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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"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."

Reno shrugged and looked at his feet.

"I'm just startin' to wonder, is all. If maybe the one I fell for can handle me, yeah, but she can't handle a Turk." And then he set down the ramen cup and fumbled for another cigarette. "Thing is, me an' the Turk, it's all the same damn thing."

"I think you need more food, and then some sleep. Preferably without alcoholic assistance."

"You are running on empty, Reno. You haven't slept, you haven't actually eaten, and you're thinking about relationships now? Hell, I have a hard enough time tackling things like that when I'm sober." Yurika sat up and scooted closer to him, nudging at his foot with hers. "Hey, look at me."

"I'm not going to promise everything is going to be alright," she said quietly, looking straight at him, "but I told you once that Rikku was crazy about you. I lie about a lot of things, but not that. Never something like that. Okay?"

"Okay." He looked at her for a few more moments, and then his gaze drifted downward again. He was tired. She was right. He knew she was right. He still wasn't thinking entirely straight, his weekend had been hell and it was carrying over to the week, his entire life from here on out was up in the air. And Rikku was crazy about him.

...

She... had to be.

"I dunno if I have a job," he shared. Because a change in the topic seemed like a really good idea right about then.

"Why?" Yurika couldn't tell by his tone if this was supposed to be a Good Thing or a Bad Thing.

"You realize, even if you aren't a Turk or whatever, you're still my favorite professional asshole, right?" She stuck out her tongue in an attempt to cheer them both up. "Painting a hedgehog pink doesn't make it any less of a hedgehog."

"Red," Reno stated. "Hedgehog Pies are red, yoto. With big saggy pink bellies."

They were. Also, they were ugly.

"I kinda... yelled at Rufus, yesterday. And by 'yell,' I mean, threatened to lock him in that church we found Tifa and Cloud in, and then... drop another plate."

All said very casually. Really.

"And then I said I wanted to go home. When did this place start to be home?"

"You and your damn freaky animals. Whatever kami made your creatures was on some sort of bad acid trip," she griped, no real heat behind it.

"Yeah. Home. If you figure it out, you tell me." Yurika's fingers were suddenly very interesting, and she looked at her hands and smiled. "Sometime after our trip to Mexico, I think."

She chewed on her lip a moment, then shrugged. "Shinra's a jumped-up yakuza prince," she said bluntly. "There's easier ways to get rid of him than wasting an entire plate."

"I don't wanna get rid of him," Reno stated. "I just wanna get away from him. If it means stayin' here and never goin' back to Gaia on pain of losin' my head, then... Shit, Doji, I'd do it. If it meant not bein' a part of his efforts to rule the damn planet again. The company's dead. And he's still tellin' us that he owns us. I signed my contract to his old man and his old man's company. Not to Rufus, yoto."

"And you already told him that? Or just threatened to smash him flat if he looked at you funny?" It was an honest question, not sarcastic, and Yurika thought about it. "You don't have to stay here, you know. You could always go to one of our worlds, just to get space to think while you decide what it is you want."

"Knowing what you don't want, that's the easy part. The rest of it is a bitch."

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