Office Hours, #7, Wednesday

[raspberryturk]

... Aw, shit. It had been so long since Reno had spent time in his office. He'd gotten kinda familiar with it, what, back when the parents were on the island, way back? But he'd gone and told the Rookie's Rookie that he'd be here today, in case she wanted to talk. And anyhow, there was always shit to do.

Maybe he could hammer out lesson plans that would give him some kind of edge over that jerkass in the red coat.

Yeah. And he could write it in the dust that had settled on his desk over the months, too. Jeez.

[Reno's door is open!]

Comments

[withoutverona]

"If you could have, why didn't you?" Romeo asked, more because the news upset him than because he wanted to bait Reno. Poisoning was a sensitive subject with him, still. "And ... oh no. Ought I to call her? It's been months."

[raspberryturk]

"Went to catch it instead," Reno sighed. "Didn't think it was tipped, and my hand slipped. I just got cocky, that's all."

Really, Reno did cocky like it was going out of style.

"You know... I think hearin' from a friend who ain't a part of the whole mess might do her some good, too. I don't know if she'll be real forthcoming with what's eatin' at her," because, really, it was pretty heavy stuff, even for Ino, "but... hey, never know, right?"

[withoutverona]

"But why was she using deadly weapons in a friendly spar?" Romeo asked tightly. He thought it was silly that Reno was making it his responsibility. "It's as if I asked you to stand by the paper the next time I practice with my guns. I could shoot around you" -- because cocky was a Romeo thing, too -- "but if I misaimed by even an inch..."

He trailed off. "Tell me how to talk to her without making of it a lecture, and I'll call."

[raspberryturk]

Reno sighed a little. Right...

"She just went through somethin' real rough at the time. Came back beat up half to shit," he explained, because that left out the specifics of things like 'kidnapping' and 'torture' nicely. "It was supposed to be a friendly spar, but I went in knowin' that she was half out of her head, yo. She probably didn't think she'd slip like that, but I..."

Another one of those invisible shrugs.

"I'm a Turk, man. I see this all the time."

[withoutverona]

"As did I," Romeo answered quietly. Guns or poison or knives or fast cars -- none of it was good to have on hand when tempers were high. "I doubt she knew what she was doing, if it's half as bad as you tell it. You were lucky it wasn't worse. I suppose Rikku told you as much."

[raspberryturk]

"Nah, she kinda... Didn't," Reno admitted. "Maybe I sorta didn't tell her the details? A bit?"

Because then she would have smacked him. As he very well deserved.

[withoutverona]

"How did you manage that?" Romeo asked, envy tinting his voice. "Yurika would have the whole story out of me before I said 'I feel ill.'"

[raspberryturk]

Reno managed a kind of tinny little laugh, there.

"I might'a sorta made a point to stay out late? And then played the hangover card, yo."

Because Reno was so, so responsible that way and they didn't thread that day.

[withoutverona]

Both of which made sense from Reno, so all Romeo could do was cluck his tongue. "She won't hear it from me," he said, off-handedly. "How is she, these days? Is her shop going well?"

[raspberryturk]

"Yeah, her shop's goin' good," Reno replied, grinning a little. He appreciated that he could trust Romeo not to spill the beans about the poison thing. "I'm thinkin' of pickin' up a shift there, too. Just to keep busy around teachin', yo. She's got her own class too now, you hear about that?"

[withoutverona]

"Not much about it," Romeo said. "May I say it's adorable that the two of you are old schoolteachers these days?"

[raspberryturk]

"Hey! Who you callin' old?"

You were over twenty, Reno. That was old, at least to the students you were teaching. That had to count for something.

[withoutverona]

"You, old man," Romeo said breezily. "You'll be 21 in a bit. Then you'll need a cane."

Of course, Romeo would also be 21 before the year was out. Hmmmm.

[raspberryturk]

"Hey, yeah," Reno laughed, "and then I can shake my cane at you when you shuffle by with your walker, right?"

Reno understood how this 'getting older' thing went! He knew that he wasn't the only one in the world who did it!

[withoutverona]

"I'd have a special walker that made rude noises at you," Romeo said, undaunted. "Perhaps with racing stripes painted on the sides."

[raspberryturk]

"Oh, man. Racing stripes? I don't even know how to start to counter that, man," Reno chuckled. "Maybe I'll get a lightning decal to go down the side of my cane, yo. And if it gets bad enough, there are always them motorized scooter things, right?"

[withoutverona]

"Could we race in those?"

It was an entirely important question.

[raspberryturk]

"You know, I think we could?"

It was a hugely important question. Reno was obligated to give it the consideration it was due.

"We'd have to find an open stretch that was wide enough, though. Streets here are too busy, but I bet we could find some empty aisles in a supermarket somewhere. Points taken off for every display of cans we knock over, yo."

[withoutverona]

"And if you run into someone, you forfeit," Romeo said. "There's no honor in speed with no skill behind it."

[raspberryturk]

Reno was going to need a moment to just kind of laugh like a lunatic, here.

"Man, but that's what them kickass horns are for!"

Meep! Meep!

[withoutverona]

"They have horns?" Romeo had not been aware of this; it was exciting news. "Reno, why must we wait until we are old?"

[raspberryturk]

"Well, because..." Huh. Reno tilted his head a little, thinking that one over. "Well, I can't afford scooter rental on a teacher's wage, yo. But besides that? I can't think of any reason not to, yo."

[withoutverona]

"There's no space for one in our apartment," Romeo said, glancing about and feeling a bit dispirited. "After i move back to America I'll buy a fleet."

[raspberryturk]

"I'm holdin' you to that," Reno chuckled. "I'll have to make a point to visit, then, huh? So I can kick your ass in a scooter race, yo."

It was official. Someday, this had to happen.

[withoutverona]

"You have to make it a point to visit for more than that," Romeo said firmly. "But somehow, I will get scooters when I am home."

It was a plan.