Sunday, June 2, 2013

"I'm getting so sick of blocking bullets" (ch146)

(Have a convenient link to the chapter)

First off!

Why am I uploading a chapter when it's only Sunday? And what happened to that ASAS chapter I mentioned?

Well, I'm uploading on a Sunday because I'm writing 11 chapters ahead of where I'm posting and it's bugging me.

As for the ASAS chapter, it was an original draft that was really kinda crappy and not terribly interesting so unless you want to see it and let me know that you want to see it, you won't be seeing it.

Second off!

Review Replies~ (the glorious one I have...)

DIch145 from Peach
Starting with the second bit... (first bit requires a longer answer)

6 Xehanort Replicas are what Vexen was forced to build in magik's universe, and that is what he's referring to.
No, I suppose it's not as bad as KH3D, but in our conjoined universes, KH3D isn't relevant. (Besides, have the Xehanort clones actually done anything? No. No they haven't. They tried to make Sora their vessel, but didn't get anywhere with it because Axel showed up, and that's actually kind of lame of them. Just saying. Magik's Xehanort Replicas--as of right now--were more of a nuisance.)

26 is with the Organization. I know there's a lot of Vexen Replies (44 total, about 20 mentioned, 8 that play a largeish role in the story), but if you ever need help with them (or any Replica) try my "Replicas" page up on the top of the blog. (Or have a link to it)
The Replicas page lists basic facts about which Replica is which, and should tell you who's side they were on. Pretty sure that's on the page... for the most part...

HAVE A LIST OF WHO'S WITH WHO JUST TO BE SAFE

With the Rebellion
2
4 (but he’s disabled)
6
7
19
22 (he’s dead)
23 (he’s a traitor)
25
29
35
41
Alpha
Amaryllis
Thistle
Tulip (was rewritten and is now with Saix)
Snapdragon
Lotus
That one Lexaeus
Riku
Namine
Joseph
Toby

With Saix
5
4 (was, but is disabled and now with the Rebellion. ish)
11 (dead)
13 (dead)
17 (dead)
23 (traitor to the Rebellion)
27
31
34
37
All the Larxenes (for the most part) (approx. 20)
None of the Zexions
Bloodroot
Chrysanthemum
Tulip (was rewritten, however)
Ivy

With the Organization26
Xigbar’s clone

~and then there's a quite a few Vexen Replicas and three or so Marluxias who are unaccounted for. (As in they aren't officially dead or officially on any side.)

IN CASE YOU NEED TO FIND THIS LIST I've labeled this post under "important stuff" and will also be adding a link to this post on the "Important Posts" page. Or is it "Important Links"? Well, you know what I mean.

~
NOW TO THE CHAPTER

OH! And! Exciting news! Now my chapters have tags on tumblr! I started liveblogging my writing on tumblr, and so all the things under the chapter tags are my reactions/posts relevant to the chapter (music suggestions)/other stuff. Yeah!
(There isn't a lot of stuff for ch146, but later chapters end up with more posts.)


As for music suggestions: "1000 Ships of the Underworld" and "Velocitron" both by Two Steps from Hell. Both can be found under the ch146 tag on my tumblr.
(Also I like 1000 Ships of the Underworld better. I think it fits more. But have 'em both.)

And now my commentary

I actually have a headcanon going that when Riku absolutely has to calm himself down, he'll count to ten. And if that doesn't work, he'll count to ten in Spanish. Then Japanese. Then German. (And if he's not calmed down by then, which is a surprise if he isn't, he'll probably do French.)

The only reason it hasn't come up before is because he's never needed to absolutely calm down before. Like, now he needs to calm down and focus because he's panicking about Namine and that's not helpful in a battle. He'll get hurt if he loses his focus.
It also came up a lot in the other universe, when he was trying not to let Larxene get to him. He'd tune her out by counting. (It only worked half the time.)

I'll try and bring it up more often...

Oh, whoops, I realize I am totally ahead of myself... that doesn't happen until halfway through the chapter. (I got confused because he was counting bullets.)

Also I really enjoyed the idea of him counting bullets. Idk why.

Heheh my notes:
"Ugh. I hate writing new stuff" (about here it stopped being rewrites)
"Maybe I'll just have Riku spew thoughts and I'll write the chapter like that. It's been effective lately."

Actually having characters spew thoughts, having them have a constant monologue going, a constant commentary on what's happening around them, is actually very effective and it helps with battle sequences. *nods*. It really does.

Here are my template thoughts for Riku: 

Stuff in plain text is Riku's thoughts
"stuff in quotation marks and plain text is what Riku says out loud"
"Stuff in quotation marks and italics are what other people are saying" 
and regular italics what they're doing, though this is rare
(Stuff in parentheses are actions/my notes/things that happen that Riku reacts to)
~things that start with a tilde are usually my comments ('cept occasionally those are made in parentheses. Depends on my mood.)

Now, Riku's internal monologue template:
Ugh, this is annoying. I’m getting so sick of blocking bullets. I could try and attack one of them.
(tries, but the Xigbar warps away)
(Does Riku get shot?)
Nope. Nevermind. I don’t feel like putting up the effort it would take to actually battle them. And there’s two of them, to top it off. I’d probably get hurt. I don’t want to deal with that right now.
“Oi! When are you two going away?”
“What’s it matter to you?”
“Just, y’know, rather not be blocking bullets for the rest of my life”
oh, don’t worry, you won’t be
“That’s comforting…”
~or
Can’t be too much longer”/something like that
“Oh, so you’re stalling?”
~eh, maybe not, but that snippet crossed my mind. Anyway, continue!
Jeeze, what are they stalling for? This is ridiculous. What could they possibly be doing that requires keeping me distracted for so long?
(cue him thinking about Namine and the terror and bleh)
Oh lord, Namine.
No
NO.
NO.
Crap.
Crappity crap crap crap
They’re only really distracting me, after all. (lol, does he not notice what 7’s dealing with?) They probably went after Namine.
Shoot!
They probably—
No.
They can’t have gone after her. Axel was heading the computer. Xemnas went that way, too. They are probably just stalling so that Axel can do whatever it is he’s doing. And Xemnas is involved somehow…
(does he think something like “maybe Xemnas went after Namine” or something but I really don’t think it’s worth Xemnas’s time and maybe that crosses Riku’s mind, too. How much of Vexen has rubbed off on Riku, lol? Because what crossed my mind after that was “Xemnas is more likely to be here to kill us” or some crap like that. Vexen usually worries about that stuff.)
Xigbar is stalling for Xemnas. It makes perfect sense.
Stop worrying about Namine!
She’s fine
She’s not what they’re after.
They’re here for other reasons. They have to be here for other reasons.
Namine’s safe. She’s got to be safe.
Axel said that they wouldn’t go after her anymore, didn’t he? He wouldn’t have lied about that. Yeah, he betrayed us right away, but… oh I don’t know! He said the Organization had a change of plans. That’s probably all they’re here for.
Still…
(eyes narrow threatening mwahaha)
If Namine isn’t safe, I am going to kill Axel. Slowly. Painfully. Make it wish he’d never been born. And maybe while I’m at it, I’ll get Xigbar, too. And Xemnas. Why not? Make them all suffer…
(he’s growling. Riku, calm down!!)
~then I guess we just cut to Xigbar leaving…
Something on your mind, Hotshot? You’re awfully quiet
yeah, I was expecting some snarky comments or a few taunts by now. Not that you’re… actually fighting or anything.
“Rather not waste my energy, thanks. Perfectly content with blocking everything you throw at me.” (he’s smirking. Riku, you’re bi-polar) “Besides, I don’t see you two putting up much of an effort, either”
Why waste the energy?
You think we could--
Nah, he’s not worth it.
“Flattered…” I guess. Whatever. “How much longer are you going to keep this up?”
What do you think?
“I don’t know. Actually, you know what I think.”
“That’s not relevant.”
“Nah, it’s not. Now let’s see…” he scans the room “we’re down two larxenes and I think a Marluxia. How many did we bring with us?”
“Eh, yeah, we’ve probably bought him enough time. Well…” he shoots another round at Riku. “Yeah. Now we’ve bought him enough.”
“Right. PACK UP YOUR BAGS AND HEAD HOME! WE’RE DONE HERE!”
~and Riku’s just like oh yay, I guess. Let’s go make sure Namine’s okay.

Y'know, Riku may not have mentioned it in this chapter, but he waffles about whether or not he's sick of fighting. I suppose, in this situation, anyone would be tired of fighting, it's just... Riku's Mr. Born-for-battle-and-has-trouble-going-more-than-two-days-without-killing/fighting-anything. So... it's funny.
(I guess he just thinks he doesn't want to fight, right now, but then he tries to go back to doing nothing and he really can't.)

Haha! this little snippet of my thoughts was sort of up above in the template dialogue/thoughts/thing but what I have written down here is better:

"Riku, those are some very strong threats…
NOW HE’S GROWLING! Alskdjflds CALM DOWN!!
Laskdfjlksdjf he’s scaring meee 
Asldkfjsdf AND NOW HE’S SMIRKING. You are bi-polar, Riku."

Yeah. Lol.

And then? wtf?
"29 suddenly sounds like freaking Gandalf in my head. asdlfksjflskfj"
(it makes sense, I'd just had my LotR marathon with my friend, but it's still random)

Mrr I think I have more notes on the original thing for this chapter, but...

Eh, all I remember is that I was originally going to have Riku head to the Computer Room right away, but it seemed awfully out of character for him to not check on Namine first, especially after that little panic attack he had.

yeah.

that's it.

That was fun.

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