Reno of the Turks (
raspberryturk) wrote2008-04-02 11:55 am
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Room 429, Wednesday Morning
He really didn't want to go up to the roof, earlier, to gather up his jacket again. But he did. Had to see.
It was cold when he pulled it back on. Hadn't even been particularly cold out last night. Funny how that worked.
Didn't go too well with the usual Wednesday-morning hangover.
And damn, had he sent out a crapload of fruit baskets. Hopefully they would all get lost in delivery, as he had sent them out while he was pretty damn inebriated, or else the maybe-majority of the population of the island hadn't made the connection between microphone feedback and why they were getting them. Not that Reno cared. Reno was back in his room now, busying himself trying to fit the pieces of his laptop back together. He had a... report to write. By Friday.
This thrilled him to no end. Obviously.
His door was actually open a bit, today. Maybe to let out some of the cold that wasn't really in the air.
[Open for anyone who would like to drop by and rant about fruit baskets, or anything of the sort-- just keep in mind, I've got an hour before I have to leave for work, and then my availability is gone until later this evening.]
It was cold when he pulled it back on. Hadn't even been particularly cold out last night. Funny how that worked.
Didn't go too well with the usual Wednesday-morning hangover.
And damn, had he sent out a crapload of fruit baskets. Hopefully they would all get lost in delivery, as he had sent them out while he was pretty damn inebriated, or else the maybe-majority of the population of the island hadn't made the connection between microphone feedback and why they were getting them. Not that Reno cared. Reno was back in his room now, busying himself trying to fit the pieces of his laptop back together. He had a... report to write. By Friday.
This thrilled him to no end. Obviously.
His door was actually open a bit, today. Maybe to let out some of the cold that wasn't really in the air.
[Open for anyone who would like to drop by and rant about fruit baskets, or anything of the sort-- just keep in mind, I've got an hour before I have to leave for work, and then my availability is gone until later this evening.]
no subject
Today is not that day.
Instead, she kicked the door open with her foot as she walked in, hands full with newly-microwaved instant ramen (and some random pieces of fruit). "You sound like shit. Eat. I even managed not to burn it."
no subject
"You're... bringing me food?"
What?
... Well. He hadn't actually eaten a decent meal since... Sunday? Oh. Okay, he'd reach for the ramen.
"You don't have to, or whatever. I'm fine." See how fine he was as he reached for the ramen? He was fine. In a somewhat not-fine sort of way.
no subject
no subject
Which was a bad move, with a hangover, and he was going to take a moment to just sit there, reeling.
"You don't want it, just give it back, yo. I was... drunk."
Obviously.
"Thanks. For. The ramen?"
no subject
Dōjima dug two plastic spoons out of her bag, shoving one in his ramen. "I think I got aspirin too, but you don't get any until there's something in your stomach. Eat."
no subject
Food. He would eat food. And then he would get aspirin. And then he would feel better. Ish. Betterish.
"Instant noodles are practically gourmet dining," he mused, attempting to convey some noodles from the cup to his mouth with a plastic spoon.
One of these days, he might tell Doji, here, that noodles like this were probably better off being eaten with a fork. For now, he was going to have to do this a noodle at a time, as the rest kept slipping off the spoon and back into the cup.
The aspirin was so, so far away.
no subject
no subject
"Did I really sound that bad? On Radio, I mean?"
He hadn't been trying hard enough, maybe. Didn't need everyone knowing that something was up, and it had hit the freaking broadcast, and if Jenny had asked if he was doing alright...
He was going to have to try for that numb place a little harder.
For now, he'd be satisfied if he could get more of the noodles as far as his mouth.
no subject
no subject
"Thank you," he said, setting the cup down on his nightstand and sitting in wait of the painkillers. Best invention ever, painkillers, and he'd lean forward and hold out his hand and-
-And realize that now he was acting entirely too desperate, and he'd sit up, take a breath, straighten out his jacket, and be fine.
"Bad week."
no subject
no subject
"Yeah," he agreed. "I, uh."
He frowned.
"I messed up. Honesty. I suck at freakin' honesty. Blindsided her. Didn't mean to... Just." He shrugged his shoulders. "I'm sittin' on the opposite side of the room, right now, doin' all that stuff that hits... close to home."
He was gesturing vaguely with one hand. The other hand was reaching for the ramen, again.
no subject
"I've always felt honesty was over-rated, you know." Yurika closed her eyes, sipping her own ramen. "Maybe that makes me a raging bitch and a hypocrite, but I don't see anything wrong with the sensible social lies. Sometimes, people can't hear the truth, they don't know how to, and forcing it on them would be cruel."
no subject
He was staring at the ramen. So much for numb.
"Would be one thing if it was just the government's dirty work, Doji. Just do this, grab that, take out this guy." Deep breath. He could say this, she could get all disgusted with him and leave, he could start burning all his bridges right here, save him the trouble later.
"I crushed a large chunk of city on an order. Thousands of people. Flat. That's not somethin' you sensibly lie about. That's somethin' you bury yourself in the bottom of a bottle for, for the rest of your life. That's not a matter of her not lookin', Doji. That's..."
He was scowling up at her, now.
"She's got every freakin' right to want to be as far from me as possible, zoto."
NFB from here, Plz!
Yurika smiled at him thinly. "It's the job, Red, and someone needs to do it."
Re: NFB from here, Plz!
"You do it enough, and that's what you become," he replied. "She doesn't want to date the job. That's her call, yoto."
She seemed entirely too familiar with this.
He didn't see any need to point that out.
Re: NFB from here, Plz!
"But yeah, you're right. If she doesn't want to date the job, she's got that right." Dōjima shrugged slightly. "Some of us don't get that option. If I was a boy, I'd be training to be your boss right now. I think I'm lucky my father thinks I don't have the brains for the job. I wouldn't want to be the one giving the orders, not the ones like it sounds you've had to carry out."
Re: NFB from here, Plz!
"If I live long enough to see my boss bump off, I'll be the ones giving those orders," he replied evenly.
He wasn't looking forward to that.
"To a work force of two."
Or that.
Re: NFB from here, Plz!
"So, the plate-thing. Was than an exaggeration, or are you serious?" She wasn't judging, just watching. "Or you can tell me to shut up and go away. I might not listen, but you could still do it."
Re: NFB from here, Plz!
"The plate," and yes, he did wince at that, "was... complicated. Thousands of people dead tryin' to get maybe ten people, and of those ten, at least three made it out anyhow." He took a breath. "If I didn't do it, someone else would have, and I'd be dead now anyhow."
Didn't justify it any better. But there it was.
Re: NFB from here, Plz!
Finally, she shook her head. "Red, I love you in a completely platonic and not-dirty way, you know that, but that's quite possibly the most fucked-up thing I've ever heard. Not to mention that your plan sucked. I'm buying you people a new strategist."
Re: NFB from here, Plz!
Reno hated politics. A lot.
Re: NFB from here, Plz!
Dōjima sighed, deliberately stomping on her temper. Not helping. "Sorry, that wasn't fair."
Re: NFB from here, Plz!
"I just do my damn job."
Re: NFB from here, Plz!
Yurika sighed, thumping her head down on the bed. "You're more than the stupid job, Reno. If Rikku doesn't get that, well, that's sad. I thought better of her than that. What the hell did she think you did, anyway? I figured parts of it out, and I'm not the one sleeping with you."
Re: NFB from here, Plz!
"You obviously grew up with this kinda shit," he said, keeping his voice very carefully even. "You seem to know the ropes like maybe you do this shit yourself. And maybe you do. I don't wanna know."
Deep breath.
"But Rikku didn't. This ain't just a job to her. Ain't just business. And bein' on the receivin' end of the kinda' shit that I do--" Bite your tongue, Reno. This isn't yours to share. Breathe. Swallow it. "I did a damn good job lettin' her go on thinkin' that I was workin' for an electric company, yoto."
Re: NFB from here, Plz!
"I think Rikku's one of the sweetest people I've ever met," she said softly, finally dropping her gaze. "I think maybe, she was the youngest of us last weekend for a reason."
Re: NFB from here, Plz!
"Even if you are, I don't wanna know. Because the moment I answer that question, that's the moment I may or may not be in on keepin' a secret from my best friend on the island," he muttered. "I'm not touchin' it, from here."
And then his own gaze hit the floor, stayed there for a moment before he shut his eyes and swallowed, hard.
"Rikku's Rikku," he mumbled. "And I hurt her, and I damn well knew better, and there ain't no excuse, and I can't take it back."
Re: NFB from here, Plz!
"Finding out Romeo was married... that he deliberately hid it from me, that hurt. Knowing that he never wanted to hurt me, that's what let me go back. Give her some time to cool down, Red." Hesitantly, she reached out to tweak his ponytail. "And fucking eat something. You aren't going to win her back by starving yourself to death."
Re: NFB from here, Plz!
Pause. Faintest smirk.
"And I'd be eatin' those noodles, but some thoughtful chick decided that she'd serve 'em with a spoon."
Re: NFB from here, Plz!
Re: NFB from here, Plz!
Re: NFB from here, Plz!
Re: NFB from here, Plz!
It was so dead, that even thinking about tinkering with it was laughable, and Reno knew it.
That wasn't going to stop him, anyhow.
"From now on, I'm investin' in utensils, yo."
Re: NFB from here, Plz!
Yurika blinked at the condition of his laptop. "Red, What the heck did you do to that thing?"
Re: NFB from here, Plz!
His was not a happy lappy.
"Rude gave Rikku permission to bust it on me this weekend," he said, casting a hand over his dresser, trying to find his spacebar. Had to be somewhere around there.
Re: NFB from here, Plz!
"Let's do this weekend over, I liked being seven," she said. "Better yet, let's rewind and go back to Mexico. I miss the sunshine."
Re: NFB from here, Plz!
He paused, frowned, and then just tried to snap the chunk of spacebar that he had back onto what might pass as a keyboard.
"Mexico's good. I ain't in no rush to be five again, yo."
Re: NFB from here, Plz!
Re: NFB from here, Plz!
He located what was maybe another chunk of his spacebar, and started to wish that maybe he had thought to get some glue.
"Can think of a lot of things I'd like to undo, right about now."
Re: NFB from here, Plz!
Yurika chewed on her lip, suddenly looking very very young.
"Want a hand?"
She could be referring to the laptop.
Re: NFB from here, Plz!
"Probably need all the help I can get," he replied at last. "It's pretty busted up, right now."
Maybe he was referring to the laptop, too.
Re: NFB from here, Plz!
"...and the look on his face was priceless. I don't think they've ever managed to re-open that cafe," she mused, finally pulling out the object of her search. "Um, I have duct tape? It solves everything?"
Re: NFB from here, Plz!
"Almost everything," he agreed.