Room 429, Tuesday Afternoon

[raspberryturk]

Reno was of legal voting age, sure, but was not American. Heck, he wasn't even from this planet. And anyhow, it wasn't like he'd know what to do with a ballot if it hit him in the face. Mayoral elections in Midgar had been a joke, because all the strings had been pulled by the guy on top anyhow. So he'd largely ignored politics back home in favor of doing his job and beating things up. That had always been more interesting anyhow.

That was why, instead of being too concerned about the election going on outside today, Reno was making himself comfortable in his room, pitting his ferret against both the wee elephant that had wandered in, and the donkey.

Kind of like a cockfight, but with more honking.

The ferret seemed to be winning.

[The door's open, and I'll be around all day.]

Comments

[withoutverona]

Romeo was arguing with a wee blue donkey as he taped on Reno's door. "No, I'm not 18 for another week, and I'm not altogether certain this is my world," he told it earnestly before tapping on the door. "Reno? Are you about?"

[raspberryturk]

"I don't got nowhere to go," was Reno's response from inside the room. It was followed by "Oooh, get 'im, get 'im," and a series of honks and dismayed trumpets and brays.

The ferret was very much winning, now, yes.

"Door's open, yo!"

[withoutverona]

"Door's open, and I am bored," Romeo announced, stepping in and plopping himself on the floor. "Also, why am I trying to explain my elecoral status to a small animal?"

[raspberryturk]

"Because they're nosy?" Reno glanced at Romeo with a smirk as Mako delivered a particularly jarring chomp to the elephant's trunk. "They tried to get on my case today, so I let Mako out. I ain't even from this world, like I should care about its politics, right?"

[withoutverona]

"I'm from this world, or close enough, but I'm not 18 for a week," Romeo informed Reno. "Not that I'm so political, anyhow."

He tossed the donkey at the ferret and the elephant, and it started kicking.

[raspberryturk]

"You hear that, weird little critter things? You'd be doin' better off harrassin' people who are actually eligible to vote, here." Reno looked back at the tussling animals, mostly to make certain that angry donkey hooves didn't catch his ferret during the tussle.

"So, how you been, anyhow?"

Mako chittered and bounded circles around the elephant and donkey, and then proceeded to war-dance his way over to Romeo, tripping head-over-tail, to say hello.

[withoutverona]

"I did nothing all week," Romeo said cheerfully. "Watched some bad movies, helped decorate for the frat's Halloween thing. But mostly it was a week to recover from the last month. And you?"

He scritched Mako's head, then started to try to wrestle him with his hand.

[raspberryturk]

"Kinda sounds like my week, yo." Reno shrugged, grinning at Mako and Romeo while the elephant and donkey continued brawling with one another. "Lots of doin' dick-all. Wasn't feelin' too hot this time last week, but I got better. And- oh! I figured out what the hell Halloween was before the holiday, for once. I never know about the holidays until the day is, like, half gone, zoto."

This was some sort of huge accomplishment, for Reno.

[withoutverona]

"You were ill? I'm sorry," Romeo told him, letting Mako head-butt his hand. "I remember I tried to explain Valentine's Day to you long ago. It's all confusing without having grown up here, I suppose."

"Did you go out on Halloween? I wasn't quite in the spirit."

[raspberryturk]

"Go out? Nah. I pestered Rikku at work some. Dressed up. That kinda thing." Reno stretched and casually tossed an empty bottle between the two scrapping animals.

What? It would add an element of danger. Or something.

"There's a spirit for that kinda thing? Figures, I know about the holiday in advance, and then I don't even bother to make sure I get into the mood. Rum?"

He could part with some. He could get more tonight anyhow.

[withoutverona]

"What did you dress up as?" Romeo wanted to know, poking the donkey toward the elephant. "And no, I meant spirit as in mood. There's no single Halloween spirit."

"And please, rum. Is it from the squirrels?"

[raspberryturk]

"Squirrels got the best taste in rum on the island," Reno mused, moving to his dresser to dig out some of the best squirrel-given-rum he owned. "I didn't do nothin' real special or anything. Got a zoot suit. Which sounds more idiotic than those things look, zoto. Did you dress up, or was gettin' into costume part of the mood, too?"

[withoutverona]

Romeo shook his head. "I ate candy, that was enough for me," he admitted. "I think I sold a few zoot suits for prom. They look ... comfortable." And a little ugly, but in a way Romeo liked.

"And I'm curious how the squirrels carry the bottles."

[raspberryturk]

"They are comfortable. I mean, didn't break mine in anywhere near as good as I got this suit worn in, but then, this one has had time to... settle, or whatever."

Reno shrugged, watching Mako muddle his way across the room to stare at the weird creatures. The donkey seemed to be doing decently well, but it was too early in the fight to be positive.

"The squirrels got little... squirrelly... hands, or whatever. I think they carry the bottles in packs. Or whatever a group of squirrels is called."

[withoutverona]

"How many suits do you have?" Romeo asked idly, taking a glug of rum straight from the bottle. "Pack sounds good. Or swarm."

Another glug. "Plague, as in locusts."

[raspberryturk]

"Few pairs of pants, this one jacket. Gettin' a replacement on the jacket is gonna be tough, since things are all... touchy now, back on Gaia." Reno shrugged and considered for a moment before pulling out a bottle of rum for himself.

Might as well start on the radio drinking early, right?

"See, I'd call it a plague of squirrels, but then they might piss in my rum or somethin' to get back at me. If it was up to me to name a bunch of 'em, seein' as they're kinda providin' my weekly supply of booze for me now, I'd probably call 'em somethin' like a pride of squirrels. Like lions, you know? Better booze that way."

[withoutverona]

"We do sell jackets at PIxie Dust," Romeo fretted, before letting it go. "A pride of squirrels. I like that. It's got poetry."

[raspberryturk]

"Shirts, I can get at the pixie's store. Pants, sure thing. Shoes, why the hell not? But there's somethin' about a Turks jacket, man. You just can't order that in, yo." Reno might have puffed his chest a little and straightened his jacket. For all the gesture was worth, given how prone he was to wearing it sloppily in the first place.

"See, I knew I could throw together somethin' kinda poetic if the muse came down upon me, or whatever it is people say. I'm kinda sorry that the first time I ever bother to break it out, it's gotta be about the rodents, though."

That called for a long swig from the bottle. Just 'cause.

[withoutverona]

"If the muse went down on me I'd want it to be about something more than rodents," Romeo said, tossing a paperclip at the donkey to encourage the fight, double entendre very intended. "But you're poetic mor eoften than you think you are."

[raspberryturk]

"You think so?" Reno glanced at Romeo, and then shrugged and prodded at Mako, to draw the ferret's attention away from the other animals. "I bet you got a wealth of examples, too," he laughed. "Like that thing I said about the toasters at Caritas the other week, right?"

Reno had a very difficult time accepting that he was capable of putting together words that were in any way pleasing to the sensibilities.

[withoutverona]

Romeo didn't exactly remember the thing about toasters at first, but he nodded obligingly until it came to his head. "The toasters, aye, and even your yos and zotos," he said. "It's pleasing, Reno."

[OOC: Dear LJ, post my comment this time.]

[raspberryturk]

If Romeo didn't remember Reno likening Rude's rear end to the heat coils inside of a toaster, all the better, perhaps.

"You figure? They're just little... nonsense whatevers, anyhow, yoto. Kinda like filler. Rolls off the tongue though, don't it?" He was going to take a moment to feel somewhat pleased with himself, now. Just because he could. "Wouldn't really call it poetic, though."

[withoutverona]

Romeo's had rather a lot to drink that night.

"It's poetry just as jazz is music," he decided. 'If I said it, it would sound wrong." A beat. "...zoto."

[raspberryturk]

Reno had himself a pretty good laugh at that, and then took another long pull from his rum.

"Man, stick with just talkin' big like you always do, yo. Zoto's a weird word when it's fallin' off your tongue, I think."

He lifted his bottle in a bit of a toast as the elephant took one hell of a kick to the face.

"There ain't much of a need for you to toss in the nonsense words if you're talkin' poetic all the time anyhow, zoto."

[withoutverona]

"Not half so much as I used to," Romeo pointed out, looking for something to pour a little rum into. The animals looked thirsty. "It was odd, talking to Benvolio and being reminded of that."

[raspberryturk]

"See, hangin' around this place makes us all talk normal," Reno mused, getting up to rifle through his stuff for something to drink out of. Paper cups were a godsend, weren't they? "I think half the big words Miss Bennet uses in class are startin' to make sense, even."

[withoutverona]

"We'll all become average," Romeo said in mock despair. "And I'm not sure I always understand Miss Bennet, though I enjoy most of what she has us read."

[raspberryturk]

"Heh. I understand a lot of what she says, but it's the readin' that throws me off. I think I kinda suck at readin' poems," Reno mused. "But Tseng talks big too, so I'm used to hearin' words that I couldn't hope to spell if my life depended on 'em."