Souvenir Shopping [Traverse Town, open]

[signalcrossed]

'odd,' he thought simply. Aloud he said, "Lets see just what you have found, my dear Stream, err...River."She turned back to him for a small moment, her uncertain expression making her seem far younger than her teenage years. River stepped to the door and pushed it forward, away from his hand, then stepped into the musty scent and dim light of the

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[madkefka]

Certain he had at least gotten some modricom of her attention - if it could be called that - Kefka sent a small sliver of power accross the divide between them, a tendril of energy that carried not words, but emotions.

entreating.
calm.
amusument.
impatience.

After several moments, Kefka finally allowed the strain of the silence to dissapate, and all manner of sounds returned to the room: clocks ticking, floor boards creaking, wood sckritching.

"Are you quite finished with your panic attack, my dear?" Kefka asked in an amused tone with that same hint of impatience.

[signalcrossed]

In the psychic darkness left by death, the man's emotions were a beacon. For moments, the room held only them. She was still submerged but the light was growing stronger, and in time her body regained feeling. Skin cold, the man's hands warm against her head. When the sound returned, the surface broke.

Her eyes opened, meeting his with an expression that echoed the nothingness she'd nearly drowned in. The smell of smoke didn't bother her; River had had no personal feelings for the man, and the sutures across her neurological heart had excised her idea of ethics. "I thought it would be like drowning," she said, her eyes not leaving his, "but it's actually like becoming the sea."

[madkefka]

Those eyes were...sad, almost. In a haunting way that spoke epics of horrors. Kefka could only give a wry grin at her words.

"Once again, River, your meaning is as clear as a clogged drain."

He stood, looking around the room. Soul Eater still hung in the air, waiting, and Kefka's hand was beginning to ache a bit. The bleeding had slowed, but he supposed he should do something about it. He walked over to the counter and leaned over it, finally spotting a cleaning rag, which he grabbed and ripped, tying the shreds around his left hand and knotting them.

"As for drowning, i can't say it would be all that fun. And i'm almost positive the sea gets rather bored. Best to stay as you are, no?" he continued, the utter seriousness of his tone reflecting his continual amusement.

After several moments, Keka reclaimed Soul Eater, gazing at it intently, thoughts moving like quicksilver over one another. "Sometimes," he muttered crossly, "i belive this boy was born to torment me. Now...where are you my Lord?"

[signalcrossed]

"Better to stay," she repeated, slowly collecting her feet beneath her and walking to the man. "But the sea..."

Her words drifted away as she stared at the sword held by the man. River's fingers reached out to touch the smooth surface and the object memory unfolded, revealing more than the overwhelming sense of darkness that surrounded the weapon. Pride, shame. Violence and penitence. The emotions of the sword's owner coated it like blood. "Riku," she whispered, and pulled her hand away.

[madkefka]

Kefka gave her a sharp glance, then turned, expecting to see the Shell in the doorway...which of course he was not. Kefka turned swiftly back to the black-haired girl, the whiteness of his face for once matching his mood.

"how could you..." he trailed off, his mood suddenly flipping, his eyes going hard as agates. "You know him." It wasn't a question. "How do you know him?" His forceful tone demanded an answer, his anger feeding the darkness of the town and the sword. Kefka began to summon his magic, barely holding himself in check from lifting the girl and throwing her against the wall.

"Do you know where he is?" He spoke slowly, accenting each word. This girl had the unnerving ability of knowing things that seemed to be impossible for her to know, and letting those facts be known at the most inopportune time.

[signalcrossed]

River felt the power condense around the man like energy coiling around an electromagnet Her neurons were still raw with death and the loudness of Kefka's rage sent her stumbling backwards, responding to the wave of magic before it broke against the shore of reality.

Her hands pressed hard against the wall behind her, her fingers trying to grip the smooth stone. It was cold, like the walls in his room. She stared at Kefka with wide, uncomprehending eyes.

"Soul Eater," she said, reciting the name that filled Riku's thoughts when his hand tightened around the hilt of the sword. "He...no. Isn't known. But he's..." her voice trailed off as she stared up at the pale-faced man. A long instant passed as her words hovered in the smoke-filled air, then she turned her face downwards and ducked away, heading for the doorway without a word.

[madkefka]

"no. No...the last thing you get to do right now is walk away from me!" Kefka growled, reaching out his hand like a claw as if to grasp the retreating girl. Somewhere, somewhere in his mind, something suggested that given the girl's history, he should let her go. Let her lead. But no...that was too rational, too closee to logic.

Too close to sanity.

And Kefka shied away from it. So instead, the air responded to his will, mutilated by his magic, and his anger fueled the vines of air to grasp the girl harder than was necessary. Much harder. He stopped the girl cold, lifting her into the air and turning her to face him.

"for once, my dear, i am afraid i must ask a clearer answer from you," he said softly, dangerously, his anger giving his low tone a harsh undertone. Most unusal of all was his tone's utter lack of his usual musicality. "So you don't know him. But do you know where is his? How to find him?"

[signalcrossed]

River gasped as the cold tendrils of magic wrapped around her ribcage and stomach, tightly enough to make her gag and consider the pressure per inch necessary to make ribs crack: nineteen pounds per square inch. Her face tighened in pain and she dug her fingers into the thin air, trying to yank the incorporeal from her torso. Her feet kicked against the nothingness beneath her, unable to find solid ground.

"His darkness," she gasped. River let out a choked sob, still clawing at the space around her. "It hurts," she said. "Make it-"

[madkefka]

His darkness...? now that certainly was intreging. Theoretically, darkness could always call to darkness, but Darkness was vast, and calling to such a specific target within the darkness withing it would be a pure crapshot. But it might have been possible to follow if you had a sample of their Darkness. And such a sample was at hand. Literally.

'if i can set up a harmonic resonance with the particular style of Darkness that the combination of the Shell and my Lord have created in the continued use of Soul Eater, there is the possibility that within a certain range i would be able to find the darkness that resonates with it. But the range on it...'His thoughts continued, one atop the other, his anger melting away into ever present curiosity. So much was he distracted, that his magical grip on River loosened, still holding her in the air but not quite so hard. This was not a decision reached thru the girl's pleading - Kefka could care less about other people's suffering - but mearly a by product of his own thoughts being

[signalcrossed]

A few feet above the ground, River's body was nearly still. She'd stopped fighting and her hands covered her head, muffling the sounds that could have indicated either suffocating or crying, and possibly both. When Kefka's grip loosened, her body slumped into the slightly softer air.

[madkefka]

The girl's muffled noise finally got thru to Kefka

[signalcrossed]

River caught her balance unsteadily, taking a few small steps to center herself. She watched his actions with numb obedience, but offered no suggestions. Magic was a mystery to her; she felt it like a person with no understanding gravity feels the ground beneath his feet.

Across her outdated mental map of Traverse Town, she felt Kefka's energy move outwards towards the owner of the sword.

[madkefka]

"Darkness stir, and Darkness wake. Take the form i bid thee take," Kefka chanted in a low tone, his musical, lilting voice full and rich the with vastness of the Darkness to which he called. "Cross this world, i bid thee fly. Cross this town, where shadows lie. Stretch forth now, and seek my Lord. Find me the owner of this Sword

[signalcrossed]

She closed her eyes as the wave of magic passed through her, indifferent to her presence. It was a physical sensation, leaving a tingling over her skin as it continued outwards.

Her eyes still closed, River shifted her body towards the anticipated report like a person moves his body closer to a voice to understand its words. She heard it: a faint, subtle intensifying of the sword-owner's existent darkness as if two pianos played the one note simultaneously.

Or as if one piano played two notes simultaneously.

When River opened her eyes the pale-faced man had reached the door, doubtlessly letting his magic lead him to Riku's location. She stepped forward, her confidence returning as she followed the man from the shop.