heartswillbeone: (Default)
heartswillbeone ([personal profile] heartswillbeone) wrote in [community profile] allsoend2014-04-06 04:06 pm

Black Gardens

Who: Anyone and everyone who wants to participate
What: Finding and destroying the pieces of heart that Xehanort has planted!
Where: Starting at Sora’s station, then going into the darkness
Warnings: Likely fighting, desperation and other forms of violence


Everyone arriving at Sora’s station of awakening would notice changes right away, even if they weren’t attuned to the darkness. The ever-present light shining from above had grown dim, barely lighting the glass below. The glass itself was still warped in its continual changes, but individual pieces of it were beginning to grow a bit darker.

Someone would have to stay behind to anchor all of the others, and to keep a watch on Sora’s heart from here. But beyond them, in the seemingly endless darkness, lay shards of heart deliberately planted and hidden. With each passing moment they were growing larger and digging roots deeper, threatening not just Sora, but every other heart inside him.

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Your characters can begin the hunt for the heart pieces that Xehanort has planted in the darkness of Sora’s heart! Unfortunately, finding and then eliminating them all is going to be no easy task. They’ve been hidden in the darkness very well, and even having an idea of what to look for, the fact that they’re planted in darkness at all makes them difficult to sniff out. What’s more, because they’ve been rooted in deep, it will take some effort to completely remove them...Keyblades and any other weapons available will likely be necessary.

To that end, this is how things will work: teams of 2-4 will go out into the darkness to search for the heart seeds. Characters should not travel alone, or else they’ll be lost. At least one character can be left behind at Sora’s station, both to serve as an anchor to call back anyone in the darkness, and to be able to tell easiest whether there are any remaining seeds left. But be warned: any anchor left behind will likely be involved in some combat, too!

For those in the darkness, those capable of looking can take one turn each to ‘scan’ the feelings of the surrounding darkness and see if they can pinpoint a heart seed. With each turn, they will have anywhere from a 1-in-3 to a 1-in-10 chance of finding one, depending on the seed. If they locate one, they can then begin the process of uprooting it and destroying it. If they find a particularly difficult one and are not well-equipped to handle it, they can use themselves as anchors to call over others to help. If no team can locate one during their turn, they can keep traversing the darkness and trying over and over until they locate one.

Time is working against them, though. The more turns it takes for them to locate a heart seed, the larger it will grow and the more difficult it will be to destroy it once it *is* found. Heart seeds left for too long may even fight back when attacked, or make themselves impossible to remove without also hurting Sora. If any one piece is left long enough to truly threaten Sora’s heart and identity, then Kingdom Hearts may step in to do something about it...and characters would *not* want that, as it would mean a terrible end for everyone. And Sora’s heart won’t be safe until every heart seed is found and eradicated!
halfdarkened: (Examining)

[personal profile] halfdarkened 2014-04-12 03:45 am (UTC)(link)
"You bet I do." He unconsciously smacked his lips at the unpleasant taste.

The bit of light amongst the darkness caught Riku's eye, and instinctively he readied his Keyblade some as he approached. "Now isn't that funny. The glow of this thing led me right to it. I guess not even Xehanort can rid himself completely of his own light." Of course, if he had it stood to reason there was some scrawny little old man out there picking up sick stray dogs to care for if he had. However, Xehanort seemed to have more self-preservation than to do to himself what he'd done to Ven.

"Shall we?" With that, Riku lashed out at the shard of heart, landing first icy then fiery blows to "break the ice." While darkness was not always immune to darkness, he decided it would be best to hold back his darkness in case it would only feed that dark heart.
leavetheirmark: (NOT AGAIN damn kids)

[personal profile] leavetheirmark 2014-04-13 12:33 pm (UTC)(link)
While the Graveyard did not have such an impressive weapon, when their target fell into his sights his eyes narrowed and he raised a hand high with a clenched fist. The wind gathered violently, spinning into a tornado centred right on the shard just as the last embers of Riku's fire attacks burned out. He reached up to his ear, tugging at the tiny blades embedded therein and pulled out what quickly became a handful of cold steel, which he stood back, taking careful aim so as not to snipe the young master during his attacks before unleashing blade after blade in a burst.
halfdarkened: (Clash)

Thunder dash. :3c

[personal profile] halfdarkened 2014-04-14 05:03 am (UTC)(link)
Riku's eyebrows raised slightly as he moved back, intrigued at how a world would fight. It should have been no surprise that a world covered in dust storms and magical blades would know how to use wind and steel.

And one advantage of steel was that it conducted electricity.

Riku dashed forward as fast as his will could take him, wrapping his body with the harsh sting of Thunder. His Keyblade connected with both heart and blades, the lightning surging into both as he rushed through and past his target.
leavetheirmark: (NOT AGAIN damn kids)

sorry, was having trouble braining this one

[personal profile] leavetheirmark 2014-04-22 05:22 am (UTC)(link)
Riku's ingenuity was rewarded with a chuckle. That was not something he would ever have thought to do with those old relics. He concentrated, waiting until the boy was well past the target before unleashing another cyclone atop the shard, filling the air with crackling arcs of electricity.

It was almost familiar in a way that made his mind drift slightly, and he frowned, forcing his attention here and now. It was no good to slip into those memories and lose himself, not when they needed to keep alert...
halfdarkened: (Battle-Ready)

[personal profile] halfdarkened 2014-04-25 02:59 am (UTC)(link)
Lightning arcing through a tornado: that was a sight, both awe-inspiring and frightening. Looking back, Riku saw the remnants of the Thunder branching through the cyclone. He gave a nod and a smile. Taking advantage of the tail end of magic to make something even more deadly. Impressive.

As the shard met its end, Riku went over to where it had been, making sure the scar was only in the darkness and not on Sora's heart. Could he tell for sure? It didn't matter yet. It wasn't causing any more damage, and it could be examined more later.

He rested his Keyblade on his shoulder. "One down. Let's keep weeding"
leavetheirmark: (well isn't that a lark)

[personal profile] leavetheirmark 2014-04-27 06:46 am (UTC)(link)
"Aye," the Graveyard responded with a simple nod. "If only we knew how many we were seeking... but having found and disposed of one hath more than done our part." He limped over to Riku as quickly as he could, letting him determine the state of things patiently.
halfdarkened: (Caught)

[personal profile] halfdarkened 2014-05-01 05:37 am (UTC)(link)
When Riku stepped inside the radius, he grew strangely cold, quickly backing up out of simple instinct. He knew that feeling, having had his Heartless steal his body and fester in his heart. "This is bad." They couldn't take long, but they couldn't just jump into this one recklessly or risk hurting Sora badly.

Riku thought carefully, turning to the wiser world. He counted things off on his fingers. "I don't know what you got, but if we can cast some spells simultaneously it might help. Esuna and Zero Gravity cast into the darkness might help get the roots out of Sora more safely. Bind and Stop might keep it from spreading, but the spells don't last long. Poisoning it might affect the other shards, but it if it even works, it might poison Sora. Mini would be real useful, but I doubt it'd work. ...I'm hesitant to try Sleep. When I used it in the Realm of Sleep, it meant I'd also fall asleep faster. If that happens here, that could be seriously bad news. And if Kingdom Hearts nabs this piece of heart, it might also alert it to what's going on, and I don't want to think about what it'd do if it knows Xehanort's in this deep." It could force them to sleep at any time, and this would certainly be an incentive to.

"As far as simply taking it out as cleanly as possible, I could try to dispatch it with a single powerful slash." Zantetsuken required a lot of focused energy, and was draining, though graceful.
leavetheirmark: (no one should have to suffer)

[personal profile] leavetheirmark 2014-05-07 09:44 pm (UTC)(link)
"What magical art I know concerns the wind and the land," the Graveyard responded, keeping his eyes on the seed. It was unsettling at the very least, a corruption so great that he couldn't believe that Kingdom Hearts would permit its very existence near to it. (That it hadn't simply been destroyed said something of the power used to create it... which he turned his thoughts away from quickly lest they become unproductive.)

"'T is like the basest form of ivy. The roots run deep, and even pruning will not remove them. One must burneth it out, and with that cometh risks."
halfdarkened: (Battle-Ready)

[personal profile] halfdarkened 2014-05-09 03:56 am (UTC)(link)
"Burn the root, you might burn the house... Too bad this isn't real land it's latched into." Riku stepped forward, steeling himself for the task ahead. "Well, sometimes windstorms can uproot trees. Let's see what this thing's got!" With luck they could pull it a bit like a weed. That said, his luck never worked that well. He thrust his Keyblade into the air, shouting out as he cast Zero Graviga. While not always effective, maybe a slight pull would be enough before the pruning began.
leavetheirmark: (let daddy take care of it)

[personal profile] leavetheirmark 2014-05-21 10:15 pm (UTC)(link)
With a grunt of assent, the aged world thrust his hand upward once more, summoning the winds in an attempt to funnel the seed upward and out. Would it be enough? This one was so strongly rooted that even highly potent spells weren't having much effect. He was no master of magic, his own abilities were things he had learned slowly over eons that pertained to his state... it had been for the longest time something despicable, but that had changed like many things recently.
halfdarkened: (Bearing down)

*Derp, forgot the kids learned a -za spell*

[personal profile] halfdarkened 2014-05-22 04:31 am (UTC)(link)
That's it, pay attention to me. While the shift in focus was slightly surprising, it only proved that things were bad if it had some form of awareness. Options had to be considered carefully. The Zero Graviga spell was still roaring overhead, and now the Graveyard was doing his best to pull up the dark weed. His only remaining idea to remove it before destroying it was a bit riskier.

Riku leapt into the air, altitude unhindered by gravity upon a physical body. In the direction the Keyblade Graveyard's wind pulled and near the dense orb of the Zero Graviga spell, he floated. He felt power drain from him as he recast it to something a little stronger: Zero Graviza. While midair, he did something a little less draining. Magnet Spiral might just be enough to pull it free, or so he hoped. He paused, feeling the energy build inside. Unable to hold it back without possibly hurting himself, he struck the pulled piece of dark heart, altering his slash to come up from underneath. Every little tug helped.
leavetheirmark: (NOT AGAIN damn kids)

[personal profile] leavetheirmark 2014-06-01 10:16 pm (UTC)(link)
With a roar the wold world leapt in a startling show of grace, calling one of the dead blades to him. A hunk of metal was better than nothing, after all... with a great swing he hacked at the root where it entered the ground, doing his best to avoid hitting Riku.
halfdarkened: (Deflect)

[personal profile] halfdarkened 2014-06-02 05:54 am (UTC)(link)
As Riku was grabbed, he found himself hitting the dark "ground" with a thud. Had he in fact had real lungs, the air would have been knocked from them as he landed chest first, crying out. As it began to drag him, he clawed at the ground ever so briefly in instinct. But then there was that familiar feeling. That smell. That vile taste.

And that initial shock of being grabbed was quickly replaced with anger, determination and sheer will surging up in his chest. Riku snarled. "NO YOU DON'T! NEVER AGAIN!" As if it hadn't been personal before.

Knowing what he could do physically helped him think on his feet without a body. Here his arms were only as strong as he imagined, but knowing he was strong, even if he couldn't remember his own form without the memories of others, was a help. He pushed up with his arms very hard and kicked with his free leg to lift him into the air, instantly launching himself into a spin. The area around him became chilled, especially anything he touched. Or especially, anything touching him. With luck this thing didn't like the cold, and that Deep Freeze would do just that.
leavetheirmark: (NOT AGAIN damn kids)

[personal profile] leavetheirmark 2014-06-07 12:29 am (UTC)(link)
Hearing Riku's angry outburst only served to spark the Keyblade Graveyard further, and this time with wind and storm he lashed out, striking at the fumbling tendrils with tearing wind and scattered lightning. His mind was growing heavier, that familiar feeling rolling through him, the strikes of blades and the roar of magic echoing around him.
wheretheresawill: (en garde!)

[personal profile] wheretheresawill 2014-06-24 05:28 am (UTC)(link)
"Is someone there? - Riku?" Terra approached from the distance. His group had disposed of the seed they'd found and set out to see how the others were doing. He took in the scene with a clenched jaw: the tendrils crawling towards whatever they could reach while the seed itself tried to hide away.

"No you don't!" Drawing back his arm, he imbued his Keyblade with a whisper of ice magic as he threw it, aiming to skip the tendrils entirely and interfere with the seed's attempt to flee.
gimmiemyflower: (This time I'll fight)

[personal profile] gimmiemyflower 2014-06-25 06:15 am (UTC)(link)
Through a lot of focus, Kairi was able to follow them all to where some of the others were attacking the seeds...only to arrive and see they came just in time. This looked a lot more serious than what she had seen last. Not to even mention it almost getting Riku!

"Hang on!"

Without stopping to think or worry about the strength she had left, she charged towards the seed, and commanded a faith spell on top of it. She felt that unnatural chill upon entering the circle the seed had taken hold of, but fought hard to ignore it. She wanted all these things gone, and now!