The Riddler ？Edward Nygma (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
unriddling) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
heyfreemagic2015-07-17 02:37 pm
unriddling) wrote in heyfreemagic2015-07-17 02:37 pm
Entry tags:
¿? a new riddle
{backdated: early July.}
[There's something different in the back of Riddler's mind, now. Where his sense of technology had been (the feeling of static, of wires, of code that was almost like noise), there's a shifting chill. It reminds him of sand, of clay, of ashes.]
[With it, can create anything he likes, but the first thing he shapes is his familiar cane. Familiar enough, anyway--it's jet black rather than gold with green accents, but it's good enough. It's weighted perfectly in his hands no matter if he uses it as a scepter, as a blunt weapon, or merely only to show off how well he can spin. Being able to twirl it is surprisingly calming after going a few months without.]
[Or maybe that's everything else. He's noticed there's no hollowness to suppress and ignore; the Nox seem to have told him the truth.]
[It's dusk, and he's stalking the back streets of the slums alone, cane in hand. There aren't as many Freesia citizens here, but the ones there to watch him pass look and act a tad rougher than most. He offers the ones who stare too long smart remarks, punctuated by unpleasantly toothy grins.]
[Before long, he practically has an entourage of irate men surrounding him.]
[And not long after that, those irate men are screaming as he lets the darkness pool around him, spill over the sidewalk, and sink into the ground. He hopes they enjoy the sewers--or, more likely, the subways.]
[Riddler pauses. He can tell there's someone else in the darkness.]
Ah. One of our dear Lux's.
[This truly was a good night to test his newfound abilities.]
Tell me--what is a follower in light, but invisible at night?
[There's something different in the back of Riddler's mind, now. Where his sense of technology had been (the feeling of static, of wires, of code that was almost like noise), there's a shifting chill. It reminds him of sand, of clay, of ashes.]
[With it, can create anything he likes, but the first thing he shapes is his familiar cane. Familiar enough, anyway--it's jet black rather than gold with green accents, but it's good enough. It's weighted perfectly in his hands no matter if he uses it as a scepter, as a blunt weapon, or merely only to show off how well he can spin. Being able to twirl it is surprisingly calming after going a few months without.]
[Or maybe that's everything else. He's noticed there's no hollowness to suppress and ignore; the Nox seem to have told him the truth.]
[It's dusk, and he's stalking the back streets of the slums alone, cane in hand. There aren't as many Freesia citizens here, but the ones there to watch him pass look and act a tad rougher than most. He offers the ones who stare too long smart remarks, punctuated by unpleasantly toothy grins.]
[Before long, he practically has an entourage of irate men surrounding him.]
[And not long after that, those irate men are screaming as he lets the darkness pool around him, spill over the sidewalk, and sink into the ground. He hopes they enjoy the sewers--or, more likely, the subways.]
[Riddler pauses. He can tell there's someone else in the darkness.]
Ah. One of our dear Lux's.
[This truly was a good night to test his newfound abilities.]
Tell me--what is a follower in light, but invisible at night?
no subject
I have my will, no matter how much you want to deny it! [His voice was distorted, hard to pinpoint.] And the person I was had always been nothing but dead weight.
[Behind her, the darkness attempted to slip under her hooves as a few extra-tarry tendrils from above descended to try and wrap around her horn.]
no subject
If I cast a spell on you to make you feel love or fear or happiness -- if I used magic to change your behavior and your emotions, even if you asked me to, I would be taking your will way. Why is this different?
no subject
My will is my own no matter how you want to convince me otherwise. It only sliced away the useless parts of myself--my will is better exercised without those things in the way. It's not the same!
no subject
[Not every battle needs to be fought with magic. But the way this fight is progressing, she will have to strike hard to win -- so she brings a weapon she has thus far hesitated to use to her mind, readying it with a question.]
You value your intelligence, do you not, Riddler?
no subject
[The only response she gets is cold, waiting silence.]
no subject
Intelligence... can be such a burden, can it not? You see so much. Four sides to every problem. Dozens of paths to your solution, and the potential perils on each one. Ramifications you never considered. So many possible answers to a riddle.
Even now, your intelligence is holding you back. You want to harm me, but you know I am skilled, so you think and think about using this attack, and if it doesn't work, that motion. I can read it in your shadows, Riddler -- you are hesitating, trying to find the perfect answers and failing because you cannot find one that is good enough.
How much simpler it would be to stop thinking. How much purer your expressions of will would be if you only acted by it, without that intellect interfering! If expressing your will by excising the parts of you that get in the way of it was truly what you cared about, you would banish all that intelligence as well and simply act!
But you wouldn't surrender that aspect of yourself. It means too much to you.
no subject
My intelligence is everything I am. It holds nothing back. That is what the lonliness and emotion did.
[The shadows aren't working with the light? Fine.]
[The darkness retreats--for a moment. Then they scatter into dust and reform into a giant crooked hand around a nearby trashcan that flings it at her. Not the most graceful of plans, but he doesn't care.]
no subject
The intelligent course of action would not be to attack me without cause. Only emotion could inspire such a desire to see me hurt. And intelligence would have addressed your loneliness by accepting my friendship, rather than making an enemy!
no subject
...Perhaps your world is kinder than my own.
[The tendrils gather more objects--a long-broken streetlight, a splintering but massive wooden crate, the remains of a bedframe resting in the road, for some reason.]
You would have come to see me as an enemy regardless. [He sounds very matter-of-fact.]
no subject
On that note, I apologize for this. [Without further warming, Celestia unleashes a corona of light around her, illuminating the surroundings brilliantly. She had hesitated to do this, fearing that it would harm Riddler, but now he has pushed the issue and she has no real choice but to vaporize those shadow tendrils in their entirety before they can hurl anything more at her.]
no subject
[The shadows are gone in an instant, objects smashing to the ground. The light shatters, scattering little bits of plastic and glass around.]
[Despite his lack of wings, Riddler's perched on top of a small porch roof, arms thrown up to block his facefrom the light. Fortunately, he isn't hurt more than he's startled; though his skin tingles and his eyes seem to be far more sensitive, enough that he can't see.]
[He staggers back to press himself against the wall.]
no subject
I've heard the anger, and the darkness, growing in you, Riddler. You are losing yourself. You are hurting yourself.
Please... think. Think about what is happening.
no subject
Were you listening? [His voice is back to normal now that he isn't buried within the shadows.] I thought enough. And no matter how much you talk, I don't care! There isn't a reason to!
[His hand catches on the edge of a window. It only takes a flick of a wrist before his own shadow stretches, forcing it open with a nasty screech. It wouldn't be the most graceful of exits, but that doesn't matter. He needs to gather himself elsewhere.]
no subject
I care, Riddler. That can be a reason, if you let it.
[Ugh. This is no good. She needs to get home, get into cover before the Nox can catch her.]
no subject
[Riddler shakes his head and slips into the shadows. He'll watch her go from the window before he does himself.]
no subject