64 - video/action for travelmates;

[islandshore]

[It's around sunset when the video clicks on, as evident by the sky in the background. Seems Riku's sought to film this post outside, and when the feed starts up, he has a rather forlorn look on his face.]

Can't believe this...

[Sighing, he runs his hand through his hair, finally looking to the camera.]

Next month, I'll have been here for five years. When I first popped up, I was only fifteen, and now I'm twenty. That's a fourth of my life spent in this place.

[And yet, what all does he really have to show for it? He has a business, sure, he's collected all the badges, trained an enormous team, and explored both regions. He leads the PGC, though they've hardly done anything in recent months. Part of it's the stress, part of it's the relative peace.]

I always thought growing up would feel... I don't know, bigger. And maybe it's this place. Most people just become trainers. They don't go to college, they don't develop a career. Outside of badges, what is there to really strive for in a place like this? When I look back at how I was and how I am now, I've definitely changed, but at the same time, I don't feel different.

Never finished high school, since the schools here focus on training. Can you believe I'm actually starting to miss homework?

[Ha. How times change.]

I don't know. Anyone else ever feel this way? Maybe I'm just over thinking things...

Comments

[heartdive]

You lost me at 'miss homework.'

[islandshore]

[Heh. Congrats, Sora. That little comment earns one Riku smirk™.]

What, too scared to study?

[Video]

[friendyousohard]

I could probably whip up some homework for you.

[She's... mostly kidding.]

In all seriousness though, take it from someone who'd just turned twenty a bit before I arrived here. Growing up isn't something that happens all of a sudden the way you think it will when you're young. You just look around one day and realize it's already happened, and is still happening, little by little.

Things would have gone differently if you were back where at home, sure. But you'd probably be feeling the way you are anyway. Everyone eventually runs into the problem of not really knowing what they're doing with their lives.

[Video]

[islandshore]

Hmm... I guess, but from what Sora's told me, things get pretty tense back home. I even end up being some kinda Keyblade Master.

[He sighs, reaching for his brow.]

I don't know. It's one thing to hear about the future, but I guess a part of me's just curious. Most people go through those week-long naps, but me? I've never gone through it once. So it's not just that I don't feel older, but everything's just become so... routine.

[video]

[fony]

You've been here for five years??

[video]

[islandshore]

Almost five, anyway. Still got a little more than a month to go.

[Ha. The fact that he's counting kinda says a lot. Good grief...]

[video]

[oubliet]

Growing up isn't time, though...

[not as he understands growing, anyway. maybe if he'd always been mortal, that would've been different. what difference five years should make is still something he doesn't know if he should understand.]

It's... how you think. And the things you learn or--forget. Isn't it?

[video]

[islandshore]

But time's still a part of it.

[After all, it takes time to learn. You can't mature in one day.]

And it's not that I haven't learned anything. I just thought I'd feel different. Or that I'd accomplish more.

[video]

[paladinlost]

...The years would feel like a much greater amount of time to someone your age, would they not...

[And Riku was a teenager when he first arrived. It must be even worse for the children.]

Have you considered what sort of career you would have chosen back in your world? It might not be possible here, but it could help you find a new goal for yourself.

[video]

[islandshore]

Hmm... Not really. I was so eager to get to other worlds that I never thought about picking up a job back home.

[Heh. He cracks an uneven smile, rubbing his neck.]

I wanted to do something bigger. Be somewhere bigger.

[audio]

[cobraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa]

[As much as Cobra would like to threaten that Riku won't make it to another year, let alone five years, he's not going to do that. Because five years is a long time for anyone.]

It is quite the impresssive accomplishment when you think about it.

[And one of the few things they have in common.]

You may not believe thissss, but I think about it often as well. Not along with ssssuch ridiculous childish notions as homework and ssschooling, of course, but I do think about it.

[...okay, he wasn't going to talk to Riku without finding some way to be a jerk, but that was slightly nicer than normal. For now, anyway.]

[audio]

[islandshore]

[Wait. Cobra's being civil? Seriously? Uh... give him a second while he replays the footage, and--

Huh.

Well.

Okay then. That's new.]

Like what, world domination or something?

[Cobra always stuck him as rather power hungry, after all.]

[video]

[lieutenantantichrist]

So you're thinking about the past, you don't know what you're doing with your life or where your career's going, and you're trying to figure out whether you're just wasting time.

Congratulations, kid. Welcome to being an adult.

[video]

[islandshore]

[...Heh. Okay, that actually gets him to laugh a little.]

Great, so I'm already hitting my mid-life crisis? That's gotta be a new record.

[Video]

[babel_hacker]

I sometimes feel that way, too. Although homework's a hit or miss for me, depending on the subject. [Mainly English and Japanese History.]

But yeah, being here long enough until you're an adult is just really confusing at first. Hell, it's still confusing sometimes whenever you think about it. The difference between becoming an adult here and back home is just that big, when there's no formal educations like work colleges or universities to graduate from. Or how easy it is to get a place to stay.

[Video]

[islandshore]

Yeah, seriously. There's jobs and all, but I don't see many careers for guys like us. Well, besides the ones we start ourselves.

You gotta wonder how this world sustains itself when so many people just... train.

video;

[in_praetego]

Homework, huh?

[ Man, that makes him nostalgic for home. ]

I didn't even get to start highschool yet before I woke up here.

video;

[islandshore]

Seriously?

[Whoa. That's even crazier to think about. Then again, there are even younger kids around, so maybe he shouldn't talk.]

Man, and how long's it been now? It has to have been at least a few years...

video

[presentyourbadge]

Five years, huh?

[Phoenix may not be able to sympathize precisely but time has definitely been on his mind ever since he's been here.]

Hey, if it helps you put it in perspective -- I spent a whole eight or nine years back home before I came back here.

video

[islandshore]

[His eyes widen. Geez, it'd been that long?]

Man, then being back here's gotta be one heck of an adjustment. Almost like being here for the first time.

[video]

[enjoymyatelier]

Ah, it would've been terrible if this had interrupted my education. Even if the situation I was in was technically more dire, I'd hate it if I would have been stuck with incomplete schooling and no way to finish it.

Where do the professors even get their degrees?

[video]

[islandshore]

Wish I knew. They have to learn from somewhere, but nobody's been willing to explain.

Must be some kinda secret. Maybe they don't want us to compete?

voice;

[paopuprincess]

[Yeah yeah blah blah sentimentality.]

So. What flavor cake do you want?

voice;

[shatterings]

[ Here's Nami highjacking your voice post, Kairi. SHE'S LEARNING. ]

We'll have to make a pretty big cake, I think.

video;

[pipers_son]

If it makes ya feel better, I never went ta college or such myself, and I'm doin' just fine.

[And he runs a circus, so, y'know.]

Ya would be surprised at how little things feel different when yer gettin' older.

video;

[islandshore]

It's just weird. People make growing up to be this huge deal, but now that it's happened, it's... kinda disappointing.

No fanfare, no huge, life changing epiphanies. It's just... another day.