( PLAYER ★ INFORMATION )

NAME: Abilene
AGE: 26
CONTACT: PM to this account preferred; journeys
CURRENT CHARACTERS & LATEST AC: N/A

RESERVATION LINK: http://fairyfoes.dreamwidth.org/2216.html?thread=1840040#cmt1840040

( CHARACTER ★ INFORMATION )

DOES THIS CHARACTER MEET SKELETAL BASICS? Y
NAME & AGE: Riku, 16/17
CANON & CANON POINT: Kingdom Hearts; post-Dream Drop Distance
CANON INFORMATION: In-depth story, more in-depth story, Riku, and Riku again


PERSONALITY: (headcanon in italics, aside from quotes)

Riku is a boy that used to be on top of the world.

Then he fell off.

Growing up, Riku was very much the king of his castle. It was a well-known fact that he was The Best—he could run the fastest, he could jump the highest, he could take on three people at once and beat them all in mock combat. Riku was the instigator, the one with the plan; he was the one everybody looked to when they didn’t know what to do next. Which was fine by Riku, because he always had an answer. He always knew what to do.

As you might expect, this led to Riku becoming a fairly cocky boy. He was in control of every situation—until suddenly, he wasn’t. After Destiny Islands fell to the Heartless in the first game, Riku made a few boneheaded choices rooted entirely in his desire to be in control: regaining that sense of control by finding his friends was his main goal, and he did whatever was necessary to achieve it, in spite of the morality of his actions (such as kidnapping Princess Jasmine and delivering her into the hands of some seriously malevolent villains). Eventually, he paid dearly for it.


“Riku must have realized then: to fight in the realm of darkness, he would have to immerse himself in that same darkness.
And when he did... you saw what became of him. […]
If that was what it took to awaken his friend, he was ready to live in darkness.”

That’s a pretty common theme for Riku: he doesn’t do anything halfway. He commits himself to his decisions mind, body, and soul, no matter where that leads him. He’s willing to throw entire worlds into darkness (along with himself) to save Kairi, and to save Sora he not only plunges himself back into the darkness, but completely revokes the right of two Nobodies to exist along the way. Riku’s willpower is one of his most defining traits: if he sets his mind to something, he goes after that with everything he has. Unfortunately, this leads to him being very single-minded, to the extent that he doesn’t always remember to keep others in the loop. He’ll see something needing done and go after it without a word to anyone else—Riku cherishes his friends above all else but is very much a loner. He’s used to being on his own, if not by nature then by circumstance: after leaving Destiny Islands at age 15 he spent the next two years largely working alone, even if other hands guided his movements. After his initial mistakes he took his solitariness as a sort of both consequence and blessing—atonement for his misdeeds and a way to avoid facing those he felt he’d disappointed.

Riku is a perfectionist. Keeping his unequivocal status as The Best on the islands meant he had to continually show everybody else up. It meant not being able to fail. Failure hits Riku hard, and he tries his hardest not to let anyone see him struggling. It’s a large part of why he spent so long after the events of Kingdom Hearts hiding away; Riku knows how badly he messed up and he doesn’t think he can face anyone because of it. When Kairi lowers his hood and he is revealed to her in Ansem’s form, he can’t meet her eyes—he’s afraid of finding rejection there. Screwing up is bad enough. Being rejected by one of his closest friends, which is almost what he expected to happen, would have been a million times worse. When he is eventually reunited with Sora, still wearing Ansem’s form, he even says, “I didn’t want you to find me. […] I didn’t want to be found. Not like this…”


“Is there some reason you're interested in the outside world?”
“Yeah. I wanna be strong one day. Like that kid who left. He went to the outside world—I bet he's really strong now.
I know it's out there somewhere—the strength that I need.”
“Strength for what?”
“To protect the things that matter. You know, like my friends.”

Riku’s friends are the most important things in all the worlds to him. He makes acquaintances with ease, but it takes a while to become close friends with Riku. However as soon as you reach that level, the boy is one of the most loyal friends you could ever have. Riku will do Whatever It Takes to protect his friends. He will put himself in danger’s way without a second thought, and he will wreak unholy hell on anyone that gets in his way. In the first Kingdom Hearts, his sheer force of will is strong enough that he is actually able to fight back against Ansem’s possession of his body—Riku is the only person shown in the series to have been able to accomplish this feat, and he did it the moment it looked like Ansem was going to use him to attack his friends. “You won’t use me for this,” he said, fighting back and detaining Ansem long enough to ensure he wouldn’t be able to hurt Kairi. The above quote is a six-year-old Riku talking to a visitor from the outside world—even then, his friends were important, to the extent that he was talking about leaving Destiny Islands in order to find the strength to protect them, an idea he not only harbored but acted on nine years later.

Riku’s determination to protect his friends rolls straight back into his loner personality: he wants to be as strong as he can possibly be so that he can protect the people around him, and he doesn’t want to have to put anybody else in danger for his sake. Riku is all about being able to take care of himself; just before heading into the final basement of Castle Oblivion he tells King Mickey “I’ve gotta face [Ansem] alone. […] There’s no point in doing this if I can’t do it on my own.” He’s very focused on strength and the power gained by being strong; at first, he was mostly focused on physical and mental strength, but he’s since learned what it means to have a strong heart, too.


“I think you’ve gotten stronger, but odds are you’re still no match for Riku.
We took him on three-to-one last time, and he whipped us all!”

Competition was once a driving force in Riku’s life, and even though it’s not the same motivator that it once was, it’s still a large part of who he is. Riku was used to competition on the islands, running and jumping and fighting, and it’s what drove him to become as good as he is today. His competitive nature was a secondary influence throughout the events of the first game. While at first he was driven solely by his loss of control, as things between him and Sora deteriorated he became more and more determined to show that he was better than Sora, to find Kairi before Sora could, to prove that he was more worthy to carry a Keyblade than Sora was. Although after he falls into darkness, that facet of him fades (it’s tough to compete when there’s nobody to compete against), it still reappears from time to time: “Come on, Sora. I thought you were stronger than that,” he calls at the end of the first game, trying to goad Sora into not giving in to the darkness. A year later, he repeats that same line as he squares off against Roxas, speaking to the memories Roxas holds. (The fact that Roxas, without missing a beat, snaps back with what is indisputably a Sora Response—“Huh? Get real! Look which one of us is winning.”—speaks to how deep the competitive streak between the two boys ran.) Any more Riku doesn’t feel the same desire to show off and prove his superiority the same way that he once did, but he still finds it hard to back down from a challenge.


“Which is why you, Sora and Riku, are to be tested for the mark of a true Keyblade Master…”
“But that's a formality, right? I already proved myself. Me and the king, and Riku—we can take on anything. Right, Riku?”
“I don't know. I think that in my heart, darkness still has a hold. Walking that path changed me. I'm not sure if I'm ready to wield a Keyblade. Maybe I do need to be tested.”

Riku today has changed a lot from the cocky, arrogant boy he was on the islands. Throughout everything that’s happened since the original storm hit Destiny Islands, he’s been knocked down numerous times, had to rebuild himself almost entirely from scratch. He’s come face-to-face with his own morality, and realized how much he was found wanting. With the shadow remnants of Ansem’s spirit living on in his heart, Riku’s had to examine every decision he ever made and remake those decisions time and time again, constantly pushing past the whispers of doubt and promises that one day he’d fall to darkness again. He’s had to dig himself out of his own grave, and with that has come a sense of seriousness and humility. He’s more willing to accept his own faults, to look critically at himself and to try and improve himself. Where before Riku worked tirelessly to repair the damage he’d caused, hoping to atone for his mistakes, Riku now works just as hard because he knows he can do the right thing. He’s seen the darker side of the mirror, and he wants to stop the darkness in its tracks before it can drag the rest of the worlds into that pit he lived in for so long. Riku’s goals aren’t any less daunting, and he’ll still go after them with everything he has, but there’s no longer the conflict in his heart that once ruled him. For now, he’s reached balance.


“Your darkness belongs to you. Just the same way your light does.
Up till now, I thought darkness was something that should never exist. Then I spent time with you and changed my mind.
The road you chose—I didn't know. Light and dark, back to back. With you,
I think they might meet in a way nobody's seen before.”

(It’s worth noting though that even if Riku’s a lot more serious and mature than he started out the games, he’s still retained a good deal of his snarky nature. It just kind of slips out—at The World That Never Was, during a Serious Conversation about why Riku was hiding himself from everybody else, Sora asks him why he tried to do so much on his own when he’s got all these friends to help him out. It would be heartwarming, if not for Riku’s smirk and response: “I’ll tell you why. ‘Cause I’m not a total sap like you!”

Old habits die hard.)

COURT ALLIANCE & REASONING:

“What are you making me choose now?”
“Between the road to light—and the road to darkness.”
“Neither suits me. I'm taking the middle road.”
“Do you mean the twilight road to nightfall?”
“No. It's the road to dawn.”

Seelie. Though Riku may not believe 100% in the Seelie code, he follows many of its tenets unwaveringly. From a young age, he sought to become as strong as he could possibly be so that he could protect those important to him. As a Keyblade Master, he is to act as a guardian of worlds, fighting the darkness that threatens to overwhelm it and keeping the peace without interfering with those worlds' own happenings. Though Riku's path may have led him astray, he still fights to protect those weaker than himself and to add his strength to those on the same level.

In the first Kingdom Hearts, Riku falls from the light. He accepts the darkness into himself and winds up a puppet, controlled by someone else. He realizes his mistake and seeks to atone for it for the next year, doing everything he can to make up for his mistake. Though he doesn't seek death as his atonement, he is willing to write himself out of everybody else's life, to fade away into the background while doing whatever he can to support those he'd wronged. He tries to avoid Sora and Kairi throughout the entirety of the second game, saying that he didn't want them to see him while he was in Ansem's form—while he was still tainted by the darkness. Even after everything is said and done and he and Sora have returned home to Destiny Islands (so the events of KH1, CoM, 358/2 Days, and KH2, for those of you playing along at home), he still doesn't feel as though he's completely atoned for his mistakes. "Walking that path changed me," he says. "Maybe I do need to be tested." After everything he's gone through, that mark of dishonor has stayed with him, and its stain has influenced everything he does.

Riku is also ruled by the love he feels for his friends. Everything he did to protect Kairi, and then to protect Sora... all his actions are guided by his desire to protect the people he loves, the people closest to his heart. Riku would and has gone beyond even death to protect his loved ones, and he does it without a second thought.

Riku hasn't followed the "typical" Seelie path—he's made grievous errors in judgment, he's betrayed his friend, and he's lost himself to the darkness—but he's never stopped fighting for what he thinks is right, to make up for the wrongs he's committed and to do everything in his power to protect those around him. He may not always stick with the tried and true paths, but in the end Riku follows the code of chivalry, doing his best to protect everybody he can.

ABILITIES: Okay, so Riku is a Kingdom Hearts character which basically means he’s got a stupid amount of “abilities” which are basically different specialized attacks. A full list (of at least his abilities from Dream Drop Distance) is located here, but as that’s a pretty sizable laundry list, here’re the highlights:

• KEYBLADE. KEEEEEYBLAAAAAAAADE. Basically a shiny blade that functions as a deux ex machina when it comes to anything ever that can be locked or closed. (No seriously, apparently you can awaken people from comas with this thing.) (Okay okay so it's by using the blade's empathetic nature to resonate with that person's heart but YOU GET MY DRIFT.) As such, it's able to open almost any lock it comes up against, from that lock keeping your diary from being read to the locks that keep the various worlds separate from one another.
  
  • Able to use the Keyblade for world-jumping. The Keyblade is able to unlock the walls that keep worlds separated, allowing its wielder to travel between them.
  
  
  • Rustproof, dustproof, tarnishproof, bluntproof... basically doesn't require much upkeep, as it isn’t ever kept in the open when it isn’t being used. When the Keyblade is dismissed it goes back to rest in the wielder’s heart—it’s pretty much an extension of his own heart, as without a strong heart you can’t wield the power of a Keyblade, and Keyblades normally aren’t handed off; the power to wield or create one is passed on from those who came before.
    
    • Seriously, entirely bluntproof. They’ve been used to cut through skyscrapers before.
  • Can use Keychains to change the overall appearance and (to an extent) its capabilities. Some Keychains bestow a small boost in strength to the wielder, while others empower magic strength.
• General swordplay/combat skills. Riku is very much a lightning bruiser; he fights one-handedly and hits hard and fast. He's able to take out Xion with a single well-placed hit to her lower back, so in addition to swordfighting he's got some experience in hand-to-hand combat as well.

• Acrobatics/movement. Some form of dance training. Nobody will ever convince me otherwise.
  
  • Also he can do things like one-handed back handsprings while still wielding his weapon against an enemy.
  • Equipped with KH physics, which means No Fall Damage, Air Sliding, and Ridiculously High Jumping. (In 3DS Riku starts out with a relatively “reasonable” jump of about head-height. Then with High Jump he's able to clear semis. Add in Doubleflight (basically double jump), and suddenly he's able to come level with second floor windows. SURPRISE!)
• DARKNESS. Riku can do all sorts of things with it—he can sense it on people, he can utilize it as a tool to help him move faster, he can see through it no matter how dark the world around him, and he can't be harmed by it. Most of the dark-infused abilities he has are on the ability list above, but the big ones would be Shadow Roll, Shadow Slide, Dark Aura, Counter Aura, Dark Firaga, and Dark Splicer.

• Magic. Riku’s not as big a magic user, but he’s got access to the full range of spells, which include elemental (fire/blizzard/lightning/wind/dark in varying levels), healing (cure/esuna), and status (blind/poison/mini/bind/slow/stop/sleep).

CAPS

“Why isn't my magic working?”
“I should think it's obvious. The moment you set foot in this castle, you forgot every spell and ability you knew.”

• KEYBLADE. The Keyblade has been locked down to just a simple blade, though it keeps its rustproof/dustproof/tarnishproof/bluntproof qualities.
• KH physics are toned down.
• DARKNESS. All dark abilities capped to basic level aside from the ability to sense darkness, to move faster with it via Shadow Slide, Shadow Roll, or Counter Aura, and to see through even the deepest darknesses.
• All spells are accessible, but with the exception of Curaga, only in their most basic forms.
• No fire-based abilities or spells until shard magic level 1 is unlocked.

INVENTORY:

The clothes on his back and two cure potions (able to heal minor wounds and scratches entirely; can begin to heal more serious injuries such as broken bones but not entirely).

( WRITING ★ SAMPLES )

NETWORK SAMPLE:

[It feels strange, to talk into a locket and expect that other people will hear it.

Strange, but it isn’t as though he hasn’t been through plenty of stranger things in his life.]

The creatures that brought me here said that I could use this to talk with other people. If that’s true, I’ve got a few questions for all of you.

I’ve heard that there’s a war going on between the Seelie and the Unseelie, and that’s why we’ve been brought to this world. We’re supposed to be fighting to preserve something called the Void. Is that right?

[Something called the Void seems to be a little ominous to him, frankly. And given what else he’s heard about it…]

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I left at a bad time. We may not be able to go home yet— [Because you’d better believe that was the first thing he tried] —but is there any way to find out what happened after you left?

Or if we do get to go home, will we go back to the same moment as when we left?

[Sorry, drabwurld. Someone’s a little fixated on the fight he left behind.]

LOG SAMPLE:

At the Station with with Sora, with Terra, with Asami, and at the welcome feast with Keladry of Mindelan.

(All of these were written when I was still considering Riku for Unseelie, as a heads-up. I ultimately went with Seelie for the reasons explained above. Oops.)