destinystrings | A constellation of tears on your lashes

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A constellation of tears on your lashes

Who: Sora [AU3], his cat and you!
Where: Pretty much anywhere
When: April 7th
Summary: There's a new arrival and he looks like a Sora

[Okay, he is not afraid to fully admit that he is completely and utterly lost. This place is huge for an F3 without any sign of the creepy fog that hangs out at the edges of the area that spit people back out and leave them feeling sick. His Faciliberry doesn't seem to be working either which must be the reason he's been given this other weird thing.]

[So if he can't call anyone then Sora figured he'd just have to find his friends. Which is exactly what he's been trying to do for well over an hour with absolutely no success as of yet. They have to be around here somewhere and he's determined to find them before night ends. Who knows what Val has in store for them this time around. Probably something terrible and there was always the chance that there would be monsters lurking around.]

[Anyone who sees him from afar may notice some differences from the Sora they know. First off, this one seems to be wearing an over-sized coat that looks a lot like Leon's over his own normal clothes. Also there's something orange that seems to be wiggling around in his hood. Watch long enough and a matching tail will pop up.]

[Up close even more changes are noticeable - his pale skin, thin features and most importantly, a black collar encircling his neck. And of course, it'd be hard to miss the scars along both of his arms -- one long and jagged, with the other covering a large area. Strangers might be drawn away from all that thanks to the protesting mewls coming from Sora's hood. Taking a peek inside will give someone a good view of an orange tabby cat with a purple ribbon around their neck. Don't get too close or the cat might bite though.]

[Those who aren't brave enough to get that close may hear Sora talking. To the cat. Well, more like responding to the cat as if he can understand what she says.]

Five more minutes?

[Protesting meows.]

I know you're hungry but we have to find them.

[An unhappy howl.]

Okay, okay. Let's go see if we can find something.

[After his conversation with the cat Sora turns to the nearest person, not quite looking up at them and keeping his distance seeing as how the people in F3s are generally the violent sort.]

Excuse me. Can you point the way to the nearest pet shop?

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[Being here for a month has allowed Neku to... somewhat adjust to things. But after living the last eight months of his life on Alpha Omega? Getting used to a normal life isn't as easy as it might sound. Even everyday, banal things like going out to grab groceries seems really strange, even though he remembers doing it all the time back in Shibuya.

Or... so his memories say, anyway.

But, that's exactly what he's doing today. Not like he needs much - he can't really cook - but he can stockpile on instant stuff, and things that don't take a lot of preparation. Of course, those plans are getting interrupted by the sound of a very familiar voice nearby, calling out...

Neku turns his head on reflex, scanning the crowds and-- aha. A familiar head of brown hair, not too far away. But what really catches his attention is... that cat, and that collar...

... no way...]

... Sora?

[Oh.]

[Oh thank the Light.]

[Sora would know that voice anywhere. It's seared into his fake memories and his real memories. Hearing a familiar voice is definitely a relief because he was starting to think maybe he'd been here alone with a bunch of strangers. Or that maybe everyone had been terminated and he didn't know because he couldn't get his 'berry to work to look at the observation list.]

[So hearing it has him spinning towards his friend (Mittens protesting at the sudden action). There. One Neku accounted for. He moves through the crowd towards the other teen, stopping when he's close enough. There's a smile for his friend.]

[That is definitely a Facility collar around his neck if there had been any doubts still lingering in Neku's mind.]

Whew, I thought I might've been alone here when I couldn't get the 'berry to work. Glad to see you're here, Neku.

[Eyes drift to the area around them.]

Do you think that's the experiment this week?

[Sora hasn't quite realized what's going on yet.]

[... god, it's so good to see him here. When he hadn't come with them, he'd thought...

It doesn't take much for a smile to creep onto his face, either. He... never thought he'd see Sora again. Shows what he knows, huh.]

... yeah. Glad to see you, too.

[More than Sora realizes, probably.]

This... isn't the station, actually. It's... somewhere completely different. I thought it was F3, but...

[Can't keep Sora down. Not for long anyway. Even when they terminated him they just brought him back a couple of months later.]

[His gaze fixes on Neku's face, eyes widening a little at those words. Did they...?]

[Did they actually make it to a planet? When Val described the planets he certainly didn't picture this thriving city for their choice. Maybe it was that other planet. The one the Consortium abandoned.]

We're...planet-side? You mean, we finally landed somewhere? How long was I out of it?

[Rubs the back of his head because this is confusing.]

[Or within a week or two, considering. Though Neku had been out of commission for that one, but... Sora has always been a constant, even when other people have left. It's nice to have him around.

The smile on his face shifts into something much closer to a grin, though.]

No. This place is... I don't know. Like a second chance or something.

[At least, that's what it feels like.]

It's called Hinoto-ri. I've only been here a month, so I'm still trying to figure things out, but it's... a completely different place. We escaped, somehow. Josh is here, Shiki is here... so are Kairi, and Naminé.

[He's waiting for that reaction. He knows it's going to be good.]

Wait so...

[They're free. Really truly free and on another planet. It's hard to believe. This is what he's been waiting for for years, what he's wanted for years. A chance to get away from everything - the Facility, the Doctors, the Consortium, Val and the station. And now well, now he's not sure what to do or how to take it.]

[Speechless staring is a good reaction. It better be because that's what Sora's doing and staring at Neku like he just grew another head or something. Also gaping like a fish.]

[Then suddenly nothing else is important because Neku just said two names that threw everything out the window. He takes a step back. The names certainly caught him off-guard.]

[But they'd both been gone. Terminated for months. Could they really? Were they actually the same Kairi and Naminé?]

Are they...do they remember?

[When Sora actually gets to one of the city's pet stores, the one he enters will be comfortably sized - obviously not a giant superstore, but well-equipped with everything one needed to take care of a variety of animals. A little bell - set up to go off whenever someone enters or exits the store - rings as the door swings shut.

And that's Xion's cue to poke her head out from where she'd been organizing things in one of the aisles.]

Welcome! How can I help- Sora?

[The differences don't immediately register - not for Sora at least. Because that's a spiky head of hair and that's familiar enough. Instead her attention is drawn to the cat, and she frowns in puzzlement. Star was black-and-white, so where...

She puts down the dog toys she'd been organizing, walking closer and peering curiously at the cat.]

Who's this? Did you-

[And then she gets a closer look at Sora himself, and suddenly it hits her. Her eyes dart from his face, to the collar on his neck and then back up, widening.

Give her a moment. So far as computer metaphors go, Xion may not need to reboot but she's lagging pretty badly]

[He'd been kind of shocked when he opened the door and stepped inside the pet shop. Two of his friends, two that had been burned and scattered were alive. It was hard to believe. The news was good, some of the best news he'd had in a while actually and while he was eager to see them he needed a moment to collect himself. Needed to make sure he was ready to stay with them for hours and hours.]

[That meant running an errand first so that Mittens would have something to eat. The bell doesn't quite register as the door closes behind him and he stares at the shelves blankly for a minute.]

[Right up until he hears a familiar voice that literally has him jolting back into a conscious state. Sora's eyes look up just in time to see Xion frowning at him. Neku hadn't said anything about her being here too. Did he not know?]

[Then she's moving closer, getting a better look at the cat peering around him and Mittens is responding. Shifting her little orange body to crawl up onto his shoulder so Xion can give her appropriate greeting scritches. The cat obviously familiar with the person who'd approached.]

[Sora opens his mouth, ready to speak - to say something about how he was glad she was here when he notices the lack of a collar around her neck. His mouth snaps shut suddenly and he clears his throat. So many times he's done what he's about to do. It doesn't really ever get easier. Still, Sora gives her a smile - not his best work honestly but today's been pretty crazy even for him.]

Yeah, uhm, hiya? [p a u s e, before he motions to the cat on his shoulder.] This is Mittens.

[After a moment she seems to jerk out of her surprise, and... focuses on the cat at first, because that's easier. She does understand the universal language of cats and reaches forward to give the cat scritches]

Mittens...

[Still... so far as icebreakers go animals... tended to help. After a moment, Xion looks up at him, slight worry (and the usual meeting-Sora nervousness) etched on her face. She recognizes that collar]

You... just got here, right?

[The cat approves if the purring and pushing her head further into the touch is any sign.]

[Animals are definitely a big help. He doesn't know what she knows, what she doesn't know. Obviously though the collar means something to her. Sora gives her a nod.]

Maybe an hour or two ago. I was looking around. [Trying to find people.] I came in to get some stuff for Mittens. And I haven't got any munny but... [Now Sora pats down his pockets and pulls out the passcard.] I've got this thing.

[It's hard not to laugh as he watches Sora process it all. He knows it's a lot - he'd had a hard time taking it all in at first himself. But it's also a lot of really, really good things. It needed to be said.]

They remember everything. It's like... I don't know. Like they were brought here from just before they were terminated.

[Which... doesn't really bode well for them. If that's the case, that means that they've also been terminated back at the station. But he doesn't want to think about that. They're here now. That's what matters.]

They gave me the rundown when I first got here. Kairi recognized my collar.

[It almost seems too good to be true. They'd been gone for months, dead and now here they were. Alive and not...terminated. How was that even possible?]

But that's not... This is confusing.

[He puts a hand to the front of his head. Trying to figure it out is going to give him a headache. Best to just accept it and be happy for now.]

Yeah, she would.

[Welcome to his life, Sora.]

... yeah. It really is. I don't get it, either.

[He doesn't even know if Kairi or Naminé would be able to explain it better or not, so he can't give the comfort and assurance of that. It's bad enough being lost himself, but when he's trying to explain it to someone else...]

I told her you were okay.

[He could understand if they'd been brought back but for them to have been taken from before termination. That's something he would have remembered.]

Makes me feel like Val is playing a trick on us.

[But if Neku says their free, then Sora will believe it.]

Good. That's good. Did you tell them about...Roxas and Lea?

[Yeah... it's a little suspicious. Neku doesn't want to doubt any of this, but there's always going to be some hint of it in the back of his mind. He can't help it.]

Yeah. Oh, uh. Don't mess with your collar, by the way. It'll still shock you. Josh found out the hard way.

[At the mention of those names, though...]

... no. I didn't. Just you and Riku.

[There will probably always be a bit of doubt. He shrugs at that.]

I'm pretty used to the shocks by now. They don't really bother me anymore.

[Ah, that wasn't...something he knew. Something he's not sure he wanted to know. His head tilts forward, hiding his face from Neku.]

Riku too?

Even the really bad ones?

[Jeez, Sora, that's... he doesn't know if that's impressive or what.

His surprise fades pretty quick, though, and he glances down at the ground.]

I don't know if he's here or not. There's a lot of people, it's hard to say... When I got here, though, it was just me, Kairi, Naminé, Shiki and Josh. But if you're here now, too... there's always a chance.

Even the really bad ones.

[The scorch your neck sort. After getting whole body shocks from Val continuously for hours it's not hard to be able to take them.]

[It's not a pleasant feeling that settles in his stomach at the news. Last time Riku was terminated he came back an entirely new version.]

Yeah. Just have to hope he shows up too eventually. [His words aren't as hopeful as when he told Neku that Shiki would wake up.]

[Kairi was honestly lucky that the owners of the flower shop she worked at were too fond of her to fire her too easily. When she received and read the text from Neku that Sora, her Sora, had finally arrived in Hinoto-Ri, she dropped a vase straight on the floor out of her shaking hands and shattered it into pieces. Worse yet, she bolted straight out of the shop and onto the streets far before her shift was due over without even a word to her bosses about where she was going, eyes darting wildly even though she had no idea where to go. Ah--! A thought occurs, despite the intense and dizzying adrenaline running through her veins and causing her head to go foggy with her sheer overwhelming feelings. Summoning Peepsta Hoo forth, she lets the Dream Eater turned Persona flutter to rest on her shoulder, eyes closing as she casted forth a CommLink directed at Sora. Hopefully she wouldn't accidentally catch the other Sora who was already here...]

Sora?! Where--!

[Her speech come out almost sort of jumbled, as if she was rushing to get all of her thoughts out at once yet settling on a few simple words. Screw everything else in the world right now, Sora was here. Though... it didn't really occur to her that having her voice appear in his mind when he had only just arrived might strike as disconcerting and alarming.]

[Okay he was not expecting that to happen. His startled yelp disturbs Mittens and he very nearly drops the bag in his hand all over the street.]

Geez Kairi, give me a heart attack.

[Wait. Wait. That was...Kairi. In his head. Or what sounded like it was in his head anyway. He might not ever get used to that. But that's not the important part.]

[It's Kairi. Neku had told him that she was here, her and Nami. But hearing her voice makes his heart clench. He'd refused to fully accept it. Wouldn't go into their room when they'd both been terminated.]

[Here she was, one of them anyway, talking in his ear and he crumbles to his knees in the middle of the street. Uncaring about the people staring around him. He has to say something but his brain is filled with Kairi's name and his mouth feels like cotton's been stuffed in it.]

Kairi? I'm a couple of blocks from the pet store Xion works at.

Y-yes, it's me. A few minutes, just a few minutes and I'll be there.

[She shuts the feed off, and despite it not being stated in any words, Sora would clearly be able to tell that the connection was no longer there, almost as if a switch had flipped off in his mind. Kairi takes off of a run, weaving through crowds and muttering small apologetic remarks any time she banged into someone, pushing herself to the limit until she reached her destination; no time for idle walking now. She skids to a halt the moment she sees a mass of spiky brown hair, chest rising and falling fast and barely able to catch her breath. Despite this...]

[Kairi stumbles forth to meet him, eyes wide and expression laced with disbelief. She couldn't believe it, it was really him... it couldn't have been any other Sora. She reaches out one hand towards him tentatively, as if afraid to discover it was all an elaborate ruse if she were to actually touch him. Kairi had hoped, prayed every night to whomever would listen for this day to come, that more loved ones from Facility would come to find haven in this place; maybe Philemon really did feel sorry after what he did in Animus. Thank Light...

Despite several changes to her appearance, such as a fuller and more nourished figure, skin that no longer had the pasty white quality of artifical light, and a star clip pushing back her overgrown bangs, it was obviously the Kairi he knew from back then. Black collar fastened around her neck, long hair pulled back into a high pony tail, battle and test scars dotting her body... it was definitely her. Not that the pure shocked and overjoyed expression she had would have hidden that fact anyways.]

You're... you're really here.

[The sudden loss of her voice hurts and he has to remind himself it's just a few minutes. He uses the time to collect himself, rub at his face and get to his feet. By the time that's done she's approaching and he can't do anything but stare at her with wide eyes.]

[There are so many changes: good ones. But there was no hiding the familiar things. And he knows he looks different too. No collection of hidden scars that had been his appearance when she'd first arrived or how much better he'd looked after returning and gotten himself a new body. Even different from right before she'd gotten terminated. His scars more visible, more vicious-looking.]

[Sora just takes a long moment to soak in everything about her and then suddenly it's not enough. His bag of newly purchased cat things fall to his feet but it doesn't matter as it spills all over the sidewalk because he's stepping over it and into Kairi's space. Arms wrap around her tightly and he practically buries his face in her hair like both will confirm that this is real.]

I'm really here.

[There's no mistaking that spiky tuft of hair. Even with the coat, the added height, and the cat, Riku'd know his best friend anywhere. But something's definitely off. This Sora can't be the same as the one he already met. Given that they share a living space, any differences even from afar stick out like neon pink paint on a black background.

And Riku, being the curious guy that he is, proceeds to trail after Sora, wandering closer and closer. As he moves, he catches sight of the other differences. The collar, the scars, it's enough to prompt a gasp out of him.

And when Sora turns around, he'll find one younger Riku staring awstruck and rubbing his eyes.]

...What happened to you?

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A constellation of tears on your lashes

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[At the pet store] Let me know if this is okay

it's beautiful

/)~(\

<3

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shopping district? C: