Office #7, Thursday Afternoon

[raspberryturk]

Damn, he was going to miss this place.

Ah, there was the chair that Reno had sat in on Parents' Weekends. And there was the dust that he'd failed to acknowledge because, so help him, offices meant paperwork, and the last thing Reno wanted to be stuck doing was paperwork. And that was his best coffee mug!

... Smelled like ham.

So far as offices went, Reno kind of sucked at spending time in his, yeah. But that didn't mean he wasn't going to come in to clear out his crap. He and Rikku had handwavily decided that it was time to move on. They were both fighters, adventurers, and while Fandom had the occasional invasion and more Rookies than he could shake a stick at, they could just as well be sweeping dungeons for Tonberries or something. Doing some good in Spira for the Al Bhed. Moving forward, instead of the idle that they'd fallen into as of late.

Oh, hey! There was the pen that had dried out before he'd ever used it and then he'd shoved it into his desk because he was too lazy to make the reach to the wastepaper basket.

Memories.

[Open if anyone has any reason to be in the school poking at the offices over break, or if anyone wants to call his cell or something. This is probably going to be Reno's last open post in Fandom, since he's gotta be outta here by tomorrow, yo.]

Comments

[withoutverona]

"Nowhere?" Romeo was skeptical -- despite his gratitude that he hadn't just missed the planning. "Nothing comes from nowhere, my man. What happened to change things?"

[raspberryturk]

Reno hesitated a moment before answering.

Had to be good, if it had Reno hesitating, right?

"A trip to Disneyland?"

... Essentially.

[withoutverona]

"Mickey Mouse is an intimidating figure," Romeo said, flippant. "You're wise to flee."

It was as close as he would come to his true question, which was what the hell?.

[raspberryturk]

Reno sighed. Okay, if there was anybody that he owed an explanation to, it was probably Romeo.

"She got thinkin' about the future while we were there. Ruba an' stuff like that. Got all scared, yo. You were here durin' that reunion thing, right?"

Reno hadn't been.

[withoutverona]

"Aye," Romeo said, brain reaching back to a time that felt like a dream. "I spent most of it working on my BlackBerry. Spoke to Arthur, though. And Rikku was --"

Oh.

That was where he stopped, dimly remembering a bit of his conversation with the Al Bhed. "She was sad."

[raspberryturk]

"Yeah. She was sad." And, for just that moment, even Reno sounded a little on the sad side, himself. "And I had no friggin' clue. Not until the other week, at Disneyland."

Rikku's tendency to bottle was pretty much legendary by now, but going that long without saying a word had left Reno more frustrated than concerned or sympathetic or even particularly reassuring. He'd argued.

[withoutverona]

"But it wasn't real," Romeo said, half to reassure himself. "'Tis a shadow, like -- Riina or Payido or the island with the vampires people tell us of. At least, I thought it so."

Maybe he'd been wrong, he realized as he ran a hand through his hair. "She must have thought it so herself at first, else she would have told you sooner."

[raspberryturk]

"I don't believe it," Reno grumbled. "Any of it. Maybe there's some future where I ain't around, but that ain't the same one I'm headed for, any more than Riina, like you said. Fandom shows us maybes, yo. Rikku saw one that spooked her, an' she's been shyin' away from livin', playin' it safe, ever since. The hell is the point of livin' if you're not gonna let yourself?"

Staple remover? Presumably, if he was taking the stapler, he was going to need that. Into the box it went.

"But you know her, man. Somethin's eatin' at her, it takes a miracle to get her to spit it out, yo. Just kinda wish she'd trusted me with that one before it turned into a breakdown in front of some guy in a duck suit, months later."

[withoutverona]

Romeo sighed, more heavily than he meant to. He agreed with Reno that it sounded as though Rikku was handling this badly; on the other hand, he wasn't sure what he would have done had Yurika been the one long in a grave at the reunion. Would he have been able to call it a shadow, and gone on as though nothing had changed? Or would he have been the one breaking down in front of a costumed character?

"She might feel more herself at home," he finally said. "That's what matters. As for the future ... there is no way to know of it until it gets here. But I want you around a long time."

Too many people weren't.

[raspberryturk]

"No worries there, man. I ain't in no hurry to go."

The Lifestream seemed pretty boring, anyhow. And all of history's biggest morons were in there. Leave it to Reno to turn his nose up at eternity because it seemed too sparkly.

"It don't matter where I'm livin'. You'll be stuck with me for a while, yo."

[withoutverona]

"Not even a question," Romeo said firmly. He was shutting all other possibilities out of his mind. "And you had better call Dojima before you leave. I'd not deny you the pleasure of saying goodbye to her, too."

She would have a fit. But Romeo suspected Reno would miss that.

[raspberryturk]

Reno chuckled, idly poking through the items that he'd tossed into the box. Stapler. Staple remover. Mug. Huh. No staples. Would there be staples in Spira?

... What the hell would he be using staples for, anyhow? Shit, it wasn't like the Al Bhed thrived on paperwork or anything.

"I wouldn't dream of takin' off without lettin' Doji know, zoto," he promised. "She'd hunt me down all the way to Spira an' throw a book at my head."

[withoutverona]

"If she had to go that far, she'd pack a while library just to throw it," Romeo laughed. "And your head likely works better without books lodged in it."

[raspberryturk]

"See, that's what I keep tryin' to tell her every time I get smacked with a thesaurus," Reno snorted. "But I guess provin' her point is more important than my ability to remember it again later, yo."

Mmm, head injuries.

[withoutverona]

"You'll learn from the pain," Romeo said airily. He had a feeling it was time to draw this conversation to a close, before he got overly pouty about people moving on. "Anyhow. Godspeed and safe journeys, my friend."