Office #7, Tuesday

[raspberryturk]

So, Reno really hadn't been here at all this semester, with a couple of exceptions. It stood to reason, with him, that almost a week before his final class was probably a good time to make an attempt at that

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[wish_kebab]

All things considered, once she'd snuck on over to Fandom Island, it hadn't taken long for Aerith to track Reno down. All of life went back to the Lifestream, and Reno belonged to Gaia, in a way that resonated with her, no matter where he chose to make his home these days.

Aerith drifted through the school invisibly until she found his office (which she went through the wall to get into) and, still invisible, surveyed him curiously. He looked better than he had back when everything was falling apart.

He also looked dreadfully bored in her estimation.

She grinned at him, though he couldn't see it, and called down the rain. Aerith had been able to do this back when she'd been alive. Dying had only made her stronger. But this was just a small, localized rain.

Inside his office. Right on top of him.

[wish_kebab]

"Thank them for us," Aerith said, "if you haven't already. It makes our work go a little easier, every bit that you and your rookies do." Then she smiled. "Mideel has grass growing now," she shared. "Not much and not everywhere, but it's starting."

It had been easier there, with the Lifestream so close to the surface, to begin the repairs and have the improvements be visible ones.

[raspberryturk]

"They're gettin' a party next week, after we check in with Tuesti and his toy cat," Reno replied, now setting himself to work trying to wring some of the water from the bottom of his jacket. "The locals are pretty damn thankful to 'em, too."

To them. The weird outsider kids who came in to help get Edge going again. Not so much to him, the obvious Turk who lurked around the edges and helped whenever he could get in without being too disruptive to the locals. They'd really much rather he'd died in Meteorfall.

"... Glad it'll help."

[wish_kebab]

"It will," Aerith confirmed, smiling again. Partly at the fact that he was sodden.

It amused her.

"And even if the locals aren't grateful to you, we appreciate it," she said. "Even if you do look pretty silly right now!"

[raspberryturk]

"Ugh," Reno replied, eloquently. "That's one stupid way to show you're thankful, yo. You got anything else you wanna say or soak here today?"

Reno apparently had little patience for soggy hauntings.

[wish_kebab]

"It would serve you right if we stuck around all day!" Aerith laughed and hopped off his desk, clasping her hands behind her back as she sauntered past the front of it. "But no, I think we're done."

Then she paused.

"Well, I suppose there's two more things," she said. "The first is that you might want to make sure your students don't set foot in Edge alone! That's dangerous for them."

[raspberryturk]

"Well, yeah, no shit," Reno replied, blinking. "I mean, I told 'em no wandering off on their own, yoto."

...

"S'one of the rules. That apparently one of 'em broke?"

Welp. Reno was going to have to get angry at somebody, now.

[wish_kebab]

"Yes," Aerith said, bobbing her head. She felt sorry for the kid who was going to get in trouble but not enough to not tell on them.

Edge was dangerous.

"I don't know her name," she added, a bit apologetic. "But she has longish brown-blonde hair."

[raspberryturk]

... Once upon a time, that would have been any one of Reno's Rookies, really.

"She ain't one of the two I have workin' as my direct assistants, is she?"

Because that seemed like the best bet, there, Karina.

[wish_kebab]

"You know," Aerith said thoughtfully, "I think she is."

[raspberryturk]

"I'm gonna kill'er," Reno muttered, his expression going a little darker. "I'm gonna friggin'..."

Right then and there, he pulled his phone out of his pocket. Turk PHS systems were water resistant, so there, Aerith. And right then and there, he called Karina's phone and left a message.

He was not a happy Turk.

[wish_kebab]

"Don't actually kill her," Aerith advised, not quite entirely seriously. She didn't really think he'd kill her, after all. If she did, she'd be more concerned. "You might regret it when you're less angry."

[raspberryturk]

"I'm not going to actually kill her," Reno muttered. "Probably."

That depended on a lot of factors, like how badly he actually wanted to be able to ever come back to the island again once this semester was through, and how much danger Karina put the other students in while he was bird-shaped.

[wish_kebab]

"Try not to," she said agreeably, did another back-and-forth by his desk and then, with a glance at Zack, said, "Did you want to hear the other thing? Or should we leave you to seethe?"

[raspberryturk]

Reno ground his teeth one more time for good measure, and then sighed and shrugged his shoulders, slumping into his chair.

"Whatever. Why not? Ain't every day I get visited by dead people. Might as well spit it out now, yo."

[wish_kebab]

"It's not a very complicated thing," she said, stopping and leaning one hip against the desk. "It's just, we'd be much obliged if you could pass on a message to Tseng for us."

Aerith glanced at Zack, who nodded at her, and then back at Reno.

"Just tell him this: we forgive him."