A blog for the "Coding and Keyblades" Kingdom Hearts modern AU series by SirLadySketch. Contains art, writing, asks, inspirational stuff, and a whole lot of memes.... Read the Series on AO3!
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
They’ve been dancing around this moment their whole lives, but tonight there is magic in the air, that’s the only way he can describe it, and Sora forces himself to breathe. He can’t read Riku’s face but his hand is against his chest and he can feel the thundering heartbeat, see that Riku’s holding his breath. They’re perfectly still-- it’s come to this moment, and every fiber in his being is singing that he should move, that he should close the distance and kiss him once and for all. No hesitation, no fears, just him and Riku with nothing but the stars for company.
This is a standalone oneshot set about 5-6 years before HTLGI, focusing on the night Sora and Riku officially started dating. Just some fluff while I kick myself into overdrive and prep for NaNo, where I’ll be writing TOKL and SB simultaneously.
In case you were wondering, you’re looking at a very contented cephalopod indeed! Keeping octopuses healthy means constant mental stimulation, and besides the puzzles we provide for them, the octopuses can be very curious and will seek out the attention of their staff.
Tactile enrichment like being petted, or playing tug-o-war, are opportunities the octopuses can seek out at their leisure when their staff are around!
A big part of outlining fics is figuring out where everything goes and what’s going on at any given time. This fic verse is no different, but I thought it might be fun for people to see a rough timeline of when everything takes place so if you read one fic, you can know that other characters are having their own existential crises in another parallel fic, haha. It’s not COMPLETELY to scale, but it roughly covers about 50-60 years with the backstory/fic history bits.
One thing to note is that Sound Bytes/B-Sides are actually one fic, just split in half. The ?????? fic is a tentative idea percolating in the back of my mind because I’m still not sure what to do with Ven. I have ideas, but I’m not sure I wrote them well enough into HTLGI to act on them in a fic all of its own (sorry, Ven).
The good news is that I finished watching Crisis Core (and managed to only cry twice) and I’ve been able to fill in some major plot holes that I’ve been ignoring. I’ll continue to write the outline and let you guys know once it’s ready to go. :)
In the meantime, my ask box is always open for anyone who has questions or suggestions or if you just want to say hi! :D
Reblogging this to remind you guys that I do have a bunch of things in the works!
Current projects are The Oathkeeper’s Legacy and Sound Bytes -- even though they’re both going to be incredibly long, I’m working on both at once to balance out the emotions. That said, I will not be posting them until they’re completely done. I’ll post snippets and stuff here if you guys want, but the fics will not be uploaded to AO3 until sometime next year at the earliest.
That said, I do have a couple of oneshots in this AU which I’ll post as I finish them, and I’ll link them here. If you guys have any questions or requests for fic art though, just shoot me an ask. :)
One of my sketches from tonight! I’d love to write how these two got together but I’m pretty sure it involved a lot of drunken yelling at each other, followed by making out, followed by a bounty-hunting first date. Ah, love.
Tagged forever ago by @funkypoacher, but here are some snippets from fics I’m working on at the moment (not all of them, just the ones that’re most cohesive) Putting them below the cut, though, since they’re kinda long!
For the past several months, all of our amazing artists and writers have worked hard to create this zine that reflects the love we have for the Kingdom Hearts series and all the memories it has given us. So we are so excited to announce that from now until January 3rd, you can purchase the Treasured Memories Zine here! (https://treasuredmemorieszine.bigcartel.com/)
|| Product Info ||
The physical zine is a 7.5 x 10 inches perfect-bound booklet, with 49 beautiful illustrations and 10 fan fictions.
And, we are excited to announce, you can purchase merch as well!
- 2 double-sided charms by @destiny-islanders and @ch2u
- 1 sticker sheet by @pekokep
- 1 notebook/journal with beautiful, Kingdom-Hearts themed covers designed by @tamakies
- 1 silver enamel pin designed by SicklyBoring on Twitter
|| Giveaway Info ||
For the first 25 orders of the physical zine, or the journal, we will include a free sticker sheet as well!
|| Charity Info ||
All proceeds outside of production and shipping costs will be donated to a LGBTQIA+ suicidal awareness and prevention charity called The Trevor Project. You can find more information on the charity or donate to their cause at https://www.thetrevorproject.org/
I’m SO grateful I got a chance to work on this amazing zine with so many incredibly talented artists and writers. Guys, I’ve been seeing sneak peeks of it in its entirety and it looks AMAZING! If you can, please consider purchasing a copy! All proceeds go to The Trevor Project.! <3
This is one of the reasons I’ve been so quiet lately, guys-- lots of exciting things afoot! This zine is looking AMAZING and preorders are open til Jan 3rd, so I recommend snagging a copy if you can!
I haven’t picked up my pen to draw in like... two weeks... and it shows. -_- Trying to get back into the swing of things with a quick Roxas doodle; since it’s sort of modern AU-y I guess I’ll file it under HTLGI, haha.
I wanted to sketch out what the Radiant Gardens Uniform looked like and one thing lead to another and here we are with Ven in his official getup. Not sure if I prefer the white or the black, though, so you guys get both. :)
Thinking that I might spend some time this weekend drawing up some scenes from the various stories within the Coding and Keyblades universe. Anyone have any particular requests or suggestions? Let me know!
Ven and Axel have 'The Talk', set a few days after the end of "How the Light Gets In", so spoilers (sort of)!
FINALLY updating the short stories collection, I have so many of these things to finish and post. So many. (cries)
This one is a bit short, but sweet(ish?), but proves that I can, in fact, write things under 2k in length, hah.
Ven was alone when Axel walked into the room, although by the looks of it, Roxas hadn’t been gone long. The bed was still mussed and his computer sat locked but awake on the bedside table, a TRON animation idling as it waited for commands. Given that this was Roxas, Axel figured that meant he’d probably only stepped out for a minute, maybe taking a quick walk around the halls to stretch his legs, or maybe today was the day he’d decided to go for it and try walking to the bathrooms down the hall, courtesy of Demyx or some other nurse to babysit his progress. If he planned to be gone longer than a couple of minutes, the place would’ve been tidied. Even drugged-to-his-gills Roxas would’ve made the bed or straightened up a little if he planned to be gone long.
Roxas might’ve been out, but Ven was awake and upright in one of the chairs by the window, a large book laid out in his lap. He looked up at Axel’s approach and took his legs off the other char, making room for Axel to sit beside him. Axel was less than excited by the prospect of looking out over the parking lot, but Ven had made the effort and Axel could interpret the invitation for what it was, so he dropped his things onto the ground and snagged the chair to settle in and wait.
“Morning!” he said, leaning over to rummage in his bag for sketchbook and pencil. No sense in sitting idle, right? “Guess I’m a little earlier than planned, huh?”
“Aerith’s getting another scan, just to make sure the bone’s healed before the cast comes off,” Ven replied. Something in his tone made Axel look up and catch his eye. “I’m glad you’re here, though. I wanted a chance to talk in private.”
Axel stopped looking for his things and sat back in the chair, giving Ven a thoughtful look before nodding. “Figured you might, sooner or later,” he said. He waited for Ven to start, knowing that this had been a long time in coming, and knowing that it wasn’t going to be sunshine and daisies as they reminisced about the ‘good old days.’
“He’s 21, Axel,” Ven said, his voice laced with just a touch of sharpness. “You’re 27.”
“26,” Axel corrected, “and he’s an adult, capable of making his own decisions.”
Ven gave him a look, the same one Roxas used when Axel added hot sauce to french fries they’d agreed to share. “And you don’t think it’s... unusual for someone our age to be interested in someone who hasn’t even graduated school yet?”
Axel bit his lip, weighing his words before he spoke. “I think you’re not giving your brother enough credit,” he said at last, trying to soften it a bit. “You’ve been outta the loop for almost a year; Roxas has had to grow up pretty fast. I think you’d realize that if you just asked him. Have you? Asked him? What does he say about all of this?”
“He’s not in any condition to talk at the moment,” Ven said, waving aside that suggestion. “I plan to talk to him once they’ve lowered his pain meds. But you and I both know he’s not really mature or experienced enough to know the difference between a casual fling and something serious.”
Axel raised an eyebrow, tilting his head at that phrasing.
“You think I’ve just been playing with your brother? Is that what this is about? Because--and not that this is any of your business-- I’ve been pretty upfront with him from the get-go about what I wanted in the relationship.” Then it clicked, and he closed his eyes, briefly, before scowling at Ven. “Is the age thing what’s really bothering you? Or is it because we were friends first, and you’re angry that I got close to him, too?”
“Don’t be stupid,” Ven spat, but Axel could see the tension in Ven’s shoulders, and the thinning of Ven’s lips.
Axel leaned back, crossing his arms. He could push a little more, he knew; he’d always been good at reading his best bud in school. Better to ask about the elephant in the room, first, and they could work on the smaller complaints after that.
“Are you pissed he’s gay?” he asked.
“What? No!” snapped Ven, and that, at least, sounded genuine enough. Still, it had the desired effect. Ven sighed, forcing himself to relax more and fully explain. “I just feel like I don’t know you anymore, and what I remember from school isn’t the most… well, let’s just say I liked you as a friend, but you had a tendency to change interests pretty quickly.”
“Ok, first off, I was a teenager when we last hung out, so cut me some slack. So maybe I had a new date every month, I was young and impetuous and carefree. I was spreading my wings, looking for a good time and finding it.” He laughed, remembering some of the things he’d gotten up to that Ven wouldn’t have approved of-- probably not before he’d moved, and definitely not now as a cop. Then he shrugged, slouching further back into the chair.
“The old me would tell you that the new me is boring” he continued. “I have a good, steady job, I’ve been getting bigger in the local art scene, I make my rent on time, pay bills, I know how to cook more than cup noodles… basically, I’m an adult.” Axel’s smile slid into a smirk, and he lifted his eyebrow again. “You’d know that, too, if you’d made an effort to reconnect when you moved back to the city.”
“...that’s fair,” Ven said after a long minute, and he closed his eyes, rubbing a hand over his face as though he was trying to clear away what he wanted to say next. “I guess I just… didn’t know how. The last time I saw you, I was still angry about Reno. And then with everything going on at work, it didn’t seem like there’d be downtime, and that when there would be, it would’ve been awkward, given how long I’d waited. I dunno, it was a bunch of things, I guess. But mostly it was Reno, I think.”
“Yeah, I got that when you threw me out of the room that one time,” laughed Axel. That helped, the two of them laughing, and some of the tension left the room as they came to an unspoken truce of sorts. Axel shifted in his seat, managing a shrug, despite his slouched position.
“Look, I’ll admit that maybe we dove in the deep end and got in over our heads at the start, but I think we’re gonna try again and take things slower this time around.” He paused, remembering Ven’s earlier words, and grinned. “Ah, well, like you said, we’ll talk once he’s a little more coherent. I don’t think we should be planning much beyond dinner plans at this point, he won’t remember anything.”
They shared a chuckle over that, too, but Axel wasn’t quite done. He looked Ven in the eye, sitting up a bit straighter in the chair and crossing his arms, willing Ven to object. “That said, I like him, and frankly what we get up to is none of your business.”
Ven returned his gaze, unflinching, but in the end nodded once, apparently satisfied with that response. “I just don’t want him hurt,” Ven said at last.
Axel snorted, and leaned forward again to dig through his bag for supplies, conflict over. “That makes two of us.”
I know I’ve been quiet on here, but rest assured I’ve been hard at work getting stuff ready for the next big fic, The Oathkeeper’s Legacy. Last night, I officially finished the first draft of the outline! That means that I will begin writing the fic in full later this week (I have a few last-minute art obligations to finish first), and I hope to have the first chapter posted around the beginning of September. I’ve also already written the final scene because it’s easier to get the most difficult parts done first, right? lol
If this fic is anything like How The Light Gets In, the outline will inevitably change as I figure out more plot points and have more realizations along the way. That said, based on my current outline and best guess for the story, the fic will be about 25 chapters, and probably close to 150k words (or thereabouts). I’m going to try for shorter chapters to increase the release schedule, but we’ll see how it goes.
I’ve also gotten about half of Sound Bytes planned, although the events in TOKL will affect how that story ends, so I’ll hold off completing that outline for now.
I’ll try to update this blog with content like images, memes, and sneak peeks, but if there’s anything else you guys might like to see, my ask box is always open! :D
