cinderlea | (no subject)

(no subject)

[ Riku disappears first. Vanished in her sleep, in the middle of the night, collapsing in on herself in a shimmer of starlights. This isn't like last time. No warnings, no chances to say goodbye, no hesitation or resistance. She just isn't there.

Lea goes minutes after Riku, in the same way. But she's awake, lounging on her couch, having a conversation as she flips through her phone. Here and then gone, like a flame. This isn't the first time either of them have gone home, but it's the first time it's so abrupt. At least it isn't death. The last time Riku went home was seven years ago. She was gone for a month, and she came back with shorter hair and the Mark of Mastery. The last time Lea went home, no one really noticed. She thought she was used to it by now.

Things are different this time. Disorienting. Lea meets Kai in the training, for real this time. Riku has her memories, or at least most of them. They're hazy, dreamlike, but real. She has them all. She remembers how old she really is and how long she's been gone. She remembers everyone she cares about, and everyone that won't change here. She keeps her ice magic and takes what she's learned here to use there. But time is fluid. She doesn't feel like she's been gone for seven years.

Lea's are gone, for now. She lives everything new and fresh, with the dressing room appearing only in dreams vivid enough to unsettle her.

Things aren't the same for every world.

Things go better than expected.

The core story is the same. The heroes rescue the ones that need it, they bring everyone back, they defeat the darkness, and they go home. How and when and who — these things vary, but they do it all together and they go home together. And then their story is over, at least for now, and they come back.

Unlike how they went out, Lea and Riku reappear together on the beach. Coming back is just as disorienting, and neither has their phone, so they get their bearings and confirm memories with each other, of the dressing room and of home, and then separate to find their friends.

They've been gone two months. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Do they even have actual candy there or is it just weird stuff like bugs and eyeballs?

[we've been here too long, everything happening is too meta, i can't deal with it. that's the best kind of stretch, also. and also also, pushy specifically in she doesn't want to always be the one initiating kisses! gosh. Isa's gonna reach across Lea and get the milk glass, also, and get up out of bed with the dishes to take them to the sink, brb.]

No, there's lots of actual candy. Christmas Town has cookies, or so I hear.

[ And like, milk, and hot chocolate, but she has yet to go there. Lea is maybe kind of intentionally waiting on her to initiate it, because she's not sure how to go about it herself, now that she's back and it's possibly a Real Thing they could be doing and not just some overload of Emotions. Although, perhaps, that's stop being a good excuse after the second time.

Also things are depressing. Maybe Isa doesn't want to kiss while things are depressing. Time to get up and stretch and change her clothes. ]

[tbh Isa wants to do a lot more than kiss, but baby steps. at the moment she's positively overflowing with good feelings because everyone's back but especially Lea, and Lea's sad, but that (hopefully) won't last, and maybe kissing will help. candy will certainly help, short-term. there are general sounds from the kitchen for a couple of minutes of Isa puttering around, and when she comes back around the wall to look for her shoes, hopefully Lea's through changing.]

Are we just gorging on candy there, since neither one of us will have pockets?

...yes.

[ Except said in that way that makes you realize she had no plan of that sort in place at all, and had probably not even thought about it. To be honest she probably only really swings by there much with Riku or for candy on her way somewhere else.

Lea's done changing in that her shirt has been replaced. The pants are still good, right? ]

[Lea's the one wearing them, not Isa, so i can't remark on that. Isa's now wondering how candy gorging will work with her enormous beast-maw. maybe Lea can get a bucket and just dump a bunch into Isa's face. sigh.]

You're a dummy, but that's why we're friends.

[said with the utmost affection~]

[ Isa probably does laundry more diligently than Lea, at least. But if they're going to Halloween Town she's losing the pants anyway. She stretches again, arms up above her head. Really, it should just make her Slenderman. ]

Hey now. When have my ideas ever disappointed you?

Uh. I can think of at least ten different instances immediately.

[one of those is Axel blowing herself up to help Sora, although "disappointment" doesn't really cover how Isa felt about that one, and she is absolutely never mentioning it. "grief-stricken" is probably closer. anyway, Isa's retrieved her shoes and put them on, are these two idiots ready to go?]

Wow. You could've at least been like 'well they haven't lately'.

[ In the most deadpan Isa-voice she can muster. It was a pretty good one, if she's allowed to say so. Lea's switched into a plaid tanktop so yes, they can go as soon as she gets her boots on. ]

That's fair, the latest ones haven't.

[Isa left Lea's boots right there by the bed, at least. hmm, got phone, got shoes, still got Lea's plaid shirt on.]

See, I'll take that.

[ Yes she found them, it just took a moment. Now they're on and she has her phone and they're out the door. Or at least, she's heading out the door. ]

[she follows Lea out the door, and takes her hand once they're both out, just because. at least Isa's more confident and less distracted this time around.]

Actually that's not true, the fact that you continued wearing the coat and everything for so long after leaving the Organization didn't make sense to me.

I had reasons.

[ They just feel kind of dumb now that she's looking back on it. If Isa doesn't lace their fingers she will. ]

[she absolutely does. are they dating now, is this how adults work? who even knows.]

Yeah, but were they you reasons or good reasons?

[but Lea's getting a shoulder bump to indicate that Isa's teasing and not being an asshole.]

[ Depends. Does everyone else look at them and assume they're dating? Do they not realize they're dating? If you answered YES to either of these...

God. Lea eyes her out of the corner of her eyes, looking smug. ]

Look. They were good enough at the time.

[what if the answer to both is yes, what then? no, neither of them is obtuse enough to not realize they're dating.]

Sounds about right. Something about motivating you and reminding you of what was at stake, or something about not deserving real people clothes until it was all over, I bet.

[she knows u, Lea. the problem is that your dumb reasons ARE good.]

You didn't have to call me out like that.

[ She could've pretended it was for stealth or Heart protection or something, jeez. Also yeah they're both smarter than Riku and Red at least— ]

[Red and Riku were dumbasses, it's true.

Didn't I, though. I bet Kai asked you about it while you two were training, especially since he also got new clothes.

[that's right, Axel showed her the part where you pulled ice cream out of your ass and then remembered something and then excused yourself so you could cry without really being aware of the cause.]

Hey, I got my new clothes. I just didn't put 'em on. I told him I was waiting for the right time.

[ Which is true, thank you very much. Lea doesn't even know she has scenes in the new game, why would anyone want to see Kai kicking her ass in the magic time bubble. ]

Halloween Town's gonna be nice this time, right?

[sadly there was no ass-kicking, which was a damn shame. are they magically almost to HT?]

Hopefully. Maybe I should go in first this time just to avoid it doing the thing from the other time.

[ Up to you, she's just trying to get the subject off her dumb ass. ]

You think it would?

Maybe. Maybe you jinxed it by talking about how cool it was, so it did the opposite for me that time.

[maybe Lea will get fucked over this time, who knows. but yeah, they're almost there, might as well be.]

[ Fucked over is no fun. ]

Hey, don't blame me for this place being evil. Speaking of, did I miss any spells while we were gone?

None that I was aware of, unless you all disappearing simultaneously counts.

[well. Lea probably doesn't even know what she's in for on that front, re: being regular fucked. here's the door to Halloween Town.]

Nah, I think that's just part of having a story.

[ She almost certainly has no idea. Woo woo, Halloween Town. She's excited to see Isa's new, actual, non-dickish costume, but she's also worried it'll be the same thing as last time. ]

You go first, right?

Yep.

[Isa gives Lea a brief cheek smooch and lets go of her hand before opening the door and striding through it. she starts transforming once she's a few feet away from the door, and it sounds horrible, lots of cracking and crunching noises, but she doesn't seem to be in any pain from it. bones lengthen and joints bend the wrong way for a human, big claws extend from hands and feet, shaggy blueish-grey fur sprouts all over her and replaces her clothing, and black antlers burst from her head, which is itself changing pretty dramatically. it's wolfish in nature, but the mouth makes up too much of it, being hinged almost back at the point where it attaches to her spine, and full of far too many horribly sharp and jagged teeth.

once everything seems to have come to a stop, Isa's crouched on three limbs, posture somewhere between animal and human. it looks like she'd be about eight feet tall if she stood up fully. the cherry on top, that she forgot to mention and which is the real commentary on her as a person, is the heavy chains that materialize from nothing, wrapped around her shoulders and upper arms like a shrug, the ends dangling at her sides. she doesn't even seem to have noticed them. if it's possible for this horrible nightmare face to look really excited and expectant, she's doing it. whatchu think, bestie?]