raspberryturk | Room 429, Wednesday Morning

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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.]

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Someday, Dōjima will learn the art of knocking.

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."

Reno hadn't been aware how jumpy he actually was until he fumbled his laptop (or, what was left of it) and dropped it on the floor at the kick on the door.

"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.

"Yes, because when even radio squirrels notice that you're crabby, you're fabulous," she said, rolling her eyes. "Besides, you send me a fruit basket, you help me eat it. I don't do health food."

"The fruit baskets were supposed to be for..." He smacked his forehead with the heel of his free hand.

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?"

"Obviously." No, she wasn't smirking at the clear signs of hangover. That would be bad. "I'm pretty proud of myself. I don't cook, using the microwave without setting things on fire is a big step for me."

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."

The redhead gave a bit of a nod, taking his spoon and giving the noodles a hit of a halfhearted, extra-slurpy sort of stir.

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.

"There's even little vegetables in there and everything," she mused, spinning her spoon to try and wind noodles around it. Normally, she'd bring chopsticks, but she doubted Red had that level of dexterity today. "Instant noodles, curing hangovers since before God made booze."

Reno was tempted to just bury his face in the cup and eat the noodles that way. He didn't. But it was tempting.

"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.

"Last night? You sounded strange, but it could just be written off as a maudlin drunk. Right now? You sound like someone ran over your puppy. I don't know what you binged on, but I suggest cutting it from your diet." Sighing, she put her noodles down and began digging around in her bag. "Here, I cave, I take pity. Have the nice white pills."

Rum, totally stricken from the diet. Until next Tuesday.

"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 shit." Dōjima reached over, flicking some dirt from his jacket. "I'm shallow, Red, not stupid. We've been over this."

Reno was convinced at this point that he was less shallow, more stupid. But that could be the hangover talking. It was hard to say.

"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.

Oh. Crap.

"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."

"She asked." He frowned. "I think she knew. But... I was vague. Did stuff that makes me sick and it's all the same. I lied to her. Didn't want her to know what I... do."

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."

"You do the job." It was flat, but calm, and it wasn't Dōjima watching him anymore. "You go out, and you do the job, because it has to be done. If you didn't do it, someone else would, and better you than some psycho that would enjoy it."

Yurika smiled at him thinly. "It's the job, Red, and someone needs to do it."

Reno narrowed his eyes slightly, letting the change in tone and the familiarity of the words simmer for a moment in his mind before he opened his mouth to speak again.

"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.

"Doesn't have to be," she said, flopping down to lay accross the bed. "Ever consider getting a hobby? You know, besides denial and hedonism? I knew a guy once who collected pressed flowers."

"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."

He almost flinched at that. But talking business was easier than talking emotions, and he'd gone to his numb place again. The one where this was daily life.

"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.

"Can't we just, you know, find a Witch somewhere and turn your boss into a bunny or something? Might work wonders for your job description." Dōjima tilted her head to watch him.

"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."

"Forget a bunny, yo. Got an item in my dresser that'd turn him into a toad for a day if I ever felt like usin' it." He rolled his eyes. Yeah. Didn't feel like using it.

"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.

There was a long pause, and Dōjima just looked at him blankly.

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."

"Strategy didn't have fuck-all to do with it," he snapped, narrowing his eyes. "Was the president's idea. Drop it on 'em, and then blame 'em for the damage. Don't even bother to fix up the sector when it's gone. Wasn't about defeatin' the enemy. Was about fuckin' politics, zoto. The Turk who's gonna hit the fuckin' button don't matter anyhow. Probably ain't gonna make it out alive. Wouldn't be his first time tryin' to bump us off."

Reno hated politics. A lot.

"It's always politics," she snapped back, eyes flashing. "Always strategy and maneuvering. You can't have one without the other, even I know that. The world would probably stop spinning without them. Yeah, you might not like it, but that's the way it is."

Dōjima sighed, deliberately stomping on her temper. Not helping. "Sorry, that wasn't fair."

"Fair's got nothin' to do with nothin'," Reno snarled, turning his attention back to his cup of noodles. Fuck it. Just put the stupid things down, and then find a fork later. Strategy. Kickass.

"I just do my damn job."

"Which you obviously adore," she said dryly. "Fuck, Red, I know fair doesn't enter into it. Again, not stupid. I was apologizing for loosing my temper, not for telling the truth."

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."

Reno was on his feet, now, hands in fists.

"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."

Yurika went pale, but didn't move from her spot, didn't break eye-contact. "You know perfectly well that I grew up with 'this kinda shit'. Do I know the details? No. But even a protected princess picks up the basics. But no, I don't do what you do," Yet. "I haven't killed anyone. I don't ever want to kill anyone. Do I really seem like that to you, Reno?" Please, oh please say no.

"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."

Reno looked at her, hard, taking note of how pale she went. How stiff she went. And then he shook his head, gave his shoulders a shrug, and sat down on the edge of his bed again.

"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."

"Can't take it back," she agreed quietly, "but you want to, don't you? That's worth more than you think."

"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."

"Yeah." Deep breath. Sigh. Okay. Look up. It's good. It's all good. "Time's the one thing I think I can give her now that I'm not worried she'll resent me for, later. I can give her that."

Pause. Faintest smirk.

"And I'd be eatin' those noodles, but some thoughtful chick decided that she'd serve 'em with a spoon."

"Bitch bitch bitch. Didn't think you'd be sober or coordinated enough to use chopsticks today, and I didn't have any clean forks. Be glad I didn't burn it." Yurika stretched out on the bed, smiling slightly. "Since I'm so terrible, next time I won't bother to bring the hangover food, yo. Or the nice painkillers."

"Hangover food is better when you can get it to your mouth without wearin' it," Reno countered, then gave his shoulders a shrug and tilted the cup to just drink what was inside. Spoons were freaking overrated, anyhow. "But the aspirin? Always appreciated, yo."

"But then it's not as amusing for me," she replied. "If you thought I showed up with pure altruistic motives, you're sadly mistaken. I just came to mock the hangover. All this," Dōjima waved a hand negligently, "was an accident. That'll teach you to talk to strange girls bearing food."

"Consider my lesson learned," he replied, bending over to pick his laptop off of the floor.

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."

"Lesson learned until I show up with take-out, right? Because I get bored easily, and there's so many television shows we could be mocking."

Yurika blinked at the condition of his laptop. "Red, What the heck did you do to that thing?"

Okay. So there was a clear split down the middle of the screen, which was full of very unhappy blotches. Most of the keys were missing, the case itself was cracked.

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.

"The mysterious Rude. Often mentioned, never seen. I'm starting to think he's your imaginary friend."

"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."

"I wish he was imaginary," Reno mused, picking up what was quite possibly one-third of his spacebar and contemplating what to do with it for a moment. "Because I think I got him in so much shit this weekend, I'm gonna die a horrible death when I get back to Edge if he's real, yo."

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."

"If we move time back to Mexico, maybe we can skip the aliens, and I can figure out how to admit that I like Romeo without the aid of an embarrassing musical number. Sounds like a win for everyone," Dōjima said, shaking her head. "All the people with powers around here, and no one has magical time travel abilities. What a waste."

"I can think of about a million uses for time-travel," Reno mused, poking over the items on his nightstand in search of the rest of his spacebar. "But all of 'em seem to defeat the point."

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."

"I bet."

Yurika chewed on her lip, suddenly looking very very young.

"Want a hand?"

She could be referring to the laptop.

He glanced over his shoulder at her, carefully considering the offer before his lips quirked into a bit of a wry smile.

"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.

"You should see some of the shit I've broken," she teased, scooting to lean over his shoulder. "This one time, Tōko and I went on a bender in, god, um, London? Yeah, London, right before I got kicked out of that one school. See, there was this boy," she prattled on, digging around in her bag as she talked.

"...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?"

Reno eyed the duct tape for a moment or two before reaching for it.

"Almost everything," he agreed.

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Room 429, Wednesday Morning

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NFB from here, Plz!

Re: NFB from here, Plz!

Re: NFB from here, Plz!

Re: NFB from here, Plz!

Re: NFB from here, Plz!

Re: NFB from here, Plz!

Re: NFB from here, Plz!

Re: NFB from here, Plz!

Re: NFB from here, Plz!

Re: NFB from here, Plz!

Re: NFB from here, Plz!

Re: NFB from here, Plz!

Re: NFB from here, Plz!

Re: NFB from here, Plz!

Re: NFB from here, Plz!

Re: NFB from here, Plz!

Re: NFB from here, Plz!

Re: NFB from here, Plz!

Re: NFB from here, Plz!

Re: NFB from here, Plz!

Re: NFB from here, Plz!

Re: NFB from here, Plz!

Re: NFB from here, Plz!

Re: NFB from here, Plz!

Re: NFB from here, Plz!

Re: NFB from here, Plz!

Re: NFB from here, Plz!

Re: NFB from here, Plz!

Re: NFB from here, Plz!

Re: NFB from here, Plz!