Tuesday Afternoon, Fandom and then Alexandria and Back: On a Mission
Rikku
Rikku had a brilliant idea.
It was Tuesday, they had no classes, newbies didn't show up for another few days, and her brilliant idea would get her out of Antarctica and back to somewhere warm, even if it was only for a few hours.
This meant she clearly had to implement the brilliant idea, you know. Right now.
Which is why she was leaning in Reno's doorway and grinning mischeviously.
"You're not busy or anything, are you?"
Reno
"Am I ever too busy for you, Rikku?"
Honestly, what a silly question. Seriously, he could put away his paperwork. It wasn't important, anyhow.
"C'mon in, yo." He smirked. "Long time. Whole day, huh? Too long."
Rikku
"Way too long," she grinned, and bounced into the room. She snagged one of his hands and started pulling. "C'mon, let's go!"
Reno
Reno's response was a blink. And a stumble. And then he was tripping along after her.
"Go? Go where?"
This was not the usual way of things, after all.
Rikku
No, usually there was pouncing and attempts at nudity, by now.
"The mainland!" she said. "Virginia, I mean, not whatever horrifying frozen wasteland we're in. Can you believe we're in some kinda permafrost place? That's just wrong."
Dragging Reno towards the door. Yup.
Reno
"I, uh, hear there are pengu-aaah!" Reno nearly tripped over his feet, there. The whole being dragged thing, that was new.
"Rikku? Rikku, what in the world is on the mainland that we gotta get to so fast?"
Rikku
"I'm just excited," she pouted. It was a very pretty pout. "I'm not allowed to be excited? I mean, it's a big day for you. We can check out the penguins later. I promise. They'll still be there. We'll take pictures for Rude and everything."
The pouting did not interrupt the dragging.
Reno
"I was, uh, thinkin' of nabbin' one to send him, but they don't got fish in Midg-" Wait. What? "A big day for me? The heck makes today any bigger a day than yesterday was?"
He was missing something important, here, wasn't he? He was sure of it.
Rikku
"I can't tell you thaaaaaaaaaat," Rikku sing-songed. "It would totally ruin the surprise. How come Midgar doesn't have any fish? Wait, you said you all lived in Edge now. Does Edge have fish?"
New topics were shiny, and meant she had longer to drag him down the hall.
Reno
"Edge has fish if we can get fish to Edge? There ain't really much water out there, either."
There wasn't much of anything out there, really.
"Okay, so, it's a surprise that's a big day for me. Uh. How big a day is it?" Oh, hey, stairs. Stairs were easier to navigate when he wasn't being dragged down them.
This was getting interesting.
Rikku
"Well, that's a hard question," Rikku sighed. "I mean, how do you mean big? Like, did you ever hear of that game, where you ask if something's bigger than a breadbox? I'm pretty sure it isn't. It might be, though. I'm not really clear on how big breadboxes are. Can't be too huge, or else you'd get smushed bread, right?"
Stairs were fun to hop down. Especially if Reno didn't end up breaking his neck. That would make the day extra-fun.
Reno
Reno was all about not breaking his neck today, really.
"You're gettin' me a breadbox?"
He was also all about being terribly confused.
Rikku
That meant she had to stop short and give him a full-on 'bitch, please' sort of look.
"Of course not," she sighed. "What sort of red-letter day would it be if I got you a breadbox?"
Seriously.
Reno
Reno nearly took a tumble down the rest of the stairs on the second floor at that.
"Okay. Uh. So what kinda red-letter-day is it, exactly?"
Rikku
"I tooooooooold you," Rikku said cheerfully, bouncing down to the first floor. Hooray, first floor! "I don't want to ruin the surprise. You want the surprise ruined? Really? Because surprises are awesome and boom, you'll have no surprise at all. Just a ruined one. Ruined surprises aren't even surprises any more. They're just ruins. Why did we have to move somewhere cold? It's summer, it's not allowed to be cold."
Reno
"You're... totally avoidin' tellin' me what we're doin', aren't you? Okay, I get to ask questions, like breadbox and whatever?"
Okay. Okay, Reno could work with this.
"Can I touch it?"
Rikku
"Yes," Rikku said, bracing herself for the cold air. Stupid cold air. "In fact, you should touch it. Touch it. A lot. Uh. But this isn't a kinky sex thing, or anything. Because ew."
Reno
Reno idly pulled his jacket over his shoulders for a moment while he got used to the chill, and then realized that Rikku was... wearing her usual.
Tripping along after her while shrugging out of a jacket? Still a challenge.
"Okay. So, should touch it, and it's smaller than a breadbox, and it ain't dirty."
See, this was progress. Really, it was.
Rikku
"Yup," she said. It wasn't actually cold, it was just ... chillier than it had any right to be, in July, dammit. "Possibly bigger than a breadbox. Depending on the breadbox. And depending on you. It's probably safe to say that it's smaller than the hypothetical breadbox. But it's totally not dirty and you totally should touch it."
Reno
At least not breaking his neck was easier to do when they weren't running down stairs.
"Okay, so I should touch it. Should I touch it often?" Small thing. Should be touched. Reno... really had no idea, here. "This gonna be some kinda huge, life-changing event or somethin'?"
At least a little warning would be good?
Rikku
"It totally is," she said, nodding. Totally easier when they weren't on the stairs. Especially since he was way taller than her and all. Then again, she was teeny, so everyone was way taller than her.
"Life-changing. In a good way. All kind of warm-fuzzy things like that. And I realized that you're never, ever gonna do it for yourself, so that's why I had to. And I figured no time like the present, right?"
Reno
Reno quirked an eyebrow. He wasn't really resisting, here. But... Uh.
"Any particular reason why this is somethin' I might never do for myself, Rikku?" Reno's common sense was tingling. He was about to have some form of mental breakthrough here, he was sure of it.
Rikku
"You never do," she shrugged. It was less dragging, now, and more twining her fingers around his and walking hand-in-hand. "I mean, you swear up and down that you're fine, and you kinda are, but ... things that would help? You wouldn't, because you swear you're fine. Look how hard you fought going out with me, and I've been totally good for you."
Reno
Reno sighed and continued to trip along after her.
"Rikku, I didn't fight goin' out with you just because I was convinced I was fine."
He figured it was necessary to clear that up.
"This ain't somethin' that might... depend on me bein' around for it? I mean, it won't get in the way of, uh..."
You know. The job.
Rikku
There was the sort of long silence that implied Rikku was, yet again, brooding about the fact that Reno didn't really have a long-term sort of situation going, here.
"I know that ... you can't stay, too long," she said, finally. "If this is something you can't ... deal with when you need to ... go, then I can. For now, it's not gonna ... make it hard for you to ... do the stuff you need to do."
Reno
Reno's reply was nearly cut off by a bit of a sigh.
"Rikku, is it a pet?"
This would be important knowledge, here, wouldn't it?
Rikku
Rikku stopped dead in her tracks. Damn the Turk anyways.
"It ... might be," she said, as innocently as she could muster.
Reno
"Just maybe, huh? You know I can't get a pet. I'll starve it, or lose it, or teach it to shit in the teachers' shoes..."
Reno quirked an eyebrow and sighed.
"Maybe a goldfish or somethin'," he decided. Because if they got him a goldfish, it would be okay if it died a terrible death.
Rikku
Rikku folded her arms. "No, you won't," she said defiantly. "You won't starve it, because pets are loud when they need food. Petey yowls any time he wants food, whether it's food time or not. You won't lose it, because you'll watch out for it and take care of it. Teaching it to crap in someone's shoes sounds like a good prank. And you are not getting a goldfish, because you can't cuddle a goldfish, they just sit there blowing bubbles at you."
"So come on," she said, taking his hand and pulling him along again.
Reno
Reno followed along yet again, somewhat coming to realize that there was really no way to contest Rikku-logic. It would seem that Rikku-logic was stronger and weirder and more upside-down than Reno-logic. Therefore; he was doomed.
"I don't need a pet to cuddle," he attempted lamely. "Got by just fine for the past eighteen years without one."
Mostly now he was arguing for the sake of seeing where Rikku-logic would lead next.
Rikku
Rikku was leading them into Alexandria, and wishing she'd written down better directions, and squinting at street signs and trying to remember where they were going.
Rikku-logic was similarly traipsing around in circles.
"You don't need a pet," she said, huffing a little. "That's why you're never going to get one, because you don't need one and you're fine and blah blah blah. So what, you're getting a pet. Deal with it."
Reno
Reno blinked. He blinked, and he stared, and he tripped along after her, and he tried to wrap his head around the fact that she'd pretty much informed him that he had no choice but to get something warm and fuzzy to call his own.
It was difficult to manage, so he tried a different tactic.
"You got any clue where we're goin', here?"
Rikku
"Sort of?" Rikku said, staring at the street signs. "I think that last left should have been a right. Or maybe I'm confusing the names? Stupid names."
She came to a full stop at the intersection, looking this way then that. "Okay. Pick a direction."
Reno
"Maybe take another left. If we take enough of 'em, we'll end up where we started?"
Reno gave a bit of a shrug. Wandering in circles always seemed like a good plan to him when he got lost. Instead of doing something sensible and normal like stopping to ask for directions.
What an interesting pair they must have appeared to be. A guy in a business suit and a girl in short-shorts, one dragging the other down the sidewalk.
Rikku
"Left it is," Rikku said, oblivious to any odd stares. She was an Al Bhed; she was immune to them by now.
After a block or two, she perked up. "These names are sounding better. See? You have good instincts. It's the Turk thing."
Reno
"Nah, it's a Reno thing. Grow up in the city, you figure out how to navigate the streets, yo."
It was a Turk thing.
"Anything familiar besides street names?"
Rikku
"Geeeeeeetting there," Rikku said, bouncing on her toes. "I just might know where we are, now. Are you excited yet?"
Totally, totally knew where they were, now. Just a block or so away.
Reno
"Ecstatic, yo."
Could she tell how excited he was by the panic in his eyes?
Reno and responsibility did not exactly go hand-in-hand, really.
Rikku
"You'll do great," she said, leaning up on her tiptoes to give him a quick kiss.
If he really didn't want a pet, if he got to the store and stared at all the little fuzzy critters and gave her the 'WTF?' look, then she'd let him off the hook.
But she'd caught him playing with Petey when he thought she wasn't paying attention, and he missed Max like crazy, and he totally wanted a pet, he was just too damn stubborn to ever admit it to himself.
Uh. She hoped.
Especially since they were almost there.
"Do you see it?" she pointed. "Awwww, I'm getting bouncy already."
Reno
At least one of them was bouncy. Reno hadn't realized that the guts of a human being could possibly hold so many rocks in them.
"Yeah, yeah, I see it, yo."
Of course, the sinking feeling faded pretty quickly when they reached the shop window and he stole a glance inside.
The glance earned a double-take. And a bit of a gape-mouthed stare.
"Tell me those ain't weasels in there?"
Rikku
"Oooooh, they might be!" Rikku leaned against the window and tapped on the glass, grinning. "Hiiiiiiii, weasels! Hi! Who's a good little weasel? Awwww, they're cute!"
They were, all hyper and furry, dancing around excitedly and wanting to play.
Reno
"Bouncing... weasels."
Reno wasn't going to go inside. Reno was going to stand there and be baffled as to why anyone would want a weasel for a pet in the first place.
And then he was going to try not to laugh too hard when one attempted to tackle another, only to end up flopping unceremoniously over onto its backside.
Rikku
"They're playing," she laughed, clapping her hands. "Oh my gosh, they're adorable. Come on, suja!"
She tugged on his hands and dragged him through the doorway, because they couldn't snuggle the cuddly clumsy little weasel-things on this side of the glass, okay?
Reno
And there went Reno, keeping up this time instead of tripping.
Because, seriously.
Weasels.
In fact, Reno was now pushing ahead of Rikku and waving a hand at said weasel-things.
"Hey, hey stupid! Over here!"
Ferret
One of the weasel-things quickly noticed Reno's wiggling hands, and bounced on over to investigate with a good-and-excited honk.
Hand! There was a hand over there! Hands meant playing, right? He liked playing. And hands. Win!
Rikku
"Oh my gosh, weasels honk?!" Rikku laughed. "Hi there! Hi, guys!"
Sticking your hand in the ferret cage meant getting chewed on, and nuzzled at, and lots and lots of honking.
Rikku liked the weasels already.
Reno
Reno was going to have to follow up this attention by sticking his fingers into the cage as well, and wiggling them about at the one that had wandered over to ... honk hello?
As fate would have it, weasels also bit hard.
"You, I like," he informed the weasel-thing. "Weird ninja-weasel-goose."
Well. It certainly sounded like a goose.
Rikku
"He's gonna get you," Rikku giggled, reaching over to pet the adorable ninja-weasel-goose-thing that was currently latched on to Reno's finger. "Seriously. He's a vicious little thing."
Reno
"He's a freakin' monster. I approve." Reno smirked and attempted to pry his finger free. Not happening through the cage bars, that was certain. "I gotta set him loose on the squirrels or somethin'. I bet they'd love that, yo."
Ferret
The weasel-thing seemed to approve. You could tell by the way he forgot what he was doing, pranced around in a clumsy little circle, and then tripped over his own feet and rolled over before attacking Reno's finger again.
Rikku
"You could get your own trained attack weasel," Rikku bounced. "No more taking guff from the squirrels! You can sic him on your boss when he gets crabby! Just think of the possibilities!"
Reno
Reno seemed to like this idea.
He liked it so much that he found himself totally enraptured by said attack weasel.
"You gonna bite Tseng in the ass? Huh? You gonna kick Tseng's ass, weasel-goose?"
Oh, the possibilities.
Ferret
The weasel-thing was now doing a series of happy little clumsy jumps around, in order to properly declare war on Reno's hand. There were a number of honks and chittering noises thrown in for good measure before the dance abruptly came to an end and the weasel-thing resumed chewing vigorously on Reno's index finger.
Rikku
"I think he likes you," Rikku smiled.
Reno
"I think I like him," Reno confessed.
...
"Maybe I can handle a pet if it's as weird as as I am, yo."
...
Maybe? .... Yeah. Yeah, he could. D'awww, weasel.
Rikku
"You bet you could," she said, leaning up to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Hang on a sec, okay?"
She was going to wander off for a few minutes while he got all bond-y with the weasel-thing. No reason. Really.
Ferret
The weasel-thing hopped up, noticing the girl leaving, and honked a few times in her general direction. He honked once or twice at Reno before going back into his dance of war.
His dance of war would be more impressive if he didn't fall over quite so much.
Reno
Reno was rather fond of this dance of war.
Perhaps this was because Reno had finally found a creature that was a bigger klutz than he was.
This was why he had to inform the weasel-thing how highly he thought of it.
"You're a stupid little shit, ain't you? Trippin' all over your feet. Stupid ninja-weasel-goose."
It was, clearly, an insult of affection.
Ferret
The weasel-thing was totally a stupid little shit, and was going to keep chittering happily at Reno while he attempted to gnaw his entire finger off.
Rikku
After a few minutes of bonding time -- and some minor bloodshed -- Rikku walked up behind Reno, slipping her hands around his waist.
The very nice saleslady opening the cage. "Is it this one, then?" she said cheerfully, reaching in and scooping up the ninja-weasel-goose. "Awww, he's an active little guy, isn't he?"
Reno might notice the small pile of things Rikku had brought back with her: a cage, blankets, some food, other such pet essentials. She'd been busy.
Reno
"He's got energy," Reno remarked, leaning back against Rikku - hey, there - and grinning.
... Wait. Was he getting the weasel-thing?
... Sure!
"Energy's good."
It was. And not even the lightning spell type, either.
Rikku
"He certainly does," she said, handing the wriggly fuzzball to Reno with a smile. "I think you've got everything you needed?"
"You bet," Rikku beamed. "Except you've gotta name him, Reno. You can't just call him ninja-weasel-goose."
Reno
"That's a good enough thing to call 'im until I come up with somethin' that fits," Reno replied, taking the weasel-thing and trying not to squirm too much as it tried to find its way up his sleeve. "First pet, gotta do this right, yo."
He grinned one of those little lopsided grins of his.
"C'mon, you little shit. Time to go home."
(OOC: Preplayed with the awesomesauce raspberryturk. NFI, and only the Fandom parts are FB, as the rest is in Virginia. YAY FERRET.)