open mingle post;

[payback]

Who: Everyone on the waystation!
Broadcast: n/a
Action: open to everyone to tag into
When: October 11, 2014

[It sure is a lovely day actually pretty much indeterminate time period out here in the vast darkness of space, isn't it? I bet everyone's enjoying themselves, getting a chance to get off their dinky little ship and stretch their legs. Even on this shitty, empty little waystation.

Where are you, droot flooters? What are you up to? Stay out of trouble, now.]

[ooc: hi everyone! I thought I'd give this a try and see how the game liked it. What we have here is a mass mingle post. Rather than everyone making a bunch of different posts about landing on the station, everyone is invited to post a parent comment with their character out and about, doing something. Everyone else is invited to look at who's posted, tag them, post their own parent comments, thread jack, tag around and generally have a grand old time! It should hopefully be a nice low-pressure way to do some action tagging with each other.

Please tag in if you feel so inclined! Don't be shy to tag around!]

Comments

[wilder]

[Oh wow that's kind of adorable]

What? I'm just saying!

[limitstorm]

So you're telling me as a pilot you never even thought about flying as far away as you could?

[ mission: DIVERT TOPIC. ]

There's probably problems--none of our ships probably have enough fuel, and as far as I know, we don't have anything to tell how close a planet is.

[wilder]

[He snorts] Nice subject change.

[But at least he's willing to go along with it]

But, ah...no. Never really thought about it. [In fact, thinking about he's frowning. It seems so obvious now that Riku pointed it out.] ...Maybe I'm too used to being kept on a short leash.

[He gives a little sigh and shakes his head, pushing the thought away] But you got a point. No way it'd be that easy to get away.

[limitstorm]

[ hey if he's willing to go along with it, riku's fine with being called out on it. when he continues, riku can't help but frown. ]

On a short leash, huh. [ that doesn't sound good at all. even though he was given the lowdown on exsilium, he feels like he's missing huge pieces. ]

Maybe not, but that voice said that we were gonna reach a planet soon, right? If we are... there's more room to improvise.

[wilder]

[Oh yeah, Riku's missing a lot of pieces. But he's not going to expand on it. Just give a "hm" and move on]

Heh. Yeah, maybe so.

[He stretches some.] I wonder if I should start practicing flying on the shuttles. Never know when it might come in handy.

[limitstorm]

Probably a good idea. You can never be too prepared, right?

[ one good subject change deserves another. he notes that kaneis isn't elaborating--that's fine. he doesn't mind. he just hopes that these holes don't have to be filled in to understand him. ]

[wilder]

Well yeah. It'd suck if I crashed us into a planet or another ship or something.

[MAYBE IT DOES, MAYBE IT DOESN'T. It's a mystery]

[limitstorm]

[ ... ]

Please don't crash us somewhere.

[wilder]

Hey, don't worry- don't worry!

It's more likely we'd be killed on impact or burn up in a planet's atmosphere.

[limitstorm]

You really aren't helping your case.

[wilder]

Well, it's a good thing you're stuck on autopilot then, hm?

[limitstorm]

I guess so. Piloting's a big responsibility...

[ /air force brat ]

[wilder]

...Don't remind me.

[limitstorm]

What, don't like being responsible for people?

[wilder]

[There's a shrug]

Just not good at it. Give me a choice, and I'll probably make the wrong one.

[limitstorm]

[ riku gives a hollow chuckle. ]

I know the feeling.

[wilder]

[looking over curiously]

Yeah?

[limitstorm]

[ he raises an eyebrow at kaneis before laughing softly. ]

I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours. Fair trade?

[wilder]

[He considers, before giving a slight nod]

Fair. You go first though.

[limitstorm]

[ he nods. he doesn't... mind. honestly, if kaneis betrays him, riku wouldn't be too surprised--not because he seems the type, either. everyone wants to go home. he wouldn't be surprised if anyone sold him out, but it doesn't matter much to him. as long as they return home, at least. ]

Alright.

[ hm. that just makes him look at the ground as he sits up, crossing his legs and settling a little closer to himself--withdrawing. ]

Ever since I was little, I wanted to go outside of my own world. It was... I knew I couldn't get any stronger where I was, you know? [ probably not. he's not sure; he's not stopping to look at kaneis' expressions. ] I needed to get stronger, to protect my two best friends. An outsider came to the islands one day, he gave me this... power. I didn't know it then, but in my world, being chosen like that isn't something to take lightly. I just thought it'd help me get stronger, like I was meant for something bigger.

I messed everything up, though. I wanted to get off of our island so badly, I opened our home to darkness--and it swallowed everything up, including all three of us. I was too blinded by what I could be--what we could be... all three of us got scattered, and when I realized I destroyed our home, too... there wasn't anything I could do. One of my best friends even lost her heart and wouldn't wake up. [ he sighs, closing his eyes. ] She wasn't dead--it was like those deep sleeps in a fairytale.

I did everything I could to wake her up, but I was so desperate and too weak by then that I let myself be taken advantage of. [ possession is not something he wants to talk about right now. ] In the end, Sora was the only one who could do anything. He saved everyone.

[wilder]

[He listens. Honestly, he's surprised the kid actually said something. It's why he insisted on Riku going first, because he wasn't willing to share his story only to have Riku say nothing in return. So the fact he actually did...]

[It's a story that's familiar. Well, not most of it but there are similar elements. But really, he doesn't know what to say. There's no advice or great comfort he can give the kid. So, he speaks the truth:]

Damn. That sucks.

[limitstorm]

[ there's a hollow chuckle and riku tips his chin down.

he's pretty sure there's nothing to be done for past mistakes. he just has to keep repenting. ]

Yeah, that's... one way to say it.

[wilder]

[He makes a "hm" noise, and then is quiet for a moment. Finally, he speaks- all while not looking at Riku, but instead at the ground. If this guy is willing to share that he destroyed his own homeworld- it wouldn't be right to share back]

I was born with...I guess you could some sort of power. Or at least, the promise that I could get some sort of power someday. Not really sure how true it actually was, but everyone always treated it like it was. Long as I could remember, I was treated like I was something different.

Thing is...I never wanted any of that. I wasn't any good at that stuff, no one thought I was any good, it caused lots of problems for everyone around me... after awhile, I thought I- [correcting fast] the whole thing was nothing but a big mistake.

So...I ran. Ended up falling into a- well, let's just say a bad crowd. Said if I helped them out, they could do something to pass the power onto someone else- someone who wanted it and would have a better life because of it. [He pauses and gives a self-deprecating little "ha".] It was too good to be true, but I was desperate enough to go along with it.

[It feels weird to say it all. But now that it's coming out, it's hard to stop. What's wrong with someone knowing anyway? He's got nothing really to lose anymore]

They strung me along for years. So did another group with the same promise. [His shoulders slump. Partly out of shame, partly out of exhaustion of remembering] Ending up costing my life. I knew it would- I figured out that part years ago. But...I was so tired of everything that...well, I thought it'd be worth it. I thought that everyone would be better off, the mistake would be undone, and...I'd finally get some rest.

[There's a pause. His eyes squeeze shut for a moment, and when they open- regret and sadness are basically written all over his face]

But none of that happened. [It's probably a good thing he's incapable of tears now] I got brought back to fight in someone else's war worlds away and...from everything I hear about back home - my death meant nothing. If anything...it made everything worse.

[limitstorm]

[ there's quiet for a moment, and riku--even though he wants to--doesn't really move.

he kind of understands that. no--there's no "kind of", there.

castle oblivion, he'd asked the king to destroy him if he failed in defeating xehanort's heartless. logically, if xehanort won, he could try to overcome him and try again, but riku didn't want that. riku thought, maybe, just maybe... if he wasn't able to defeat him, the only option would be that he ceased to exist.

the only way to destroy xehanort's heartless without defeating him would be to kill riku along with him. he'd thought of it, he'd wanted it as a last resort. to end the suffering of not only himself, but any future worlds, any future people... sora, kairi...

they're motivated by different things, but riku thinks he hit the nail on the head--they are pretty similar. ]

I'm sorry. None of that sounds like an easy burden to have.

[ but he can hope that, like with himself, the horizon had to turn darker before it turned to light. the night is darkest before the dawn. ]

Thanks. [ riku looks over to him now. ] For telling me you knew me.

[wilder]

[During those moments of quiet, Kan- no, Zelos is terrified. He never spoke about his life in that much detail. People would get upset or angry over much less. Even if he had shared so much because Riku had shared that much- he's still scared that he'll get shoved away. That Riku will detest him for it, as much as Zelos detested himself.]

[But that doesn't come. Something else does instead. When he looks back up at Riku, there's surprise written on his face. Sure, there had been people in Exsilium who told him they were glad they knew him. And he would treasure those words. It's why he still held onto that stuffed animal Sophie had given him- as a reminder he wasn't alone.]

[But even those people...none of them had known the full story. Some of them never even learned that Kaneis wasn't his name. He was never sure how much they'd still want him after that. So yeah? Riku doing that? Is pretty moving]

[Though he really isn't one who wants to say his sentimental feelings, so he quickly covers it up by scratching the back of his head, pulling at some of his locks]

Yeah- well, fair's fair right? It'd be creepy if I skulked around, never saying that I knew you.

And you know, telling me your story....I had to say something.

[ugh, he's not good at this]