moonstrualcycle | no running in the halls!

[she squints dubiously at Lea as she gets settled herself.]

...you're sure this isn't weird? Like, it is weird, but.

[uncomfortably so, she means. between her own hangups about the last twoish weeks having felt like she was intruding on quality time with the kiddos, and the fact that this isn't quite the correct Lea, she's feeling really hesitant about a lot of this. won't stop her from latching on and becoming dead weight to keep Lea from moving around so much, though.]

[ She stops, watching Isa's face carefully, then awkwardly looks to the ceiling. ]

It's probably weirder for you. You went through it all, but I'm not caught up yet.

[ She doesn't want to say things like "I'm not your Lea" or "I'm not that Lea", because what if it makes Isa separate the two? Friend vs clone of friend? ]

But I can tell everything happened, just like you said. Know it'll happen when I go back. I think it's something to look forward to.

[ She looks back to Isa, then turns and moves closer along the bed, face closer so Isa can't super easily avoid looking at her and miss how serious she is about this. ]

But I've been missing you for years.

[oof. give her a sec, her brain just fizzed out, between the proximity and that last bit. she wasn't ready for that, and is figuring that this Lea (because of course she's thinking like that, after all the self-censoring she already had to do) isn't ready for the level of shy, cautious affection they were working towards back home. or maybe she was perceiving that the wrong way and was the only one being skittish about it. Lea would know better than Isa, tbh, because Isa is made of overthinking things.

she finally sighs a little and shifts close enough to rest her forehead against Lea's. that should be fine.]

It's absolutely weirder for me, that's why I asked. I worked so hard to keep you at arm's length over most of the last decade, while also being angry that you were letting me do it, and. The fact that you were willing to just pick up where we left off is... not something I really deserve but thank you, I guess. I missed you for years too.

[ Okay, it might be a little awkward now, but not weird. Physical touch is a way Lea expresses affection, and she hasn't had much of it in... a long time. She refuses to call it weird. This is Isa, this is her best friend, this is something she wanted but never thought would actually happen and now it's here. Isa is herself again. It's just... unfamiliar, and familiar, at the same time.

It's a little weird. But she shrugs, closing her eyes instead of thinking more on it. The Axel way. ]

I'd argue with you about almost all of that, but you'd never give in.

[ Smugly: ]

But you don't have to tell me you missed me. I already knew.

[ B( just for that, Lea's getting a gentle goose in the ribs, as both retaliation and a way to break up the awkwardness.]

I might give in if you weren't insufferable about it.

[look, i'm rolling onto my back and closing my eyes and settling down to sleep, you dweebus, you should too.]

[ There's more yelp-laughter and she bats at Isa's hand with one arm, tucking the other one under her pillow. ]

Hey, knock it off, I'm trying to sleep.

[ Obviously!! Should we timeskip and let them have an actual nap. ]

[ye. it'd be easy to get in a slappy fight, but they're both supposedly adults, so forget it. Isa makes a noise that probably translates to "no u", but then does actually settle down, because she IS tired. it's 50/50 who'll sleep longer, right now.]

[ Normally it would absolutely be Lea, but realistically, she was the one who was asleep before Isa showed up, so she's probably the one to wake up faster. If Isa can make it through Lea's slow attachment over the course of their nap (she ends up with an arm over her, at least), then Lea will wake up first, and when she does... she won't move. At first, it's because she thinks she's dreaming, but then she's so still it's almost like she isn't breathing, trying too hard not to wake the other person.

What if she just stares at Isa's sleeping face for a while? ]

[das creepy, AND gay. no, she'll be lucky if she can find Isa's face to stare at, since Isa at some point arranged herself half on top of Lea (to stop the moving around), with an arm wrapped around her and her face pushed against Lea's neck. she's out cold, and dead weight, and will remain so for a little while longer, because it's tiring, dying yet again and being reformed and then actually sticking around long enough to deal with getting used to a heart again. emotions are tiring, too.]

[ Well so much for face-staring, but that definitely puts more emphasis on how and why she's so still. She doesn't want to risk waking her up, and she's also in the sleep version of a headlock.

But... that's fine. She's not complaining. If it's more than an hour she'll start to get up, probably, but right now... she can stay like this for a while. ]

[it'll only be like half an hour, if that, before she stirs, sighing a little and loosening her grip on Lea but not doing anything that awake people do. she was having an unpleasant dream, but kicked herself out of it, and doesn't want to move further in case this is a dream also.]

[ She's kind of relieved Isa isn't a dream herself (probably) but she's also wishing she would stay like this a little longer, since once she's awake she'll probably get up immediately. Since she's stirring but not moving, maybe Lea can get away with gently stretching her arm across her more? ]

[if there hasn't been at least one tired cuddle puddle with Lea and the kids since Isa returned, i'll eat my shoe. she's never been as physically affectionate as Lea, but it's hard to resist when surrounded by people who care about her and who she cares about.

more arm is good and fine, but she does make a grumbly noise. without moving into or away from it it's probably hard to tell what the noise is about, though. (it's over being awake and Lea moving at all.)]

[ It almost certainly has. Chances are good that Lea back home would just grumble back at her and then become a human attachment, as this one might be inclined, but... she doesn't yet, and instead curls her arm tighter around Isa's shoulders. Not much, barely enough to be felt more, but enough that she can feel certain that this is real.

Lea's still going through stages of accepting this, but she feels more clear-headed and less panicked than she did before her nap. ]

Quit moving or the kid gets it.

[she mumbles, since her mouth is sort of on autopilot at the moment and that would be a reasonable threat where she was before. but then she ducks her head to smother a yawn against Lea's shoulder, and stretches in a way that doesn't dislodge the arm over her.]

What time is it?

Haven't looked.

[ Holy shit she's not recoiling or anything. Has caught-up Lea been obnoxious enough to get her used to it since everything settled down? Thank you, future self, or something. She's a little curious about what kind of bizarre dream Isa's having, but dismisses it quickly. ]

Don't think it was that long. You slept?

[ As if I wasn't being a creep for half an hour. Pay no mind to how awake I sound. ]

[not used to it so much as this happened to be one of the times when her immediate reaction wasn't "holy shit there are feels in my heart, i have to be not near the things causing the feels". but yes, caught-up Lea has also helped with that.]

I feel slightly less wiped, so I must've.

[now she's shifting away from the arm, but only to do a good full-body stretch with another yawn, and not because omg stop touching me. and Lea often sounds awake, this is not unusual, or creepy.]

[ God. She's like a cat. They're both like cats, just in different ways. Regretfully, Isa's shifting does make her take the one arm back. She still has the other arm under one or both of them, so it's probably totally dead and unfeeling right now. Lea is not looking forward to when feeling comes back to it, either. ]

I was a little worried you might be gone when I woke up. You know, in case I was dreaming.

[just don't move it at all even slightly and you'll be fine. Isa gives her a sidelong look that's probably unreadable but might have a little skepticism.]

Does that happen around here? But... I understand the feeling. I don't know about you but the first couple of days I had my heart back, it was like watching someone else interact with people, it was so surreal.

[ She shakes her head, staring up at the ceiling. It's embarrassment making her avoid eye contact now. ]

The dreaming thing hasn't happened yet but— creepy sentient world and all that. This place will start fucking with you, it's just a matter of when. I didn't mention all the magic spells that hit people at random. Anyway, it was pretty surreal for me, buuut I didn't have time to think about it until I got here.

[ She shrugs. ]

Probably for the best.

You seemed to be doing pretty well the last time you saw me before I ended up here. Fended me of with a kid under your arm and everything.

[she doesn't mean that in any sort of mean-spirited way, either. it was impressive, and admirable. but magic spells, you say? she's imagining like, the kind used by a ton of the people she hangs out with now. Donald is fucking scary, let me tell you. shit hadn't kicked off by then but surely the goon squad was in the area when Donald nuked Terranort off the face of the planet for like five minutes, idk, i forget a lot of what happened there. Isa does too.]

Like I said, no time to think about what was going on. I just had to act.

[ Christ, it's true. Also hey, wait, she breaks her gaze from the ceiling to stare at Isa, a little deadpan: ]

Why'd you come at me when that happened? I mean, I know why, I came in and screwed up all that careful planning. But why you?

[now it's Isa avoiding eye contact.]

Because Xehanort willed it. I was little more than a shell at that point, to contain part of her essence, except that that really was watching someone else. I saw everything happening but couldn't even twitch on my own. Obviously it was to try and catch you off guard, enough so that you could be overpowered.

[ Yep. She thought that might happen, and it makes her roll completely onto her back and stretch her arms up above her head. Basically she's a noodle. ]

You wouldn't look at me either. Not really. I thought about it later, but I just couldn't figure out what was going through your head.

Nothing charitable, towards you or anyone else present. I didn't get any control over my body until sometime well after that.

[it was a lot of enraged mental screaming, actually. and while she was glad to see Sora get rescued, the fact that it was Lea was horrid because oh my god you idiot. Isa's appreciative of the noodle, however.]

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