[ CLOSED ]

[evulsed]

characters: bruce, riku, vanitas, ventus
location: museum
date/time: april 1 - 5
content: bottles of sand, some arguments most likely
warnings: vanitas...

[ He's still dwelling on it.

Even though he'd abandoned Ventus to the Invincible and whatever else was going on there, he can't get it out of his head. What's going to happen, now that he's here? Vanitas has made no secret of who and what he is. If Ventus decided to go out and blab to the whole town the reality of his nature, it wouldn't be that much of a blow. Unless some of the more self righteous idiots around decided to start some sort of witch hunt for him. After all, nobody but Ventus really knows just how dangerous Vanitas could be.

But that isn't what bothers him the most.

Riku tries to engage with him and he shrugs the other boy off until he gives up and leaves. He hasn't seen Bruce at all. The sensation of living on borrowed time has returned to him, the same fears bubbling up inside of him that had driven him to blows with Riku just weeks ago. Vanitas knows better than anyone how difficult it is to turn away from a very bright Light, and he doesn't even belong in it.

It leaves him brooding, sitting on the floor of the museum in front of Solis' statue, scowling into the dark— at least until all the Unversed in the room turn as one, an alert to something approaching the building. They don't react this way to Riku or Bruce, so he stands up and heads toward the foyer. ]

Comments

[evulsed]

[ That's the second time he's dropped that little word, and it has the same effect if rubbing the fur backwards on a cat. Vanitas bristles as he turns around, glaring down at his seated other half. ] 

He's not my friend. He's...

[ But even as he says it, despite the fact he's said it so many times before, this time it tastes like a lie in his mouth. Vanitas only knows what a friend is because he's seen the relationship between other people. Ventus and Terra and Aqua, Sora and Riku and Kairi. Mostly, he knows how you can use friends against one another.

Maybe in some way, it's like if he keeps denying it, then nobody will have that leverage over him. But the truth is that Bruce is something, and whatever that thing is, it's important. Enough for Vanitas to be worried about him, enough for him to be afraid for him, enough that he didn't walk out after he found out Bruce had been drugging him to sleep.

But Ventus is the last person he's going to tell that to, and both his fists clench at his sides. ]

He's a detective. This is just what he does, sticking his nose in things he shouldn't be sticking it in.

[reposer]

[ There is the reaction Ventus had been expecting the first time around. Vanitas wheels on him with a glare and Ventus meets it with a raise of both eyebrows, unfazed by the reaction and unconvinced by the denial and subsequent faltering. The way Vanitas handled Bruce's sleeping body already told him more than enough when Ventus has never known Vanitas to treat anyone in a way that wasn't either violent or callous. How his other half trails off speaks volumes, too.

Maybe Bruce isn't a friend, exactly, but it's obvious that he's significant to Vanitas in some way or another. Something like friends or family, precious and dear even if the bond hasn't been given a name (yet). Ventus would recognize that anywhere. It's the foundation that he managed to build himself back upon. He couldn't have done it without the care of Aqua, Terra, and Master Eraqus.

And really, Vanitas' defensiveness only makes him all the more sure and so Ventus doesn't let it go right away, even if he's a little curious about the detective thing. ]

Isn't he? Could have fooled me.

[ He isn't smug or sly about it, there's just a knowing glint in his eyes before he finally forces himself up on his feet. With Vanitas already thrumming with tension — fists balled by his sides — Ventus doesn't really care to push the matter any further than that. He's got better things to do than to get into a fight with Vanitas over this. It's enough to know that his other half might have found friendship for himself, to get a little bit more context as to how he might have changed so drastically.

Instead he merely stretches himself out before plainly asking: ]

Was there anything else you wanted to know?