Room 429, Tuesday Afternoon

[raspberryturk]

"--And you don't even smell that bad," Reno said, holding his ferret in his arms. He'd been going on like this since he'd woken up and decided to strike up a friendly rapport with his pet. "Kinda like sour somethin'-or-other or kinda gunky feet or somethin'. I've smelled worse, yo. I mean, like, I smelled worse, Mako. You should'a seen the kinda junk we had to wade through as Turks. And, I mean, Midgar. There was a city that stank. I miss Midgar. And here I am talkin' to you like a nut. You know, I shouldn't even have a pet? I only agreed to gettin' you when Rikku dragged me to the pet shop 'cause I crave some kinda companionship that ain't gonna leave me just because they find out I'm some kinda heartless government tool--"

That was about the point where he furrowed his eyebrows and frowned.

"And you don't care. You're some kinda weasel thing. So why am I tellin' you this?"

Mako blinked up at Reno lazily, and then set his chin down on his lap and attempted to sleep. Snoozing was hard when someone kept trying to strike up a conversation with you, after all.

[Open door is open!]

Comments

[withoutverona]

"I was in love with Mercutio," Romeo said quietly. "It took being a girl to get me to admit that, but it's there. It's ... a different thing, with you, and I'd rather not talk about it, ever."

"Maybe you should draw a line in days, rather than in things done?"

[raspberryturk]

"I love you in a purely platonic kinda way that would see me totally losin' my friggin' head if anything ever happened to you." A pause. "You're on-par with Rude, man. I never thought I'd ever say that about anyone, yo."

"And how do I know how many days is enough? I give myself a year, by the end of it I'll be convincin' myself that I should've made it two, instead."

[withoutverona]

"You're more blood to me than my own kin.," Romeo said, matter-of-factly. "I don't need to go about adopting siblings, but I'd call you my brother and mean it."

"And if you say a year you'll make it two, and if you say clean up one neighborhood you'll make it three. Maybe you'll know when to leave without a goal."

[raspberryturk]

"Blood never meant nothin' to me. But brother, comin' from you? That does mean a lot." A pause. "I... think I'd do the same. You're family, man. The kinda family I can be proud of havin'. Am proud of havin'."

Dammit, they were getting all mushy an' shit.

"Maybe I'll just get chased outta town," Reno noted, eyeing the bottle in his hands, and then shrugging and drinking down the last swallow before setting it down. "Time to go when the locals sniff me out and threaten to put me down like a sick dog."

[withoutverona]

"I'm going to start to cry," Romeo cautioned. "The locals will be happy to have the help, from whatever corner. And if they aren't ... you run well."

He was, sadly, drunk enough to think that might be comforting.

[raspberryturk]

"I run real damn good," Reno agreed. "And I already almost started to cry a few times. I don't like cryin', you know. I'm pretty damn good and swallowin' it down. But the conversation's been rough, today."

A pause. A kind of lopsided grin.

"Dammit, Romeo. At this rate, we're gonna have to crack open the whiskey, too."

[withoutverona]

"Or we could go for a walk and get some fresh air," Romeo suggested. "Your liver would thank me, and I could use the motion. The ocean might help, too, it always makes me feel better."

[raspberryturk]

"The ocean, huh?" Reno stretched, tilted his head, considered. "Yeah, man. I think we need to walk. It's the sky that does it for me, though. It's huge, but I ain't gonna drown in it, yo."

A pause.

"I kinda learned how to swim, so the ocean's not all that bad. We walk?"

[withoutverona]

"We walk," Romeo agreed, standing and holding out a hand to help Reno up. "We walk and we talk and I probably moan about Yurika some more, and I worry about you. And then there are waves."

He liked waves.