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

[ She would've done it, if that's what it came down to to save her friends. But it's still a horrible thing to think about, and just the topic is making her shoulders tense. She wiggles one arm down between them so she can loop it around Isa's waist, and that's her only response. ]

[listen, not everyone's cut out to be a martyr, it's fine. the movie's barely started and these two are already grafted to each other, which is a-okay with Isa, who can tell Lea's tense and smooches the top of her head to drive away the bad mojo. i haven't seen this movie in a while so i forget a lot of the early plot, but i think the first appearance of the grody boar god is pretty early on. not that they'll be paying attention for all of it, if we've planned this right—]

[ It's been a while, so just imagine Lea has some half-hearted quips. She'll probably get excited about the appearance of the boar god and the action it comes with, but she's tired and it's been back and forth tonight so she's mostly relaxing. Don't let her fall asleep, Isa! ]

[aw, but she's entitled to naps forever after all the shit she just got through with. but yeah, assuming Lea starts to get quiet, it'll be a few minutes before Isa actually notices and nudges her.]

Hey, you falling asleep on me?

[ Grumpily: ]

Hey! I'm not.

[ Yes, she was. ]

Just focused on the movie.

[pfff.]

So the idea of me carrying you back to bed isn't appealing at all?

[except they don't have to move away from the couch to be able to makeout i mean what.]

What, and miss the rest of the movie?

[ That is pretty clearly not a no... But she's also not opposed to staying here as a barnacle. ]

Not like we couldn't get back to it later.

[is Isa's hand creepin' a little lower around Lea's waist. it's more likely than u think.]

True. Not a bad show, either.

[ Is she getting felt up or picked up, because Lea is assuming the latter and doesn't really react much. She is more awake after being called out though, and stretches a little. It's hard to do when you're attached to someone. ]

Mm.

[i mean. she does enjoy the fact that she has the ability to just toss Lea over her shoulder. but right now she's enjoying the familiar pointiness of Lea's hipbone under her hand, and if Lea happens to tip her head up the right way she's absolutely getting smooched.]

[ Well she would have, after noticing she wasn't actually being manhandled. Smooching seems... like a good idea. Seems nice, especially when she's just drowsy enough to not be worried about anything. ]

[laying around on a couch with your best friend and kissing a lot sounds like the ideal way for Isa to spend the rest of her life, especially now that they know the dressing room delivers food. and as she said earlier, she wants more than kissing, but isn't going any further than that until Lea explicitly says she wants to. so for now she's getting a smooch that's a little more lingering than any of the previous ones, but still nothing extreme.]

[ Is the movie still going in the background? Lea's not really paying attention to it much anymore. She's awake enough now to realize the situation she could be in, but still drowsy and content enough to go for it. She's not not responding to the kiss, but instead of kissing back harder she grins into it. ]

Is that all I get?

[fffffffff— Isa pulls back just enough to be able to look at her. it would be the goddammit lea look but they're a little too close and intimate for Isa to manage that.]

After how you reacted that time in the bathroom doorway right after I got here, I don't know if you can handle more, you minx.

Hey, no,

[ She tilts her head back and sits up a little more, because the height difference isn't that big but she's still taller. She's also grinning. ]

That was deliberate teasing. It doesn't count.

I guess that's true, you still weren't a hundred percent on what was happening with us at that point.

[it's like that more recent incident in the bathroom never even happened, this is so nice, and Lea's getting a firmer kiss for being an asshole.]

Someone also wasn't telling me about anything going on back home.

[ So there. This is still... a lot, more so now after that conversation, yes, but she's trying not to think about it at all. Which isn't the healthiest method, but, it's Lea.

But anyway. Kissing is actually rising up on the list of activities, and she's going to shift her body a little so she's more turned toward Isa. More of that last one would be nice. ]

[listen. Isa's just gonna goose Lea's ribs for that, and kiss her some more. between smooches:]

Didn't seem important, and also you would've been thinking less of me that entire time instead of just the last couple of years.

Hey, I stopped that a while ago.

[ She's just teasing, and hopefully she's saying it gently enough to get that across. She's not sure where she should put her hands, or what she can do with them that's okay — going right into groping isn't happening, so what if she puts them on Isa's shoulders, like she's trying to pull her closer? They're mostly lower, where her collar bones would be. ]

[dude don't ask Isa, she has no solid understanding of how any of this works either. but wherever Lea wants to put her hands is fine, and extremely welcome. Isa's hands are still settled at Lea's hips, with her thumbs just grazing skin under the edge of her shirt.]

I'm glad, I'd hate to know what I'd have to do if you hadn't.

[ She kind of wants to slide them up her neck, but she doesn't want to do anything that might remind Isa of Xemnas, in any way. ]

Could figure something out.

[ She's only half paying attention to the conversation at this point, and so the teasing is a little weak. But she's going in for another kiss now, gaze focused on Isa's mouth. ]

[oho, maybe she'll just let Lea steer this for a bit and see where things go. Isa's not really paying a lot of attention either, but honestly Lea's welcome to take anything Xemnas did and make it her own, that'll be fastest for both of them.]

Oh, I could think of several things, but I don't think you're ready for them yet.

[ Lea sighs, but it's a long-suffering drama ploy, and not really because she's upset. ]

Probably not.

[ Anyway, it's kissing time now. ]

[it's been kissing time this whole time, what are you talking about. Isa's gonna wiggle a little bit so she's a little more horizontal, and so Lea's a little more on top of her.]

Just let me know when you want your head exploded and I'll see what I can do.

[~~~]

[ Gay panic. Why is she on top suddenly. Why is Isa doing that. Why is she turning so red? This is so fun, going from 'okay my best friend from childhood is attractive and I am attracted to them' to thinking of them in a sexual way. How does one cope. ]

Didn't we just talk about this?