itsjustagamerp | Mirrored Memory (PG-13 / Slightly backdated to beginning of week)

It had been a long time since Namine had needed her ability to lay low and remain unobserved. Most everyone on the Satellite was a friend by now, and while some things she still considered private, she didn't actively avoid anyone as a matter of course.

Now, though, they were somehow trapped where the Mads usually lived. Monitoring the video feeds had been enough to prove that some of the people most important to her weren't here. Oh, there were people that resembled them and used their names. What she'd seen on the screen, though, wasn't them, couldn't be them. It was time to start avoiding cameras and keep to the shadows once again.

The ease with which the old ability returned made her a little sad. So far none of the others seemed to have noticed her, so when she saw not-Riku heading for the library, she thought it might be worth it to follow him. Maybe a little observation would lead her to something helpful.

This Riku missed many of his own abilities that had vanished upon coming to Deep 13. However, there'd been one so honed that it'd only been dulled. While Riku could no longer detect degrees of darkness, he could still recognize scent.

He hesitated in the middle of the hallway, slowly turning and looking behind him with narrowed eyes. Riku saw no one behind him. Gracefully he closed his eyes and raised his face, inhaling deeply through his nose. No, there's someone close. ...Female. It smells almost like...

Riku took several more steps down the hall before turning suddenly, poised like a cobra. he still didn't see her.

"If you're actually feeling social for once in your worthless life, Namine, at least come out. Otherwise stop following me."

Unfortunately, Namine had momentarily forgotten Riku's ability to sniff most people out. She probably should have guessed that he'd catch on to her sooner or later (he'd found her when she'd slipped past DiZ into the digital Twilight Town), but this had happened more quickly than she would have thought. Then again, this Riku might have reason to be more suspicious than hers.

Now that she'd been spotted, she needed to decide whether or not to show herself or leave. Speaking from her hiding place wasn't an option; not only would that not feel right, it would only irritate him more. Having been spotted, it was probably safer to take the chance to leave. This Riku didn't seem kindly disposed towards her, so staying might be taking a risk.

A risk, yes, but worth the chance to find out something. She'd come this far. As long as she was careful, she should be fine. After taking a moment to compose herself and make her expression fairly neutral, she stepped out to where he could see her. "Hello, Riku."

Ironically, all those memories of thinking she didn't have a heart and couldn't feel just might help her get through all this. All she had to do was keep telling herself that keeping the same distance from Riku as she would have from Larxene, and using the same precautions she had around Marluxia, didn't really hurt. She just thought they should.

Riku held out his hands at the greeting. "That's it?" He looked annoyed and rolled his eyes. Placing a hand on his cocked hip, he then took a couple steps towards her. "What do you want now, Namine? Oh, and don't try to threaten me again with wiping my memories. Since I can't use spells here, I don't got much to lose, remember?" Of course, not that she had her powers either, but that threat was for when they all managed to get home.

She stood there about as expressionless as ever. A heartless nobody who did heartless nothings. A little weakling who pulled strings. At least Riku could say he did things for himself, not that he had much choice but to do otherwise.

Edited (derp) 2013-02-18 05:41 (UTC)

Namine took an equal number of steps back to maintain her distance. While she wasn't sure if it would tip him off any further to the fact that she wasn't acting like the version of her he was used to, it was better to be safe. At least it could be disguised as wanting to keep far away enough that she could look him in the face without having to look up too much.

"I remember, and I won't." She had to work hard not to wince at the lie, though was it really much of one if she'd make sure to remember later that this Riku was mostly a magic user? The second was easy to say, since, unlike the version of her that apparently existed here, erasing memories was a threat she'd probably never use. "I was just going to the library; didn't want to bother anyone."

Enough truth there to not make the statement a lie, though he'd probably see through it. She'd never been much of an actress, despite any skills at pulling strings.

"Well, you're bothering me." There was a surprisingly selfish tone there, or given that this was a shadow version of Riku, perhaps not so surprising. He also didn't quite look convinced. "Seriously, girl, what is it? You get tired of messing with Sora's head?" The smile that comes over his face briefly is really not a nice one. "...Though I'll admit, I looove seeing him squirm for once. I thought that was your favorite pastime."

For every few steps she took backwards, Riku pressed on with a few more himself. ...There was only so much hallway. "Or maybe you're looking to mess with someone else." He held out his arms. "And here i am, conveniently placed going down the hall... Something to tide you over before finding some new way to destroy Sora's nerves."

Edited 2013-02-19 07:24 (UTC)

Well, the situation had quickly gone from something Namine had thought she could handle to one requiring help from others. She scanned the hall, looking for potential escape routes. Riku was blocking the way forward, and there wasn't a lot of space left to back up. Maybe if she managed to distract him somehow. "I wasn't looking, but do you want me to tell Sora you're getting distracted?"

She tried to back up the threat with her best glare, but she didn't have much hope of that working. It didn't with most people. No Cambots were nearby, but that might be for the better.

What to do when one of the people she'd usually call for help was now the threat, and any of the others could simply add to it?

At the mention of Sora, a flash of fear came over his face and he stopped in his tracks. The last thing he wanted was for Sora to hit him again. He still had a good bruise in the ribs from the other day. And considering that Namine could make him squirm, she could potentially manipulate Sora into hurting Riku worse.

But that glare wasn't the one he knew from his rare encounters from her. This one was far from intimidating. Something was very wrong. As such, while still stopped, he replied with a shrug.

"It won't matter. I'm making sure you doesn't distract me again, witch. Let's call it 'preventative measures.'"

Still, there was unease in his voice. Sora would probably find fault with him anyway. Its what he did.

Edited (Making it worse) 2013-02-21 01:49 (UTC)

It hadn't worked as well as Namine had wanted and made him leave, but at least it had made him pause. All she'd needed was to distract him and make him stop advancing for a moment so that, if needed, she could try to get by him and get a decent start down the hall. From what he said, running right now would be a good idea.

So, wincing slightly when he called her witch, she ran. While there was enough room to avoid any physical contact when passing by him, getting within arm's reach was unavoidable. She'd just have to be quick.

It was in that moment of fear that she made her move to escape. However, Riku's response was as ingrained as any reflex. He pursued.

"HEY!" His snarl echoed in the hallway. She was light and fast. He was, too. While this Riku lacked the muscle mass his more benevolent counterpart did, it worked in his favor in case he had to flee, or in this case, chase. Just like his counterpart, however, his legs were long, and he caught up with Namine before she could leave the hallway. He reached out and snatched a strap her dress and yanked back. Riku grabbed her arm to turn her around before shoving her backwards into the wall. While he lacked the force his counterpart did, that didn't mean it couldn't hurt. He was quick to grab her by the forearm and the wrist, holding them up so she was pinned to the wall. Riku snarled at her.

"I don't know what's going on around here. Some of you are acting really weird, and I'm going to get to the bottom of this." He leaned close, his voice quieter. "Now, you'd better start acting right and stop following me." Riku moved even closer to her, his face next to hers and voice growing quieter still.

"Or I'm going to hunt you down and take something very, very..." He was whispering in her ear. "...Precious from you." He leaned back slightly to reveal a malevolently delighted grin.

Xion had been doing her own brand of laying low, which involved keeping to less used areas of Deep 13 and sticking to the shadows. Not that she enjoyed it--Sora, Riku, and Ven obviously weren't themselves, and she couldn't be sure of anyone else, except maybe Pinkie Pie, and that grated on her nerves. On top of that, MakubeX hadn't been around for a while, and she'd been intending to conduct a more thorough search for him when they'd been brought here. She hadn't seem him yet, but if he was mirrored she wanted to find him and keep him from doing something the real him might regret. She'd promised, after all.

So laying low was a good tactic to both avoid trouble and try to settle her nerves. The library had proven to be fairly quiet, and have some good books. She could easily avoid most of the others there, and keep to the shadows when going through the halls. This was one time her Organization coat was coming in handy. She simply pulled up the hood and blended in.

That was the usual routine. Today was proving to be a little different, though. She'd walked out just in time to see a Namine (whether the one she knew or the one from the universe they'd found themselves in) run away from this universe's Riku and be summarily attacked. Whether the Namine Xion knew or not, though, the girl currently pinned to the wall looked terrified--well, after initially wincing in pain.

There was far too much of Sora (the real Sora) in Xion for her to feel comfortable just walking by and doing nothing. Stepping out where she could be seen plainly, she lowered her hood. "Attacking girls in hallways? I thought even you couldn't stoop that low, but I guess I was wrong."

Normally she'd start with asking what was going on, but that was fairly clear and, with this Riku, probably wouldn't go anywhere. So, time to channel some of the attitude she'd dealt with from certain Organization members in new directions. Already being on edge helped with that, surprisingly.

Riku paused to look over his shoulder at the newcomer. It was some little girl in an Organization XIV coat. She was somehow a little familiar, but he couldn't put a finger on it. Still, he hesitated. There was a very determined look in her eyes.

He turned his attention briefly back to Namine. "I made my point to you," he growled before throwing her to the floor. Riku then turned, shoulders back and held held high towards the new girl. ...Even lanky there was still something disconcerting about the way he towered over some people.

"What's wrong with putting someone in their place?" he began, holding his arms out. "Or how about a better question. Who the--" His sentence continued to ask crassly who she was before punctuating it with an extremely derogatory term that the Riku they knew would never use for any reason.

Edited (Adding picture) 2013-02-23 04:09 (UTC)

One thing this Riku had yet to find out, apparently, was that though Xion was little, she was fierce. She'd also spent her share of time being loomed at disconcertingly by various Heartless and other members of the Organization. If he was hoping for her to even flinch, she'd have to disappoint him there.

His confusion about who she was gave her pause for a moment, before she decided she could use that to her advantage. Besides, he was using words Axel had said she shouldn't bother learning from him, and Xigbar had said nice little poppets shouldn't use. Not that she hadn't been able to help picking them up with the others using them. She just didn't really use them.

This looked like it might be a time to test them out. The real Riku would probably be very disappointed, but, well, his mirrored self had started it. "I think you're the one who needs to be put in your place, treating people like that. Knock it off or I'll knock your punk ass down."

She hoped she was using the expression right.

The Riku paused very briefly. ...And then tossed back his head to laugh at the concept of this little girl using such vulgarities and acting tough. He continued to laugh as he walked closer to her. "Oooooh, you are something else, girl. Coming up out of the blue, trying to break up a one-sided fight, and using words that are too ugly for your pretty little mouth~"

He was standing quite close to Xion now, not caring whether Namine was on the floor, or had managed to flee. "Now, here's the thing. I asked you a question. Who are you, you little--" And on the last beat of his sentence he suddenly tried to grab her by the arm.

[Okay, whether he grabs her is up to you. But if he does grab her, if he's hurt he'll let go.]

If there was one thing to be said for most of the Organization members, it was that they'd rarely laughed at Xion. Any mocking and derision (of which there had been plenty, though she hadn't always recognized it as such) had taken other forms. The real Riku, too, had never laughed at her. If this false Riku had been looking for a reaction that would set her off-balance, he couldn't have found a better one.

For a moment, she let her guard down. Confusion and maybe a little hurt replaced the anger in her expression, and her scowl softened to a confused frown. Just as quickly as the moment had come, though, it was over, and her glare was back in force, if not stronger than before.

This isn't Riku.

No matter the similarities in appearance, whoever she was dealing with here wasn't her friend. It was just someone who looked like him (like he used to) and used his name. So of course he'd act differently.

Was this how he felt around me at first?

No time for thinking about that now, though. Her momentary lapse had allowed him to get hold of her, and while Namine seemed to have picked herself up, she looked pale and stricken.

At least Xion had Riku's attention focused on her for the moment. She needed to keep things that way so Namine could run. Well, Riku had asked question, hadn't he? She should answer it. "I'm someone who's helping a friend."

With that, she stepped in towards him...to better use her free arm to deliver what would be a strong blow to his midsection if it connected.

With a sinister smirk Riku began to raise the arm he'd seized. Now what to do with her? Something about her really did seem familiar, unsettlingly so. It was like something he'd known before, but in a different way. Well, if he were to follow gut instinct, it would probably be best to get rid of her. Besides, if he didn't know who she was, she was probably someone who'd managed to sneak into Deep 13, and they couldn't have that, could they?

He began to lower his face towards her when she suddenly stepped in, hitting him hard. Reflexively he let go as he cried out, hugging his torso as he backed up quickly to protect himself. He coughed, eyes wide as he looked at her. And as he caught him in the stomach, he caught a good whiff of her. And he gasped. There were only two people who smelled like that, and both were male.

"Why? WHY do you smell like Sora?!"

Edited 2013-02-26 03:33 (UTC)

As soon as Xion's arm was released, she stepped back away from him, trying to get out of arm's reach. Hopefully, he'd take that punch as a warning and back off. Out of the corner of her idea she saw Namine melting away into the shadows again--hopefully she wouldn't go too far and risk running into someone even less pleasant than the mirrored Riku. This was one instance where fleeing wouldn't always lead to safety.

Riku's question left Xion confused for a moment. Then she remembered his ability to "smell" others. Apparently that hadn't faded even here. How to answer, though...Did this Riku just not remember her, or had he never met her. Whichever the case, a small, petty part of her refused to explain herself to him, and that was speaking the loudest at the moment. So she settled for just looking warily back at him, still in a stance from which she could easily defend or attack if she needed to again.

"WHY?!" Riku looked genuinely disturbed. That hit was much harder than he'd expected from her. He really didn't want to be hit again, but he also didn't want another bully. Could he win in a fight against her? It was clear he was sizing her up, reevaluating. And then there was the matter of why she smelled like that. Sora and Xion smelled the same (or at least they did once he'd lost his magic and power over darkness) and Roxas smelled similar, though he also smelled like Ventus. But why she smelled like Sora and Xion didn't make any sense. She at least should smell different because she was a girl at the very least, right? Not that being female had a unique scent, but it still stood to reason! There was something very wrong with her. And why was she in an Organization XIV coat?

There were a lot of things he needed to know for his own safety. By all appearances he should be able to beat the little thing, but...

Riku regained a small degree of his composure. Quite honestly he was still a mess, and he looked scared. However, he stood up to his full height and began to circle her, at times bringing him alongside the wall. "Your scent is messed. Up. WHAT are you?"

[OOC: He's on the verge of fleeing.]

In Xion's case appearances were deceiving. She was stronger than she looked. That strength wasn't meant to hurt other people, though, and she wouldn't hit him again unless he attacked her or someone she cared about. It was starting to dawn on her, though, that she couldn't trust him to know that. Far from the confidence he'd shown earlier, now he was on the defensive, and scared.

Now was her chance to drive him off, possibly for good. If, at some point in her future, she could convince Roxas that she was so far gone he had to kill or be killed, she could probably do this.

That didn't mean she had to like it.

Slowly she shifted stances so she could walk, taking the moment to try to mentally prepare for what she had to do. Then, letting all the anger (this had to be anger) that she was feeling (at him, at this whole messed up situation) show on her face, she began to stalk towards him. "If you don't know then I'm not telling you. Back off now and I may not tell Sora what you were doing."

Having seen the way the mirrored Sora treated this Riku, she knew it was kind of a low blow of a threat, but if it worked, then it might be worth it. She just hoped the real Riku would forgive her.

[OOC: Roger that, and she will not pursue if/when he does.]

Edited 2013-03-01 17:19 (UTC)

Any hint of bravery or confidence slowly ebbed from his face as anger flowed into hers. His attempt at intimidation melted away, his circling ceasing as she began to stalk him. Riku began to back up from her, arms slightly raised in case he needed to defend himself.

Again, she didn't tell him who she was. But she smelled like Sora. And why was she defending Namine? Yet they'd both made the same threat...

Several scenarios began to dawn on Riku. Namine held sway over Sora. This girl was obviously connected to him... ...A Replica? Like Xion? Some mishmash of Sora and Kairi or Sora and Namine? What was Sora doing?! Whatever she was, she reeked of him. Could Sora and Namine be working together, or rather, could Namine be manipulating Sora? Regardless, if Sora had managed to figure out how to make Replicas, Namine could have an army on her hands. That would explain the secrecy and why she wouldn't tell him what she was.

Riku glanced around quickly. Namine had vanished. Much as he hated Sora, he didn't want Namine being able to push him around, either. This was bad. And he wasn't going to be able to get any answers from her regarding what she was. Not in his current state.

But something perplexed him. Namine was to Sora what Sora was to Riku, and what Riku was to Namine. It was human Rock-Paper-Scissors. But why did the paper care if the rock took out the scissors? "W-why would Sora be upset if I was potentially getting rid of his problem?"

And it dawned on him that if she were directly working for Sora... Then she was above him.

[OOC: A "Wouldn't you like to know?" answer will suffice.]

Edited 2013-03-02 07:08 (UTC)

Well, Xion had managed to turn the tables on Riku and get the upper hand. The problem was, the upper hand wasn't something she was used to having. More often than not, she'd been the one left guessing while others planned circles around her. So she was at something of a loss as to how to proceed, but she couldn't let that show. Time to think quickly, though she didn't have much to go on...

It doesn't matter what cards you're dealt, just how you play them.

Okay, so what did she know? First, Riku obviously could tell her connection to Sora--not this Sora here, but a Sora, and that was enough. Second, even then he still didn't fully recognize her--an advantage she might need. Third, while she wasn't used to having the upper hand, she did have experience not only dealing with people who did, but imitating them as well, thanks to the occasional contest among best friends.

She could do something with that.

Slowly, she let her expression shift from anger to her best impression of one of Xigbar's "I know something you don't" smirks. "Wouldn't you like to know."

Really, if she were back on the clock tower with her friends, it would have won her the extra ice cream that day.

Riku's current life situation was rather undesirable. This made things much more complicated. Suddenly it seemed whatever power he once held was slipping away. People were acting oddly. And now it seemed Sora had a new flunky, what may have been a pseudo-replica.

Whatever she was, there were no answers. And like Sora, she was small and powerful for her size. How strong he couldn't tell, but if she was like Sora or Xion he was in trouble.

...Where WAS Xion these days anyway?

As Riku backed away from her approach, he stumbled, falling backward. He skidded backwards a bit, trying to stay away even while on the floor before scrambling to his feet.

This was too much. Too much risk, too much danger. Too many questions left unanswered with too much chance of getting hurt in asking more. It was too risky staying longer.

Riku bolted with surprising speed and rather quietly at that. While his other self was just as fast, his legs were better built to carry his increased weight. This Riku was just a feather blowing in the wind. He ran as such.

There had to be answers. He'd just have to look for them.

Even mirrored, Xion probably wouldn't be anyone's flunky. More like a partner in crime with the mirrored Sora. This Xion was about as far from mirrored as could be, and was definitely not going to play the part of the puppet anymore.

This Riku probably wouldn't be any happier knowing the answers he was looking for. Once it was clear he was going to run, Xion halted her advance, and when he was gone, she let her facade fade, slumping into a more relaxed stance while leaning against the wall.

Namine faded into view a little further down the hall, still looking a little shaky and wary as she approached. Xion offered what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "It's me. You okay?"

That got a nod, but Namine still seemed hesitant. Sighing, Xion moved away from the wall and, when the other girl didn't back away, gave her an awkward hug. It seemed like the right thing to do. After a brief moment, Namine relaxed slightly and, though she didn't hug bag, leaned on Xion until she stopped shaking.

Mirrored Memory (PG-13 / Slightly backdated to beginning of week)

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I checked with Lynx, she said Mirror Riku could keep this.

Cool!

Re: Cool!

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...I swear I wrote this out and was sure I posted it yesterday. D: Sorry!

No worries!

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...I think other thread is done. -.-

Me, too. Sadness! D:

We must IM!

Planning shenanigans? I have teh busies this weekend and won't be able to be on much, if at all. :/

No worries!

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