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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"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."

"It is." Reno sighed and looked up at the ceiling, next. Hey. Ceiling. Who put that there? "I wasn't thinkin' straight when I was talkin' to him. Tired, hadn't eaten, the rest of it. If I could have a do-over, I'd just tell him I quit and walk out, I think. Maybe. Might not have the guts."

And then he was grinning, again, and looking back at her.

"Why's it always the easy stuff that's the hardest to do? 'No' is just a word, ain't it? If you threw another thesaurus at me, I could even find other words for it. Say the same thing a dozen times."

"I could just hand it to you," she offered. "We can make a study of it. A thousand ways to say 'no', in as many languages as we can remember."

"Just write the whole damn thing up, and then mail it off to him and never look at Gaia again?" Reno tilted his head, pretending to actually consider it. "Now there's a thought, yoto."

"We can write down some of the more colorful phrases, too," she nodded, mind going over the possibilities. "We'll just have to leave out Japanese, unless you don't mind your friend knowing what sort of foul language I know how to use."

"Who, Tseng?" Reno paused a moment and mulled that one over for a moment. Or, at least, he pretended to. "You know, after workin' with me for however many years, I don't think a little cursin' in Wutai is gonna shock him too much, yo."

"No, but your butchering of the accent might make him hate me for teaching you the words," Yurika said cheerfully. "I liked him, he's funny."

Sometimes, Yurika had a very odd sense of humor.

"Someone's gotta like Tseng, I guess. I mean, ain't like anyone else is gonna. Except Elena. Think he'll ever notice that she's got her eyes on him?"

Reno leaned forward, conspiratorially.

"Rude and I got a bettin' pool open on that one, zoto."

"Notice before or after she sticks her tongue down his throat?" she asked, tilting her head as she considered it. "What's the ante?"

"S'in Gil. Think you can handle the exchange rate on a bunch'a gold coins?" Reno smirked and crossed his arms, leaning back against his dresser. "Rude and I each got five-hundred in the pot. We toss in another fifty every month. If he notices before she tackles him, Rude gets the pay. If Tseng continues to have a stick up his ass and Elena gets fed up with it and does somethin' first, which you know is gonna happen, then I get the Gil."

"And what's my cut to stay out of it and not help either of them along?" Yurika smirked in return. "Let's face it, they both need help."

Reno considered that, carefully.

This was the sort of thing that required careful consideration.

"I'll give you a quarter of my winnings, converted to whatever freaky Earth currency you want it in, yo."

This was a betting pool. This was sacred. Reno would make the sacrifice in order to keep the results clean.

Yurika twirled her hair as she thought about it. "If either of them calls me and asks for help, does that count as interfering?" she asked. It was important to get all your facts right. "And Rude's got to agree too."

Besides, Rude was going to win. Tseng wasn't stupid. Yurika would be willing to place money that he already knew, or at least suspected.

Room 429, Tuesday Afternoon

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