now she's here, suddenly I know / if she's here, it's crystal clear / I'm where I'm meant to go
Who: cakeblocked and poppetry
What: The truth.
When: Starting just before sunset of the 21st.
Where: First at house 5, then That One Bridge.
Summary: This has been a long time in coming. Two shy, stupid, utterly oblivious Replicas finally get their shit together and talk. (Also Kukki and I write each other a series of small novels.)
Rating: PG. (This will probably be the most Disney thing to ever Disney in the history of Disney-fied things.)
Xion's first feeling after the experiment had been ... fear. Lingering, terrible fear that none of it was real, despite all the reasoning and arguments and gentle proddings to the contrary. Of course, she'd told Luke she didn't care, that none of it mattered, that she'd make it real...
And those words were true. But even so... even so... it would have been a blow to learn. All those memories... fake? Different? How could they be? It would have hurt so much...
But on waking early that morning, Xion had realized something, after the fear had faded and she'd had some time to sort through everything she remembered. All of it... was the same. Everything. The way she felt when Luke gave her her own little Christmas. The tightness in her chest when Sanji had asked her, very frankly, You really like him, don't you?
Her plan... to tell him her feelings on Valentine's Day. The letter she'd written... in case of the experiment!
She'd leaped out of bed like someone had electrified her, torn between elation and a driving sense of urgency. It was true! It was all true, all real!
And thus she'd come up with a plan. She had several people to speak with, after all -- Ven, poor Ven, Sokka and Fenimore... and Tsuzuki. Xion found herself endlessly, almost stupidly grateful he'd made that silly entry with the socks, giving her the idea to try and circumvent the experiment. Writing out her feelings for Luke in that letter... had made her blush like crazy, but it had felt so, so good to finally admit it, even if he wasn't going to see it just yet. And the idea had worked like a charm, too -- doing exactly what she hoped. Just sitting there in that box, waiting -- for the moment when the experiment would be over, and whatever had happened -- whatever had gone right or wrong -- she could tell Luke the truth, with proof that predated any Malnosso manipulation.
Honestly, she'd have to bake Tsuzuki cookies for this.
Thankfully he'd responded in a timely manner, too -- it'd still been morning when she'd been able to retrieve the letter and beat a hasty retreat back home, to think (and talk to her friends, too). But also ... to decide what to do. Though she knew the words by heart, she read and reread the letter she'd written, her blush slowly fading as the true significance of her words sank in. This was real... in her hands was tangible proof of her feelings. And that meant ... well. She had to talk to him, didn't she?
So it was that she ended up in front of house 5 a few hours later, fidgeting with nervousness, twisting and untwisting her fingers together. It was already well into the afternoon, almost evening, but it had taken all of those hours of reading and thinking and thinking some more to even work up the courage to leave the house again, much less actually walk over to his. After all... just like before, she didn't know for certain if Luke returned her feelings. Even if he'd said ... he'd said ...
Let's... Let's work together to make it real, okay?
B-But that could have been the experiment... right? Yet somehow... she couldn't get the feeling of hope out of her heart. Anxious hope, but hope nonetheless. This just had to be real... They'd practically sworn to each other. Promised, no matter what happened, to make what they had real, to make it work. She had to believe this would happen. After all... as it had turned out, she'd really meant it when she said she didn't want to just be his friend anymore. If he didn't want... if he didn't feel-- she'd take anything he'd give her, of course. Anything! But if he really didn't love her back, it'd ...
Well. She'd cross that bridge when she came to it, if she absolutely must, as much as it would hurt.
There was no turning back now. Moving up to the door, Xion took a deep, steadying breath and raised her hand to knock.
What: The truth.
When: Starting just before sunset of the 21st.
Where: First at house 5, then That One Bridge.
Summary: This has been a long time in coming. Two shy, stupid, utterly oblivious Replicas finally get their shit together and talk. (Also Kukki and I write each other a series of small novels.)
Rating: PG. (This will probably be the most Disney thing to ever Disney in the history of Disney-fied things.)
Xion's first feeling after the experiment had been ... fear. Lingering, terrible fear that none of it was real, despite all the reasoning and arguments and gentle proddings to the contrary. Of course, she'd told Luke she didn't care, that none of it mattered, that she'd make it real...
And those words were true. But even so... even so... it would have been a blow to learn. All those memories... fake? Different? How could they be? It would have hurt so much...
But on waking early that morning, Xion had realized something, after the fear had faded and she'd had some time to sort through everything she remembered. All of it... was the same. Everything. The way she felt when Luke gave her her own little Christmas. The tightness in her chest when Sanji had asked her, very frankly, You really like him, don't you?
Her plan... to tell him her feelings on Valentine's Day. The letter she'd written... in case of the experiment!
She'd leaped out of bed like someone had electrified her, torn between elation and a driving sense of urgency. It was true! It was all true, all real!
And thus she'd come up with a plan. She had several people to speak with, after all -- Ven, poor Ven, Sokka and Fenimore... and Tsuzuki. Xion found herself endlessly, almost stupidly grateful he'd made that silly entry with the socks, giving her the idea to try and circumvent the experiment. Writing out her feelings for Luke in that letter... had made her blush like crazy, but it had felt so, so good to finally admit it, even if he wasn't going to see it just yet. And the idea had worked like a charm, too -- doing exactly what she hoped. Just sitting there in that box, waiting -- for the moment when the experiment would be over, and whatever had happened -- whatever had gone right or wrong -- she could tell Luke the truth, with proof that predated any Malnosso manipulation.
Honestly, she'd have to bake Tsuzuki cookies for this.
Thankfully he'd responded in a timely manner, too -- it'd still been morning when she'd been able to retrieve the letter and beat a hasty retreat back home, to think (and talk to her friends, too). But also ... to decide what to do. Though she knew the words by heart, she read and reread the letter she'd written, her blush slowly fading as the true significance of her words sank in. This was real... in her hands was tangible proof of her feelings. And that meant ... well. She had to talk to him, didn't she?
So it was that she ended up in front of house 5 a few hours later, fidgeting with nervousness, twisting and untwisting her fingers together. It was already well into the afternoon, almost evening, but it had taken all of those hours of reading and thinking and thinking some more to even work up the courage to leave the house again, much less actually walk over to his. After all... just like before, she didn't know for certain if Luke returned her feelings. Even if he'd said ... he'd said ...
Let's... Let's work together to make it real, okay?
B-But that could have been the experiment... right? Yet somehow... she couldn't get the feeling of hope out of her heart. Anxious hope, but hope nonetheless. This just had to be real... They'd practically sworn to each other. Promised, no matter what happened, to make what they had real, to make it work. She had to believe this would happen. After all... as it had turned out, she'd really meant it when she said she didn't want to just be his friend anymore. If he didn't want... if he didn't feel-- she'd take anything he'd give her, of course. Anything! But if he really didn't love her back, it'd ...
Well. She'd cross that bridge when she came to it, if she absolutely must, as much as it would hurt.
There was no turning back now. Moving up to the door, Xion took a deep, steadying breath and raised her hand to knock.