Side-blog for a Kingdom Hearts Coded AU that got out of control. I go by Dakt and my main blog is here.
Forever under construction.
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What's come of the “Repliku and Xion team up to battle their way up 20-some floors of Castle Oblivion to let Namine out of her locked room” plotbunny since that post went up?
A lot of wandering rambles that I apparently sorted into list form at some point but then never posted??? But yes here is 2 pages about that:
At some point in the future, the full accounts of the events of CoM are remembered and written up by the Users. When they upload it to the Datascape, two things happen:
RI becomes aware of everything. Or, you know, like as much as someone who played the game would know. Both Sora and Riku’s sides.
Castle Oblivion un-glitches (mostly) and gets its two modes (Theatre and Free), including gaining citizens. Though there are only four. Two of which are only semi-citizens, which is technically a permanent minor glitch.
The second point has a several consequences:
Repliku and Xion, having both been “born” in Castle Oblivion IRL, are now no longer Hidden Data and are the two true, full citizens of that world. They appear in Vexen’s lab in the basement with all their memories of CoM/Days intact, and have no idea they are data people in a data world. (NOTE: This is the real data!Xion. The one from the previous adventure, the trojan horse program XI, is a fake. A fake of a fake of a fake. But they all still love(d) her.)
NAMI and ROX, the semi-citizens, get yanked into the Castle and visually re-set to how they looked in Coded. Namine appears in her room, which is locked from the outside. Roxas turns up in the main foyer of the ground floor. Mentally they are as they’ve been in the Datascape, but any extra abilities they’ve gained since Coded are locked out.
So the following things start happen simultaneously:
Repliku and Xion contrive to escape the castle. However, they can only get through floors by playing the card game like in CoM. For now I think it may still be that basement floors only have the worlds in Reverse-Rebirth available, but since data worlds evolve too, this may slowly start to change (above-ground floor world cards showing up in the basement, and vice versa). Also, since the nature of the Castle is to lose, find, and change, each floor gets re-set to blank as soon as the people who triggered a particular world-design leave. So every available world is available for every floor. If you really wanted to, you could just keep using the same world card over and over as you ascend floors. Until you get to the ground floor; then there might be some change-up of what cards you can use. Unless the whole Castle has evolved by then. This all makes sense in my head, I swear…
Namine tries to get out of her room. Failing that, she starts trying to rip the room apart, looking for a Backdoor or some way to communicate with RI and SO. Not that the former would really help, since without her Program abilities she can’t actually pass through Backdoors and leave the world. But she might not know that until she tries it.
Roxas… idek man. Maybe he goes up, maybe he goes down, maybe he leaves out the front door and explores the grounds. He wanders off until a more dramatic or hilarious way to run into someone else presents itself to me.
RI grabs SO and insists they need to go investigate Castle Oblivion. SO is briefly confused because that world is just a little glitchy three-room bungalow where nothing happens ever (three roome: the landing, the changeable floor, and the egg room). But RI is like “hello duh, new data, c’mon.” They tried to contact NAMI about the mission, but she didn’t answer. RI suspects she may have been warped to the Castle, because he just has weird intuition about the Datascape and how it might reconcile mechanistic incongruities. They get in at I guess the front lawn(?) and physically walk through the front door, then head up to look for NAMI.
And then:
RI and SO are very slow-moving because SO keeps triggering fights and looking for chests so they can collect more cards. I dunno that he actually has the Sora memories of this place from a first-person POV, but he picks up on the card and room mechanics just as quickly as Sora did in canon, and gets really into sleights and farming and treasure-hunting because well he does have Sora’s personality subroutines after all. RI is somewhat annoyed, but at the same time, the point is that it’s an exploratory mission so… whatever. They’re both worried about NAMI too but like… them and side-quests. You know.
Xion and Repliku are much more efficient, especially when they both realize there’s a possibility that Namine is in the building. Eventually they get to a floor where no new cards show up and they are very frustrated until one of them actually tries the door and finds it already unlocked. They’ve caught up with RI and SO.
And I guess Roxas shows up at some point too.
No one has to worry about Organization member boss fights either, which is nice.
Eventually some combination of them makes it to the attic and lets Namine out. Assuming she hasn’t found her way out already. There are a lot of ways this Scooby-Doo chase scene of an adventure could go, really.
Roxas and Namine might be a bit stuck until RI goes back to the Central Hub or Disney Castle or wherever their HQ is and figures out how to unlock all their Program permissions.
Xion and Repliku are like… stuck-stuck. Tbh I’d rather not make Repliku a Program? And Xion… idk let’s just leave her be for a while.
And way in the future:
If Xion DOES upgraded to Program status, she’ll have differently-colored detailing and a different symbol on her outfit than virus!XI did. Also different words forming her acronym. There is no active data on the previous XION Program (just surveillance video and a static memory files belonging to the other Programs), so it doesn’t interfere with her at all. And because her Program title is different, the computer doesn’t read “XION” meaning her as the same as “XION” meaning the virus. Though the other Programs (and maybe the Users?) might make up some kind of nickname for one or both of them so they know which one they’re speaking about.
Castle Oblivion was originally Eraqus’ house. In a hypothetical future where the BBS trio is saved and everyone lives happily ever after, they write stuff up about their home and upload it to the Datascape. At that point, data Castle Oblivion evolves into Land of Departure, because that’s the most “complete” blueprint of that world. Well, or maybe it’s like a mash-up of the two? Land of Departure, but there’s a floor or two and several rooms inside the main building that are specifically the Castle Oblivion versions. And when the BBS people become un-Hidden data, they’re also citizens of this world. So in any far-future adventures involving everyone being striped of their Program status, the people transported back to LoD will be: Eraqus, Aqua, Terra, Ven, Vanitas (I guess), Repliku, Xion, Namine, and Roxas.
Since KAI was the only one (???) that was upgraded from a data civilian, she could be like a representative for all the civilians. when the other programs do things that could effect the civilians she could tell them and make sure that the little people have a voice? The acronym I thought up was (K)own, non (A)utonomous, (I)ntelligence, (R)epresentative, (I)ndividual.
OKIE DOKIE. So this, as always, goes spiraling off onto a bunch of huge tangents, but it kind of needed to in order for me to figure out what KAI would actually do around here. Also I did that thing again where I basically just re-state parts of what you stated, but that’s how I convince myself that ideas make sense, s-sorry. I love you for giving me this springboard!! Warning: MASSIVE RAMBLE >n>
All the Programs are upgraded civilians; it’s just a matter of how long they were civilians before becoming Programs (for RI it was like… 15 seconds, pfft). But the “representative” thing still got me rolling, because I’ve been watching a lot of Star Wars lately, particularly prequel stuff. So a “voice for the people” immediately made me think about the Galactic Senate and evil dictators taking over, and I actually almost got slightly offended? XD But RI and SO, while the main caretakers of the Datascape, aren’t actually in charge of it. They don’t really dictate what happens to the people there; the Users do. RI and SO just fix things that break and clean up the mess. Any limits imposed on the citizens are due to the Users or the Datascape’s inherent programming, not RI and SO arbitrarily deciding who can do what. But then I was like… NAMI, tho. She is expanding the worlds. Would data citizens feel like they need a say in that? Would they even notice her doing it? How much are they even aware that they’re all data people in a data world?
I thought about it for a while and have come to the conclusion that it’s much more interesting if everyone in the Datascape eventually becomes more self-aware. They may not get the FULL scope of what their universe is, but many of the mechanics of it become more common knowledge. The Programs could work more directly with citizens to problem-solve and world-build, instead of having to sneak around all the time. But that in turn lead me to question why the worlds are even separated (which is a mechanic I’d like to keep for now, I just need to have a good reason why). In KH1, they kind of make a big thing of Sora’s quest being a “secret” (lol) mission because the worlds don’t know about each other and aren’t “supposed” to. But like… why, again? More importantly, does whatever that reason is that matter for the data worlds? I say no. The Datascape is a self-contained system. What harm could come from data Mulan popping over to the data Coliseum and pumping iron with data Herc? None, I say.
However, this hasn’t actually happened yet. Like data people, data worlds have a base programming that’s extremely difficult to change. That’s why Namine is simply adding stuff, rather than changing things that preexist. It’s akin to RI having to layer skins and abilities on top of his program, instead of adding them directly to his matrix. The Datascape is dictated by what is said in the Users’ writings, and the Users said the worlds are separated. Therefore everyone is stuck until they find workarounds. The kids who become Programs were able to modify their permissions because there is actually already world-hopping potential in their base programming, it’s just undeveloped. The more the User writings talk about them wandering around and affecting worlds, the easier it is to upgrade them.
While it’s true that several citizens have also been described as visiting multiple worlds IRL (like the FF people who lived in Traverse Town for a while), it’s still not much to work with. There simply isn’t enough info on them for their data to be complex enough to support an upgrade. The Datascape and its citizens need more time to evolve. Also, manually upgrading every single data citizen is completely impractical, probably impossible. It’s much easier (though still extremely difficult) to try to figure out how to make the worlds more accepting of each others’ citizens. That way you also don’t have to worry about Users dumping in new citizens now and then. Though they also then need to make channels between worlds that are safe and accessible to everyone. The current cytoplasm-esque “Backdoor Areas” that I have bullshitted into existence are much too dangerous for the average citizen to traverse, even assuming they would be able to get through the doors at either end (which they currently can’t). So basically that’s just one big ongoing project that the Programs are working on between major catastrophe plots. I imagine Traverse Town will be the first success, since it already has “accepting wayward people” in its nature. Followed I suppose by Radiant Garden.
MEANWHILE, and (FINALLY) on to the actual POINT… so the civilians know there are other worlds. They know that the Programs are travelers and builders who can help them expand and hopefully eventually explore. Most people don’t actually care too much; they’re just trying to live, man. But some are restless. And it’s important to at least have contact with your neighbors, even if you can’t actually see them yet. Supposedly some day you will; may as well make the transition a bit smoother right? But they can’t just conveniently all have access to communications terminals and start Skyping each other, because that’s boring and too convenient and also I say so. So how do you get a message across the spaces that only Programs can travel in? Well, you get a Program to carry it, of course!
So basically, KAI is a mailman. Wait no come back it’s still cool I swear! When she’s first upgraded, it’s because of a threat. So she does still have potential as backup security, it’s just not her main job anymore. She is primarily an ambassador of sorts, which imo goes really well with the whole “princess” thing, because it makes me think of Wonder Woman. But she’s not so much a “voice of the people to the overloads” as a “voice of the people to the other people.” She does bring questions, concerns, and requests from citizens to the other Programs, but it’s more akin to calling the maintenance department than to calling your local senator. RI is automatically aware of major problems in the Datascape, but they need someone like KAI to collect and organize more regular reports from various worlds so they can figure out what lower-priority things they need to address and in what order. Though she does also carry penpal-type letters between worlds, because it’s cute. In a way, she’s sort of taking on one of the job ideas I originally had for NAMI, which was essentially “reading RI’s mail for him” XD. But NAMI can stick to design and programming; that’s more in line with the type of creation her User counterpart did. Kairi was the one stuffing messages in bottles and sending them to people on other worlds.
Though with my earlier point about a few worlds opening up but Backdoor Areas being dangerous, KAI might also sometimes help AX* escort people across. Which is a neat merger of “delivery girl” and “bodyguard.” KAI is just a courier of all sorts of things, really.
(*Note: AX, or maybe LEA, whatever, is still stuck in the spaces between worlds, so his primary function is keeping those spaces clear. Both for specific travellers, and just generally whenever bug infestations start getting out of hand.)
This also kind of solves my recurring AU!Kairi conundrum of her always either disappearing, or shoehorning her way in unnaturally. With this job, KAI can pop up now and then, but also wander off for a while. But for a REASON. And with DOING THINGS. It gives her legitimate reasons for talking to the other characters, and things to talk ABOUT. Not that the Programs are always just work, work, work all the time. They’re like, 15. They go on “vacations” and just kinda hang out on various worlds together too. But I needed a better reason for upgrading KAI beyond “just to hang out.” Also I like that it puts her and AX in the same territory a lot. They have a fun dynamic and I do so enjoy shoving them together (platonically!!) in my AUs.
As a final note, I’m also attached to the mail idea for a really petty/silly reason. I designed her to have those hearts on her sleeves, and at one point iamxxcastingshadows designed this little logo-type thing for EMH:
It’s really cute to me to think that the envelope is KAI’s special flair. Citizens write their messages on whatever they have, but those items can’t actually traverse the spaces between worlds. So KAI first has to translate them to a more universal type of data, which manifests as those little envelopes. Which I imagine are black with glowing edges. Maybe she even has a little black-with-glowing-edges messenger bag :Dc All with the little glowing heart emblem, of course.
PS: I’d like to think some more about her acronym before deciding anything, but thank you for the suggestion.
(Aaaand now I’m laughing because I hopped onto google for something and noticed that today’s doodle is about the pony express. Perfect. :’D)
Hello! ^.^ Is Kairi going to get back in on the action now that you're rebooting (heh, pun) EMH? Also, idea for Namine's new name: Numerical Artisan in the Manufacturing of Information for the Natural Environment. ...Or is that too wordy?
*sweats*
Honestly? Way back in the beginning, I kinda only added Kairi because I felt obligated to feel bad that she gets left out a lot. But I just find her really uninspiring, especially in this context. As evidenced by the fact that I couldn’t even think of a real job for her that wasn’t redundant to what SO already has covered. Like, AX is also security, but he brings a bunch of bizarre twists to the table. Kairi is just kind of there.
As for NAMI, the acronym I have for her in the quickguide is actually the new one, and I prefer to stick with it for now. Necessary Abilities Management and Improved eNvironment Expansion. It’s a bit cheater-y with the second N, but tbh the bad pun in the fact that “environment” literally sounds like N-vironment” really delights me. Also I’m just really determined to keep the word “Necessary” in there. Namine is so very necessary to me. Thank you for taking the time to brainstorm one though C:
And speaking of brainstorming, like feel free to drop some Kairi ideas on me if you want. I have no problem ripping that carpet out and replacing it. But I’m warning you that I don’t think the Sora-Riku-Kairi trio is ever really going to be a huge thing here, at least not nearly to the extent that one might expect. Honestly I consider RI, SO, and NAMI to be the main trio of this AU.
I know I’m free to rip out the carpet of my AUs and replace it with hardwood floors whenever I feel like it, but honestly trying to reconcile arbitrary factoids I’ve already put in place with new ideas often spawns even BETTER ideas.
For example, rambling to myself over the past few days has turned up such plot bunnies as: “There are multiple XION Programs,” “data Seasalt Family except they’re all the same age,” and “Repliku and Xion team up to battle their way up 20-some floors of Castle Oblivion to let Namine out of her locked room.”
Near the beginning of the escort mission, RI and ANSEM have their hoods up and User Sora doesn’t really get that they’re actually characters who also happen to be arks. He thinks they’re just semi-personified data stuffed in a coat in order to be mobile (so more akin to the brooms in Sorcerer’s Apprentice).
RI is used to letting SO take point in a fight, plus the whole point is that Sora is their security escort. So any time any danger pops up along the way, he instinctively sidesteps slightly to get closer to or even a bit behind Sora. User Riku and Kairi are watching on the monitor, and after two or three instances of this, one of them (probably Riku, for the irony) makes the comment, “Aw, Sora, I think he likes you!” Hur hur. And RI is half embarrassed, and half like
A five-page ramble, condensed to one. I still feel self-conscious of the length enough to use a cut, though.
Some world-building facts:
Data worlds have two modes: theatre mode and free mode.
All true data-people who have Minds (the data equivalent of Hearts) and are developing AI have one world which is their homeworld. They are considered “citizens” of that world.
Only true citizens of a world can access free mode of that world. Consequently, citizens are confined to their homeworld in free mode. They may still appear in theatre mode of other worlds, though.
Exception: Data-people who have been manually upgraded to Program status by Users or other Programs can go wherever they please. Including the spaces between and underneath data worlds, such as Backdoor Areas, System Sectors, and the Central Hub.
Exception #2 is the world that acts as the Datascape’s recycle bin. Anyone can get chucked in there.
Data-Sora is a citizen of the Destiny Islands. This is why he was able to chill there between canon and this AU’s first adventure (when he gets modded to Program status and becomes SO) without being stuck in a theatre mode loop.
Generally, Nobodies are not recognized by the Datascape as true data-people. They are not citizens of anywhere, and have no Minds. They can never access any free mode, and don’t grow AI. They exist solely as theatre mode actors.
The exceptions, of course, are Namine and Roxas. For all the usual “they’re special” reasons. They are citizens of Castle Oblivion, but that world is still corrupted so they didn’t actually have a free mode. Data-Namine was upgraded to NAMI almost immediately after being recovered from the recycle bin world though, freeing her to go wherever. Data-Roxas was basically just dormant until someone thought to go look for him.
The World That Never Was appears because it is discussed in the KH2 Journal. However, it is the Nobody equivalent of a world. No one is a citizen of it. Programs can access a free mode, but nothing ever happens there aside from the occasional appearance of bug blox, monstery nobodies, and heartless due to glitches. It’s creepy and no one likes going there.
Okay these are getting to big for comfortable bullet points.
The Journal & Datascape know all, even when they don’t consciously know that they know. Secret feelings, intentions, and memories seep into written accounts from their authors, and get extracted to the Datascape as Hidden Data. The process for discovering and recovering Hidden Data is different every time. The true data-person versions of Namine, Roxas, Lea, Xion, Aqua, Ventus, Terra, and Repliku (because fuck the writers for acting like he never happened!! HE COUNTS AS A HURT, DAMNIT.) are all Hidden Data. They have been observed by data-Sora and User Mickey, but so far only Namine and Roxas have been properly recovered.
All this is why AXEL is a wall/hologram. He is a glitch. Data from the KH2 Journal and the Dream Journals became entangled and tried to overwrite itself, due to reading data-Axel and data-Lea as the same entity. The unextractable nature of data-Axel corrupted data-Lea and caused their fused form to only be semi-extractable. Additionally, the fact that Lea is originally from Radiant Garden became Hidden Data when Lea uploaded his Dream Journal. So in theory, Lea’s body COULD be extracted from Radiant Garden eventually, but the data revealing his presence there is Hidden. Therefore his model is Hidden. So for now, AXEL exists as a wall between the Datascape render and the Void. Though his hologram can wander around the cytoplasm-esque Backdoor Areas between actual worlds and... himself.
sorry for the crappy camera quality. i was inspired by mainly this post and i thought ‘what other bad pickup lines would SO use?’ and then this happened
A huge swath of one of the data worlds get corrupted and obliterated due to an attack or massive glitch. All the civilians were evacuated in time, but the landscape is now just a blank void. Worlds get built up automatically when new Journal data is first added, but after that time any major re-building needs to be done manually.
Cue epic sequence of RI skating around in a martial arts style dance of creation, pouring blueprint data into the ground and breathing life back into the world. At first just slow, deliberate motions to cast out lines of code as criss-crossing webs, which spill out is if over invisible blocks to create skeletal structures. Then increasingly fast, sweeping motions as textures and colors flow out of every step he takes, chasing the code. Foliage blossoms out of the ground, lakes fill with the flick of a hand, buildings and mountains erupt beneath his feet and carry him up to smear clouds and stars across the sky, all as SO watches on in boggled awe. And at the end, RI is all riled up and overheated. But literally, like a laptop with a broken fan, because he pushed too hard. He could’ve built it back more slowly, or in chunks at a time, but he was having too much fun and got lost in it. He laughs apologetically and buries his overwarm face in SO’s neck, then passes out into Lock Mode to recover.
So if everyone including the simulation characters is becoming an AI in their own right, and the worlds are also growing and becoming more comprehensive models, then the Journal is probably gonna start running out of "pages" quick. Maybe they'd end up having to borrow some server space in the Grid to allow for expansion. Which could give an excuse for more crossover fun :D (sorry i can't seem to keep my hands out of your sandbox :P)
Noooo don’t ever apologize for playing in sandboxes with me, especially this one!! Bless you for reading that whole ramble :’)
Also I’m slapping myself across the face with a rubber trout because OF COURSE. RI’s most major Thing in this ‘verse is all the troubles and inconveniences caused by not having enough space due to increasing amounts of data. He can tweak stuff and free up some space on his own or with NAMI’s help, but they’re both ingenues, really. But who IS experienced and powerful enough to give the Programs a major tune-up? The TRON folks. THAT’S WHY RI AND ANSEM WERE OVER THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE, AND WHY USER SORA HAD TO ESCORT THEM HOME. *slap slap slap*
But that’s just the blueprint and record-keeping data. All the actual renders and stuff take up WAY more room/power. So yeah they def can’t stay on Mickey’s desktop forever. At the very least they’d need to start filling a room in Disney Castle with servers for them. If they don’t just up and bring the whole kit’n’caboodle to Radiant Garden to semi-connect it to the Grid. Real-life escort mission! :U That’d be a hell of a gummi flight. Be careful, you have a literal universe worth of cargo back here!
I was considering that the data characters don’t actually have bodies underneath their clothes at first. So like RI couldn’t unzip his coat, and Sora couldn’t take off his jacket. There would just be voids underneath. So when coding outfit skins, it really is full a neck-to-toes render that has to account for both where literal clothes are, and where the “clothes” are seen as flesh. But hunting around for existing skins that have all the bits of exposed body they want in order to build new skins is a pain. So they decide that first things first, they need to figure out how to modify their base programming so they have a full body shape, which they can then use as a base for building skins (including “painting-on” flesh where they want it). The bodies are completely black at first, because it’s the simplest render.
They end up really liking the freedom of movement, both literally and from a data point of view. The less complex the character render, the faster and more smoothly it can load and move about. They eventually add the colored trim and other details, mostly just cuz they look sweet and don’t take much more power to render. So the catsuits become their default outfits, because they are the most efficient skin. Even appearing buck-ass nude would take more power, because of all the textures you need to simulate skin and body hair and stuff.
They briefly look into making clothes simply objects they can interact with, starting with RI’s coat. Which is why you can sometimes see him running around in his finished catsuit but with the coat over top, unzipped different amounts. But man, why go through the hassle of physically putting on and taking off clothes, when you can just slap your chest and apply a skin? Besides, full skins come with that benefit of being able to hold abilities. So ultimately the catsuits are their base, default forms, and everything else is a skin applied on top. Except Riku’s coat—that’s just an object now. Which, full disclosure, he only put back on because he was worried about what User Sora would think of him when they first meet during the escort mission. I mean he’s not only a weird little clone of Sora’s best friend, he’s been modified with eyes that some Users report as being “creepy.” So he keeps the coat zipped and hood up until ANSEM’s teasing and Sora’s… Sora-ness convince him to open it. But since it’s an object, he still has to haul it around until they get back to the Datascape proper.
Also since I am addicted to fabulous costume changes, I figure that once they really get the hang of making skins, they start making different outfits for different worlds so they blend in better. Sometimes you just wanna visit a world as a civilian to hang out, y’know? (But everyone else is programmed to not notice the facial oddities ;P) It’s just always annoyed me a bit that very few Disney characters in KH ever mention how absolutely ridiculous and out-of-place the KH characters look. Like I know that conversation would get real old real quick, but still. “Ah yes, a child in red parachute pants and giant, monstrous animals. Seems legit.” May as well at least put on some more "normal"-looking clothes depending on where you're going, right?
As a final note — just a point of interest, really — this whole “skins” thing occurred to me because of data!Riku’s reveal in the game. It seemed pretty overdramatic to do the whole fancy-pants digital removal of his hood, instead of just reaching up and pulling it off. But then I was like… maybe he literally can’t just pull it off. Maybe “hood-up Riku” and “hood-down Riku” are two different models, and he had to swap between them. Not saying that’s actually true for canon, just that it’s a mechanic I’m using for this AU that’s “supported” by some canon events.
I'mma drag'n'drop this ask over here, since I have a side blog and all now B)
adisagestar said:
maybe they have to change their models to the catsuit + reduced facial features version b/c otherwise it interferes with the information in the journal? like, they have to be noticeably distinct from the versions of them who lived the journal events, because if they don't then the journal will read them as players in the simulations instead of programs and they won't be able to view a simulation without changing it. (which would also mean that the simulated enemies could hurt them probably...)
I am not asserting that any of the following is canon. It’s purely how I’m choosing to re-interpret some events for the purpose of framing this AU. tl;dr Yes, but I had to talk myself through some stuff to get there. And by some I mean a butt-ton because I like the sound of my own voice.
Humm, I’m not sure. But your idea does actually bring up a really interesting and rather big question I’ve been meaning to make myself think through at some point, which is “what are the worlds really like in the Datascape these days?”
Originally, the data worlds were supposed to purely be 3D reproductions of the events chronicled in the Journal. The Users could watch them from angles that flat writing couldn’t provide, and look for clues. Because magic and also shut up. But then the bugs came, and corrupted the stories. But instead of acting like broken animatronics that just repeat themselves and move in circles, the data people reacted to the bugs. True that the way they handled it made the stories still play out in very similar ways to KH1, but that’s because that’s all the personality the Journal could offer them at the time. How would Aladdin react to a monster threat? Uh, well, I know how he reacted to Heartless, so I guess he’s do the same thing? Etc.
Mickey et al continued to mess with the stories by altering data!Sora, giving him his powers and knowledge early. He evolved into a true AI, gaining a real Keyblade and all. When the Journal was reset, the theory is that he would’ve gone back to just being an actor in the grand data play, moving in the same patterns laid out for him by the text and simply re-creating events of KH1 for Users to watch. However, they pulled him out AGAIN, and the whole Castle Oblivion fiasco proved that he still had feelings from his previous adventure. He was still an AI, and was permanently modified to the point that (given the chance) he might start reacting differently during stories, changing the scenarios.
So my theory is thus: ALL the data people are slowly evolving into true AI. When Sora isn’t on a world, does that world stop moving? No. The characters are developing their own AI, and start bumping into each other and writing new stories. They might need upgrades in order to do things like age or have children, though. And it takes them a lot longer than SO and RI to build up personality subroutines, since there is less info on them to start with. So it may be a little Pleasantville on the worlds for a while, with people very prone to routines. But they’re not just replaying KH1 over and over and over. The world itself has evolved too, and starts spitting new day-to-day occurrences at the citizens for them to react to. But it’s a complex and brand-new process, so there’s bound to be bumps and glitches and thing the citizens can’t handle by themselves. So that’s what SO and RI do all day, basically. They watch over the worlds and facilitate their growth.
Is there still a "theatre mode" where everyone snaps back to their original programming and runs through the KH1 stories like a play? I guess there could be. And once the Users are done watching and exit it, everyone goes back to "free mode" exactly where they left off, as if there wasn’t just a hiccup in time. Only the Programs ever know the real time relative to the User world anyway.
So… yeah, maybe you’re right. Maybe, since the KH1 scenarios are all dependant on the arrival of Sora, SO keeps triggering theatre mode when he tries to visit worlds. He snaps into actor mode too, and can’t deviate at all from the story because his AI is being muted. Once he gets off-world at the end, he snaps back and is like “wtf just happened, I tried to walk through this Backdoor to a world but suddenly I’m turned around as if I just walked out of it…??” And RI is just facepalming back at their HQ, pfft. But they discover that RI can go pretty much anywhere and be in free mode. At first they just think it’s because he IS the Journal, like an omnipotent god that can do whatever he wants in the world he created, but soon they realize it’s because he wasn’t part of the KH1 scenarios on most of the worlds. And even in the ones he was in, he’s not using the correct model for the computer to register him as KH1 Riku and trigger theatre mode. So they start looking into modifying SO’s appearance too so he can go to free mode. Still not 100% why they go for black sclera and no ears beyond “cuz it looks funky” but… whatever. It looks funky is enough reason for me. And KH, tbqh. What is the point of 99% of those zippers and belts? Looks funky.
PPFBT and I suppose since the Programs ARE free-range free agents, a User might have to verbally convince them to go to a world so they can watch through a scenario. “Computer, bring up theatre mode for Hollow Bastion” “Fuck off, we’re busy.” “>:O”
Wait… piss. I just wrote myself into a corner again. I assert that by the time this AU is kicking off, the Users have also uploaded the KH2 Journal (and some writing about Dream Drop Distance). That would give them access to the scenarios and therefore the character models for KH2-sized everyone. Maybe they… *throws a bunch of straws into the air* ...maybe it’s just they... *starts grasping at them* ...they can’t extract the models from the scenarios yet. They snap into the KH2 models when put through theatre mode, but their base programming in free mode is still just the KH1 models. Which they haven’t been able to figure out how to modify the proportions of yet.
I just really want them to stay in the cute KH1 models okay ;n;
In the end, this is actually the best format. The first 11 million panels are just an extended technobabble conversation that only matters if you really dig my Coded AU. For most of you, I’m sure the schmoopy pun ending is all you really need ;D
If you do dig that AU though, here’s a bit MORE technobabbling:
*squints* Or does data Sora not remember meeting data Riku in Castle oblivion? Well. Either way. He probably immediately starts babbling at Riku about his adventure when they get back to the Islands, and Riku admits some half-truths about how he knows about the worlds and Mickey and stuff. He leaves out the whole “I’m a Journal” thing and all the adventures Sora can’t remember though, because. Uh. He’s Riku idk. Sora is already stuffed with hurt, he doesn’t need more things to worry about. Riku contents himself with helping Sora by letting him babble and vent and tell him about Namine and whatnot. And they have disgustingly adorable conversations about how Sora’s gunna take him on a trip to see Traverse Town and the other worlds he feels must be out there… when he figures out how he got to it in the first place. Maybe not Castle O though. That place was creepy. And Riku’s just like “that sounds amazing, I can’t wait C: (I am not telling you how to get off this island yet dude you need a damn vacation).”
Footnote, there IS a data Kairi but she’s just start-of-KH1 Kairi and is just like “pft yeah SURE okay” when Sora talks about his adventure, because like no time passed to her so from her POV it’s impossible that he could’ve wandered off to other worlds and had elaborate adventures, most of which he can’t even remember. She assumes he’s playing a game, or describing a dream. And Riku’s like “dude let it go for now, if something else happens she’ll believe you later. Let’s just play tag? ;^;” because he also just wants a damn vacation, baw.
Re-watching Coded has made me want to overhaul my Coded AU a bit. Or rather, create a segue story between canon and the AU. Much of it is redundant, both to canon and many of the posts I’ve made about the AU already, but this is KH. Recycling plots is like, required amirite.
I’ll try to add a cut because it’s like 4 pages long. Apologies to anyone it doesn’t work for. J key will let you hop past the post on your dash.
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