Edge, Friday Evening

[raspberryturk]

It was one of those rare nights that Reno had managed to score all to himself, off-duty, with not a single reason to worry about Tseng calling him in out of the blue to do some urgent mission or another. Why? Because Rude had the night off, too, and Tseng knew better than to try to call Reno in when Rude would do the job just as well, and without whining about it.

And so, there he was, sprawled backwards on the couch (and doing an admirable job of ignoring the busted springs in his back) and staring up at the ceiling, contemplating where in the world he was supposed to go from here and the obstacles on his way to wherever that turned out to be.

"Winter's coming, yo." He paused, and then, with a faint smirk on his lips, he added, "Fehdan'c lusehk."

At the very least, it wasn't as though he'd be making the trip alone.

[For that girl who speaks the funny language. And sure, open for phone calls or whatever, if you'd like.]

Comments

[the_merriest]

"Ed femm pa lumt cuuh," she agreed, eyes dancing. She liked it when he spoke Al Bhed, dammit.

She joined him on the couch, leaning over to bink his nose before growing more serious. "I probably ... should get going, sooner or later."

The WRO was actually starting to act like an actual peacekeeping force. And, well, Spira's peace wouldn't hold forever.

[raspberryturk]

Peace never did, did it? And Reno hadn't even really made a scratch on the surface of all of the issues around Edge, let alone problems around The Planet that he'd had a hand in.

That didn't work out nicely at all, did it?

He sighed faintly, reaching for the hand that had done the binking, and nodding faintly.

"Cuuhan un mydan," he agreed. "I don't think I can go just yet. I mean, to visit, sure. But... The place is still a mess, yo. The WRO ain't put me outta work just yet."

[the_merriest]

"I know," she said quickly, twining her fingers through his. "I didn't mean -- oui ghuf ruf silr E fuimt fyhd vun oui du lusa. But I wasn't asking. You're doing important stuff here, yoto."

She leaned over to kiss his forehead. This was cozy. That was one of the many reasons it was so damn hard to leave.

"I'm sorry I can't just ... give up everything and move in, yeah?"

[raspberryturk]

Reno nodded, and then shifted his weight a little, before giving up on the couch springs completely and kind of flopping his head back into Rikku's lap.

Mmmm, cozy. That was one of the reasons it was so damn hard to let her leave.

"It'd be nice if you could," he noted, pursing his lips and giving a shoulder a shrug, "but that ain't the way the universe works, is it?" Which, for the record, sucked. A lot. "We got our phones. I'll write some more, an' when you write back you can tell me how long it took you to figure out what the hell I was tryin' to write."

Reno was not world-renowned for his legible penmanship.

"Spira haatc ymm dra ramb ed lyh kad, duu. Nekrd?"

[the_merriest]

"Nekrd," she nodded. "Edge is worse, I think. We're starting over, but ... we didn't have as much destroyed as you did."

A moment later, she added, "Uhmo dra tayt fa ryja mucd ymuhk dra fyo."

She felt like being maudlin tonight, apparently.

"Maybe next time I come, I bring people. Or at least more food."

[raspberryturk]

"People," Reno agreed. "Food's good, too. But what we really need is some kinda sustainable food source, zoto. Somethin' we can grow here in Edge, even with the dirt the way it is. The Al Bhed use hydroponics, right? Think there'd be any way to get people out here to help Edge set somethin' like that up?"

A pause, and then a wry smile.

"It'd make work for the locals, yo."

[the_merriest]

"They do," she nodded. "I'll get Buddy on it. I think he was one of the people that tended to the plants. If not, Gippal would know. See what blueprints they can send, and details about the set-up, yeah?"

Which reminded her.

"E ryja y cinbneca vun oui."

[withoutverona]

And in Verona, Romeo came in from shopping with Benvolio and flopped onto his bed. Yurika was still out; he wasn't sure where, but suspected it involved spending large amounts of money.

He picked up the phone and punched in Reno's number.

[raspberryturk]

"Yo!"

Reno didn't need no stinkin' fancy greetings, did he? None of this name and rank crap that some Turks had done over the years. No, no, 'yo' demonstrated who he was well enough.

Especially when the ringtone was totally not a business call.

"How's it goin', my man?"

[withoutverona]

"It goes," Romeo answered. "I might dare say it goes well, even. We're in Verona for the holiday and the shopping that goes with it." A pause. "I'm sending you another box before I go, by the way."

"And you?"

[raspberryturk]

"Can't complain too much," Reno mused, kicking his feet up so that they were propped up against the wall that ran alongside the couch.

He could sit upside-down in the couch if he damn well wanted to.

"We're gettin' weather out here, man. Snow. Even if it does kinda fall, an' then melt, an' then repeat the process all over again. I friggin' hate snow."

[withoutverona]

Romeo glanced outside at the 65 degree day.

... he thought that was cold. He'd even bothered with a jacket!

"Not so much a problem in Verona," he said. "I had never seen snow except skiing before I came to Fandom. I suppose I'll have to suffer through the winter again in Tokyo."

[raspberryturk]

"Wear warm socks," Reno offered, smiling lopsidedly into the phone. "That's the only thing that ever kept my ass from freezin' off whenever the job had me up in the Icicle area, yo."

A pause, then, while that sank in.

"I wasn't wearin' the socks on my ass, by the way." He had to clarify these things, after all. "You know, I ain't never been skiing?"

[glacial_queen]

Karla gave her phone a dubious look, thumb hesitating over the send button. Elena had assured her that her friend wouldn't mind answering her questions, but still, it just felt weird to be calling a strange male out of the blue.

But if it would help Glacia...

She pressed the button and listened to it ring.

[raspberryturk]

It really didn't ring for long, of course. Reno had his phone on him, and while he was curious about the unfamiliar ringtone, it wasn't as though that was enough to stop him from answering.

"Yo!"

... Okay, he'd answered. Nobody ever said that his telephone greeting had to be terribly verbose, here.

[glacial_queen]

"Ummm...hello?" Karla's dubious expression only deepened, as 'yo' was a completely unfamiliar term to her. "This is Karla...I got this number from Elena?"

This might have been a really bad idea.

[raspberryturk]

"Oooooh." Reno grinned and sat up again, only to flop against the back of the couch, slinging his feet up onto the coffee table. "You're the Rookie's friend that she mentioned, huh? The one who talks to the dirt?"

Reno's understanding of the concept was... Somewhat shaky, at best, here. But at least he'd gathered that much.

[glacial_queen]

"Talks to dirt?" Karla asked. "...Rookie?" It was like he spoke in code or something.

She figured it out a heartbeat or so later--a huge plate of leftovers made thinking hard--and laughed. "Is that how she described it? Talking to dirt? I guess it's accurate enough in its own way. Yeah, that's me. So she mentioned I might be calling?"

She felt a bit relieved to hear that, actually. Made her feel slightly less awkward.

[raspberryturk]

"Yeah," Reno chuckled, and it was entirely possible that he derived a bit of pleasure out of confusing the poor girl on the other end of the phone.

She was kind of like a rookie herself, if she was confused already, he decided.

"Elena mentioned I might get a phone call from some classmate of hers, mostly lookin' to ask some questions." And about what, he was going to leave up to her to clarify, because he wasn't volunteering his background from the slums so easily, even if it was simple enough to guess at. "Also said that you had some kinda heal-the-earth talent, or somethin' like that, yo."

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

Someone was at work. Her arguments that they should have today off since Michael was American had gone unheard.

Which is why the aforementioned someone was sprawled out on one of the chairs instead, playing with her phone. Texting and a bored Dojima Yurika without enough paperwork fell under Bad Plan, but no one had noticed yet.


Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed. no one appreciates my genius around here.

[raspberryturk]

well its evil genius aint it?

Reno was trying, perhaps admirably, to text back in a manner that made sense to anyone who might be reading it.

So far, his biggest problems were grammatical. Go Team Reno!

nobudy appreshiates evil genius doji.

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

cute genius, thnx. Pffffffffffft. She spoke fluent Reno; if it was spelled right, she'd suspect Rude of screwing with her.

apprntly we don't celebrate american holidays in japan. woe. I said we should be more multicultural & amon gave me more work.

Yet clearly, not enough work, since she was texting Reno.

[raspberryturk]

Reno had himself a good chuckle over that one, slinging himself around so that his head was hanging down over the edge of the couch, his ponytail draped over the floor and his feet somewhere against the wall, well above the rest of him.

tseng puls the same crap. says ameriacn holidays arnt even from this planet and so i dont get em of.

There was a moment or two, and then another text was sent to join it.

tsengs an ass

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

tseng likes yanking your chain. only source of amusement the poor dude has, since he can't get any good soap operas on that crazy-ass planet of yours

Totally supportive of Reno's battle for vacation days, here. Solidarity!

[raspberryturk]

Best Doji ever!

biggst problem is that the rookie took off an now he aint got no chans of getin laid.

Actually, he had awesome chances of getting laid! But this was Tseng. And so it probably wasn't going to happen any time soon. Not any time remotely soon.