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

[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.]