MERRY UPDATE (ATR ch12 - FINALLY)

Magik got settled down so updating is back on track!!!

GOSH I love this sequence so much I LOVE IT SO MUCH

Magik's side of this (from her Riku's aka Real Thing's POV) is over at Remnants chapter 63---and I have to say it was absolutely stellar this time and made me Feel Things. It's so good. This sequence is so good.

This mix is also so good:

veneforis venetisarium from winnix on 8tracks Radio.

It's a Gravity Falls mix for "Bill Cipher possessing Dipper Pines" and is literal perfection in it's ties with the themes and style of Gravity Falls---it's also not bad for this sequence, but most any "creepy" music can be considered good for this sequence

((Top songs from this mix for this sequence are definitely Bloody Shirt and Lose Your Soul, perhaps because they're creepy and upbeat at the same time which is good for this battle-which-isn't-exactly-a-battle. I also like those songs a lot. That cover of Get Lucky gave me chills tho
That in mind, if you want reading music for this chapter, I will suggest one of Bastille's "Other People's Heartaches" albums every time hands down without hesitation--I was jamming to Part 2 before I pulled up this playlist))


Before I forget: I wanted to say I watched the Coded movie the other day and it's really good, like, better than the Days movie a thousand times over (which is kinda sad because I certainly like Days as a game more than I like Coded, and Days the Movie deserved the same love they put into the Coded movie....)
I mean, the pacing of Castle Oblivion was kinda shit, but Data Roxas made up for it he always has

Also: I posted some FtPverse related oneshots that involved Ven and Aqua during this past week and made a post on it---the Aqua one features her being overleveled and superpowered and was actually a really fun oneshot to write, and you should probably check it out if you haven't already!!

Anyway!

Read ATR ch12

ATR ch12 tag

Protecting Larxene is a repercussion now isn’t that interesting

In the initial draft of this sequence (which I was writing for fun because I had the ideas and had literally no input from magik on) Namine ended up taking a lightning bolt or three for Riku, and it was really good!! It didn't flow with this version of the sequence, though, largely only because it wasn't just Larxene/Namine/Riku on scene, I had four extra characters.

Not that that's a bad thing! And I certainly like this route just as much, if not much better!!

Oh, and trust me, I will certainly post the initial draft(s) of this sequence to ASAS---but we have to finish the sequence first!!

I never got to touch on Riku's darkness being A Thing in the first ten chapters of ATR, which is a shame. I also realize, in hindsight, I had much more time than I initially anticipated to get this done, and could've expanded some things some more before the Revenge sequence started. Whoops! Hindsight's 20/20, as they say, and it's certainly too late to do anything about it now.

AHHH YES. NAMINE BEING ACTUALLY SCARED OF RIKU. ANOTHER REASON WHY THEY’RE RELATIONSHIP IS A PROBLEM

“IF SHE SHOULD BE WORRIED ABOUT ANYONE’S TEMPER IT SHOULD BE LARXENE’S BUT THEN AGIAN”

DO YOU

SEE

THE

PROBLEM

HERE

“I think Vexen’s to blame for that, not me” WRONG

“Her lips drew into a smile that might’ve been beautiful, had it not been so cruel” – I actually was seriously considering putting this in and only didn’t because I’d already said she was grinning and didn’t see the point in restating it

This has gotta be my favorite bit from the brainstorm:

“OKAY BUT KIDDO. KIDDO. KIDDO DYOU EVEN KNOW WHAT THE DARKNESS. IS GOING. TO DO. FOR YOU. mmmmmm because I seem to remember something about you missing… a certain few… darkness protection protocols”

He glares up at her because he’s on the ground she got a lightning bolt in (it really did take only one)

“how did… you know?” he demands, grunting through it because. I mean. In pain

“riku I don’t think that’s a question you actually need to be asking” mNamine interrupts

“what’s this bout darkness protection protocols??” real thing asks because. Darkness. Worry. Bad. What.

“keeps darkness from eating a replica from the inside out, from what I gathered” Larxene says, smiling all too unpleasantly “vexen was too stupid to install them”

“he didn’t have time” riku defends him wow I never thought I’d see the day “plus, I’m quite grateful for it, because otherwise I wouldn’t be able to do this”

there's also this convo me and magik had about this which is Important:

magik:  We might need to change Larxene's line about being darkness
rar:  yeah
magik:  or add to it
magik: erm...
rar:  i couldn't think of anything
magik:  something like "THIS is what happens when the darkness consumes a PERSON. I have it to my advantage now.  As for YOU, you silly little toy... well, I've already said it will eat. you. up."
magik: /shudders/ that just came out of my mouth
rar:  I KNOW but it's good
rar: my first reaction was NO and to shudder but
rar: it's clearly good

Larxene + darkness was something that was not initially in the first draft, and I was kind of iffy about it (because the fact Riku tried but did not succeed in torturing her doesn't hit quite as hard as him succeeding)---but the more we discussed it, the more we tossed it around, the more I got into writing it the more I loved it

The more I loved the fact that Larxene gets up and goes LOL NO JK YOU WEREN'T HURTING ME AT ALL [MANIACAL LAUGHTER]

Plus I mean it's true to the canon we set up and I couldn't have Riku's attempt at revenge work in full "because reasons" when at this point it goes completely against our canon. Darkness cannot hurt darkness.

(It didn't come up initially because Larxene had not even started messing with the darkness when I started writing this for fun, so it was not something I had to consider at the time. But a lot of things change in, geeze, a year. It might be more than a year, to be honest. Two years, according to the word document. Amazing)

At first I was really embarrassed about Riku knowing Larxene (and her cruelty) so well but, by now, I've warmed up to it so much. Literally, it's to the point where I can go

"RIKU KNOWING EVERY INCH OF LARXENE’S CRUELNESS SUSTAINS ME. LARXENE KNOWING ALL OF HIS WEAKNESSES. THEM KNWOING EACH OTHER REALLY WELL AFTER AGES OF FIGHTING EACH OTHER AND HATING EACH OTHER ETC"

And I really do feel that way about it I love dynamics like this where two characters know each other so well---know each other when they know themselves. And you may think that's silly for it to apply to Riku and Larxene, but it does, at least in this situation. 

They have been through this situation, these circumstances so much that they each know it like their own heartbeat. Riku has experienced every inch of Larxene's cruelty and predict it faster than he can think. Larxene has toyed with him enough to know all his weaknesses and exploit them without eve thinking about it.

But, to be honest, what makes me most emotional about this is how well Riku knows her---Larxene knowing all of Riku's weaknesses is great and to be expected, but it's Riku knowing her cruelty as well as he does that is fascinating, is thrilling, is painful. Ah.

Also on this vein: I made a post about Riku being inherently cruel and I suppose it's relevant.

I remembered that it was one of Riku’s survival methods (that I’m not sure I brought up ever) to just scream more and scream louder because his screams were what Larxene wanted and the sooner he screamed the sooner her torture was done

On the flip side

Larxene turns that back on him screams to keep him satisfied to trick him into thinking his precious little revenge is working she turns it back on him and screams for him so that he will be pleased, so that she can get up later and laugh and say HAHA JUST KIDDING fhfhffhfhfhfff