help it had inevitably ended with an abyss for a chest and a spreading darkness. Perhaps this time, this time he doesn’t ask, he doesn’t intervene with his help only to ruin the result later on.

It would be better that way.

---

Safety also came with Lexaeus, Zexion decided, sitting on the stool by the counter as the other prepared food, Zexion easily loosing himself in the smell of the raw ingredients, legs swinging idly as he sat simply watching. Lexaeus doesn’t expect too much from him, doesn’t look at him as if it’s his fault, he treats him almost the same as he did when they were both human.

It’s nice, comforting.

“How have lessons been going?” His deep voice is soothing, Zexion hesitating vocally but his face spills all, a look of distaste and annoyance twisting his features, causing a chuckle from the taller man. “That good, hmm?” He’s teasing, Zexion knows this, but still feels somewhat told off, blowing his hair from his eyes and crossing his arms. It’s childish, he knows but, memory serves, he was only nine regardless of his ability to feel emotions or not.

“I’ve discovered more things on my own, he wants me to do things I don’t really want to.” He receives a hum in response, both in agreement and encouragement to go on, as if genuinely interested in what Zexion had to say about his lessons with Vexen. But would he share these thoughts or keep them to himself? Was it worth the risk?

Apparently so, words spilling from Zexion’s mouth before he could really stop himself. “They’re boring, if not that he tells me to concentrate and then speaks halfway through and ruins my concentration.”

“He says that you mimicked a heartless.”

“Yes, once.” It’s all Vexen wanted him to concentrate on now, it seemed, the blonde growing more frustrated with him when he couldn’t, a blessing in and of itself as it usually meant Zexion would be left alone for a little while until Vexen came back and the rigorous routine of failing to become a replica would start all over again. He should probably practise more without his mentor present, Zexion thinks, knowing things came a bit more naturally when he didn’t feel under observation.

The conversation ends there, the comfortable silence settling back over them again. Zexion has always found it a wonder that someone with such large, strong hands could be so gentle with food, wrinkling his nose at the sting of onions in his sinuses but staying silent otherwise. Maybe he should learn, free up time for Lexaeus whilst also add a task to his schedule that extended beyond lessons with Vexen and the frequent trips to the library.

“I can show you what else I’ve learnt.”

Lexaeus stops working then, turning to the child Nobody with an almost confused yet utterly curious look, raising an eyebrow at the young boy who feels almost giddy for once. He hadn’t shown anyone else this, not even Axel and Saix when they would now occasionally join him to, in Axel’s own words, make sure he grew up with a sense of humour.

He gets no prompt to continue but Zexion does anyway, taking a deep breath before twisting the landscape of the kitchen into something more friendly and familiar. The white floor fades away to stone, the walls swallowed by the landscape of Radiant garden, an autumnal breeze in the air as the sun offered little to no warmth from its rays.

The flower beds have mostly withered away, the sea of colour now replaced with muted browns and greens, the brilliant oranges and yellows of fallen leaves offering the only real splashes of colour in the imagined gardens. What smells, what smells, Zexion racking his mind for anything before landing on spices. Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and pepper, warm and hearty, comforting and familiar. The kitchen is no longer the kitchen but the gardens of the old castle they called home.

Sounds. It needs sounds. Zexion furrowing his brow as he concentrated, eyes screwing shut as the sound of water trickled in, accompanied by bird song and the sound of the town below. It’s perfect, his breaths coming a little harder from exertion as he looks to Lexaeus for a reaction, hoping for happiness only to receive concern.

“Did I do something wrong?” His voice is quiet, insecure, mind running a mile a minute as he tried to go over what he did to cause such a reaction only to snap out of his thoughts as a hand comes down on his shoulder, gentle yet firm, grounding him as he nearly sent himself spiralling into another downward trajectory of ill thoughts.

Lexaeus offers a smile, small but still there, not as warm as it used to be but Zexion was growing used to the changes in his other apprentices now. “No, it’s beautiful.” There’s something else there, something the giant wants to add on but is seemingly fighting with himself over admitting before sighing, inhaling sharply and seeming to regain his apparently fleeting confidence in his words. “Let’s keep this a secret for now.”

“A secret?”

“Yes, a secret for just us.” He doesn’t fully understand the need for secrecy, biting his lower lip as he thinks for a moment before nodding, wondering if it was a touch more serious than he first thought as Lexaeus relaxes, giving his shoulder a comforting squeeze.

Taking a deep breath, Zexion lets the illusion of Radiant garden fade away, the grey blue sky replaced by stark white, metallic walls as the patchwork of stone dissolves into nothing. There are no more birds, or breeze, the warm smells of autumn fading away into the smells of whatever dish Lexaeus was making this evening.

He could keep a secret. Axel and Saix had a secret, Xemnas also had secrets. What was another secret after all that?

[cori-writes-fanfic]

I have a lot of Thoughts after the reveal of the new Dark Road kids, and most of it isn’t directly about the kids themselves and more kind of crazy predictions about how the story will go.  (This may be a little bit of a jumbled mess as I try to organize my thoughts, so…bear with me.)

So we know that:

We don’t really see any of the Dark Road kids in the future besides Xehanort and Eraqus (or, at least, that we know of).

Eraqus is stationed at The Land of Departure, rather than Scala.

Literally nobody talks about Scala in the future.

Eraqus was a “blue blood”—i.e. descended directly from Keyblade wielders (most likely Brain)—and Xehanort was an off-worlder who was made an apprentice and desperate to Eraqus’s equal.

We don’t really know much about what Scala was like, but we can guess, based on the size, structure, and the information about Eraqus’s family that it was likely a thriving city at one point.  We know that it was built on the ruins of Daybreak Town, and that many of the citizens were likely descendants of Dandelions.  I’m running on the assumption that not every citizen in the city would be a Keyblade wielder (though many are, and the “blue bloods” are often expected to take up the blade).  That said, my guess would be that many times masters would take townspeople as apprentices, and they’d only really take on off-worlders if they showed a lot of potential (which would really drive Xehanort’s desperation to prove himself).

As for the kids themselves, I’m going to jump on the bandwagon for two of them: Bragi being Luxu and Vor being Kairi’s grandmother.  For the first, I think it’d be interesting to see Luxu interact with the other apprentices, knowing what he does.  …Well, that, and the name is way too similar to Braig, so if they’re not the same person, I’m likely just going to get them confused.  For the second, it’d give an explanation for why Kairi’s grandmother knows that story about the Dandelions (not that it’s technically needed, but it’d be kind of fun).  That said, I’m thinking they aren’t blue bloods like Eraqus, but from regular families around the city (and I’m sure that’s going to be proven wrong soon, but…oh well).

Story-wise, I’m kind of predicting that things will start off mostly with just general training, we’ll get some references to the Dandelions/X-blade/etc. through Bragi, and MoM will pop up at some point to speak cryptically to Xehanort and stoke his ambition/fear.  I’d guess that The Land of Departure is some sort of outpost for the Keyblade wielders (perhaps one of many) that either a) a couple of masters and apprentices live at full time, or b) masters and apprentices are on a rotating schedule for who stays at an outpost and maintains it at any given time.

At any rate, about half way through the story is when I think the big “Scala calamity” is going to go down.  Essentially, I’m guessing that Bragi/Luxu is going to spur this on (presumably in order to make sure Xehanort ends up as the “scape goat” for whatever his plan is, though I’m not sure how exactly that would work).  This ends up killing and/or scattering the Keyblade wielders, and either flat out destroying Scala or basically taking it out of this plane of existence.  Xehanort, Eraqus, Urd, Hermod, and Eraqus’s/Xehanort’s master manage to escape together and head to The Land of Departure for safety, hoping to find other Keyblade wielders there. When they don’t after a time, the master head’s off to check the other outposts.

Meanwhile, the kids are stressed because they’ve just had their home destroyed, many Keyblade wielders are missing—including one of their closest friends—and the other betrayed them.  Xehanort is particularly antsy, which is partly because he’s feeling somewhat inadequate; he wanted to prove that he was good enough to be a Keyblade wielder, but he couldn’t do anything to stop Bragi, couldn’t protect his new home and friends, and now he’s not even allowed to look for them and Eraqus is insisting that they stay here because the master ordered them two, and Xehanort just doesn’t understand—

And then MoM shows up again. Xehanort vents his frustrations, and MoM does his usual thing and kind of manipulates Xehanort into leaving.  This is ultimately what ends up prompting Xehanort’s “world tour” as he calls it in Re:mind; his desperate attempt to find what Keyblade wielders are still out there, and to prove that he’s still good enough.  Unfortunately, none of this actually gives him the time to, you know…process the traumatic event that he and his friends have just gone through.  So when he travels the world, he can’t help but notice the bad things; how so many people will lie and go behind the backs of people that they claimed to love (like Bragi), how so many people claimed to be strong but when it came down to it they couldn’t protect anyone (like him), and how sometimes those mistakes end up leading to dire consequences (like what happened to his home).  Ultimately, this is what ends up fueling his philosophy that the world needs to be restarted, even if his reasoning is faulty; if people are horrible, and they’re just going to cause more suffering (and force others to go through what he did), then they should just be saved the trouble.  And he’s going to do things right this time. He’s going to make it better.  He’s going to prove he’s not weak and maybe be able to make sure nothing like this ever happens to him again.

Back at The Land of Departure, the kid’s master has basically decided to take up permanent residence there.  He hasn’t had much like finding other Keyblade wielders; he only found one, a young master named Yen Sid, who was so traumatized by the fall of Scala that he decided to give up the Keyblade, though he’s promise to keep an eye out for other Keyblade wielders and send along any information he could get.  The master decides that the best thing he can do is keep this outpost in good condition and train his apprentices in order to make sure they’re prepared to go out into the worlds on their own. Eraqus, in particular, works like crazy in training, and adheres to his master’s teachings almost religiously; like Xehanort, he’s still grieving from an event that none of them have properly worked through, he’s just handling it in vastly different ways.  His family’s the one that was descended from the Union Leaders; he’s the one who needs to pick up the slack, to lead, to make sure that everyone’s okay.  He can’t let the others know how bothered he is by all this; he has to be strong for them. (But in the back of his mind, he’s still thinking about the darkness that Bragi brought to their shared home, and how it had destroyed everything he’d loved.  He still has nightmares about it.  It terrifies him.)

After Urd and Hermod become masters, they decide to travel the worlds, like Xehanort, with the purpose of both trying to protect people and see if they can find other Keyblade wielders (even if, by this point, they know it’s unlikely).  Eraqus wants to come with them, but they gently refuse; the master is growing weaker, and someone needs to make sure this outpost stays standing.  If anyone should be taking charge of this, it’s Eraqus.  He agrees, albeit reluctantly, and his friends head off.

Urd and Hermod visit The Land of Departure much more than Xehanort does (though all of them return for the master’s passing).  At different points, the two appear with a child in tow (Terra and Aqua).  Maybe one or both of them are their kids; maybe they just found them.  Regardless, they can’t bring them with them, and the kids have nowhere else to stay, so they have to come to The Land of Departure.  Then, at some point, Urd and Hernod just…stop coming back.

And Eraqus is troubled. He’s worried for his friends, but he can’t leave to look for them, not when he has two very young children to look after, not when for all he knows he’s the only Keyblade Master left. So he stays in The Land of Departure, and he raises—and later trains—Terra and Aqua.  He never talks about Scala; Terra and Aqua never experienced the place, never had to deal with the heritage they’d lost, and he can’t bring himself to burden them with his own traumatic memories.  (Though, if he’s truthful with himself, he can admit that’s partially because he doesn’t want to relive them, either.)

And then Xehanort reappears. Out of the blue, like nothing’s changed. Eraqus is overjoyed.  He hasn’t seen any of his friends in years, he thought he was the only one left, but now one of his friends has returned, and he’s desperate to learn more about what’s happened in the outside world.

But Xehanort…isn’t quite like Eraqus remembered him.  He’s talking about bring about another Keyblade War, about whether or not they’re worthy (he’s worthy), and Eraqus doesn’t understand.  (Why would you want to force others to go through the same thing they went through?)  Xehanort doesn’t really explain, and of course, Eraqus attacks him, and Xehanort gives him his scars.  (It’s like Bragi all over again.  The darkness corrupts people.  It takes his loved ones away from him.)

Xehanort, of course, disappears for a few years, and then comes back with a young boy named Ven. Eraqus…isn’t quite sure what to make of this, this time.  He’s not going to turn the boy away (and maybe even recognizes the name, depending on how much Bragi/Luxu told them), but he’s also…a little wary after the last meeting with Xehanort.  But…Xehanort is also the only other Keyblade wielder he knows, besides his apprentices. The last member of their group still standing.  And no matter what Xehanort had done, he can’t bring himself to completely sever that friendship.  He doesn’t entirely believe Xehanort’s given up his plan, but—maybe if he keeps a close eye on Ven, then he can make sure it never works out.  And maybe if Ven is here, the last of his friends will stop by more, and he can try and change his mind.  It doesn’t work.  It was never going to work, but how could he have known that then?

…Aaaand I’m going to leave it there because this got…really out of hand.  This is almost definitely not going to be canon, but, hey; it’s fun to think about.

[sweetsmellosuccess]

TIFF 2018: Day 2

Films: 4 Best Film of the Day: Shoplifters (pictured)

Shoplifters: Japanese director par excellence Hirokazu Koreeda’s film, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, works in quiet subtle ways, that affect you without you quite knowing why, like watching a strewn pile of dead leaves skitter across an otherwise empty field. It opens with what appears to be a father, Hatsue (Kirin Kiki), and his adolescent son, Shota (Jyo Kairi), as they smoothly stake out and steal from a large grocery in Hokkaido. They work in such harmonic tandem, he blocking the clerk from view at key moments, his son slipping items into his backpack without hesitation, it’s almost like a military exercise. Bringing the booty home to the rest of their family, Shota’s mother, young aunt, and grandmother, Hatsue spies a forlorn young girl (Miyu Sasaki) stuck alone, cold and hungry while her parents are MIA. As if snatching a package of noodles off the shelf, he picks her up and takes her into their ramshackle but loving crew. In Koreeda’s world though, very little is directly as it seems at first. As we get to know these characters in more depth over time, their apparent relationships turn out to be something considerably different, and they become less easy to understand if no less endearing. The film works in small, carefully arranged scenes, which are artfully staged, fitting together like bits of an interlocking puzzle. Every member of this oddly concocted family are one kind of con person or another, whether they utilize hoary magic tricks, shoplifting strategies, or burying bodies under their small apartment.

Kursk: Submarine movies generally have only one direction to go, and that is straight down to the bottom. If the sub isn’t outright sinking, it’s threatening to, which, like your standard romcoms or slasher flick, puts into motion a whole bunch of predictable outcomes, depending on whether the director’s vision calls for dramatic pathos (the crew drowns) or joyful deus ex machina (the crew miraculously escapes). But here, director Thomas Vinterberg is working from a notorious chapter in Soviet naval history: During the latter years of the Cold War, one of their most sophisticated nuclear subs had an accident en route to a training exercise, leaving the majority of souls on board blown apart or drowned, and the survivors in a tight race for survival, only to have the military decide the crew’s fate based on international appearances. Given the nature of the form and the reputation of the incident, Vinterberg had no choice but to dig deeply into the crew members lives in order to connect the audience with these poor, doomed seamen. He gives us enough snippets of the homelife of the men — using the tried and true start-with-a-wedding maneuver — and one in particular, Mikhail (Matthias Schoenaerts), with his pregnant wife (Léa Seydoux), and young son, to invest us. He also utilizes other devices: In a moment of supreme irony, many of the ranking crew were forced to hock their naval watches in order to properly fund the wedding of their good comrade the night before their ill-fated launch, a deal that comes back to haunt them fiercely when things go to hell. The Soviets are shown to be blitheringly incompetent, with a much weakened and neglected military (early in the film, the sailors are denied their monthly wage again, hence the need to hock their timepieces), and the kind of insufferable pride that would allow such a thing to happen, bitterly resentful of any offerings of international aid, but in truth, they react no differently from any other would-be superpower. As much as we may want to be able to dump down on Soviet buffoonery, we have to accept we’d likely meet equal fate under similar circumstances. We’ll have to take cold comfort that the Russians, in drowning far below the surface, make for remarkably similar corpses to our own.

What You Gonna Do When The World’s On Fire? The way Italian director Roberto Minervini works is mysterious unto itself. Deeply embedding into a community – and he’s latched onto the deep rural south in recent films – he creates sort of docu-narratives, setting up scenes with real participants, and to some degree choreographing the action. The effect is like watching a drama of almost pure verité, with just enough elements of staging to meld the two forms together. This film, shot in southern Mississippi and Louisiana loosely connects several different character threads and situations: In one pairing, a couple of brothers, the youngest one healthily scared of a lot of things, try to steer clear of the trouble and violence that plague their streets; in another a regrouped “New Black Panther Party” takes to the streets and tries to effect radical change one protest at a time; a middle-aged woman loses her bar, and tries to go out on a high note; and a Big Chief goes through the laborious effort to put his elegant costume together in time for Mardi Gras. The connection is tenuous – beyond its attention to race and class, and the struggle it is for people to just get by under these murderous conditions – but Minervini’s cinematography (by Diego Romero) is so gorgeous, with its black and white compositions, that it hangs together stylistically in a way that makes the whole thing work. It’s hardly coherent, but as a sizable slice of life document, he captures something of notable significance.  

Beautiful Boy: Timothée Chalamet, the young actor who was so beguiling in Call Me By Your Name, seems to have it all: Staggeringly good looks, fantastic acting chops, and a genial likability that translates perfectly to the big screen. In Felix Van Groeningen’s adaptation of the twin memoirs by Dave and Nic Sheff concerning Nic’s struggle with addiction, those qualities are perfectly turned on their head. Nic, too, seems to have everything going for him – loving, though divorced, parents (Steve Carell and Amy Ryan), a beautiful house up in the mountains above San Francisco, and a bevy of talent as both a writer and an artist. But the draw of “chaos” is too strong with him, and he turns to drugs to prop up his sagging self-worth nonetheless. Van Groeningen is hardly a moralist, nor is he any kind of romantic (as those who have watched the powerful but difficult The Broken Circle Breakdown can attest), so the film, which could easily have played like a standard redemption arc, becomes something a good deal more harsh and unfulfilling. If we cling to those narratives for fear of our own children plunging over those particular waterfalls, it’s just as important to understand the true extent of horror such a situation can produce. By the time Dave turns away his son, and gives up any sense of control of being able to keep him alive, we’ve come pretty much to the opposite pole from where he started. The most shocking element of the film isn’t any of the deprivation Nic forces upon himself, it’s the numbing effect he eventually has over his father. The performances are strong across the board, but Chalamet again proves up to the task of taking on remarkably nuanced and difficult characters and bringing them to full life. Because of Van Groeningen’s inherent coolness – the soundtrack, featuring everything from vintage Nirvana, to Sigur Ros, to acid jazz – and emotional distance, it’s nothing cathartic, just realistic – if highly privileged – people suffering continuous trauma.

Tomorrow: After an early interview, I plan to rush over in time to see the Welsh mystery movie Gwen; pop by Donnybrook to see my man Jamie Bell get his head dented in; go to a public screening of David Lowery’s The Old Man & the Gun in what may be Robert Redford’s last role before retirement; and close out the day by (shhhh!) watching a midnight screening of David Gordon Green’s updated Halloween re-conception.  

[harrowingheavens]

WHILE  MY  MUSE  PAGES  ARE  IN  PROGRESS  .

i really am trying hard to find the perfect muse page since i don’t wanna be lazy, but i’m still in the process of doing that while everything else is done, so here are my mains. my selective kids will be in another post. i won’t be posting my private muses for now since i don’t have to, but here are the open kids!

MAIN  .

hansel, bungee, and nemo ( fcs: jeonghan / svt, hoshi / svt, and elkie / clc ): they run a channel called firefly farm and do stupid things that probably end up hurting them or in danger of hurting them, also other things like generally idiotic behavior with a mix of different personalities. these are the main people of the channel, but there are other interns and editors / people who appear on their channel long term, but they are the original squad. hansel’s basically the dad / mom, bungee’s the impressionable brother, and nemo’s the crazy sister.

yomi ( fc: hani / exid ): she runs a popular custom seamstress shop. also often originally designs the clothes she makes for other people. in her ‘i’ timeline, she does underground work like running a system of escorts under the superiority of monarch mafia. in her ‘ii’ timeline or any other ones where it is not specified, she does not do other work than what included her shop. also?? the ��yandere’ character thing is very ingrained into her character within ships.

koe and caspian ( fcs: vernon / svt and joshua / svt ): uni kids. koe is a drama and theatre student and literally will ignore his grades for it, but he is often forced to at least care a little. procrastination is basically him. caspian is his best friend and a major in literature. both of them are also instagram models who are connected to brands. caspian is a close friend of jeonghwa’s.

flore ( fc: the8 / svt ): ambiguous god of youth, flowers, and spring. also the symbol of nature and spring. because of his symbolism and concept, along with his effeminate behavior and opinions. everyone calls him the goddess flora, so there is debate on whether he is a god or goddess, which he is a full god.

sangwon and hyori ( fcs: sehun / exo and chaeyoung / twice ): sangwon is the ceo of yoo industries and his sister hyori is his executive assistant / secretary. both have different ways of overworking themselves, and both attempt to stop the other from overworking. they are also connected to monarch mafia as associates.

polaris ( fc: yooa / omgirl ): alien, but her species acts as a placeholder of existence. really curious about earth life and is VERY obviously an alien, but everyone just calls her weird and takes it with a grain of salt. no concept of personal space and very touchy. everything interests her. attends uni majoring in dance and drawing. friends with everyone so she knows everyone, also friends with lilith and admires her hard as fuck. basically a puppy and child and obvious alien in one body.

lance ( fc: taeyang / sf9 ): ceo of his family’s confectionery company and head of the ryu house as well. based very loosely on ciel from kuroshitsuji. thinks he’s better than everyone else, probably is. has a demon maid he’s made a connection with. former rivals and now associates of arson’s company. unidentified underground work.

arson ( fc: hwiyoung / sf9 ): ceo of the family’s toy company and head of the tang house. loosely based on alois, but it is very, very loosely based. also has a demon maid, and he’s very much a spoiled brat who throws tantrums when he doesn’t get what he wants. isn’t afraid to harm other people. unidentified underground work.

jangmi ( fc: seolhyun / aoa ): counselor, specializes in family and relationships, but she covers a broader range of issues. kinda hypocritical because she herself doesn’t know how to maintain her own relationships. has major family issues. major workaholic.

niki and chey ( fc: zhengting / 9 percent ): twins. both are popular on social media for their salon works on their accounts and work accounts ( chey: sweetsinclair, nail artist / niki: soursinclair, makeup artist ). chey is really sweet and into pastel fashion.  she also bakes a lot. niki is kinda an asshole and doesn’t deal with bullshit. he’s also big into cooking and eccentric fashion and conspiracy theories.

nari ( fc: undecided for now?? ): starving artist that works at an art gallery as a janitor. used to have anger issues and has grown to be the softest soft you’ll ever know. pastel goth enthusiast. also volunteers at the local orphanage and does a variety of things there: including helping those with anger issues and helping them volunteer as well.

knox and halls ( fcs: minhyun / nuest and wanna one, jihoon / wanna one ): they run a youtube channel with two other people. knox also is a self-employed photographer, popular through his instagram. halls works as the assistant self defense teacher for self defense classes.

chanri and jaeun ( fcs: kang taeri / ulzzang and seungkwan / svt ): they are a paranormal investigator team that also works to help others get rid of the hauntings that plague them ( they ARE amateur exorcists, but that’s not something they do often so it remains amateur. usually it’s not them doing exorcisms because other people are certified and they only have the barest knowledge, but it has come to the point where they needed it ). chanri is the psychic medium of the duo; jaeun is the tech nerd out of the two. chanri also has a side thing of reading people’s fortunes, etc. does this when they work, too.

scottie ( fc: eunwoo / astro ): witch for hire. also works at yejin’s natural, herbal remedies shop. kind of a grouch. he has an older sister he’s very protective of. also has a huge reach of connections.

rikiya ( fc: kenta / jbj ): shrine familiar. with no connected landgod, he is lonely in the shrine his lady and goddess left once humans had abandoned them. he could be childish and immature, but he could also be manipulative ( and the range spans between minor to MAJOR ).

kairi ( fc: yves / loona ): gym teacher and tennis coach for a private school ( from kindergarten to high school ages ) for kids with behavioral problems. former special forces soldier. keeps that from the people in the school she employs within. the students love her, the staff loves her. she only coaches tennis, but she will substitute coach for other sports.

bomae and gun ( fcs: mj / astro and rocky / astro ): best friends and each other’s right hand man. bomae is doing emergency room nursing and gun works within his grandmother’s/uncle’s restaurant. both, though, as much as their parents hadn’t wanted them to, are quickly on their way to becomes very high-profile individuals within the underground world.

taemin and yumin ( fcs: taeyong / nct and chaeyoung / twice ): a government associated agent ( his organization also dips their hands into their own individual work ). close friends with kairi and also has a recommendation to place her within his team. emotional recluse and very aggressive in his social repellent. yumin is his sister, and they are on tense terms. she is a literature teacher, and she’s REALLY a big book nerd. she and taemin do not speak often. she also knows kairi and speaks to her sometimes. since yumin does not speak to taemin and taemin likes to keep it that way, kairi gives taemin updates on his sister. they are both estranged from other family members additionally.

charlotte and caleb ( fcs: nana / after school and jeonghan / svt ): cousins to taemin and yumin. charlotte is on tense terms with taemin, and caleb is a bit of a ditz and isn’t on tense terms with anyone. charlotte is an uprising direction that focuses on vagueness, beauty, femininity, and monstrosity ( brief desc ). caleb works as a match maker, using specific methods and practices that have helped many people. also has others working as socializers and counselors and customer reference in his building. charlotte and caleb are very close, and they speak often ( because caleb always wants to talk and he’s the ‘baby’ so she lets him ). they have enough of a relationship with their parents to have dinners every 3 months with them.

zen and jei ( fc: yanjun / 9 percent and huang zitao ): both are close friends ( along with bonnie who is in the selective list ). they all came to korea together from america and are always busy with work, whether it’s their model work or any other scheduling they have. zen is the dad, older brother of the 3, and jei is the spoiled brat. jei always tries to get people to buy food for him.

seong and theodore ( fcs: jae / day6 and wonpil / day6 ): both are childhood best friends who moved from america. seong is a trust fund prodigy genius that is working as a certified doctor at the age of 25, now 26. theo’s a church boy that goes to church and reads his bible :( he’s a tattoo artist, and he has a shit ton of tattoes on his arms and body in general. generally restricted to his mid section to chest, front and back, and his arms. he also has very fragile health as his immune system is not well. he stays with seong because his parents don’t trust him to be by himself with his health. and he doesn’t mind since seong IS his best friend. they live in a 4 bedroom house. theo gets looks when he wears his arms out and he isn’t self conscious about it, but there are times where people will comment along the lines of ‘your arms look like that and you're the son of a pastor????’ these comments make him uncomfortable. very strong in his faith.

meiqi, manchu, yuma, jaemin, elliot, and daisy ( fcs: elkie / clc, xiao gui / 9 percent, renjun / nct, mark / nct, mina / gugudan ): fraud squad. forgery. cover ups. faked accidents. general underground work you need done? they got it. manchu’s the boss man, meiqi’s the second hand. they all have a family like connection, but they do keep each other at arm’s length.

bones and hyde ( fcs: jungwoo / nct and lucas / nct ): boss man and right hand man of boss man of monarch mafia, which he stole from his biological father. brothers. they both work in hyde’s restaurant, but they are involved in the crime life. faceless leader of monarch mafia, no one knows what he looks like. hyde is basically his guard dog, and he does a lot of his dirty work.

jane ( fc: ren / nuest ):  member of monarch mafia. unashamed pretty boy with anger issues. don’t make him mad pls!! brute strength of monarch mafia. does a lot with issues that are or could get physical. no patience.

dakota and seongja ( fc: bang yongguk and kaeun / pledis ): tattoo artists and work with theodore. softies. all of them, esp theo. dakota also has a crappy immune system and gets sick easily as well as his health being very fragile at times. seongja is a fallen guardian angel / ‘fallen star’ and she keeps track of her person’s life while trying to curve their misfortune into something good. seongja and dakota are best friends.

taeri and taeun ( fcs: jiu / dreamcatcher ): blind twins. their parents are wealthy, but they never give their daughters much attention. they were raised by their grandparents basically. taeri used to stop other people from bullying taeun and does make rash decisions out of her anger. does a special program that will allow her to work as a teacher to those with disabling visual impairment. workaholic. taeun works as a library aide, and she also reads and teaches braille to the children that come for the lessons. she’s also very sof. they live together, but they constantly have aides visiting them to help.

eunja ( fc: jimin / aoa ): works as an online news author, working through an other website / company as well as her own blog. she travels a lot as well. though, currently she’s working and helping at an orphanage her friend and friend’s mother is bringing back. she balances this and other work. basically a puppy? always hyperactive and has energy to spare. very open about her opinions, but she doesn’t like to dissatisfy other people. also a witch that has an affinity for time and relativity, space and matter, etc.