Riku ("Ansem") (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
justabignobody) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
towerofanimus2012-05-19 08:05 pm
justabignobody) wrote in towerofanimus2012-05-19 08:05 pm
Entry tags:
005
Characters: OU!Riku and OPEN~
Setting: Floor 3 and Floor 19 (Daytime, around Noon), Floor 29 (Daytime, until Nightfall), All around the tower (Nighttime)
Format: Action, but I'll match
Summary: Daytime: Riku has decided to get on with his quest to learn light magic. He is not very successful yet. Nighttime: Time to hunt down monsters!
Warnings: some violence maybe? Will add as needed.
[A - Floor 1, Floor 3, Floor 19]
[The days between Sora's death in the labyrinth and his revival are still a blur of numbness to Riku. It's better now that the presence of his scent has re-set itself in his heart, now that the blend of shock, despair and cold furry has kept him moving in those days has faded away.
What remains is some anger (at the tower and its games, at himself and his own helplessness) and an iron knot of determination to finally put all those gathered thoughts on Darkness, Light, the Dawn and their relation to himself into practice. So, right now after he got up sometimes around noon, he sets out to pick up some nutrition bars from the cafeteria, then to the libraries - first the one on the Third Floor, then the one on the Nineteenth - ready to raid whatever books he can find on light magic.]
[B - Floor 29]
[Once he's got what he needs (and potentially dealt with all distractions), Riku settles in the far corner of the garden behind the labyrinth, a place that he thinks should be a.) private and b.) peaceful enough for what he is attempting.
He is frowning down at his books, his legs crossed, blindfold removed and re-purposed to a bookmark - he knows he can probably forget learning how to access his light by book, but maybe they can at least give him a pointer.
About an hour into this he first leans back, eyes slipping close as he tries to reach for the light.
He knows he can do this.
He doesn't even think about the how every time the light wraps around his blade when he invokes his final limit.
Even so, drawing on raw light is different, more difficult, than drawing on darkness - at least to him - and so it's no wonder that he's frustration starts to show itself about half an hour later, the shadows around him darkening and tightening until he releases his breath.
He slowly opens his eyes and frowns down at his hands, then sighs.
Well... he's already known that this wouldn't be so easy. No choice but the try again.]
[C - all around the tower]
[Later that day, after nightfall, Riku is wandering around the tower, his hand closed tightly around the Soul Eater's grip as he follows the darkness-scent trail of roaming monsters. He may still have troubles with using the light, but darkness?
Darkness is his element.
Now that it has settled across the tower, he might as well take advantage of that, right?]
[ooc: Laaaate edit, but if you haven't please take a look at Riku's permission post!]
Setting: Floor 3 and Floor 19 (Daytime, around Noon), Floor 29 (Daytime, until Nightfall), All around the tower (Nighttime)
Format: Action, but I'll match
Summary: Daytime: Riku has decided to get on with his quest to learn light magic. He is not very successful yet. Nighttime: Time to hunt down monsters!
Warnings: some violence maybe? Will add as needed.
[A - Floor 1, Floor 3, Floor 19]
[The days between Sora's death in the labyrinth and his revival are still a blur of numbness to Riku. It's better now that the presence of his scent has re-set itself in his heart, now that the blend of shock, despair and cold furry has kept him moving in those days has faded away.
What remains is some anger (at the tower and its games, at himself and his own helplessness) and an iron knot of determination to finally put all those gathered thoughts on Darkness, Light, the Dawn and their relation to himself into practice. So, right now after he got up sometimes around noon, he sets out to pick up some nutrition bars from the cafeteria, then to the libraries - first the one on the Third Floor, then the one on the Nineteenth - ready to raid whatever books he can find on light magic.]
[B - Floor 29]
[Once he's got what he needs (and potentially dealt with all distractions), Riku settles in the far corner of the garden behind the labyrinth, a place that he thinks should be a.) private and b.) peaceful enough for what he is attempting.
He is frowning down at his books, his legs crossed, blindfold removed and re-purposed to a bookmark - he knows he can probably forget learning how to access his light by book, but maybe they can at least give him a pointer.
About an hour into this he first leans back, eyes slipping close as he tries to reach for the light.
He knows he can do this.
He doesn't even think about the how every time the light wraps around his blade when he invokes his final limit.
Even so, drawing on raw light is different, more difficult, than drawing on darkness - at least to him - and so it's no wonder that he's frustration starts to show itself about half an hour later, the shadows around him darkening and tightening until he releases his breath.
He slowly opens his eyes and frowns down at his hands, then sighs.
Well... he's already known that this wouldn't be so easy. No choice but the try again.]
[C - all around the tower]
[Later that day, after nightfall, Riku is wandering around the tower, his hand closed tightly around the Soul Eater's grip as he follows the darkness-scent trail of roaming monsters. He may still have troubles with using the light, but darkness?
Darkness is his element.
Now that it has settled across the tower, he might as well take advantage of that, right?]
[ooc: Laaaate edit, but if you haven't please take a look at Riku's permission post!]
no subject
Think of it being similar to igniting a flame. At first it is small and fragile, and easily extinguished as the darkness rushes around it to consume it. You must learn to cradle it carefully so that even when it flickers, it will not go out. That is where the control and focus lie.
no subject
He holds the other's gaze as he thinks again, considering risk and reward of trying again right at this moment, of leaving himself open once more. He doesn't like the idea, not at all... but for all his doubts, most if not all he knows of Xehanort has not yet happened for him.
Finally he sits back and breaths, eyes closing again as draws back into himself; once again blind to anything but the darkness and light inside him. Until now he's always tried to draw back the darkness instead of nurturing the light, but maybe it's really just much more simple than that... even though certainly no less difficult, he's sure.
He focuses on the image of the islands again, on memories now two years and older - imagining the sound of the waves, the feeling of sunshine in his face, the laughter of Sora and Kairi, still carefree, still innocent. He holds that memories close, for once thinking in terms of shielding them from his guilt, from the darkness he also associates with their home, of protecting them... the things that-
And slowly it just might start forming again, a thread of light spinning into something more compact even though even smaller than what Xehanort had shown him, glowing between his palms for just that moment.
But it's only so long until the Darkness returns in form of Zexion's accusing whisper... ("Maybe it's your own actions that you've forgotten. You destroyed your home!")
And it's right isn't it, he was the one that had destroyed the Islands - him, not Maleficent or Xehanort. Even though they had been restored with the closing of the Door to Darkness, it still doesn't make him less responsible for what happened, for the pain he had caused to all the people living there... family, friends, neighbors, people he has known his entire life...
Given those thoughts, it's not much of a surprise - at least not to him - that Darkness wraps around the Light again, until Riku dismisses it at least.
He opens his eyes again, expression thoughtful before he looks up at Xehanort again.]
It's not as easy as you make it look, huh?
[Not that he's ever expected it to be.]
no subject
I've had a great deal of experience with it.
[Perhaps now he's showing off, sending arcs of light flickering across his fingertips, dancing around his arms and reaching off to patter across the ground. One just brushes against the tip of Riku's boot, although there's no effect whatsoever. A moment later, streaks of darkness shoot out alongside the light, weaving around each other without touching, crackling tension in the air between them as they sense each other.]
Not succumbing to one or the other takes a great deal of focus and determination. One must be the master of their own light and darkness, [and he lapses his control, letting the streaks of light and darkness obliterate each other] not let it master them.
Ultimately, one must not be afraid. Fear weakens the resolve and thus the heart. If you fear what is contained within, then you can never truly be its master.
no subject
He raises an eyebrow, watching Xehanort's display with curiosity (and maybe he is just the tiniest bit impressed). Xehanort is the frist person he's ever heard talking about the notion of balancing Light and Darkness (without himself bringing up the idea at least) and maybe that should be (or even is) a little disturbing.
He nods to himself after a moment; Xehanort's words aren't really new to him - they just confirming what he's figured out in Castle Oblivion with Naminé's help.]
Good thing that I'm not afraid then.
[He's not being defensive or angry in hat statement, looking right at Xehanort (almost maybe as if to dare him to challenge him on this). There is no lie or fear to be found in his eyes, he isn't afraid of the shadows inside him, not his own and certainly not Xehanorts.]
no subject
[His returned gaze isn't challenging or threatening at all, it's simply matter-of-fact as though he's explaining to a wall.]
There are very few people who can say they truly have no fears. That's quite an impressive statement.
no subject
He shakes his head, and maybe he is just ever so slightly cringing at himself.
He still has quite a bit to learn until he can go toe on toe with Xehanort during verbal spars, doesn't he? (This may be the understatement of the year.)]No, it was an arrogant statement to make.
[He can admit that much.]
Let me rephrase then: I don't fear what lurks inside the shadows of myself.