Eighth Link

[colorbymemory]

[Cambot is just hanging around the theatre deck keeping an eye on Nami as she works. It's kind of a mess, and she's getting it cleaned up.

She starts to sing while she works, looking a little surprised at first, then having fun with it, twirling a little when she walks.

When the song is over and she realizes Cambot was recording, she blushes a little and ducks her head, but hums while she continues to clean, occasionally singing in a low voice.]

Comments

[yabigfurball]

[Ammy doesn't have much to add...she just enjoys the song, and sits listening to it, looking happy.]

[colorbymemory]

[Namine notices and, still blushing a little, smiles.]

Do you like that song?

[yabigfurball]

[She barks once for yes. She also really enjoys watching the painting.]

[colorbymemory]

[Ammy should come down and hang out drawing with her sometime, then. That's even more fun than watching.

Nami smiles.]

I guess you'd be singing, too, if you could.

[yabigfurball]

[She gives a bit of a shrug, and trots in a small circle to show that this music bug seems to have translated into dancing for her instead.]

[colorbymemory]

[She can make an educated guess.]

I see. You have your own way of enjoying the music.

[yabigfurball]

[She nods. She also pulls out her paintbrush...her way of doing art is the same, though.]

[colorbymemory]

[Namine smiles.]

You paint? Maybe we could try that together sometime, then.

[yabigfurball]

[She nods again, and wags her tail...she'd really like that.]

[colorbymemory]

Great.

[She gestures to the room in general.]

This deck is the best place to work, so why don't we meet here sometime?

[yabigfurball]

[She nodded once for 'yes.' The theatrical deck did have a good amount of supplies and space.]

[colorbymemory]

[It's Nami's favorite place to work for just that reason.]

Okay. See you soon, but...maybe when I've finished cleaning up.

[She offers a sheepish smile. Cambot pans to show that yes, some parts of the deck are still in need of neatening.]

[halfdarkened]

[Riku listens, and a bit of a smirk appears as he goes to the other end of his room and picks up the guitar on the corner. He hadn't used it since Christmas. He then starts playing accompaniment!]

[colorbymemory]

[When she realizes this, Nami smiles, but keeps singing along with the guitar.]

[halfdarkened]

[And when she pauses, Riku then adds in his own verses.]

Just about noon, the hour I like to get up.
Got a routine, I shower, brush and then I've shaved
Check Cambot, Grabbin' some food, and filling my cup
Check again, back with Ven, but it's just like I'd saved

And so I'll check the riff
Just how bad could it be?
Chat with the folks who have become good friends to me
But then I'll look outside
Here indefinitely
And wonder when will our lives begin?

XD

[colorbymemory]

[Namine smiles.]

And we'll keep wonderin' and wonderin'
And wonderin' and wonderin'
When will our lives begin?

This is adorbs, just sayin'.

[halfdarkened]

[Riku starts to actually sing along with her... And seems to enjoy it! He takes up harmony, singing lower notes to hers.]

I hope each day
What sent us here
will bring us back to our loved ones so dear.
Things that have changed
back home that we need...
How much time will pass
us all by while
they've worried...?

[He sighs.]

It is.

[colorbymemory]

[Namine sighs as well, then looks through her drawings. Finding the one she's looking for, she holds it up to Cambot so Riku can see.

It's a picture of him, Kairi, and Sora all sitting on the play island.

They'll all be there again, someday.]

[halfdarkened]

[Riku looks up... And smiles. He looks down and paper rustling can be heard. After a second he holds up a picture of his own.

Dear Lord, did the pencil sneeze all over the paper?

Oh. No. It's actually a picture of Sora and Roxas and Kairi and Namine, much as he'd seen them in the World that Never Was. Just... REALLY. Badly drawn. But hey, it beats singing all that out.]

[colorbymemory]

[Namine's pictures don't always turn out well, either, and it's the thought that counts.

She simply smiles back, hoping that will do for now because really, talking like this is, in it's own way, more fun that singing.]

[halfdarkened]

[After a few minutes, there's the quiet sound of footsteps in the hallway. They pause outside Namine's door and a rustling sound announces something's being pushed under her door. It's another drawing. Still very bad. But it seems to be a sketch of Namine and Roxas sitting on a pier. Namine, having seen Sora's memories, would recognize it as one Sora and Kairi have sat on before.

Or at least, it looks like it. Hard to tell with his "talent."]

[colorbymemory]

[Namine finds the picture, looks at it, smiles, and then sets to work on one of her own.}

[A little while later, there are almost silent footsteps outside of Riku's door, and the sound of paper being pushed under the door. It's not as detailed as some she's done, but it's fairly obviously meant to be Riku, standing beside an obviously defeated Ansem, Seeker of Darkness.]

[halfdarkened]

[When Riku picked up the picture, he smirked. He leaves his room for a while to take up a noble quest: a search for crayons.]

[The next day, another picture is slid under her door. At least he can color inside his lines.]

[colorbymemory]

[Namine picks up the picture and, after a brief moment of surprise, smiles.}

{The next day another picture appears under Riku's door. It's him and her in Twilight Town, watching over Sora while he sleeps.]

[halfdarkened]

[Riku looks at the picture with a little nod of resolve. He looks to the far wall of his room. Whoever invented push pins was a genius.]

[Later in the day (as Riku sleeps in) a piece of paper is slipped under Namine's door. It's a drawing of Namine assembling a bunch of pieces of paper together like a jigsaw puzzle. Together, they make an image of Sora.]

[colorbymemory]

[Pushpins are very nice. Namine is making good use of them to help decorate her room with pictures.]

[Namine smiles a little sadly at the picture. Her response is a picture of her, Sora, and a fallen Replica.

She hadn't been able to repair everyone's memories.]

[halfdarkened]

[And thanks to push pins, a couple of hers are decorating his walls now.]

[That evening, there's a picture in crayon drawn on black construction paper. It shows the Replica and Riku on the same road, going different directions. Riku heads towards the right side of the picture, which is dark blue. The Replica heads to the left, where the sky is left an uncolored black.]

[colorbymemory]

[This picture goes up on the wall almost immediately after she gets it.

She has to think a bit about what to draw for her next picture. The next day, Riku finds a drawing of Namine and Kairi, standing back to back. Namine's half of the page is shaded as if cast in shadow.]

[halfdarkened]

[Again back to the white paper. It appears under Namine's door sometime in the afternoon. It looks like this one is partially traced, based on the linework. Riku is floating downwards in the foreground, traced out in gray. He's not colored. Namine is either calling out to him or reaching for him (it's hard to tell) and she's outlined in bold black and fully colored.]

Throwing in some novelverse here

[colorbymemory]

[The next picture is one of her more detailed attempts. The background looks like the corridor of darkness, with an opening to what appears to be Destiny Islands. Riku stands between it and Saix. Namine sits a little behind him and to the side of Riku, looking as if she's fallen (or been knocked) down.

And some minor headcanon

[halfdarkened]

[Riku again slides a piece of construction paper under her door. The paper is pastel orange and scribbled with areas of pink and white. A poorly-drawn Riku and Namine stand looking at each other on opposite sides of the page. Behind them are openings to different places of the World that Never Was.]

[colorbymemory]

[Namine tilts her head to one side in thought, then out come the art supplies again.

Back to more metaphorical pictures. This one shows two paths, both leading to deceptively similar places. If you look closely, though, at the end of one path is a sunset. At the end of the other is a sunrise.

In the picture, Riku stands at the beginning of the path facing the dawn.]

[halfdarkened]

[This one instantly goes to the wall next to the door.]

[In return, Riku draws something more metaphorical. The background is completely white. A black-gloved hand with black wristband reaches towards a figure holding two orbs. One looks like a sun. The other looks like a ball of smoke. The figure looks like Kairi.

But they'd both remember who was really standing in that light.]

[colorbymemory]

[Namine's smile is a bit sad when she sees this picture, but it soon goes up with the others.

The next day, she gently slides a picture of her holding a Kairi mask under Riku's door.]

[halfdarkened]

[Riku ponders the picture before hanging it and getting to work on a reply.]

[Again, the picture is on construction paper, but gray this time. The next picture is Namine holding a black rope which is going into a white hole. The mask is beside her. There's a small, silver-haired figure climbing the rope to safety.]

[colorbymemory]

[The picture goes up on the back of the door almost as soon as she receives it.]

[Her next picture looks simple--Namine trying to connect links in a chain with Riku's help. A closer looks at the links, though, reveals that they're scenes from Sora's memories.

So what if the help wasn't literal, it counted.]

[halfdarkened]

[Riku has devoted a wall to this. Looks like it'll be covered soon at this rate.]

[The next afternoon Riku slides in a picture with her in the foreground piecing the links together as the chain goes into a sleeping Sora's heart. Through a window, Riku can be seen in a black coat and blindfold, fighting what must be Dusks.]

[colorbymemory]

[Namine has her own "picture conversation" wall.]

[Before Riku wakes up the next morning, she slides a picture under the door. It shows Sora in silhouette, except for a heart shape at his chest. That's in color, with a picture of Riku forming one half, and a picture of Kairi the other.]

[halfdarkened]

[Finally, an alternative to that kitten poster.]

[It's evening when Riku finally responds with his picture. It's a picture of the right half of Kairi... And to the side maybe a foot away, is the left half of Namine. They're not whole alone.]

[colorbymemory]

[Nami doesn't think the kitten poster is that bad, but it's nice to have other pictures.]

[She doesn't get done with her next picture until evening of the next day. It shows small pictures of all of them--her, Kairi, Xion, him, Sora, Roxas, Ven Terra, Aqua, everyone from their world that she can think of--all interlocking like pieces of a puzzle that forms the shape of a heart.]

[halfdarkened]

[Riku's picture comes in late evening, probably after Namine has gone to bed. Riku tends to be up at ungodly hours. It's clearly a response to her last one:]

Sorry.-_-;;; Also, new pic exchange post for a new week?

[colorbymemory]

[Namine looks at the drawing for a moment, then puts it up as a reminder to be more cautious in how she puts things.]

[Her next picture shows small individual pictures of them all, with lines showing the various connections between them.]

[Enemy or friend, Nobody or Other, they're all connected.]