raspberryturk | Adorable Panda, Alcove B2, Wednesday Night

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Adorable Panda, Alcove B2, Wednesday Night

After a day of wandering lost in the pea soup that was the fog out there (and Reno had thought he'd seen some pretty thick smog back when he was living in Midgar), he'd finally, finally found his way back to his cabin, his alcove, his bed, parked himself on top of it, and dammit, he wasn't going anywhere until he absolutely had to.

In the face of the fog and of ... current events, it was probably a good idea to just stay put for a while.

Stay put, and muse over the fireworks that he'd made in class earlier that day.

Eventually, he'd set them off. He hoped they were as flashy as he'd heard fireworks were supposed to be.

[Open Alcove is Open~]

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Rikku had been clomping in the woods. Because it was a good night for clomping in the woods. Because it just was. Because they'd been taking out religious freaks in Merc class. Because she wasn't sure what was going on. Because -- oh.

She stopped short. "Hi?" she said. "Um. I wasn't."

The island had a sense of humor. Fabulous.

Reno glanced up from his fireworks, quirking an eyebrow faintly. And then smiling a little in spite of himself.

"I wound up at Caritas earlier tryin' to get here after class. I know you weren't."

He did.

"Fog ain't helpin' either, I bet. C'mon in. Sit down or somethin'."

"Sorry," she said, sheepishly. "I was gonna go punch things, in the woods. Maybe some trees. Maybe the island kinda thought that was stupid."

She was going to sit down on the foot of his bed. It was a nice bed.

"Punchin' trees is bad for the knuckles," Reno said, like it was some sort of awesome philosophy. "Free shots, if you need 'em." He set the fireworks to the side and straightened up, turning to actually face her. "Or just a place to sit, if you need that. What's up?"

"I'm not gonna hit you," she said, smiling wryly. "I, uh. Merc class. Cult, who hit civilian targets. We took them out. I used way more firepower than I had to."

Translation: she'd opened fire on anything that moved.

"It happens," came the reply. Reno barely had to muse on it. He'd lost his shit under pressure, before. At least she hadn't been killing real people. "How're you holdin' up?"

"Fine," she said flatly. She was fine. That was why she wanted to punch trees, obviously. "I dunno. Just. Doesn't matter. Yevon's over. New Yevon replaced them. Take out one cult, a new one pops up. What's the point? Why go crazy with bullets and ..."

She'd seriously let herself go, in class.

"Gets a point across," Reno answered, shifting over on the bed to slide an arm around her shoulder. "Like maybe you mean business. Maybe you had enough. Maybe it's just ventin'. Maybe it's crowd control. Maybe just, when you get pushed too hard, worryin' about why just don't matter as much, yo."

"I'm a Guardian," she said softly, leaning into his touch. "I protect. I fight. I don't just take people out 'cause I hate them. That's ..."

Bad? Unnerving? Lots of things like that.

"That's humanity." He pulled her a little closer, lifted his other arm to run his fingers through her hair. "You fight, you survive, you take 'em out before they can do it to you."

Voice of experience.

"Don't make you any less a Guardian. Maybe makes you more of one."

"I didn't do it because they were bad guys," she admitted. "I didn't ... do it because they were hurting people. I did it 'cause I wanted to. That ... scares me, a little. That's not what being a Guardian is."

Okay, maybe the island had the right idea, dropping her here, because his fingers were very nice and he was kinda cozy.

Which would be far less confusing if she had any idea if they were broken up or not.

"Bein' a Guardian means almost the world to you, don't it?" Reno continued toying with her hair, holding her close. She seemed to need it. "Think it'd be any different if those were real people, instead of just a class sim?"

Sometimes, the added security of the fodder not being real tended to help. ShinRa had technology like that, too, though it was mostly used in the SOLDIER program. Spoiled brats. The Turks didn't get to play with that quite as much.

But then, being a Turk wasn't about playing.

"I guess I have to hope not," she shuddered. Rikku was going to stretch out. This was cozy. The heck with it. The island said she was supposed to be here. Good enough for her.

"The Guardian thing? I'm kinda ... maybe I don't count, any more. As one. 'Cause Yunie's safe and all, so I'm not standing right next to her protecting her. Except I still am. I mean, I promised my life to her, if she needed it. And we did it. We got her to Zanarkand. That's ..."

The whole blitz stadium, cheering for Yuna. Cheering for them, even her, standing there in her Al Bhed garb. Except it wasn't about that, or the way Auron was a hero. It was ... who she was, now. Protector. Fighter. Guardian.

Who she was. Who they were. What they were.

Once and always. He knew that shtick.

"Really sounds like somethin' to be proud of. I don't think how you acted in one messed up class session is gonna change any of that. You did somethin' huge, and that did count. It's gonna be a part of you. The class probably ain't."

"It's not ..." She blushed, leaning up to kiss his cheek. ... Was that okay? She had no idea if they were split up or not, but cheek-kisses seemed safe enough. "I'm not ... you know. Scared someone's gonna come strip me of Guardian status. I mean, they can't. But I know who I am, and what I am, and ... it's not that. That's the bit that worries me, you know? Maybe I'm just being weird."

"You got a whole lifetime affectin' what you do," he mumbled, leaning in a little to tentatively rest his cheek against hers. If she could kiss his cheek, then he could nuzzle, damn it. "I don't think you're bein' weird. I think somethin' rubbed you wrong, and you lost it, and you got it out of your system, and maybe you're good now. You did somethin'. You felt it."

"I have to let go of it," she sighed. It was nice, nuzzling in like this. He smelled good. Always. Reno-scented. "The ... hate I have for them. Or else I'm gonna become them. I try not to hate the Guado, or they'll just be the next Al Bhed. It's ... I think I resent it, though. That I have to. Nobody else did."

"You know," he murmured, nudging his nose against hers and settling right there, his lips a few inches away from hers, "so long as you're you, I can't ever imagine you becomin' them. You got so much different from them. You know what it's like. You been there. You're... Well. You're you, yo. I think that makes all the difference, even if you ain't so sure."

"Thanks," she said, breath catching a little. "It ... helps. I wish I was sure. I mean. It helps that you are. I ..."

She bit her lip. "Are we ..."

You know. Were they? Weren't they? They were kinda cozy, was all and ... she kinda wanted to know.

Reno's answer to that was to lean that last few inches in, and carefully press his lips against hers. Just for a moment.

"Your call, zoto."

He'd understand if they weren't. He'd be thrilled if they were. Either way, he was gonna sit there with her until she was better.

Same flicker, same rush, same thrill as always and she had to lean in for another. Just as light, as lingering.

"Can we ... take things slow?" she asked. Maybe it was stupid. She missed the feel of his skin on hers, and they'd been headed for sex on Monday when everything fell out, and it was all a stupid misunderstanding so they should be able to just step right back to where they had been, except ... except she just needed to let her head sort out, maybe.

Take things slow.

There was a new one, to Reno, too. A first for everything, he supposed. First kiss that meant anything, first sex that meant anything, first girl in his arms he never wanted to let go of, first date, first time saying 'I love you,' and first time hearing it, too.

Fandom was a good place for firsts.

He didn't entirely understand it, but he didn't hesitate for a moment before replying, this time. There was a grasp on a light sort of confidence that hadn't been there before. Like maybe he didn't have to know what he was doing, just so long as he wasn't afraid of doing it.

"I'll let you set the pace," he promised. And then he kissed her again.

Kissing was nice. Kissing was definitely included, in this whatever-it-was. Leaning against him and burrowing in and letting the kisses sort of float them both away.

"Can I ... stay here, tonight?" she asked, and then her eyes widened. "Not. Um. Like that? Just ... like this, I mean?"

Reno couldn't help but smile.

"Yeah. You can sleep here, tonight." And then he gave her a little squeeze and another kiss for good measure. However she wanted to be here, he'd take it.

Edited 2008-08-14 16:48 (UTC)

That required stretching out more, and giggling. "What if I hog the covers?" she grinned. "And kick in my sleep. And snore. I've been told I snore. I feel a good snore coming on, you know."

"Rude snores. You kinda just..." Reno waved a hand, settling back into his bed, grinning. "Make... Rikku-sounds. I'd say you honked, but you'd probably hit me."

He chuckled and shook his head. She wasn't much of a honker, either. Reno was just a shit-disturber.

"I'm a ferret?" she grinned. "Oh, man. Ninja-weasel-goose-Al-Bhed-thief-Guardian. It's gonna take me hours to introduce myself if I keep this up."

Totally okay to pull him close for another kiss, right? Just one.

It was absolutely fine to pull him close for another kiss. Kissing was awesome. They could just do that. Forever. That counted as taking things slowly, right?

"You're a freakin' cute ferret, yo."

Mako took that as a cue to chitter at them from his cage. Hey! They were talking about him, weren't they? THEY WERE. HE KNEW THESE THINGS. HONK!

"Not as fuzzy as him, though. Comfortable?"

"Very," she grinned, snuggling in. Forever sounded perfect, right about now. And she had to lean all the way over to say hi to Mako. "Awwww, he's up now. Who's a good boy? Who's such a good boy? Who wants to come play?"

She leaned back to look at Reno again. "Can he? Is it a bad idea, 'cause of the cabins and all?"

"Eh. If he gets loose, you can drag him outta Ella's bedsheets. He won't hurt nothin'."

He might try to hide it. But he wouldn't hurt it.

That meant she had to lean the rest of the way over and fiddle with the cage door, with honks of encouragement and excitement as cheery background noise.

When she flopped back onto the bed again, she had a wriggly fuzzball in her hands. "Say hiiiii," she cooed.

Honk!

That was totally 'hihihihihihi!' in ferret-ese. Anyone who was anyone had to know that.

"Dumbass missed you," Reno noted with a grin.

Mako honked again! Dumbass! That was his name, too! Yeah! Time to wriggle. Wriiiiiggle.

"Dumbass has no idea I was gone," she giggled, ruffling the fur on his stomach and letting him attack her hand. Get it! He was gonna get it! "But he'd totally miss me, if he did."

She understood. Petey was dim, too.

Mako Dumbass the First was totally gonna get it! He got things good! It's what he did. Honk! Gettin' it! Gettin' it! And then he'd gnaw on it and drag it back to his nest where it would be treasured forever and ever until he forgot about it five seconds later! What was he doing? Hey! A hand! He was gonna get it!

"Oh yeah. He totally would. There ain't many people out there willing to let him try to eat their fingers, yo."

"Then they're missing out," she smiled, tugging her hand away and pulling him along with it. Awwww, he had sharp teeth and he was so dim. "I've got a bloody hand and a Turk. I mean. That's a jackpot right there, isn't it?"

"Oh yeah," Reno replied, leaning forward to put his arms around her again. "Bet there are plenty of people who envy you."

Mako honked! Hand! Haaand! Nom!

"...For the bloody hand, yo."

"I have the best bloody hand for miles," she declared, giggling and snuggling in more.

So cozy. She might never get up again.

"Real nice bloody hand," Reno mused, distracting Mako with one hand so that he could use the other to relocate her fingers to his lips. Where he would nibble.

The ferret shouldn't be the only one allowed to chew on his girlfriend's hand, dammit.

"I'm pretty fond of it, yo."

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Adorable Panda, Alcove B2, Wednesday Night

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