strove: (they say bacon is the best)
thanks clarke ([personal profile] strove) wrote in [community profile] meadowlarklogs2019-10-07 01:20 pm

[open log] i don't care about the mess you made

WHO: Clarke Griffin, Riku, and Goro Akechi + anyone who wants to do some dreams or other stuff
WHERE: Dreams, New Amsterdam.
WHEN: Month of January IC!
WHAT: Dreams, memory shares, etc. General open log things.
NOTES OR WARNINGS: Mentions of suicide and suicidal ideation for Akechi and Clarke (respectively).

[Riku, Clarke, and Akechi couldn't be more different on the surface—but when it comes to dreams, to the control of the mind and the actions they take, the similarities come together. Oddly enough, each of them has some experience over this space. Riku, through being a Dreameater. Clarke, through Josephine taking over her body and through having to fight back against the sociopathic scientist. And Akechi through the metaverse, having to traverse it alone. That's not to say that they have special powers here: but control is something that will come more easily, as will lucidity.

Of course, thematically they're different:]


riku: mistakes of the past, worries of the present

[These days, Riku is more or less at peace with himself. Once, his dreams were mercurial and lacked control. They showed his worry about strength. Power. And at times, Darkness—the Darkness that reigned over his life, that acted as a threat. These days, that Darkness is as much a part of him as anything: trapped in his heart, a constant in motion. A part of who he is.

But there are themes and motifs that reoccur. Friends fading away. The danger of thinking too much, even if the thoughts don't string together. A friend slipping, falling into a wave of Darkness. More recently: images of his home falling apart, of New Amsterdam falling to the same ruin, crashed into by a wave of dangerous Darkness.

And of friends dying. Of not being able to do enough. Of the struggle of having to accept that they will do as they do, even if he can't do nothing. His hands always tied, forced to be idle, passive. Accepting that, too.

There is always a push for logic against even the most irrational of thoughts. Always.]


clarke: guilt, the lives she's taken, a peaceful interlude

[Many of Clarke's dreams take place separate from what would be her mindscape. Her dreams are of green: sprawling trees with a beautiful, forested canopy. A bright sun overhead, though sometimes there are two. But in the horizon, there may or may not be ruin: ruins of a city that managed to come together in the aftermath of an apocalypse, or ruins of a world, covered in dirt and sand, and strange creatures that burrow into the ground and can dig into someone's skin. She doesn't dream of those creatures, not often.

When she can, Clarke dreams of what could be: a life in this area of rich, fertile environment. A time with her daughter, her mother, her friends. Bellamy is there when he can be, but during times of strife, it seems she has a hard time facing him. (This Bellamy is older, with facial hair and a calmer expression. Like he knows to keep what he can inside.)

When there are people present, there is always a pressure. Of being boxed in, of being the one to find the solutions. Clarke always feels as if her answers are the wrong answers, and they show here. But there is no resentment toward the many, many people in her life: angry, making demands. Just an acceptance. Clarke doesn't feel as if they're wrong to ask so much of her. Besides, she put herself in that position to ask to make those decisions.

After all, she is a mother. A leader. But also: a tumor. A cancer. These days, Clarke doesn't let those thoughts creep up, but in dreams, who can say?]


akechi: wasted potential, what could have been

[Akechi doesn't dream of exact moments or of exact places: he dreams of the settings he likes, with drawn out, complicated scenarios where he's called upon to solve a problem. Solve any problem. Because he is someone who came into his power at an age when he was already embittered by the world, embroiled in hatred for everything around him. His mother committed suicide when he was young, and he was forced to be passed from home to home, a blemish upon his family and upon the world. An illegitimate child and a problem. Rather than choosing to overcome these notions, Akechi internalized them, took them to heart.

His dreams reflect this: colored often in blacks and reds, with Akechi moving alone, carrying every purpose that he believes that only he can accomplish. His dreams are a sign of how he deluded himself: believing that his long term plans would become something at some point.

He is extremely intelligent, and his dreams show it: with him trying to make logic out of nothing, out of the world around him. He seems to be at odds with it, caught between a sense of justice (inherently emotional) and a world out of order, one that's inevitably going to be that way no matter what.

If Akechi's gambit had paid off—if he had been aware that he was a part of a game with a gambit in motion—his view of the world would've taken hold. It would've fallen into disarray, granting control to a single deity because people are inherently messed up. At the heart of his dreams, this is a singular, notable truth. It's just one that's at odds with what Akechi really wants: to be praised, loved, and seen as less than a blemish and more that someone who can accomplish things. He just hasn't admitted as much to himself.]


ooc notes

[The general overview here is to give people an idea of what my characters' dreams would contain. This is an open log, and you can request a starter hitting on one of the notes above! I'll also be posting closed requested starters below. I'm also open to memory sharing or characters just catching up, though the former may need to come along organically (as none of my three know it's on the table).

If you'd like to discuss further, hit me up on plurk @ medieval or on discord at alison#8996.]
inherited: (I PAID FOR IT)

[personal profile] inherited 2019-11-08 05:40 am (UTC)(link)
If the UNA had powers, we'd know about it already.

[Riku knows how afraid she is of them. It seems like it's with good reason.]

It's gotta be something else. Maybe you're just farther along and can develop a new spell tree.
forcevisions: (this guy decides)

[personal profile] forcevisions 2019-11-10 03:12 pm (UTC)(link)
I wasn't thinking they did it on purpose.

[ just, for the record. but there could be consequences to the fact that rey was further experimented on. that's how this all began, after all -- shaved heads and drugs and people digging around inside their bodies without their permission. the una had done the same.

she swallows, uncomfortable.
] But maybe you're right.

[ that's the safer, easier option to accept. she wants to accept it, at least, because it means less thinking about what the una did to her. ]
inherited: (C O N T E M P L A T I V E)

[personal profile] inherited 2019-11-12 05:22 am (UTC)(link)
[Yeah, he's no mind reader, but putting his mind to it, he can guess why she would prefer to latch on to something else. He'd like to think that, too. Maybe they did do it on accident, but he doesn't know for sure. And their powers are changing. How long had it been without dreams like this, and now they're beginning to be normal?]

I hope I'm right. [A beat. And then more firmly:] Actually, you know what? I think I am. If anyone would get more power just because of who she is, it would be you. I'd bet on that.
forcevisions: (to the pitch black streets)

[personal profile] forcevisions 2019-11-13 12:58 am (UTC)(link)
[ a smile spreads across her lips, visibly uncontrolled for the sudden flare of it. she turns her face away, as if to hide the expression, keep it private. an old instinct, obsolete. ]

I'm not sure that's how it works.

[ gently, but gratefully. ]
inherited: (S M I L E)

[personal profile] inherited 2019-11-14 03:45 am (UTC)(link)
You don't know that. We don't know anything about how our powers work, but they don't always come from a bad place.

[The fact that she had assumed that about them—Riku can see where that thinking comes from. He's been prone to it a few times himself, and he knows he needs to avoid it. Best to push her away from it when he can.]
forcevisions: (i don't want no scrub)

[personal profile] forcevisions 2019-11-14 03:56 am (UTC)(link)
[ she rests her hand over her chest, where the blue glow is anchored, and she turns to look out over the water, thoughtful and quiet. a smile twitches on her mouth and she closes that fist, nodding her head. ]

I guess you're right.

[ it's easy to look at herself and her power as something frightening and eldritch. that's how she's used to looking at her ability with the force too -- without guidance, it had terrified her. overwhelmed her. this is just as unknown, even if it's different, and less spiritual. but that's just a perspective. the fear isn't justified in anything concrete except her own assumption that she is wrong or bad somehow. (she'd have to be, for her parents to do what they'd done.)

but she wants to accept riku's interpretation instead.
]
inherited: (i love sriracha though)

[personal profile] inherited 2019-11-14 04:32 am (UTC)(link)
It's too bad you couldn't see me when I was fighting in that dreamworld before. [Riku mentally treats it as different. It felt different. Here, he can apply the knowledge he knows and control the setting, even eventually tear away the image of his yellow eyes so she sees him as he's meant to be. But it's not the same. That comes with training, with understanding that otherwise came so naturally to him.

He stands up, though, expanding his hands as he tries to animate it to her.]


You know I have a keyblade and a spell like your one power. [Not both.] What you don't know is that some of the power I draw on is that Darkness in my heart. [His hand extends forward as if he's preparing to draw on a dark firaga, but obviously it never happens.]

I imbue my blade with Darkness, I can slip in and out of shadows, and I can even make fire and Darkness one.

[He angles himself slightly so he looks down at her. His chin lifts ever so slightly to pretend as if he's being cocky. He's got the look down.]

If anyone knows how this works, it's me.
forcevisions: (tros1)

[personal profile] forcevisions 2019-11-15 03:06 am (UTC)(link)
[ rey's smile widens, honest and unburdened. it feels good to see him like this, being so open and energized. it helps her feel a little better about her own powers because of how confident and untroubled he is by his -- even as he talks about the darkness being a part of it. instead of feeling envious, she just feels inspired. ]

I wish you could show me.

[ she gets to her feet then beside him. ]

We'd be unstoppable. [ together, obviously. of her own accord, she won't leap to 'but i could totally beat you still i bet.' ]
inherited: (minus the sleeps)

[personal profile] inherited 2019-11-16 03:16 am (UTC)(link)
Heh, yep—probably. I miss it every day I'm without it, but you're right. [His hand lowers, and he draws on that power. Even here, his chest glows with the feeling of trying to reach it. No, his keyblade doesn't appear. But he knows it's there.]

Along the way, I thought I needed to fight this. That it was bad. Everyone told me that. Just remember that.
forcevisions: (this guy decides)

[personal profile] forcevisions 2019-11-17 12:40 am (UTC)(link)
[ since he's putting all this effort in bringing this around to reassurance, rey feels like she can extend at least something in the way of specific commiseration instead of ambiguous tension. for a moment she's quiet, sober, but then she lightens a little as she begins to reflect. ]

When I discovered my power, it ... it frightened me. My real power, the one that this seems to suppress. [ she reaches up to touch her chest. ] The first person I looked to for help, for some kind of guidance ... It frightened him too. [ she frowns, thinking of the things luke said to her that day. it doesn't tarnish what he is or what he'd done or how important he is. but he'd failed her, just like he'd failed ben. and it's allowed to sting. ] He saw darkness in me.
inherited: (but i match my bros.)

[personal profile] inherited 2019-11-20 06:52 am (UTC)(link)
[Riku's smile fades at the story. Without the aid of his powers, he can't tell if Rey has a lot of Darkness in her or just a little. He also decides that it doesn't matter. Someone's goodness isn't determined by that. It's determined by what they do. How they manage their thoughts.]

In my world, there's only a certain type of person whose heart is made of pure light. You might think it's someone like Sora, but it's not. Even Sora is susceptible to the Darkness. [Not in the way that Riku was. But that's why he didn't pass his exam, and it's that kind of urgency to help people and push his limits that ended up costing him his life. It's not the same, but it's that kind of drive that can be quickly tainted in the wrong hands.]

But I don't think anyone expected me to handle the Darkness like I did. They were afraid of it and rejected it. But the world is made up of both, and so people are, too. He was wrong to be afraid. And a bit of a jerk. [He expected something from her that she couldn't give. Whoever he was, that was wrong.

The King never did that to Riku. Never. Now he wishes that Rey could meet him and know what it's like to be accepted despite understanding the depth of power within Riku's grasp.]
forcevisions: (to quit his job)

[personal profile] forcevisions 2019-11-21 12:51 am (UTC)(link)
[ a smile twitches on her mouth. rey nods. ]

He was, a little.

[ bitter about his own failure, and projecting that onto her. she isn't resentful, but she can still acknowledge the truth of it. ]

Thanks, Riku. You always know what to say.
inherited: (hair flip)

[personal profile] inherited 2019-11-25 03:11 am (UTC)(link)
I'm trying to say what's in my heart more. I'm just glad that whatever's coming out is what people seem to want to hear. [That's a humble approach, to be sure, but it is genuinely how he feels about it. Riku doesn't mind showing affection and letting people know the root of what he's thinking. It's healthier, and helping him be more accepting in terms of what others might need to hear or need to do, too.]