Hello! How fun that KH OC Week is finally here! Actually, even though I've known about it since it started, I've never actually taken part in it. But I'm trying it! I'm trying so hard! I've been writing for a very long time, but only started dabbling in KH-related stuff because of @hinataoc. My characters were really originally mostly made to help support her characters and her stories, but the ol' writing bug would bite me every here and there and eventually I started writing little stories and adventures of my own for them. I've got a few now, but this week I think I'll just focus on the two OCs that started this journey for me. So... uh, here we go.

Day 1: Introductions

◾Tell us about your OC!

To start off my first OC Week, I’d like to introduce two of my characters - Velcia and Velcia! …Wait, what?

Yes, I’m afraid that it may seem a bit confusing at first. Both characters share the same name and very similar appearances, but they are in fact very different people! So let me introduce them both and tell you a bit about each one.

First, credit to the amazing @amyhayanora for the wonderful art of these two for me! She did such a good job of bringing them to life.

Now, to get started! On the left we have the first “Velcia”, who lived in Daybreak Town as a Keyblade Wielder up until the Keyblade War.

KHx-Era Velcia:

Her true name is “Valencia Florere”, but when she arrived in Daybreak Town all alone at the age of 3 years old she was unable to pronounce her own name properly. Nobody in Daybreak Town could have known otherwise, and so her mispronunciation “Velcia” was how she was known. For just this one introduction, I’ll use her ‘real name’, though don’t expect her to recognize it!!

As a toddler, Valencia was rescued from the Lanes Between Worlds by The Master of Masters, who did not deem fit to provide to anyone else an explanation of how she ended up there. Not having the faculty to raise a babbling baby, The Master of Masters created a digital data world modeled after Enchanted Dominion. This snippet of a world was completely devoid of danger, and it was here that Valencia was raised alongside a digital Aurora by the Good Fairies.

Pleasant and peaceful though it was, being raised by digital facsimiles of real people does tend to leave one a little odd, and by time Valencia was old enough to leave this fictional nursery she was quite an odd girl indeed.

Shy, awkward, and almost entirely lacking in social skills, Valencia was nonetheless an aspiring artist who quickly honed her craft as she worked to document as many Wielders and events in Daybreak Town as she could as a sort of reclusive self-styled historian. Her fingers and hands usually have pencil smears on the sides from all her drawing. She does wipe them off constantly, but she’s also drawing constantly so it’s a bit of a self-defeating endeavor.

She doesn’t try to be annoying or obnoxious but has a vague sense that there are things that she does that bother other people that she can’t really seem to change. This leaves her with a bit of a lack of confidence, but she’s always so eager to learn more and add more things to her books she pushes past her awkwardness anyway. 

Poor Valencia is terrible at fighting and quite a pushover, who did her best to stick to the periphery and hope nobody would notice her working quickly to sketch them into one of her many books. It wasn’t until she finally met a young man named Balthazar that she was really able to find a stable friend and companion. 

Valencia found she had a strong affinity for the World of Olympus, dearly loving everything about it. Of all the Projected Worlds, Olympus was where she spent the most time and as soon as she was able she bought a set of Olympian Robes from the Moogle in Daybreak Town; but stuck to wearing her more familiar boots, pants, and other various accessories. She didn’t know what her true homeworld was supposed to be, but she hoped beyond hope it could be Olympus.

The events leading up to the Keyblade War were nearly as devastating to Valencia as the War itself, and during the war she was struck with what should have been a fatal blow and left for dead - but a very odd thing happened. An unusual Heartless appeared on the battlefield and whisked her away from the chaos, bringing her to Olympus and healing her before ultimately being destroyed.

Now living on the world of her dreams, Valencia eventually managed to put the traumas of her past behind her and start a family. Her now-powerless Keyblade and the name “Velcia” were both passed down through the generations, and each time one “Velcia” passed away the next-born daughter received the name and the heirloom Keyblade, and after some time that brings us to…

KHII-Era Velcia

Velcia Anthes, daughter of Hephestus and Ioanna Anthes, was raised in Thebes as a Potion-Maker and Alchemist by her father after her mother mysteriously vanished when she was two years old. Named after her Keyblade-Wielding Ancestor from her mother’s side, Velcia received the Heirloom Keyblade and grew up hearing stories of wielders from her grandmother and marveling at the tales.

Coming from a family of scholars on her father’s side, Velcia is keenly interested in learning everything she can about the fundamentals of both magic and potion-making; and her devotion to learning magic hit an all-time high after her father and cousin were killed by Vanitas during the events of KH:BBS. 

After this, she was taken in by her aunt and uncle who helped her to stay strong and focus on her studies as they worked together to overcome the pain of losing their loved ones. Thanks in no small part to their support and the integrity of her father, Velcia is kind, graceful, and has every bit of the elegance that her KHx-era ancestor lacked; but most of all she is driven and determined to help anybody she can, especially if it means they can avoid the sorts of losses she dealt with growing up.

Thanks to time spent participating in events at the Coliseum when she was younger, Velcia combined her effective if rudimentary physical fighting skills with her growing array of spells to become a competent red mage who was very confident in her magic abilities. In her mid-twenties during the events of KHII, Velcia thought that her life as a potion-maker was perhaps all she would ever be.

One fateful day she meets a visitor from another world named Samantha, and almost the next thing Velcia realizes she’s being asked to come use her magical powers and knowledge to help Sam and Hinata chase down a dangerous Replica called Thaanix. This, it turns out, is only the start of her adventures…

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That’s about it for my introductions! I will include answers for both Velcias going forward for the rest of the week, but will likely have more information and pictures posted for the Modern-Era Velcia as I have more stories and art for her. Truth be told, the picture above is really the only proper picture of KHx-Era Velcia I have! Thank you for reading these little bits about my characters, I really hope you’ve enjoyed them.

Anyone who would like to read any of the stories I've written can find them either on my AO3, or on @hinataoc's Fanfiction.net page (which also has a plethora of other very good stories by her that you should check out). Archive of our Own Fanfiction.net

Little late in the day, but better late than never? Anyway, on to Day 2! Day 2: New World ◾What would it be like if your OC visited a world they'd never seen before? As I did for Day 1, today I'll have short bit about both Velcia (KHx-Era) and her eventual descendant, Velcia ("Modern" KH Era).

KHx-Era Velcia:

For the KHx-Era Velcia, the experience of truly visiting a new world is rather more muddied. Daybreak Town is not her true homeworld, and although she does not remember much aside from fleeting memories of her true home she is never able to to really shake the fact that she isn’t quite in the right place. Further complicating her perspective is the fact that, as a Wielder of Daybreak Town, she has visited many of The Master of Master’s Projected Worlds created by the Book of Prophecies. While she still finds each new world to be incredible in its own right, it isn’t until she finally ends up in the true world of Olympus that she learns how much more satisfying the real thing can be. And so, in the end, her reaction to visiting an entirely new world really changes depending on where she is in her life. Prior to the Keyblade War, any new world would be met with the same drive and determination to learn and document everything she can. She is driven to see things, draw them, to learn more or less how it is and how it works, before bustling off to take one more little nibble off the plate of infinity that is the unknown.

After the Keyblade War, after the horrors and dust have settled and she’s begun to adjust to life in her new world, however, little Velcia’s frenetic nature would come to focus into something more personal and passionate. Though she’s unlikely to ever become a people-person, her relationships with the people she sees and the world around her would grow to have a much slower pace and a deeper appreciation. If she were to visit a new world at this point, her countless stacks of pages covering a large range of topics would be replaced with more neat and organized subjects of considerably greater depth, and her focus would be to learn and find the heart of what makes each place uniquely special.

KHII-Era Velcia:

The first new world Velcia gets to visit and really truly explore is Eos. Coming from Olympus, a world with nearly no technology, she finds herself constantly impressed and amazed by the marvelous machines and society that they have built. Despite this, she finds herself more engrossed in learning as much as she can about the properties of magic on this world and devotes much of her time to learning the fundamental construction of several Lucian Spells - even on other worlds, her thirst for knowledge and love of learning are hard to set aside. The first several New Worlds she visits are during her travels with Hinata. Velcia grew up hearing quite a bit about the “World Order” (Or at least, an approximation thereof), but her understanding of this is put into a bit of a conflict by the requirements of their mission. Velcia does her best to respect each world, though ultimately tries to defer to the decisions made by DiZ or Hinata in most cases.

Having very highly attuned magic senses, Velcia comes to find that the way she remembers each world best is by the unique sorts of magic each world is imbued with - much like some may remember a location, food, or event by the smell, sounds, or flavors. The base magical elements of each world are similar, but the way these elements are used by the locals is seldom the same from one world to the next; and learning about these is generally her favorite part.

Being a potion-maker by trade, she also finds herself very interested in each world’s local plant life and other sorts of materials that are naturally saturated with magic properties, or those that can be imbued easily with it. It takes some time for the notion to come to her, but she does eventually start trying to collect especially interesting or unique plants or seeds from worlds when she finds she has the time or opportunity. Someone, someday, is going to need to have a discussion with Velcia to teach what an ‘invasive species’ is. Also, I have this picture from a few years back of this Velcia wearing the outfit she got when she traveled to Eos for the first time. This picture was commissioned for me as a present, and was created by an artist called Benvey.

I almost can't believe @khoc-week Day 7 is here already. But it is! Day 7: Happily Ever After

◾What awaits your OC at the end of their journey?

KHx-Era Velcia:

In the stories told thus far, the KHx-Era Velcia’s ending has many known key facts - that she is rescued from the Keyblade War, starts a family, and passes down her now-powerless Keyblade as an heirloom.

There is more to her story, though. Her first several years on Olympus are spent working through the pain and trauma of the war as she comes to terms with it all, and though she finds herself on the world of her dreams there is a part of her that always feels missing. Despite this, she is able to grow past these struggles.

KHx Velcia’s story is one of healing, growth, and finding peace. A girl who’s never felt as though she belonged anywhere or with anyone finding her forever home, learning how to make herself work as a person, and eventually learning that not all of her sacrifices were in vain. It is much too early yet to reveal anything of her eventual spouse, but this relationship ultimately brings a completion to her heart and helps inspire their future generations.

KHII-Era Velcia:

Velcia’s life is peppered with tragedies and difficulties that leave her struggling with loneliness, insecurities, and misconceptions about herself and the kind of life she will be able to have - but these difficulties are not her destiny. Though her stories are still being planned, and written, and written again, my hope is that her character arc can be positive and fulfilling. 

I don’t want to give away too much of my plans for the end of her journey, but what I will say is that Velcia will succeed, and that her struggles help to fuel the growth she needs to ultimately earn herself the sort of life she didn’t dare to dream of as a humble alchemist of Thebes.

Artwork!

At a point in her journey, a form of the “Modern” Velcia is able to meet with her KHx-Era Ancestor and in that short time their hearts form a powerful bond. After this meeting, the “Modern” Velcia finds that the power of a living Keyblade has awoken within her heart, and her ancestor’s ancient heirloom Divine Rose takes a new form known as “Love’s Inheritance”. Though this is not the end of either of their journeys, this bond between them and this Keyblade are instrumental stepping stones towards both of their “Happily Ever Afters”.

This particular piece of art is done, yet again, by the wonderful @amyhayanora, and it’s one that I’ve greatly admired for some time now. It depicts the “Modern” Velcia holding her new Keyblade, Love’s Inheritance, and if there is anything that I feel perfectly captures the loving, peaceful grace that is the future for her it is this picture.

Yowza! Coming in late after a long day is my sort-of-short Day 6 response for @khoc-week.

Day 6: One Choice, New Life

◾Is there a choice that changed the course of your OC's life? How would things look if they had chosen differently?

KHx-Era Velcia:

Unfortunately I still have very little actually written for this Era’s Velcia, and something of this nature is bound to have a much better answer further down the road as I explore her story more thoroughly. Much of her life has been mostly beyond her control and she has found herself to generally be rather reactionary - but her decision to befriend Balthazar and truly invest in that friendship ultimately is responsible for the chain of events that lead to her eventually escaping the Keyblade War and coming to live in Olympus. Without this relationship, there would be no happy ending for her - and there would be no other Velcia for me to speak of.

On that note -!

KHII-Era Velcia:

There are two major decisions that changed Velcia’s life:

First, her decision to go help Hinata and Sam track down Thaanix. This decision led her to an adventure and a journey the likes of which she’d only ever heard of in stories from her family. This adventure helps to teach her to start overcoming her fears and misconceptions, and is the first time she begins to start truly making the kinds of close friendships she has always desired. If she had not gone it is likely she would have stayed on Olympus her entire life, making potions and living by herself. Her nights would be spent alone on her balcony, gazing wistfully at the stars, and wondering what lies out among them….

Day 5 already! It's been so cool to see what everybody has been posting for @khoc-week.

Day 5: Light or Darkness

◾What does your OC align with?

KHX-Era Velcia:

KHx-Era Velcia’s opinions of Light vs Darkness are complicated, but she is herself a Wielder of Light through and through. Her view of the Light vs Darkness is somewhat unformed and naive, and first seeing only the black-and-white picture of good vs evil and Wielder vs Heartless, before finding friends that use Darkness for good and discovering that the Reverse Medals provided to the Wielders of Daybreak Town harness Dark Magic for good. She ultimately finds a small amount of amused satisfaction at the irony of being able to use Reverse Medals, which generally were adorned with depictions of “Bad Guys”, to do good things.

After the Keyblade War, her opinions were further confused - the overwhelming Darkness that destroyed everyone she’d ever known would have been a clear damnation of Darkness to her, if not for the fact that she was saved from this very war by an unusual Heartless. Despite this, encounters with or memories of Darkness would invariably haunt her with memories of the final days of Daybreak Town and though she would understand that there are caveats, she would generally wish to have nothing to do with Darkness at all.

KHII-Era Velcia:

Having both seen and suffered terrible losses from the destruction of Darkness, both by Heartless and Dark-aligned Keyblade Wielders, Velcia is firmly set to doing everything she can to help fight against the Darkness and protect others from the damage it can cause. She is, however, vehemently opposed to the Heartless and the dark Keyblade Wielders who would use their powers to hurt others - an opposition so deeply rooted that she can lose sense of her own self-preservation should the situation grow too desperate.

However, Velcia understands that not all that is darker is Darkness; and sometimes these black magics and spells can be put to good use to help in places or ways that may not be possible otherwise. So, while she generally has a great distaste for using them, she makes sure to keep well-versed in and capable of using a variety of Dark Magic spells should the need ever arise. 

An interesting example of this holistic approach to magic comes from Velcia’s ability to invert spells. This is not an inherent ability that comes without effort to her, rather, her understanding of the fundamental nature of the magic energies and construction of the enchantments allows her to change aspects of the spell to reverse this effect. For example, Velcia is able to invert a healing spell like “Cura” and instead cast a “Decay” spell, which as the name suggests causes the target to begin to rapidly degrade and break down. This particular example is, of course, a rather horrifying sort of spell and not something she casts unless left very little other choice against creatures like the Hydra. These inverted spells can sometimes have effects that are very similar to those produced by spells of Dark Magic, but are not fueled by darkness and can avoid some of the pitfalls of using Dark Magic at the general trade-off of differing effectivity.

Also this week, I'd like to share another piece of art commissioned for me by an old friend! The artist is named Enmoire, and I actually loved it so much we got it printed on a canvas to hang on my wall IRL.

Here we go again, time for Day 3 for Velcia (KHx) and Velcia (KHII-Era)! 

Day 3: Friends or Lovers

◾Is your OC paired with someone? Who is important to them?

KHx-Era Velcia:

Owing to her own strange circumstances, upbringing, and the generally peculiar nature of her personality, KHx-Era Velcia had quite a few acquaintances and many touch-and-go friendships, but it wasn’t until she met a young man named Balthazar that she was able to find any real stable connection to someone else in Daybreak Town. Reserved and a bit odd in his own right, Balthazar was nonetheless capable in many ways that Velcia wasn’t and was very unaffected by her many more intrusive personal behaviors and habits that some considered a little harder to deal with. The two are the best of friends and inseparable - and each of their unique circumstances and the unfortunate carnage of the Keyblade War means that they have very little interest or capability to evolve their relationship further than that.

While the existence of her KHII-Era descendant does of course rather singularly assure that this hapless KHx-Era Velcia is eventually able to make a proper romantic connection and start a family of her own on Olympus, there is currently no information to be found as to the identity of her eventual sweetheart. (Though it is something that will absolutely be covered in a future story down the line)

KHII-Era Velcia:

When Velcia was young, she had several friends in Thebes but was closest with her cousin, Denerre. As she grew older, her Grandmother began to tell her of their family’s history and along with these stories came a very unexpected insistence that Velcia was not truly a part of Olympus or its people, and that she was meant to be greater than them. This sort of self-important mindset shocked the young girl, and it was one she and her father soundly rejected, but regardless the thought persisted in Velcia’s head that she did not belong. Passive-aggressive comments from her Grandmother both about and in some cases directly towards Velcia’s friends led her to eventually withdraw mostly to herself and keep her friendships private; though her hardy cousin Denerre was fine to shrug off the abuse and stick by Velcia’s side.

After tragedy struck and Velcia lost both her father and cousin during the events of KH:BBS, Velcia (14 at the time) began to live with her Uncle and Aunt and after some particularly cruel and manipulative comments from her grandmother she distanced herself from this poor influence. These cruel sentiments stuck with her all the same, and going forward Velcia found herself too afraid of losing others to be able to entertain relationships on any deeper level. While she would make a great many friends at the University where she and her Uncle studied, these friendships would generally fizzle out as her friends would move on to other things. Of course, it should come then as no surprise that the idea of becoming romantically involved with anybody was a prospect entirely off the table.

Thankfully for Velcia, once she meets Sam and Hinata she manages to quickly become fast friends with them on their travels, and she cares for them very much. While she is quick to pour everything she can into helping her friends, it takes a long time for her to learn to let them in to help her in return; and it’s not until after making a mistake that nearly costs Velcia her own life that she begins to really entertain the notion that she should be accepting of their affections as well. Still, it is a concept that takes some time and practice for her. Hinata, Sam, and a few others end up becoming great lifelong friends for her from this point. Additionally, I suppose I would be remiss to mention that on this journey she also meets with DiZ. Though they are not entirely on the same page at first, as the two grow to understand each other better their mutual passion for academia and general scholarly ways form a common ground; and she begins to look up to DiZ, and later his true self Ansem the Wise, as a mentor.

Another day, another @khoc-week prompt!

Day 4: Alternate Universes

◾What would your OC's role be in an AU? Examples: Soulmate AU, modern, fantasy, scifi, etc.

KHx-Era Velcia:

An artsy, mousy bookworm in most any circumstance, the KHx-Era Velcia would not likely be found anywhere near the action in most AUs unless she were desperately trying to get away from it. For example, in a setting where a man who has spared no expense has cloned animals of a jurassic nature and placed them into an ill-fated theme park, she would probably be found hiding underneath the kitchen counter desperately hoping she can avoid the notice of the rather hungry raptors who’ve somehow learned to open doors. 

In settings where she is able to find a companion to help support her, she is able to blossom into a rather effective support role and provide valuable information and access to research and knowledge. Her fascination with libraries and archiving information help her excel in remote support, as long as she won’t need too heavy a grasp on technology.

KHII-Era Velcia:

In nearly any universe where Velcia can be found, two things stay constant: Her desire to grow her understanding of her fundamental knowledge of the world around her, and her drive to do everything she can to apply this knowledge to help others. In AUs where magic can be found, she will always be found with a strong magical affinity. In the terms of a Final-Fantasy styled magic-class system, Velcia is quite firmly in the Red Mage class tree.

In Universes without Magic, her interests are likely to diverge greatly. In a Sci-Fi or Modern setting she is likely to be a tech scientist. In a Medieval or Fantasy setting with more restrictive rules towards magic she would likely be found working with medicines or potions. And then, of course, there are a few rare universes where she would be found as a very, very particular chef. Castlevania AU! One fun little tangent I’ve been exploring the last few weeks, after playing through a couple of my favorite old Castlevania games (Rondo of Blood and Circle of the Moon especially!) is a Castlevania AU version of the "Modern" Velcia; where I’ve tried to adapt her over with a couple of the same basic beats. In this version of the story, she still lives in Greece with her father, a well-known magician who used to travel across Europe before his daughter was born. One day, a cult looking to revive Dracula appears and tries to enlist her father’s help and, when he refuses, he is murdered and the Anthes residence is burned to the ground. The young Velcia manages to escape with her life and severe burns to her legs, and once she is healed she redoubles her efforts to learn her father’s trade and becoming a capable magician in her own right.

As time passes, she finds that this group has stayed in Greece. Monsters that nobody has seen before have begun appearing and terrorizing the lands, and certain supernatural individuals (Vampires!) are slowly taking over and manipulating things behind the scenes. Understanding that she is not equipped with the knowledge or tools she needs to defeat them on her own, Velcia travels up North to try to enlist the help of the legendary Belmont clan and rid her home country of the cult of vampires and monsters that now work in secret to revive their dark lord.

But, of course, that’s just a little tangent. I’ve got so many other stories to write, I probably won’t get around to that. I… I shouldn’t, right? Right…?