tinyf1re | (no subject)

(no subject)

[it's birthday time! Axel is 19 years old today, and while that's not considered a milestone age much of anywhere, it's still a birthday and he's still celebrating it. the first part of the day was probably spent with Kai and his older self, but now it's approaching sunset and he's taking a short break to text lil' Kairi. he's been busy loading up the wagon/cart that attaches to Kai's bike, with firewood, food, a sleeping bag, and an extremely compressed little pop-up tent that he'll never get to collapse again and will probably just leave behind tomorrow.

"So how about that Agrabah campout we talked about? 2nite?"

he'll go regardless, and if Kairi's not up for it tonight they'll go some other time, but.]

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How many times have you been there without me?

[ They have almost certainly snuck into the labs at some point, and then been chastised by Ienzo. Kairi follows, and quickly rebalances the pile when it starts to wobble. ]

—uh. A bunch, probably. Sometimes I just go there to run because it's different stuff to look at, but sometimes I go and explore. Not as much as I used to.

[fuck it, close enough, time to park this crap and start unloading. he's gonna get Kairi's two boxes gathered up and head for the stairs. it's occurring to him that maybe doing a bonfire on top of a building isn't the best idea, but he can keep it under control, it's fine.]

It's a really pretty place. I think people like to go there for things like that, but... mostly I only ever see people who didn't live there. Like Rikus.

[ Kairi does love Radiant Garden still, though. She doesn't really consider it her home-home, anymore, but the place she grew up in, so to speak. ]

Hey don't turn those boxes over!

I won't, I'm bein' careful! And yeah, most people I know go there to eat or do not-shopping.

[he would never drop anything containing food, ever. up the inside stairs he goes; is she following?]

[ He might've turned it over or something!! She just wanted to be careful. She is in fact following, after adjusting her backpack and... picking up something that looks like she can carry it, if such a thing exists. ]

There is a lot of good food. I find places that didn't exist when I still lived there.

I wonder how much of it was added here, compared to what it was actually like. Probably a lot.

[there's the cooler, and the tent's manageable right now. up and out he goes, and up the steps to the second floor rooftop, and the view is really good from up here. Axel sets the boxes down and dumps his own backpack, and then takes a second to just breathe and look at the sunset.]

Definitely... a lot. I don't think my Radiant Garden changed... that much.

[ She's trying to bring the cooler and it's difficult to do so while also going up the stairs. Remember, this Kairi has had no keyblade training and is otherwise your average skinny teenager. ]

[oops. he'll come back down to help, he forgets that normal people don't have strength like his.]

Here, lemme get it, I forgot how much was in there.

It's okay, it's just hard because of the stairs. You can grab that end.

[ Not that it needs to be a two person job, because Axel, but she wants to help!! ]

[o ok. hup, up we go. really the only thing stopping him from just carrying the wagon up here is the logistics of the pile of stuff. his arms are only so long, after all.]

Yeah, if this place had ramps it would be easy, I could just bring the wagon up here.

Well, it doesn't. But we'll manage. Thanks for helping.

[ She'll help him tote it to wherever he set the boxes down. She can do that much, jeez. ]

[gosh!!! god knows he doesn't have the built-in misogynistic hero complex that other people might, but sometimes he wants to show off by carrying a bunch of stuff around so his girlfriend (?) doesn't have to.]

At least the cooler was the heaviest thing I brought, except maybe some of the firewood.

[ Well... she does appreciate that. It's cute, and she's still continuously impressed. ]

How long did it take you to get everything ready?

Not that long, honestly. Older me 'n Kai have a big supply of firewood already, and for the other stuff I just kinda ran through the grocery store with the cooler.

[she's cute, and he's honestly amazed sometimes that anyone likes hanging out with him, but especially her, she's just so perfect. ;o; ]

Where do they get all that firewood anyway?

[ She thinks it's probably Olderxel punching trees down or something. Since her hands are empty she dusts them off and then plants them on her hips, trying to figure out how they should arrange this. Should she just let Axel do it? He seems to have a particular vision. ]

I dunno, actually. Knowing this place it probably just leaves some new wood once in a while, but maybe older me goes through the woods once in a while for some.

[he does indeed have a vision, and probably more experience at building a fire than she does. along with the actual firewood there was also a bundle of sticks, which he gets and then flops down onto the rooftop to arrange. there's a blob of greyish fluff that seems to be the foundation for the sticks.]

[ Kairi has never built a fire in her life, so that's almost certain. She's helped a little, for beach bonfires, but not in any way that really counts. She takes a seat on the edge of the roof and drops her chin into her hands to watch, as typical when it comes to Axel. ]

Chopping wood always seems to be that thing guys do in movies when they're worried about something, so punching trees is probably super stress-relieving. Remember that time I was Red Riding Hood for Halloween and I got lost in the woods?

Oh, yeah! That was kinda scary, but at least you didn't get hurt or anything.

[presumably. there's now a small pyramid of sticks set up, with the fluff underneath, and Axel summons a bit of fire into his hand and feeds it carefully into the middle, where the fluff immediately goes up and the sticks start to catch as well.]

Yeah. I'm kinda worried about when the dressing room decides to stop protecting me.

[ Since she has never gotten hurt, not really, Kairi's just always blamed it on the dressing room being nice to her, the same way people act protective and treat her like nothing bad should happen to her. She's been hurt emotionally, yeah, but never had anything destructively traumatic happen to her, and she's never been hurt more than common childhood injuries. ]

Maybe it already has, and you haven't noticed because there are so many people looking out for you.

[this version of Axel's never had anything major happen to him here except for that time the dressing room flooded, less than a year after he arrived. that fucked him up for a while, but apart from that there hasn't really been anything.]

[ Ah. Dokidoki. Kairi gets the giggles from that response, but she's at least a little shy about it. ]

Then I hope my protectors stay with me for a long time, if that's the case. Or even if it's not.

Of course we will. Uh.

[dammit. well, whatever. who knows if he's even personally protected Kairi at any point, but probably. maybe during a spell or something, like the blackout one where his older self got those cool facial scars from protecting Riku! yeah! can he be consumed by this tiny fire now. he's definitely not trying to be absorbed into it while Hachibi snickers at him.]

[ Almost certainly! Just because she's avoided terrible injury and terrible going-ons in general doesn't mean she hasn't been in danger, although perhaps less than it appeared. She's gonna come over and hug him from behind, because she thinks he's cute. ]

I'd track you down if you didn't.

[god, i hope he got to do some sick stuff with fire and kicking, that would be awesome. but he's seen the sort of attack stuff Kai and other people can do with light, so Kairi probably isn't as defenseless as some people might think, yeah. he doesn't tense up when she hugs him, at least, like he might have in the past, and leans back into it a little!]

...good. I mean. That's how friends and families work, right?

That's how mine do.

[ She's happy with how comfortable he is with her now, and a direct result of it has probably been more affectionate as time goes on. She used to lean on people like this as a way of getting piggy back rides, but now it's just pure affection. One day Kairi will train to be able to fight better... One day! ]