moonstrualcycle | no running in the halls!

[ 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.]

[ Lea regrets asking, a little. She wants to know all of these things, but now that she does, and now that she can picture Isa (or Saix) suffering like that, it's... sickening. Enraging. It makes her hate Xehanort and her group even more. She stays in that position, arms up over her head, body stretched out, only she's not stretching really anymore, and all she's really doing is glaring at the ceiling and thinking of ways to set people on fire. ]

How'd you get it back?

[she can't even tell Lea about the even worse stuff, the subterfuge behind Xehanort's back to get Even in a position where she could do what she needed to, and being a shithead to Lea on the clock tower to make sure she was prepared for what was coming.]

She let me have it back once things were in motion. I could never just walk away, I'd be physically stopped if I tried, so I got used to working within what I'd been asked to do. It was a role to play, just like in the old Organization. The only time she completely controlled me again was when I had to fight you and Sora and Kai and she forced me into berserk and kept me there, for the most part.

[and bless Roxas for noticing, after she arrived, and helping put an end to things quickly. also enjoy those two claymore-wielding people in that fight when you get there, Lea.]

[ Jesus. That sounds horrific. It's worse than any of the shit they 'forced' her to do. Those were just assignments, and at worst it was penalty of death. Not taking away everything like that.

Living through this is going to be horrible as it is, and Lea's going to be so focused on getting her back. ]

Are you gonna move if I hug you?

[she huffs out a laugh and rubs at her scar, which probably only Lea has ever seen her do. it's a nervous habit that shows up when she's worried, or stewing over something.]

No, you dork.

[Isa shouldered a lot of the bullshit so Lea wouldn't have to, i think. it just also lead to the rift between them, and it's unfortunate that it turned into Isa being awful to everyone.]

Look, you got progressively less huggable over the years. We need to reverse that.

[ She has no problems bugging the shit out of her, basically. The scar-touching tugs at her heart a little, and Lea immediately moves over to force her into a hug. It'll be hard to get out of. ]

[oof. that's fine, she doesn't need to be anywhere, and hugs are nice, she's finding. she seems a bit at a loss as to where to settle her arms, and finally gets them wrapped loosely around Lea.]

It was a defense mechanism against all the bullshit going on at the time.

There's no point now in telling you that you should've talked to me, but... you...

[ h-huff. She's trying not to be emotional, thinking about all the horrible shit Isa went through. Nevermind, she's just going to wiggle into the hug for even more contact, wrapping her arms tighter around Isa and pulling her closer. ]

I should've talked to you, too.

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