#tidus daughter

[prayerith]

i started playing final fantasy x last night, pretty much exclusively because yuna finalfantasy became a blorbo by osmosis after hearing people talk about her

the story is already kind of confusing but i am going to stick it out. for yuna

[braskide]

sometimes i like to think about what would have been of yuna and seymour's marriage. obviously she could have never predicted what would then in truth happen, so the whole [ playing marriage for a chance to send him ] was objectively a plan set to fail. she would become his wife in the true sense.

he detains power ( political and whatnot ) that she could have not equalize at that moment; so obviously it would not have worked in the way she envisioned. so i wanna think of a yuna that plays the long game. part of me wants to think that.. not love in its purest form, but i'm sure she would have felt for him something. empathy, perhaps, to some degree ( especially once she visits the temple of baaj ; i wonder what would happen if she were to take him there to see his mother? ). she would spend years learning him, studying him, perhaps even becoming him — all to then set her plan in motion. it's obvious he would always have the upper hand, especially in the beginning, but yuna is patient and would learn the ways once uncovering all the secrets. i feel like one of her biggest skills is modeling herself to fit what is required — if she has to play the wife of a maester to see her goal to the end, then she would, and would even excell at it. she'd be different obviously, appear differently even, but she'd buy time with his plan to become the next sin, as much as she could to earn whatever trust he could place in her. i feel like he actually would love her, in some way. it would perhaps rather be reverance or devotion to mimic what yunalesca and zaon had, but i think their relationship and dynamic is very complex and always wondered what would have happened.

[a-hearts-a-heavy-burden]

Don’t talk to me I’m somft

[ageofzero]

Yuna is the antagonist of a potential Final Fantasy X-3, thank you for coming to my TED Talk

edit: okay I'll put it under a read more since it'll be a long post (but not as long as my entire conversation was), but what's promised is due.

Now that I have to make the post for real I had to do some wiki reading on what the actual Things going on in the novella were, and… well, a lot of my theorycrafting was based on incomplete and kinda inaccurate information. BUT I can’t read Japanese, the book was never released here, and I am going to go with rule of cool for a little bit of this even as I keep the stuff that sounds kinda dumb on the surface. I’ll be the first to say that Tidus exploding from a bomb he thinks is a blitzball is dumb (true), and Chuami thinking she’s Auron’s daughter is a dumb plot beat (petty), but I’m weaving this bridge and I’m not going to rewrite those. I am going to change some contexts and make them exist in a narrative that I hope is compelling. That’s my disclaimer, now I’m gonna get into it.

SO.

The scenario from the novella and audio drama is thus: Tidus died again in an accident, and Yuna brings him back. But he’s not back in the same way that the Fayth gave this dream a real living body at the end of X-2. The official term for it is “beckoned”, but I probably won’t use that to describe him based on my previous understanding. No matter if he’s beckoned or not, or whatever terminology you want to use, the thing is that Yuna summoned him back. She’s holding him to life, and he can never know. It’s been a year since the moment Tidus died, and Yuna has seemingly regressed into patterns that put her into what was once Yevon’s circle. Tidus is looking injured/weakened (“Chuami: It wasn’t just [Tidus’s] words that felt hollow. When I shook his hand, his grip felt weak and lifeless... I think he’s injured. Or maybe he’s sick or something.”), and people are looking to Yuna for help or information regarding the strange not-quite Unsent (the beckoned) that are appearing in places in Spira. Help she is not capable of giving. Wakka and Lulu are protecting her as she prays in Besaid Temple. The world is seemingly acting out, with a second shoopuf appearing in the Moonflow and its energies overflowing and drawing more illusions into reality. (“Yuna: The Moonflow energy is responding to the will of the living. It’s as if… we’re in the Farplane.”) And it’s more vivid than what the Farplane is capable of, even breaking the rules of “beckoning”. This is something new, something worse. Something worse enough to bring back Sin (which I thought was just me extrapolating a potential, but they actually mention it in the audio drama that it happens). Yuna promises the people that she will defeat Sin, but Wakka tries to keep her from being made to promise such a thing at first, which is an interesting choice (“Wakka: Yuna, let’s go back to Besaid. They’ll push this all on you… Sin is for summoners, in their minds.”).

Where does the world go in this present circumstances? Why IS Yuna seemingly content to do what chafed her in the Eternal Calm short movie and stay praying in Besaid and helping the elders who are lost now that Yevon as they knew it is in shambles? Why are Lulu and Wakka enabling and protecting her in that? Why is Tidus looking injured and weak and why is Yuna keeping him at arm’s length? Why does she tell him that she’s fallen in love with someone else?

I know the typical story beat interpretation is “Yuna told him that and pushed him away so he wouldn’t be in danger for what she needs to do, bc defeating Sin caused his death last time”. But hear me out. Yuna knows Tidus isn’t alive. She knows that revealing that information to him will cause him to disappear again. She’s actively summoning him back to life and he has no idea (but he must suspect something is wrong, even before Yuna formally pulls away from him, he’s weakening and he probably doesn’t feel right in his own skin). I posit that her maintaining Tidus’s life is what she’s really doing praying in the Besaid Temple. She doesn’t want to get involved with the Moonflow situation, the shoopuf or the overflowing energy of the Moonflow itself. She doesn’t even really act when seeing all the ghosts in the crowd, and actively stops Kurgum from acting (plausible deniability: she and everyone else decide that sending them in that moment would be the wrong call and riots would break out, but that density of ghosts means that’s a significant amount of pyreflies that could become fiends at any moment).

I posit that Yuna’s powers are working, that people close to her think her powers aren’t working (Lulu and Wakka), and she’s hiding it from everyone else. That her powers aren’t working because she’s currently using them to maintain Tidus’s existence. And this maintaining is breaking the Farplane in half, because she’s powerful but has no idea what she’s doing. (Why would she really know what she’s doing or the consequences? Who has any information of what she’s doing and what will happen if she does it?) I posit that Yuna’s love for Tidus is so strong that it corrupts her sense of right and wrong. X-2 is Yuna largely going on a personal quest, and incidentally helping people but separating herself from the title of High Summoner and doing something she wants to do. Rikku encourages her to do something for herself for a change right before she agrees and runs off to become a sphere hunter. She still saves the world, this time from an ancient danger Old Yevon buried and an Unsent is threatening to use (for love, notably), but she did it in the course of looking for Tidus. Who the Fayth return to life, who she hugs and is so so relieved to have in her arms again.

She’s not going to let him go, she couldn’t let him die again so much that she called him back to life.

(side note: I never truly knew how this happened so I had to consult the wiki page on the novella, and I suspect what original information I was working with was misrepresented and misinterpreted. I openly admit that the wiki page doesn’t really help me fully understand what happened, aside from explaining how Tidus ended up in proximity to a bomb. My understanding from someone’s explanation was that an Unsent summoner on the island Yuna and Tidus got washed up on after a storm told her she could call back the dead if she wanted, as a summoner. They’re all made of pyreflies, Aeons and Fiends and People and Unsent alike, and summoners are in the business of manipulating pyreflies. Either calling them from the Fayth to form an Aeon, or Sending them to the Farplane so they do not become Fiends. A summoner with enough power could summon someone back from the dead, could they not? And this Unsent summoner knew how it worked, and told Yuna how to do it. But I don’t know how real that scene could be, or how accurate it is to what’s written in the book. It’s my rule of cool moment, though, and I worked with that as my understanding when I made this theory. We have to make our peace with that, if you’ll allow me this extrapolation of Spira’s rules and a summoner’s powers.)

(The meme is Tidus kicking a blitzball and it turned out it was a bomb and his head gets blown off, but wiki says they ended up on a vision of a Besaid from 1000 years ago, and the bomb was something neither Tidus or Yuna had seen before and to them it looked like a blitzball. So, Tidus approached what he thought was a blitzball, wondering who’s ball it was, and it exploded as he reached it. I still think that’s really dumb but I’m not editing it out bc Tidus’s death creates very interesting consequences.)

So, if Yuna is summoning Tidus back to life, and she desperately doesn’t want him to find this out so she avoids him and pushes him away through any means necessary, but he’s still weakening and fading enough to be noticeable by people… perhaps also himself… Yuna returning to Yevon in some capacity could just as likely be her looking for a means to keep feeding power to this summoning she’s doing so she doesn’t lose him. And what kind of consequences does it have to do this? He’s being summoned, but he’s not actually an Aeon. He’s not an Unsent, he’s not just being beckoned. He wasn’t even real, he was a dream in a summon held together by the raw power of Yu Yevon turning into Sin. The Moonflow overflowing and seeing a long-dead shoopuf is the least of the consequences. The Farplane is delicate, it requires careful maintenance, and here Yuna is shoving her foot in the door and holding it open for a solid year! And no one knows she’s doing this! Spira’s past is full of history, some of that long-buried secrets that no one was supposed to find again. Sin wasn’t supposed to be able to come back, but the ghosts aren’t staying ghosts anymore (“Lulu: I mean Sin came back, right? What’s to stop anything else from coming back?”).

Even people who only know her by reputation seem to think she’s acting strangely (“Kurgum: I thought Lady Yuna was… a righteous person.”), because something is wrong and no one can put their finger on what. Who would have the pieces to put any of this together, and who would even suspect Yuna in the first place? She’s actively not getting involved in politics, she’s locked herself in Besaid, she seems reluctant to answer someone she worked with and should be amicable with now (Baralai).

I think the story should follow down this path, I think it should find Yuna at the end of it, once savior and now destroyer. She’s willing to let the world rip apart in order to keep Tidus, and I think that’s a compelling premise for X-3. The past surging forward like ghosts, vengeful and lost and wanted and terrifying. Who sides with Yuna (Wakka, Lulu) and covers up the problem? Who bands together to face down the High Summoner (Tidus, Rikku)? Who doesn’t know where to place their allegiance, or who changes sides when they realize the extent of what Yuna’s hiding? What does she do when she’s faced with her friends, and the person she loves so much, telling her to stop?

There’s a line in Eternal Calm where Yaibal (named in X-2 but not in the movie itself), after asking about whether or not she’d be joining one of the factions, if she’d be making a faction of her own. And I think in this potential X-3, she’s making her own faction through the actions of becoming antagonist. She’s made Wakka cover for her, she acts in a way that make Lulu and Wakka both protect her regardless of whether or not they know what she’s doing. I think it would be so fascinating to make this a conscious decision on her part. Things have broken so utterly, and she’s desperate to hold them together, and becomes the antagonist in the process.

Squeenix would never do it, they’d never be so bold as to make Yuna the antagonist and follow through on this trajectory of her lying to people to hide that she’s the one breaking the world in half (up to returning the ghost of Sin itself to terrorize Spira). Sin isn’t the final boss in this one, it’d have to be Yuna, we have to stop her and fix what went wrong. It’s not ever gonna happen, but I still think Yuna should be the antagonist of X-3.

[classicanalyzer]

Fallout Series Thoughts and Reflection

"Everyone wants to save the world. They just...disagree on how." Maximus

It's one day until one month since this amazing series was released and I have a lot to talk about Fallout!

A Vault Dweller (Lucy MacLean), a Brotherhood Squire (Maximus), a Ghoul Bounty Hunter (Once a human called Cooper Howard)...and a dog (Dogmeat) travel the Wasteland in pursuit of their goals. In doing so, all four will change the Wasteland for better or worse, and discover more sinister secrets. And as Siggi Wilzig, an Enclave defector, asks Lucy in their first encounter,

"Question is will you still want the same things......when you have become a different animal altogether." Siggi Wilzig

The opening (The End) was perfect. The tension reminds me a lot of TLOU’s opening. We look into the eternal 50s culture United States in the 2070s. Cooper's reaction to the first bomb dropping is just acting perfectly. He at first tries to assure his daughter, Janey, that it's just a fire...only to see the smoke turn into a mushroom cloud. His reaction then just turns into one of pure horror that conveys how this is the end of society. That shot of him and Janey looking at the mushroom cloud and the ignorant American families watching TV says everything. As the rich family hides out in their bunker (the father punching his friend which is a foreshadowing moment of humanity's desperation for self-preservation), we see Cooper and Janey ride on their horse as Lose Angelos is bombarded with the title card popping up (Each episode has a unique variation of the title card based on what's going on).

The show captures the dark comedy and the satire of 50s America, Capitalism, and the Cold War. When Wilzig talked about how the cyanide pill (which tasted like bananas too!) was the most humane product Vault-Tec ever made (it really is), that was Fallout humor alright. We even have a pre-war bit where Sebastion Lesie sold his vocal rights to RobCo for their Mr. Handy bots for around $186 (I know it could be 186 thousand but I love the possibility he only got literally 186 dollars). Another is when the "execution" of Lucy by the inhabitants of Vault 4 which was very elaborate to set up death by beheading... turns out out to be death to the surface (as the Overseer is trying horribly to cut off the rope). A funny meta joke is how the teaser joker poked about Amazon Prime being the company with 2-day shipping in the teaser trailer. Then the show was released 2 days earlier than its stated release date (The show came out on April 10th, 6 PM PST when its original release date was April 12th).

"The future, my friend, is products. You're a product. I'm a product. The end of the world is a product." Sebastian Leslie

The attention to detail in this show is also amazing. In the first episode, the radio mentions the President not present at the White House. That follows the lore of the President moving to the Poseidon Oil Rig. I also love how in Episode 2, Maximus mentions Tidus' Power Armor having Tempered Lining and Lucy brought it up too in Episode 5. In Episode 8, The Ghoul mentioned the weakness of the Power Armor suit just below the chestplate. It further explains why Maximus didn't die to the Ghoul since the Ghoul was trying to aim for that but due to that modification, Maximus was able to survive. They also brought back the hacking mini-game when Norman was hacking into the Overseer's computer.

There's also the question of how to rebuild humanity. Each faction (Vault-Tec, NCR, BoS, Enclave) has its own vision for the Wasteland. Maximus perfectly described the setting perfectly well in his quote at the top.

Lucy’s (Positive Karma) naivety and optimism really show her as the heart of our main trio. Even by the end where she gained a lot of cynicism, it’s still her underneath it. I also appreciate her character so much when she doesn’t follow the “character’s bond with another is broken because they lied” trope. I like how the folks of the Wasteland can't stand Vault Dwellers because of their nativity, self-centered attitude, and how it was really for the rich and privileged who could afford to go to a Vault. However, she proves herself to be an earnest character who truly wants to make the Wasteland a better place, and adapts to survive... but doesn't lose sight of who she is unlike the Ghoul. I cannot wait to see how S2 takes her character. Her relationship with Maximus is also pretty sweet as they both help each other out and bring out the best in each other.

"I just doused an innocent man's face with acid, and I've only been up here two weeks. The wasteland sucks." Lucy MacLean

Maximus’ (Neutral Karma) character development was nice to see. He still has a long way to go but he’s starting to understand what being a “hero” is about rather than just having physical power. A hero knows to sacrifice your desires (The Power Armor) to help others (giving back the fusion core). He wants a life beyond the Brotherhood and is clearly disillusioned with the organization. When his friend thought he killed Moldaver and declared him a Knight, his face tells another story of how he felt about this.

The Ghoul (Evil Karma) may have been a cruel bounty hunter who believes in the worst of the Wasteland...but there are moments of his former self still inside. His taking a liking to Wilzig's dog (whom he eventually named Dogmeat) and granting his Ghoul friend Roger a mercy kill reveals there might be hope for him yet. His former self, Cooper Howard. is nothing like his current self. I love how the show made it clear he was once this human who couldn't initially bring himself to kill someone... even if it was for a movie! Even when he tries to initially deny the evils of Vault-Tec and buys into American Cold War propaganda, it's clear he still values his friends (even if they're supposedly "Communists") and eventually starts to really question what the hell is going on.

"I'm not a Communist, Mr. Howard. That's just a dirty word they use to describe people who aren't insane." Lee Moldaver

The reveal that Vault-Tec was responsible for dropping the first bomb (or at the very least planned to do so) was genuinely one of the most shocking bombshell reveals ever. You feel the nervous breakdown of Howard Cooper as he’s trying to process his own wife advocating this insane genocidal plan. I wonder if the shadow figure overseeing the meeting of the corporations is from the Enclave. I also really love the detail that Mr. House is the only one questioning the logistics and the proposal (Daily note that Mr. House is just as bad as everyone in this room, it's just that he sees less value in causing the end of the world). It shows why he decided to go against this insane conspiracy plan as we see the fruits of his preparations in New Vegas. I also love seeing Frederick Sinclair (Also New Vegas), the owner of the Sierra Madre Casino, Leon Von Felden (Fallout 1), the mad scientist behind the FEV and the Mariposa Military base, and Julia Masters, the chief financial officer of REPCONN Aerospace who sold out the company to RobCo.

"It's a fun idea. There's a lot of earning potential with the end of the world. But we're talking about making a significant investment based on a hypothetical. How can you guarantee results?" Robert House

"By dropping the bomb ourselves." Barbara Howard

Moldaver is no saint (she did let raiders massacre Vault 33 and almost killed Lucy, her friend's daughter), and it shows how far the NCR has sunken to achieve its aims. However, a lot of her actions are based on the horrors and crimes against humanity she witnessed. She wanted to rectify them and give the Wasteland hope, no matter the cost. She had seen her failures to stop the old world from being destroyed, and she would not stop until she could make the Wasteland better, even if that meant the NCR not living to see that better world.

Lucy's quest to rescue her father is like a twisted Fallout 3 narrative where the Lone Wanderer's quest was to find their father. But instead of her father being a scientist who wants to further heal the Wasteland, her father is responsible for destroying one of the most developed nations post-war because they weren't Vault-Tec. It's also implied it might've been out of jealousy since the show hints that Moldaver and Rose MacLean were more than just friends.

The collapse of the NCR was something I knew would happen based on the state of it in NV, but the final nail in the coffin being at the hands of Vault-Tec was something I did not see coming. I love that the last action of the NCR Remnant was to restore Shady Sands's power with the cold-fusion reactor. Even when the NCR is gone, whatever arises from the NCR will not only do the job better but now benefit from infinite energy. This is in comparison to the US government whose last action was to nuke the world and for the Enclave, leave the American populace to die.

The West Coast of the Brotherhood took advantage of the NCR's collapse to reestablish itself and with the help of the East Coast's BoS, they're now the largest military presence in California. The final battle between them and the NCR Remnant is a mirror foil to an event mentioned in New Vegas with the Helios Power Plant. We see how Maximus grows disillusioned with how far the organization has fallen and its own Knights not being the heroes he looked up to, even his superior agrees about how the Brotherhood is not what it once was.

Vaults 31-33 may not have an extreme experiment as the other Vaults and in this case, Vault 4, but the experiment is still horrifying. Vault 32-33 are meant to be breeding pools for Vault 31, full of Vault-Tec personnel in cryogenic pods (which I think is how maybe Lee Moldaver survived), to create the "best" Vault-Tec personnel. Vault 4 is a vault where scientists govern the people...which went as well as you might expect (The experiments going berserk and the Vault Dwellers revolting). I also love how the Gulper we saw in Episode 4 is one of Vault 4's experiments (also explaining the human-like finders inside its mouth) and who also ate the Overseer. I wonder what Norman will do given how Bud puts in him a seemingly impossible situation.

Then there's the Enclave and the pre-war Corporations. The Enclave really only shows up for a flashback sequence for Wilzig but, interestingly, the show glosses over them. What interests me the most is that Wilzig knows about the Vaults 31-33 experiment and Lucy's full name. Obviously, the Enclave still has observations of the Vaults, but as I mentioned before, that shadow figure observing the corporate meeting might be them. Speaking of the Corporations, we see the results of unchecked Capitalism with no regulations in this franchise and this show. We see the insane troll logic that these mega corporations will win the "great game of capitalism" by outliving everyone. Mega corporations have no logic other than their insane troll logic that what matters is they survive regardless of who suffers or dies in the name of profits.

"So, the U.S. government has outsourced the survival of the human race to Vault-Tec. Vault-Tec is a private corporation that has a fiduciary responsibility to make money for its investors. And how does it make money? By selling vaults... The cattle ranchers are in charge, Coop." Charlie Whiteknife.

You can tell how much Nolan and his team love Fallout by the work they put into this show. They did such an amazing job that Tim Cain, one of the OG creators of Fallout, praised the hell out of this show for bringing Fallout to life. I cannot wait to see what S2 will bring us.

"War never changes." Barbara Howard and The Ghoul

[vandermorganable]

Night Shift

Description: It’s been 10 years since Axl has seen Slash. The day his stepfather picked him up from Slash’s house was the last time he saw him. Now, they meet again.

Relationship: Axl Rose x Slash, Axl Rose x Izzy Stradlin

Prompt: “Please look at me” (Day 14)

Part 7 of “You’re My Red Rose”

Content Warning: Implied Mpreg

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1991

Axl walked through the halls of Tower Records, making his nightly checks as night manager. He was on the second floor where the studios were located to see if none of the equipment had been stolen. When he was walking to the last room a tidal wave of laughs were coming up the staircase. A group of five men were walking together with beers in his hand. Axl was going to tell them that they couldn’t have any food and drinks in the building when the site of the third man stopped him in his tracks.

It was…Slash.

They hadn’t seen each other since that night John threatened his father with his shotgun. Several emotions flowed through his body. Confusion, sadness, and anger were to name a few. He couldn’t move to hide. Slash spotted him as well. They stood there, staring at each other for several awkward seconds.

“Hey, guys, go ahead into the studio. I’ll be back in a minute.” Slash directed.

The dude, who had even curlier hair than Slash, briefly looked at Axl and smiled at him. He gave a small laugh and the group disappeared into the room. Slash started to walk towards him. Tears started to form in his eyes for the first time in years. To hide it, he looked down at his feet. His vision began to blur. He covered his face as the tears couldn’t be controlled any longer.

“Please look at me, Axl.” His sweet voice begged.

Axl struggled to. Every time he attempted to lift his head, it would just go right back down as more tears brewed. He was married and had a kid. This was wrong. He shouldn’t be having feelings for another, especially for someone who left him hanging for years. The last time they saw each other was against his will. Slash avoided him. Axl would try to approach him and he would go the other way. He went years wondering what his problem was. Slash gave him no closure. He had no choice but to let him go.

“I’m married.” Axl declared. “I have a daughter as well.”

His face dropped in shock. “Th-That’s great, Axl. I’m currently in a band called Tidus Sloan.”

“That’s cool.” He looked at the clock on the wall. 11:25 pm. “My shifts almost over. I should be heading out.”

“Ok. See you later?”

Axl nodded silently and headed downstairs. He got into his car, then began punching his steering wheel. Axl left Lafayette to not be reminded of the torture that town had put him through. He wasn’t prepared for one of the memories to bump into him at his job. And for the feelings to still be there after all these years.

His husband, Jeffrey, was sitting on the couch watching tv, waiting for him to come home like he always does. After taking off his shoes and setting them by the door, Axl bent down and kissed him.

“You had any trouble with Isla today?” Axl asked his routine question.

“No, she’s been an angel for once. She even went to sleep on time.” Jeffrey reported.

Isla was two years old and already showing signs that she had Axl’s temperament, which was a fear he had when he was pregnant. The pediatrician said her attitude was pretty normal for children her age, but he was still fearful of the possibility that she would never grow out of this. Axl worked from 3:30 to 11:30 at night for five days a week, which meant Jeffrey was home with her most of the day.

“So how was work?” He asked, hugging Axl from behind.

He grabbed hold of one of his giant hands. “It was fine until I ran into one of my exes”

“Who?” Axl could hear the anger in his voice.

Axl didn’t keep anything from Jeffrey. It was in the vows to not hold secrets and, so far, both of them have been honest with each other. He wanted this marriage to work.

“It was Saul. My very first boyfriend in matter of fact. His band is recording at the studio.”

“Did he say anything?” Jeffrey wondered.

Axl shook his head. “Not much. I told him I was married and he walked off.”

Jeffrey happily kissed his cheek. “This is why I love you.”

If only he knew what he really felt about him.

[me-gongagaa]

One of my favorite things when revisiting FFX was well everything but the one I want to focus on for this post is just how wholesome and sweet Tidus and Yuna’s dynamic and relationship is. It feels like they both really value each other and are able to simply be themselves with each other. Like how Tidus helps Yuna be able to let loose and show her goofier side that’s always been there. She has had so much pressure put upon her by being the daughter of the last summoner who defeated Sin. That always weighs heavily on her and she takes her duty seriously but Tidus helps her realize that it’s okay to take a moment away from all the struggles in life and simply be your own quirky, goofy self. Yuna doesn’t force any expectations on Tidus or pressure him like he felt growing up. She likes him just as he is: a lovable dork. They both are able to draw out sides to the other that they don’t always show and support each other each step of the way on the journey and I think that’s wonderful.

[novapark]

The Nova Family - Mainline Gen 7 - Alterknight P2

- Music Vibes -

So Bastian arrives at the proper crashed ship this time and tries to reach out to his bff Tidus who he'd been working with prior to his disappearance.

Maddox reveals himself after Bastian finishes his message and congratulates his son on a job well done. That he can't believe how much he had to overcome to get there.

Bastian tells him to drop the act and says he just wants the truth from him. He wants answers about himself and his siblings because he knows they are not normal. He has never slept well and when he does he has dark nightmares.

Maddox continues his praising saying that he thought he was a failure given his mother's unstable DNA seemed to limit his potential.

Meanwhile Bastian's daughter Miranda and his nephew Silas have arrived in the area and are getting ready to help bring their grandfather in.

Back to Bastian and Maddox -

So here I need to explain a little lore stuff. In my sim universe alien DNA is called the "void." The void is a symbiotic creature that binds with an individual's dna and manipulates it to its advantage. The original Kasari on their planet would submerge themselves in void pools to increase their active void cells as part of their rituals. That being said there was always a risk of losing oneself to it. To fall completely to the desire of the void. Bastian's oldest sister eventually succumbed to this, they are basically a walking husk. So there was always a good reason to limit exposure or activation of ones void cells.

So we get back to them and Bastian tells his dad he's gonna be arrested which Maddox dismisses and resumes the earlier conversation about Bastian's mental and physical health issues. He says he'd be very interested to see if unchaining his son's void cells further would grant him any "relief" from these limitations.

And so without consent he exposes Bastian to matte of cells, knocking him into a void coma and leaving him for the family to find.

“For whatever it’s worth I do hope the void doesn’t take you. You’ve already exceeded my expectations.”

[eemamminy-art]

I love that you draw for yourself first and foremost. Your art and fics are so lovely and I really got invested in the ships you regularly draw. Just a small thing but your genderswap designs are my favorite example of such. You keep them close to the original design & don't make them hyper femme, like I can't tell if it's butch Estinien in some art or not. I dunno its just really nice to see

I love to keep them close to their original design, yeah!! 🥺 I find that I relate so much to a lot of male characters, but not for the fact that they are men, but other aspects like their demeanor or history or just their masculinity? So then I wanna turn that on its head, and be like, okay. Let's do masculinity in the way that it manifests in butch womanhood, and change some aspects of the character so that their story makes sense for a woman.

It also feels cathartic to me because I find that so many female characters are like.. really feminine and demure and not at all relatable for me. So I feel like I'm transforming characters that are relatable in one way, to be relatable in several ways, and it's nice! I feel like butching up existing woman characters can also be nice, but then it runs the risk of erasing their personality/what makes them who they are. Like I adore Yuna from FFX, but her femininity is what makes her so wonderful! She is my favorite example of feminine strength and courage and I don't think she would feel like herself if she were butch. But say, making Tidus be a clueless jock butch would slot in well with who he already is, but more relatable for the fact that he would then be a masc woman instead of just some guy.

I remember reading a post on tumblr a million years ago (or maybe it was even on LJ... it was that long ago LMAO) where someone said they were trying to read the Hobbit to their daughter and the daughter was like, "can't Bilbo be a girl like me?" And so the parent just swapped all the pronouns and now the story was about this lady hobbit instead. And that's really stuck with me for all these years... To want to see yourself in a character, that you change their gender to match your own and to feel empowered by it. That's really the driving force behind what I do with these genderbend artworks, and it's really nice to know that it's appreciated! 🥺 So thank you for that anon!!

[cyhaino]

Top 5 ships

Batcat || I am a batcat shipper until the day I die I was born a batcat shipper their dynamic has influenced me in ways i cannot explain they're married in my head oh whats that? dc was just playing with us with the whole wedding thing??? don't know what you're talking about theyre married and they have a daughter too and die old together that whole bullshit about batman needing to be alone for the good of gotham was such a fucking cop out

After that my mind went blank because I multiship so narrowing it down was a bit tough. So the following are not in any specific order and are subject to change

2. Tiduna || The first final fantasy game I ever played was x-2 so that could be why it's one of my favorite ships. it's also the only canon ff ship i like and i don't know if its the nostalgia or because the ship really is that good but i really cant imagine tidus or yuna with anyone else

3. cytham || oh they got me good like cyno really tried to kill him of course i was going to ship it because they grow to trust each other their dynamic is soooo good and i love the theories other shippers have about them

4. FLight || look i know fang and vanille are more canon and i love them too but I just like fang and lightning a bit more the third game is what really got me to ship them i think it was also the first time i looked for femslash fanfiction too because i was like "i can't be the only one seeing this right????"

5. Pippa and Felicity || oh look its the toxic doomed yuri i first discovered in middle school and i haven't been well since libbra bray you have caused me emotional distress because all of my favorite ships in the gemma doyle trilogy end in tragedy like gemma and kartik had me crying but pippa and felicity had me in bed full on sobbing because what do you mean pippa avoided corruption for so long because of their love only for her to die what do you mean that felicity chooses gemma and ann even though she loves pippa because she doesn't want to betray her friends even if hurts her

[feathersandsteel]

Yuna, Tidus, and their daughter Dawn and how they look in my fanfic. It takes place 10 years after the defeat of Sin. I'm not one hundred percent on these versions of their outfits, but this is generally how I imagined them for the fic!

[keybladeselkie]

Hi, Selkie here.

For as long as I can remember I fell in love with the Disney and Kingdom Heart franchises ever since. And being an avid fan, I have my own headcanons and share of fancons as well. Today I wanna share some with y’all and stress that since this is my own fan version of the characters and story that to keep an open mind. These are merely for fun and to test out my writing skills. Constructive criticism is appreciated, not blind hatred.

Alright! Let’s get started with the og trio! Sora,Kairi, and Riku!(I promise I do one for Donald and Goofy in the future.)

-Sora, Kairi, and Riku would all have some tan into them since they did grow up in the islands. Tis only fair since you spend a lot of time in the sun.

-Sora grew up with his single mom without a father in his life. His mama met a sailor long ago before the kiddo was born and the sailor had to return to sea. Leaving his mother pregnant and alone with the child.

-Sora is on the autism spectrum with some adhd on the side. He sees alot of good in the world and it can be magical and a curse at the same time. Just because of this, he’s not dumb nor ignorant, he just sees the world differently.

-Riku grew up with a strict household which pushed him to grow up fast(besides when he’s with his friends.) He does tie in with Kairi with being top in their classes.

-The trio loved playing pretend pirates as kids which would carry on to their love of sea faring in Sora.

-Being the adoptive daughter of the mayor and a princess, Kairi is great at debate and history classes. She’s a leader to be after all even though she does need practice.

-Kairi’s grandmother, the former queen was married to Ansem the Wise before his disappearance. Thinking that she’d lost her husband and her granddaughter, she was in mourning before Radiant Gardens was back to normal.

-Sora for a while had a conflicting crush on both his friends and was worried that it would cause a rift in their friendship. Thankfully the two agreed and returned their feelings to this lovable goof.

-Growing up, Sora suffered through bullying from the other kids on the island(Tidus taking his frustration of being fatherless too on Sora) and Waka being the prime bullies before Riku arrived.

-Riku has a knack for carpentry and crafting(He was responsible for most of the raft.

-Kairi has a charming hobby of collecting shells and knickknacks.She also dabbled in writing and drawing(something Namine picks up on.)

[embraceyourdestiny]

penned between the margins // Kingdom Hearts fanfic

Rating: General

Characters: Kairi (post KH1~ around CoM)

Warnings: Dairy entry that’s present tense + first person POV, slight dereality typical with memory related issues in Kingdom Hearts, Hospitals

AO3

————————————

Something happened. I don’t know what it was, but I know something did happen.

It started a few weeks ago. This… feeling inside of me. It’s nothing like anything I’ve felt before, so I don’t know how to describe it. It’s almost… hollow? No, that doesn’t sound right. Empty? Maybe, but not quiet.

Longing. That might be the way to describe it.

I don’t know where it came from. One day I was running down the beach of the main island with Wakka and Tidus, playing games with them, giggling with Selphie and the other girls about about dumb school stuff like we always do, and the next thing I remember I somehow ended up at the play islands, standing at the empty shore like I was looking for something.

Like something was missing.

I don’t remember how I got there, I don’t even remember leaving the house that day or what compelled me to go there without telling anyone. I just… did. Or did I? If I don’t remember doing it, did it really happen?

Everything feels like a dream. That’s probably the best summary of how most things have felt since that day.

Some things are real, I know for sure. Wakka and Tidus are as rambunctious as ever, sparring up and down the shore, laughing and messing with each other like they always do. Selphie and I are practically glued at the hip like we’ve always been. These things are the same and they feel normal but… but they also feel like they’re not.

It’s weird. I don’t know how to describe it. Somehow, things don’t quite feel real.

Nothing from my life is missing or out of place; mom and dad are as great as ever, no one moved in or away (I made sure — daughter-of-the-mayor privileges come in handy every once in a while), summer was ready to end and school was about to start a few weeks away just like it was before this gnawing feeling consumed me, so, what’s wrong? Why do I feel like this? Why does it feel like I’m searching for something I can never find, even though I can almost feel it brushing against my fingertips?

Selphie was the one who found me all those weeks ago and I still feel like I have to apologize for it everyday, even though I stopped doing that about a week ago. She said we were walking down the beach, chatting away like any other day, when I just… stopped. Stopped moving, stopped talking, even stopped breathing, though I don’t know how much of that was an exaggeration on her part or entirely true. She’s always had a flair for the dramatics, after all. it’s not that I doubt her, I just… I feel like I’m always second guessing myself these days.

Anyway, she said I stopped walking and just… turned on my heel and walked towards the shoreline. She said I would’ve walked right in if she hadn’t stopped me, and that might be the scariest part of all of this. The second scariest, actually. Doing things beyond your control and not remembering it is terrifying, but knowing you’re missing something without any proof of many things missing is indescribably startling. At least there’s a reason for people doing things and not remembering doing them, what explanation is there for remembering something that didn’t happen?

That’s what I keep telling myself. It didn’t happen. It feels wrong, so wrong, because I know something did happen, but maybe it didn’t. Maybe I’m just remembering wrong. Maybe I’m imagining it. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.

And it’s even weirder because with how Selphie describes her story… I don’t remember it like that at all.

We might’ve been on the beach together at some point, the details of memories with her are fuzzy in an entirely different way, but I don’t remember her being there. I don’t remember anyone from the islands being there. No one. I was all by myself for so long. I have no visual memory of this, no flash of images that give me at least some solace that I’m not completely losing my mind, but I know I was alone.

Or… no, I wasn’t. Not entirely, at least. There was this… warmth. This light, almost. I was scared and alone, but the light helped keep me warm and safe. I think, at least. With no proof even within my own mind, it makes what I feel seem less reliable, but I know it happened. I know. Or, I thought. I don’t know. It’s all a big jumbled mess.

All I know is that before Selphie found me on the beach that day, everything was dark. And cold. And alone. But not. Because that light was protecting me.

Maybe I am losing my mind. How can I both feel something and not feel something at the same time?

Selphie nearly gave me a heart attack when her concerned hand gently touched my elbow that day, but outwardly, I had no reaction. It was unnatural. She touched me and I barely moved. I only slightly shifted to face her but with no control of my own. Like my body was on autopilot, trying to fly to my rescue. And I was so tired. As nice as she could put it, Selphie said I looked dead in the eyes when I looked at her before collapsing in her arms, and isn’t that embarrassing?

Wakka and Tidus had luckily come to the islands that day and found us soon enough, me lying in Selphie’s arms on her lap, wordless, almost comatose, and Selphie freaking out on the inside but surprisingly calm on the outside, holding my hand and gently stroking hairs behind my ear that just wouldn’t stay.

I don’t remember much from that day, honestly. All I know for sure is besides darkness and light, I vividly recall Selphie’s soft hand in mine, the slight shake of her body as she reassured me that everything was going to be okay, and the image of her crumbling to the floor the second she thought I couldn’t see her anymore behind the hospital door. But, I did, and it’s been haunting me ever since.

She looked so… frail. Small. Like a child, wailing on the floor in the middle of the hallway. For me. Maybe that’s the real reason I still apologize to her everyday, even if it’s only in my head. Purposefully or not, I did that to her, and the guilt is almost too much to bear.

Staying in the hospital was… an experience I hardly remember. It comes back in flashes, in sensations I’d never felt before but can pinpoint exactly now, like an IV in my arm and being fed food and water because I couldn’t do it myself for days on end. Humiliation is commonplace among my confusing and busted wheelhouse of emotions now, it seems.

The weird thing was, when I was conscious and coherent, trying to tell everyone what I think happened, with their words, they told me I was wrong, that I never left the islands, that everyone is safe and here, that I have nothing to worry about. But their actions said something different. Worrying hands that seemed frantic for reasons more than me having a bad… whatever I had. Quick glances constantly thrown over my parents shoulder, like if they looked away for even a second, I’d disappear into thin air.

Sometimes, it feels like the other way around. Like instead of disappearing into thin air, I just appeared out of nowhere one day.

It’s confusing because I don’t feel this way about my entire life. I know the memories of before that day are real, that I came to this island as a little girl, that against all odds I found a family and great friends, but it still feels so, so wrong. Even though those memories shouldn’t be tainted in anyway, they still feel off. Incorrect. Like something missing. Just like Selphie’s telling of the day she found me. I don’t think she’s lying, but I know she isn’t right. And the most confusing part is I’m not lying to myself, but I know my memories aren’t right either.

It’s been a slow adjustment, coming back. I keep phrasing it that way in my head. “Coming back.” I didn’t leave, not physically. At least, I don’t think, but it feels like I came home after a long, long, taxing journey. Like when you come back after a long family trip and the tiredness of your travels finally settles in, leaving you fatigued and sluggish, but I never feel that relief that swells in you when you finally get home. That feeling of when you step through the door of your house and comfort, safety, security, home washes over you. It hasn’t happened yet. I’ve never left, and yet I don’t feel like I’m home.

‘ Try not to think of it,’ my mother tells me. ‘Focus on what it is you’re feeling,’ the therapist says. ‘I’m losing my mind,’ I think.

I don’t know which one of us is right.

At the moment I’m sitting on the balcony of my bedroom, staring out at the setting sun as it’s light sparkles over the horizon. I’ve always loved twilight. It’s the best part of the day, when the sun is nuzzling into it’s comfortable place and gives us one last glow of it’s beauty before saying farewell and making way for the night. The time between day and night has always been one of comfort for me. It’s even prettier on the play islands, but I haven’t been back since Selphie found me.

Okay… not technically true. I did go back once when I could find the chance to get away between the hectic mess of discharging from the hospital and settling back in at home. And there I go talking about it like that again. “Settling back in.” I never left, so there’s nothing to settle into. I tell myself this so I feel like I at least have a little control, but once the lying starts it means that control has been lost for a long time, right?

...Right. The play islands. I went back because I thought I could… I don’t know. Find whatever it was that was missing? As if it was just some trinket I dropped near the paopu tree and if I came running back it’d be right there, waiting for me to return. It sounds as ridiculous as it felt to do. What I lost wasn’t some mere charm off a bracelet or something trivial like that, it was real and important, of course it wasn’t going to just magically appear the last place I remember seeing it.

Huh… that’s a bit of a clue, isn’t it? “The last place I remember seeing it.” The paopu tree. It keeps coming up in my thoughts and in my memories, as if I can trust those, but maybe that will be helpful down the line.

Before all of this stuff happened, I used to keep a diary. Not for any real reason, the content of it hardly mattered, honestly. Scribblings here, a random poem there, what I wrote wasn’t important, it was the fact that I was writing at all that was. It helped me keep things clear and concise in my own head, all my thoughts organized into one, easy to read space. I kept a journal with me constantly, writing down anything that seemed important and sometimes especially things that were mundane, so I wouldn’t forget it later. I eventually fell out of the habit, but the doctor suggested for me to pick it up again to help make sense of what happened to me and I’ve been trying to do it ever since.

These days, though, my thoughts and writings form into one big blob of a mess and I find myself constantly getting lost in the flow between them. Some things I thought I wrote down end up being only thoughts I had at some point and never committed to writing down, and other things I thought were only daydream imaginings end up staring right back at me on the lines of paper. I look down at the notebook in my lap now and realize I’ve been writing this whole time. It’s become second nature at this point, I wasn’t even looking at what I was writing. My penmanship has seen better days but the writing is still legible and… as coherent as I can make my thoughts be recently. It makes sense to me, at least. (And doesn’t.)

I scribble the note about the paopu tree down, even drawing a crude rendition of the tree with three paopu fruits on it in the margins, as best as I can muster. It’s not much, but drawing has also been helping me make sense of the mess of my brain recently, even though I’m not all that good at it. Maybe I need a hobby. Something to distract me. The doctor said something like that, too, I think, but, as always, I can’t remember clearly.

There are few and far moments in between when thinking about whatever it was that happened to me isn’t all-consuming and occupying every one of my thoughts, and my mind flits over to the thought of school.

God, doesn’t that sound awful.

School has never been bad, but dealing with it while also dealing with all of this sounds a bit much. Maybe I can ask if I can be homeschooled, just for a semester. Mom and dad will probably fight it, saying it’ll be good for me to be among my peers, especially after all of this, but I disagree. It might not be a good idea, but I think I just need to be alone with this stuff for a while, so I can make sense of it for myself, and then I can make it make sense to others. If it ever gets to that point. I don’t know if it will, honestly.

Well, it’s okay for now. School isn’t for at least another month so until then, I’ll just keep trying to make everything make sense.

I’m not normally a pessimist, but these thoughts and recent experiences have made me not feel like myself. I try to not let it bother me, but it does so much. I scribble another note down about needing to make a checklist of school supplies and end the note with an explanation point, dotting the bottom with a drawing of a paopu fruit.

Paopu fruit… paopu tree…

I look up from my journal and out to the glittering sea, the play islands gently hugging the darkening horizon. Maybe I should go back there soon. Something feels like it’s calling me. But maybe I’m imagining that, too.

I hear my mother call me for dinner and I sigh, closing my notebook. I stand, looking out wistfully towards the twilight horizon and the play islands one more time, before I leave the balcony and shut the sliding door tight, locking it into place.

Another thought for another day.

[ofmoonlily]

FINAL FANTASY XVI VERSE

Name: Yuna Age: 23 (chronological age is about 523 years) Element: Water Occupation: Summoner, White Mage Background: (Because Final Fantasy XVI is very new, I will be putting all spoilers underneath a cut.)

It's a mystery where Yuna originally hails, however she has taken up living in the shadows (dhelmekian caves) with her dominant companion who swore an oath to keep her safe.

Leviathan, aka Tidus, granted Yuna his power for beneficiary purposes to both parties. Because Yuna is a Summoner, she is able to merge souls with eikons, thus becoming something of a conduit that siphons the negative effects from their bodies whilst allowing her ally unlimited magic and priming; to fight at full capacity and more.

In the same breath, Leviathan held a curse that granted longevity to any who formed a contract with him. (Immortality) (Which is why Yuna is an old lady in this verse and FFXVI had tales of Leviathan being lost to time in the FF16 lore.)

Hundreds of years ago, summoners were treated like a commodity; hunted, sold, and traded among the powerful for the very purpose to syphon a dominant's illness. Dominants of the past had hateful warmongering intentions. Some even took these summoners as hostages, forcing a pact between souls, and using this as a means to an end; erecting entire kingdoms and empires in a bloodbath and rallying in their glory---a history now lost to time. Eventually, Yuna's tribe of summoners went extinct. Many of them sought after and killed in order to even the battlefield between dominants. Yuna is the last summoner on Valisthea.

Yuna wanders all over Valisthea disguised as a healer, contributing her talents in the art of white magics to people in need. Her real purpose is to find a cure to remedy the blight. And upon extensive research, did she find her answer: self-sacrifice. Yuna is on a pilgrimage to collect ancient relics around valisthea to perform the ritual that will cleanse the lands of blackened soil. It is her duty. And she will not relent.

Note: Yuna's healing abilities are unmatched! Individuals suffering from illnesses can find solace in her abilities. Unfortunately, Yuna cannot cure the ailment that falls on bearers and dominants, but she can provide longevity, easing pain for months aplenty, and stalling coughing fits. This is due to her potent White Magic!

Note: When Yuna merges with an eikon, the illness the dominant takes on as a burden for its power is something Yuna is able to cleanse. However, it is only because the eikon and summoner have merged; her soul purifying the taint spilled over theirs. If the eikon is forcibly removed, or voluntarily leaves, their illness will return.

Her white magics include: Cure, Cura, Curaga, Full-cure, Life, Full-life, Regen, Protect, Shell, ???, ???, ???

Why Summoners can take away an eikon's illness upon a contract is still a mystery. Scholars from hundreds of years passed assumed it was due to the pureness of a Summoner's soul (as they train for years to leave behind any form of pride, greed, and their worldly possessions.) Or maybe it is because an eikon and summoner are meant to share hands in allyship, both benefitting each other in methods and means casing a balance of scales. Or maybe not, who knows? And that, as they say, is that.

Lord Braska gave up his form to become Valefor to the peerless man known as Yu Yevon. During the dominant and summoner war, Braska was well aware that even if he went to defend his people, that he would not make it home alive. Therefore, he hatched a plan to become an eikon, entombed in its primed state for eterinity to give his daughter a fighting chance to live and defend herself.

[sorenblr]

The idea of a FFX-3 is that Yuna and Tidus break up, Auron now has a daughter and fucked which was never implied to have happened before now, Sin is back, Yevon is stronger than ever, and Tidus dies cause he mistook a bomb for a blitzball. Brought to you by a writer on FF7 and FF7 Remake!

Yeah, this is mostly from that psychotic novel that Nojima published nearly a decade ago lol. It was an incredibly ballsy move to name it Final Fantasy X-2.5, but I do wonder how tethered to that material a hypothetical FFX-3 would be. Basically, they can still make it about Wakka with his nuts hanging out, is what I'm getting at here.

[wannabeblockb]

Valentia is my Final Fantasy X OC. I originally intended her to appear after X-2, but I found potential using her for an AU where Seymour has a daughter.

She’s 14 years old but looks older than Tidus and Yuna.

Her personality is the feisty type with a heart of gold.

She had a crush on Tidus but never told him because she knew how he felt about Yuna.

She wore a scarf over her right eye to hide her Guado heritage.

Valentia goes into battle

Lady Valentia dancing in X-2

Valentia and Baralai