[Active/closed]

[halfdarkened]

Characters: Riku and Lexaeus
Content: The two get stuck in an elevator and have to deal with potential awkwardness
Location: The elevator
Time of Day: Night
Warnings: Elevator Music

It was a pain that the paints came in large canisters. Riku had set them on a small cart, no longer needing them right now since the paper had been made. If he made more, that would be another story. For now it was time to get these back to the Theatrical Deck. As such, he pushed the button for the elevator, wishing he could have carried this much by hand.

Comments

[halfdarkened]

Riku averted his gaze, his tone low. He didn't sound proud. "...Sounds a bit like home." But that wasn't something Riku cared to talk about, not yet at least. As such he asked another question. "Was it surrounded by water then? It was when I first went there, but... Not anymore."

[thesilenthero]

"There was always water underneath Radiant Garden. It appeared to sit on a vast lake. Our ancestors harnessed the power of the rising waters both for decoration, and to power their machines." Lexaeus paused for a moment. "The town has been restored somewhat, then?"

He hadn't really had the time to examine what changes Sora's presence might have made in his old home. It felt good to know that it was recovering.

[halfdarkened]

"They're working on it. Last I saw there were big cranes fixing the castle. There's another area not far in ruins that's been built up a distance away, but not by the Restoration Committee. A town's sprung up around the castle with everyone flocking back. But there's no water except an occasional small fountain." He looked introspective a moment. "How'd they drain the lake, and why?"

[thesilenthero]

"I suspect it was to see if they could, if they were anything like Even," Lexaeus said, sighing. "As it was, water was limited to relatively small wells; in order to create the gardens as they were, they required more water available. I'm not sure of the methodology."

He hadn't been as interested in that side of gardening; by the time he was born it was just something that was there, though of course one studied it in school. That did raise a question, though. "Was obtaining fresh water a problem at your home?"

[halfdarkened]

"But that's just it. When the world was chaos and starting to fall apart, there was water everywhere. It's all vanished since Sora restored the worlds."

"Not really. There were springs everywhere, always flowing from the highest points in the islands. There were some falls I remember on the island I played on. It was one of only two springs that didn't come out hot. No clue why, but it might have to do with the caves on the island. The water might be hot enough to push up what's above it, but what's above was cooled by caves we never found." A hint of nostalgia came across his face, managing to tug a corner of his mouth ever so slightly upward. He leaned his head back against the wall, looking towards the ceiling. "We all liked to cool off under it if it was a really hot day and we'd been sparring or running around."

Riku looked back forward again, providing a more straightforward answer. "Any streams were always because of the springs."

[thesilenthero]

"I wish I had gotten back to see the restoration of the world," Lexaeus said. "It was not an opportunity I expected. We were all hosts of the dark in the same way you were, at that time; going home was impossible without healing." It was something that had been difficult to come to terms with, when he'd first learned that part of his home had, in fact, survived, even in a fragmentary way. Cid was an engineer; he could have stayed and attempted to fix things, but Lexaeus could only suppose that a world with its heart broken wasn't a world that could truly be fixed.