Age Is Merely A Number [Kairi | Invite]

Sea-salt ice cream seemed to have quite the reputation. From what she had heard from the townspeople, it was delicacy brought over from Twilight Town thanks to Scrooge McDuck. At the mere thought of everlasting sunsets, Kairi is reminded of her friends back in Twilight Town – Hayner, Pence and Olette – and she could only wonder how they are doing; she remembered the last time she had seen them, she had found out that they had met Sora earlier.

The Princess remembered falling into place with them like she belonged there – her ability to easily befriend others was impeccable – and after Olette's remark of how romantic the story was, she was immediately reminded of Selphie and had felt a little apologetic towards her, considering the two of them had grown closer to each other during the year that Riku was away. Sora was too, but she couldn't remember him but somewhere deep in her heart, she knew she had forgotten.

If not, why would she always feel herself being drawn to the shores, searching the skies and hoping that her answers would simply drop from above? Why would she feel so wrong about going to an island that both herself, Selphie, Riku, Tidus and Wakka played on since they were kids?

Kairi shook her head, finding herself sinking far too deep into the past; all that mattered was the fact that her best friends had returned to her, safe and sound, and very much alive; she could live with the knowledge that the both of them were out there, protecting the worlds from falling into darkness. Riku and Sora were sincere souls and she felt truly lucky to be their friend — they were deserving to be called Keyblade wielders.

As she walked past several people, she noticed the cyan-coloured treat that they were feasting upon. She approached one of them, intent on asking whether it was the famous sea-salt ice cream everyone was talking about.

"Hey, is that sea-salt ice cream?" she asked, her mouth watering. When was the last time she had a good dessert? "It looks really good. Where can I get it?"

TAGGED // @edgar
NOTES // There you go

Ah, Scrooge McDuck. Trust him to pull some strings and get the job done. Kairi had heard about him before from Leon and the others. She remembered them all too well and she knew that she would need to say hello to say eventually. For some reason, she never managed to meet up with them — she had to thank them for two years ago since they welcomed her and took care of her while they were still residing in Traverse Town.

"I'm sixteen," Kairi replied with a smile, wondering where this young man had come from. Sifting through her memories, she tried to pick up any signs of whether she had seen this young man around before but based on their conversation alone, this was probably their first time encountering each other. "It's only fair that I know your age too, even if you're not anyone's age anymore."

As he complimented her, she flicked her hair in the same manner when Donald tossed a positive remark in her direction when both herself and Riku had gone to fight alongside Sora. Riku had passed her a Keyblade, taught her how to use it through his guidance. At that moment, Kairi knew that she was capable of doing more, of supporting her friends.

"Thank you," she said, feeling proud of her attire. It was a little more different than what she used to wear but it made moving around a lot easier, instead of those little slip-on shoes she used to don when she was younger but given the fact they lived on an island, it made sense — she could simply slip her feet out of her shoes and dip her toes in the cooling waters.

TAGGED // @edgar
NOTES // There you go

Eos must be another world, Kairi figured, that she did not know about. Neither Sora nor Riku has spoken about it; she figured that if they wanted to, they'd talk about it. Between the two of them, Sora was definitely the one who was more comfortable talking about things; Riku needed a little bit of coaxing. Had it not been for her, these two wouldn't have realised they were right next to each other the whole time.

They wouldn't have been able to come home, had it not been for her.

"There's an off-world portal just over there," she said, pointing in the direction of the gummi ship access point. As far as she knew, that was where Sora and Riku had dropped her off before they flew away to do whatever they needed to do. Kairi was certain that there were more exits but she hadn't gotten the chance to explore it yet. "My friends kind of dumped me here while they're off saving the world. They'll probably come back though. Where are you from?"

TAGGED // @edgar
NOTES // There you go

Kairi found herself a little stunned from the moment he took her hand and pressed a simple, chaste kiss to the back of it. At that moment, she concluded that this guy must be either a Casanova or something else entirely. Instead, she let out a light giggle.

"I was a resident here," she corrected him. "I no longer live here but it kind of looks like how I remembered it, with some changes here and there. I still could help out, just a little." It was a good way to familiarise herself, considering that she already had befriended a few villagers. There were some who remembered her and her grandmother and when asked about her lovely grandmother, Kairi found that she couldn't respond. 

The thought lingered in her mind: what had happened to her grandmother? She hadn't seen the old lady around, even after the worlds had been restored.

"It's okay. I've got enough munny for myself," Kairi said, indirectly rejecting his offer. If there was anything she had learnt over her course of training, it was that she needed to be self-reliant. At the same time, she didn't feel too comfortable about a stranger offering to pay for her. She gestured for him to lead the way to Scrooge McDuck so that she could get a taste of the famed sea-salt ice cream.

As their conversations veered onto the topic of homes, the older man spoke of his place; Kairi then realised that he hadn't gotten his name but she figured that she'd do it before they parted ways.

"Destiny Islands. We live a fairly simple life — there's the town area and there's the quiet housing areas, next to the beaches. Everyone knows everyone so we're kind of like a small community and we all help out whenever we can, should anyone need it," she explained. Kairi was often there to help out because she is the adopted daughter of the mayor. Most of the time, she volunteered to do so.

TAGGED // @edgar
NOTES // There you go. Hope this works.

As the both of them walked, Kairi listened to the man describing his homeworld. For a moment, she is reminded of Agrabah, as described by Sora: a city surrounded by walls and sandy expanses, with the Cave of Wonders somewhere in the far-off distance. He then pushed the topic back to her, about her island, and Kairi was more than happy to talk about the place she considered home.

"Well, it consists of the main island and the children's playground," Kairi explained, her mind drifting back to the life and times when they were kids: Selphie, Wakka, Tidus, herself, Sora and Riku would play together. If anything, the whole island was a community; everyone knew each other, whether they liked it or not. As the mayor's daughter, she was to set a good example for everyone else around her but to be fair, when she was a kid, there weren't too many expectations for her being perfect, especially since she had befriended two mischievous kids.

"The children's playground is not exactly for children but most of us played there while growing up. It's kind of a paradise away from the grown-ups, you know? It's not part of the mainland and most of us have to travel there by boat." 

TAGGED // @edgar
NOTES // There you go. Sorry for the late reply.

"I do miss the ocean. I wish we were connected to everything else," Kairi said. Being disconnected from most of the world sucked but because of that, Destiny Islands was full of people who knew how to sustain themselves. Even if Kairi did not how to fight back then, she knew how to survive. Setting up fires, being able to crack coconuts open to drink from the liquid within and putting a raft together – it was all thanks to her friends and her foster father that she knew how to do this, as well as the people of the island. "However, I think it's a blessing that we're not that connected either. It allows us to be self-sustainable."

Had she done much travelling before here? Well, she apparently had but within the depths of Sora's heart while her physical body was in a comatose state, its heart separated from its owner. "I have been to other places... well, kinda," she said, lightly scratching the surface of her cheek in an awkward manner. "It's a bit of a long story but there were places I went to see, thanks to my friends, and stories I have heard but never really stayed around for too long though. There were things to do."

And there are still so many things to do, she thought to herself. Kairi found herself wondering how many people knew of the existence of the Princesses of Heart, how many people she posed a threat to and how people sought after her, apart from the obviously evil beings she had ran into. It was as though they refused to remain dead or be buried in the ground.

TAGGED // @edgar
NOTES // There you go. Sorry for the incredibly late reply.

"Yeah," she agreed. Then again, Sora was the vivid, expressive sort and with Riku being ever so detailed, it was no surprise that she got the in-depth version of everything and how could they forget? They had been living lives of a normal islander and the next thing they knew, they were suddenly thrust into an adventure, one that they didn't expect to change their lives. It was hard to forget things that were thrown to them, especially when they never asked for any of it to happen to them.

"It's also because we're connected deep down," she expanded upon what Edgar said and what she thought of that one simple sentence. "Every single person we meet, we form a connection to them. I think that's how the power of friendship works."

There were places she wanted to go and oh boy, was she spoilt for choice. "I do," she said. The memory of the setting sun and for a moment, she was looking directly at Roxas in the eye but the voice that emerged from her being wasn't her own but her other half's, Naminé — this is her memory, of when she first met Roxas and introduced herself to him in Twilight Town.

"There's a place I want to go, filled with neverending sunsets. Where will you go?" she asked the older man, wondering where his next destination would be, if Radiant Garden was merely a stopover for him.

TAGGED // @edgar
NOTES // There ya go!