IC Inbox for empatheias

[boundbynaught]

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]

Comments

2/2

[boundbynaught]

[ Usagi started to get him thinking like this, but Sora raising his voice is another thing entirely. Being scolded like a child... if it were for anyone but Naminé that would make him mad. When he speaks again, his voice is lower, serious but calm. Ish. ]

That's what I'm afraid of too - that he'll smash it before you even get there, or when you show up, just because he feels like it. I don't know how you think you can get it back from him without a fight, Sora.

[ He's worried. So worried. It was one thing for him to willingly try to smash his amulet and Sora stop him out of concern; Vanitas with someone else's amulet, someone he didn't care a bit about... he feared it may already be too late. He's used to jumping right into the fray with his Dark Corridors thanks to pinpointing things with his nose. He knows a little bit about Ven and Vanitas being connected, but not just how connected. For all he knows it's just as good as his Scent at finding the guy. ]

... I do trust you, Sora. It's him I don't trust.

[oathkeeper]

[Don't you call him out like that, Arden! If Sora didn't know Vanitas and Ventus as well as he does now he probably would have jumped the gun just like everyone else! But it's not like that right now.

How weird that it's Sora trying to calm down the "level-headed" ones.]

I'm gonna figure it out.

[He's thinking of Naminé and how she needs heartful emotions right now. He's thinking about how the darkness would hurt Riku even more in the state he's in. He's thinking about Arden getting hurt in a reckless fight with Vanitas. He's thinking about how Ventus is going at this alone.

... Why won't anyone just listen to him?]

You said we're best friends, right?

[boundbynaught]

[ He can feel something in the pit of his stomach just drop away at that question. He frowns, before finally realizing this is voice only and so Sora can probably hear that anxious pause in his emotions as loud as his nervous breathing. ]

... Yes. We're best friends.

[ Not just that he said. They are. That bond is something he can't bear to give up. Yet... If there's anyone equally reckless as Arden or Riku, it was Sora, when it came down to helping someone like the position Naminé's in. So even if he trusted Sora to do whatever he could to get Naminé's amulet back... 'whatever he could' might be pretty intense. That's what Arden realizes he's afraid of by that tone in Sora's voice. ]

If you're not going to let me go with you, then at least...

[ Augh. What can he say that isn't overbearing? He tries several times, but can't come up with anything good. Something something come back in one piece and even if there's a line starting with Squall, I want to see you too, in good health or within recovering range, without having let Vanitas off the hook but also without letting him do something like pummel him into the ground or let loose his Antiform in exchange for the amulet or anything else crazy like that.

'Look after Naminé.'

Yeah... it kind of felt like that all over again. Except this time he really did care if Sora survived the confrontation. ]

[oathkeeper]

[Arden struggling with what to say in that lingering anxious silence is enough for Sora to let out a bit of a laugh in hopes that it sounds reassuring.]

I promise I'll come back all in one piece and with her amulet. Vanitas doesn't have anything on me and Ven, both.

[He can't promise what will happen or that he won't get hurt at all because he doesn't know. But he's determined to come back with the amulet and hopefully unscathed enough that only a few cures are all he'll need. The best case scenario is that he won't need any cures at all so he's gunning for that option. Vanitas is unpredictable, though.]

Stick by her, okay? We'll be quick as we can.

[The silent thank you is there in a flicker of soft appreciation. He won't let Arden down.]

[boundbynaught]

[ For someone just starting to accept his nature as a replica, he is really frustrated that he can't be in two places at once today. "Stick by her" is all well and good, but he wants to be by Sora's side too - not just defeat Vanitas, but whatever Sora confronts. He has to pay Sora back, over and over, for all the crap he dragged the other boy through in both Castle Oblivion and after.

And he doesn't know Ven that well. Trusts him like he trusts a puppy, really - that he's hardly a danger to Sora, but can he actually stand up to Vanitas for one thing, Vanitas specifically, and was he at least as good a fighter as Arden was? Arden couldn't answer that on personal experience, so his 'trust' in Ven was a significant gap compared to how much he trusted Sora.

So Arden looks down mentally, and nods in assent. ]

I will. See you soon, Sora.