Riku ("Ansem") (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
guidetoblivion) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
nysalogs2018-01-17 02:55 pm
guidetoblivion) wrote in nysalogs2018-01-17 02:55 pm
Entry tags:
[open]
Who: Riku (guidetoblivion) & Open
What: Riku has a breakdown, gets a permanent job and other shenanigans
When: first prompt is backdated to Christmas Day, the rest take place during January
Where: Thesa station, Wyver
Warning(s): Sadness, overuse of the word "Darkness"
[ A – Stasis Unit | Christmas Day, backdated to more or less right after this thread | open ]
[Riku would have come here anyway, he will figure later, to visit Sora and Kairi and spent a moment on thinking about everything that's transpired to get them to the point they are at now (a year past, at Christmas, he had sat at the foot of Sora's pod in the mansion of Twilight Town and done exactly that too).
Now, he tries to keep his thoughts in order as he races a long the corridors of the Stasis Unit, head turning from side to side as though he was searching faces, looking for someone familiar. It's been over a year and a half since he's last seen them, since he left the Islands behind… but he knows, he'd know his parents anywhere.
Would surely recognizes the sense of their hearts the same way he'll always recognize Sora or Kairi.
He doesn't find them.
Hours later, he finally stops looking when he stumbles across one particular person in stasis – slightly out of breath, disbelieve open on his face; he's heard that sometimes even people who are supposed to be dead were rescued by the Natha, but–]
Of all the people-
[His hands clench just at the scent of Zexion's darkness, he can feel bile rising in his throat as memories replay before his mind's eye ("And who threw away those friends? Maybe it's your own actions that you've forgotten. You destroyed your home!") – and maybe it's not his fault this time; nobody has been able to do anything about the Storm, but–
The smell of Darkness is so thick around him, the shadows darkening around him, a noise of rage and despair strangling in his throat – he hardly notices the way his left hand pulls back, black-blue fire sparking at his palm–
Then abruptly, he extinguishes the flame and lets himself sink to the ground, one knee drawing up before he drops his forehead against it.
It would be so easy, a faint buzz in the back of his heart whispers, to become somebody else. To shed 'Riku' for a different face, that nobody knows yet, for powers that are stronger than his owns, that might even help put an end to the Storm if he just were to use them to their full extend… and maybe then all the thoughts, the pain will end.
All he has to do is to slip off the damn blindfold and give himself to Ansem's Darkness for good.
Riku doesn't.
Instead he tries to let his breathing calm down, in spite of the anger he still feels at the unfairness of it all – he's known that there had to be many lives lost despite the Natha's attempts to save as many as possible, but it hadn't felt personal until now, until he's realized that he hadn't been able to find one single familiar face from the Islands aside of Sora and Kairi.
After a moment he reaches into his coat's pocket, pulling out a spherical object and turning it in his hands.]
…Maybe I have a use for this after all.
[ B – Altar of Volkkra | mid-January | open to visitors and other employees ]
[Admittedly, when Riku had decided to sign up with the Altar he hadn't quite expected the cleaning chores coming his way, but ultimately he has to admit that it makes sense… he is the lowest on the ladder as far as workers go and he can see how a vast labyrinth like the main temple would need constant upkeep.
He does his work without complaints, coming in during the early morning and immediately reaching for his broom while he makes his way through the endless seeming corridors. Maybe in a few weeks he'll stop getting lost all the time, he thinks. Hopes, really.
In the late afternoon, he always makes sure to put an hour or three into studying the old scrolls the shamans allow him access to, fingers carefully running across the scripts as he tries to deceiver the dusty language used by the Wyver. Magic theory is a dry subject, but it's something he's certainly never been taught… and just maybe, that will be the key to helping him grow better
Whether you come across him while he's busy with either task – he'll always be up to showing any visitors around (hopefully without getting them lost too badly)… or for a chat with a fellow co-workers.]
[ C – Wyver/Wildcard | January | open ]
[When he isn't cleaning or studying, Riku can sometimes be caught on small errants around the North End, or sitting on top of the hut he's rented in the Old City, watching the night sky... perhaps come by to say hello?]
guidetoblivion) & Open What: Riku has a breakdown, gets a permanent job and other shenanigans
When: first prompt is backdated to Christmas Day, the rest take place during January
Where: Thesa station, Wyver
Warning(s): Sadness, overuse of the word "Darkness"
[ A – Stasis Unit | Christmas Day, backdated to more or less right after this thread | open ]
[Riku would have come here anyway, he will figure later, to visit Sora and Kairi and spent a moment on thinking about everything that's transpired to get them to the point they are at now (a year past, at Christmas, he had sat at the foot of Sora's pod in the mansion of Twilight Town and done exactly that too).
Now, he tries to keep his thoughts in order as he races a long the corridors of the Stasis Unit, head turning from side to side as though he was searching faces, looking for someone familiar. It's been over a year and a half since he's last seen them, since he left the Islands behind… but he knows, he'd know his parents anywhere.
Would surely recognizes the sense of their hearts the same way he'll always recognize Sora or Kairi.
He doesn't find them.
Hours later, he finally stops looking when he stumbles across one particular person in stasis – slightly out of breath, disbelieve open on his face; he's heard that sometimes even people who are supposed to be dead were rescued by the Natha, but–]
Of all the people-
[His hands clench just at the scent of Zexion's darkness, he can feel bile rising in his throat as memories replay before his mind's eye ("And who threw away those friends? Maybe it's your own actions that you've forgotten. You destroyed your home!") – and maybe it's not his fault this time; nobody has been able to do anything about the Storm, but–
The smell of Darkness is so thick around him, the shadows darkening around him, a noise of rage and despair strangling in his throat – he hardly notices the way his left hand pulls back, black-blue fire sparking at his palm–
Then abruptly, he extinguishes the flame and lets himself sink to the ground, one knee drawing up before he drops his forehead against it.
It would be so easy, a faint buzz in the back of his heart whispers, to become somebody else. To shed 'Riku' for a different face, that nobody knows yet, for powers that are stronger than his owns, that might even help put an end to the Storm if he just were to use them to their full extend… and maybe then all the thoughts, the pain will end.
All he has to do is to slip off the damn blindfold and give himself to Ansem's Darkness for good.
Riku doesn't.
Instead he tries to let his breathing calm down, in spite of the anger he still feels at the unfairness of it all – he's known that there had to be many lives lost despite the Natha's attempts to save as many as possible, but it hadn't felt personal until now, until he's realized that he hadn't been able to find one single familiar face from the Islands aside of Sora and Kairi.
After a moment he reaches into his coat's pocket, pulling out a spherical object and turning it in his hands.]
…Maybe I have a use for this after all.
[ B – Altar of Volkkra | mid-January | open to visitors and other employees ]
[Admittedly, when Riku had decided to sign up with the Altar he hadn't quite expected the cleaning chores coming his way, but ultimately he has to admit that it makes sense… he is the lowest on the ladder as far as workers go and he can see how a vast labyrinth like the main temple would need constant upkeep.
He does his work without complaints, coming in during the early morning and immediately reaching for his broom while he makes his way through the endless seeming corridors. Maybe in a few weeks he'll stop getting lost all the time, he thinks. Hopes, really.
In the late afternoon, he always makes sure to put an hour or three into studying the old scrolls the shamans allow him access to, fingers carefully running across the scripts as he tries to deceiver the dusty language used by the Wyver. Magic theory is a dry subject, but it's something he's certainly never been taught… and just maybe, that will be the key to helping him grow better
Whether you come across him while he's busy with either task – he'll always be up to showing any visitors around (hopefully without getting them lost too badly)… or for a chat with a fellow co-workers.]
[ C – Wyver/Wildcard | January | open ]
[When he isn't cleaning or studying, Riku can sometimes be caught on small errants around the North End, or sitting on top of the hut he's rented in the Old City, watching the night sky... perhaps come by to say hello?]
A
He's a fair distance away when he calls out to Riku, barely even casting him a glance. His eyes are fixed on the pod of a young girl.]
Take it outside if what you see is going to move you to try and trash the unit.
no subject
If it comes to it, I'll keep it contained to just one pod.
[Not that he thinks that he's going to lose it, or that he'll even succeed in pulling apart the pod to kill Zexion… but well, he knows himself well enough. He isn't going to target anyone but that Nobody.
(He won't do even that much – because there is absolutely no point in going on a tantrum now, when he should have already noticed this months ago.)]
no subject
[Certainly, Sid's seen faces that a pettier man might want to take revenge on. People who had snubbed him and his family, once upon a time; thrown drinks in their faces, pulled on their horns, spat at their feet. Faces he remembers in passing, but that don't elicit enough of a response to be worth getting uppity over.
He does wonder, though, if he might be tempted to do the same to Ystride's pod, had she not already been dead. His eyes wander, down the row of pods to eye the man that has him so worked up, and then to Riku himself.]
If you've got a bone to pick, it won't mean a damn thing unless he's awake.
no subject
It's not about that. Revenge doesn't do anyone any good.
[And it's not like there is really anything to avenge himself on Zexion, given that he's beaten the other once already.
Taking out Zexion again… that would be an attempt to keep the worlds safe, probably. Or so Riku tries to tell himself at first, before he admits:]
I just don't get it… why he is here, when my… when others are gone in the Darkness.
[What's so special about a dead man that he deserves to be rescued?]
no subject
I don't claim to understand the nature of those they save. Even faces who were supposed to have died long ago, I have seen reborn within as if it never happened. Aside from their consciousness being stolen, that is.
[And yet, apparently others who have died are not worthy enough of being afforded the same treatment. Fray wanted to live so badly that his soul crystal exuded that powerful energy at the end, and still... it isn't fair the way they choose.
But perhaps that's the point, that they can't -- or won't -- rescue everyone for the sake of charity.]
Who have you lost, then?
no subject
He keeps silent for a while longer before he answers that question, his head sinking to touch against his knee as he admits:]
My parents… and everyone from our Islands. Everyone but my two closest friends.
[And well… Riku himself. Thinking about it, it's not hard to figure out just why they are the only three that are left – Sora is the Keyblade Master, Kairi a Princess of Heart… and Riku? Maybe just his potential to wield the Keyblade was what made him special enough to save.
There are others he knows rescued here – the King… Donald and Goofy… but also so many members of the Organization. Apparently even those that have died.]
no subject
He has been through this song and dance before, but hells if he knows what to tell someone who hasn't. He sets a hand on the railing and looks away.]
...And yet, it's cold comfort, isn't it? Take care not to fall into the abyss without a guiding hand to lift you out.
no subject
At least the abyss is a familiar place. I'm not afraid of the Darkness.
[No, he's not afraid for himself, not anymore and never again – he knows what the Darkness does to him, what he will become should he ever be forced to use that last resort…
He is afraid of what happened to those that had been lost. Have they been turned into Heartless? Have they become some other unknown creatures that lurk in the endlessness of the Dark World? Light only knows… it almost makes him wish he was there with them. He certainly would deserve it.]