July Catch All - OPEN

[carriedbylight]

characters: Kairi (carriedbylight) and YOU!
location: Different places around Beacon.
date/time: Various times throughout the month of July.
content: Various shenanigans (This will be a catch all for everything for July.)
warnings: None as of yet, but I'll update as they come!

Comments

[equinoctials]

[ Riku permits it with somewhat stone-faced neutrality, which in itself could be a tell. When they were younger, when he was still going to school instead of on some other world shirking classes to save his friends so they could together save the universe, apparently, he somewhat resented the attention his hair garnered him.

Standing out could be a double edged sword.

It's different when it's Sora and Kairi, they mark each other's differences and make them part of the similarities they share instead of making them a point of exclusion. They're a circle. Nothing, not even death, could ever shake him loose of their orbit. ]

The sun.

[ Riku exhales that in a sigh, half a laugh as he tips back his head. ]

We've seen the sunsets back home more times than I can count. This place really makes you miss it.

[ Once Kairi has settled down next to him, he leans - just slightly - until his shoulder bumps companionably against her, a gentle nudge that he makes without looking in her direction. ]

Ok, seriously. How are you holding up?

[carriedbylight]

( The soft sound of Riku's voice, the small laugh as he considers what she says, it's something that Kairi hadn't even realized she missed until that moment. When was the last time she had been able to sit down with Riku like this? It feels like a lifetime ago, when they were both smaller, talking of rafts and far off worlds. He's grown so much since then, leaving her with so much she wishes she could have told him earlier. That she likes his haircut. That she's proud of him for everything he's gone through and come out stronger on the other side. That she's missed him and has been wishing on stars for him to be happy and healthy. How she really wanted him to join both she and Sora in sharing the paopu.

Perhaps, now that they're all in this place, she'll have the chance.

She feels him bump against her arm in the form of a little nudge, and she leans toward him, her shoulder resting against his arm to allow a slight bit of her weight to rest against him. It's comfortable, even with the potential for troubling topics to come up, now that he's asking her how she is. )

I'm doing okay. Really.

( She looks over at him for a moment, then away, turning her gaze out of the open door toward the sky, the corners of her lips lifting in a serene smile. )

Being here isn't ideal. You're right about missing the sunsets. But...I don't really feel bad. That's weird, right?

( She laughs softly, shaking her head before continuing. )

But...I kind of feel like as long as you and Sora are here, things are alright. I can handle anything.

What about you? How are you holding up, really?

[equinoctials]

[ Consider how much Riku has missed the sound of her voice, her laughter, the easy way she knows how to reach through layers of self-defensive barriers and touch his heart the way he's otherwise only comes to expect from Sora. It's only natural to long for what the heart has grown fond of. Ironic that it took dying to bring all three of them back together again for so long a period as this, without the responsibilities of protecting an entire universe hanging over their heads.

That small point where her shoulder leans against his arm. His attention's split, drawn to the contact. He's always been peculiar and over the years has only grown more reserved and standoffish, Sora understands intuitively how he yearns for the contact he denies himself, how these little reassuring touches mean so much. Riku doesn't dare engage for more than what he's given.

He treasures it. ]

You're asking me?

[ Kairi, he was probably the weirdest one of their trio, she and Sora were the only ones who got to see the real him, his most genuine self. They accepted him when he didn't even accept himself. Her comment - about how things are alright in their company, that she feels like she can handle anything - makes him drop his gaze, his smile soft and subtle. ]

I'm with you two. Everything I could ask for is here. I won't say it'll be all right, but I know that, together, we'll see this through.