Less is More

Before she could even comprehend his many questions, Lexaeus stepped forward to answer for her, "I'm afraid that will not be an option, Sora. Namine is forbidden from leaving the walls of the estate. It's for her safety."

Namine frowned, clutching her hands at her chest as she tried to formulate a rebuttal... but it was useless to try and fight it. He was right, after all. She glanced at Sora and saw the confusion written on his face, so she mustered up the courage to try explaining things to him.

"What he says is true... I'm not allowed to go outside, or else it'd leave me and the family open to an attack from other treasure hunters. I can't really explain all the details but... I can't risk going outside - not until Father finds what he's looking for."

She knew none of what she said would make things any easier for him to understand. She wanted to explain everything to him in full, she really did, but now wasn't the time to do so. Instead, she tentatively grabbed his hands and urged him down the hall.

Kairi had hoped, after she met Naminé, that she’d be able to get her own heart someday. And though she hadn’t expected it to be so soon, she was definitely glad. The separation had been easy, but it had worn them both out and Kairi knew that just because she was feeling better, that didn’t necessarily mean  Naminé was too.

Though she hoped she was, she wouldn’t mind postponing her surprise for another day or two until she was feeling up to it.

Kairi searched the tower for the blonde former nobody, hoping she didn’t look too excited as she looked around. She didn’t want Naminé to suspect anything before she’d even gotten the chance to reveal her surprise plan.

When she finally found her though, she couldn’t stop her smile from widening and steps to pick up speed a little. 

❛ Naminé! ❜ She called, stopping a little ways in front of her, grinning.

A heart, yearning to be whole.

Still, it wasn’t easy adjusting to the small but immense change. The emotional imbalance caused Namine to have panic attacks and severe mood swings -- things she never experienced before. It was for that reason she opted to stay close to Kairi, her safety net and support. She couldn’t always be there for Namine when she had her moments, but knowing she was close by was reassuring enough. Besides, she enjoyed watching Kairi train and grow stronger.

So when she heard her approaching steps and eager call, she turned around with a soft, albeit tired, smile.

Well, Selphie realized she hadn’t exactly known Namine for very long, so she couldn’t just demand her trust like that, and it’s not like she was inclined to believe everything Selphie said. But that just meant Selphie would have to try harder in response!

“I’m not maybe right, I am right!” Selphie said,upbeat and confident. Maybe if she did it enough, a little bit would rub off on Namine? Namine seemed like the type who really needed a vote of confidence here.“They’re your friends, right? So you have to believe in them! And, um, they believe in you! Yeah!” It would help if Selphie knew more about Namine’s friends, since she was sort of talking in circles now.

Still, she wanted to make it up to her somehow, especially after all the help she’d been today. With a delighted smile to mask her worries, Namine wrapped up her shopping with Selphie before walking with her back to the beach, per her own suggestion. The town was nice, and while Namine was a fan of people-watching, it probably wouldn’t help her focus much while making bracelets. For what it was worth, the blonde did her best to keep up with idle chitchat along the way.

They settled on a rocky area on the shore, where Namine got comfortable and immediately sifted through the bag of materials they gathered for their projects. She held up the bundles of colored string and frowned, a troubled expression on her face.

“Wonderland was crazy, that’s for sure…” he squints at the memory, obviously not seeing the appeal. Maybe she liked all of the wacky colors? He’s not sure the queen and that weird cat are worth it, but to each their own.  

“It’s weird we can still use them at all. I always wondered why you never had to wear the cloak—even people outside of the organization did, but I guess you’re just really tough. Heh.” He grins good-naturedly, not wanting to press the topic further than she was comfortable with. He’s gotten…better with that, his tact. He’s told it’s still not very good, but you had to take short strides before you could run right? That’s how it worked with everything. The pirate ship…a lot of his strongest memories and feelings of Kairi had been there. On top of it just being a troublesome place by itself, that was another reason Roxas had avoided it. He didn’t need an excuse to have an episode when he could be taken captive by Captain Hook. It’s the next part that really gets him though, has Roxas bug-eyed and sitting up like he’d been electrocuted. “What?! There’s a clock tower?” he flushes and withdraws moments later, immediately embarrassed about his outburst. It genuinely shocked him to hear of it—Roxas had been there a number of times and had never seen it, or heard it referenced. The Lost Boys talked about playing games and eating food all day, stories—Pan was much the same, though he liked to talk about some girl at times too. Then there was Tinkerbell, but she didn’t exactly…talk.  

Roxas bites his lip, knuckles curling in his lap. He wonders if it’s okay to even ask, but ends up doing it anyway.

     When Roxas jumped, Namine couldn’t help but laugh. His expression was so bright and genuinely surprised that she was surprised his eyes didn’t pop straight out of his skull. Even when he withdrew, the sight of his face stayed fresh in her mind, making her laugh a little more -- enough to where she had to sit up.

     “I-I’m so sorry,” she apologized between giggles. A hand instinctively covered her mouth as her residual laughter subsided. “You surprised me there for a second, but--”

     “Yes, there’s definitely a clock tower there! I’ve only ever seen it in small glimpses from his memories, but... I think I may know how to get there. Or at least, where it is. The ‘getting there’ might be the difficult part.”

     The girl held a hand to her chin gently as she pondered exactly how Sora managed to make it to the tower. From what she remembered, they’d need the power of flight... and unfortunately for her she had no such power. She sighed, but looked to Roxas with her usual smile.

Namine is a proud supporter of Moogle Industries.

So, I love that when you go see the Moogle in RE:CoM it flails around and squeaks.  It’s really cute.  I took a mental break from work on Friday and thought “I’m going to toss that moogle around” (because, what else do you do with cute stuffies?)  So, I roughed that in and somehow between then and now it turned into this.

Gifs and screen caps and why not a youtube video too.