maskormenace | 7th dawn → video

7th dawn → video

[Riku's face, when he appears on the network today, is a little exasperated, and a little apologetic. Behind him, something tiny and black moves, and he picks his hair up and away from it, pulling it over his shoulder for lack of anything else to do with it. A sharp-eyed observer will note that the black thing is a wing. It's small, but it's clearly a pointy, leathery bat wing. Presumably, there's a matching one.]

So... I guess I was ported out.

[His very first port-out after a year and a half. What a strange experience. Riku pauses. He's pretty sure he... owes some people an apology.]

Uh -- sorry. From what I can tell it hasn't been very long, though...? A day or so tops, I think. I saw Kagami made a post, so I thought I should clear things up.

[He's surprised you all panicked, honestly...]

I guess I should thank you all for worrying, though.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I thought Aerith was gonna punch me.

You see, this is why people need to calm down over these things. Especially when it's only been a single day. It isn't really a concern until it's been at least a week.

Well, y'know. For someone who this is the first time they've seen someone disappear, it's gotta be alarming.

I understand being broken up about it, I've been that person before.

[ That was five years ago, Kanaya, you barely remember any of it. ]

I suppose it just surprises me, when people are so...public with those kinds of emotions.

Same. I still -- I don't get alarmed about it, by any means, but even if I know it's futile, I still feel weird about not lending a hand. You know?

I do. In fact, I would have thought the perspective of a veteran might be some help in that sort of situation, but many of the reactions I've gotten to advice given from that position hasn't been as appreciated as one might expect.

[ Maybe it would help if she weren't a condescending hardass about it. ]

Well... I guess it takes experience.

[He can imagine exactly how she is about it, actually, and has to fight a smile.]

Either way, thanks for trying.

For whatever good it did. Anyway, you're back now, so the whole matter's a little moot.

[ Good thing she doesn't see Kagami on this post, she might have been smug about it. ]

Did anything interesting happen at home? Or were you not there long enough to notice.

Well...

[He tilts his head back, stretches the little wings on his back a little.]

I mean, I did do things. Though these weren't part of those things. Lot more can happen in a little while than you'd think. Also, time travel turned out to be a thing that happens back home.

[ She raises her eyebrows in surprise. They're...kind of adorable, and they'd better be. They certainly don't look big enough to fly with. ]

Well, time travel makes it sound like it could potentially have not been just a "little while" at all!

So... Where did those come from, if not these things you did.

Well -- I didn't suddenly grow wings at home. What happened was, I was able to do a thing called Linking with these creatures called Dream Eaters, and with one type I got wings like these. They weren't attached, though, they were just magic-based. So I think the Porter is laughing at the idea. Maybe it thinks they're cute.

[Everyone else seems to.]

Anyway, it turns out that I'm also a Dream Eater, though the other ones all looked like animals. So I guess these are part of that.

Okay. I don't think I really understood even half of that.

So, to summarize, you have cute wings now, and they are cute, but probably won't help you fly, and you eat dreams.

They won't let me fly, no. Too small. But -- I'm not sure that I eat dreams? I still eat normal food, as far as I can tell. But... I must be able to do something with them.

Well that's just silly. Why call you Dream Eaters if you don't even eat dreams?

Metaphor, I guess? What we do is -- chase off nightmares.

Oh. [ Something crosses her face, a kind of scrutinizing between curiosity and skepticism. Consider he intrigued. ]

Have you had much practice with it?

Sort of. I mean, I didn't know I was a Dream Eater until later. But when Sora and I took our mastery exam, we were put to sleep, and took it in a dream world. I had to rescue Sora from them.

So, are you both Dream Eaters, or was this something that wasn't supposed to happen during the exam?

Just me -- it went bad. There was someone waiting for us there.

Someone who could already enter dreams? It almost sounds like the two of you were lured into a trap.

We were. There's this -- I told you about Xehanort, before. He's gathering a group together in order to force a prophecy to happen, and he wanted Sora as the last one. But obviously he wouldn't help him normally, so he had to take him by force.

Then it sounds like it's fortunate that you were there to stop him. Especially as it gave you the opportunity to learn more about your own nature.

Yeah. I'm not sure if I was always a Dream Eater or if I only became one when I arrived in the Sleeping Worlds, but you're right.

[Was he ever human? He's not sure anymore. He doesn't mind, so much, but it is weird to think about.]

I suppose mysteries like that have a tendency to hang. When I first awakened, I'd never met another of my caste before, I didn't know that it was normal.

I just had the luck of meeting my ancestor's ghost to explain everything two years later.

Really? Now that you mention that, I'm realizing I don't know a whole lot about you guys.

[He understands the concept of a caste, and he's met other trolls before, but he doesn't know a whole lot outside of that.]

7th dawn → video

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