paixaorpg | An Open Door [Active]

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An Open Door [Active]

Character(s): Riku, open to anyone else
Content: Riku arrives in Paixao.
Setting: Joutenheim Gate
Time: Dusk
Warnings: None

Riku had almost gotten used to the idea of normality. It had even come to the point where Kingdom Hearts and all events connected seemed like a long dream. The only time that changed was when certain things triggered old feelings--a particularly harsh wind coming off the sea would remind him of the darkness, and the cold that cut to the bone.

When he found himself facing a strange crowd, all the old memories came back, crowding out newer ones--how he had gone to the small play island by himself and crawled into the Secret Place. The door had been open again.

He had gone through it to another side.

Riku absently curled his fingers before walking forward to what looked like an information desk, getting in line and quickly receiving a mysterious device and some papers.

"Welcome to Paixao!" The clerk said. "That device is your journal. Make sure to use it."

"Wait, where is this place?" Riku asked, not recognizing the name. "Is this a new world?"

The clerk gave a pleasant smile.

"This is Paixao," the clerk repeated. "I hope you enjoy your visit. Next!"

Riku felt himself glaring at the clerk as he moved out of the way, stuffing the strange device into his pocket and clutching at the papers as he looked around again, trying to ground himself. He wondered if he had ended up alone again, and immediately shook his head, forcing those thoughts of of his head. He had to investigate.

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He was gone. NiGHTS was free, but Reala, her sibling (though not in the conventional sense; they had merely been created by the same entity). Had the other Nightmaren merely been a shadow, like Wizeman had? For that matter, where was Jackle? Had he been the same? It was all so strange, and although NiGHTS was usually a naturally cheerful being, this had been troubling her.

She drifted around by the gates, idly circling the city and doing acrobatic tricks, when she felt a strong aura of courage near Joutenheim. The maren gave in easily to her curiosity and she hovered above, looking at the silver-haired boy with a friendly (if mischievous) grin.

"Hey!" she called out, giggling. "Are you new here?"

[ooc: I dunno how Riku would see NiGHTS since s/he doesn't have a real gender. I'm just referring to NiGHTS as a girl for convenience, but if Riku would see NiGHTS as a boy, just say as much in his next post and I'll switch to make things easier, okay? ♥]

Riku looked up as he heard someone calling, and felt an eyebrow raising.

"Yeah, I am," Riku answered, studying the being in front of him with a mix of interest and confusion. She didn't look dangerous, but he might as well be cautious. He was in enough trouble as it was. "Think you could help me?"

[ooc: No worries! We'll just have Riku see NiGHTS as a girl (since that's how I first saw her, ahem) and keep it simple. ♥]

NiGHTS laughed at the look on Riku's face and bowed gracefully in front of him, still hovering above the ground. "Yep~!" The nightmaren tilted her head, examining the newcomer, and upon realizing that she had never seen him before, she smiled again. "My name is NiGHTS. What's yours?"

The creature crossed her legs in the air as she pondered the boy's question. "I could," she began playfully, a glint of mischief in her eyes. "What do you need help with?"

Sound had given him an odd mixture of understanding the way this city worked. Essentially this place worked like any other city -- animals, people working, talking, living... The oddest part was the erratic mixture of emotions and the fact that the very sound of nature spoke almost nothing at all. Hearing only pieces of life's song was awkward to say the least.

Sasame had more recently taken a seat on a nearby bench to look over the pamphlet he'd received along with the rectangular device, which he now knew was a journal, though it looked like a rather tiny laptop similar to the ones Kei often used.

However, when he overheard two voices, one the voice of a young man and the other a mix of youthful tones with an accent he couldn't quite place, he stood up and looked around, spotting a young man with light hair similar to his own and what seemed to be a jester.

He approached the two and said calmly, "My apologies for interrupting, but I couldn't help but overhear your conversation. I'm relatively new here, myself. My name's Sasame."

Riku turned and glanced at the stranger, debating whether it was a good idea to include him in the conversation. He seemed relatively nonthreatening.

"You don't need to apologize," Riku said, shaking his head. "You weren't interrupting anything." He turned half-way to Nights, watching her float in the air. "I'm Riku," he continued, directing the introduction toward Sasame and NiGHTS. "I--" He paused, suddenly torn. Would it be worth it to ask about his friends?

NiGHTS barely spared the stranger a glance, far more interested in the strong aura of courage emanating from Riku. She did, however, give Sasame a cheerful wave.

The nightmaren blinked, confused at Riku's halting. "What is it?" Unfortunately for Sasame, NiGHTS want in the mood to introduce herself again so soon - and she was sure he'd hear it again, anyway. "What is it, Riku?"

Sasame smiled at the two, nodding at the jester's wave. However, he gave Riku a rather concerned look when he paused, noting the hesitance. When NiGHTS spoke up, essentially asking what he was going to say, Sasame cautiously said, "You can continue your train of thought, if you'd like."

Riku nodded, warring with his common sense and his concern for his friends. He should ask about shelter and how to survive in this world, but--what if Kairi and Sora had ended up here, too?

It would only take a minute to be sure.

"I'm looking for my friends," he said. "Their names are Sora and Kairi. Have you heard of them?" He tried to smile, putting his hand at the level of his shoulder. "Sora's about this big, but his hair makes him look taller. He likes to talk about the power of friendship and every other cliche you can think of. Kairi might be with him. She has red hair, and more common sense."

NiGHTS blinked at the mention of Sora. "You know Sora?" the maren inquired, a smile growing on her face. "I'm supposed to meet with him, but I can't seem to get ahold of him lately." A gloved hand came up, making an idly amused gesture. "I'm sure I'll find him, though. The city's not so confusing that I can't find my way around by now." Besides, Sora had interested her; he seemed brave and NiGHTS liked people like that.

"I don't know anyone named Kairi, though. I'm sure she's around somewhere!" NiGHTS grinned. "If you like, I can help you look."

"I don't know either of them, but like I said, I'm a bit new myself. I can agree to look out for them, though." He glances from the paper in his left hand to the electronic device in his other hand. "The brochures said something about these connecting to a messageboard. It probably wouldn't hurt to try using that to find them either."

"Sora's here?" Riku asked, surprised at how shocked he felt. He immediately made a dismissive motion, attempting to keep his emotions under control. "I see. If you find him, let him know that Riku's here, all right? I'm sure I can manage it from there."

He put a hand to the pocket holding the communicator, glancing at Sasame and nodding. "Good idea. I'll make sure to do that, just in case." The teenager quickly thought of how to repay the two, the sense of needing to be useful still nagging at him. "Is there anyone you're looking for? I can try and keep an eye out for them." He looked at NiGHTS. "You too. No guarantees, though."

NiGHTS nodded in Sasame's direction. "I've seen people use the message boards and journal entries to find people," she said. "I've done that myself." She nodded at Riku, shrugging. "All right, then. I'll let Sora know." She winked.

At Riku's question, the smile remained despite how she felt. "I'm looking for a friend of mind named Elliot," she said. "Apparently, he's here, but I haven't heard from him ever since those odd shadows showed up." She napped her fingers suddenly, remembering. "That's right! They're called the Heartless. You wouldn't happen to know anything about them, would you?"

Sasame almost frowned at Riku's question, "If any of my friends and colleagues are here, it's a lot of people to keep track of... I'll probably post myself looking for all of them. But since you asked, I'll give you the identification for a few of them."

He paused a moment, trying to figure out which was more important -- duty or his own heart. He slipped the earclip off of his left ear and held it out for NiGHTS and Riku to see, "There should be six people with a silver band like this one somewhere on their person. And... also a very quiet girl with dark hair named Takako."

Riku tensed as he heard the all-too familiar name of the Heartless, absently running a hand through his hair as he tried to keep himself calm. One thing at a time, he reminded himself. He studied Sasame's earclip briefly before glancing at the two in front of him, nodding.

"All right. I'll see if I can do anything about locating them." He memorized the names, making sure he could recite them several times before moving onto the other subject NiGHTS had brought up. "I know about the Heartless. They shouldn't be actively moving," he said, crossing his arms and straightening his shoulders. "They're usually controlled by someone when they do." As the words left his mouth Riku knew that it had to be the case in this world; the thought made his heart sink. It had been over. He was so sure it had been over.

NiGHTS hid the worry she felt about Elliot. What if the Heartless had gotten him? He couldn't have been taken by them... could he? NiGHTS nodded almost absently at what Sasame was saying, but she made a mental note to keep an eye out nonetheless.

The more NiGHTS heard about the Heartless, the more she was reminded of Wizeman and his Nightmaren. A thought hit her, and she spoke up. "You know, there's someone named Maleficent who claimed the city with two other people. Their names are Hades and Jafar." Hades was a name she was familiar with, as the Greek God of the underworld, but the maren couldn't recall hearing Jafar's name much. "They're currently located in City Hall. No one else can get there, not even me - it's covered in a wall of thorns. They haven't done anything since they came, though."

Intuition said that Heartless didn't sound like a good thing and something about Riku's tone and body language seemed to echo the fact that it probably wasn't good. Listening to NiGHTS words following that, he frowned, "Is there anything in particular we should know about the Heartless or these people at the City Hall?"

"Malefi-" Riku blurted, uncrossing his arms and starting to switch into his fighting stance before he caught himself. He forced himself still, taking a moment to try and regain his quickly fading composure. Jafar and Hades were here, too.

"Yeah, there's stuff you should know. The Heartless are powerful enough that normal weapons rarely work against a large amount. It usually takes a special kind of weapon or magic to handle that many. As for the people who have taken over..." He glanced away, trying to keep his thoughts straight. A memory of wicked laughter rang inside of his head. "They're strong. They only exist to wreak havoc, and they need to be taken down as soon as possible," he finished, voice flat. "It'd probably be better to avoid the City Hall if you can."

NiGHTS nodded to Sasame. "They've already taken the forms of people I know a few times," she replied. "They acted completely like them; even I was unable to tell the difference." Reala hadn't been able to see the truth, either - and then he had disappeared when Wizeman had turned out to only be a Heartless. It was worrying, but she hid that easily. "I was able to take care of them easily, though."

She gave Riku a curious look at his reaction to Maleficent as she listened to his explanation. "None of them have done anything yet, as far as I know." The maren crossed her arms and legs, floating idly in the air. "THey're pretty boring."

Sasame nodded at the explanation of both. Heartless reminded him a bit of demon larvae, only with a few more additions. He almost contemplated asking what the Heartless sounded like, but thought better of it.

After all, stacking all his eggs in one basket was bound to be trouble. Especially without his colleagues. Such things could be revealed on their own time.

"Thank you very much, both of you, Riku....and.." He paused for a moment looking at the jester, "I never got your name."

"Just because they seem boring doesn't mean they aren't dangerous. It's just one of their tricks," Riku answered, modulating his voice to at least seem as if he'd calmed down. They didn't need to know. "I'm sure they're already up to something, if they've been here a while." He directed his attention back to Sasame, shrugging dismissively.

"There's no need to thank me. I can only tell you what I already know."

NiGHTS grinned, flying in excited circles above the boys' heads at the thought of causing trouble. This was going to be fun. "Oh, don't worry," she giggled cheerfully with a clap of her white-gloved hands. "So far, I haven't heard of anyone having any real trouble with them." But Maleficent's group was definitely up to something, that was certain.

NiGHTS swept into an elaborate, graceful bow. "My name is NiGHTS!" she said. "It's lovely to meet you."

Looking at Riku, Sasame smiled a bit, "Any information's useful, Riku, no matter how small and insignificant it seems."

Returning his attention to NiGHTS, he nodded, "It's a pleasure to meet you as well, NiGHTS."

"You've got a point," he said, conceding reluctantly. He couldn't help but feel restless knowing that Sora and Kairi might be somewhere around; he had been lingering long enough.

"As interesting as this has been, I'd better get going," Riku said, managing a brief smile at the both of them. "I need to do some exploring; get used to this place." Look for Heartless, he added silently. "It was nice meeting both of you. NiGHTS, like I said. If you find Sora, let him know I'm around. Otherwise he'll take forever to realize."

NiGHTS gave a playful salute, rising further in the air. It had been interesting enough, speaking to the two of them, but she was going to be terribly bored if she hung around this place any longer, especially now that the conversation seemed largely to be over.

"All right~!" she sang, laughing a little. "I'll see you two later." Or not, but it seemed a pleasant alternative to saying goodbye, she thought as she flew away, leaving a glittering trail in her wake.

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An Open Door [Active]

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