Room 504, The Arms Hotel, Friday Evening

[raspberryturk]

Damn, it was good to be on the island.

Daaaaaaaamn, it was so good to be on the island. And sure, the room he'd grabbed at The Arms wasn't his dorm room, but he had a real, honest-to-gods bed here, instead of the lumpy couch Reno had been sleeping on for the past little while, and that alone made the whole trip worth it.

Well, the bed and the minibar. He was going to have to coordinate some kind of drinking outing with the guys before he took off again, maybe. In the meantime, he'd pick up his cellphone and leave some handwavey messages telling his buddies on the island where he could be found.

And then? Then he was going to flop backward on that amazing friggin' bed and just sprawl.

Oh, hell yeah.

[Door's open, and if you figure you'd get a call, you totally did. Mmmm, feels like home.]

Comments

[intraspective]

It had been kind of a crappy week, and Ino had been vaguely reclusive for her, but as if she was just going to hide out and maybe miss out on seeing Reno.

As if.

She leaned against the open door and held up her hands to frame the picture he made, all sprawled out. "Sloth, I think," she said, consideringly. "Or maybe bliss."

[raspberryturk]

"Both," Reno decided. And like hell he was getting up when he was clearly so very picturesque. "Rude's got the most friggin' uncomfortable couch in Edge, yo. When they were handin' out shitty, busted up couches, Rude got in line and picked the shittest, most busted up one. Just for me."

Because Rude was the best buddy a guy could ever hope for.

[intraspective]

"Maybe you ought to buy cushions," she suggested, wandering in. "Or a new couch even."

He could get one from IKEA.

[raspberryturk]

"Ain't too many places out there to buy either," Reno chuckled, finally decided it would be best to just sit up and get it over with. "An' I don't think I can fit a couch on the chopper when Rude comes to pick me up. Unless I get some of them collapsible jobbies. What're they called? Maybe I should just grab a hammock an' nail it into his walls or somethin'."

... Actually, that was a pretty good idea. Huh.

[intraspective]

"Futons?" She flopped down to sit next to him, picking at her skirt. "That'd have to be more comfy than a crappy couch," Ino noted. "You'd just have to hope, if you went the hammock route, that Rude wouldn't think it'd be fun to cut your hammock down while you're sleeping in it."

Okay, Ino would've found that fun.

[raspberryturk]

... Actually, Rude probably would've, too. And so Reno was going to get his hammock, and he was going to sleep with his stun baton.

He already slept with his stun baton. But still.

"Rude knows better," Reno decided. "He messes with my stuff, he'll end up with ferret crap in his bed, zoto."

[intraspective]

"You mean he doesn't already?" Ino asked innocently. "I'm disappointed in you, if you haven't done that to him yet."

Awww, it was like his security blanket.

Only more lethal.

[raspberryturk]

"Well, he does," Reno laughed. "But not on purpose. Mako ain't a fan of the makeshift cage we threw together for him after I couldn't fit the last one in the chopper to get him to Edge in the first place. He likes Rude's bed better, yo."

Reno couldn't entirely blame him, either.

[intraspective]

"Maybe you ought to steal Rude's bed then," she said, leaning slightly into him almost absently. "Then you'd both be more comfy and Rude can figure out that he needs a new couch from a whole new angle."

[raspberryturk]

Reno had to laugh and give her a bit of a playful nudge, at that.

"The reason I get the couch an' Rude gets the bed is because," it was Rude's bed, "he's like a foot too damn tall to fit on the couch in the first place, yo. You ever see Rude? He's like someone crossed a man with a brick wall an' stuffed the result into a business suit with a nice set of shades, yo."

[intraspective]

Details like who the bed belong to were trifling ones, really. Honest!

"You gave me pictures on your phone of him," she said, nodding. "He was cute."

Ino. Cute wasn't exactly the right word to describe Rude.

[raspberryturk]

Well, cute wasn't the word that Reno would have used to describe Rude, anyhow.

"He ain't bad, I guess," Reno laughed. "So, how 'bout you, Ino? You been takin' care of yourself lately? I don't gotta find any of them gators or whatever it was that invaded so I can kick their scaly asses ten ways to Mideel, or anything?"

[intraspective]

"Meh," Ino said, tugging her legs up onto the bed and hugging them. "No gators, or nothing."

[raspberryturk]

Huh. That response earned a bit of a headtilt.

"Just 'meh' anyhow, though? People ain't been givin' you a hard time again, have they?"

Look, he was a Turk. He was also nosy. They went hand-in-hand, sometimes.

[intraspective]

"No one has said anything 'bout my job. Pretty much meh," she said, wriggling her toes and making a bit of a face at him. "Nothing I can beat up anyone 'bout though, so it's a pain."

A beat.

"Nothing you can beat up either."

[raspberryturk]

"We could beat up each other," Reno offered, thoughtfully. "Think that'd help you vent some? Do Ghanima and Durden still got that fight club thing goin' on on Sundays, do you know?"

[intraspective]

"Shrieking didn't help much," she said dryly, "but maybe, I dunno. Can't work up a real bit of mad when I get the reasoning."

"Yeah, they do." Even if Ino kept managing to miss it for various reasons.

[raspberryturk]

"You busy this Sunday?"

Look, Reno hadn't had a good spar in a while, and Ino looked like she kind of wanted an excuse to just punch somebody in the face, for whatever reason. It kinda killed two birds with one stone, that way.

[intraspective]

"Guess I am now," she said, smiling slightly. "Whatever will I do?"

Ino was so going to lose. She knew it. Ow. But it was almost a good ow, thinking about it.

She sighed. He kinda deserved a reason for giving her that.

"Ichigo left," Ino mumbled, "had to go fight a war, and he's not coming back." Which she couldn't argue about, but still. It sucked.

[raspberryturk]

Reno had to take a moment to draw in a slow breath between his teeth. Oh, shit. Yeah, he didn't blame Ino one bit for needing to vent, there.

"He gonna keep in touch, at least?"

[intraspective]

She shook her head. "Can't," Ino said, "it's not just a physical war, so he's not going to be in his body much. Spirits can't make phone calls."

[raspberryturk]

Reno had to take a moment to kind of parse that. Okay. Spirit-war-thing. The concept of spirits was kind of fuzzy to him, but he'd roll with it as best as he could.

"Guess not," he agreed, frowning thoughtfully. "He give any kinda odds?"

He really didn't feel as though he had to clarify what odds he was talking about here.

[intraspective]

"Not much," she said, "but it didn't sound good. He's too much the--hero-type to tell me just how bad they were off."

[raspberryturk]

Nod. Frown. Reno would have to let Ino bloody up her knuckles some on his face if he felt like she still needed it come Sunday. He'd brought potions.

"That's kinda how heroes are," he agreed. And then added another nod for good measure.

[intraspective]

"Heroes suck," she muttered viciously. "And I can't to nothing for him 'cause I can't do the spirit thing, and I don't think I'd want to try. Too much going 'round in my brain anyway."

And her dad would kill her.