You'll Find Us Chasing The Sun [Roxas and Sora]

“When a world falls to Darkness Traverse Town take its survivors. Guess Selphie and the ex-Radiant Gardeners ended up here.” Roxas speculated in response to Kairi’s reminiscence, dimly recalling what a certain cryptic angel had half-explained in the Dreamworld. The eternal night of Traverse Town was softened by the hazy light of constantly lit street-lamps, illumining alleyways and cottage terraces just enough that bustling city life could continue. In a way Traverse Town was a mirror of his adopted home. Twilight Town was a quiet placid port city caught in the waning hours of evening. Traverse was a busy metropolis chock full of refugees from thousands of fallen worlds beneath nightfall. It wasn’t bad exactly. Roxas was enough of a traveler now to appreciated electricity and running water whoever he could find it, but it reminded him of…

Then came Kairi’s name in a voice that Roxas had to double check wasn’t in his own head. Open-mouthed shock at the Sora being both corporeal and still in the Light left Roxas open to a hug-ambush. The embrace brought on an awkward cardboard rigidity from a young man whose violent two years of life hadn’t included much in the ‘hugging’ category. The unsolicited embrace brought on a broad mixture of feelings, too tightly wound to properly untangle. The urge to shove Sora away mingled with the need to beg forgiveness, followed by resentment and relief each in their turn. Roxas wasn’t sure how much Sora remembered of what might or have not happened, the literally heart-breaking interlude in the world of dreams. Honestly, feeling Sora now, very much alive and whole, Roxas reminded himself that his memory was far less reliable then his senses.

This was real. They were both somehow real at once. Guess sometimes you just have to accept the miracle, even if something in your Heart knows theres a catch. For now, it was enough.

“Workin’ on it,” Roxas murmured quietly, succumbing finally and doing his awkward best to return the pressure of Sora’s embrace. “Thanks...thanks for giving me that chance,” he said softly, locking eyes and briefly clasping shoulders with the other youth before parting. Dream or no, that didn't change the sense of indebtedness.

Kairi @dungeon

@tapir Kairi
(ooc: thread chronology be damned.)

“Yeah,” Roxas affirmed with a small smirk as Sora admitted to binging on the sugary stuff. It definitely wasn’t surprising, something you might guess after being with Sora for a bit. Roxas was even pretty sure he’d technically already known that, in the weird subconscious way that defined that his para-existence.

Yet, it was different actually hearing it somehow, known or not. Most of what he and Sora shared was innate, neither asked for nor willing giving. Heck, they could’ve have had this whole conversation instantly with a glance probably. But being told and asked things, however mundane, had a far more solid sense of meaning that Roxas couldn’t really explain.

Guess the closest analogy was Lea being his friend, which obviously didn’t need to be spoken in order to be true, but him saying it out anyway was reassuring in a bone deep way. “Lea had to teach me that I couldn’t just eat one kind of food,” the Key of Destiny confided back, his own willingness to share the anecdote surprising him. “Otherwise I would’ve just stuffed my face with ice-cream twenty four seven.” Most of what’d went down in the Organization wasn’t exactly casual conversation material, but the ‘Zombie Days’ were pretty harmless.

The boys meandered their unhurried way over to where Kairi was getting settled in the cafe, a simple affair of wood chairs and candlelit tables under a overhanging second-story. Sora’s followed question received a surprised blank look, that devolved into an awkward frown and shifting of the eyes as Roxas struggled against the easy answer, simply regurgitating his gut instinct on whatever Sora liked. The truth won out. “I don’t…”

But Sora’s prescient mercy evinced palpable relief that washed over Roxas’ features like a cup of cold water poured down his face. “Yeah I’ve no idea,” he admitted. Yet instead of emptiness, something Lea had said more recently filled that hole instead, advice that finally clicked when looked at from a different angle. A ‘butterflies in the stomach’ feeling of gentle wonder brushed aside any sense of alienation. “But hey,” Roxas raised blonde eyebrows to his Other with a knowing nod, acknowledging the kindness before continuing. “This is finally my chance to find out right?”

He plopped down in a seat at the three-seater restaurant table before opening up the menu. There was a moment of pensive frowning as he scanned the it, obvious incomprehensible at the lines upon lines of dish titles quickly mounting.

“Kay,” said Roxas finally, lowering the menu to look up at his companions sheepishly. “I might need your’re guys’ help picking out what to start with though….”

@dungeon  Kairi