003 ☠ video.

[dissolves]

[ hi, sup City. how are you today? Vanitas is just great. he's got his mask on, although only half of it is visible since the camera's tilted to show the area behind him instead of Vanitas himself.

because that's definitely Roxas following behind him at a safe distance. he keeps it at that angle a moment longer, then-- towards his face ( mask ). ] I don't suppose strangling would be an appropriate way to dispose of this, would it?

Comments

( audio )

[skylight]

[ Confusion triples, quadruples, compounds after that and on down the line but all it really resembles in Sora's head is an intense frown. ]

It's hard for me to believe that.

[ He says after a longer pause than he would've taken in another set of circumstances - a face-to-face argument for example, or an outright fight. Sora has an overflow of question marks surrounding Vanitas but articulating them is always surprisingly difficult. He isn't the type to work in complexities, even if on an emotional level sympathy has bought him a distinct buffer zone. In this case he knows already it's not doing him any favors other than feeding his inherent curiosity, but it's not as "simple" as curiosity alone either. It is curiosity fed by the idea that the more he knows of Vanitas the better, because even if Vanitas thinks there is no reason for hating - that it's like breathing, automatic (or if not, then whatever he does mean) - Sora still thinks there must be. Why Roxas?

His mind goes to Ventus. Is it about that? Their shared face?

He doubts Vanitas would tell him even if he did ask, so he doesn't...at least not right now. ]

Everything's got a reason - even if we don't know it right away.

( audio ; filtered )

[dissolves]

I can think of a reason, not necessarily directed just at this idiot. I can think of a solution, too.

[ because Sora has a big heart, doesn't he? Vanitas is pretty sure of that, and if manipulating Sora is as easy as it was to manipulate Ventus at first, then he may as well try it. ]

Would you assist me?

( audio ; filtered )

[skylight]

You can...?

[ Sora seldom notices filters unless starting one himself, more the type to throw his hands at a computer until it does what he wants it to, rather than figure out its actual functions. So he replies and it auto-filters, Sora focused fully on the fact that Vanitas is giving him any leeway. A snap judgment maybe, but he didn't seem the type, and Sora's innate glass half-full trajectory throws him through the door of any given opportunity. ]

Well.....what do you mean, exactly? I mean, if I can...

[ ...and if it's not harmful, is the unspoken but he might as well have said it out loud. ]

( audio ; filtered )

[dissolves]

[ Ventus wouldn't know how to keep his mouth shut if it came up, anyway. Not that "oh, hey, Master Xehanort decided to split my heart in two and separate the darkness from my light and Vanitas was what came out of that" is something that would come up that easily. It doesn't matter to Vanitas whether or not Sora's told or figures it out. He leans the side of the device against his face while he walks, and talks idly to Sora. If he sounds as irritated as he feels, it's only going to disadvantage him. ]

You wield a keyblade, don't you?

( audio ; filtered )

[skylight]

Huh? Um....Sure. But...what's that have to do with it?

[ his suspicion though not complex or heavy is present under his own idle tone, not quite trying to match Vanitas for neutrality. Sora being Sora, even finding out the whole truth wouldn't deter him from talking to Vanitas or getting in his space with questions or what-have-you. Contrarily even, he might be even more motivated to infringe on his consciousness. For now though it's a nebulous curiosity coupled with the light wariness of someone who so lightly rattles off strangulation as an option. ]

( audio ; filtered )

[dissolves]

If someone used their keyblade to split a heart in two-- a half of pure light, and a half of pure darkness, what do you think would happen?

( audio ; filtered )

[skylight]

[ The pause here is considerable. Sora half feels it's a trick question and doesn't fully know how to articulate why, but his answer is honest. ]

Two halves of a whole. Maybe. I guess.

[ Not a Nobody precisely, since a heart dark is to him still a heart but then he's not sure if that's what they mean here and even his honesty is wary still. ]

( audio ; filtered )

[dissolves]

Two entirely separate beings. Darkness, and light.

What is darkness? [ Vanitas doesn't give Sora time to answer. ] Hatred. The reason why I don't need a reason to hate-- it's as simple as that.

Ventus' heart was separated into two different halves. Darkness, and light. I was born from his darkness. I feel nothing but hatred, because of him. The only way to solve this-- is to merge with his heart.

( audio ; filtered )

[skylight]

[ It takes Sora a while to respond and even in taking all of that time, he doesn't know what to make of what he's been told. Take it at face value? He knows of course of Nobodies, of the cause-effect domino chain, more or less. But this isn't that; and what's more, if Vanitas is the darkness, then...who is the light? Ventus himself? Or...?

He paces while he addresses the device, gesturing with one hand though it's of course not audible. Well, the pacing might be. ]

Why was it separated in the first place?

[ Still often guilty of leaping without looking though he is, Sora has - if sometimes little else - tried to get a better handle on the questions he asks...mostly in that he asks them. ]

( audio ; filtered )

[dissolves]

Does it matter?

[ to Vanitas it does, a lot, but his tone is pretty casual about it, shrugging it off as something that is not important, that doesn't matter-- because why isn't what this conversation was supposed to be about. ]

( audio ; filtered )

[skylight]

Actually, yeah. I think it does.

[ Sora though by no means a cerebral sort of boy, has often been the kind to go with his gut (to a fault.) He does so in this case, peering at Vanitas, reading his tone but more so suspecting that there's more to be found behind it. In this case, weirdly, he thinks of Riku who for the longest time seemed aloof from a lot of things that ended up mattering very much to him.

The most, even. ]

( audio ; filtered )

[dissolves]

Ventus is weak. He was defeated too easily, and my master was less than pleased with it. He split us in two, left Ventus to die because he was unnecessary.

[ only half the truth, but half was enough. still, his tone doesn't change -- even if he's talking about someone else's death. ]