Room 429, Monday Evening

[raspberryturk]

Reno was going to sit on his bed and eye his cellphone. Dojima was right, really. If he couldn't understand the concept of giving people time, he should at least call Rude and tell him that he wasn't five anymore, and all reports for the time being would be typed up in a semi-sane manner.

And that would be why he was eying his phone.

He wasn't, however, reaching for it.

It was just fine where it was sitting. He could call Rude up any time, take the heat for getting him in crap with Tseng or whatever, and maybe he'd have things sorted out a little better by then. There were, after all, a lot of things to sort through.

Yeah. Yeah, he didn't have to pick up the phone after all. Save Rude the trouble. The big guy would appreciate it later.

[ooc: The door is open a crack, and the post is totally open for invasion from random persons. Oooooo.]

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[the_merriest]

"I said I'd take everyone to Home," she said, the words barely audible. "It's just this way. Promise you'll never tell. Who knows what the Yevonites would do if they found us. Past the cactuar stones, past the old storefront, over the hill and I screamed. Fires. Fiends. Bodies. Keyakku, running towards us, and a dual-horn knocking him down. I ran to him. 'Who's attacking us? Fru tet drec du oui?' He. He said 'Yevon,' and 'Guado,' and then he didn't say anything else."

[raspberryturk]

Reno drew in a long, slow breath, his eyes closed, and if he just gently shifted their weights about a little he could rest his chin on her shoulder and lean his head sideways so that his cheek was pressed to hers, and maybe that would begin to be close enough. Maybe.

Not nearly, but maybe.

"I'm... sorry," he whispered.

There weren't words. And he was them. And maybe even if there were words, he wouldn't be someone who had any right to say them. But he could say that, because he couldn't just leave it silent.

[the_merriest]

His cheek against hers, his arms, warm and safe, and ... all of the horrors rushing back. The thick haze of smoke, the whine of the gears, corridors filled with fiends and bodies, and she couldn't stop, couldn't fold the arms and close the eyes, couldn't check to see if 'dead' was just 'injured', couldn't grab them and bring them along, because Home was crashing down and Yunie was in the Sanctum and her friends, her family, her tribe was lying dead around her.

Yuna gone, Dona and Isaaru sending the dead. Everything in ruins. Everything they had worked for. Everything they were.

She turned, sideways, sliding her arms around and settling in lower, face pressed against the curve of his neck. He wouldn't tell if her shoulders were trembling. He wouldn't tell if his neck got damp. He wouldn't tell if she let herself feel it, just once.

[raspberryturk]

He wouldn't tell if she had to feel it. It was hers. Theirs, if she would let him share it. That's what they were doing right now, wasn't it? With his arms around her and her arms around him and with her feeling it right now- They were sharing it. He'd feel it too, or just let her pour it out against him, or be whatever it was that she needed.

Close. He would be close. And he would rub his thumb in little circles against her back, and close his eyes, and feel it too.

[the_merriest]

"I'm s-sorry," she managed. "Being stupid. I j-just ..."

She sat up a little, wiping at her eyes. "Got through all of it without being stupid like this. I did. I had to pull it together and get everyone underground and I did. I didn't stop to freak out or scream or cry all over things and then we were in the airship and Home was rubble and we had to go to Bevelle and I had to help fly it. There's no time to feel sorry for yourself. You just move on."

[raspberryturk]

"You aren't stupid," Reno said, his lips pulling into a frown again. "You're not. You stand when you gotta stand and do what you gotta do when you gotta do it, and there ain't nothin' stupid about any of that. It's..." He sighed and lifted a shoulder a little. "It's real strong, Rikku. Standin' like that. I don't think I could do it."

[the_merriest]

"You do," she said, frowning at him. "Why do you ... you're acting like you don't, but you do. You kinda square your shoulders anytime you say the word 'Turk.' It means something to you."

[raspberryturk]

"It is me, when I'm not bein' an idiot and drownin' myself with whatever's hardest at the time," he replied, and shook his head a little, and sighed. "I mean that, though. That you're not just bein' stupid. It takes lotta guts to be that strong, yoto."

[the_merriest]

Rikku shook her head, pulling her knees against her. "There's more. But it's just ... the same stuff all over. The trial and Zanarkand and finding out Yevon was all a big lie and everyone knew it, and then saying we were gonna fix it this time without anybody dying and we messed that up, anyway. But it's so ..."

[raspberryturk]

"Tiring," he offered, gently. "Like a freakin' storm that'll tear you apart if you can't outrun it, but after a while, the runnin's what might just do you in, instead."

He looked downward and shook his head.

"I think there's some kinda balance. Between runnin' and stoppin' to face the storm. Just takes a lot of lookin' to find it, zoto."

[the_merriest]

"I think maybe ..." Deep breath. "I'm done. For now. There's ... more to the story but I can't, just yet. If you ... if you really wanna hear it, I'll tell you another time. Okay?"

[raspberryturk]

He nodded.

It was a heavy story. She didn't have to share any more than she had the heart to speak, and he wasn't going to push her for it.

"Whenever you're up to it, so am I," he assured her.

[the_merriest]

"Okay," she said. And she settled back against him.

Just for a few minutes. Just to sit here, and think.

He wouldn't mind, would he?

[raspberryturk]

"Okay," he agreed, his arms tentatively moving around her waist again, his eyes staring upward at the ceiling, his lips pursed a little in thought.

A few minutes was just fine, for whatever she had to think about. He didn't mind.

Dork.