kingdomdressing | (no subject)

['sup, kid. There is a silver-haired young woman over here, probably not the type of person he's used to. She is staring.]

[Look at him getting all tense and defensive. No, she's definitely not the type of person he's used to, nor is this place anything like home.]

What are you looking at?

[She starts to speak, stops, freezes. Oh god. It's not a spell, is it? Oh god, he's tiny, what does she call him-]

... Are you okay?

What's it matter to you?

[Concern from a stranger? Something unheard of, and he's getting so incredibly defensive right now.]

[Well this is mildly annoying. She's reminded of herself.]

You're bleeding, in case you haven't noticed.

Duh I've noticed. I'm not stupid.

[But he's thinking maybe you are, jeez.]

[No you. She puts her hands in her pockets, shifting her weight.]

Well, that's why I asked. It's not usually a good sign.

It always happens after an operation.

[...You probably don't want to see under those bandages, Riku.]

Operation?

[Maybe not, but now she's curious.]

That's none of your business.

[That was near growled out, really. Too bad, Riku.]

Then don't bring it up.

[You are an annoying little tease of information, aren't you?]

Should you be moving around like that if you just had an operation?

You're the one who brought up me bleeding. And I'm fine. It's not like anything's gonna open.

[She fights off rolling her eyes, because he still brought it up, and looks at him seriously.]

You should be resting anyway. How do you know?

Because it's not the first one, and it only opened up once.

[...And that had been from something other than walking.]

Only once.

[She is so unimpressed, but she'll back off.]

Fine. Just try to be careful. You've probably noticed, but you're not where you were ten minutes ago.

...yeah, I noticed. Where is this?

[That defensiveness is giving way to a bit of worry, as much as he tries to hide it.]

[A-Aw.]

...consider it a crossroads between worlds. There are countless worlds, and most of the time they never meet. This place... pulls you in from your home. Whoever it wants, whenever it wants.

That sounds stupid.

[And like a lie. He looks a little suspicious of that explanation.]

I know.

[She can totally introduce him to ~~an Axel~~ another Riku, if he wants some kind of proof.]

[Cloning. Siblings. Why should he believe you.]

[She's not expecting him to. One of her hands comes up so she can rake her fingers through her hair.]

Look, I want to help you.

Why? What's in it for you?

[He doesn't believe someone might be nice just because they can be. Not to some random stranger.]

[He should meet a Sora sometime. Or Kai, because Riku isn't being nice just because of that. He's not a random stranger.]

Nothing. But you're stuck here now, and you need to know what this place is about.

[That's just what it seems like to him, alright?]

I could learn on my own.

[Yeah, she figures.]

Sure. But it would be better if you found out now, and not the hard way.