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.

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[ Of course he's back, why wouldn't he be back? ]

Oh, you should have seen how everyone was carrying on, like they'd never see you ever again! Though, I suppose you actually can. [ It is all right there on the Network. ]

Still, it was a little embarrassing to watch. You'd think the lot of them had never seen this happen before!

Heh... well, to be fair, many of them hadn't. It was sort of surprising, to be honest.

[Riku didn't consider himself to have made such a big impression on everyone until now. It's weird.]

It was a bit surprising. Last time I ported out, I don;t think anyone so much as batted an eye!

[ Which is about when she decided that living with other people again would probably be nice. ]

Really? That's a shame, though.

[He almost asked 'when was that', but that felt like it would be a little rude.]

[ All he'd do is confirm what she already knew, but she's not so insecure anymore that it would start any kind of pity party. Just a very pointed look and a knowing smile. ]

I think it was mostly a result of isolating myself too much after Rose left, like the Moon would lose its luster without the Sun. Or most of my friends knew not to make a big deal about it so quickly.

One of these is something that was mine to fix. The other, well, it isn't too terrible an idea.

Your friends are more experienced than mine, I guess.

[Which would make sense, since she's been here longer than him, after all.]

Though I can't say I don't appreciate it. Felt weird when I got back, though.

So, just how angry were they? Reacting with as much devastation as was going around in Kagami's address, I imagine having it all taken away must feel a bit cheap.

[ Which is a big part of why she told him it was a bad idea. Maybe a little too firmly, because Kanaya's gonna Kanaya. ]

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?

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