Forgiiiive myyy wandering eye; I cannot explain it, I cannot contain it...

[notquitedracula]

Who: Soma and very much open to anyone and anything
What: A certain bat pony starts poking his muzzle around; hijinks may ensue
Where: Ponyville, aaaall over the place
When: A couple days after this
Warnings: None yet, depends on who joins in and stuff. Also I have no idea how this place is actually laid out, so... yeah, please take that into account. XD

Soma was really enjoying this world, which was something he'd never expected. From weather-making lessons with one of its rulers, to soaring among the clouds without worrying about being attacked (okay, mostly without worrying), to being able to put all the soul-searching crap on a back burner and just be himself for a while, it was all very relaxing.

It was also, to some extent, a lie.

This world, like the others, was not real; that much was evident from the way it looped around on itself. They were, beyond a shadow of a doubt, still in the dream world. Which meant, if the previous iterations were anything to judge by, there was a keyhole hidden around here somewhere.

Problem was, he didn't even know where to start looking, so he had to look everywhere, and even a small world has a lot of everywheres.

[Feel free to pick your own location, guys. Like I said, I know nothing about this world other than PONIES.]

Comments

[wavesinherheart]

"Maybe you were supposed to stop the armor under the hole, and use that to get up to it?"

As answers go, it's not ideal, but given that Aqua has yet to see any indication that Soma is capable of either any sort of enhanced jumping or any sort of magic that might have helped bridge the gap, it's the only thing she can think of.

[notquitedracula]

Soma shook his head. "Too many spikes for that. I had to come back later, when I was able to turn into a bat." He rustled a wing and continued, "These aren't just for show. Normally I can take the form of a bat, among other things."

Now he had a decision to make. He could tell her what he was - even just the broad strokes - or... not. It would be easier not to, but then... easy just wasn't the way he did things. "Where I come from, there's this really old vampire count. He's been defeated a dozen times or more, but he always comes back, somehow - and now we know how. He passes his power - his soul - on to a small group of successors, each of them inheriting one of his major abilities. Any ability, on its own, would be enough to seek out and retake the others if the other candidates didn't prove more viable. And... well, in this cycle, I was born with one of those abilities. As it turns out, the strongest one - the power of Dominance. I absorb the souls of monsters and demons I defeat, gaining their abilities as my own."

He grimaced, and went on, "Normally this would mean I was the best candidate, but I rather like being me. I have no particular grudge with humanity, and while there aren't many of them, I do have some very good friends. All that basically means that, up until I ended up in the castle by accident, I had no reason to even suspect I had such a power, let alone exercise it. And that's where things get complicated."

[wavesinherheart]

Aqua stays silent as Soma explains. It sounds a little unusual even by her standards, but she supposes that if Xehanort could pass his heart on to other people that there's nothing keeping other people from doing likewise. Besides, what Soma is describing sounds to involve less actually becoming someone else than most of what Xehanort had been involved in.

(Besides, the idea of being able to learn the abilities of various monsters sounds interesting in theory, if nothing else.)

She doesn't appear to be inclined to judge Soma for claiming the souls of monsters as his own, either, or not on that alone. Instead, she simply nods at his assessment of things, once he's finished. "It always is."

[notquitedracula]

He nodded. "Always. Well, I had a choice. I could either make my way to the throne room, through hundreds of monsters, demons, and sundry others, or I could wait for someone else to do all the work, and possibly never get out alive - and maybe let a very close friend die in the process. I'm sure you can understand, I wasn't about to let that happen. So, I fought. Along the way I met a few other people, but the one that really stood out was a missionary named Graham. He seemed nice enough at first - normal, even. But as it turned out, I'm not the only candidate. I'd never met anyone who was truly evil before - I didn't even believe it was possible. But Graham proved me wrong. He was irredeemable."

Soma grimaced at the thought. "He took hold of all the castle's power, and used it to become something hideous. I had no choice, but I take no pride in the fact that I had to take him down. And in so doing... I took the mantle for myself. In every meaningful way, I am Dracula, now. But I'm also Soma - still the same person I was at the start. And... well, it recently was made plain to me that although I've inherited his power, I need not walk his path. Although my power is rooted in darkness, I can use it for whatever ends I choose - and I chose to use it to protect those I care for."

[wavesinherheart]

The mention of letting a friend die hit a good deal closer than Aqua had been expecting. True, Terra hadn't actually died, but she'd been more than willing to sacrifice herself in order to give him a second chance, even if that second chance had somehow managed to not exactly work out as expected. So she nodded at the comment, even as she let Soma continue on.

The mention of using darkness to protect on the other hand, was something that Aqua wasn't entirely certain of, and after a moment of silence she spoke up again.

"I've always been told darkness is something that should be avoided. But it's true that you don't have to follow anyone else's path either, so I suppose as long as you know what you're doing it's okay?"

[notquitedracula]

Her reaction didn't go unnoticed, but there wasn't enough there for Soma to comment on it. Her next reaction, on the other hand...

"The way I see it, there are two types of darkness. One is simply power that comes from the shadows instead of the light. It's chaotic, and it will overrun those who cannot master it - but it is not, in and of itself, evil, just as light is not always good; those who stare too long into the sun are forever blinded. Then there's the type that comes from emotions - hate, anger, fear, jealousy. That type of darkness has power all its own, and it's the very root of evil. On the other side, you have positive emotions - joy, love, courage, and their ilk. All the good in the world. Two types of light, two types of darkness, and a whole world full of shades of gray between them. Reality is never black and white."

[wavesinherheart]

There was a longer moment of silence from Aqua that time. Given that she'd spent most of her life being taught that there was only a strict dichotomy of light and darkness, the idea that things weren't quite so cut and dried was not the easiest to hear.

Still, she figures that she ought to at least give Soma some sort of answer, even if she's not certain she certain she can immediately agree with it.

"Where I'm from, most of the shadows are Darkness. The kind that doesn't do anyone any good. It's the same power that Xehanort uses."

[notquitedracula]

That, in turn, gave Soma a moment of pause. He had to consider his words carefully, now, or his whole argument was going to fall apart. "I suppose it could be different in other worlds - but from what I've heard, the Darkness you're talking about is, at its core, what we call Evil. Take this Xehanort, for example. You say he uses Darkness - what's he like, as a person? May I hazard a guess? He's intensely self-centered, has some grand scheme, and is willing to use whatever he can get his hands on to accomplish it. Up to and including people who once thought he was a friend, or at least someone worthy of respect. Am I close?"

No, he didn't know anything about Xehanort - but he did know Dracula, and that's how he started. War on God? Kidnapping his best friend's fiance in an effort to make said friend join him? Yeah. Drac's not had such a good track record.

[wavesinherheart]

Xehanort's track record is not really the greatest either. It's only a shame that it's taken her this long to see it. But that's not quite so important at the moment, and she offers a hesitant sort of nod at Soma's comment.

"I'm not sure he really has friends. But yes, he will."

His is a deep and all-consuming darkness, and she's seen its true depths in far more detail than she would really like.

[notquitedracula]

"It's not whether he has friends, it's the fact that other people considered him a friend, or at least someone worthy of respect. People like that don't have friends - they have targets and victims. That's what evil is."

He wasn't making his point very well, and he knew it, but it was hard to explain to someone who had quite obviously never even considered that there might be shades of grey. "Think of it this way - you have the traditional elements, fire, water, wind and such. It doesn't take a huge stretch of the imagination to add some more. When I say my power comes from darkness, that's what I mean - elemental darkness as opposed to emotional. The two have an affinity for one another, but they aren't absolutely inclusive. A good person can use elemental darkness; an evil one can use elemental light."

He rustled his wings a bit, a minor tell that he was out of his depth. "I can't really explain it all that well; it's kind of one of those things you have to experience for yourself."

[wavesinherheart]

To be entirely honest, Aqua isn't even sure he has that much, although she know that he and her late master trained together at least. Beyond that, however? She can't say and doesn't much care to speculate on any of the details. She's had far too experience with Xehanort's tricks and schemes to dwell on the idea too long without turning to a slow burning anger, and Soma doesn't deserve that much.

Instead, she turns her thoughts to the idea of elemental darkness. She's seen darkness used in combat, yes, but only ever when Xehanort was involved - or the boy in the mask who had shown up more than once. Certainly, neither are individuals she would actually expect to be using the sort of darkness Soma is trying to explain as being the source of his power.

"I know there are spells that inflict Blind, but I don't think that's really what you're talking about."

[notquitedracula]

Soma grimaced - quite the trick for a pony - and shook his head. "Not really, no. The best way to describe this is probably going to be to demonstrate it - which I can't do here, at least not right now. Something about this body is keeping me from using most of my abilities. One of the other worlds, maybe - preferably somewhere open and without a lot of things that people tend to tally under 'collateral damage'."

[wavesinherheart]

"Alright," Aqua answered with a nod. She wasn't terribly certain she much liked the idea of darkness and collateral damage being in the same general conversation but she could at least understand the differences in forms making things awkward, given that she still had yet to figure out how to actually use her Keyblade like this.

But she can wait well enough, for the time being.