driftfleet | walking in a winter wonderland. (MINGLE)

[ he was just sipping away at a hot beverage (he's not sure what it is, to be honest, he just wanted something warm and sweet... that's probably an unsafe idea, but eh whatever) when he steps outside and catches kaneis' rather strange method of ambling around. he raises his eyebrows, takes a sip of his drink, and follows, to catch up. ]

Hey. Not enjoying the weather either, huh.

[He'll actually stop in his step when he hears the familiar footsteps of Riku coming up, and wait for him]

[When he gets near enough, he'll give him a shrug]

Nah. I'm more of a spring or summer kind of guy. You?

[ aw, you do care, you grump!

riku scratches his cheek. ]

I grew up by the beach, so I guess summer's more my element. I've only seen snow once before this. [ ...... and that's as much as he's willing to share for today. maybe.

seeing a snowman ahead, he starts to veer before kaneis does. he doesn't know why he's doing it, but he doesn't need to. ]

[He makes a "tut" sound with his tongue] Lucky.

[But he notices that veer and...honestly, he appreciates it and follows along. And since he knows Riku probably wouldn't want to dwell on his home, he'll speak to partly distract]

My hometown was all built on a large hill. If you could find a spot high enough to see past the city walls, you could see all the way to the Fooji mountains on a clear day.

It's way warmer than Flanoir to the north, but unfortunately on colder years we'd still get a fair amount of snow.

[ riku makes a face. ]

I guess it's... pretty. I'd rather eat snow than walk in it. Your hometown sounds like a nice place, though. I wonder if it's a world I could find.

[ he frowns after a moment, though, and looks at him sidelong. ]

You alright?

[He makes a heh sound] Just try not to eat too much of it. And...I guess it wasn't perfect, but it had it's good sides.

[He has such conflicted feelings at home. But at that question, there's a pause before he gives a very slight shake of his head. Anyone else, he'd immediately deflect. But it is Riku.]

Just trying not to dwell on some bad parts of the past. Is it that noticeable?

When you live on an island, you can never have too much shaved ice. [ he laughs quietly, but sobers as he rubs the back of his head. ]

You avoiding snowmen? Noticeable. You not being okay? Not noticeable, unless you know what to look for.

Oh, well. That's...okay. If people just think I'm a crazy person to avoid, then that's fine. I can live with that.

[He hates people anyway!! But he REALLY doesn't want to talk about WHY he's avoiding the snowmen right now- so he's going with a subject change]

Anyway, we can talk about that later- did you see Lea- Axel- ...whatever he goes by these days is here?

[ 'we can talk about that later'?

ugh. riku shoots him a look, almost about to stop him before he brings up the subject of axel. he twitches and looks away quickly. ]

... yeah. [ good thing kaneis hasn't gotten a good look at him, actually. riku's not sure if whatever was split is healed yet, he can still taste some blood. ] It's Axel. So you knew him before, like you know me?

[He gives a nod]

He was my friend's other roommate- er, your roommate too I guess. He was an alright guy.

[ riku makes a noise, looking everywhere but kaneis in this moment in time. ]

You said Lea, and then Axel. So you know him as a decent guy, and... so do I. The one that's here... he's not from the same time.

No?

[He stops in his tracks and looks at him, lightly crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow- were those injuries on the kid's lip? He doesn't remark on it quite yet]

So...what? When he was Axel, he was an asshole or something?

[ he shoves his hands in his pockets; there's no eye contact. ]

It's complicated to explain.

[Oh yes, he's noticing that lack of eye contact.]

But yet, it seems like a complication I'm going to have to deal with now that I went and caught his attention by unwittingly calling him Lea.

So...don't you think it'd be better if I knew what's up?

[ at that, he grimaces, his eyes shut tight. of course that would've happened. now he just feels a little lost, between a rock and a hard place, and he stares at his feet like a child trying to hold onto their troubles as a parent pries them out. for a long time, he's tongue-tied. ]

Ugh. You're--you're right, but...

[ how can he even explain this? ]

Look, I don't know exactly when he's from, but... I think it's from before he even met his best friend. [ wouldn't he have asked about roxas, if they'd been best friends? and riku wasn't blind, he knew they were best friends. all three of them were.

wait, three? n-no, two. just roxas and axel, right? why had he thought... differently...?

he shook his head as if to expel that thought, fingers laced into his hair. ] When he was Lea, we were allies. When he was Axel, he and the rest of the Organization was chasing me down. He doesn't have a-- [ doesn't have a heart? no. he doesn't want to say that, that's not right! he never believed that story, and now he knows it's not true, but--! ugh. ]

If we're gonna talk about this, we need to do it inside. I can't think when it's this cold.

[He watches Riku seem to struggle with this whole explanation. He's not sure why. Was it something personal for Riku too? Maybe it was rude to ask but well....it'd be good to know if he caught the attention of Lea during his murderous days or something. Since you know, that'd suck.]

[Finally, he'll reach over and pat Riku on the head. Stop thinking to the point of hurting yourself man]

Alright. My ship's not far.

[And then he immediately turns and starts heading in the direction of the ship]

[ with kaneis, riku's hypervigilance is muted. he knows he can trust the other farther than he can throw him, so it's... okay.

even so, there's a small flinch when kaneis raises his hand, and he relaxes when it's just a pat. he exhales, pulling on his bangs before nodding. ]

Lead the way.

[ and riku is quick to follow. ]

[If he noticed the flinch, he doesn't remark on it. Instead he just silently walks towards the ship, this time trying hard not to take the long path even if it means going somewhat near a couple snowmen along the way. He's got something on his mind, a mission, so that can distract him on that.]

[Finally, they reach where the ship is docked and Kaneis punches in the keycode for the cargo bay doors to open, gesturing Riku to head in]

[ he gives another nod before heading inside, shivering slightly. oh light, thank kingdom hearts for warmth. he's so tired of the cold, and yet he keeps going outside... ]

I need to thaw...

[Yeah, he knows the feeling]

Let's go to the kitchen then. I can make you some tea.

I didn't know you knew how to cook.

[ it's a light tease--more to break the air for him than anything. ]

Making tea isn't cooking. It's heating water.

But yeah, I do know how to cook.

[ wait-- ]

You actually know? That's a first.

Yeah. [He shrugs] I learned it a couple years ago.

I was afraid no one knew how to cook in this fleet... [ SIGH. ]

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