Room 429, Monday, Early Evening

[raspberryturk]

After checking on Romeo this morning, Reno had headed back down to his own room. It wasn't that there was anything of particular interest in there, really. His laptop was still useless and he still didn't have any desire to start on his report back to the boss. It was more that, by and large, he didn't feel up to going anywhere else.

He'd spent a short while looking over the texts on his phone that he'd been ignoring all week.

There had been a lot of them.

Dumbass. You owe me. Laptop in mail. -- Thanks, Rude.
Report incomplete. Send update as soon as possible. -- Tseng.
Do not do anything that will jeopardize your assignment. -- Tseng again. Most likely after a couple of days sitting on Reno's failure of a last report.
Get yourself killed, I kick your ass. -- Rude again.
Report still not received. Is this a cause for concern? -- Tseng. Good old Tseng.
Is there a particular reason you haven't been checking your texts and e-mails? -- More Tseng. Reno would thank Rude later for not telling Tseng that his laptop was toast.
Do not get involved with the statues, Reno. We can't afford to lose another Turk. -- Tseng.

There had been more like those, but Reno had stopped there, closed his phone, and set it to the side.

He still didn't feel like answering them. Tseng could wait.

Right now, he'd just crack open his window a little, light himself a smoke, and look outside over the island for the rest of the afternoon, and then on into the evening, while the sky grew progressive shades of dark.

[The door is shut, the post is open. Ooooh. :o]

Comments

[raspberryturk]

"I remember sayin' I'd pay. And deciding that there was nothing in the sample art that was any good for me." He wrinkled his nose a little as the implications of that one sank in. "So I must have had a lot of mezcal to think that a drunk blue Keppel was the way to go. Mostly, it's a fuzz."

He paused, looking slightly chagrined.

"I didn't start dancin', did I?"

[the_merriest]

"No dancing," she said innocently. "You, uh, you said you didn't like anything, but you weren't gonna chicken out, and then we were going, okay, uh, you'd better pick or we'll pick for you, and we'll pick something embarrassing and horrible. Uh. And. I said a chocobo, and Dojima said some liquor, and ... then I ran back to the hotel, to get Keppel?"

She facepalmed. "It was a threat. And I got back and you were all 'Yay, the chocobo, let's do this thing!' and I was going, 'no, you DUMBASS. The chocobo is what you get if you don't PICK SOMETHING.' And then you started going WARK! and shaking your ass around and trying to get them to draw Keppel and, uh, I called Rude? 'Cause I thought maybe he could talk you down and he just wanted pictures and, uh. I tried, zoto. And you kept rambling about how people could kiss your chocobo."

[raspberryturk]

...

"I'm a really, really, really fucking retarded drunk, aren't I?"

He had to have this clarified. It should have been obvious, with the tattoo and all. But sometimes, it was a good idea to just have someone tell you, flat out, yes Reno, you are a moron.

[the_merriest]

Sometimes, 'yes' would not suffice as well as a nice clear example.

"You kept changing the drawing. To match the el doll-o. And then you would wark at the guy."

[raspberryturk]

She would have to excuse him for moving his arms from around her. It's just that his face needed to be buried in his hands right now, and he had to groan. A lot.

"Oh wow. I'm an idiot."

[the_merriest]

Rikku chewed her lip. And meant to say something reassuring. Except.

"Um. You ... really didn't ... figure that out when you ... woke up with a chocobo on your butt?"

[raspberryturk]

"What? Nah." He grinned faintly. Stuck out his tongue and everything. "I like the chocobo. In a weird sorta what-the-hell-was-I-thinking kinda way, sure. Could'a been a crapload worse than a bird with booze. But warkin' at the guy who was gonna draw it? That could'a turned out far worse than it did, yo."

[the_merriest]

"He looked horrified," she snickered. "I figured, if he wasn't gonna turn you down for being really hideously drunk, then he deserved to stare at your pale, skinny ass for a couple of hours."

[raspberryturk]

"He probably didn't know English for 'stop bein' a retard or I'll permanently scar a chocobo into your ass cheek,'" Reno mused. "On the plus side, it's in a good place, yo. I don't gotta look at it."

[the_merriest]

"I do," Rikku sighed. "It is really hard to take you seriously as a stud-muffin when you have a drunk baby chocobo on your ass."

[raspberryturk]

"Aww, but it's just little," he grinned. "Can always avoid it by lettin' me turn the other cheek."

There was the solution to all their problems. Let Rikku stare at just his left buttock from here on in.