At Least the Waves Sound the Same

[r]

The beach was as gritty as the one back home, the seagulls just as occasional, and the waves just as nostalgic. There was chatter from other beachgoers from time to time, but Riku could avoid them--and really, they weren't all that different from the kids back on the islands. If he closed his eyes, he could almost imagine he was back there. Like he'd open them and see the paopu islet. Like he'd turn around and see the Seaside Shack or the Secret Place or the pier. Like Sora or Kairi would run up in another minute and want to know what he was doing all by himself, did he want to spar or play?

He hated it.

Granted, he'd probably had about enough of the islands for a lifetime. And granted, he could always go back there--not like when they were lost to the darkness. But still, being in a place that was so familiar without being the same just got under his skin somehow.

That's not how you felt on the black beach.

True...but Sora had been there. And there'd been a hole in his heart where he was missing Kairi, but Sora had been enough.

Then...he didn't miss the islands. He missed them.

He shifted, one hand finding its way to his pocket and the other turning a shell over and over against his palm and exploring the smooth inside with his thumb--an old habit. Aquamarine eyes narrowed at the sea like it had something to do with the inexorable pull of memory. ...Damn. I can't relax. Why'd I bother coming?

[Aria the Clown]

//seems like no one's replying... so Aria will!!!//

Aria was taking her time to explore the areas around Chocolat' Academy. First up was the beach. There was a fair amount of people, but maybe not the best place for a clown's performance. She scanned the endless sands and spotted a lonely figure sitting on the beach. Aria ran up leaving deep footprints in the sand.

"HIIIIIIIIIiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!" Aria shouted. "What are you doing all by yourself?" Aria danced around waiting for an answer.

[r]

[OOC: XD Thanks then!]

The sound of footsteps whispering up to him in the sand didn't draw him out of his thoughts, but the sudden brazen sound of a voice blaring almost in his ear sure did. Riku spun, already up on one knee with a hand out to call the Keyblade--

And spotted a pink-haired girl in what looked like a clown outfit.

...Wha?

Not that it was particularly odd after the people he'd seen, but still. Maybe it was just the fact that he wasn't expecting it, and the beach reminded him so much of home that it was more than a little odd to see someone unusual on the shore.

"What are you doing all by yourself?"

The stranger took to dancing around and Riku rose--he didn't really intend to tower over her but his height wasn't something he controlled. His eyes were, though, and he shifted a little to let his hair shield them from hers. "None of your business," the old Riku would have said, but he wasn't that person anymore. "Listening to the waves." His hands sank into his pockets like weights, arms crooked out behind him. There wasn't anyone else in the immediate area that he could see, so she had to have wandered over just to talk to him.

That implied persistence. Great.

"What brings you all the way out here?" he asked, keeping his voice neutral and casual. She looked like the kind of person who might get easily bored of him if he didn't prove interesting, and he didn't exactly want to chase her away but he didn't want to pick up a chatterbox of a thorn in his side if she turned out to be annoying.

[Aria the Clown]

((No problem! =3 Darn... does her hair really look that pink?))

"What brings you all the way out here?"

Aria tilted her head. "To the beach, or to this spot specifically? Either way, it's for my job." The job was probably obvious from her garb so an explanation was deemed unnecessary.

Upon further inspection, the boy, obviously older, was listening to the waves. He also seemed to be the type that did not enjoy a talkative person. But this person had no one near him and Aria was staying. She took off her clown hat and dress to reveal a more "reasonable" outfit (shorts and a t-shirt). Aria folded these up and stuffed them in her bag that held her materials. There wouldn't be any business today.

"Can I stay? Aria won't talk if you like." Aria hopped up and down a few times which was probably not the best way to say she wasn't annoying. But she wasn't if she didn't want to be. She tilted her head and looked up to his face which was a good distance from her own. Height was not an important matter to her when most would find a person this much taller than them intimidating.

[r]

[Oh, I looked at the picture and assumed. XD Sorry.]

...Job? Riku couldn't help wondering, but once she started taking clothes off he realized it had been a costume and not her daily wear.

"The...beach, I guess," he clarified unnecessarily. "So you're an entertainer?"

At her question about whether or not she could stay and willingness to remain silent, he wilted slightly--if only because that brought back memories of being in control, in command. Of betrayal and heartbreak. Don't start thinking like this now.

He scoffed, trying to make it sound a little gentler than the usual dismissive sound. "That's up to you, isn't it?" he asked, sinking back down to the beach to face the sea again. "I...don't mind if you talk. I probably seem like the type of guy who wants things quiet," he added with a rueful chuckle. He wasn't completely sure if he'd regret this--but she seemed nice enough. Of course, she danced and that was weird, but Riku was used to weird.

[Aria the Clown]

[That's OK! I can change it anyway. XD]

"An entertainer that I am!" A wide grin spread across her face. Aria sat down on the sand as well with a distance between them seeing as how she randomly came up to him. She traced her finger in the sand. "Well, do you like it quiet?" she inquired as she drew pictures.

Aria watched as he darkened in a sense. Oops, did I do something wrong? she questioned herself, but decided not to question.

She flopped on her back in the cushion-like sand and closed her eyes. Aria listened to the occasional bird and the waves lapping against the shore. It was nice. She didn't come to the beach often. Aria reopened her eyes and stared at the sky. Letting out a content sigh, she asked a question in the form of a statement. "Aria wants to know if you're lonely."

[r]

Riku thought that one over. Quiet? Maybe. Silence? No. It had been dead quiet back in Hollow Bastion, where the darkness hung over everything like a fog at night. It had been eerily silent back in Castle Oblivion, where the halls were empty except for himself and shadows of memories. In Twilight Town, where the mansion was always settling and the computer was always twittering away to the measured scratching of crayon against paper...yes, it had been quiet.

But at the islands, it was always loud. Always Sora or Kairi or Tidus or Wakka or Selphie calling out and whooping and yelping, feet crunching against the sand, waves crashing against the shore, seagulls calling, the air full of wind and salt and water...

"...It depends." He probably should have expected her next question, but it still prompted a faint smile and wry chuckle. "Nah. I'm used to being alone," he told her, thumb dipping into the curve of the shell and then out again to trace the spiral. "I do...miss some people, though." He shifted, eyes flicking to hers. "Do you have friends here?" Or are you just as alone as I am? he considered asking, but she didn't seem like the type to consider herself alone as long as she was surrounded by people.

[Aria the Clown]

"Do you have friends here?"

Aria sat up quickly. The question caught her off-guard echoed in her mind over and over. Her eyes became wide and blank. For some reason, she was immediately transported back to the time before she left home. The scene of a large, dark room with scattered stuffed animals around entered her thoughts, waiting late into the night for her parents...

She drew her knees to her chest and wrapped an arm around them. Leaning her chin against her knees, she began to trace a shell in the sand. Aria realized that her head was taking an aggravating trip back to the past and fiercely shook it. Smiling she said, "Aria is used to being alone, too."

I will make you laugh! I will make you smile! The thought of her old pseudo-performances made her shake her head again.

"Hmmm... No, I do not have friends here yet," she responded to the question. But most of the time, she tried to think as any stranger or anybody as someone she knew at least a little. Being by herself all those years and all the time made her thankful that there would be someone within her vicinity at all be it stranger or enemy or friend.

[r]

There was a note in her voice that Riku recognized, but he couldn't put a finger on how it made him feel. Instead he afforded her some privacy, letting his eyes drift back to the sea. "Same here," he admitted. Then he hesitated. If Sora were here, he'd say something like, Well, now you do!

But that was Sora. He'd given up on becoming his best friend a long time ago, and that was for the best. "But, hey. It's a way to start over, isn't it?" People here didn't have to know that Riku had surrendered to the darkness. They didn't have to realize that he'd betrayed his friends, that he'd been that weak. Sora and Kairi both knew, would always know--and while they'd accepted him in spite of that, it was probably a good idea for all of them to give each other a little space. After all, he wasn't running anymore.

"Oh--right, sorry. I'm Riku," he remembered suddenly, turning to face her again, even though his hair as always served to shield his eyes. Aria had basically introduced herself in the third person, but that may still have been an alias of sorts, so he asked just to confirm. "Aria, right? It's nice to meet you."

[Aria the Clown]

"Start over?" Aria thought. "I suppose..."

Aria's energy came back as the boy introduced himself. She jumped up and stretched. Taking a bow she answered, "Hello, Riku! Aria is pleased to meet you as well. And as you have noticed, my name is Aria."

She flopped back onto the sand on her stomach. Her eyes followed a small creature that scuttled by. Aria turned her head to Riku from her position. She brushed hair over her eyes to mimic him. " 'I am Riku. I think I look so cool when no one sees my eyes!' " Aria brushed the hair away and smiled. She didn't mean to make fun of a semi-stranger, but she could not help herself.

[r]

Riku was on his guard when she jumped up, if only because he was used to movement meaning "Look out!" She was just bowing, though, and he relaxed with a little effort. The way she flopped down onto her stomach briefly reminded him of Roxas, crumpled in search of a ghost train only he could see, but it was gone in the next second when she brushed her hair in her eyes.

"I am Riku. I think I look so cool when no one sees my eyes!"

Those eyes narrowed and he opened his mouth to say...something. Maybe about the darkness or how he didn't want to see them anymore, or how it'd just happened and he'd discovered he didn't care, but instead a chuckle bubbled up from his throat. It was a similar feeling to the moment when Sora caught him off guard at the Altar of Naught, and he reached out to brush her bangs out of the way again. "I do look cool, but it doesn't work for you--" He stopped short, quickly dropping his hand and recalling it to his side.

Not Sora. Don't.

"...Uh. Never mind."

[Aria the Clown]

Aria stood up again, not as suddenly, and brushed off the sand disregarding all his hesitations. She pumped her fist in the air. "I made him laugh, I made him laugh!" Aria hopped from one foot to the other. A wide grin appeared on her face as she danced around.

"I do look cool."

She laughed as she imagined a funny scene. "And all the girls go 'SWOON' because they have nothing better to do." Aria portrayed herself as one of those girls in mockery. With hand to forehead, she fell to the sand forcing herself to blush. After her scene Aria flipped onto her stomach again and pounded her fists and feet into the sand over and over again as she broke out into laughter.

[r]

Riku watched her with a faint smile, more out of politeness now, and because she had caught him off guard earlier. "Oh come off it, they don't do that..." Did they? Come to think of it he'd really never checked. There were girls back home in Destiny Island who'd crushed on him before, but he'd never paid enough attention to see if they were swooning over him that dramatically.

Because it was certainly dramatic. In fact Riku'd thought it was real at first and jolted slightly, torn between twin pulls of I should help and What.[/b] And then Aria laughed with her whole everything, hysterical, with the kind of freedom that generally comes from not caring what others think. Riku's smile broadened a little at it, egged on by the laughter if nothing else, and he pillared his arms behind him. "You're a real nutter. Kinda reminds me of someone." Wait, no. Didn't really want to go into that. "Looks like you know the drill, and I doubt you can talk. Guys get their hearts broken over pretty little actresses like you."

[Aria the Clown]

"They don't do that? Well, maybe it's after you leave." Aria swiped a random twig buried in the sand. She took a mock fencing posture and twirled the twig around. "And when you're gone they imagine a knight in shining armor coming to save them from their prison." Aria twirled around laughing again. " But I don't think armor suits you very well."

"You're a real nutter."

Aria danced around. "Nutter, nutter... Nutter Butter!" She thought of the snack. Sweet and crunchy. Aria belly-flopped on the sand again. The impact hurt a little, but it soon disappeared. She propped herself up on her elbows.

"Guys get their hearts broken over pretty little actresses like you."

Tilting her head to the side, she thought about that. "Hmmm... 'Oh, come off it, they don't do that...' " Aria smiled. "I'm just a clown."

[r]

For an instant Riku had to stop and blink. Knight in shining armor? Feh. That's Sora, not me. He couldn't even wrap his mind around that image of himself. On the islands before it all happened, even, with their little rivalry...he'd always felt like he was opposing someone better than himself. Someone purer. He indulged in a wry smirk. Even then, I was the villain.

He flinched a little when she dropped onto the ground again, more out of empathy than being startled because he knew she was hurting herself when she did that. "A clown, huh? That mean you live fast and die young?" he asked, eyes growing distracted by the sea again. Aria was definitely fast and lively and unpredictable, seeming to operate from a completely different level. Riku found himself wondering if this could be a facade. After all, clowns were exaggerations just like any other actor, and they wore their personas like masks. Even so, that was only conjecture. Best to take her at face value. After all, Sora was one of those impossibly happy people, so Riku knew they existed.