itsjustcambot | 23rd Dawn

Entry tags:

!riku,
c: xion

23rd Dawn

[All the lights are off in Riku's room, leaving the only light source coming from the twilit world outside the window. Riku is silhouetted against it, sitting backwards in a chair from his desk. He's been around, but not much lately. The chair back supports Riku's arms, and he has placed his head down upon them. The view zooms in as Cambot comes closer and nudges Riku's shoulder. His voice is very soft.]

...Not now, Cam. [Cambot pauses and gives him another nudge.]

I'd let you out if I could, Cam, trust me. Just leave me alone right now. [Riku looks up. He's seen better days. He's holding his neck and shoulders tensely, and though he looks annoyed, his eyes appear a little puffy. His pained look worsens slightly as he realizes what Cambot is doing.]

Don't record me. [Riku's hand covers the lens.]

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[Xion doesn't bother trying to use Cambot to reply. Leaving hers behind in her room, she goes to find Riku's and knocks on the door.]

Riku?

[That was probably good she didn't try. Riku wouldn't have answered, if he even got it. But a knock on the door is something immediate and present. There was silence on the other side of the door for a moment before the sound of a chair moving on the floor echoed behind it. Riku rose and moved slowly, but his footsteps could still be heard. After a moment the door opened slightly. His face was half-hidden by the door as he looked just enough to see who it was. Behind him was darkness.]

Yeah?

[She'd figured that he'd probably just ignore Cambot, and wasn't even totally sure he'd answer the door. So when he does, she's a little relieved, if still concerned about him.]

I thought you might want some company.

[He's slow to reply and his voice is soft.] ...I'll deal. [He vanishes behind the door and begins to close it, but he stops short. The door slowly reopens, enough for her to come in.] ...I don't want you out with the basilisk.

[Dark as the room may be, the light from the hall and window does reveal things in his room, which looks slightly different than normal. A wide space has been cleared in the center of it. At the edge of this space is a sword and a blindfold on the floor. Near that is a suit of armor.]

[Both Kairi and Sora would object to that statement, and Xion wants to, but she also knows how it is to want to be alone with your thoughts.] Okay. You know how to find me if you change your mind.

[She frowns slightly at the mention of the basilist--really, she's been making sure to be careful. That said, he was obviously worried. So she bit back any protest and walked into the room.

Once inside, she nodded toward the sword and armor.]

So you're going to try.

[Riku closed the door behind her and started across the room. His movements seemed slow and heavy as he made his way to the chair at the window. Proceeding to take up the position he had, he sat down, resting his arms over the back of the chair. Riku looked out to the planet below, now blanketed in darkness.]

I can't get the armor as shiny as I need it. But I've still got to try. [He puts his head down.]

[Since he's got the chair, Xion sits on the bed. She doesn't look a bit bothered by this, though the way that she swings her legs slightly might indicate she's not used to just letting them dangle over the edge. What bothers her is the fact that he's not even looking at her, and sitting in the dark.]

We could help.

[In this state and with his head down, Riku may not even notice Xion's sat on his bed. Even if he did, right now he wouldn't care. His voice is muffled since his head is down resting on his arms. He sounds tired.]

No one else has experience fighting blindfolded.

[If he's tired then he needs to sleep, and not be planning to fight dangerous snakes. Than again, Xion has no call to be lecturing him about caution. Not with some of the recklessness she has on her track record.]

No, but that doesn't mean we can't do anything to help you fight it.

Like what? [Riku slowly raises his head, just enough to look at her.] I'm the one who has the best chance beating this thing. [He looks back down.] ...I'm not losing anyone else...

...Unless you know anyone who can get this armor shinier. I've spent hours just on a small area and it's not enough.

Because you can use the blindfold to keep from looking it in the eye?

[Xion chews her lip in thought for a moment. How to respond? If she were a different kind of girl--if she were Kairi, even--she might give him a hug. As it is, eventually she slides off the bed and goes over to him, kneeling slightly so she can look him the face.]

You won't lose us.

[Not responding to the bit about polishing the armor, because this seems like the more important issue at the moment.

Right.

[He, however, doesn't look back. Maes is still fresh in his mind. He probably wouldn't even see his family again. Even his little girl he was always talking about. How would his family-- No. He couldn't think too hard about that. Not right now.]

...How can you be so sure?

[Xion doesn't know the particulars, so while she's sad Hughes is gone, she doesn't know that he might not see everyone again. If she did, she might be better able to understand.

As it was, it looked like time to bring out one of Axel's corny speeches. Especially since the 'we can take care of ourselves' argument doesn't seem like it would work here.]

I thought we were always in each others' hearts.

[Riku was silent for a long time as he mulled things over. His voice was still soft and sad when he finally spoke.]

Another Replica asked me an interesting question once. "When I die where will my heart go?" So... Where do hearts go? Just back to Kingdom Hearts? Is that true for people in very different worlds?

...Is that connection broken when our hearts end in Kingdom Hearts?

[Xion takes a moment to mull over what he said. To get a little more comfortable, she shifts so she's sitting on the floor beside the chair.]

Maybe they do; I'd like to think so. For everyone

[If it was just returning home, not being 'collected'--that sounded nice.]

I don't think it is.

[The opposite is too sad to consider.]

...I really hope that's all true. [He paused. He needed to get this off his chest, but Riku didn't want to put it on anyone else's. Plus what he and Maes exchanged was in confidence, or so he inferred. It was hard, but he'd have to just deal. He always did...]

[Until proven wrong, Xion will hold onto that pet theory. When so many of the facts around her paint an unhappy reality, having at least one happy belief is nice. It looks like there's still something behind Riku's worry on this subject, though.]

You know, Axel once said you're supposed to tell your friends what's bothering you. It always helped when I talked to him and Roxas.

Someone told me things and I told them things. We never really told each other "don't tell anyone else," but we shared our biggest mistakes. The bad things we'd done. Where we came from. I'm not quite sure I even should tell. [Riku sighs.] It's just very bad news. And nothing anyone can do anything about. So why put it on your shoulders too?

I see...

[Xion frowned in thought. On one hand, she wanted to remind Riku that sharing the burden of these sort of things was what friends did. On the other, what he's talking about sounds like the unspoken-but-still-there agreement between her and MakubeX to not tell anyone else about the part of their pasts they'd told each other privately.

Then her expression cleared.]

Okay, you don't have to tell me. But, if you ever decide you want to talk...

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23rd Dawn

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[Action] (I think we're good to wrap up the sparring thread)

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