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

[is Lea aware that Sora was being assisted by a rat. i can't remember if anyone actually found out besides Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Isa's slowing down on the food, at least, and leans over to just kinda. rest her head on Lea's shoulder b/c dokis. she's missing everyone left behind now, and is thinking back on a lot of things, so don't mind if she's quiet suddenly.]

[ Lea is probably not aware, but other people probably are. She's seen weirder shit, to be fair.

She pauses after taking a bite and pulling the slice away from her mouth just to see the cheese stretch, and glancing down toward Isa to see if she can see how cool it is. But what is this sudden melancholy. ]

Mm?

[this is just how she is sometimes, when she's given a chance to dwell on things. sadly she did not see how cool the pizza was, and shakes her head slightly in response to the questioning noise.]

Nothing, just missing everyone.

[does that include Xemnas? the world may never know.]

Yeah.

[ She gets it. If it does include Xemnas she probably doesn't want to know, let's be real. Not yet, anyway. She finishes off a couple more bites and then rests her head on top of Isa's. ]

[tbh the only people it doesn't include is everyone from the new Organization apart from Xemnas. everyone else who was there can stay dead forever, hopefully. but no, it's primarily the kids and everyone. Isa sighs a little and gets back to her own slice of pizza without picking her head up.]

We'll be okay.

'Course we will.

[ Because they have each other, and all that. She tilts her arm to offer Isa a bite of her own pizza. It's tasty! ]

[nomp. it is, especially with no hot sauce on it. she holds out her own current slice for Lea.]

How long do you think we'll both sleep after all this food and candy?

Mmmmnn at least an hour, maybe two.

[ At least they're both clean and smell nice. She will take a huge bite of that, thank you. ]

I mean, it's nighttime, we could and probably should just go to bed after this.

[bed, or "bed"— no, stop that, they literally just went over this. intense cuddling sounds better right now anyway.]

Not like it matters. Did your sleep get messed up when you came here?

[ She doesn't really want to sleep... more like move to the couch and zone out, since she's too full but Awake. However, cuddling would be A+. ]

[they could try and find something to watch that isn't going to remind them of anything sad or uncomfortable, and make out a little and cuddle a lot.]

Yeah, a little. It hadn't really settled down at that point where I was anyway, though.

Wonder if it'll affect me.

[ Since she naps at all times anyway. She's going to finish off this slice of pizza and then use her foot to nudge the box closer so she can get another slice without disturbing Isa. ]

[gmph. Isa's definitely settling into melancholy, for whatever reason, and she's basically through eating. she did have two entire pumpkin pies, after all.]

Unlikely, you sleep so much anyway.

[ Well fine, let her adjust her arm a little — it means Isa's going to have to bear with Lea's shoulder moving, but then she's going to throw that arm around her. ]

At least now I have an excuse.

[pbbbbbbbbbbbb, says Isa, but also thx.]

You didn't before? Seems to me you had plenty of excuses for it. They weren't always good, granted.

Yeah but now you'll believe me.

[ Num num pizza. She's going to save the rest of this, but a couple more pieces of sushi wouldn't hurt. ]

If you're lucky, yeah.

[...yeah, okay, she'll stretch out an arm without moving the rest of herself, and grab another piece of sushi. something with like, eel.]

[ Here, she'll move the sushi tray closer. The first one is almost totally gone, probably. ]

Sooo...

Buttons. You through eating?

[haha get it, "sew" buttons, gettit, it's a dad joke. or a dweebus joke, either way. Isa's either trying actively to go to sleep on Lea's shoulder, or inching stealthily toward kissing, it's hard to tell.]

Yeah. Better stop now, before all that rice kicks in and I feel stuffed.

[ But, y'know, worth it and all that. What is she doing, exactly. Don't they need to do something with all this leftover food, before either one happens? ]

[dude idk. but she heaves a big melodramatic sigh and finally straightens up so she can crawl out of bed.]

I thought I'd be tired after I ate but I'm not. I'll put all this in the fridge and then... I don't know, we could watch something.

[ Lea watches her, then dusts her hands off and hops onto her feet so she can help. There's no reason to make Isa do all the cleanup. ]

What're you in the mood for?

[Isa's first thought was sex, and she immediately aged like ten years as a result. like, fuck's sake, it hasn't been that long, fucking get it together.]

Something that isn't sad or depressing. Maybe something animated.

[u got any ghibli around here, she could go for some Princess Mononoke, maybe.]

You been through the DVDs any since I left? Let's go look.

[ Because, despite this thread's age, Lea hasn't been back IC that long. ]

Not really, it didn't seem like a good idea to sit around here by myself.

[breeding grounds for self-loathing, self-doubts, depression, etc. the food gets shoved into the fridge and Isa straightens up again.]