First Flare

[eternalfrolicbond]

[A lanky redheaded man in a long black coat waves at the screen, apparently already comfortable with how it works. A komory bat is fluttering around above his head.]

Didn’t think I’d see this place again. Hey, everyone, my name is Lea. [He grins.] Don’t forget it, now.

I don’t know how I ended up here again, but does anyone know what’s going on? The moogle said you guys had been trying to work out what was up but that it didn’t seem like anyone had figured out how to get home. Since this isn’t the exam, I don’t think anyone’s going to try to wake me up any time soon.

Comments

[eternalfrolicbond]

[For a second he thinks it's Roxas, but he's already talking to Roxas, and this definitely isn't him. He has to think back; he knows he's seen this guy before somewhere...or maybe it's just that he looks so much like Roxas. No, they must have met, but it would've been ten years ago.]

[He starts as it clicks in his head. He'd just wanted to cheer the guy up, even though he and Isa were on their way somewhere, and he'd seemed cool.]

You're...Ven?

[salvagedlight]

[And that brings it all back - or at least makes it obvious that it has been a very long time for Lea, and that he'd likely mostly forgotten about him. Over a decade was a long time to hold on to someone you only met once, after all, and so much had happened since then... and he'd found other friends in Roxas and Xion. The irony of it was pretty big, but that was too much to go into now. But it does kind of hurt to see that almost non-reaction to him, when he and Isa had had such a small, but profound impact on him, and very recently, too.]

Yeah... yeah, that's me. From Radiant Garden.

[eternalfrolicbond]

Wow...long time no see. [He eyes Ven.] But I guess it's not so long for you.

[Lea thinks of asking "how did things go for you" and immediately decides against it; somehow he's guessing that "not well" is the short version and he's not sure he wants the long version.]

[salvagedlight]

[Got it in one, Lea. Well, it started going well, and then it really turned around.]

No... a few months, maybe less.

[...Well this is awkward.]

[eternalfrolicbond]

Things got pretty messed up, didn't they?

[Because what else is there to talk about?]