This piece was for the Stitches in Time SoRiku zine. It is a 1920's themed piece as the zine is themed around Sora and Riku traveling to different eras in time!
In the blink of an eye, Sora and Riku found themselves surrounded by dazzling bright lights. Sora gasped, as he took in every little sight he could. From the bright lights to the vehicles that drove through the streets, everything seemed new and alive. It was as if the city itself was full of life and light, and it was spreading through every person and even every object.
"Wow! This is just amazing! Have you ever seen so many lights, Riku? It's like thousands of stars but all on the buildings!" Sora exclaimed.
"Gotta admit, it is quite pretty. Never seen a world with such a set up," Riku replied.
"Okay, come on! We gotta start exploring now!"
Sora eagerly pulled on Riku's wrist, dragging him down the streets. Riku could only laugh as he easily went along with Sora's plans to explore the city. Soon, Sora was once again in awe at everything he saw, every store they passed by he had to stop and gawk at what he saw inside.
"Wow! This place has so much cool stuff. We should probably get something to blend in though."
Riku nodded. "Let's find a store. Seems like there are plenty around."
The two started to make their way deeper into the brightly lit city, trying not to focus too much on the odd glances they were given. They scooted a little closer to one another, making sure they wouldn't get lost.
"So where would a clothes shop be? There's so many stores… will they even take munny?" Sora asked.
"Don't know, but I am sure we could find a way to pay for things," Riku replied.
Wandering a little closer to some of the store fronts, the two began to look at what the windows had on display. So many of the outfits seemed so fancy, from nicely tailored suits, to short dresses that came in a variety of colors.
"Wow!" Sora said, his eyes lighting up with wonder. "There's so many cool styles here. I don't even know what I want to get."
"Well, how about we start with this one?" Riku suggested. He pointed to one store that seemed to have a variety of different suits.
Sora nodded, grabbing Riku's hand to pull him inside. The shopkeeper gave them a strange look, but shrugged as they started to stare at the different outfits in the store. Sora was babbling about what he thought about each piece of clothing he saw, sorting through the different racks.
"Oh Riku! I think these would look good on you! It's a nice shade of blue," Sora said as he held up a pair of muted blue pants. He then moved over to a display table that had ties and bows across it. "And look, there is even a bow that is the same color!"
"Don't I get a say in what I want to wear?" Riku said, holding back a laugh.
"Alright, you can pick out the rest, but definitely you should get these," Sora said as he placed the clothes into Riku's arms.
As Sora moved around the rest of the store, Riku looked for something that would go with the pants and bowtie that Sora had given him. He did have to admit, the color was nice, and he was sure if Sora liked it, then it would be worth it.
After looking around the store for a little while, Sora came back to Riku and shrugged. "I didn't really see anything that interested me here. Maybe another store?"
"Sure, but let me see if I can buy my stuff. Found some other stuff to go with what you picked out."
Sora grinned. "Awesome!"
Riku went up to pay for the clothing, and much to his surprise, the munny worked just fine. It was a relief to both him and Sora knowing they wouldn't have to go out of their way to try and find a different currency within this new world.
When they left the store, Sora already was running ahead looking at more store windows. Eventually, he came to a store and stared at the window. Riku came over and saw that in the window front they had an array of different dresses. They all looked to be fairly short in style, but rather fashionable with some having sparkling textures and others having ruffles.
"You're looking at the dresses?" Riku asked as he came up to Sora's side.
"Yeah? Something… uh, something wrong with that?" Sora asked, his voice a little softer.
"No!" Riku said quickly. "Nothing wrong with that, I just didn't know… that you liked that stuff?"
Sora sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I always thought dresses were kind of pretty. But I never wanted to tell anyone. Didn't think people would, you know, like that I liked that stuff? But when I traveled to all those different worlds, I saw so many different dresses. I just… I really liked them."
"Hey," Riku said, wrapping an arm around Sora's shoulder. "Nothing wrong with liking what you like. If you want to get one of these, that's fine with me."
"Really?" Sora asked, his eyes lighting up with a new hopefulness.
"Whatever makes you happy. Plus, I bet you would look cute."
Sora blushed. "Think so?"
"I know so."
"Great! Then let's see what they got!"
Sora headed into the store and started to look through everything. There were a lot of dresses and a lot of different colors to choose from, but Sora seemed to know which he liked best. He eventually settled on a pale greyish-blue dress that had layered ruffles for the bottom of the dress.
Sora smiled proudly as he went up to pay it, ignoring the odd and confused look the clerk gave him. Once everything was said and done, the two left the store to find a place that they could go and change into their new clothes. Without knowing much about the world, they hid out quickly in a back alley as they carefully slipped into their new garments.
"So how do I look?" Sora asked once he was finished slipping on the new outfit.
Riku looked at Sora, and he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. Sora stood there in his new dress, smiling his usual warm smile, but right then in that moment it felt like it was a hundred times brighter.
"You look so… wonderful," Riku said, breathing slowly.
Sora smiled, twirling around in his new dress. "Yeah? You mean it?"
"You know I do, Sora."
Sora chuckled, a small hint of blush rushing to his cheeks. "You look great as well. Ready to go out into the world?"
Riku reached out and took Sora's hand, pulling him in close. "Ready whenever you are, Sora."
With another laugh from Sora, they two ran back out into the main streets of the city. Once more they were surrounded by lights and sounds that were so unfamiliar to them. This time, they looked at the stores that were not just for clothing, finding out that there were so many more things to admire and see.
Eventually they came to a crossroads in the streets and Sora looked down to the left, seeing that even more buildings had pretty lights shining everywhere. Though one building seemed to stand out more than the others. It had a large sign sticking out from it with words across it, being backlit by bright lights.
"Whoa! Let's go see what that place is!" Sora said as he grabbed Riku to pull him along again.
Running down to the building, Sora saw that other people were heading there as well, walking inside to whatever mysteries it held. Sora carefully read the sign, seeing that there was a poster advertising something.
"Hey! I think I know what this is!" Sora said cheerfully.
"And what is it?" Riku asked.
"I saw something like this in Twilight Town before. I think Pence said… uh, it was called a movie? Something like that? They got all these moving images on the screen. Kinda like when we call on the Gummi Phone but if we were watching someone else on a really big screen."
"You want to go check it out?
"You bet!"
Looking carefully at the sign above the theater, Sora read what was displayed. In big lettering it read 'Buster Keaton's The Boat'. With a new-found excitement, Sora ran up to the entrance and bought two tickets for the upcoming show, surprised that the tickets only cost 17 munny a piece.
With the two tickets in hand, Sora and Riku headed into the theater, looking for a place that they could sit. It was already fairly crowded, but they were able to find a seat for the two of them in the back with a pretty good view of the screen before them.
"So this is a movie theater?"
"I guess so. It's a little different than what was in Twilight Town," Sora answered. "This is way more fancier. But it's really nice. I bet we'll enjoy the movie."
When the lights dimmed, Sora's eyes lit up with wonder as he watched the images come to life on the screen. The movie was beginning and Sora couldn't help himself as he got deeply engrossed into the story.
Part way into the story, he started to lean against Riku's arm, finding a gentle comfort in it. Suddenly, he felt Riku pull his arm back and for a moment he worried he did something wrong. He glanced over to look at Riku, trying to focus on him in the dim lighting of the theater. He could see Riku smiling at him as he adjusted his arm to wrap around Sora, pulling him in closer.
With a content hum, he relaxed again as he went back to focusing on the movie. The two of them enjoyed every silly and comical moment of the story. They could feel a connection with it, since the main premise was about a man and his family traveling out into the sea on a small boat. It was rather reminiscent of Sora and Riku's dream to set sail on their own sea to travel around to find new worlds.
By the end of the movie, Sora and Riku were laughing and clapping. When the lights of the theater came on, the two quickly ducked out and headed back to the streets. They ran down the streets, which now had a lot less people out due to the time of night.
They kept running, laughing with a new energy they didn't even realize they had. The two of them continued until they reached a park, where they finally stopped to catch their breath. Sora placed a hand on Riku's back, using him for support to make sure he didn't topple over.
"These shoes are harder to run in than I thought," he laughed, nearly falling over as he tried to take a few more steps.
"You did great though," Riku replied, holding on to Sora to support him. "Really graceful."
Sora blushed. "Well you know I do try to be that! Also whoa! Look where we are."
They had run all the way into the park, but it was only now that they really took in their surroundings. Street lamps were lined around the park, glowing with their low lights, making the mood rather tranquil and almost dreamy. There didn't seem to be any other people around the area, most likely due to the late hour, so really it was just Sora and Riku wandering the park.
"This is so pretty. Like wow! I really love this place," Sora said as he pulled out his Gummi Phone to snap a few pictures.
"Yeah, I like it. Never really had a park like this back home," Riku added.
"Well let's take a walk and see what else we can see!"
Taking Riku's hand in his, he started to walk along the pathway that outlined the park. As they walked along the path, the two swung their intertwined hands back and forth. Sora hummed a happy little tune as he continued to observe all of the other areas of the park, taking in every little bit that he could. He wanted to be able to remember this forever, just like every other place he had ever visited. He would cherish the memory, but this time it was even more memorable because Riku was right beside him the entire time.
"Hey Sora, look over there."
Sora looked to see that Riku was pointing at something. At the far end of the park that they had yet to walk near was a white gazebo, detailed with vines woven around every column. It looked so pristine, practically glowing in the nightlight.
"Wow, never seen a gazebo that big before. That's like, so cool!"
"Shall we go investigate?"
"Of course!"
Running faster, they made it to the gazebo. Of course, like the rest of the park, it was empty, but it was still beautifully lit. Sora carefully stepped up into the gazebo and started to spin around, his dress twirling along with him.
"This is a perfect place to have a dance!" Sora declared.
"A dance?"
"Yeah! It's the perfect spot!" Sora said as he turned around to face Riku. "Don't you want to dance?"
Riku turned his head away slightly, his cheeks reddening. "Uh, y-yeah. We can dance. I'm just… I don't think I'd be very good."
Sora pouted, placing his hands on his hips. "Aw come on Riku. Don't be shy! I bet you could dance, and I can teach you."
Riku stepped forward, started to smile warmly. "Alright, show me how it goes."
Reaching forward, Sora took one of Riku's hands and put it around his waist. "Okay, so one hand here, the other here," he took Riku's other hand into his.
With a deep breath, he looked up to stare into Riku's beautiful eyes. "Now, just follow my lead, okay?"
"Will you sing?"
"Huh?"
"So we have some music to dance to," Riku replied, chuckling softly.
Sora grinned. "Alright, I'll do it."
He started to hum his little melody, pulling Riku along in the beat of the dance. Slowly, Riku started to get the hang of the dancing pattern and the two danced together perfectly. Not one moment went by where they stopped looking at each other, their gazes completely locked with one another.
The lights and the sounds of the city faded from them, and soon it was only the two of them along with Sora's song. It was enough to carry them away into a wonderful dreamlike feeling as they continued to dance the night away with each other.
