"Oh, that's no good. You should always be smiling until it's natural for you! That way, even when things get bad, it'll be easier to tell yourself that things will be alright!" Aoko exclaimed enthusiastically in response to Aqua's initial comment about her not smiling in a long time. Indeed, anyone who'd observed Aoko during their tribulations so far might have noticed that she rarely ceased smiling, even in that brief instance where she conveyed an emotion comparable to anger or irritation.
"Suit yourself though, if you don't wanna relax. It'd be a shame though if that nice hair of yours started to gray so quickly," she continued, before stretching her arms above her head with a relieved sigh, and then speaking again,
"I suppose it'd be natural to be all tense, being stuck in a place like this Dark Realm for so long, but you're safe now."
...
"Well, safer, at least. I guess that's subjective."
"As for where I'm from? Just a nice, sleepy little place called Misaki Town. Not much to say about it, but it's home, and there's no place like home. Wouldn't you agree? Of course, one can just as easily make precious memories with precious people anywhere, but there's something about home that'll always come out on top. Memories of home, the people there... The good and bad of them... I wouldn't give them up for anything. That's what Misaki Town is like for me, even if it might not be much for anyone else."
"... Sorry for rambling like that. I was on my way home before being dragged into this mess, and I was really lookin' forward to it too! What about you? Where are you from?"
@Neko Shogun
Fine threads of darkness, that had not yet faded entirely, had wrapped themselves around Aqua’s heart, somehow causing her to find the negative in what Aoko had said. She had smiled for as long as she could in the Dark Realm, and had tried to tell herself that things would be okay, but after years of being trapped in that endless hell nothing had changed until now. Smiling had hardly helped with anything at all...
Still, the zealous way Aoko carried herself accompanied by the bright smile on her face was somewhat familiar to Aqua and she couldn’t help but notice it. Although she hadn't seen him in the longest time, this sort of person reminded the keyblade master of her friend Ventus--an energetic boy who always seemed to be smiling when they had lived and trained together. She knew that if he had been here, he would’ve said something similar. Her friends wouldn’t want her to wear an unhappy expression on her face for even a moment.
“You got me there,” Aqua responded, rubbing the back of her head.
"I just haven't had a reason to smile for some time now, but maybe I'll feel better after I've gotten a little fresh air and sunlight." A realization hit the woman, and she almost seemed shocked about it.
“Wow, I haven’t seen sunlight in... twelve years.” A man she had once encountered in the Realm of Darkness told her that twelve years had passed in the Realm of Light, but that had been some time ago. She wondered if even more time had passed since then; it was possible.
Absentmindedly, one of Aqua's hands wandered to her head and she would pinch a lock of her blue hair, rolling it between her thumb and pointer finger. Could her hair really start turning gray now? She hadn't aged at all in the Dark Realm, so it only made sense that she still appeared as youthful now as she had before. But now? Well, now that she was back to the real world, time flowed normally for her so technically Aoko was right.
"I don't know, maybe a few gray hairs wouldn't be so bad. They might blend pretty well with blue hair." She wasn't exactly sure exactly how she would look, but maybe aging would be so bad. At least she would be living like an ordinary person.
"Yeah, I guess I am safer than I was, unless... gray hairs are a danger to my well-being. In that case, I'm probably in need of some help right now." After making her small quip, Aqua managed to crack a small smile without realizing it. Maybe all she had needed to feel better was... a friendly face to talk with.
A wistful look overtook Aqua's blue eyes when Aoko would speak of her home. It made her happy to hear such words come from the red-haired woman's mouth.
"I completely understand," the master agreed.
"It sounds like a nice place. You don't need to apologize for rambling; I like hearing people talk about their homes." Aqua placed both hands over her heart.
"Home is a precious place, I only wish I had one to go back to." The young woman turned her gaze to the distance, her eyes fixed on one spot as she would daydream of better times.
"I lived in a castle far away with my master and his other apprentices. It was a warm place, full of vast green fields and had mountains wrapped in golden chains bigger than you could imagine..."
...but our home was destroyed by darkness," Aqua explained,
"It's okay though. Home may be a precious place, but it's the memories and the people from that place that make it special, and the people I care for are still out there somewhere. They are my home, and once we've stopped Bane, I'll leave this world to search for them. I've made them wait a long time..."
Aqua paused to reach into a pocket on her outfit and pull out a blue, star shaped charm, gripping it longingly in her palm.
"...it's time for us to be together again."
Another small smile crept onto the master's face.
"See? You really didn't need to apologize; I think I rambled just as much as you did. It felt nice to talk about my home with someone again. Thank you."
@Ver
