Day 50: Courtyard

[hasnomeaning]

Again, there were choices. After leaving the child and the animal, Rei had followed again. When prompted where she wanted to spend time, the pilot had no preference. If they wished her to do something, they would place it before her. If they left her with options, she would take the ones they did not want. So her response was minimal, and so the

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[scintillatingly]

So, a friend of his from home. That was a simple enough answer, although Ritsuka seemed to have a lot to say about Soubi. Sora knew how that was, since it wasn't as if he would have been able to describe either Kairi or Riku in just a word, if asked. Unless he was trying to keep things simple, but "best friend" didn't quite cover it. "I don't think it's bad to rely on people," he said with a smile and a shake of his head. Other people made them stronger; Sora knew that was true for him, at least, so maybe it was the same for Ritsuka. Or maybe the younger boy just need an adult to help him through all of this, which made sense too.

As Ritsuka moved on to explain how Alfons had acted, Sora nodded as he thought it over. That all made sense in terms of what this place did, as sad as it was. Then again, the fact that Ritsuka's friend was sleeping well for once did sound nice. Sora still missed his old bed back home sometimes, as much as he tried to make himself focus on the present and what he had to do. The beds here weren't all that comfy, and they didn't really get much of a chance to sleep in them. Not really.

The idea of Donald or any of the other visitors turning into zombies was pretty scary. Then again, Sora had seen Donald as little more than a mummy, but... this would have been different. He was glad to know that that probably wasn't happening, at least.

When Ritsuka clutched at his camera and then leaned toward him, Sora immediately knew that he should so the same and drew closer. He violently shook his head when the other boy asked him to keep the camera secret. No way would he tattle on a friend like that! As for the question itself, Sora was a little confused (make a memory?), but he got the general idea. "You mean take a picture?" he asked, tone hushed. "Sure, I don't mind!" He scooted a little closer to the other boy, figuring that it would be easier to take the photo that way.

[forgot_it_all]

Ritsuka didn't want to rain on Sora's parade, but he wasn't sure if he could accept that it wasn't bad to rely too much on people. He'd relied on Seimei for so much and then Seimei had left. His mother had relied on Ritsuka and Seimei both to save her and then she'd lost them both and gotten a stranger in her baby's place. His father relied on Ritsuka's silence and his mother's negligence to go on with his life where he didn't have to be bothered by his crumbling household. Ritsuka had seen what happened when someone relied too much on one person and that person was taken away. He didn't want to hurt like that again, but he also didn't want to stay alone forever.

The term "a double-edged sword" had never been so appropriate.

But rather than stay on that subject, Ritsuka turned toward his distraction and nodded, smiling a little when Sora agreed to the photograph. He usually didn't mind when people didn't understand what he meant by making memories, so Sora's momentary confusion didn't faze him. Not everyone understood the importance of the camera and its impact on Ritsuka. Not everyone needed to know. It usually made people pretty happy, even without the knowledge of the reason why. "Great, just gotta do it quick."

Checking over his shoulder, Ritsuka scooted closer to Sora and turned the camera on. He put his head as close to Sora's as he could and said, "Count of three. One." He raised the camera and held the button down halfway, smiling as the camera got ready. "Two." He could hear the camera start to focus in on them. "Three."

The lens snapped and after holding still a moment longer, Ritsuka pulled away and checked the nurses again. They weren't looking yet, but he could see them starting to talk among themselves. Maybe the shift was ending soon? Or maybe they'd seen the camera. Ritsuka hoped it wasn't the latter. Turning back, Ritsuka clicked the camera over to the display function and showed Sora the photograph they'd taken. "What do you think?"

[scintillatingly]

The moment that Ritsuka got a little closer to him, Sora also took the cue to scoot in. It wasn't like they could ask one of the nurses to take it for them, since Ritsuka probably wasn't supposed to have that camera in the first place, and so they were just going to have to do it on their own. It looked like Ritsuka was pretty accustomed to doing this, though.

When the other boy started to count down, Sora waited for him to approach three, and once it was close enough, he broke out into the best grin that he could manage, which was a pretty huge one. It was the least that Ritsuka deserved!

Unfortunately, it wasn't like they could linger in that pose for too long, and so Sora made sure to move away from Ritsuka once the picture was done so that they wouldn't attract too much attention. It looked like they'd gotten away with it, probably thanks to the fact that the courtyard was so spread out.

Sora actually didn't know that much about cameras, but he'd been hoping that Ritsuka's was the kind where you could actually look back on the photo immediately. There wouldn't be much point to it otherwise, since he doubted there was any way to develop them here. Luckily, it wasn't that kind, and a second later Ritsuka's was showing him the picture.

With the sun and the pond behind them, it had come out really well! Sora smiled down at it and nodded. "That looks great! But you should probably put it away now. I think they're going to come get us for dinner pretty soon." Still, mission accomplished. Now Sora kind of wished he had his own camera...

[forgot_it_all]

Sora had a nice smile. It was open and kind, bright and sunny despite all the bad things that must have happened to him here. He had an honest smile, one that came from the heart and reflected the heart as well. It was the kind of smile that Ritsuka couldn't replicate and thus the kind he liked to take pictures of the best.

"Thanks. And yeah, I think they are." Reluctantly, Ritsuka clicked the power button to the off position and then hid the camera back inside his waistband. It was times like these that he was thankful he was so skinny. If he were any bigger, the camera would show up through his shirt. "...And thanks. If I can ever get these developed, I'll give you a copy, okay?"

Ritsuka wasn't sure when that could happen, but he did know that printers existed somewhere here. Maybe one night he could steal into the doctors' offices and try to print them out there. He wasn't sure how well that would go, but it was worth a shot. Before Ritsuka could say anymore, he noticed the nurses heading their way and sighed. Time to go get ready for the night then. Pushing off the ground, he climbed to his feet and gingerly touched his shoulder before smiling faintly at Sora. "You take care, okay? Don't go anywhere until I get the photograph to you."