[011//Audio & Commentlog] More 4th wall fun :D

[oathbreakers]

K--Kairi!

[Riku sounds surprised, but also excited. What has he found?]

You've got to come see this. Deck 12--around the left side of the luggage.


[Riku's on the luggage deck, off to one side sitting on the floor. Scattered around him is an entire collection of interesting things, including a bunch of Disney movies--but what -Riku's- looking at is a game. Yeah, he's holding Kingdom Hearts I and II, and is staring at them both. There's a PlayStation 2 nearby, and you can bet he's planning on figuring out how to play these things.

What in the -worlds- has he found here?]

Comments

[lightwithin]

Hey!

[Distracted for a moment from Riku's mood, Kairi reaches over and starts messing the game controller.]

It's that dog! I know that dog. I followed him here.

[She succeeds only in running game!Sora around, getting him attacked by heartless, and triggering a few sequences where Donald and Goofy are looking for Leon.

Kairi pouts. Stupid game.]

[sunnysidesora.livejournal.com]

[Sora's face doesn't light up like it did earlier. When he saw his friends sitting here, playing around. It softens, sure, and his grin spreads, but it's not the same. Donald and Goofy are his best friends, sure. But they're a different sort of best friend. Riku and Kairi could never be replaced.

If only Riku could have understood that. Right now, anyway. But he doesn't comment, instead continuing on with the game.]

Pluto? You followed him... here? [That was weird.]

[Speaking of weird. Sora groans. Leon just kicked his sorry ass.]

[oathbreakers]

[Unfortunately, Riku doesn't notice it--he's no longer actively giving Sora the could shoulder, though! Although that might be due in part to the game.

Oh, hey, look! It's him! The scene is quick, but it's already enough to illustrate the differences between what had happened to him and what had happened to Sora. Sora had woken up in Traverse Town--a refugee town. He'd woken up in Hollow Bastion, where the only company were the Heartless. And Maleficent.

Sorry, guys, Riku doesn't have much to put in.]

Does that count as the score being 3-0 now?

[Or not.]

[lightwithin]

[Kairi nods. It makes no more sense to her. But she's recognized the place Riku woke up too. That's--]

You woke up there?

[That's... Not good.

And then Donald and Goofy land on game!Sora's head.

Kairi can't help it; she laughs.]

[sunnysidesora.livejournal.com]

[Sora makes a face at Riku; no, that did not count. And oh lawd he winces. Two full grown Disney boobs falling on his head? Yep, that'd hurt.]

Where is that? [Derp derp, Sora you know exactly where that is.]

[oathbreakers]

[And Riku can't help it either; he snorts when Donald and Goofy land right on top of Sora. Nice going. But he doesn't stay like that for long--as Sora's fighting Guard Armor, he shifts his eyes away from the screen, avoiding their gazes as he answers Sora's question.]

It's called Hollow Bastion.

[lightwithin]

You know that.

[Kairi's still half-smiling; Sora, you dope. You should know that.]

It's where I came from.

[The irony in Riku ending up there is not entirely lost on her. But the battle's over and people are talking. See Riku? It was all to find them! And-

Kairi laughs; Sora's face!]

[sunnysidesora.livejournal.com]

[He grins.] Yeah yeah, I know. I was makin' sure you both knew. [Liar. He knew where it was, knew they knew. He's just trying to lighten the mood; that's all.]

[Oi. Looking at that expression makes his cheeks ache in remembrance. HHe rubs his face with a wince.]

So you really did come from Hollow Bastion?

pretend this is a good eyebrow-quirking icon! XD

[oathbreakers]

[What--Sora, what in the worlds are you doing there? Riku actually cracks a grin there; Sora is such a dork.]

Okay, my turn now.

[He reaches over to steal the controller back, flipping through all the tutorials and explanations as Kairi's answering Sora. He goes through the town once more and--]

Hey, where's this door lead?

[Look, he's found Merlin's place! And Sora's having another hallucination of Kairi--you seem to be having a problem with those, Sora. Riku -might- be quirking an eyebrow at you for that one.

Brings new meaning to the idea of "I see you everywhere I go."]

[lightwithin]

Mm-hmm. I only remembered after this. And well... It was different, then.

[Kairi doesn't really notice the hallucinations. It makes a weird sort of sense to her; the parts where she shows up are the same parts she vaguely remembers being aware of.

But something else is happening. Wait, that shiny round spot - They've forgotten to save! As Riku goes to leave, Kairi tugs the controller away.]

Wait-!

[Save! Oooh, 'gummi ship?' Kairi grins, and after a few button presses and some instruction screens, she proceeds to crash into every obstacle from Traverse Town to Wonderland.

She is an awesome pilot.]

[sunnysidesora.livejournal.com]

[Here is where Sora chimes in and lunges for the controller.]

K-Kairi! You're gonna crash! [He's half sprawled on her lap, half on the floor, wrestling the controller into his own hands and, miraculously, steering the ship the last half a minute, to Wonderland. Unharmed. Phew.

Okay. That's done; he tosses the controls back to Kairi, fitfully ignoring all those visions. He hadn't chosen to see them. He just.. Had.]

[oathbreakers]

[Riku, meanwhile, is laughing openly at Kairi's mad piloting skillz.]

I don't think you should be pilot, Kairi. I think you let one of the Heartless ships pass by without running into you.

[He's grinning now, and as they make their way through the opening scenes of the world and into an area called the Lotus Forest, things almost seem normal.]

[lightwithin]

Hehe. Well... We made it, didn't we?

[Thanks to Sora. Yeah she's going to just keep playing.

Except that she hasn't taken two steps into the Lotus Forest before she's being attacked by some fire-shooting heartless and some giant drum-bellied things which chase her all over the place.

Game!Sora promptly succumbs to darkness.]

Oh.

[Pout.

Kairi offers up the controller. Her turn is clearly done for now.]

[sunnysidesora.livejournal.com]

[Sora huffs, puffs his chest, and takes the offered controller before Riku can snatch it up. Watch these mad skillz. Seriously. They'll be here in a minute. Really.]

Augh! I hate those stupid Heartless! Stupid barriers.. stupid.. fat heartless.. [Grumble. He hasn't died yet, but- but!]

[Spoke too soon. He whines, falling back dramatically as the game!him floats up, unconscious, asking for a replay.

[oathbreakers]

[Riku grabs the controller without even a word. It's -his- turn now; he'll school you just like he always did on the islands, just you watch.

At first, Riku seems to be doing okay, rolling to the side and coming up behind one of them and--]

Hey!

[Getting slammed into by the other one. From there it's only a few moments until he dies as well, unable to get out of the way. Siiiiigh. They fail.

Riku frowns at the continue screen, then shakes his head and hands the controller off.]

Kairi, your turn again. Try messing with the equipment or something.

[lightwithin]

[Kairi does just that. It takes a few minutes messing with the menus, and as she's equipping things, she shoots Sora a grin.]

I didn't know you collected bangles.

[She copies Riku, jumping and dodging around and behind, especially when the things turn purple. It takes her a good while and several potions, but eventually they're all gone.

That is, until she walks into the next section.

Kairi hands off the controller to Sora.]

Your turn.

[sunnysidesora.livejournal.com]

[Sora has been laying down still, this entire time. Even if he did peek up to watch Riku fail. Oh he cackled at that one. Serves him right, the jerk. But up he gets, watching Kairi as she fusses through to the next scene.]

Eheh. They're helpful?

[And suddenly the controller is back in his hand. On to find the last piece of evidence! Which he does so promptly. After all, he knew where they were. Strategically avoiding heartless for the time being, he rushes back to the Queen's area, ready to save poor Alice. Even if... Sora huffs a sigh. Riku can fight this one.]

[oathbreakers]

What? Why me?

[He doesn't -want- to fight this one! He knows what happens too. After all, it's partly his fault.

But he can hardly explain -that-, can he? Sora's already made it obvious that he wouldn't understand. So Riku grudgingly accepts the controller, struggling his way through the battle with all the card soldiers. At one point, a blast of fire goes awry, hitting the queen--and suddenly half the soldiers are gone, flocking to her to make sure she's okay.

Riku grins, going back to taking down the tower. It falls quickly enough, especially with only half its protectors, and then they're turning the curtain around to reveal an empty birdcage.

Who didn't expect that?

Riku's definitely not making eye contact again, though, even as he passes the controller off. No, thanks, he'll take it again when it's -not- hitting so close to home.]

[lightwithin]

[Light all the lights? Well... Okay then. Kairi gets a nasty surprise when she has game!Sora sit down at the tea party table. But once she gets down to ignoring the heartless and focuses on finding the lamps, it's not all that hard.]

... This cat isn't very friendly.

[Ooh! It's a big battle! It doesn't take Kairi nearly as long to get the hang of this one. It's mostly jumping around, hitting the thing as much as possible when it falls down, and steering clear of the fire.]

I won!

[And she hands off the controller while she waits for her delicious cut-scene reward.]

[sunnysidesora.livejournal.com]

[Cut scenes are what it's all about, man. Even if Sora is struggling through a nasty case of Deja vu. He takes the controller next.]

[Still, he sits through it, bottom lip chewed upon as the game version of himself locks the keyhole. Out pops the gummi piece! And onto a new world is it? I think so.]

Uhh... Did I go to the Jungle or the Coliseum next... [He ponders over it for a moment, but in the end, Deep Jungle it is. He sighs.]

It was totally Donald's fault. [Crash. He winces again. Yeah. That had hurt like a mofo. Stupid treehouse.]

[oathbreakers]

You don't have to play them in the same order you went there, you know. (8|)

[For the most part, Riku's not piping up too much throughout this level, though he -does- give another eyebrow lift when Sora's hallucinating Kairi again. Jeez, man. Even if Kairi's heart -was- within yours, that's just getting ridiculous.

He -does- notice how Sora tells Tarzan that he's looking for both him and Kairi, though. And for a moment, he starts to question things.

But then they're moving on and Sora's finding the slides around the campsite, and for some odd reason one of them seems familiar.

Riku nudges Kairi.]

Was that because of you, then?

[lightwithin]

Yeah, sure.

[Kairi grins. She might've failed piloting in the game, but Sora crashed for real. When Riku speaks, she nods.]

I think so. I - heh - That place is a lot like home.

[Though home never had hippo-stepping-stones, or a tree-house full of gorillas.

It's hardly surprising when Clayton turns out to be a bad guy. Well, Kairi isn't surprised.]

He's... Not a very good liar.

[A snake? Really?]

[sunnysidesora.livejournal.com]

[Sora shrugs it off, tongue bitten between his teeth as he battles off against Clayton.]

He is. I didn't like him from the start. He's just reaaaally creepy, in my opinion. [Well. Sure he'd gone along with Tarzan and Jane, but still. Never did like him.]

[He hands the controller off to Riku, once Clayton was over and done with. He can play next.]

[oathbreakers]

[Fine, fine, it's his turn. Riku takes the controller, navigating his way through the ridiculousness that is the cavern to the Keyhole. Oh look, more cutscenes and friends in your heart, how very meaningful and--wait. Waaaaaaaaaitwaitwaitwaitwait.

What is this? Why are they back in Hollow Bastion? Riku's getting a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He'd managed to avoid telling Kairi about his hand in Maleficent's plots, even -through- when he was cursed to tell the truth. Is it all about to come out here?

But luckily for him, he's safe. He can't be seen, they can't know that he's the one who brought Alice into the room. Riku relaxes, but it shouldn't be too noticeable.]

All right, I guess I'm doing the last world then.

[Ready set let's fly to Olympus Coliseum!]

[lightwithin]

[Kairi is oblivious. She's smiling. Despite what had happened the last time she'd had a conversation like this, it still makes her smile. She'll carry her friends in her heart, so no matter where they go, she'll never lose them. Nothing will change that.

But Riku is already beating up barrels and then-]

Hey! Wasn't he here?

[Blue flames for hair? That can't be good news. And Sora's taking a games pass from him?]

Sora!

[She sounds exasperated, but she's still grinning. He should know better than to take stuff like that.]