boundbynaught | IC Inbox for empatheias

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IC Inbox for empatheias

Temporary:
March 7th thru March 14th: Gone for Canon Update
March 15th thru April 7th: Reroutes to contact Riku instead of Arden
April 14th: Gone again
Arden here, Manager of Sweetie Pies.
If this is about Sweetie Pies, please make sure to mention it in your message and I'll make sure to answer during business hours.
Everyone else, I'll get back to you when I can.

*Has a slightly rougher cut crystal
[Source]

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... Uhm. Thank you, Snow White.

[He holds the keychain a little tighter.]

So much.

[She waited, patient as always, and allowed him to work through his emotions. She wanted to give him a chance to decide on which emotion to settle on. She watched her lights flicker and her table wobbled. She plucked an inkwell off the desk before it fell over. When it stopped shaking, she set it back down without any comment or ceremony. Snow White listened to what he had to say, what she could understand of it. She watched him hold onto the keychain most of all.]

You're welcome, Arden. But you earned it all on your own, I'm just making sure it's recognized.

[She smiled bright and made a small gesture, though she didn't mention how much Sora was right about the keychain.] I picked that out especially for you. I... don't really know what it means for you and your keyblade, but I do hope it is a good luck charm of sorts.

Well... [He takes another deep breath that makes the back door rattle a bit.] I know what it would mean for Sora's keyblade.

[He holds it out in his open palm again.]

A gifted keychain like this... it can change his weapon. Give it different abilities. Nothing bad, just different enhancements - kind of like how dunamis works.

[Then he pulls it back in again, like he's afraid he'll drop it.]

He thinks my keyblade works the same as his. I'm not so sure. It was made around the same time as I was... and I can't remember that part.

Well, that does explain why he would want you to have one. And I think I can understand why he would want it to be me to give it to you.

I think you should try it, Arden. Even if does nothing, that doesn't mean you can't keep using your blade.

..... Okay.

[He takes a deep breath. He can't imagine the reason that Snow White is talking about, why Sora would think she was the best one for doing this. But she's also a friend, the one who convinced him trying didn't have to be as scary as he felt like it was.

So, he summons his keyblade into his right hand - keeping it pointed away from her, then turns it pommel-side up. With his left hand, he brings the keychain up close to it...

And...

A tiny burst of white light later, he's holding a much different blade in his hands that almost looks more like an axe at the top, encrusted with jewels down the sides. He's too in shock by it - he really hadn't expected it to work at all.]

OH! [She clapped.] It's adorable! And it looks just like the dwarfs mine! [She smiled.] Well then, no more fuss about it not being real.

I don't think I could have given you a better gift.

I... I don't believe it.

[He's so stunned. He's barely hanging onto the blade at all. There's just a wind blowing his hair and Dark Mode skirt a bit, because there's not much else he can think about except what this means for him.

Arden just keeps blinking as he stares down at it.]

How did that...?

[A patch of earth literally sinks beneath him as he tries to hold his balance, unintentionally affecting the world around him with how distracted he is.]

ARDEN! [They're in her office, Arden! Snow made a cry of alarm at the massive hole now in her floor.]

Ah... Arden, what's wrong? Aren't you happy to have a different keyblade? Should... Should I take it back?

Sorry.

[For the hole and for his over-reacting. He's trying to take a step out of it.]

I need to just... try to calm down...

[He exhales in a quick version of his meditative exercises that Zenyatta and Nahyuta have taught him.]

I really... I really didn't believe that would actually work.

[She got up and, careful of the hole, she grabbed his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.]

It's alright, what's important is you. Are you alright? Arden, talk to me, tell me what is happening.

[After she pulls his hand away from his face, he squeezes her hand back and it's clearly shaking. So is the one holding his new keyblade.]

This weapon... it's called Soul Eater. It's an exact replica of Riku's keyblade... just like I'm an exact replica of Riku.

[He purses his mouth in thought, and to see if that much makes any sense, but he does add: ]

Sora's keyblade wasn't made the same way as mine. So, I always thought... they wouldn't have the same properties, I guess. That mine wasn't anything more than a plain sword I could summon and dismiss, not with all of the extra things a keyblade can do.

Now Arden, I'm a bit surprised. [She tilted his chin up, her eyes locking with his and she smiled.] You may be exact in body, but you most certainly exact in mind and spirit, I would think your time here would have taught you that by now. If you were an exact replica of Riku, I'd have him in here being my assistant manager too, wouldn't you say?

You've proven time and again you're more than just a replica, a copy of another. So why shouldn't this have been unique to you too? [She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his brow.]

You keep thinking so little of yourself, a very humble soul, but I wonder when you'll start believing in yourself the way that I and others do?

Edited 2017-04-11 06:59 (UTC)

[He shakes his head.]

Not this time, Snow. I know I'm more than a replica now, but this weapon-

[He holds it up again, pommel to the ceiling.]

Even when Riku himself had it, he couldn't make it transform. The way I thought about keyblades from when Sora and I last knew each other - before I came to Verens - we all thought that his keyblade was special. I mean, it still is, but that no other keyblades could ever exist. His isn't The Keyblade, it's just a keyblade.

[Then he lowers Soul Eater again, and reattaches the keychain.]

Sora's from a time when they figured all of that out, but I... I had no way of knowing if all of that, all of that new information... would also mean that this replica keyblade could do the same things.

[Well... to be quite honest, Snow wasn't sure she understood most of that. Because seriously, Arden, she only just learned about keyblades too.]

I do believe I tell you to always try, and that the worst thing to happen is not knowing. Hopefully, though, that keyblade can fix my floor!

[Because again, SERIOUSLY ARDEN?!]

I'm glad that this was a nice surprise, though.

I don't think keyblades work that way?

[ Except maybe they do, he certainly doesn't know. ]

Maybe dunamis can fix it easier?

[ He's not sure... ]

... But it really is a nice surprise.

[ He laughs awkwardly because maybe that's terrible to follow up with after admitting he can't fix her floor but, ahhhh he's so blown away right now. ]

Or my new manager can get on the case of finding someone who can while I tend to tomorrow's prep work. [That is not a request, as she lightly bops him on the nose.]

Take the time you need to look through the books on floor fixing.

[And to come to terms with... everything.]

[That gets a laugh out of him.]

Alright, alright - floor fixing, coming right up.

[For now, he dismisses his keyblade and gets to work on that.]

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IC Inbox for empatheias

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