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. ]

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Ugh. At least we don't have to pay for it here.

[ She likes the werewolf thing now, not-so-secretly, but it's still a pain to feel that hungry now that she's aware of it. Or it is in concept, anyway. After all, it was never a problem before. ]

Yeah. It was hard back on our world, but that was one of the few good things about our Organization, it meant we didn't have to just be hungry all the time anymore.

[tinyxel is seriously so lucky he's here and didn't have to go through puberty without adequate food. hell, that's probably part of why Axel's so dumb about a lot of things, he didn't get enough nutrients growing up.]

[ I mean, it's possible. ]

I can't even imagine living like that, still. I'm glad those days are done for you.

Mm. There was a lot to dislike, but that aspect was near the top of the list.

[until the Organization, at which point existing on the same planet as Zexion jumped to #1. Axel's just glad he seems to have fucked off from the dressing room, but Hachibi'd still like the chance to kick the shit out of him, just a little. also they've arrived at the bbq place, because i say so. he'll hold the door open for her because she's a lady, or something.]

[ What a gentleman. If she were a Kairi she'd curtsy, maybe. Instead she walks in and takes a minute to just look around, because food, and I don't know what it looks like. Happy Thanksgiving. ]

[Merry Christmas, you mean. it's the same place olderxel and olderku went that one time on Axel's birthday (the big 40), and idk, it looks like a standard korean bbq place with the small grill in the middle of the table to cook the meat on. it smells like meat and other food in here, unsurprisingly.

tbh it may have been a reflex of Axel's body to hold the door open, we may never know.]

[ Excellent. Just don't give her any sake. If it's the same place that means there's shadow people, right? Well... She's going to find a table, then, and gesture for Hachibi to follow her. ]

Do you have a favorite meat?

Ribs from anything. An entire ham is up pretty high on the list too.

[she probably meant like pork vs beef or whatever, but he's going for cuts of meat, like some sort of intelligent carnivore who should never have had the ability to speak or learn words. he follows her to the table and parks himself, managing to not do that thing where he looks like he's never sat like a people before.]

[ She mostly meant in general, but cuts of meat are a valid answer, although his specific answer gets a kind of squinty, deadpan look from Riku, because she's seen him gnaw on Red's ribs and also the scar he gave her was a direct result of going for hers. It's like she's just gotten a lot of clarity on the life she leads and her friendship with him.

"From anything." This asshole...

She still follows him and takes a seat herself, dropping her elbow on the table so she can rest her cheek in her hand. ]

Well if I ever die again you have permission to take my ribs.

[listen man, ribs are good, it's meat and good solid bones, in a tastier and more pleasing ratio than anywhere else on a body, no matter the creature. also you gotta go through them to get to some of the more delicious organs, but that doesn't really affect how good ribs themselves are. he's immune to her look, and flags down a shadow person so they can bring menus over.]

I can think of at least three people who would get upset with me about that even with your permission, but I appreciate the offer.

The three that would find out, you mean.

[ So casual about discussing Hachibi literally eating parts of her body. It's fine, this is how we cope with trauma over time in this house. Fucking Saix. She'll take one of those menus as soon as they're over. Hmmmm, how much can she eat today. ]

Pork is still the best, if we're not counting fish.

[he makes a face at the notion of fish, but that's nothing new. Axel's developed a taste for some seafood but it's still weird to Hachibi.]

I'll agree about the pork, anyway. Beef is good for quantity though.

[Hachibi would've done better during a time when there were still mammoths around, clearly.]

Sure, where it's native.

[ Because where do they have the grazing room on Destiny Islands for cattle? She points at him over the menu. ]

You've never had really good fish.

[ Now, that being said, she's going to focus very intently on the menu, and keep her eyes on it, even when she speaks again. She doesn't immediately, there's a heavy pause before, and sorry Hachibi for the sudden shift in conversation. ]

I kissed Sora.

Hm. Good, seems like it was long overdue.

[wait, that's right, she's a human with feelings and morals.]

Are you mentioning it because you feel bad about it?

[nailed it. he's casually letting the shadow person know what array of meat he wants, like this topic of conversation is no big thing, because it isn't.]

[ God. She's pink, and annoyed, but only because that was so easy. Sure, let's have this conversation while we're giving orders. She wants a lot of ribs, and pulled pork, and the best grilled meats they have. ]

More like because I don't. Not in the way I should, I guess.

[only half of what he's ordering will ever touch the grill, sadly. some portion of the other half will stay on too long for that good charcoal flavor. he tilts his head a little, to convey what Axel would with raised eyebrows.]

So what's the problem? She's immensely important to you and you have a lot of history with each other, everyone knows that.

I mean...

[ She hands the menu over and leans back in her seat, arms crossed. ]

Aside from the fact that I kissed a sixteen year old when I'm not even a teenager anymore? My memories were... hazy, but I still remembered this place. What about the me that gets left behind with her?

Assuming the stuff I saw was anything close to reality, the you that got left behind feels the same way about Sora but without the hang-ups.

[and don't bother talking to him/Axel about the age gap, Kai was fifteen when they first hooked up. also that's right, he just called Red a hang-up.]

[ Yeah, she noticed. That's why she looks so deadpan. She thinks on that for a minute though — it's not that she feels bad toward Sora, because Sora didn't seem bothered by it. She sure as hell doesn't feel bad for any other version of herself, dressing room memories kept or otherwise, for taking the initiative when she may not have so quickly. ]

I guess I wanted to tell someone, and you felt like the best person. But...

[ She looks down at the table, to avoid eye contact. ]

What do I do now, if she shows up?

[goddammit. he hates it when people ask him for advice. he didn't ask for this intelligence and these life experiences, Riku!!!!!]

Be her friend? Throw that monogamy bullshit out the window?

[in all seriousness tho, he reaches across the table and takes her hand, since he's not close enough to like, headbutt her affectionately.]

Your heart knows what it wants, Riku. Would you want to be with her if you had the chance?

[if the answer is actually yes then he's out of any further wisdom since closed relationships are nonsense. /uh]

[ It's really less that she wanted advice or sage wisdom and more like... she knew he wouldn't give her a hard time for it, or feel particular emotions about it. He has no reason to care, and Riku already has a lot of complicated emotions about what she did. She doesn't need someone else's getting in the way, despite how much she wanted to tell someone. Her replica... wasn't going to be who she told, or Red, and Axel's great but...

She looks startled when he takes her hand, and completely unsure. She hadn't thought about that question, obviously. ]

I don't think I can.

But would you want to? Can, should, it doesn't matter as much as you think it does. You only have so many chances to do things, sometimes.

[if shit makes you happy, then do it, basically. he still likes to pretend consequences aren't a thing that happens, so his opinions aren't entirely useful, but. also here comes a shadow person with a tray full of meat.]

... Probably not. I don't think she deserves someone who can't give her their full attention. Or someone like me.

[ That sounds too depressingly self-deprecating. Here, she leans forward too, resting her chin in her hand. Since the food is coming: ]

I mean, if I'm going to throw monogamy out the window it would be for someone just as messed up as I am.

[ There, a one-liner. Riku is joke(?)-flirting. Now she'll lean back and look to the shadow-waiter. Is it going to be all raw meat... ]

[idk how it works normally so yes, unless there's some stuff that would normally take like 30+ minutes to cook thoroughly, in which case that's been pre-cooked lightly. clearly they don't know Hachibi can cook his own food. he lets go of her hand with a snort and leans back as well, sniffing at the tray of food that gets set down on the table.]

I very much doubt she's made it through everything she has completely unscathed. From what I've seen she's good at hiding most personal doubts and concerns, because she's the hero. She's not allowed to be uncertain or down on herself.

[whoops, that got real, he didn't mean to do that, sorry.]

You're not wrong.

[ Riku crosses her arms, because she knows. She knows Sora better than anyone except Kai, maybe. And she's known so many other Soras through this place. ]

But it doesn't matter. She's not coming here anyway, whether I wanted it or not.