Room 414, The Arms Hotel, Saturday Evening

[raspberryturk]

Grad was over! Reno was a free man! More or less!

And there was no better way to celebrate this fact than to make his way to the hotel, hit up Tseng's room, and then instigate a drinking game of booze purchased straight out of the minibar, while watching some terrible movie on pay-per-view.

One of those Keanu Reeves movies, or whatever. Keanu Reeves starring as Keanu Reeves, doing the things that Keanu Reeves does.

"Two shots if somethin' blows up," Reno announced to the Turks assembled. "Three if it's not because of Keanu, zoto."

[For, like, every Final Fantasy character on the island.]

Comments

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

"Is Keanu the one that can't act?" Elena asked, taking a swig from her drink. Nothing had warranted it yet, but Turk drinking games meant never having to apologize for taking extra drinks.

[politely-terse.livejournal.com]

"That information is classified," Rude told her flatly, taking a drink of his own.

[turk_mailman]

"Apparently, exceptionally classified." Tseng raised an eyebrow, pouring himself a shot in preparation of whatever was coming next. "I'm having difficulty picking out the individuals who can act, thus far."

[raspberryturk]

"Aw, come on. We ain't watchin' this for the art of it. We're watchin' this because it looked like the best movie on pay-per-view to get ourselves completely friggin' smashed with."

Reno grinned and lifted his bottle toward the ceiling in a bit of a salute.

"Keanu's the one that looks like a Keanu, zoto."

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

"Gender would help," Elena offered. "'Keanu' really doesn't rule much out by itself."

[the_merriest]

Rikku had handwavily! arranged to meet Lulu at the hotel, and then hopped over to Yuna's room to get her, as well. She and Reno were going on a daaaaaaaaaaaaate later, but first, Tseng needed to meet Yuna. And really, all of them needed to sit around playing stupid drinking games.

Knock knock knock!

[politely-terse.livejournal.com]

A few seconds later, Rude was on his feet and opening the door cautiously. "Are we expecting... company?"

[turk_mailman]

"Not so far as I'm aware," Tseng noted, glancing up toward the door, straightening considerably.

Unannounced company always put him on edge, lately.

[mistressofblack.livejournal.com]

"Well," Lulu said, looking into the room around the tall, dark, and bald man in the doorway, "if we're not wanted, we can always just leave."

[summoninghope.livejournal.com]

Yuna looked around as well, half-hiding behind Lulu. "We didn't mean to intrude," she said demurely. She shot a quick glance over at Rikku.

[raspberryturk]

Reno recognized that second voice relatively quickly.

"No intrudin' goin' on here," he announced, making his way to the door with a mini-bottle of vodka in his hand. "Trust me, a room full of Turks can always use more estrogen, yo! Just think of poor Elena!"

Reno was so thoughtful. Really.

[politely-terse.livejournal.com]

"Rikku," Rude said to her, as he examined the new arrivals approvingly. "Won't you introduce us to your... lovely friends."

[the_merriest]

"You betcha," Rikku said. "Okay, this is my cousin Yunie, who is also High Summoner Yuna but she's not big on titles or anything. She saved the world, it was pretty sweet. This is Lulu, who taught sex ed here. She was one of Yuna's Guardians, too, for the whole world-saving thing. Lulu, Yuna, you know Reno, 'cause I ramble about him enough. These are his co-workers. Rude's his partner, Tseng's the boss, and Elena's the poor girl who gets stuck with these guys."

She blinked around. "That's everybody, right?"

[turk_mailman]

"It appears to me as though nobody has been missed," Tseng agreed, pulling himself to his feet and making his way to the door. "Come in. Please. Unless you were planning on spending the night in the hallway."

Rikku had mentioned Yuna as the one who had saved the world. That, naturally, had him quite curious.

[summoninghope.livejournal.com]

"As long as you're sure it's not a bad time," Yuna said diffidently, stepping more fully into the room and looking around to give everyone a polite nod. She was pretty good around new people, she knew how to pay attention to them.

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

"We were just drinking," Elena said, lifting her bottle. "And watching a really bad movie where things blow up and people pretend they can act."

The explosions made up for the acting.

[mistressofblack.livejournal.com]

"It rather sounds like some of the 'peace talks' back home," Lulu mused. "Do the explosions make up for the lack of anything interesting to listen to?"

[raspberryturk]

"When don't explosions make up for the lack of anything interesting to listen to?"

That was the million-gil question, right there.

"It's loud, it's flashy, things get thrown around in a big fireball. That's quality entertainment, right there!"

As if to demonstrate, something blew up on the TV. Reno chugged.

[the_merriest]

"Can I share your drink?" Rikku asked, leaning up to greet Reno with a kiss. (A quick one -- they were surrounded by might-as-well-be-family.) "I forgot to bring any liquor or anything, and I think minibars are expensive."

[raspberryturk]

"So puuwa ec ouin puuwa," Reno decided, mostly not pouting at how quickly the kiss was over with. Mostly. "Help yourself, yo. Anyone else want anything? I brought some tequila, too, yo."

[summoninghope.livejournal.com]

"I don't know..." Yuna said diffidently.

She wasn't much of a drinker.

[politely-terse.livejournal.com]

"It would be impolite to not at least try some," Rude informed her flatly, as a took a sip of his own drink.

Ulterior motives? Him? Not that you'd know it.

[mistressofblack.livejournal.com]

"Well, if it would be impolite," Lulu said, smirking, as she poured herself a double of vodka and drank it down, straight, in one swallow.

Someone had learned to drink in the last couple of months. ... Someone had had to learn to drink in the last couple of months, to keep from casting Ultima and killing everyone.

[turk_mailman]

Tseng was going to give Rude his most subtle 'if you get either of these ladies drunk and take sexual advantage of them tonight, no number of phoenix downs can save you' look.

He had perfected that look, after years of working with the Turks.

Only normally, he was giving it to Reno.

"Make yourselves comfortable. While there might not be enough chairs to go around, there are cushions and pillows. I apologize, these hotel rooms aren't normally intended to accommodate seven people at a time."

[the_merriest]

"We'll be leaving soon," Rikku said quickly. "Reno and me, I mean? We have a date to be getting to. So if it's too crowded, we can ... just head out early?"

[raspberryturk]

"I'm with her on that one, yo!" Reno wasn't going to bounce. He wasn't. Bouncing meant that precious booze could get spilled, and that would be a sad thing, indeed. "All the more booze for you guys, yo!"

All the more aloooooone time with him and the girl, too.

[summoninghope.livejournal.com]

Well... if it would be rude...

"I suppose I could have a drink," Yuna relented quietly. To be polite.

[politely-terse.livejournal.com]

"More booze is always good," Rude agreed with Reno.

He poured a half-glass for Yuna, and then held the bottle out for whoever wanted it.

[mistressofblack.livejournal.com]

"Thank you," Lulu said, taking the bottle and pouring herself another drink. This one she drank a little more slowly.

She raised one eyebrow at Rude and smirked, just a little, over her glass.

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

Elena glanced at the newcomers, promising herself to watch that none of the got tipsier than they could stand. She didn't think either Rude or Tseng would take advantage, but being the only girl in the group sometimes affected her like that.

Especially as the one with short hair seemed ... innocent, somehow.

"Was your world-saving deliberate?" she asked, offering the girl a brief smile. "Or were you in the wrong place at the wrong time?"

[summoninghope.livejournal.com]

"Oh, we were lucky," Yuna answered quietly. "And it's not like I did it alone. I had a lot of help." She smiled at Lulu and Rikku.

[raspberryturk]

"Damn good help," Reno agreed. He'd only ever fought alongside Rikku, when it came to the help that Yuna here had gotten, but with the way Rikku talked about the other guardians, he had no doubt that they were among the very best.

He gave Rikku a little bump with his elbow. "We wanna get goin'? Leave these ladies to appreciate the quality video?"

[the_merriest]

"Let's," Rikku said, grinning at Lulu and then Yuna in turn. Lulu would make sure Yuna didn't get too drunk, and okay, she was vaguely amused by the flirtiness that seemed to be passing between Lulu and Rude.

But they had a date to get to. "Don't do anything we wouldn't do!" she sang out, closing the door behind them.

That ... didn't leave much, did it?

[turk_mailman]

"Well, that certainly doesn't rule much out," Tseng mused as the door was pulled shut.

Someone had to be the one to say it.

He glanced around at the assorted company in his room, attempting to steer the conversation back to where it had been sitting, before. World-saving was something of a hot topic, lately. Leviathan only knew that it needed to happen often enough.

"It's been mentioned to me in the past that Rikku knew somebody who could cast Holy. I have to admit to being deeply curious about that."

[mistressofblack.livejournal.com]

Lulu shot a warning glance at Yuna -- a covert one, she hoped -- before nodding slowly. "Yes, that's true," she replied. "Why is it that you ask?"

[summoninghope.livejournal.com]

Yuna had been deferring to Lulu's warning glances for most of her life, and she deferred to this one as well. She simply nodded slightly and kept silent for the moment.

[politely-terse.livejournal.com]

Rude was on-duty again, sort of. He nodded at Tseng and then watched Yuna and Lulu intently.

... Which finally gave him a good EXCUSE to examine Lulu's... assets. Not that you could tell, behind his shades.

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

Elena was going to shoot Rude a dirty look -- some things were obvious, even with shades in the way -- before answering Lulu's question.

"Holy was the only thing that saved our world," she explained. "Sephiroth summoned a huge meteor, one that nearly crushed Midgar. Holy was the only force powerful enough to stop it."

Granted, Holy had been a costly victory -- destroying the Meteor and Midgar in one full swoop -- before the dead Ancient had called out the lifestream itself. Which had, in turn, caused Geostigma.

Wins on Gaia were rarely clean.

[turk_mailman]

Tseng knew better than to trust even the wins that were clean.

"Sephiroth himself has a nasty habit of not staying dead," he added, simply for the sake of getting that fact out there. "Although I can't imagine the black materia that he used to summon Meteor is available to him any longer, Holy isn't exactly available to us, either."

Aerith being dead, and all. Tseng wasn't even going to wince as that thought crossed his mind.

[summoninghope.livejournal.com]

"Would... would it help if it were?" Yuna asked hesitantly.

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

"If Meteor came again, we would have no way of stopping it," Elena said firmly. "Last time, the entire city of Midgar was destroyed. And that time, it didn't hit."

[politely-terse.livejournal.com]

"Which MEANS," Rude added, "that we'll need to... keep in touch."

[summoninghope.livejournal.com]

"If there's anything I can do," Yuna offered quickly, shooting a quick glance over at Lulu.

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

Elena was chewing on her lower lip, wondering exactly how one asked what she felt they very much needed to know. Without giving offense, no less.

She brightened slightly, as an angle occurred to her. "If we ... needed you," Elena said, turning the idea over in her mind as she spoke, "and you came, would you ... need anything? Items to assist you in casting, a specific location, a set of conditions? The last person went to a forest to pray for hours; we could offer protection if you need time to prepare."

[turk_mailman]

"And," Tseng added, briskly, "we take our jobs very seriously. You would be safe."

The last person to cast Holy wasn't doing so well, anymore. Being dead and all.

Never again.

[politely-terse.livejournal.com]

"Although you could always... bring your guardians anyway," Rude added.

[summoninghope.livejournal.com]

"I don't think you could keep them away," Yuna smiled fondly.

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

Elena was going to try, politely, to nudge the conversation back towards Holy itself. They needed information, after all.

Also, discussing Holy meant they would not be discussing Aerith, or watching Tseng mope over the dead girl. Which was never Elena's definition of fun.

"Is it difficult for you to cast?" she asked. "Would you need anything from us, to call it forward?"

[summoninghope.livejournal.com]

"It isn't easy," Yuna admitted, "But it's not the hardest thing I've done. I'd just need time, I guess."