starry skies

illustrator they/them

[nikutsuneart]

After my merch order was stuck in customs for a month I can finally say I have my BRAND NEW TOY SORA CHARM!

✨ YIPPEE!! ✨

He's available right now in my shop!

Along with this, my sticker books are back in stock as well as my wooden baby soriku pins and DDD pins!

Before you go I have one really important detail for the people;

Okay thank you

[cloudcastor]

I haven’t seen your blog in so long (life & college has kept me away). You’ve improved so much! I’m so happy to see your wonderful art and I noticed your new icon! It’s a bit late but happy pride month & happy late birthday! I’m wishing you best! - Z

aww thank you anon z!!!!

tbf.... same here!! I've had a lot of things happening on my end so I haven't been posting art but also??? I just haven't even had time to DRAW..... life is really hectic for me rn

even though that makes me a little sad, I've been able to spend more time engaging with art, like reading comics, video games, and movies, that I've definitely been improving in other ways so when I come back to drawing i go hey!! that's actually!! not that bad!! haha but thank youuu glad to see that it's all paying off if others can notice it too :')

[cloudcastor]

Kris is ready for the festival 🇲🇽

[cloudcastor]

Deltarune tomorrow!!!??? Deltarune Charms TONIGHT!!! all of them are double sided but kris and noelle are Special

check em out!!!!

[cloudcastor]

graven starting Days lets GOOOOO

[cloudcastor]

hi it was my birthday AND it's pride AND i'm soft launching a top surgery fund tip jar over on ko-fi and ooooo you wanna donate some funds sooo baddd over here

silliness aside, if i'm being honest I'm kinda going through a lot right now with a lot of uncertainty at work, looking at reduced hours, and being a full-time caregiver to my grandma so that's why I decided to make a little tip jar for it... I'm taking care of a lot of those family expenses rn so I can't really prioritize myself... ;_;

I know we're all Going Through It (especially financially) so again, please just share the link around if you're able to! I'll hopefully get a date at the end of the month so I'll hopefully be able to have a better estimate! Thank you all for your support again <3

[cloudcastor]

Alright everyone AU down below!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is thematically relevant:

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

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

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

How does this relate to Sora?

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

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

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

Okay but where is the soriku?

It’s the Vibes™

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks for lookin :-)

[cloudcastor]

was looking at the kh2 ultimania and realized I only ever see the graphic of destiny islands from kh1 or deconstructed kh2 ver so seeing the "full logo" immediately made me go hey... HEY....

THE MAIN ISLAND.... MY AU.....

"Destiny Islands" consists of a cluster of many small islands; while the outlying islet served as a playground for the children in KH1, the main island—home to their houses and school—features prominently in KH2

this isn't to say wow, canon, (this is a self-indulgent AU afterall) but I find it so interesting that we've had to cobble together kh lore and info and on the jp side its like "oh? you didn't know?"

[cloudcastor]

hi it was my birthday AND it's pride AND i'm soft launching a top surgery fund tip jar over on ko-fi and ooooo you wanna donate some funds sooo baddd over here

silliness aside, if i'm being honest I'm kinda going through a lot right now with a lot of uncertainty at work, looking at reduced hours, and being a full-time caregiver to my grandma so that's why I decided to make a little tip jar for it... I'm taking care of a lot of those family expenses rn so I can't really prioritize myself... ;_;

I know we're all Going Through It (especially financially) so again, please just share the link around if you're able to! I'll hopefully get a date at the end of the month so I'll hopefully be able to have a better estimate! Thank you all for your support again <3

[jamiiino]

Grace Rocky save stars!

[cloudcastor]

len-kun!!

[cloudcastor]

a riku from a long time ago

[cloudcastor]

ppssssttt... big ol sketch dumps just went live on patreon... you can access them and my entire backlog of sketches for 1$ ! now that's a steal!! check it out: www.patreon.com/c/cloudcastor

[redundantz]

Saw a fun chart on twitter and had to draw some cuties!~

I could have drawn VashMeryl for red and blue but oubing feels so yaoiyuri to me

[ciphox]

just a dream

[nikutsuneart]

20!! Years!! of Kingdom Hearts!!!! 🎉🎉

[nikutsuneart]

Happy Birthday Sora!!!

[nikutsuneart]

It's everybody's favorite rubber hose boy! The Timeless River Charm + Lanyard is now open for Preorders!! 🤍

One more done off the list, he's going to have a white heart charm to boot!

I also have a Jiminy's Journal Reusable Sticker Book!!

50 reusable wax pages for all your sticker needs!

I have others making a comeback and restocks as well on the way, so take a peek why don'tcha

[cloudcastor]

Hey everyone it's that time again! @citruscon (winter edition) is here >:)

I have two items up for PRE-ORDER (and a sneak peak at another one coming soon!) so feel free to check out my shop here. I also have some prints listed ON SALE since I'm trying to get old stock out to make way for new things! Once they're gone, they're gone!!

Use code CITRUS for 10% off orders of $20+ or more! Sale is going on from 2/27-03/03 noon PST!

if you're new here, I also have a digital only shop here! where all items are 50% off OR you could get all my digital works for only $10 bucks!