Room 308, Friday, Midday

[the_merriest]

Okay, so: it wasn't just prom. It was also Reno's nineteenth birthday. Which ... he kinda got weird about celebrating things like that, so she hadn't made a big fuss out of it -- although she was going to give a heads-up to the rest of the posse, just because they'd slap her silly if they didn't. She might ask them to keep it under wraps, though.

Comments

[raspberryturk]

Reno was in a pretty darn good mood, today. Between dodgeball and punting fake gremlins into the trees, classes today hadn't been so bad at all.

And they'd been sane which suited him just fine.

And so he was smiling as he knocked on Rikku's door, a paper bag containing the greasiest chicken he could get on the island in one hand. It was lunchtime, after all.

[raspberryturk]

"Edge is all about the pimps and hos," Reno snorted, grinning faintly. "Never been to Luca though, nah. What's it like there?"

[the_merriest]

"It's the closest thing Spira has to a real city," Rikku said with a smile. "The blitzball tournament is held there, in the huge stadium. They let everybody play. Even us Al Bhed."

Blitz was taken very, very seriously in Spira.

[raspberryturk]

"That'd be somethin' to take in sometime," Reno mused. "A real Blitz game. People who hold their breath for, you know, something that technically actually counts as a sport, zoto."

Reno liked his reason to hold his breath, better. "Definitely gonna have to check that out."

[the_merriest]

"Definitely," she agreed. "Whenever we get back there. I mean ..."

She frowned, glancing over at him. "Graduation's soon. Were we ... I mean, where were we going first?"

Both their worlds seemed to be doing badly.

[raspberryturk]

"That's... Uh. That's a real good question." Reno glanced back, an eyebrow raised slightly. "I'm pretty sure I gotta go back home, Rikku. I mean, Edge ain't in the best way. I got bits and pieces I can take back with me, that'll help, but it ain't gonna do no good unless I get it there, yeah?"

[the_merriest]

"Yeah," she said, nodding quickly. "I know what you mean. I feel like ... I feel like I'm spinning my wheels, here, you know? Yunie needs me, and I'm sitting around taking classes and babysitting. It just seems ... wrong."

[raspberryturk]

"Summer's comin' soon. Summer, and grad, and I can't see me stickin' around for it. Not with all that goin' on, either way. I mean, Arthur and I got that reserves thing we're gonna start up here, and I feel like shit bailin' on him so soon after it's started up, but that's somethin' that's already handled."

He shrugged and wiggled over closer to her, putting an arm around her and absently reaching for a handful of popcorn with the other.

"What is it Yuna needs?" This was curiosity. Sorting. Trying to figure out who had to be where, when.

[the_merriest]

"Me," Rikku said, flushing a little. "I don't know. It's not like it was last time. There's no huge monster. But everybody's just fallen back into fighting and clashing with each other and it's getting worse. Yunie thinks it's her job to stop it, so she's running around trying to get everyone to play nice. Every time I hear from her, she sounds more burned out. I mean, she's got Tidus, but she's also ... I could help. I could be helping. You know?"

She frowned, hoping that didn't sound inconsequential. In a way, it did, compared to what was going on in Edge ... and yet, it felt huge to her. It had been weighing on her since February.

[raspberryturk]

"You're a guardian," Reno said simply. "You do the job, no matter what, because that's what you are."

Which, really, was his way of assuring her that he understood exactly how huge a deal it really could be.

The popcorn in his hand was being ignored as he looked up at the ceiling.

"Whatever we do, I can't hang around here forever. Is there anything I can do that'll help you guys?"

[the_merriest]

He did understand. That was possibly the best part of this whole relationship of theirs: he usually did.

"I don't know," she admitted. "I don't even know what I can be doing until I get there. Other than lecturing her and trying to play diplomat a lot."

She glanced over at him, considering angles. "So what is it ... that we'd be doing in Edge?"

[raspberryturk]

Reno lifted a shoulder, thinking it over.

"I dunno. Ino's gonna dig up information for me on everything from gardening to hydroponics. Girl's got a shitload of plant knowhow that might do us some good in a place as dead as Edge. I dunno if anyone'll let me, but there's that place in the church with the flowers, if it'll grow those, it'll grow food, right?"

Food seemed like a really big deal, okay?

"Plus there are still monsters out in the wastelands that like makin' their way into the city. Someone's gotta help organize some way to keep Hojo's messes and Jenova's from eatin' the locals."

He shoved the popcorn in his mouth. Mmmm.

"How's that airship of your old man's doin'?"

[the_merriest]

"Hydroponics?" she frowned. "Those are ... like, the plants they have in those liquid-y things? You should talk to Pops. Or maybe Buddy, he was really good with those. I mean, we had this one room of crop-stuff, since you can't really grow plants out in the sand very well."

She hadn't paid much attention, back in Home. There were rooms of plants. It was cool, but she'd never fussed with it all that much.

"Sounds like you need some kind of a defense system," she mused. "And we're still not sure how the airship's still up in the air. It seems like more and more people are getting off. Some of them are joining different groups, or trying to find a place to live, you know?"

[raspberryturk]

"Somethin' that might not crash-land someday, huh?" Reno pursed his lips, musing on that. "What would you think if I were to go and take a look at the airship, get a feel for how it works, and then talk to someone who built his own from scratch back on Gaia for you?"

He could get information on hydroponics while he was at it, sure, but this kind of seemed like an important question.

"I can fix up what looks wrong right offa the bat, and then get Cid not-your-Pa to give me pointers on the rest of it."

A task that would most likely require a good deal of sweet-talking Tifa. Reno was positive that Rude would want to help with that task.

[the_merriest]

"That would be awesome," she grinned. "Built his own? Wow. He might know what that knocking is. Pops says it's getting louder and that's probably a bad sign, right?"

That usually wasn't good news, right there.

"So we'd ... go to Spira for a little bit and then Edge?" she asked, hesitantly.

[raspberryturk]

Reno furrowed his eyebrows a little, thinking that over.

"Maybe... not. You wanna be there for Yuna, zoto." This... This was hard. "And I gotta be in Edge to figure out what it is they need most."

Deep breath.

"Maybe we both go to Spira, and I get a list of parts and odds and ends you guys could use, and I go to Edge an' get it while you're bein' a guardian. So, I'm at Gaia, I figure out what they need better, and I come back to you with whatever I got there, a pair of bluebirds, and my own shoppin' list, zoto."