wipesfaith | 02 [action/voice]

[For all his trouble, Jean got a horse. Which is great, because he's curious to explore what lies far beyond the village and he ain't walking all that way. (What can he say? Some losers from back home have gotten into him a little bit.) First, though, he needs to find a saddle and bridle - apparently, he should have made out with a few more people if he wanted riding gear too. But his pride is worth more to him than that anyway, so he doesn't mind searching through the Item Shop for what he needs.

By the afternoon, he can be found at the stables on the east side of the village. He has spent the past few days visiting Benoit, letting the horse grow accustomed to him as he cares for him. Now that he has something more sophisticated than a rope lead, he's willing to take the horse out farther than the immediate vicinity of the stables. It was already obvious to him that Benoit lacked training. Before he can think about riding him anywhere, he'll have to muster up some serious patience and start from scratch. After fitting him with the sadle and bridle, so he can start getting used to the way it feels, Jean will lead him out to a decent-sized clearing in the forest to get down to business.

Toward the evening, after returning Benoit to the stables, he makes his way back to Flame Building. Residents may have noticed a recent addition outside the building, in the form of a small pen that now houses a little lamb. He'll stop by to check on it for Marco - make sure it's not dead, not that he'd be terribly broken up if it were, because he's never indulged in lambchops before - before finally heading in.

Later, he'll flip open his journal to voice a message.]

[Voice]

Hey. I guess I'm still pretty new here, so I'm just wondering...what's worth seeing beyond this village? I've seen a map, but a map can only tell you so much. There's an...ocean out there, right? [He gets the feeling that some might find his next question a little stupid, and he swears he's sane; he just comes from an insane world.] Is there seriously salt in it?

It's weird... This whole place could probably fit inside Wall Rose - that's what's left of human territory back home - but it still seems like so much...more.

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Not too bad. [Better then he was the first time he tried, so he's moving in the right direction.] I'll be ready, or as ready as I can be.

What about you? You trained in any weapon?

Well, you could say that. I'm mostly self-taught, but I'm not too shabby with a Keyblade, and I've picked up some magic along the way.

[A bit humble for a Keyblade Master, but he's not really here to brag. Still, it dawns on him that he should probably explain what a Keyblade is.]

And before you ask, Keyblades are kind of like key-shaped swords that can appear and disappear at will.

[...It can what. Okay, chalking that up to the presence of magic in this guy's world.]

...Why is it shaped like a key? Is there some kind of advantage to that?

Beats me. I don't know the secret origins of Keyblades or anything, but the key look's not just for show. They can open any lock, seal the hearts of worlds from the darkness... If you can get past the idea of a key as a weapon, they're actually a pretty big deal.

[In more ways than one, but there's a lot of finer details he hasn't even brushed upon yet. The whole Mark of Mastery business comes to mind.]

The "hearts of worlds"? [That has to be some metaphorical bullshit, right?]

Yeah, and we're not talking molten cores, either. Crazy as it sounds, the worlds where I'm from have hearts made outta light and darkness, just like people. And just like we can lose our hearts, the worlds can lose theirs to the darkness, and when that happens...

[He falls silent for a few seconds, and when he speaks up, his voice is a touch softer.]

Well, that world collapses, along with everything in it. Those who are lucky get flung to other worlds, but otherwise, they're gone, too.

[His tendency toward logic makes it hard for him to understand how this would work, but even the short time he's spent in Luceti is enough to make him more open to taking the strange and fantastic at face value. And he picks up on the change in tone that follows the silence.]

...Does that happen a lot?

These days, not really. Ever since Sora and I sealed off Kingdom Hearts, the worlds have been pretty stable.

[Well, as stable as they can be given what they've dealt with since. Sure, no worlds collapse or disappear nowadays, but darkness never disappears. It's always there, lurking, as are the Heartless that spawn from it.]

Stable doesn't mean safe, though. We've still had our hands full, between the Organization spreading monsters across the worlds and the old man trying to start a war. It's a long, complicated story, and it'd take forever to explain.

...I'll just take your word for it. [Because yeah, it sound like they could be here forever if he keeps asking more questions.]

Stable doesn't mean safe...yeah. Stable just means that something could come along at any moment to knock things off balance again.

Which really is too bad. You work your butt off trying to save everybody, and chances are, they'll get knee deep in danger the minute you turn your back.

[Case in point? He and Sora sealed the Door to Darkness, and the Organization started meddling with the worlds. Beat them, and then Xehanort cropped up... Yet despite Riku's frustrations, he still manages to laugh.]

Guess the one upside's that things never get too dull.

I would rather live a dull, peaceful life than one where everything is always going wrong. [Although...when faced with what he thought was certain death back in Trost, he had complained about leading such a boring life.]

I'd find something else to make things interesting. [Something that doesn't involve the imminent death of him and his friends.]

Guess there's always some way. My friend Sora's like that-- our home was so small, and most of the time nothing ever happened, but he just went with the flow. Probably would've been fine if we'd never seen the outside world.

[Riku sighs. It's a mindset he still fails to grasp completely.]

I envy that kind of attitude. It's never been that simple for me.

You need something more than that, huh?

Yeah. For me, it's tough to sit still. Ever since I was little, I always wanted to see what else was out there.

[And while he got his wish, it came with a price.]

Funny thing is, I doubt I'll ever be able to go back to that peaceful life now. Things have changed. The worlds are just too dangerous now.

It's hard to go back. Things don't change back, they just...keep changing.

[Which is why he can't afford to regret the choices he's made, as hard as it is sometimes. Gotta keep moving forward.]

But there's gotta be something besides constant danger that makes life a little exciting. ...I don't think "exciting" or "interesting" are the right words, though. [It glorifies the horrors that come intertwined with dangerous threats. Titans, Heartless, whatever shit other worlds have to deal with.] I mean something that gives you a purpose, something that gives you a chance to do something with your life.

Of course there's more than danger. I'm not such a huge thrill seeker that I'd go looking for conflict. It's just... hmm...

[How to put it...]

The way I see it, it's just inescapable. It keeps us on our toes, gives us something to fight for... but I think if I had to pick, I'd want to keep my friends out of the line of fire. My purpose isn't thrill seeking-- it's to protect the things that matter.

[To make sure they're the ones smiling at the end of the day. That's all that really matters.]

Didn't mean to say you were thrill-seeking or anything like that. I just meant...peaceful doesn't have to mean boring, especially if you fought for it and earned it. [Which it sounds like this guy definitely has. Too bad the world is never that fair.]

But you're right, it does feel inescapable. It would be nice to be wrong about that, though.

I guess it depends on what you do with that peace and what kind of company you've got. This place is peaceful most of the time, and I still get by, but I think that if I didn't have Ino or any of my friends around, I'd go stir crazy in a flash.

[After all, they're not just trapped in a bubble. They're trapped with the knowledge that the Malnosso can and will manipulate them at whim, send them out to fight wars, and face countless other hardships. Not exactly reassuring.]

I think... hmm. Well, I guess the best thing you can do is make the most of the peace you do have. Whether it lasts a day or a decade, you gotta make it count.

Sounds kinda cheesy when you say it like that, but...yeah, nothing lasts forever. So you hold on while you can.

[He can't stay here. He doesn't really think he wants to, even if it's an improvement over his shithole of a world in many ways - the horror of the titans is far away, and the absence of his best friend is filled in. Or maybe it's that he can't want to.]