[ AUDIENCE: LUXANNA CROWNGUARD ]

[dormheads]

Comments

[darksubverted]

[OH!

This startles him, but not in a bad way. He almost forgot about asking her to see it because he hadn't wanted to press her when she was reluctant. His eyes widen, and he glances around them--like he's trying to be sure?

Now he feels stupid worrying about being in a secluded place, or being outside. No wonder.

Carefully, he moves in just a bit closer to see it better. Wow!]

[illuminance]

I don't think this will be much of a secret anymore, after this week.

[darksubverted]

[He glances up.]

What does that mean?

[illuminance]

All of us seem to be exchanging memories with one another against our will.

[darksubverted]

Oh. You, too, huh?

[Terrible.] Do you know if I... [His hands start to raise, but then he puts them back down again.]

Um, nevermind. Forget it.

[illuminance]

No - what is it?

[darksubverted]

Do you know if I'm able to... touch it? Uh. Can I?

[illuminance]

It should be fine. It isn't as if I've bought back the power to make it hurt anyone.

[darksubverted]

[Hesitantly, he raises one hand. He's not sure if his fingers go through it or not. He doesn't know magic. (Haha.)

So he kind of turns his palm like he's... caressing it?]

[illuminance]

[ please stop making this weird

but it's just concentrated light with none of the offensive power, so presumably his fingers could pass through it. it might be a little bit warm, but otherwise it just feels like... air. ]

... Is it frightening?

[darksubverted]

[STOP I DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO DESCRIBE IT]

No. [He is very quick to say this, but he doesn't say it meanly.] It feels like... light.

How you would think it feels.

[illuminance]

[ she already knew he isn't familiar with magic (lol) so she knew it wouldn't have the same associations it has from her home. it's still nice to hear. ]

In my kingdom, magic is "evil." If nothing else, it's been nice to hear otherwise from so many people.

[darksubverted]

Evil...

[His brows pinch. Gonna have to respectfully disagree. (Why? Why, though? He said magic wasn't real.) It's not.

It's...]

It... can be used for evil probably. But that isn't the magic. It's because someone decided to use it that way.

[illuminance]

That's what I'd like to think.

[ ... ]

Though it doesn't change that there's good reason to fear it.

[darksubverted]

[...]

I don't think you should be afraid of... what you don't understand. That just makes it worse in the end.

[illuminance]

You're right. It can make people... Lash out in retaliation for having been judged too harshly.

[darksubverted]

[Oh, UH, he's still touching, so he sort of like brings his hand back before it's just him standing and awkwardly petting her glow.]

I don't think you're evil. I think people are just afraid.

[And--pop!--she gets... a memory (until about 15:00ish)?]

[illuminance]

[ okay she definitely doesn't understand the context of all of that, but she does understand light and dark. and the way that they can be used as both metaphors and literal things at the same time.

but - she also knows that this memory isn't 'luke's' so... her glow dissipates into nothing and she sets a hand on his arm. ]

... Are you alright?

[ she's trying to gauge his reaction to that memory before saying too much. ]

[darksubverted]

[He looks... not painfully stunned, but still pretty stunned? He's kind of just staring into the middle distance for a second or two, but startles into focus when she touches his arm.]

I'm... Yeah. [He frowns.] That stuff again... It really is like a dream...

[illuminance]

Is that what it feels like to you? Something - distant and made up?

[darksubverted]

Well... yeah. That wasn't--that was weird. And I've never met anyone named Ansem in my life.

[But he sort of touches the place over his heart with a hand kind of like ????? anyway.]

[illuminance]

[ she's not going to push on whether or not that was real, but. ]

So what did you make of it? The discussion they were having, I mean.

[darksubverted]

[He opens his mouth, but then pauses with thought and closes it again. "They"--like he can't tell that looked exactly like him. But... when he was younger. Bizarre.

Dreams can happen that way, though. Dreaming of your younger self, only in some fantastical situation. He will just keep going like it isn't him.]

...I still feel the same, I guess. About what I said to you. Being afraid... just makes it worse in the end. He can't... control darkness by running from it. He has to accept it, and not forget... there's light inside him, too. You can use them both.

[illuminance]

You're exactly right. You have to see things at their worst. You have to understand that light and dark are connected.

I had to learn this before I could control my own magic.

[darksubverted]

Even though... your magic looks like light?