#c; lauriam.

[akashicmuses]

@uniocordium liked for a starter!

"See? What did I tell you?" Lauriam said, peeling himself off the wall and walking over to his younger sister. He's smiling wide, clearly proud of her. His sister had always been a shy thing, but he'd believed in her from the beginning. That was why he'd pushed her to be independent.

"Now both of us are Union Leaders. I knew you had it in you, Strelitzia. How does it feel?"

[akashicmuses]

@voidedspirit

It's been a slow day... so slow that Lauriam has a small book that he's now very thankful to have brought in to work with him. It's not entirely a surprise. Radiant Garden is still recovering and not everyone has the kind of spending money to dump on coffee. The mornings are usually busy, but he's hit the usual lull between breakfast and lunch.

He's got his elbow propped up on the counter and his face resting against his knuckles. His eyes are skimming over the words when the sound of a bell jingling draws his attention.

As soon as Lauriam registers who he is seeing, he freezes. He...remembers this boy. How bloodthirsty he had been, how singularly focused on destroying a boy named Ven.

His eyes narrow and he sits up straighter. He has half a mind to tell him to get the hell out of his shop right then and there, but he hesitates. He chews on his lip for a moment...

"I see you've changed your outfit, Vanitas," Lauriam says, slipping his book under the counter. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

[akashicmuses]

@startgamc

"You must be Master Aqua," replied a cool voice from the side. There he was, one of the thirteen darknesses that had sworn allegiance to Master Xehanort. One who had voluntarily accepted a fragment of the old master's heart into his body. It seemed that he'd taken up residence in Radiant Garden upon his recompletion.

He was walking down one of the many flowering paths that served as the reconstructed Radiant Garden's streets. He wore the black coat no longer, donning clothes that were clearly civilian in nature.

"I was told that you might be here. I don't believe we've properly met." The former Nobody raises his hand to his chest, "My name is Lauriam. I believe...that you're one of the people who looked after Ven."

For someone who speaks so formally, he seems to have no problem addressing the boy by his nickname.

[akashicmuses]

@gravitasfatum

It'd been a somewhat routine trip out into the outer lands, slaying the Heartless where he found them and collecting their Lux for this Union. Really, Lauriam was just trying to get it over with as fast as he could. Of all the tasks Keybladers had, this was the one he liked the least.

But...it had to be done. People were depending on him.

This trip, however, had led to Lauriam spotting someone very odd. Someone donning an odd black coat, who'd been looking around and acting generally kind of off.

"Who are you?" he asked, moving fully out from behind the tree he'd been watching him from. "Why are you hiding your face like that?"

[akashicmuses]

@perditos

There... was something distinctly familiar about this girl. Lauriam found himself looking at her with a small tilt of his head. He was standing by the only coffeehouse that had been set up in Radiant Garden so far, enjoying the sweet aroma of tea he'd just freshly brewed.

He'd started a business, growing herbs and flowers to be used in various blends for a coffeehouse. He'd taken out a loan from that Scrooge character everyone seemed to trust and opened up a shop to sell both coffee and tea.

Ah... the girl noticed that he'd been looking at her. He immediately smiles and gives her a short nod, then gestures to a platter with an assortment of cups. Nevermind the familiarity...

"Hello, would you like to try some tea?" Lauriam asks, pretending that had been the reason he'd been watching her from the start. "I have a few different blends that I am trying out."

[akashicmuses]

@strelitziareginaee

"Strelitzia," Lauriam called out, walking into the flower garden that his sister seemed to love so much. She'd wanted to tell him something before he'd left to go collect Lux, but he hadn't noticed until he was already out the door.

Seeing her kneeling down amongst the blossoms, he started beelining toward her. Hopefully, she hadn't forgotten what she wanted to tell him... Hopefully, she wouldn't feel too put out that he'd practically rushed out the door and not say.

He crouched down next to his younger sister and turned his head to give her a small smile.

"You wanted to tell me something earlier, didn't you? I'm sorry I didn't stay to listen. You can tell me now."

[akashicmuses]

EPHEMER TO LAURIAM: ❛  remember me once in a while — please promise me you'll try.  ❜

Phantom of the Opera Ask Meme

“Ephemer…” The name feels like a ghost on his lips, sucking the life from him the moment he dares to speak it. How… he looks just like the boy in his memories, barely even aged a single day. How long has it been since Lauriam has said his name, since he has seen him?

Where was he all this time? And to speak such words to him now? It kindles something in Lauriam’s gut. A quiet rage that nearly erupts from every pour in his skin. He grits his teeth, canines biting into his lip.

“How dare you ask that…!” Lauriam suddenly shouts, both of his hands tightening into fists. “How dare you, after we all promised that we would see each other again! Where was Ven, where was Skuld and Brain!? And where were you!?”

“I woke up alone, with no memory of anything, and all of you were gone. Do you know how long I spent wandering in a haze? With the sense that there was something unfinished, that I could not recall no matter how hard I tried!?”

Their promises to each other before they had boarded their lifeboats, their arcs to bring them to the next world flashed in his mind, their faces, their voices, everything that Lauriam had lost! Everything that his mind had left him bereft of!

But…it wouldn’t have mattered if they had been there, would it? Elrena—Larxene, had been at his side the whole time. His partner in crime, the one who had helped him so diligently in his search for Strelitzia, who had found him again in the Organization twice…

And he had remembered nothing.

A mirror image of Ven had been before him.

And nothing.

Lauriam’s nails were biting into the flesh of his palm now, and he heaved a large sigh. All around him, patches of healthy grass began to wither and die.

“I wanted to remember you more than anything in the entire world…” he said, his voice falling to a quiet hush again. “And now, I hardly trust my memories to stay at all.”

Ever since his memories returned, Lauriam’s thoughts had grown easily scattered. At times, it was like his heart was trapped in a fog, unable to fully connect to what was going on around him. He could barely remember these moments, important dates would escape him, tasks would be left uncompleted. Sometimes it felt as if his entire reality were a lie, and he struggled to remember which of the two lives he was supposed to be living.

Perhaps he deserved as much. After all, hadn’t he tried to strip the memories of a young boy away, layer by cruel layer? Hadn’t he tried to inflict the exact same agony onto another, at the expense of a young girl’s misery? He hadn’t had the capacity to care at the time, but even if he had, wouldn’t he have just dismissed it by saying that neither did she?

But, even if these memory issues that still plagued him were the lingering curse of a witch… didn’t Ephemer deserve remembrance? It was so difficult to untangle everything, what he deserved or other people deserved from him…

“The world has made me into a cruel man, Ephemer. I have made myself into one. I remember you now, I swear it. But… please…”

“There are better men to carry your legacy.”

[akashicmuses]

@aeternxm

Graceful Dahlia blooms from Lauriam’s hand as the Heartless jump at him. He can practically feel the hunger in its eyes as crooked claws reached for him, only to be cut down in a flourish of petals. He’s no easy meal for these creatures, not any longer.

Dispatching the darkness was simple. Lauriam had been doing it since he was a boy. But as a boy, Lauriam possessed a weapon that was perfectly suited for it. As he was now…?

The Heartless evaporates into a cloud of darkness but releases no heart. Lauriam scowls and watches the dark fog fade into the shadows. He watches it slowly reform itself. More eyes split open in the darkness, and Lauriam takes a deep breath—

—and began their dance.

He slowly backs away from the growing horde as he slices through one Heartless after another. Sweat begins to grow on his brow and trails down his cheek, but he still keeps up his defense.

Up until one of the airborne beasts slams into him from behind. He lurches forward, sliding his foot forward to catch himself. But it was a costly mistake as claws bite into his calves, anchoring themselves as they reach up toward his heart.

Panic. Lauriam slams the hilt of his scythe into the ground, a flurry of petals tearing into his assailants. But it’s not enough. He’s growing tired and injured, his eyes narrowed as he pants.

And there are still more.