![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
THE CLOCK STRIKES HELL HOUR
Vanitas is a bit iffy about dark corridors right now, given the real estate he's currently loaning. It's a pain, because they're just so easy to make and come naturally to him. He can use the lanes at least though, which is good, because otherwise the only way to the orange town bolted onto Yen Sid's tower would be the train, and Vanitas doesn't want to walk. Or really interact with people right now.
He just needs a fresh air today. The tower's getting way too full and Sora's friendly, but also a little too much at times, and also a reminder of just how far and close Ventus is right now. Lea looks like he's thinking the exact same thing, whenever they're in the same room together, Riku talks to him without meeting his (current) face, and Kairi... well actually there's nothing wrong there. But the cooped up feeling is still enough to get him wanting out for a bit. The increasing oppressive feeling of knowing the clock is ticking hasn't been helping.
The clocktower is picked arbitrarily. It's the highest point in the town he can see, and he likes to be tall, and there's probably not going to be anyone there. Perfect. And later he can see if there's any interesting rocks in the hills and woods nearby. He's going to have to start all over with his collection, thanks Ventus.
Unbeknownst to him, trying to use a Lane within a world isn't really what they're intended for. The result is a kind of universal hiccup trying to smooth over the contradictory commands to go to a different world that is also the same world.
Sorry, Roxen.
He just needs a fresh air today. The tower's getting way too full and Sora's friendly, but also a little too much at times, and also a reminder of just how far and close Ventus is right now. Lea looks like he's thinking the exact same thing, whenever they're in the same room together, Riku talks to him without meeting his (current) face, and Kairi... well actually there's nothing wrong there. But the cooped up feeling is still enough to get him wanting out for a bit. The increasing oppressive feeling of knowing the clock is ticking hasn't been helping.
The clocktower is picked arbitrarily. It's the highest point in the town he can see, and he likes to be tall, and there's probably not going to be anyone there. Perfect. And later he can see if there's any interesting rocks in the hills and woods nearby. He's going to have to start all over with his collection, thanks Ventus.
Unbeknownst to him, trying to use a Lane within a world isn't really what they're intended for. The result is a kind of universal hiccup trying to smooth over the contradictory commands to go to a different world that is also the same world.
Sorry, Roxen.
no subject
He's liking you already Roxen, you're so quick on the uptake. Vanitas pulls up a knee so he can prop an elbow on it and then a chin on his hand, the icecream hanging at an angle as he regards it before resuming eating it, shrugging. "It just kind of happened. He turned against Xehanort and then we brought him back home." It was that or leaving him in an empty, dead world. And Terra was possessed, and Aqua was busy and so stressed and well. That move had already earnt points. Vanitas snorts a little. "The old bastard didn't trust him at all, tried to possess him to get the chi blade in the middle of our fight." He still remembers the sheer secondhand betrayal of it, his hand unconsciously tightening on the icecream stick.
"I've never met him, but from what I've heard, I'd like to see his face when you do that." Vanitas's grin is tinged schadenfreudic, and it shows all of his Ventus's teeth. Honestly his opinions on his other self are mostly informed by the idea he worked for Xehanort as well as stuff he's mentally flipped, probably with some inaccuracies (and also with juuust a dash of his own issues).
Excuse you, he does not do dumb things (this one is DEFINITELY A LIE). Probably he could have gotten icecream, if he'd asked, but as far as Vanitas's thinking goes it's fairly firmly associated with Disney World. It didn't occur to him to ask at all.
He's also never had it as a bar before. "It's the weirdest icecream I've ever had," he says, which means he likes it.
no subject
"He turned against--" He begins, and stops, letting Vanitas finish his story. He's quiet for a bit after that, eating his own ice cream.
"I really don't get why he keeps doing that." He mumbles a bit. "Xehanort, I mean. I thought the Organization was...well it really was the only thing I had to compare to a family. I really wanted to do a good job. But Xemnas--Xehanort, was always going to stab me in the back."
He doesn't exactly remember the how of that. He remembers it being bad, so bad he decided he needed to leave, despite the threat of Riku and the confusing mess with Sora. He thinks even as he was running away that night that he didn't really understand why he so desperately needed to run, why he was so angry at Axel. A lot of his memories are just really fuzzy. Maybe Namine gave him brain damage to.
"Ah." He chuckles, grimacing. "Yeah, its gonna be kind of funny. If you're gonna stick around you're welcome to watch. That'll tick him off even more. Two Ventus's, and he can't have either of them."
The idea of pushing Vanitas to the edge is pretty funny, but he does feel a twinge of worry at the thought of fighting him. He...really doesn't want to have to kill him again. He won't not to it--really theres not excuse if he's pushed. But Vanitas is still some angry, trapped and used part of him, and his own person, and he does wish he could let him have some kind of chance. If only that didn't require interacting with him.
He snaps up, eyes burning with passion and Vanitas forgotten at the mention of Sea salt ice cream being 'weird'. "Hey." He says, pointing at Vanitas. "It's not weird. Its the best ice cream."
vanitas actually process things dammit
"Who knows why Xehanort does any of what he does." Vanitas honestly has no real interest in the guy's motives, as opposed to his actions. His Ventus talked about recreating the worlds with Kingdom Hearts with fervent faith, but as Vanitas pointed out at the time, he wouldn't trust Xehanort with a stick, let alone to do that. He's already a liar. "Kingdom Hearts this and Chi-blade that..."
He looks at Roxas as he mentions the Organization being a family, because the pieces were there but didn't click until he did. Roxas was part of the Organization, working for Xehanort. Or, well, a piece of him. Same thing. This goes through a chain of association in his mind, until what actually comes out his mouth is
"Did Eraqus do the same thing with you?" Empathy is hard for Vanitas. What he's managed to get down mostly involves the Golden Rule, imagining things happening to him, or his simple nose for weak points. This is his closest equivalent to the idea of living with Terra and Aqua, and realizing that life was predicated on a dangerous lie. His Ventus might have a better idea of it. Vanitas picks at the red laces on one of his boots with his free hand. He never actually really talked about the events of that day, beyond a vague and bare-bones recounting to Aqua, because he is a repression pro.
"I didn't say it was bad weird," he says, lifting his head, a little amused by how hotly Roxen is defending it. "It's better than most of the stuff in Disney Town, at least. So, passable." Okay he's just having fun ribbing you at this point, pay him no mind. "If I can't find a way to get back in time." He's avoiding thinking about the fact he might be stuck here - whoops - for obvious to himself reasons. He doesn't have an other him to fight but he wants to find and rescue his Terra and Aqua. It hurts that they're gone.
no subject
It takes him a full minute to process Vanitas's question, at first looking at him with confusion, then recognition, and then an array of emotions and genuine pain as he tried to process the memory.
See, thats really not, a good memory for Roxas and Ventus to agree on. What Ventus was feeling then, when he'd realized his life was a lie and that he was being set up for something horrible. So horrible that his beloved Master would rather kill him then risk it--It was something Roxas couldn't understand. The acceptance Ventus has felt, how he'd stood there and waited for a blow without even being able to voice a protest, a single, but I didn't know! You never told me!
It's easy for Ventus' narrative of experiences to understand Roxas's desire to fight back--the organization was clearly evil and Roxas lashing out at the ruins of his life is..understandable. But Roxas can't understand accepting something like your own demise without even trying to find another way. To just watch someone solve the problem for you in the worst way possible, standing idly by.
Honestly, he can't even figure out what he thinks of Eraqus.
"Do the same thing with me?" His tone is incredulous. "The what, stabbing in the back? He was rather upfront about it though, wasn't he?" He dragged a hand down his face. "Was that worse...? I, haha. I can't really tell." He's never wanted to talk about something less, discussions of ice cream all but forgotten.
no subject
"Yeah that." Flick flick. He leans back. The honesty was both appreciated and painful, striking that sore spot of years deep. "I think I always expected something like it to happen, I just didn't..." really expect it to happen. It's a mess. It only belatedly hits him that Ventus was never a creature of darkness living among light. He's not sure how to feel about that, about any of it. He knows that the other Ventus just... went with it and still doesn't understand why. In this he's a little closer to Roxas's side of things.
Something in him clicks and twists, in that moment. "Light, dark, Masters." There's scorn in the words. "I didn't think I'd ever be one but I don't want to be now." Does he think Eraqus was as bad as Xehanort? Get back to him on that. But he's sure about this.
no subject
"A master." His breathing is still uneven and he grips his arms. "I think I wanted that once."
Now--does he? Light. He can't even remember. Not remember, can't even think and figure out what "he" feels, not the echoing opinions of two different lives. Its hard enough to focus on whats in front of him.
"I didn't expect it." He says a bit breathlessly. "Not at all. Both times. Never in a million years." The organization's true plans for him had been as unconcievable as Eraqus's actions. Why did stuff like that keep happening to him?
He looked at Vanitas, and even as he struggles to bring his breathing under control he furrows his brow.
"You.." A shuddering exhale. "Expected it? Why?" He could say a lot of things about Eraqus--but he was a kind teacher.
no subject
Vanitas's go tos for comforting others don't go much beyond 'sit next to them like Terra did', and he's kind of already doing that. There's also gifts but that requires more planning. It's different just meeting someone as opposed to living in a castle where you can fully expect the other person to still be around in a week and be right.
He wordlessly shuffles so that he's a little closer anyway, a comfortable distance as opposed to smack bang halfway between Roxen and the far edge where he first sat.
He shrugs, more nonchalantly than he feels, his gaze anywhere but Roxen and mostly looking more at the town below than the horizon. "I'm darkness," he says, deliberately lightly. "That's one of the first things I knew. And Eraqus... he's a Master of Light. It makes sense, if I ever became a problem..."
He doesn't blame himself, exactly, for running off, for filling the worlds with Unversed, for refusing to come back, for the very real danger of the chi blade. He either made those choices with certainty or had no part in them. And he certainly wasn't going to go down easy, would make Eraqus fight for it (or not, he was a Master and Vanitas an apprentice of four years, the gap in skill was real). But, he gets it. The clean ruthless line of that sort of solution. He implemented it on this body's previous tenant.
And yet... it's still a raw wound. Despite everything, Eraqus was kind. Stern, but kind. Memory is always tricky in hindsight but here the narrator is going to state it as objective fact - there was real affection there, in the crinkle of his eyes as he walked in on Vanitas in the middle of making a mess of the kitchen cooking, in the nod of approval whenever Vanitas managed a spell without it coming out dark.
That too, was complex, being praised for things assumed for Aqua and Terra. It was reciprocal in that complexity - Vanitas looked up to Eraqus as he looked up to Aqua and Terra, resented the permeating sense of difference. The only sure thing is that thinking about the way things turned out, aches.
Vanitas bites into what's left of the icecream to feel the cold jar up his teeth. "It makes sense," he repeats.
no subject
"You aren't one though." Roxen laughs a little, in a way that sounds a bit like choking. "Isn't that the point, you r-really did everything much better then I did?" If Vanitas and Ventus were the ones switched, well then a better outcome (of a sort) does deserve to be credited. Roxen certainly isn't imagining his Xehanort raised doppleganger in a positive light--perhaps some perverse version of Roxas, without Axel
and Xionto set him straight."Light." He said, "Was he horrible to you?" It's a bit easy for Roxas's fear fueled memories of authority figures to paint Ventus's memories dangerous in hindsight. Why did you never question this, why did you accept this, why why why. The idea of in another world, Eraqus being cruel to someone who depended on him--it's not inconceivable. That's whats really scary.
no subject
Unless you count Xehanort's. He really hates Xehanort. He scratches at the stone beside him with a fingernail in lieu of making an Unversed.
Roxen asks that question, and he doesn't freeze, but stills. Scratch scratch. The by now almost gone ice-cream slowly slides down the stick, resting on top of the other hand, but he doesn't pay much attention as it drips. Was Eraqus horrible.
No, would be his immediate and what-a-stupid-question response in other circumstances. He didn't think so at the time. He's not sure he thinks so now, but time is the enemy of memory, and sometimes one event can make years of them become questioned. He exhales and licks his hand, sliding off the remaining chunk with his teeth and holding it in his mouth. "I don't know," he says, when it's melted enough he can speak around it. "He wasn't Xehanort. I didn't hate him. I don't even think he hated me." Rueful determination, was the expression on his face as he moved towards Vanitas. Vanitas or his clustering Unversed would have picked up something as strong and dark as hate. That doesn't exactly make it better - there's an acknowledgement and honesty to hate, vicious as it can be. "He kept me around for four years so there must have been something he was getting out of it."
Vanitas's views on friendship and connection in general are heavily based around mutual benefit and choice, as a way for it to make sense to him. He's a weird boy in that he's intensely loyal (to those who earn and keep his trust) but yet would never admit it.
He puts the stick in his mouth and bites down on it with a crunch to leech the last of the flavour out. He doesn't know that WINNER sticks are a thing so he didn't stop to check.
local boy struggles to verbalize concerns abt abuse
Roxen watched Vanitas very very carefully, with an expression that is rather new to him, a sort of focused concern that’s a bit too probing but all genuine. He takes the final bite of his ice cream and sets down the stick. No winner for him.
“When I was first in the organization.” He starts, speaking carefully. “I had a lot of people showing me what to do. On..maybe the third or fourth day. I got taught magic.”
“The person who taught me it wasn’t very nice—but I didn’t know it yet. I couldn’t really get stuff like that. She didn’t want to teach me, but I wasn’t enough of a person to really understand why someone wanted things or not.” He feels like he’s on a bit of a tangent so he switches back. “So she just put me out to fight Heartless and let me fend for myself and get hurt. Didn’t lend a hand. Barely explained. She—“ He brought up his hands in the familiar Ventus way, clawing a little as he struggled for words.
“That’s...horrible, I think. Her, Xemnas, and..a lot of others. They wanted things, but they wanted me to hurt, or didn’t care. They—it was evil but I didn’t realize. I hate them now but I didn’t then.”
He looked at Vanitas. “I’m sorry, I’m not making much sense. I’m just trying to understand. But Eraqus was he horrible like that? You say you don’t hate him. And that he kept you but...as Darkness?”
He grabs his own shoulders, staring down at the city as he kicked his knees. “I don’t get him either, what he did. I just..want to know.”
10/10 for effort roxen, you're doing great sweetie
Oh yeah, he never mentioned the whole 'amnesiac possessed Terra also was living with us' thing, did he. "Didn't you say there's a Vanitas out there right now?" Be the change you want to see in the world, Roxen, although he's not going to blame you for not. It's just a little bit of a poke, as he does.
Then Roxen gets that weird expression and it wigs Vanitas out a bit and also, bizarrely, reminds him of Aqua. He does, to his credit, do his best to listen, licking the very last of the icecream goo off his fingers, picking under his nails but maintaining a consistent glance. It's clearly important, even though it takes to the end to get why Roxen is saying it.
"He wasn't horrible like that," Vanitas says assuaguingly, although his tone could be misinterpreted as dismissive, especially with the slightly distracted note of someone concentrating on one of those puzzles where there's all those interlocking metal bits you have to separate. "I wasn't allowed to fight anything. Not even my own Unversed." That he knows for certain. "No one was. They had to freeze them if I couldn't stop them, if they got out of hand." It was always a weird sensation, the bite of numbness, and not really pleasant but it was better that the distinctive pain that was his recurring companion for two years.
For the discovery of it, Aqua had apologized profusely before Vanitas even knew what apologies were for. And over time, Vanitas learnt how to control his emotions, in both senses. The Unversed became less numerous, more docile. Temple cats, or rats, or monkeys, left to laze on steps or lounge on windowsills, to Eraqus's approval AND disapproval. He learnt how to take them back without making more, until the only one left in the Land of Departure was Bunny, kept a furtive secret. The random inflictions of pain stopping also helped, even if the last one had been so severe as to make it feel like he was all the way back at the start again.
This much was certain. Vanitas's speech slows as he tests his mental footing going onwards. "He did want to teach me, for whatever reason, or he wouldn't have let me join lessons." Including ones on magic. Vanitas would have snuck down and hidden somewhere to watch anyway, though. He was a free spirit, and also who expected a creature of darkness to behave. "If I became injured and Terra or Aqua didn't heal me, he did." So he hadn't wanted Vanitas to come to at least that much harm.
"Explaining things..." That's where things stick. Vanitas wishes he hadn't thrown the stick just so he could throw it again now. "Lessons, sure. He never told me anything about the Chi-Blade, or Ventus. Just that I came from a boy that died." Vanitas never shared Roxas's curiosity about his situation and himself - would it have mattered to him if he'd known? He can't really know. But it's one of the many threads in the ball Roxen handed him, so he's picking it out to look at it. He's unaware he may be somewhat missing the point, although he does feel like he's gone in a circle and gotten nowhere, so he switches tracks in frustration.
"I get why he did it, I don't get why, if he was going to do it, he didn't do it at the very start." Why does Ross, the biggest friend, not simply eat the others. Even as he said 'became a problem' earlier, it's the contrast that's what he's really struggling with. His black and white thinking finds it difficult to reconcile, not helped by his problems with change. He gestures out sharply at nothing in particular before letting his hand drop back to his side. "That doesn't make sense." He looks at Roxen, red eyes eerily incisive for someone who completely missed the boat on what Roxen was gently and cautiously trying to ask and tell him not a moment earlier. "Do you hate him?"
no subject
He grimaces a little as Vanitas calls him out, hunching his shoulders a bit with a sigh. Point taken. He'd like to, really. Idealistically he'd like to. Practically...he really doesn't want to see the other boy. He doesn't like him, even if theoretically he know Vanitas is a victim. He's just also someone who wants to hurt him...and he just doesn't want to deal with it.
He will have to, of course. There's no avoiding it. And maybe he will try then--but he doesn't want to think on it. To many headaches.
Instead he resumes his careful measured gaze on Vanitas as he speaks, trying to understand the other boy as he talks. His heart does genuinely ache as Vanitas struggles through it, even if Roxen is as lost for answers. He doesn't know what Eraqus thought or wanted, or if not letting Vanitas fight was a good idea (though it is weird to him. Eraqus never had any qualms with Ven sparring. Was it because of the danger of Unversed, or was he simply stricter with a creature of darkness. Logically, he figures, not allowing Ven to fight would have delayed creation of the Chi Blade just as effectively...so why.)
"They always healed me." He does point out, interjecting thoughtfully. "Even when they were the reason I got hurt. It was the intent that mattered..." They healed him because it was practical, not out of any genuine care. To Roxen, intent has as much merit as the action does. "But from what you said... I don't think Eraqus was like that."
And then he lands on the question Roxen has been asking himself even before he was really aware. One that tormented Ventus as doggedly as it seemed to torment Vanitas (though Ventus had precious little time to process it). Why? If he was going to do it, why didn't he do it from the very start? Why keep it a secret? Why why why?
Roxen can't answer that. He doesn't try to because he doesn't know either. Its a horrible question to beat your head against, because while he's a hand better at nuance then Vanitas, it still doesn't make sense.
Vanitas turns to glare at him, and Roxen stops to note how red his eyes are, not the yellow he's familiar with before his careful expression shuts down into something stony with gritted teeth. A familar migraine starts up.
"Eraqus raised me." He said, hissing it out like the words pained him (and they did!). "He taught me so much. He...did so much. I was so happy living with him..."
"But." He says and his blue eyes are cold as he stares down at the stone. "He never explained anything. I--Ventus-whatever, I wasn't a bad kid. I didn't like breaking the rules. If he'd told me, about Vanitas and Xehanort and the Chi-Blade, I would have understood why he wanted to keep me close. Then if I left, it really would have been my fault for risking everyone. But it wasn't my fault--because he didn't tell me!"
"And then before I'd even figured anything out." He spat. "Before I knew who Vanitas was or who I'd been. When I came home of my own volition looking for answers, he tried to kill me. Didn't even spare me a second to ask a question or explain myself. Oh, I knew something was up, something terrible I was being used for. But Eraqus just told me I didn't deserve to live--and left it at that. Didn't even try to convince me to stay, or offer a solution. He did that to me. To us. He was so invested in maintaining our peaceful status quo, that he forgot to honestly try and protect us with any goodwill. How can I ever forgive him for that?"
Oh..who knew Axel and Eraqus were actually more similar then he thought. He shoves the comparison away before it can take root with any strength. He doesn't want to think about that. Axel at least, made it up to him by protecting Sora.
He's been raising his voice for a while now, and he grabs his own arms to calm down, squeezing his eyes shut. "I'm yelling. I'm sorry. Its hard for me to understand to." A breath. "..I can't tell you if I hate him or not. I'm really really angry at him, but I still love him. But...I never want to see him again. Not really. I'm...glad I don't have to. Isn't that kind of horrible?" He rubbed his face a little, trying to get his thoughts to make sense.
no subject
For Vanitas, intent is a black box. He can only work backwards from what was actually done. Vanitas doesn't consider sparring as 'fighting', in this metric, but to be honest there wasn't much of that either, and only very late, under high supervision. Ostensibly because of the gap in skill, because of the risk of Unversed being created by an accidental hit, and also because of Vanitas's enthusiasm combined with a penchant for dirty tricks (the whole point of a spar was to win, right?). It was mostly theory, drills, and magic practice, instead. Vanitas reaches the same conclusion Roxen does, of wondering why he was allowed to get stronger at all. It's part of the whole mess of things.
"It's fine." Vanitas waves off the apology easily. There's a pang, a sharp painful spike, but it's not because of the yelling. He's used to being yelled at occasionally, and this isn't even at him. It's his own memories of Eraqus coming up, the good ones. He gives Roxas a 'look who you're talking to' expression, on the horrible end of things. "If you don't hate him, then you know the Organization was worse." It's possibly the teeniest thread of a silver lining ever, but it's something Vanitas can give, a certainty. There's a scale and this magic teacher who really wasn't is further down it. Vanitas is shaky on the whole idea of forgiveness but he likes to consider himself an expert on negative emotions (although he's probably not as much of one as he thinks). He leans back on his elbows.
"He tried to kill you. Not wanting to see him again isn't horrible, it's sane." It's that simple to Vanitas. Black and white thinking at work again. Nevermind that he himself doesn't know if he'd want to see Eraqus again, if the man was still alive. It just feels. So horribly unfinished, how things ended. There was no true close to it, no deliberate severance. The choice to fight for his life was taken out of his hands. He'd never see Eraqus again, and it wouldn't be because he chose not to.
('So invested in maintaining the status quo that he forgot to protect us with goodwill' would sting if Vanitas were more self-aware. That one year was... kind of like that, rip.)
no subject
"It's not really how bad he is that matters." He finally sighs, running a hand through his hair. "It's just that...he did something bad. To both of us. Which means...I don't know what it means. But it means something. I can't think about it any more then that." Even thinking about his old Master's face is starting to feel like a nail being driven through his skull.
"Aqua misses him." He sighs. "I don't...know if she knows. I'm not going to tell her. But she misses him and I don't want to see him ever again...do you feel like that with her?"
no subject
Except not, because... there's an expression Vanitas's face gets, the sort of default neutral expression that comes when there's inner turmoil he's focusing on keeping down instead of having it come out, quite literally.
It's not as bad here as in other cases, but it's basically habit at this point. He looks down, thinking, picking at the hem of Ventus's blue lobster shirt before remembering and stopping. "I don't know where Aqua is," he admits. "Mickey says the Realm of Darkness, but I can't go because this is in the way." He gestures once again at his body, this time with a snarl of frustration at the situation. If he was his full darknessy self, the Realm would probably pose no obstacle at all, in his mind.
Sora really needs to get the power of waking, but he's also recuperating from the disaster that was the Mastery exam.
i forgot about the blue lobster shirt, praise the blue lobster shirt.
"Oh." Truthfully, Roxen probably doesn't look very concerned. To him, the solution to this problem is already readily apperant, and hey, if it worked out for him, it'll probably work out for Vanitas. "I guess you woke up early then. She'd already gotten out when I woke up." The first person he saw, really. It was just going to be him, a mess of a person in a dream forever, and then suddenly there was Aqua.
"Why would that get in the way? It's just a body." Between being a nobody, and a half heart of pure light, darkness has never really factored into Roxen's daily concerns. He hasn't tried using a dark corridor yet, but in his head he believes himself still totally capable of them. Why wouldn't he? Hell, Roxas specialized in light spells, and he could still use them.
"If you wanna go, you should just go." He waves a hand flippantly. Yes he's a bit of a methodical thinker but what are consequences again? Running off to save friends is always a 10/10 course of action. "Axel...Lea could probably get you there if you asked. Borrow one of the coats."
no subject
Instead of realizing Roxen is making several assumptions about the timeline and accidentally conflating Vanitas's benevolent possession with Ventus's future awakening, Vanitas's mood ticks up a few points as he fully buys it, a considering spark in his eyes. Roxen has no reason to lie, and Aqua IS badass enough to break out on her own, in his mind. If she's out there somewhere in the worlds now it's just a matter of finding her.
As a result he's less snappish than he could be when he rolls his eyes and says "Yeah, and who'd have to explain that I lost it if it ends up wrecked." It bothers him a lot more than his flippant tone suggests - he technically knows replicas are a thing but not that they can be convenient blank slate bodies for such a purpose. If this shell of Ventus dies... that's it. Still tho. He really does want to, stop enabling him Roxen. But at least it's not as much of concern because Aqua's not there after all :' )
He extends a hand in front of him and darkness swirls to make a portal hanging just in front of the tower. He smirks. "Who needs Lea?" It collapses as he withdraws his hand, thinking. "How good are the coats?" Are they as good as keyblade armor? He finds himself a little skeptical, just by default.
no subject
Well he's at least 50% sure.... If Sora has issues its probably his own fault from stabbing himself out of his heart all the time!
"Hey!" He pouts a bit. "Lea is useful. He knows a lot of stuff." Despite all complicated feelings, he does still feel obligated to stick up for his best friend. "He's the one who showed me where to get the ice cream we just finished." And now he wants more. Drat.
"Not quite sure." He said honestly. "I didn't...well I didn't think I had a heart when I was using them. So I wasn't really paying attention to if I was getting darkness on me, 'n stuff." He pauses. "But, you know. Xehanort wears a coat instead of keyblade armor, and since he's a master he probably has one of those. So, I think they must be at least as good. I don't think he'd wear something that didn't work."
no subject
Roxas got a Ventus-heart makeover so maybe that hit the reset button? Who knows. A mystery.
Vanitas's face gets the grumpy sour expression common to those who know a good point is being made at them that they will only begrudgingly accept. Much as he dislikes Xehanort (most of the ire squarely at the feet of having to live with and never see Terra for a year) and would not trust the man or anything he says out of principle, Roxen has a point.
"I'll see if Lea can get me one." Vanitas does have a nose for who can or will enable shenaniganry and he has not incorrectly pegged Lea as the sort who would let him sneak out to do this despite technically not being allowed to, without telling anyone. So he is useful, and this is Vanitas low key saying as much because his pride can inflict him with obliqueness sometimes. He leans forward, interested. "Where did you get it?" It was actually pretty good. He wouldn't mind getting more for himself, later. (He's going to eat like twenty bars in quick succession and regret it soundly).