The wind will very soon become a storm

Oct 30, 2010 17:04

Who: restardom and any of her Square/Disney/KH travel buddies (Rise why) if they feel so inclined. Otherwise, it's just a stand-alone.
Where: Somewhere on Route 32
When: The first night of GLITCHING GALORE, shortly after Nanako's post
Summary: Rise copes. Or tries to. ACTION IS TOTALLY FINE.
Rating: G is the guess here.
Log: ( And the future will pour down )

lightning farron | final fantasy xiii, rise kujikawa | persona 4, sora | kingdom hearts

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newhero October 30 2010, 23:56:40 UTC
Sora, being used to traveling in groups and keeping track of fellow group members, didn't take long to notice that someone wasn't keeping up. And after an earlier ordeal where he tried to punch one of the blocky computer things in the face-- where he thought its face was-- getting separated was at the top of his list of things not to do when traveling this evening.

So he stopped right in his tracks and turned on his heel, heading back toward Rise. If she was having trouble keeping up, he was more than happy to hang back with her.

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restardom October 31 2010, 00:03:49 UTC
She might not have noticed him if she hadn't chosen that exact moment to look up from the 'gear; staring at it like it was some great mystical crystal ball wasn't going to tell her anything until someone made another post. When she realized who it was heading her way, she couldn't entirely hide a little smile. She should have known it would have been impossible to hang back by herself when Sora was with the group.

"I'm keeping up, I promise," she assured him, just in case that was the case.

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newhero October 31 2010, 00:12:22 UTC
"I know. I'm just here to keep you company! Besides, it's probably a good idea for some of us to hang back a bit-- gives us a better view of the area, right?"

Sora half-wondered if it wasn't just Rise's ankle that kept her back here, and although that would certainly be understandable, he wasn't going to pry. Not yet. He stopped in front of her, extending his hand for her to take.

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restardom October 31 2010, 00:25:54 UTC
For a moment, she studied his hand, then lifted her eyes to his face. He didn't look as though he were doing this out of any sense of obligation, nor did she think he was the kind of person to do that, anyway. Besides, he had a point, one which she'd noticed when she'd dropped back. It was easier to keep an eye out when there were eyes both in front and in back.

And maybe it'd be easier to snap herself out of this slump with company.

With a defeated sigh and that same smile, Rise placed her hand in Sora's. "I guess that makes us lookout comrades then!"

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newhero October 31 2010, 00:42:29 UTC
"Right! We'll just bring up the rear."

That was the phrase Goofy used, anyway-- that's how their formation generally worked: Sora in front because he was the quickest and hit the hardest, Donald in the middle because he was the squishiest and therefore protected in the middle by the other two, and Goofy in the back so he could keep an eye out for anything Sora and Donald might have missed.

Sora, Donald, Goofy, if you will.

He took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, carefully leading her closer. He'll keep hanging on in case Rise needs someone to lean on. One downside to Sora's company is having to put up with his lame sense of humor, though.

"Some weather we're having, huh?"

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restardom October 31 2010, 00:57:47 UTC
"Literal backup," came the low mutter, which made her smile just off-center of bittersweet. This wasn't the kind of backing up she usually did, but without Kanzeon there to help her scan the entire area, she had to make do with what she had.

... Namely, herself. And now with complimentary joke-cracking spiky-headed Keyblade wielder. At the very least, she'd had practically a year to adjust to the anomaly that was Teddie and his awful bear puns - the kind that usually sent Yukiko into gales of cackling laughter, but made the rest of the team groan - so Sora's sense of humor might have actually been a relief when compared to his.

Not that the look on Rise's face stated that. In fact, she was already rolling her eyes, even if she settled into a hop-stride that kept her from leaning on Sora too much.

"I was just thinking on working on my tan, actually," she replied airily.

Because sometimes you couldn't help but joke just to get through things.

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newhero October 31 2010, 01:35:00 UTC
"We've both seen weirder, though! Right?"

Talking ducks and dogs, a living wooden puppet, candy spaceships made out of candy blocks that he could definitely confirm were not edible, whale innards that made Sora wonder if perhaps Monstro hadn't eaten more than just his Gummi Ship in his lifetime... giant living cards with spears and potions that shrunk you down to mice size... Sora's repertoire of weird is pretty extensive.

"Er, well. Even if we haven't, at least all of us are experiencing it together?"

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restardom October 31 2010, 01:53:04 UTC
Rise couldn't top things like candy spaceships and whale innards. She could, however, truthfully claim to have been exposed to things like a leaf-selling fox, entering a different world through a television screen, facing down her darkness in the guise of a gigantic psychedelic stripper and having that turn into a stately, satellite-headed woman in an evening gown, running through a seven-year-old's vision of Heaven, having random stalkers show up on telephone poles outside of her window, a squalling infant that built itself a lego-like robot to fight in, a giant rainbow eyeball, a Shadow inside of a bear suit that grew itself a body, people returning from apparent death, and a goddess.

Among other things, but Rise had the skill of adaptability, and very few things were odd to her-- once she gave them a few minutes to sink in. Ven could still give her headaches, though.

"We have," she informed him, not exactly certain of what Sora had witnessed, but knowing it had to be something odd for him to mention that at all. "I've seen ( ... )

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newhero October 31 2010, 04:24:17 UTC
With all of those put together, Rise probably had Sora beat in the odd department. After all, he hadn't had a chance to wind up face-to-face with the giant living demon sled before arriving in Johto. And his odd encounters were less other beings, and more his surroundings.

Not that he'd ever been trapped in what appeared to be a glitching computer before. Caused computers to glitch, though, that's an entirely different story. Sora smiled lightly at Rise, bumping her arm gently with his own.

"There's no reason to worry, then. Those things can look as weird and scary as they want, but I doubt they'd be weird and scary enough to actually hurt anybody."

He'd tossed that reassurance out there as a sort of precautionary gesture. Sora wasn't sure if Rise really was upset about something, or if it was her ankle that was still hurting, but he wanted her to know that he'd be there either way.

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restardom October 31 2010, 04:48:36 UTC
Her ankle was fine, so far as Rise knew; the nurse had been very insistent that Rise not do anything beyond testing it to see how it'd support her weight every now and then. She was to keep off of it as much as possible until the first of the month, and hopefully by that point, she'd be on two feet again. This was more of a taking precautions thing than anything else, and one she'd followed faithfully.

So was she upset?

... Well, she was trying not to be. Souji only had a few bruises, and Nanako's bloody knee had come about from tripping, not from the... whatever-it-was actually hurting her. The team (Rise herself on occasion) had taken harder hits than that and emerged from them just fine, but this was different. Here, she wasn't with them.

But that was the way she'd felt when Sora had found out about Vanitas. When Minnie had been found in the well. When Kanji had broken his hand because of things he'd thought she and the others had said. When Heather had disappeared. When Ven had told her ( ... )

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newhero October 31 2010, 05:35:08 UTC
So he wasn't wrong about that nagging inkling he had-- maybe it was because he empathized completely. Back when he traveled the worlds, Sora had impeccable timing: when he landed on a world, it was always right at the perfect opportunity to help out with whatever problems the friends he made had. He was a problem solver. A world saver. In Johto, he felt useless-- no matter how fast he ran, he never even made it to Violet in time, and Minnie was still a week's run away.

The memory of how he'd felt that entire week still stung familiarly, and Sora wasn't able to look at Rise for a moment, either. Despite the hurt, though, he remembered something else, too. He stopped, and turned to face her, still hanging on to her hand.

"Hey, Rise? Look at me for a minute."

He paused, though just for a few seconds.

"Do you... remember the last message you sent us last week? What you told us?"

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restardom October 31 2010, 07:07:26 UTC
Rise's halt was a good five seconds delayed, but she did indeed stop and this time, she had to look at him. It was a request, albeit a firm one, and it was coming from Sora. So she looked up, meeting his eyes-- and it became immediately apparent why she hadn't been able to face him in the first place. With flushed cheeks and a quivering lip, she looked as though she was fighting the urge to cry. And it wasn't her usual dramatic crocodile tears, these were raw and painful and ashamed and she was doing everything she could not to let them fall.

So she merely nodded. She did remember, vaguely, what he was referring to. Because it had been the only thing she could say to sum up exactly how she felt-- how she'd always felt about her friends.

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newhero November 1 2010, 03:35:36 UTC
That look on her face ripped him up inside, and he wanted to just... pull her into his arms and hug her for a solid hour. Like how she'd done for him when they met up outside Union Cave earlier. -- And he would, as soon as he'd finished getting his thoughts across.

"Then, Rise, you already are here for us. Right here." He patted his heart with the hand not grasping hers. "I know it's... hard not being there for them in person. To not be there to protect them and hide them from danger, or darkness, or whatever's hurting them."

In that moment, Sora had a revelation. With what he was about to say, he suddenly knew that back home, Riku was going to be okay. It's probably how he wound up okay through his home being destroyed, learning to wield the Keyblade, right up until that final moment in Hollow Bastion. He was protected by his friends in his heart, and Kairi... well, Kairi's heart was literally with him, but the same principle applied ( ... )

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restardom November 1 2010, 04:12:37 UTC
It was what she typically thought of as "Disney logic", except that the events of the past year had emphasized very strongly the power of bonds. Sure, the group had been together, but there had been a time when they'd been separated, and the only thing they'd been able to do was rely on the friendship they'd forged with their leader. Their hearts had been connected ever since they'd joined the Investigation Team, and that connection had remained firm, even when they'd had to go their separate ways ( ... )

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newhero November 1 2010, 04:39:00 UTC
He smiled, and tried to tug her closer for a hug-- he'd been particularly huggy lately, something Sora usually saved for his family. But hey, Rise and everyone else in their little ragtag group was starting to feel a lot like his family. Hugs were no problem if anyone ever needed one.

"Of course, Rise. C'mon, no tears... Want me to sing you a song Goofy taught me?"

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restardom November 1 2010, 04:51:43 UTC
Rise would never turn down hugs, despite not having them occur much in her family (grandmother the only exception) and her close friends either getting embarrassed over it or... being Teddie. And Teddie hugs were ones you had to be careful with, if you were a girl. Coming here had done wonders for her affection levels, especially when there were people who liked hugs, or initiated them before she could.

She let Sora draw her closer for a much-needed hug, managing a nod (that didn't require talking with a shaky voice) and a raised eyebrow-- once she'd given her eyes a quick swipe to gather moisture. "I didn't know Goofy sang..."

Then again, her knowledge of Goofy consisted of big teeth, long ears, and somehow being a top knight-- according to Minnie.

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