✩ Lying ✩

All in all, Riku is pretty honest most of the time. He speaks his mind and is incredibly good at speaking around brutal honesties should what he try to convey potentially hurt feelings. He knows how to say what needs to be said without the need for white lies, deeming honesty the best policy.

However... there are but two things that would make Riku go out of his way to lie:

Should something threaten his personal secrets, such as hidden affections, Riku would go out of his way to convince everyone otherwise. He will insist, cross his heart and hope to die promise, that those feelings didn’t exist. He’s terrifying of the consequences of these truths getting out and ruining everything he held dear.

The next would be if the safety of his loved ones were held on the line. Of course he would lie through his teeth if it meant keeping his dearest friends safe. Riku will win oscars for how well he’ll slip on his mask and spew pure honeyed lies to ensure they wouldn’t be hurt, found, or whatever threatened them.

Third secret reason is because he doesn’t want to embarrass or bring attention to himself, so he lies about a thing he can do, and says he can’t shhhhhh

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✩ Left Wrist ✩

Riku’s left wrist clicks when he rotates it a bit.

This is due to the wound he suffered in his battle against Roxas. The long lasting effect is minimal, despite his left hand being mostly out of commission for a long while, but he made due and powered through the burning pain back then, keeping its usage to a minimum. Now, it mostly flares up after persistent use, or after doing constant heavy lifting.

Sometimes it’ll get in the way of workout routines, but after gentle rubbing of the joint and a moment’s rest, it’s mostly fine.

Still, he makes sure to take care of it, lest the joint flare and hinder him in some way.

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✩ Honed Skills ✩

Being an only child and son to a very busy, single woman, Riku was taught responsibility from a very young age. “I won’t always be here to do these things for you,” she would tell him, “and so you have to learn to take care of yourself for when I’m not around, okay?”

Riku kept his room straight and tidy, bed made every morning before school, fresh laundry folded and put away before night. His mother, even on weekends, would sometimes be out until late in the evening, and so during these times, he would cook and prepare meals for himself and his mother both. His mother was also not very good at mending things, wear and tear being common accidents both would bear, and as such, Riku learned the basics of needle-work to help preserve what could be salvaged of their things.
His first attempt, and his mother’s favorite, had been a heart-shaped patch sewn onto her favorite fabric bag. She still uses it even years later.

Even if he doesn’t have a consistent place to call his bedroom whilst being out and about, you can be sure that Riku’s temporary place of rest would carry over this trait: Clean and pristine, made up in the morning before his departure. Same could be said with his modest talent for cooking, certainly no five star restaurant quality fit for Le Grand Bistrot, but it’s tasty, and something he can do on the go-- out there you had to get creative, after all (good thing he had experience cooking things over an open fire, many a caught fish in his childhood being made as such).

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✩ Memory ✩

I wouldn’t say Riku has perfect memory, but he does have a pretty good one. He can pick up on most little things, vague feelings, fuzzy recollections, and after a beat or two, can bring up the exact moment in time with clarity.

It’s funny though, because if you asked him to remember something on a smaller scale, say... what holiday it was on that day? Or what day it was in general... and he’d flop like a fish out of water.

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✩ Self Image ✩

Riku harbors a lot of guilt over his past actions, constantly working hard to right his wrongs and put the better foot forward passed those mistakes and wrong doings. However, what this means in the end, is that he tends to overthink certain aspects of his relationship with others in reflection of his past actions. He tends to think he has something to prove, as if everyone holds his past actions over his head, whether that be the truth or not.

It’s a nagging thought he constantly has, wondering if, perhaps, some people hate him due to what he’s done. I guess one could say Riku thinks people still judge him over the past.

Perhaps he’s not entirely wrong.

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✩ Self Conscious ✩

He knows full well that he can be overbearing, and he hates it. The last thing Riku ever wants to be is an overwhelming presence, a constant reminder of please don’t do that or stop that and you’re gonna get hurt, stay back. On one hand, he knows it’s suffocating to begin with, but on the other, it’s the greatest tell of his insecurity when it comes to the safety of his loved ones.

It’s his way of confessing how terrified he is when it comes to their safety, without him truly meaning to, a knee-jerk reaction that he fails at reeling in whenever it rears it’s ugly head. Riku is just overbearing, overprotective suffocating with a side of obsessive... at least, in his own opinion.

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✩ Ticklish ✩

Little did people know, Riku is, in fact, ticklish. Growing up, he'd learned to suppress the reaction, and any time Sora or Kairi tried, he'd hold his ground, stone-faced, and say no, he's not ticklish, just give it up already.

There are, however, very specific spots that when gotten to, it'll rile an uncontrollable bubble of laughter from him, an Achilles' heel that he's powerless to protect or fight against.

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✩ Tears of Happiness ✩

Riku isn’t the type to shed tears in the midst of heartache or sorrowful situations, his emotional limit in those situations being his expression and open emotion gaze. If one didn’t know him, they would think him cold, or insincere, a poor excuse at an imitation of emotion (because only those most genuine cried, right ??)

However, give Riku a moment’s sheer happiness...? Where he can look at those he cherishes most, smiles and peace on their faces, away from all manner of harm and miles from the mistakes of the past? And watch the dams break in full.

It’s all he wants.

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✩ Self Worth ✩

For someone who holds themselves to high standards, and knows they achieve those standards, Riku... actually doesn’t have that very high of an opinion of himself. He still blames himself for many things to have happened in the past for the suffering his dearest friends went through because of his ignorance and he works extremely hard to atone for that with everything he does.

His friends might have forgiven him, but Riku still has work to forgive himself. He’s gotten better, though.

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✩ Communication ✩

Depending on how 'conscious' the Dream Eater is and how capable they are in communicating, Riku is capable of communicating and understanding them right back.

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✩ Dream Eater Links ✩

It's iconic to think of Riku with Komory Bat's wings, but Komory Bat isn't the only Dream Eater that Riku dawns physical attributes from! Every Dream Eater Riku links with, he has some form of physical representation of them.

Sometimes it's a bit embarrassing.

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✩ A different kind of Insomnia ✩

More often than not, Riku feels as though he gets very little sleep, despite clearly doing so every night. This is because when he sleeps, his Dream Eater abilities kick in, taking lucid dreaming to a whole new level. Despite his body resting, his mind does not, translating into a strange mental fatigue that wears him thin after a few days of consecutive use. It’s not something he knows quite yet how to turn on and off, as if functioning on some strange deeply rooted instinct he can’t control, but he does wish he could.

When he does properly rest, his sleep is dreamless.

It’s a trade off he doesn’t know how to feel about, not entirely. Either he experiences the incredible and awakens as if he’d never slept in the first place, or gives into the nothingness of proper, dreamless sleep, and awakes rested, but dissatisfied-- almost... robbed.

It was better than being left feeling exhausted, he tried to reason with himself. A keyblade master such as himself needed to remain sharp and vigil, after all.

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✩ Bonds ✩

Being a rather unique Dream Eater, there are a couple of things that even Riku himself doesn’t know to be capable of:

Dream diving (No, like... your literal dreams in your sleep... not just sleeping worlds)- Riku believes he’s pretty exclusive to diving into Sora’s dreams, a logical assumption, considering how he’d become a Dream Eater because of his best friend. However, Riku is actually entirely capable of diving into other’s dreams as well, if he so desired it enough. It’s also entirely possible for him to do so accidentally, should he be in close quarters to someone while they both slept.

So remember, if you’re ever suffering from nightmares and restless sleep, just fall asleep next to Riku and he will, quite literally, chase the nightmares away ♡

Bonds - Unlike the common Dream Eater, Riku’s eyes don’t change color according to disposition... Ah, but they do change color !! For a unique Dream Eater classification such as Riku, his eyes change color according to the bonds he shares with the dream’s host! The tiers go as follow:

✩ Yellow; Associates - A freshly made bond with ample room for growth; The shortest lived
✩ Pink; Friends - Friendship established.
✩ Green; Close friends - His close circle of friends and fellow keyblade wielders.
✩ Blue; Best friends && Loved ones (MAX) - The closest bond one can establish; Currently exclusive to Sora and Kairi.

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✩ Familiar Friends ✩

In dreams there is always a familiar presence that keeps him company throughout the night: Komory Bat.

No, he hasn't named Komory Bat, Komory Bat is just Komory Bat.

He's uncreative. Besides, whenever Komory Bat is ready, surely they'd let him know their name, right?

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✩ Riku's Eyes ✩

Anyone who knew him since he was younger could recall with clarity how the young boy with strange silver-white hair and boasting confidence, had the brightest aqua colored eyes around. In time as he grew, his eyes gradually shifted in color, changing in feature as many do in the midst of the complex metamorphosis known as puberty. Blonds may become brunets, freckles may vanish from the stretch of skin on one’s bones, features could sharpen in ways entirely unexpected.

Riku’s eyes merely changed from bright aqua to sea green.

In the right light, one could catch lingering flecks of blue within his eyes, when the sun hits them just right. Otherwise, there’s nary a trace of the old color left, and if one hadn’t been there to watch him grow, the change could be rather startling.

Admittedly, even Riku finds the change mildly startling, and sometimes wonders if his time shrouded in darkness had anything to do with the change overtime, or if it was simply just genetics at play.

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✩ A way with words ✩

Unbeknownst to many, Riku is quite the poet.

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✩ Senses ✩

It's widely known that Riku has a developed keen sense of smell, not unlike that of a trained bloodhound-- only better. However, what not many know is that Riku's senses transcend far beyond that, an incredible ability for sensing and seeing the world through auras being something he hadn't needed to use since he was 16. It's how he navigated his way through the world while being blindfolded.

It drains him incredibly of magic though, so he doesn't use it unless he absolutely has to.

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✩ Stars and Space ✩

Considering outer space encompasses the multitude of worlds he and his friends have seen on their journey? He finds it all to be absolutely amazing. The endless sea of the sky is incredibly fascinating to him, and just taking a moment to think ‘wow, every single one of those lights in the sky is a place I can physically go to’, really leaves him in awe.

The sight itself is just breathtaking, and there’s something simply captivating when it comes to taking in all the natural lights on a clear night sky.

His dream to see everything that’s out there is still strong at his core, even if everything that’s going on has placed that dream on hold.

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✩ Popular with the... Animals? ✩

Riku has an uncanny aura about him that attracts... animals. Animals of all sorts will flock to him on sight, and he hasn't the faintest idea as to why.

So don't be alarmed if you spot any sort of critters crowding him... He tries to convince himself it's normal, and pointing it out only makes it that much more obvious that it isn't...

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✩ Ears ✩

Riku got his ears pierced shortly after the events of KH3. He wears little yellow ear studs.

✩ No sweet tooth here ✩

Riku's not a fan of sweets, the closest thing he would come to enjoy in the same vein being a fruit snack. Less likely to crave spongey cakes and sugary treats, and more the type to enjoy more naturally sweetened delights, one could argue he's more of a 'healthy eater' of sorts.

His favorite fruit treats to munch on are pineapples and strawberries.

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✩ The Supernatural ✩

Riku’s experienced many things ever since that fateful day on the islands, and so to say something as silly as ‘there is nothing supernatural to exist’ would be rather ridiculous. Now, what exactly would be classified as supernatural? He doesn’t know entirely, but he has an open mind and is open to trying to understand anything that may fall into such a category.

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✩ Dance ✩

When Riku was younger, he did ballet. He was really good at it, and even to this day retains a good muscle memory of it. Perhaps it's why he has such fanciful footwork when it comes to fighting.

It would be a lie to say he hadn't implemented such a thing into practice.

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✩ Unexpressed Talents ✩

There are certain hidden talents that Riku possesses, ones that he hadn’t quite expressed in the open since childhood, but still very much carried out in the privacy of his own home for his mother.

Singing - Riku can sing. Extremely well. It’s a talent that was only further nurtured by his mother, a woman who’s voice graced many a social event on the islands.

Piano - His mother played it, and thus it would only make sense that he, too, would learn as well. His most confident musical instrument.

Guitar - Something he’d picked up later, but not quite mastered.

Riku is also the type not to bask in the center of attention, at least, not anymore. He’d rather not share with others these hidden talents, and should his closest friends bring up the memory of a young, bright-eyed Riku dancing across black and white keys, accompanied by confident songbird vocals, he will adamantly deny it and claim it’s all in the past.

The expectation to perform to perfection, a flaw ingrained in him by his upbringing, is one he’d rather avoid in favor of supporting others with their own talents.

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✩ Little Stargazer ✩

Riku and his mother maintained a garden together, and whilst it was mainly his mother’s responsibility, it was something Riku cared for over the weekends when she was out for work. There wasn’t anything fancy he knew to do, simply watering and planting, both new seeds and relocating, though it was his mother who knew all the intricacies. It was still an activity he enjoyed, one of the very few things he got to do with his mother that didn’t involve her work.

Out of all of them, there was one that was his favorite, spotted petals dotting the entry of their humble home in lush vibrancy and abundance: The Stargazer flower.

It’s the blossom his mother would place upon his head when he was little, a smile on her lips whilst she recited poetry and prose to him:

"Keep your chin up little stargazer at world’s above our own. You are small but you are stardust and that’s worth more than you’ve known. For every sun and solar flare is made up just like you, and if they’re a cause for wonder then I promise you are too. Look out little stargazer until nothing’s left unseen, and know there’s not a patch of sky where no one else’s eyes have been, that the darkness that unfolds you holds countless other starlit hearts, and with this you stand together though you live lifetimes apart. Be brave now little stargazer, the sky is growing light, and encourage waves like moonbeams when it’s pulled from the night. But like those who gazed before you, know when your heart is full of fear, that it is always in your darkness that the stars start to appear." - Erin Hanson

The memory remains one of fondness in his heart, as well as the flower itself.

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✩ Single mother; Absent father ✩

Riku grew up never knowing his father, his mother having raised him solo since birth. He bears little to no resemblance to her, however, having been reminded time and again of just how much he reminded her of the man he never met. She hardly spoke of his father outside of those passing observations, and often time, Riku would wonder what happened to him prior to his birth.

His mother would always get a far-off look in her eyes, but refused to speak further on the matter, changing the subject quickly or insisting it hardly mattered.

Perhaps she was right, but it didn't satiate his curiosity any.

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✩ Upbringing && Lifestyle ✩

As mentioned before, Riku was raised by a single mother, having never known his father due to him being out of the picture before he was even born. As such, Riku had always been the center of attention, for better or for worse. With the spotlight a constant shine on him, it was with an amounting pressure to perform that only grew when he began to make friends. He was the eldest, the tallest, the strongest, the fastest, the smartest, the bravest He was Riku and Riku did and knew everything.

This was the illusion he maintained and struggled with, receiving words of praise from peers and his only family alike, relishing in the bright smile his mother gave him for being such a ‘perfect little angel’; For being a golden child.

His room was pristine, he washed his own dishes after every meal, tended to any matters at home that needed so before heading out to enjoy time spent with friends. Riku had his priorities straight, a little man in a child’s body, sounding wise beyond his years. A mentality that stuck, and in reality, became more childish and ignorant as the years passed.

Nowadays, Riku retains his habits living space clean and orderly, wherever it may be at the time. Having grown more humbled, regardless of how much words of praise one may give him for his calm, mature demeanor, Riku knows he still has much to learn, and remains open to do so.

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✩ TBA ✩

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩