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

I'd like that very much.

[you're a nerd. also knock knock, candygram. Isa leans forward to kiss Lea gently on the mouth before getting up to go get the food]

[ Hmmm, that was nice, but short-lived. She feels conflicted through all the emotions, but she does want more kissing. Specifically with Isa. Food is a decent, momentary substitute, though.

Fuck it, they can eat in bed. She's going to flop over and stare at the ceiling while she waits. ]

[plenty of time for more later. Lea will hear Isa open the door and get the food, with a quiet thanks to the shadow figures that brought it. she reappears a minute later with a towel over her shoulder and the sushi stacked on the two pizza boxes, with an entire roll of paper towels perched on top. the towel gets dropped on the bed so she can set the pizza on it and not get grease on the bedding.]

Here, take your sushi.

[ She's upright instantly, reaching with both hands to take the sushi and also taking in the scene before her with very round eyes. ]

This is a lot of food. Hey, look at you, thinking ahead.

Someone has to. Do you need anything else, before I sit down?

[momfriend, go. she's spreading the towel out better, putting the pizza boxes next to each other, preemptively tearing off some paper towels for them both, etc. if you get grease in this bed she will murder you, just fyi.]

Uhhhh water, but I can get it. Siddown.

[ She carried all of it and set everything up enough as it is, and here goes Lea rolling onto her feet. ]

[god. fine, Isa will move the candy bag out of the way and get settled so she can lay into her pizza (ham and pineapple). she'll absolutely mooch a little sushi; she's the girlfriend who says "no i don't want anything" and then eats half your food.]

[ There's so much she's unlikely to notice it missing. Lea comes back with two glasses of water, because she's nice like that, and offers one to Isa as she steps into and then sits down in the bed. ]

Good?

Mmhm. Thank you. How much do you think you're going to eat?

[most of a slice disappeared while Lea was gone, you do the math. hopefully there's room in the fridge for all these leftovers.]

Not all of it, but too much to be comfortable. I was gonna bring out the hot sauce for the pizza, but I don't think that flavor combo would work too well with the sushi. You know?

[ She sets her water glass on the floor and picks up the sushi to pop open. This bedroom smells heavenly now. ]

I know that I'd have to make you eat out in the hall if you did that, yes.

[Isa swipes something from the sushi immediately since it's there. P: surely there's some weird food quirk that Isa has that Lea could give her shit about, but i haven't come up with it yet.]

Excuse me, buffalo sauce is more than acceptable as a pizza topping. Especially with chicken.

[ Everyone has food quirks, it'll come to light at some point. Lea just knows she loves cheese. There were definitely moon = cheese elemental jokes. ]

[wow, i had no idea Isa was friends with a ghost, that's so cool.]

I guess that's fair. I must still be traumatized from that buffalo chicken and ranch pizza you made me try that one time.

That pizza was great, I don't know what you're talking about.

[ This pizza is waiting in favor of the sushi. She's gonna stuff her face. ]

[the sushi is good, but the ham and pineapple is better. Isa makes a noise over the fact that Lea is clearly wrong and also gross, and goes quiet for a couple of minutes to chow down herself.]

[ It really is good, and Lea was hungrier than she thought. How long has it been since the mac and cheese? Which they still have leftovers of! Who knows how much else is in the fridge, since she's been gone so long. They'll have to pick up more milk...

Lea stops suddenly, and draws her fourth piece of sushi away from her mouth. ]

Fuck. I'm going to miss the bistro, aren't I?

Yeah... It might exist here, but it wouldn't really be the same without everyone else around.

[it's been a while since the mac and cheese, but there was candy (and pie for Isa) in the interim. the fridge probably has whatever basics it usually has, since Isa hasn't been around a huge amount.]

I don't think I'll bother.

[ She pops that entire piece into her mouth before reaching for the chopsticks. This entire roll has sauce and she wants at least half of it before she moves on to pizza. ]

You know that means you have to learn how to make that beef stew, right.

Shouldn't be too hard, and I bet Kai can help me figure it out, if he hasn't already.

[three slices of Isa's pizza have gone away, so it's time for another bit of sushi, one that isn't covered in sauce. she just uses her hands, like some sort of caveman.]

[ Oh please, like Lea wasn't using her hands for the nigiri. Oh shit though, she looks excited now. She just likes good food. It's a shame she doesn't have the stamina for it that Axel does. ]

You think so?

[listen, it's just like certain sexual practices, if you do them often enough your body adjusts and then you can go further. just keep eating huge amounts of food all the time and she can at least pretend she can keep up with him.]

Maybe. I wish we had some here to let Axel smell, he could probably identify everything that's in it.

[ She doesn't have his metabolism though. Okay, she has good metabolism, but not his. On the upside, bigger boob. ]

Would that work?

[ Of note: neither of these idiots are thinking to ask Sora. ]

[one fear, when i read this tag, idk why. what Sora? where? does Lea just mean any Sora who's gone home recently? also Isa likes Lea's boobs just how they are.]

Probably. He's got a better nose than Zexion or Riku, it's pretty wild.

[ Why fear. Also Lea means nothing, because Lea has not considered asking Sora for the recipe, even though she logically knows Sora worked there.

Lea would be glad to know Isa liked her boobs, though. ]

I know. That took some getting used to. But would he know all the ingredients?

Even if he didn't know the names of things he could just match the smells, probably. It's worth a shot.

[mmmm sushi was good, but pizza is better, back to cheese heaven she goes. and fuck, i want ham and pineapple pizza now, little caesar's or papa john's, either way.]