tall_dark_and | a day's rest and retreat ; twilight town

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a day's rest and retreat ; twilight town

Our scene is set in the World That Never Was, sometime in the morning. Or at least, what passes well enough for morning - it's not as if the lighting changes, but it is sometime after people wake up, at least.

The specific setting for this venture is in Namine's Tower, where a dark path is opening. Out of this steps Riku. Today is the day that Riku and Namine have planned to take a trip to another world, and he wanted to come as early as possible. Partially in case they run into any problems, and -- well. Partially because he would just like to spend as much time with her as possible.

He has prepared for the occasion, and this fact is obvious from one glance at him. Riku has taken the trouble to ditch his usual outfit, and get ahold of something nicer. Hanging around Hollow Bastion for a few hours can prove to be a beneficial venture. It earned him some nice slacks, and a white dress shirt. His hair is pulled back into a simple ponytail.

That is not all the preperation he has done. His left hand is hiding somethng behind his back - but what could it possibly be?

"Namine?" he asks, his voice a little hesitant and soft.

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Riku does wish to see it. "That's a good drawing of it," he says, glancing out at the scenery, then back again. "But I'm not surprised."

He's a little worried about what will happen if someone in the Organization finds her notebook, but he's not going to say this. He'll figure out an explaination later.

He's not going to allow worries to ruin this day for her.

Namine smiles widely. "Thank you," she says a little bashfully. She puts the final strokes down on paper, then begins to fold the sketchpad closed.

For her, there are no such worries going through her mind. It is a little strange, as she is usually quite careful in her thinking, but today she is so lost in the contentment that she's never felt before. It's difficult to think of anything bad possibly happening now or in the near future.

"What else are you going to show me?" she asks, unable to keep the excitement out of her voice. She grabs his hand with a smile.

Riku squeezes her hand. "Well, that depends," he says with a grin. "Are you hungry?"

He has to wonder if Nobodies even need to eat. That's... one fact that he doesn't know.

No, she doesn't need to eat, but she certainly doesn't want to bring attention to the fact that she is not at all like Riku, that she is still ultimately a Nobody. It makes something inside her hurt to be reminded of such a fact. And today of all days, she would like to forget that.

She forces a smile on her face. She'll humour him if she needs to. "Sure," she replies.

Riku realizes his mistake now, from the look of her smile. But he's not sure how to take it back, or how to make it better - making the fact obvious would just make it worse.

"There's also a lot of other choices around here," he says, just ignoring the previous suggestion entirelly. "I think you'd like the Sandlot. There's always so much going -on- there."

She realizes that perhaps she hadn't been convincing enough; it's a bit of a flaw of hers, really, revealing her emotions so easily like that no matter how hard she tries to hide them.

"Oh, it's okay if you're hungry," Namine assures him kindly, keeping her voice steady. At least she can do that.

She doesn't want to ruin this! She really doesn't. Not when things are going so wonderfully.

"...Maybe we can just...walk around a bit," she suggests.

"I'm not," Riku assures her. "I was just thinking of options."

And her suggestion worked just fine.

"Yes," he agrees. "That would work."

He tugs on her hand, walking towards the path leading away from the station.

Namine allows Riku to lead her while she clutches tightly to his hand; her other hand is holding onto the strap of her art bag around her shoulder.

"Everything is so pretty," she muses, slowly forgetting about her melancholic moment. "I wish I could live here."

"Maybe you could, someday," Riku says. He refuses to acccept the fate that's been decided for her - he will make it possible for her to live free.

He's just not sure how, yet.

She just smiles. Doesn't elaborate, doesn't agree or disagree.

She knows her fate well enough; she knows the fate of all those like her. If they cannot find their other halves, they live without hearts in darkness forever. Although she does not wish to end up like the other members of the Organization, she knows that finding her other half will be near impossible.

But it's true...she can always hope. She looks to Riku, watching his expression, his face. "Maybe," she says, softly.

"I'm going to do my best to make sure of it," Riku promises. "Anything within my power."

It's not something he'll give up on. She deserves her freedom.

She tilts her head slightly to the side and smiles. "Riku," she says softly, "you don't have to do that. I'm happy so long as I'm here with you. We don't need to think about that."

She means this. There really isn't anything Riku can do as far as she's concerned. All she has are her memories and right now, that is okay with her.

"But there is something you can do for me right now."

Riku won't give up so easy as that. But it's lear that he may need to keep it himself, for now - until he's figured out a good plan.

"What can I do?"

She giggles.

"I want to draw you...here. So I can remember it always."

Well. That was definately easy.

"Of course," he says, and glances around. "When?"

She taps her chin thoughtfully. "Some time before we leave, of course...and somewhere perfect. I'll let you know when we find it."

"That's mysterious," Riku comments. He's not complaining, mind you -- but it does require stating!

"I guess I'll just have to wait in anticipation."

"I guess so," she returns, smiling. "But I'm sure it won't be long."

"It is a small town," Riku agrees. Of course, that never really meant anything - small towns tended to have hidden depths that most weren't aware of.

He sidesteps a skateboard before nearly tripping over it.

"Be careful," she warns, noticing the skateboard.

They walk on for a bit with her occasionally stopping to quickly sketch what she sees, great ideas coming into her mind as she takes in her surroundings.

The marketplace is her favourite location so far -- there are so many things to see! People walking everywhere, merchants calling out their sales...it's all busy and wonderful.

Her hand rarely leaves Riku's except for when she's drawing.

"It was hard for me to handle this type of place for awhile," Riku comments, as he leads her through the marketplace and towards the sandlot. "I was stuck in the Shadow Realms for so long, that I didn't really know how to deal with people anymore."

She nods, blindly following Riku.

"The Shadow Realms can do that," she muses thoughtfully. "You should never have gone...it can do terrible things to good people."

"I had no choice," Riku says. "There was no other way to make things right."

Besides, he would have never met her.

And in the same way, she would never have met him. But that isn't quite the point.

She likes Riku -- she likes him a lot. Yet...no matter what, she doesn't think he belongs there...in the darkness...with so much uncertainty, shadow, doubt and beings with no hearts.

"I know," she says, her voice quiet.

Her fingers tighten around Riku's hand ever so slightly, unbeknown to her. She knows it was not exactly a conscious choice on Riku's part -- that there were things he just had to do. But...if there was another way...

She doesn't want to think of herself as a monster because she does not have a heart, but the thought springs to her mind. Someone like Riku belongs in the light with his friends, with Sora...and Kairi...where he can laugh and his heart can be free. She is just a shadow, an empty body without a beating heart or any heart of any kind.

"But it's not all that bad," Riku states, as the sounds of the sandlot get much closer. "Good company, and some interesting sights. And a bunch of unused space. I'd make a killing on real estate."

...you gotta joke sometimes, even if it's a bad one. How would you survive otherwise?

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