Bikanel, Friday, Fandom-Time (NFB)
As tempting as it was to put this off -- and it was, for many reasons -- Rikku knew that it was better to get this overwith. It was just going to hang there, in the back of her head, bothering her until she tackled it directly. She was starting to wonder if Momoko was right, and all of Home was doing the same thing.
Rikku
She felt a wave of homesickness as soon as she stepped onto the warm sand, seeing the familiar shapeless dunes extend out haphazardly as far as the eye could see. She hadn't been back to this island in years. She hadn't even realized, until this moment, how much she'd missed it.
Maybe Bikanel was always going to be Home, no matter where she went in life.
There were too many emotions, bubbling up in the back of her throat. She was going to do her best to clear it and keep herself under control. And if she couldn't ... maybe that was okay, too.
In the meantime, she was going to be very, very grateful that she wasn't doing this alone. Or in front of Yuna, either. One would be devastating, and the other would mean she'd have to force herself to seem as normal as possible. She couldn't honestly decide which would have been worse.
"Okay," she said, pleased that her voice wasn't too shaky after all. "Check out the exciting scenery, yoto. Get used to it, because this is pretty much it."
Reno
"We got... sand," Reno observed, looking out thoughtfully at the area around them. His hand was reaching for hers. Even if his voice was as casual as it ever was, he knew how important this was to her. "And some more sand. And, to mix shit up a bit, that over there looks kinda like..."
He squinted.
"More sand."
And then he turned a grin toward her, though it was softer around the edges than his usual, if you knew what you were looking for.
"Cozy."
Rikku
She did know what to look for. She couldn't say she knew better than anyone -- that honor probably went to Rude. But she knew.
Much the same way that he knew to reach over for her hand, exactly when she needed it. She was going to hold on to his hand and squeeze.
"It is," she agreed. Even if he had been sarcastic, it was cozy. To her, anyway. Maybe all homes were. "See, this is why outsiders get lost so easily. I mean, I get lost now and then, too."
Reno
"Well, you can't really give directions around here, can you? Turn left at the big dune, keep goin' until the next big dune, try not to trip on a cactus or somethin' if you can find one..."
They were very precise directions.
"Ain't so bad, really. Smells better'n Sector Five ever did, zoto."
Rikku
"You should see it at night," she said, staring up at the sky. There was so much sky here. She'd missed that, too. "You can go out just far enough that you can't see the lights from Home, find a quiet spot, and it's all dark with those sparkly little diamonds up overhead."
Never mind that there weren't any lights at Home any more.
"And then a sand worm sneaks up on you, but hey, killing sand worms is just part of the fun, right?"
Reno
"Well, duh," Reno replied, chuckling. "It's part of the experience. See the sand, interact with the wildlife."
He looked up, pursing his lips a little.
"You know, we ain't watched the stars in forever."
Rikku
"Let's stay out here tonight," she said, impulsively. "Even if we find the fiend early. I can show you all the constellations."
Home was gone, but this was still the same sky she'd dreamed under.
"It gets cold, but we have blankets," she added. And the cold of a desert night was still better than snow any day.
Reno
"Ain't like I never dealt with cold before anyhow," Reno pointed out. "So, you show me the constellations, I make some shit up, it all balances out?"
He could make up constellations like a champ.
Most of them would be dirty.
Rikku
Rikku was totally eager to learn all about Dumpy, the One-Balled Wonder. Or whatever else Reno came up with.
"Thank you for being here," she said softly.
She wasn't really sure she could have done this without him.
Reno
He gave her hand a soft squeeze, leaning over to press a kiss to her cheek.
"I wouldn't be nowhere else, babe," he replied. Where else was there? Rikku needed him here.
And, even if Bikanel was a million miles of nothing but friggin' sand, Reno didn't much mind the place, either.
Rikku
Strangely enough, the longer they walked, the more cheerful Rikku became.
Maybe it wasn't that strange. This had been her home. She knew these sand dunes, had fought her first sandworm over there, and stolen her first grenade over here, and played hide-and-seek over in that crevice. The midday sun was sweltering, exactly how she liked it. None of that ridiculous snow.
"We found my sigil out here," Rikku said, climbing to the top of a small mound of sand. "Did I ever tell you that? We had to play tag with a bunch of Cactuars first."
Reno
"That so?"
Reno, meanwhile, looked something like he was about to crawl out of either his uniform or his skin, one or the other. It was way too godsdamned hot to be proud of being a Turk, today.
"The hell were a bunch'a Cactuars doin' with somethin' like that?"
Rikku
"They were guarding a sandstorm," she explained, narrowing her eyes and scanning the horizon. "Keeping it going or something like that. We found them all, popped them back into the statue, and boom! No more sandstorm, and there's my sigil."
Nothing. Hmmph. She dusted her hands off and turned so she could skitter back down, careful not to fall.
"You look hot," she laughed. "You should strip down to your skivvies. Ever tried to fight monsters n---"
The innuendo was going to have to wait. Because something had just popped up over the next hill. Something huge that looked like it was itching for a fight.
"... I think we found it, yoto," she said, her eyes widening as she pointed.
.... kay. That thing looked mean.
Reno
... It had several heads. None of them looked particularly friendly, and most of them looked big enough to bite Reno in two.
"Oh. Shit."
It was no wonder they needed to call people in to deal with this bad boy. Reno gaped for a moment more, and then reached for his baton and rolled up his sleeves.
Since they were here, they might as well do something about it.
Rikku
Rikku was trying not to panic. And at the same time, there was a little thrill going down her spine. This thing looked like a challenge.
"Okay," Rikku said, sweeping some of the hair out of her face and nodding at her favorite Turk. "Are we ready for this?"
Yeah, okay, the excited thrill of this guy being a challenge didn't seem to make her stomach churn any less. Guardian plus Turk meant they had a chance, here. If things went south, they were going to be stranded in the desert with no way of getting help.
But on the upside, that thing had to drop decent loot. Because ... seriously.
Reno
"Gonna have to be, ain't we?"
Really, in the long run, what could this thing possibly have on Yazoo and Loz?
Don't answer that.
Reno shot Rikku a crooked grin, and then took off toward the fiend at a run. Because even if he were to take off in an attempt to run away, where the hell was there to run to?
Rikku
Besides, he was exactly the type who would run into danger, headfirst and with a whoop. He was crazy like that. It was one of the reasons she loved him.
... So. It turned out the fiend-thing had one head that was immune to magic, and one that was immune to physical attacks, as well as a main head in the back that liked to cast mean nasty awful things at them while they were trying to kill off the other two stupid heads.
It helped that they both had potions. And that Reno, when pushed, pulled out that way-awesome Turk Light thing.
Seriously, it was cool. Someone should tell him that.
For her part, she was sticking to magic bombs. Whenever they got the two side heads disabled, then they could whale on the main one, and that meant she could slice things up.
Of course, it would eventually cast that horrible Perdition's Flame mess at them and heal the two side heads, but if it was healing them then it couldn't heal itself. So it was just a matter of being patient, using those potions, and chipping away at the freakish thing until it finally -- finally -- groaned and fell over, dissipating into pyreflies.
Rikku, for her part, was going to fall flat onto her butt.
"Just ... catching my breath," she said.
Reno
"That's what that is?"
Reno managed to stay upright for slightly longer than Rikku, making his way over to her and then seating himself down on the sand beside her with... Well, slightly more grace, at least.
"Tell me that big boy don't have a brother or nothin'?"
Rikku
Rikku, being mature, blew a raspberry at him.
"I hope not," she said. "'Cause I'm so not dealing with more of him. I don't care how much loot he dropped."
She flopped back onto the sand dramatically before cracking her eyes open again.
"He did drop some loot, right?"
Priorities.
Reno
Reno glanced over to where the big, ugly thing had been, a few moments before.
"Yep. Totally dropped some loot."
Forgive him for a moment, he was gaping.
Rikku
He was gaping in ways that worried her. She squinted, and then tried sitting up.
"Tell me he's not respawning," she groaned. "Or growing into phase two or whatever stupid things monsters do when they just won't die."
Reno
"Nope," Reno replied, "he's good and dead. But if you ain't sittin' up in like two seconds, I'm takin' the loot for myself and dancin' around with it like a total friggin' idiot."
Because... Because. There were two of them, and he'd only dropped one Ribbon.
Rikku
Okay, if it was that good, she was going to have to push herself the rest of the way to sitting, and --
"No way," she gasped, giving a wriggle of happy excitement. "No way. He dropped a Ribbon?"
One small handy little accessory that guarded against, you know, everything.
Reno
"He did," Reno agreed, "but you gotta beat me to it, babe."
That said, even if he was on his feet and making to run for it, he was totally going to let her win.
Rikku
Rikku attempted to push onto her feet ... and discovered that was a bad idea. So she flopped back down again. Maybe if she scooped up a handful of sand and flung it at him, that would .... um.
Hang in the air and do absolutely nothing?
"You can have it," she called out, closing her eyes again. "I'll just be over here, getting a tan. And wondering what kind of fee I should charge, for getting you out of this desert."
He'd come with her. He'd totally earned the Ribbon. That didn't mean she wasn't going to tease him about it, first.
Reno
He would totally look hot with it tied in his hair in a pretty bow, right?
He stood there, blinking at the sand, and then laughed and shook his head, going to retrieve the accessory in question before a Sand Worm could leap up and swallow it, or something. Because that would suck. A lot.
"For gettin' me outta here? I'd say a Ribbon is just about fair," he mused, turning it over in his hand thoughtfully as he made his way back. "Other things I'd trade a Ribbon right about now? A drink of water, or for someone to cast Blizzard on my ass right about now."
Black suit. Desert. Yeah.
Rikku
"We should share it," Rikku said. "Whoever's going up against the forces of darkness this week, takes the ribbon. Besides, you'd look cute with it."
She pushed herself up onto her hands, and focused for a long second, before nodding once.
Water was a really easy spell to cast, and he looked like he could use a couple of gallons on his head.
(Preplayed with the fantabulous raspberryturk. Will be continued in comments. NFB-distance, and NFI except for the Turk, zoto.)
Rikku
She felt a wave of homesickness as soon as she stepped onto the warm sand, seeing the familiar shapeless dunes extend out haphazardly as far as the eye could see. She hadn't been back to this island in years. She hadn't even realized, until this moment, how much she'd missed it.
Maybe Bikanel was always going to be Home, no matter where she went in life.
There were too many emotions, bubbling up in the back of her throat. She was going to do her best to clear it and keep herself under control. And if she couldn't ... maybe that was okay, too.
In the meantime, she was going to be very, very grateful that she wasn't doing this alone. Or in front of Yuna, either. One would be devastating, and the other would mean she'd have to force herself to seem as normal as possible. She couldn't honestly decide which would have been worse.
"Okay," she said, pleased that her voice wasn't too shaky after all. "Check out the exciting scenery, yoto. Get used to it, because this is pretty much it."
Reno
"We got... sand," Reno observed, looking out thoughtfully at the area around them. His hand was reaching for hers. Even if his voice was as casual as it ever was, he knew how important this was to her. "And some more sand. And, to mix shit up a bit, that over there looks kinda like..."
He squinted.
"More sand."
And then he turned a grin toward her, though it was softer around the edges than his usual, if you knew what you were looking for.
"Cozy."
Rikku
She did know what to look for. She couldn't say she knew better than anyone -- that honor probably went to Rude. But she knew.
Much the same way that he knew to reach over for her hand, exactly when she needed it. She was going to hold on to his hand and squeeze.
"It is," she agreed. Even if he had been sarcastic, it was cozy. To her, anyway. Maybe all homes were. "See, this is why outsiders get lost so easily. I mean, I get lost now and then, too."
Reno
"Well, you can't really give directions around here, can you? Turn left at the big dune, keep goin' until the next big dune, try not to trip on a cactus or somethin' if you can find one..."
They were very precise directions.
"Ain't so bad, really. Smells better'n Sector Five ever did, zoto."
Rikku
"You should see it at night," she said, staring up at the sky. There was so much sky here. She'd missed that, too. "You can go out just far enough that you can't see the lights from Home, find a quiet spot, and it's all dark with those sparkly little diamonds up overhead."
Never mind that there weren't any lights at Home any more.
"And then a sand worm sneaks up on you, but hey, killing sand worms is just part of the fun, right?"
Reno
"Well, duh," Reno replied, chuckling. "It's part of the experience. See the sand, interact with the wildlife."
He looked up, pursing his lips a little.
"You know, we ain't watched the stars in forever."
Rikku
"Let's stay out here tonight," she said, impulsively. "Even if we find the fiend early. I can show you all the constellations."
Home was gone, but this was still the same sky she'd dreamed under.
"It gets cold, but we have blankets," she added. And the cold of a desert night was still better than snow any day.
Reno
"Ain't like I never dealt with cold before anyhow," Reno pointed out. "So, you show me the constellations, I make some shit up, it all balances out?"
He could make up constellations like a champ.
Most of them would be dirty.
Rikku
Rikku was totally eager to learn all about Dumpy, the One-Balled Wonder. Or whatever else Reno came up with.
"Thank you for being here," she said softly.
She wasn't really sure she could have done this without him.
Reno
He gave her hand a soft squeeze, leaning over to press a kiss to her cheek.
"I wouldn't be nowhere else, babe," he replied. Where else was there? Rikku needed him here.
And, even if Bikanel was a million miles of nothing but friggin' sand, Reno didn't much mind the place, either.
Rikku
Strangely enough, the longer they walked, the more cheerful Rikku became.
Maybe it wasn't that strange. This had been her home. She knew these sand dunes, had fought her first sandworm over there, and stolen her first grenade over here, and played hide-and-seek over in that crevice. The midday sun was sweltering, exactly how she liked it. None of that ridiculous snow.
"We found my sigil out here," Rikku said, climbing to the top of a small mound of sand. "Did I ever tell you that? We had to play tag with a bunch of Cactuars first."
Reno
"That so?"
Reno, meanwhile, looked something like he was about to crawl out of either his uniform or his skin, one or the other. It was way too godsdamned hot to be proud of being a Turk, today.
"The hell were a bunch'a Cactuars doin' with somethin' like that?"
Rikku
"They were guarding a sandstorm," she explained, narrowing her eyes and scanning the horizon. "Keeping it going or something like that. We found them all, popped them back into the statue, and boom! No more sandstorm, and there's my sigil."
Nothing. Hmmph. She dusted her hands off and turned so she could skitter back down, careful not to fall.
"You look hot," she laughed. "You should strip down to your skivvies. Ever tried to fight monsters n---"
The innuendo was going to have to wait. Because something had just popped up over the next hill. Something huge that looked like it was itching for a fight.
"... I think we found it, yoto," she said, her eyes widening as she pointed.
.... kay. That thing looked mean.
Reno
... It had several heads. None of them looked particularly friendly, and most of them looked big enough to bite Reno in two.
"Oh. Shit."
It was no wonder they needed to call people in to deal with this bad boy. Reno gaped for a moment more, and then reached for his baton and rolled up his sleeves.
Since they were here, they might as well do something about it.
Rikku
Rikku was trying not to panic. And at the same time, there was a little thrill going down her spine. This thing looked like a challenge.
"Okay," Rikku said, sweeping some of the hair out of her face and nodding at her favorite Turk. "Are we ready for this?"
Yeah, okay, the excited thrill of this guy being a challenge didn't seem to make her stomach churn any less. Guardian plus Turk meant they had a chance, here. If things went south, they were going to be stranded in the desert with no way of getting help.
But on the upside, that thing had to drop decent loot. Because ... seriously.
Reno
"Gonna have to be, ain't we?"
Really, in the long run, what could this thing possibly have on Yazoo and Loz?
Don't answer that.
Reno shot Rikku a crooked grin, and then took off toward the fiend at a run. Because even if he were to take off in an attempt to run away, where the hell was there to run to?
Rikku
Besides, he was exactly the type who would run into danger, headfirst and with a whoop. He was crazy like that. It was one of the reasons she loved him.
... So. It turned out the fiend-thing had one head that was immune to magic, and one that was immune to physical attacks, as well as a main head in the back that liked to cast mean nasty awful things at them while they were trying to kill off the other two stupid heads.
It helped that they both had potions. And that Reno, when pushed, pulled out that way-awesome Turk Light thing.
Seriously, it was cool. Someone should tell him that.
For her part, she was sticking to magic bombs. Whenever they got the two side heads disabled, then they could whale on the main one, and that meant she could slice things up.
Of course, it would eventually cast that horrible Perdition's Flame mess at them and heal the two side heads, but if it was healing them then it couldn't heal itself. So it was just a matter of being patient, using those potions, and chipping away at the freakish thing until it finally -- finally -- groaned and fell over, dissipating into pyreflies.
Rikku, for her part, was going to fall flat onto her butt.
"Just ... catching my breath," she said.
Reno
"That's what that is?"
Reno managed to stay upright for slightly longer than Rikku, making his way over to her and then seating himself down on the sand beside her with... Well, slightly more grace, at least.
"Tell me that big boy don't have a brother or nothin'?"
Rikku
Rikku, being mature, blew a raspberry at him.
"I hope not," she said. "'Cause I'm so not dealing with more of him. I don't care how much loot he dropped."
She flopped back onto the sand dramatically before cracking her eyes open again.
"He did drop some loot, right?"
Priorities.
Reno
Reno glanced over to where the big, ugly thing had been, a few moments before.
"Yep. Totally dropped some loot."
Forgive him for a moment, he was gaping.
Rikku
He was gaping in ways that worried her. She squinted, and then tried sitting up.
"Tell me he's not respawning," she groaned. "Or growing into phase two or whatever stupid things monsters do when they just won't die."
Reno
"Nope," Reno replied, "he's good and dead. But if you ain't sittin' up in like two seconds, I'm takin' the loot for myself and dancin' around with it like a total friggin' idiot."
Because... Because. There were two of them, and he'd only dropped one Ribbon.
Rikku
Okay, if it was that good, she was going to have to push herself the rest of the way to sitting, and --
"No way," she gasped, giving a wriggle of happy excitement. "No way. He dropped a Ribbon?"
One small handy little accessory that guarded against, you know, everything.
Reno
"He did," Reno agreed, "but you gotta beat me to it, babe."
That said, even if he was on his feet and making to run for it, he was totally going to let her win.
Rikku
Rikku attempted to push onto her feet ... and discovered that was a bad idea. So she flopped back down again. Maybe if she scooped up a handful of sand and flung it at him, that would .... um.
Hang in the air and do absolutely nothing?
"You can have it," she called out, closing her eyes again. "I'll just be over here, getting a tan. And wondering what kind of fee I should charge, for getting you out of this desert."
He'd come with her. He'd totally earned the Ribbon. That didn't mean she wasn't going to tease him about it, first.
Reno
He would totally look hot with it tied in his hair in a pretty bow, right?
He stood there, blinking at the sand, and then laughed and shook his head, going to retrieve the accessory in question before a Sand Worm could leap up and swallow it, or something. Because that would suck. A lot.
"For gettin' me outta here? I'd say a Ribbon is just about fair," he mused, turning it over in his hand thoughtfully as he made his way back. "Other things I'd trade a Ribbon right about now? A drink of water, or for someone to cast Blizzard on my ass right about now."
Black suit. Desert. Yeah.
Rikku
"We should share it," Rikku said. "Whoever's going up against the forces of darkness this week, takes the ribbon. Besides, you'd look cute with it."
She pushed herself up onto her hands, and focused for a long second, before nodding once.
Water was a really easy spell to cast, and he looked like he could use a couple of gallons on his head.
(Preplayed with the fantabulous raspberryturk. Will be continued in comments. NFB-distance, and NFI except for the Turk, zoto.)