IC CONTACT.

[limitstorm]

Hey. This is Riku. Uh... leave a message, and I'll get back to you.

Comments

[heartstorage]

[He rubs the back of his neck]

Yeah, I guess.

But...if you like doing it, you should ask. At least, think about it?

[limitstorm]

... I'll think about it.

[ he looks down at his mug, not at sora. ]

[heartstorage]

...Okay.

[he looks at Riku for just a moment, before looking at his own mug; watching the steam slowly rise]

[limitstorm]

[ he frowns at that, feeling eye son him for far too long. ]

Something wrong?

[heartstorage]

[There's a pause. There's stuff he could say but...]




....I think I burnt my tongue.

[limitstorm]

[ . . . ]

You're a real dork, you know that?

[ he's getting up, going over to the freezer with a new cup. here, have some ice for your tongue, ninny 8| ]

[heartstorage]

Am not.

[It could happen to anyone!!]

[Buuut now that there's a good amount of physical distance between them? Sora's going for it. He sets his mug of cocoa aside and turns around so he's on his knees, looking at Riku.]

Hey Riku....remember that conversation we had a few weeks ago? You know, about you talking?

[limitstorm]

[ his spine slowly tenses up. ]

Uh--yeah.

[ he shifts his shoulders as he looks back to sora. ]

What about it?

[ riku knows why he's bringing it up, but he wants to hear it from sora's mouth. ]

[heartstorage]

Well....you said you needed a few days, but it's been a few weeks now.

[He'll keep looking at him]

So I guess, I wanted to know...if you were ready yet.

[limitstorm]

[ between getting sick and the move down there, riku's scarcely given a thought to it.

but with sora speaking, and christmas being so near... he's feeling more charitable. he shifts again, and exhales finally, furrowing his brows. ]

... I think so.

[heartstorage]

[Riku if you talking about stuff can be counted as a Christmas Miracle, that's not good.]

[But Sora immediately perks up. He had been almost expecting a "no"]

Really?

[limitstorm]

[ he walks back over, not looking at sora. ]

New Year's good as ever, right?

[heartstorage]

[he tilts his head a little]

Uh, I guess?

[Honestly, he hadn't celebrated in the past couple years. You know, what between coma and wars, the time would often slip away from him]

[So yeah, he's not quite sure what Riku is getting at]

[limitstorm]

[ okay he'll spell it out for you ]

Resolutions, Sora.

[heartstorage]

Oh! Those things.

What about them? Do you got one?

[limitstorm]

Yeah, I do.

[ ... handing that glass of ice over to sora. ]

Don't you?

[heartstorage]

What is it?

[He'll take the glass, taking a piece of ice in his mouth and sucking on it. Sure, he sets goals for himself. Find his friends, stop the heartless, stop Xehanort. But official New Years resolutions?]

...Not really. The last one I remember making was to get better grades in school.

[a beat]

I didn't do very good on that. [seeing how he...dropped out of the 8th grade o o p s]

[limitstorm]

Didn't me, Kairi and you all make that same resolution?

[ ... ]

Guess only Kairi lived up to it.

[ he takes in a deep breath, though, chewing on his inner cheek before shrugging. ]

I want to be-- [ he pauses and fixes his words, clearing his throat. ] feel worthy of my title.

[ because if he says be, sora'll hound him about it ]

[heartstorage]

Mmhmm, it was a competition. Let's not remind Kairi.

[She'll never let them live it downnnn. He looks over at Riku, swallowing that piece of ice]

But you are- [Okay, stopping himself here!]

What makes you feel you're not worthy?

[limitstorm]

[ he makes a frustrated noise, and then shakes his head. ]

... when we were split up--right after I opened the door to darkness, I never told you what happened, did I?

[heartstorage]

[Listen, don't argue he has to remind himself.]

No, you haven't.

[limitstorm]

[ it's hard, talking about this--it feels like reopening a closed wound, like hacking it open. he grits his teeth as he tries to think, tries to word it. ]

... you ended up in Traverse Town. I ended up in Hollow Bastion.

[ he rakes a hand through his hair. ]

Maleficent... found me. It didn't matter much at first, but... when I told her about you, she said--

[ he purses his lips, and then shakes his head. he doesn't want to talk about this. he doesn't want to remember how much of an idiot he was. he doesn't want to remember-- ]

--that it sounded like you replaced me and Kairi, and didn't care about us anymore. You know that part, but... when I got to Traverse Town, after we met up, she pulled me aside. You thought I just disappeared, but I was still there.

[ and sora had gone back to his duties. rightly so, he thinks now, but didn't think back then. ]

To me, it looked like you just moved on--like you didn't care after seeing me once. And she had me thinking... you really didn't care. She just had to push a little, and I believed that you'd abandon me and Kairi, for them.

[heartstorage]

Riku...

[So that's exactly what happened. He remembered all the accusations that he didn't care about Riku or Kairi. How Riku wasn't willing to listen to much of what he had to say.]

[He knows they've moved past that, but he sure didn't like remembering it.]

And..that's why you don't feeling you're worthy? Because you believed someone like Maleficent?

[limitstorm]

If I believed someone like her--and if I let someone like Xehanort's Heartless into my heart, how can I really make decisions worthy of a Master?

[ he shakes his head slowly. ]

There're other reasons, but... they all come back to that.

[heartstorage]

[There's a pause from Sora, as he tries to sort all that out in his head.]

....I dunno, Riku. That was a long time ago. [relatively, anyway. Some days it felt like this whole ordeal has been going on forever.]

And....maybe I'm wrong, but what if the reason Master Yen Sid picked you to be Master was because you made those mistakes?