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

Yeah, I know
There's... worlds that fall to the darkness don't just disappear. I mean, sort of, but -- they're shifted into another realm
If this is the realm of light, and my portals are the realm of darkness, they're in something called the realm of sleep
Sora and I were put to sleep as well, in order to help restore them. That was our exam

That sounds like something really important.
The kind of thing that's important on a scale I can't really imagine

did you pass? Were the worlds okay?

... did you fly in your dreams?

I did pass, yeah. I knew I was going to, Sora told me last time
The worlds are okay
And I didn't exactly. I guess you could say I skydived, though??

It's still different, isn't it? Knowing because someone told you and experiencing it yourself.

I never thought of Riku as the kind of person that would go skydiving
can a wing that size take that kind of force?

Well, that was how we moved between locations in the dream world, we dove

But no, they're not big enough to even give any lift, actually. They're useless

[Don't worry, he tried.]

I'm sure they'll grow to be big powerful wings eventually!

unless they're darkness wings
and small is good
if it's like that I'm sure they'll stay small and cute!!

You think they're cute?

It's not
like I saw a lot of them
just a little of one, and only on camera
so

maybe

[omfg]

Well, come over and see them if you want, I guess

Now?

I mean
sure
if you're free?

Sure. I already got home and made sure everything was good, and all that. So I'm free.

I'll come over

[ It's only five houses, after all. Even with the time to get changed, it's only minutes later that she raps lightly on the door. ]

[He opens the door after a moment or so, looking curious to see her. He looks more or less the same, outside of the new wings, and steps aside to let her in.]

Hi.

[Despite his looks, there's a different sort of an air about him -- more at ease, maybe.]

[ She takes a moment just to look at him, just to listen. It's different, but it's a good difference, as if some part that had still been wobbling had finally found its balance. Not just found it, but settled, and planted itself firm into the earth.

Her smile is warm as she steps closer, and steps inside. ]

Welcome back.

Thanks. I'm pleased, actually. You know, I said I liked it here, but... going and coming back makes me grateful to have been able to stay. There's so many people who... I'd hate to never see again. You know?

[He's sure she does, so he just goes ahead and leads the way upstairs to his room. It's the same as always too, the bed made neatly, afternoon sunlight spilling in. Riku sits on the bed, pats the spot beside him in invitation to sit.]

It's weird... back home feels like some wild adventure, and this feels like real life. But that is my life. Which isn't to say this isn't equally my life, because it is. Just... now I have two. We're lucky, I think.

[ It's a familiar room, now. She knows what that pillow smells like, knows which drawer he keeps his pyjamas in. Knows the number of blind footsteps between the bed and the door to the bathroom.

She takes the offered seat comfortably. All the way upstairs, her attention had followed the flutters at his back, but now . . . for just a moment she appreciates how easily he can sit and stand, how he breathes without straining, and lifts his arms without pain. ]

Mm. I think . . . I know what you mean.

. . . one of the people I knew from home was ported out. At the end of August—we didn't know if it would only be for a little while, but . . . she hasn't come back.

I've been thinking about the same thing, since then. That . . . we never really know how long we have, here. But the time we have—the time I've had, the people I've met . . .

They're really important to me.

[There are scars there still. But they're healed -- they're just red lines now. They returned with him, when he came back, but they look a lot better than they did just a few months ago.

Riku isn't thinking about that, though. What Riku is thinking about is Kururu's words. "One of the people I knew from home." Like the times Sora left, and even when Roxas and Xion did. It leaves a hole there, the part of you that you reserved for them left empty and alone. It half feels like you shouldn't feel bad -- after all, you'll go back to see them eventually. But the unknown factors are what make it hard -- how long will it be? Will they come back before you leave again? Will you leave and they'll only have just arrived? It's hard to say.]

... Yeah, exactly. I feel like that too. It feels like it should be used productively, doesn't it?

It does. I think so too, I mean.

There's still things I want to do here. Even if I do want to go home, sometimes, even when there's people that . . . mm. There's some I haven't seen in a long while, now. I'm still not ready to go home yet.

I'm glad to be here.

[ It seems like such a strange thing to say, after everything that happened those first few months. Being barred from Heropa, the kidnappings, the rescue, the Soviet occupation . . . all those things that shaped her initial impressions, her reactions.

All the reasons she'd never really settled here, why she hadn't even moved into the house that was supposed to be her own until a few weeks ago . . . it had all mattered less, suddenly, faced with the fact that 'someday' could just as easily be 'tomorrow'. ]

. . . I'm glad to see you again, too. More than just your wings.

[ Curiosity cracking at last, she turns a bit, lifting a hand . . . and hovering. ]

But . . . um. Can I . . . ?

Yeah, exactly. I'm happy I got to see Kairi and Mickey and the others. But there's something good about being here, too. I've got friends here I don't have anywhere else, you know?

[Riku considers this line of thought, nodding with a quiet smile when she tells him she missed him -- he can't say that back, considering he didn't remember anyone, but he's pleased he gets to stay here and talk with her more.

And then she raises her hand, clearly wanting to reach forward, and Riku can't help the little smile that appears on his lips. He shifts a little, so she has an easier time.]

Go ahead.

Ahh~!♪

[ Her response is nothing short of delighted. She wastes no time in moving his hair over his shoulder, no more shy of touching him at this point than she would be of any of her teammates.

He has wings. He really has wings, tiny little wings, fully defined and capable of moving even if they could probably barely even stir a breeze.

She runs her fingers over the ridge of one wing's 'arm', as gentle and careful as she would be with any newborn chick. ]

Do they even carry sensation? Can you feel this?

[She's so excited... it's actually a little entertaining. Riku gathers his hair into one handful, holding it across his shoulder for her. They twitch a little as she touches them, then stretch open, Riku's expression turning thoughtful.]

Yeah. They're like I always had them. I didn't even notice they were there until I got in the car on the way back and squashed them.

[He'd let the military drive him home, like when he'd first arrived. No one had said anything -- he figures they assumed he'd noticed them.]

Sleeping on your back is going to be hard. They sound . . . sturdy, though.

[ Sturdy enough that he won't break one just by leaning back, at least.

Those pleased hums continue as she strokes down the 'fingers', runs the curve of her finger under the webbing . . . it's so stretchy, and supple, the fainest echo of his heartbeat through those tiny veins . . .

Her hand comes to rest between wings, warm on his back, and she gives the softest of huffs at the suddenly muddled sound. Fabric. ]

Take of your shirt?

They are, I think. They feel like... they're meant to be bigger, but they're not. Or maybe I'm meant to figure out how to use them at this size.

[Riku nods, letting go of his hair so he can tug his shirt off, guiding the wings back through the holes he'd unceremoniously cut into it. Later he'll have to make some actual modifications to his clothes, but this is fine for now. He leaves the shirt in a little heap beside him on the bed, then settles again, patient.]

Carry on.

[ That's better. That's so much better, both her hands fanning out over the ridges of his shoulder blades with the same curious delight she'd had touching his wings.

His heartbeat is loud in her ears, strong and familiar. She could lose an hour to that sound, picking out the shifts since the last time they'd sat together (slept together, even, her head curled light on his shoulder), but right now . . . isn't the time for that.

The sounds she's looking for are higher, lighter. She traces his muscles, following the similar and familiar, humming curiously as she feels things that are neither. Small muscles, new tendons . . . could he support larger wings? Maybe. What would it feel like then . . . ]

Are they connected to your magic?

I think that's what keeps them there, [he says simply, reaching behind his neck to drag his hair forward again. He's used to this now, her needing direct skin contact to properly hear, so he doesn't mind sitting here for her. Besides, since he can't really examine them on his own, it's good that someone can. How is he supposed to know what they're like, when they're on his back?

Besides, having them touched is... nice, weirdly. Maybe it's like when you pat a dog, he rationalizes, and then gets dragged off on that tangent. What kind of invisible changes is he going to figure out later? There's a lot to learn.]

I can feel the air underneath them, they know how to fly, but -- they're not big enough to give me any lift.

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