raspberryturk | Room 429, Tuesday Afternoon

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Room 429, Tuesday Afternoon

Getting out and appreciating being back on Fandom? Reno wasn't up for getting out and appreciating being back on Fandom.

Reno was up for sitting in his room, really. Sitting was good. He'd gotten sleep and he'd ~~handwavily~~ done his morning training with Ghanima, and sitting by his window smoking seemed to be the order of the remainder of the day, at least until radio.

Sitting at the window, reminding himself why it was he always figured Turks don't date.

He was going to go through a few packs, today.

[Door's closed, and post is open, but with an "I leave for work in half an hour and then have Radio tonight so expect super, super slowplay" warning.]

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Yurika had taken a day. Snuggled up under her blankets with the cat and slept off her exhaustion.

Which is why today she was stopping by Reno's room after her classes, two steaming cups of ramen in her hands as she kicked at the door. "Red! Open it, or I kick it in! You know I will, but I don't want to drop stuff."

Edited 2008-10-07 19:12 (UTC)

"Drop stuff?"

With a demand like that, the least Reno could do was clamp his smoke between his teeth and actually go answer the door.

Feel special, Doji. Reno doesn't often get off his ass to open it.

"Ramen. Ah."

"What, you wanted to try one of my other experiments from cooking class?" she asked, rolling her eyes as she breezed past him. "I wouldn't recommend it. Really."

"Besides, I haven't eaten yet today, and if I didn't, I really doubt you did, and that needs to be fixed before the squirrels get you trashed tonight. Otherwise it's just a waste of good booze."

That all made sense in her head. Promise.

"Had coffee yesterday," Reno mumbled, as though that totally counted as something to eat. "Got trashed tryin' to get sleep. That's somethin'."

He figured.

Reno logic was not always good logic.

Still and all, he was making a reach for the ramen. He hadn't actually eaten in days. He was at that hungry point where his insides were so sick of hurting from it that they just decided to make him go numb and shaky, instead.

"Contrary to whatever nonsense our American classmates have been filling your head with, coffee is not a food group," she said dryly as she handed it over. "It's good stuff, but you really need other junkfood to go with it."

Tea was a food group, but Yurika was Japanese and a bit biased.

"I even brought utensils this time," Yurika announced. "Spoon, fork, or chopsticks. Gentleman's choice."

"Shaking. Fork." Forks were awesome. Forks were kind of stabbity, too, which could double as therapeutic. Reno needed that. He was going to cling to the cup of ramen and await the fork with the kind of expectant look a starved puppy might give its owner upon hearing the can opener up on the counter.

Fooork.

It was worse than the guilt-eyes Alea gave her!

"Yeah, okay, fork," Yurika agreed, setting her ramen down to rummage in her purse and produce the desired item, and she took in the shaking with a frown. "Wait, you were serious? You didn't eat yesterday either?"

Now she was going to feel like shit for being a bad friend and hiding away all day. "Reno, that's not okay. There's food in the common rooms and the cafeteria for a reason."

Edited 2008-10-08 17:46 (UTC)

Reno shook his head.

"M' sorry." He'd been saying that a lot, lately. And now he was going to poke at the ramen with the fork and work on reminding himself that he was supposed to have an appetite at about this point. "Was gonna sleep yesterday. Then eat. Didn't work. So I went and talked to Rikku."

That had gone well. Really.

"Came back. Couldn't sleep. Drank. Then slept."

"Do I need to throw another book at your head?" It was said lightly, without any accusation, and she settled herself on his bed to eat. "Pretty sure that's part of our deal, yo."

"Small book, this time. Pocket dictionary or somethin', maybe. One of the little ones, paperback, or whatever. That'd work."

There was now ramen on his fork. It was now headed for his mouth. And now it was in his mouth. And now he was chewing, and swallowing, and realizing exactly how hungry he actually was. So he stuck the fork back into the container for more.

"Maybe later, I'm hungry." She waved her chopsticks at him before digging in. "Not the best food ever, but like I said, cooking class isn't doing much for my skills. I was tempted to make us some okonmiyaki, since I'm actually pretty good at that, but the idea of immediate food won out over work."

He...was going to breathe sometime between inhaling the food, right? She'd have to laugh if he suffocated himself with ramen.

He didn't have to breathe. Not yet. Could have the ramen eaten and gone before he had to take a breath. Rik--

...

He'd been learning to hold his breath, was all. Was past six minutes, now. That was really something.

See. Ramen was already half-gone.

"Right now," he said, when he finally did come up for air, "this is the best food ever."

Yurika shook her head at him. "Flattery's not gonna get you anywhere, Red, I only brought two cups," she said between mouthfuls. "I'm not sharing this one!"

Yes, she would.

"S'fair. S'yours. You didn't have to feed me or whatever." And then he was diving into it again, because wow, had he ever missed doing things like chewing and swallowing and taking a moment to taste, too.

And then the ramen was gone, and he was tilting the cup back to drink the broth, too.

And then he was going to continue speaking.

"I mean. I'm a big boy. Can feed myself and everything. Really, yo."

"Booze is not a food group either," she sighed, shaking her head. "Yeah, Red, you're a big boy. I don't exactly make a habit of hauling little kids or idiots out to the bar with me, and I don't call them 'friends', either. But can feed yourself and remembering to do so are two totally different things."

"Besides, it's feed you, or go do something wildly inappropriate. I'm too tired to be inventive, so you get noodles." Yurika caught more noodles with her chopsticks, having another bite before holding out the container. "Seconds?"

"Seconds," Reno agreed, reaching for the offered container. "Thanks."

There was another moment spent focusing on shoveling food into his mouth, and then Reno stared down at the container in his hands with a sigh.

"I could live with wildly inappropriate, at this point. I mean. Anything. Whatever. Somethin' stupid. I'm good at doin' stupid shit, yo. Go penguin hunting or somethin'. I dunno."

A pause.

"Anything that ain't thinkin' about what's goin'-- About what happened. This weekend. That."

"Tell me a dirty joke," she demanded, tossing her chopsticks somewhere near her purse and leaning back to stare at the ceiling. "Or a stupid story about one of your friends."

"One of 'em?"

Well. That'd be... Rude.

"Rude fell in love once. That was pretty stupid," he ventured. Not because there was anything in particular that was the matter with being a Turk in love, of course.

"Why? She bat for the other team? Was she a married heiress? Cloud's little sister or something?" She was going to come up with stupid options until he threw something at her. "Don't keep a girl in suspense."

"She was supposed to kill him, actually," Reno replied. Because, you know. She'd asked and all. "Turns out, she was a member of AVALANCHE, this terrorist group we'd been bumpin' heads with, and she was supposed to get involved with a Turk and learn what she could learn and then bump him off, zoto."

"And she picked Rude?" Yurika frowned and shook her head. "No wonder he likes unattainable Tiffa-of-the-Tits. She's a hell of a lot safer."

"Tell me you kicked her ass."

Reno smiled. It was a halfhearted sort of smile. Tired.

"Rude wouldn't left me. S' how things are. He spent weeks not comin' home after work, meetin' her down at a bar or whatever. She broke his heart, an' I saw a lot of it happenin', and at the end of the day, it was just... Let's go home."

Reno hadn't argued. If Rude wanted to let it go, then Reno would let it go.

"Didn't understand why, then."

"There's a whole new crop of fresh meat arriving in two months. I bet we could find him a hot date that isn't out of his blood in a Not-Dirty way."

Yurika turned her head to grin at him faintly. "Now you know why. We're all idiots for a pretty face, aren't we?"

"We are."

Reno's shoulders sagged a little, and he shook his head.

"It all made sense to me, then. I mean, Rude was bein' an idiot. Gettin' himself involved with some chick who probably couldn't handle what he did anyhow, and there was a reason Turks don't go makin' commitments with just whoever. And now... I dunno. I gotta wonder if Rude's the one who thinks I'm bein' stupid, now."

"At this rate, Red, you'll be lucky if it's just the dictionary I throw at you."

Yurika reached over to flick the end of his ponytail and shook her head at him. "Look. Clearly, he did pick a girl that could handle a Turk. Just not the way he was hoping. He wasn't stupid. Gullible, maybe, but not stupid. You aren't stupid either. If I hear you insinuate otherwise ever again, it won't be pretty."

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