allsoend | A day with family remembered

Ven was getting used to showing up in places that he vaguely recognized but couldn't actually place. There was a lot of that here - he'd never been to this world, he knew, but he was distinctly reminded of three places he had been in the past just in his first, quick glance around. The first was Radiant Garden, with its gardens and its flowing water and its castle off in the distance. The second was the Land of Departure, also with its flowing water and its castle, but without the same types of gardens that this place seemed to share with Radiant Garden and the number of people around.

The third was Sora's heart.

He got the exact same feeling from this place as from when he returned to Sora's heart after his battle with Vanitas in the Keyblade Graveyard, the feeling of warmth, comfort, and peace. Not the way it was now, with Xehanort and Kingdom Hearts merged with him, but the way it had been.

It was this peace, and not wanting to disturb it, that made Ven stay back from the pair in front of him, although he observed them closely. Showing up in a living memory so close to these two meant they were important somehow, although how they were would have to wait to be seen.

This was, once again, a world that Kairi didn't recognize...but then again, she hadn't been to that many, and the ones she had were largely observed from within Sora's heart. In that sense, perhaps things hadn't changed so much. All she knew was that this world felt full of light and life...more acute even than her home.

She took a full moment to stare around at the buildings and then the people in front of them, taking them all in. They had to be showing up here for a reason...but that meant they had to find out where they were, and who they were with. She wasn't above a little bit of intrusion...she and Disney Town had managed fine in the previous memory.

She turned to her partner. "Ven, do you know this place?"

No one takes any notice of the new arrivals yet...two young people wandering around this plaza in the middle of the day is nothing remarkable, after all.

The nearby father tries to gently push away the fish bowl, and direct his son more towards his untouched sandwich. Come on, Toshi, Finny will still be there after lunch. Eat up!

The boy, Toshi, slumps over a little in his seat at having his pet pushed away. Awwwwuh!

You want to meet mommy at the fountain on time, right? We're going to be late unless you get eating, little lazy bum! Even though he was scolding him, it was clear the father did so with nothing but affection.

The feeling of this memory doesn't seem to quite associate with the father or son, or anyone else...but it's a strong feeling of contentment, seemingly from all around.

Edited 2013-12-17 06:23 (UTC)

The moment Riku showed up he felt something uncommon and very welcome: peace. He blinked, looking around. And slowly Riku's shoulders rose with a breath and fell with a sigh. He felt like he could almost smell the water in the memory, not to mention the bakery. It was almost like something from a childhood memory. While looking to the castle, Riku couldn't help but wonder what world this was.

A gentle smile slowly crossed his features.

Still, Riku stayed of to one side. There were enough people here to make it fairly easy, in theory, to blend in so long as he acted like he belonged here. So far most memories seemed best when simply observed. If nothing else just evaluating the situation was the best first step.

That said, it was very clear Riku enjoyed the peacefulness of the place.

This was, once again, a world that Kairi didn't recognize...but then again, she hadn't been to that many, and the ones she had were largely observed from within Sora's heart. In that sense, perhaps things hadn't changed so much. All she knew was that this world felt full of light and life...more acute even than her home.

She took a full moment to stare around at the buildings and then the people in front of them, taking them all in. They had to be showing up here for a reason...but that meant they had to find out where they were, and who they were with. She wasn't above a little bit of intrusion...she and Disney Town had managed fine in the previous memory.

She turned to Riku. "Have you ever been here before?"

No one takes any notice of the new arrivals yet...two young people wandering around this plaza in the middle of the day is nothing remarkable, after all.

The nearby father tries to gently push away the fish bowl, and direct his son more towards his untouched sandwich. Come on, Toshi, Finny will still be there after lunch. Eat up!

The boy, Toshi, slumps over a little in his seat at having his pet pushed away. Awwwwuh!

You want to meet mommy at the fountain on time, right? We're going to be late unless you get eating, little lazy bum! Even though he was scolding him, it was clear the father did so with nothing but affection.

The feeling of this memory doesn't seem to quite associate with the father or son, or anyone else...but it's a strong feeling of contentment, seemingly from all around.

"No, but... I can't help but like it." Smiling, Riku looked out across the way towards the castle, the bakery, and the people. "I just... I feel so at ease here." He crossed his arms, but Riku also looked at peace as well rather than introspective. He listened in on the nearby conversations. Riku kind of liked that father and son. He was a very patient dad.

And then there came the "lazy bum" comment.

Riku chuckled, very gently elbowing Kairi. "Hey look, a man after your own heart."

"Yeah...like this whole place is just happy right now." So then whose memory was this?

Kairi's attention was drawn there as well, and she smiled. This kind of typical family time she hadn't had the luxury of experiencing in awhile, and it was kind of nice here. She raised an eyebrow at Riku's elbowing. "Hey, at least he gets how you boys can take forever to do some things!"

There was something about this that felt...strange to her, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She couldn't call it familiar, or even nostalgic. It was more like trying to remember the little details of a dream that someone else had had and described to her. You felt like you were close all the time, but never close enough.

While she didn't say it out loud, since she didn't know what to say, it was likely Riku picked up at least some of her emotions.

The boy, Toshi, slumped over. Fiiiiine! He reluctantly let his dad push the fish bowl to the edge of the table, and took hold of his sandwich. He studied it, then started to try and scarf it down as quickly as possible...the sooner he could finish, the sooner he could play with his pet, after all.

The father again tried to calm him down, while still attempting to work on his own lunch. Smaller bites! In response, Toshi overdid it again and just went with nibbles.

A waitress with white hair came up to them and asked if they needed anything else, to with the father ordered another drink. On her way back, however, she spotted the two visitors just standing there in the plaza, and mistook them for customers. Did you two need a table?

In the meanwhile, out of the gardens entrance strode a gray and black striped tomcat, sniffing around for a scrap of something to eat.

"Well, it's contagious. If we get out of this mess I wouldn't mind visiting someday." Riku knew it could merely be the emotion from the memory, but that didn't make him want to visit any less. Could this be the waitress's memory?

"Girls take forever to do others, you know," he smirked. The smirk faded a bit when the fish bowl got pushed to the edge of the table. He couldn't help but think it was asking to be spilled.

For a moment he thought maybe they should take the waitress up on her offer, helping them to blend into the crowd, but he realized the problem with that. "Nah. We didn't bring any munny with us today." The best he could offer was a smile and a shrug. Left my wallet in my other pair of pants. The real ones, he thought amusedly to Kairi. It wasn't like they needed to eat as mere hearts anyway.

Riku did catch out of the corner of his eye the feline. Dunno why, but I really don't like that cat. He went back to looking at the father and son.

"Yeah...I wonder what this world is called?" Usually it was pretty easy to figure out the name of one world or other, but she seemed to be getting a lot of different signals from here.

"Maybe some things!" she replied in a joking manner. Didn't excuse the boys being lazy sometimes!

Kairi felt bad that they couldn't take the waitress's offer, as it just made her feel like they were sticking out more. We could always just find some Heartless and get munny from beating them, she thought back to Riku. Although she had the distinct feeling that they wouldn't find any Heartless in this place.

She didn't get any strong impressions of feeling from the waitress, so she wasn't sure if this was her memory or not. It was really difficult to pinpoint just whose memory this was, it seemed to be taking bits and pieces from everyone around them.

Then came the new arrival. It's just a cat, she thought back with a bit of a mental shrug. It was kind of strange to not like it on sight, although truth be told, she wasn't exactly wanting to pick it up and cuddle it, either.

The waitress looked a little confused, but then just shrugged. Why would this couple come to the cafe if they weren't going to get a table? Perhaps they were just heading straight for the gardens. Well, if you change your mind, let me know. And with that, she ran off to grab the drink for the father.

The father sighed at his son's antics. I thought you liked tuna. Do you want me to cut that into smaller bites for you?

No, I can eat it like this! Toshi replied, obviously being stubborn. He grabbed up his sandwich again and switched back to overly-big bites. This was a mistake, as he bit off more than he could chew, and ended up attempting to chew his too-big bite without spilling a lot of it back onto the plate.

In the meanwhile, life continued to go on around them. An older couple were sharing an ice cream together, a young woman was sitting by herself reading a newspaper, two sisters were feeding seeds to a couple of sparrows, and the cat began to creep closer to the table where Toshi and his father sat. Apparently, the reflections of sunlight glinting off of that fish bowl were very interesting to the feline.

Cocking his head slightly, he, too, wondered what the world's name was. It felt almost like it was on the tip of his tongue, but just out of reach. "...Good question."

"Just as many," he asserted, still smirking. Riku wasn't really lazy, and he remembered well how he caught Kairi hanging with Sora instead of working on the raft. He hadn't hesitated to call her out on it then.

Riku doubted they'd find any Heartless either. This place was far too at ease. Why DO they have munny anyway? Not like they need it. Then again, it didn't seem fair that hearts held by darkness could carry it and here they were, pure hearts, and they couldn't even carry a facsimile of it with them. It was a shame they couldn't open up a tab... right?

Riku briefly wondered if there was such a thing as a collective memory.

Yeah. It really didn't make sense, and Riku knew it. He resumed watching the scene unfold, listening to Toshi and his father and watching the couple.

Kairi couldn't help but feel the same way. "...I guess we could ask?" It felt kind of strange to just walk up to someone and ask 'what's this world called?' though. Especially since they were trying to blend in for now.

She raised an eyebrow at Riku again. Do you mean the people in the memory, or them back when this happened? I'm sure people needed to make a living even in a place like this. She heard of very few worlds that didn't use munny in some capacity. I guess we could always leave before having to pay a bill. Not like they'd find us, anyway! She joked. Although she was not-so-secretly thinking it wouldn't be fair to stiff a waiter, even in a memory.

Kairi caught on that kind of thinking, and continued it a little further. It would explain some of what they were feeling here...but then, how collective of a memory could they be talking about?

The bustle continued around them as Toshi continued to scarf down big bites of his sandwich. Eventually, the waitress returned with a glass of fresh lemonade, and set it down at their table. She gave them another curious look as she passed by again. Apparently she was still waiting for them to make a decision on the cafe one way or another.

Toshi leaned forward once the drink arrived. Can I have some of the lemonade?

How about you finish one sandwich first?

Pleeeease?

The father finally smiled back at his son. Apparently he had a face that was hard to resist. Okay...just a little.

He scooted the drink closer to the center of the table so that Toshi could take a sip. However, in his leaning over, he got part of that sandwich all over his shirt, as little kids did.

Oh, Toshi... His dad groaned, and pushed the lemonade aside again to try and get his son to sit down and be neater. This unfortunately spilled some of it on the table, which got Toshi reaching for it again.

Father and son were so engrossed in the situation with the lemonade and sandwiches that both failed to notice the current situation of their third party: the beta fish in the fishbowl. The tomcat stepped up onto the wall beside the table now, and observed the fishbowl with a hungry look. It considered this opportunity for a snack, and then decided to make a move for it while the humans were distracted. The cat plunged its head straight into the bowl, grabbed the fish by the tail and pulled it out.

The splash instantly grabbed Toshi's attention, and he turned with wide eyes to find his pet in the cat's mouth. FINNY!

Or we could read the signage. There's gotta be some sign for the library or town hall, right? It would require a little more work on their parts, but it was something. And worst-case scenario, maybe at a library they could ask for a book on the town history.

No, "they" as in Heartless. Why do they have munny? If their bodies went elsewhere, why did Heartless have it? Nobodies made better sense, though they had it, too. Hmm, they wouldn't, but honestly I'd rather not cheat a memory out of paying for food we can't really eat. Not only was Riku not exactly okay with it, he also found it not worth the potential risk.

If Kingdom Hearts was collecting memories, "collective" could be every memory of that world at that time.

Riku atypically acted without so much as a thought. On sheer impulse he quickly vaulted over the wall, making a dash for the tomcat with the beta in its mouth. There's not much time!

Yeah, I think so. It did look like there was a library nearby, or at least a few blocks away. This town really did seem to have everything. But she was more curious to see what this place held for them first.

You know...maybe it's something we shouldn't think about. She certainly didn't want to stop and think over it too much, because the idea of Heartless was always just a little bit upsetting for her. Call it a throwback to things that happened with Sora when they were younger. Yeah. It hardly seems fair, even to memory-people!

Her thoughts were interrupted by the cat's sudden grab for the fish. Her eyes widened in shock, and her first thought was that they should try and intervene, if for nothing else than the obvious fact that the boy really loved that pet. But to her even greater surprise, Riku beat her to the punch, vaulting over the wall and going after the cat right away. That was fast, even for him!

"Riku, wait!" She called after him, and broke into a run after the cat as well.

A few other patrons looked up in surprise as Toshi started wailing. FINNY! He's got Finnyyyyy!

His father started up and made a move to grab for the cat, but just missed it. He also saw the two visitors go chasing after it, and looked a bit baffled at this whole situation. Where'd they come from, anyway? Hey, wait!

The tomcat saw straightaway that it wasn't just going to be able to sneak off with this prize. It leapt down from the wall with the fish still in its mouth, and sprinted straight into the gardens, running in a zig-zag pattern for the nearest place it could climb or hide. This could prove difficult for the two of them, as there were plenty of both such places in that garden for a cat.

Leave it to Riku to wonder about something like that, anyway. He gave her a shrug, knowing that would be at the back of his mind a long while. Maybe we can open a tab later or get a job here. He wouldn't mind revisiting this world, though he knew they may not have time to.

Climbing, Riku could do if the cat decided to. He'd scaled many a palm tree, and a tree with branches would be a piece of cake. However, the zig-zag pattern proved troublesome for Riku. While he was very fast, Riku was also very tall, meaning that with a higher center of gravity, those hair-pin turns forced him to slow down. That didn't deter him in the slightest, though.

Kairi didn't have the same running speed as Riku or Sora, but she was certainly quick on her feet. And there was nothing like the sound of a crying child to spur one to action. Or maybe it was something else...she definitely felt like she needed to catch this cat, like there was something personal at stake.

She darted down the garden rows by Riku, eventually running off to another side from him so that she could attempt to cut the cat off. Talk about trying to herd cats!

Once she thought she was close enough, she attempted a grab to get it by the scruff of the neck.

Unfortunately for both Riku and Kairi, the cat managed to dodge both of their tackling attempts, and reached the nearest tree. It was a thin and branchy thing, just enough to support a cat's weight but difficult for anything else. It shimmied up the trunk with practiced speed, climbed out onto one of the branches and then jumped from there to a vine-covered, eight-foot stone wall partitioning one part of the gardens from another. It stared down at the humans trying to reach it for a moment, with the beta fish in its mouth still flailing about and attempting to escape.

The tomcat figured it would have to be fast if it wanted to keep its lunch. After a feline glare down at the two visitors, it threw its head back with a sharp jerk, and gulped the fish down whole. In a series of quick swallows, poor Finny was gone.

Perhaps the one good out of this was that Toshi wouldn’t be able to see his pet’s demise. His father, however, was still trailing after them through the garden paths. Hey!

Riku attempted to scale the tree, but the weak branches broke under his weight, losing him valuable time and a decent amount of dignity as he landed on his posterior in a flurry of leaves. There was no way he could scale those weaker vines. He returned that glare.

Just as he considered simply trying to float up there, the cat downed the fish. Riku felt strangely cold. "No..."

Kairi gritted her teeth and made her grab for the cat, but just missed it, and ended up stumbling around to the side to avoid running headlong into some bushes. She righted herself just in time to see the cat on top of the wall, and Riku attempting to follow...only for him to come crashing back down.

She ran over to his side, keeping one eye on the cat as she did. "Riku! Are you all right?"

Kairi stooped to help him back up, but it quickly became apparent that Riku was not all right. Following Riku's gaze up to the wall, she saw the cat swallow up that poor fish, and her heart sank.

She knew that Riku of course would care about trying to help out a little kid that lost his pet, but he was definitely reacting strongly here. Then again...she felt a lot of that cold sadness, too, and an odd sense of responsibility. Why wasn't she able to stop that cat from getting away?

The cat gave Riku what could pass for a smug look, as if knowing that it'd gotten away with some dastardly deed that specifically had annoyed the visitor, and started to clean its face. However, the smug look quickly turned sour, and it produced a few unpleasant hacking noises. Apparently, Finny was determined to get in the last word on his way out. Considering the cat didn't even try to run again, but just remained sitting on the wall looking miserable, that last word was 'indigestion.'

By that point, the father had caught up with them, and stopped just behind the two. He stopped to catch his breath, and his face fell once he realized they'd been too late to stop the cat. Oh, no...

He put his hands on his hips and sighed with the kind of resignation dreaded by every parent: having to explain to their child what happened to their pet. He even sounded a little guilty. I shouldn't have let him bring that fish with us...

The boy in question came running up towards them too, obviously too small to keep up at that breakneck speed. He looked and sounded terribly anxious. Dad! Did you get Finny?...

Riku took her help, still staring at that cat. A hint of a smirk crossed his face when it gagged, but it was short-lived. Served it right. At least the fish was a fighter.

It was a parent's responsibility to explain this sort of thing. That said, Riku felt like he had a stake in this, too. There was no doubt by now he and Kairi had been noticed by the father and likely little Toshi. As such, he stood nearby, ready to offer any support he could. It wasn't his fish, and they were strangers, but he still ran after the cat. He still involved himself.

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Take 2!

(Just gonna repeat this, sorry!)

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*TTLY listening to Peaceful Hearts from BBS*

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TTLY listening to Peaceful Hearts from BBS