cinderlea | (no subject)

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[ 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. ]

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[ Ah, but how long will it take. Time to pull Isa's hair up like she's forming a lose ponytail, scraping her fingertips along the hairline to make sure she gets it all. Lea is unsurprised by the relaxing, as a hot, steamy bath will do that. Time to use the showerhead to get this hair wet. ]

Can I request no carrots?

Nope, but you're welcome to pick the carrots out and give them to me.

[who even knows. Lea's the best tho, and hopefully she knows that. Isa's just really glad they're at a point where they can do this, both this specifically and just hanging out in general.]

I don't know why you'd ruin perfectly good hot food with carrots.

[ Raw carrots are ok, with some kind of salad dressing. Also let's be real, Lea has always known she was the best. Her ego just got humbled over time. This, also, was for the best.

As soon as Isa's hair is thoroughly soaked she'll squeeze the water out, a little, and reach for her shampoo. ]

And I don't know why you'd ruin perfectly good mac and cheese with hot sauce, but we talked about that already.

[why is this candy disappearing as Isa eats it, it's not fair. also yeah, can you imagine if Lea had stayed as much of an outgoing dipshit as she was as a teen. they would've basically had two of Demyx in the Organization.]

I think you mean improve.

[ She would have been obnoxious, it's true. She squirts some shampoo out into her hands and rubs them together before going for Isa's hair. Time to work up a nice lather. ]

[she'll have to repay the favor and do this for Lea sometime, this is lovely. =A= lovely and relaxing enough that she can't really think of a snarky comeback.]

...says you.

[look, she tried, ]

I'm always right, aren't I?

[ Don't worry, even she can barely keep a straight face when she says that. Yes, good, it's like getting a very large cat to relax. ]

[that just gets a snort. she is still visibly tense across her shoulders, but that's pretty normal for her; too many years of feeling like she had to watch her back and be on top of everything at all times. someone should really tell her to chill out, especially here and now.]

[ This is why Lea is her best friend, and not someone else. Who better to call someone on their shit like this? Lea snorts right back at her, and this is more of a skull massage than just shampooing up her hair at this point. ]

You're the only person I know who can still be this tense in a hot bath.

Yeah. That feels good, though.

[at least Isa knows this about herself. she takes a deep breath and lets it out, rolling her shoulders and making an effort to relax. boo, the candy is gone, and the empty mug is getting set on the floor by the tub.]

We need to find a way to make you relax. A hobby, or stealing Serein.

[ Riku would probably be willing to let them have visitations/kidnappings every weekend or so. Should Lea massage her shoulders now too? ]

[that sounds like the ideal way to make the thing happen, so yes. now Isa has nothing to do with her hands except pick at her nails under the water, also, and the distraction will be timely.]

I have a hobby, I give you shit and call you a dork.

And yet, somehow, despite fully devoting yourself, you're still tense. Here, relax.

[ A shoulder massage it is. She has soapy hands and Isa's hair is still full of suds, but, priorities. ]

[well, from Lea's side of things it'll appear that Isa just really took the words to heart, but what actually happened was that on her way to shoulders, Lea slid the flat of her hand across the nape of Isa's neck. Isa goes relatively limp while it's there, but noticeably tenses up even more once Lea's moved on.]

Huh?

[ She jerks her hands away when the tension returns, wondering if she's somehow discovered another injury or scar that Isa hasn't told her about. It's not that farfetched of an idea. ]

[it's not that at all, fortunately, but Lea may not like what it is. it probably isn't helping that Isa's curling up on herself, wrapping her arms around her knees. she turns her head until she can see Lea out of the corner of her eye through her soapy hair, and hesitates a little, trying to decide if she actually wants to share this with Lea or wave it off. finally, quietly: ]

Can you— do that again? Your hand on the back of my neck.

[ Lea stares blankly back at her, head tilted a little so she can see Isa's expression better. Not that it helps. She's always so good at throwing people off. She hesitates too, then gently places her hand on the upper part of Isa's back, what she can reach above the tub, and slides it up the back of her neck until her fingers are in Isa's hair again. ]

[Isa relaxes under the touch again, the tension just sort of melting away from her. she takes a deep breath and lets it out as a shaky sigh, the way someone does when they're trying not to cry. it's partially that she's full of emotions and hormones, but only partially. she's quiet for a few more moments while she struggles to get her shit together.]

I'm sorry, I just— Xemnas used to do that. It always helped ground me after I'd been berserk.

[she just relaxes from it no matter who it is now, apparently. pavlov's dogs, and all that.]

Oh.

[ Listen to that casual tone. "Well, would you look at that." Her hand draws away gently but immediately, ostensibly to grab the shower head so she can rinse Isa's hair free of soap. She's been put on the spot, and has a choice to make about how she reacts to this, and mostly Lea's doing what she always does with a situation of this emotional caliber.

She's stalling. ]

She touched you like that?

[watch Isa clam up and go super tense, her shoulders hunching and her arms wrapping around her knees again. her emotions at the moment aren't ready for a disagreement, and she feels (understandably) quite vulnerable where she is. it's jarring, the disconnect between the spite that bubbles up immediately and how Lea's just carrying on. but it figures, really, that Lea doesn't give a shit about how it's something that makes Isa feel good, and can only see the fact that it came from Xemnas.]

That was the least of how she touched me, but yes.

[this is the wrong thing to say to your friend, but fuck it. it fell out before she could stop it.]

[ Look, Lea loves her friends more than life itself now and would hop in front of a bullet for Isa in a heartbeat, but no one's going to pretend she got where she did by prioritizing someone else's feelings.

It's funny, though. They talk about people who specialize in ice magic, and how when they close off it manifests so readily. People like Vexen and Elsa, who shut down and lower the temperature around them. You don't hear a lot about the pyromancers and the hot heads and how they go down so much faster when you strike at the right angle. Isa can't see Lea's face, can't see the splotchy red over her cheekbones. Jealousy wasn't her path, and she doesn't wear it well, and the temperature of the room is rising a little bit at a time. ]

Oh. So there's more you didn't tell me.

It wasn't anything you needed to know. You were busy with your own relationships anyway.

[that's right, her thing with Xemnas was - to Isa, anyway - on the same level as Axel's friendships with Roxas and Xion. perhaps even more so, considering how much longer it was going on, and certainly easier to explain. Isa can't tell about the temperature, between the bath she's sitting in and the hot flush of anger rising in her too.]

That's not even close to the same thing, and you know it. They were my friends.

[ She's so... mad, and she doesn't even entirely know why she's mad. Not really, not completely, at least. She's so mad it's hard to form words. There's a lot she wants to say, but none of it would help, and most of it would certainly damage what they've managed to get back. ]

I didn't understand what you had with them, and I certainly don't expect you to understand what I had with her. I didn't have anyone else, and for all her sins, she never hurt me.

[this probably just looks like stockholm syndrome from Lea's side of things, huh. also enjoy the implication that Lea hurt Isa, and that it definitely sounds like Isa's siding with Xemnas. she just wants Lea to understand, but neither one of them really knows how to go about making that happen without a fight.]

[ It's a triple combo of comments that really get under her skin, and it's a good thing she's holding a shower head and not... a shampoo bottle, or something else that would melt or burst from sudden intense heat. The plastic shower curtain, on the other hand, is warping on the side closest to Lea. But that did it, really. Just one or two of them would've made her angry, but all three? She's furious, and now she's hurt. There's the shift in her tone, from Lea to Axel all over again. Isa might be the only one who can really do that anymore. ]

She never hurt you. If that's how you see— this, I'd hate to know what you really think of me.