Week 22, Day 1 ✦ Dream ✦ "Luminous"

[towertwin]

You wake.

That's the sensation, the very first thing, a moment of sharpening, everything coming into focus. What were you doing again? Daydreaming away the evening? Now you're awake.

Comments

[video]

[mightstealyrcar]

[Matt hasn't lived a day like this, not one where he felt everything was exactly as it should've been, though in Kannagara, he's caught at that feeling more than once. Being where he's supposed to be. It's not familiar; he always felt disconnected at home, was always waiting for something, or hiding from something, keeping his head down. But maybe this is a feeling that's all the more special because it isn't one he's experienced often.

He's in the House in flashes, the place he knows best, the halls he can still walk in his memory as reliably as if he were there, sneaking around at night, barefoot and jumpy, to get outside and grab a quick smoke. Not really Wammy's, though, because he's a grownup, not the scrawny kid he was, and night is falling as he climbs out onto the roof. He can see a bird with more wings than happen on Earth gliding in to settle next to him, and it's more a feeling than words that flows between them, the feeling Matt thinks might be the rarest, that could be said as < I love you >, but means more than that. It

[video]

[towertwin]

[Fai stretches and yawns, curled up on his side among the blankets. It's still relatively dim, but dawn is long, long past and Yuui is clearly visible in the morning's light. One of those long arms is draped over Fai's shoulder, while its owner still sleeps to all external appearances. Fai apparently has no intention of getting outside Yuui's touching distance anytime soon.]

Mmnnh? It's bright, huh.

[video]

[mightstealyrcar]

[Matt can understand that urge to stay within sight of someone close to you; he's felt it twice, here.]

Yeah. Morning does that.

D'you see the world like that all the time? [This is his curiosity spilling out.] All... vivid and interconnected?

[video]

[towertwin]

[He frowns in a way that suggests that it's too early to be thinking this hard. It's a terribly weary expression, given the sunken, emaciated state of his face, but it isn't meant to be.]

You...don't? [Dawning horror: you people are all blind!]

[video]

[mightstealyrcar]

Not usually.

[It occurs to him that little-Fai might be a whole lot less reticent than Yuui-Fai about their magical abilities, a thought Matt quickly discards the idea of doing anything with. There's trust there, now, and he doesn't want to fuck it up, no matter how much he wonders about the way magic works in their world and why Yuui-Fai's been so secretive about it.

Little-Fai still looks ragged, and Matt adds sweets for him to his mental shopping list for when they all end up getting together.]

I was, like, a totally normal human back in my world.

[video]

[towertwin]

[For a minute, he looks positively horrified. That's not normal! But then...maybe it is? Is that really how people see the world? Without the light? Without the magic?

Fai sighs softly.]

Ooh. It's because of my eyes. That's where the magic comes from, the blue color in my eyes.

[That's where all the trouble had started. But he still can't help but notice that Matt doesn't have blue eyes. Maybe blue-eyed people are rare, in his world?]

You're not normal. [He still isn't sure what your name is, but he can tell that much.] You're special.

[video]

[mightstealyrcar]

Heh, I'm really not special. Like, why would you think so?

[He can't help but feel a little pleased, but it's still perfectly clear to him that it's not through any personal merit that he happens to have powers.]

We didn't have even have any magic in my world.

[He bets Mello would like hearing that about blue eyes, though. Matt's own are a smoky hazel he's always felt was indecisive.

One thing's becoming more clear: magic in Fai's world operates more in a fantasy-novel sort of way than anything else Matt's run across here.]

[video]

[towertwin]

Because when other people want to peel the scabs off of a dream, you leave it alone.

You're kind.

[He frowns for a minute, trying with some difficulty to find the words. Fai loved to read, much more than Yuui ever did, but it was harder to find the words since coming to Kannagara.

Maybe it was just that he was tired. He was always so tired.]

Real virtue isn't...it's not like a toy. You can't hold it when you're sad, and then put it away. It's special. We can see it, when someone looks at us, like lightening.

[video]

[mightstealyrcar]

[Matt thinks this over for a moment, going just a little pink.]

Your brother's kind, too. And the kind of guy people can count on.

[A real friend helps you hide the bodies? he thinks, and wow, brain, why would you do that? He feels around on his bedside table for his smokes, and fires one up.]

I think it's 'cause I mostly grew up with a lot of kids who had secrets, or stuff they didn't wanna talk about. [Matt had his own share; only Mello knew how many places Matt lived before Wammy's.] You get a sense for when to back off.

[video]

[towertwin]

[A wane, weary little smile. What can he say to that?]

I'm glad you're Yuui's friend.

[video]

[mightstealyrcar]

I'm glad we're friends, too.

Hey, get some rest. We can talk more later.

[video]

[towertwin]

Yes. Thank you...Matt.

[He reaches out and shuts off the Hitomi's screen, leaving it black and shining in his palm. Such a powerful magic with so small a body. Even people who don't have any magic at all can use it...

It's reflective, when dark, and Fai catches his own bony reflection, momentarily meeting eyes with himself.

It hurts. Yuui was like this too- they'll neither of them ever be the same again. The child drops the device face-down and rolls onto his stomach to go back to sleep. The past was horror and the future uncertain. But then, in the tower, Fai had become accustomed to bearing life as it came.

One breath at a time.]