Room 308, Thursday Evening

[the_merriest]

There were going to be mercenaries, on the island, and that was quite possibly the coolest thing ever. And she was kinda nervous about it, too, because Deadpool was a merc and he was awesome but maybe the rest of them would be all weird at her, because ... she kinda wasn't one, and all. Just a girl who'd been a bodyguard once.

Speaking of, Yunie had written her a letter ...

Dear Rikku,

I saw a rather interesting machina at the market the other day, and I thought of you. Then I realized that I hadn't written in far too long. I think that I miss you so much all the time that I have grown used to it. Sometimes I turn to tell you something funny, or to ask you for advice, and you're not there. Then I remember where you are, and that you are having fun, and I smile.

Things here are very much the same as they have been since you left. Mostly peaceful, with everyone happy and hopeful and rebuilding. It's odd. It is exactly what I hoped for during my pilgrimage, but I never expected to see it myself back then. I'm glad you all came with me and kept me going. I'll never forget that.

Oh, that reminds me. Last week Wakka tried to show off the new Blitzball shot he's been working on. He spent weeks talking up his "confuse shot" which he insisted was going to make him famous. I tried to remind him that he was pretty famous already, but of course he didn't listen. Anyway, the whole thing turned out pretty much exactly like you'd expect, and Wakka spent all day walking into things. He even walked into a cactus patch! The other guys on the team are still leaving cactus flowers where he'll find them every day, and by now some of the children are following him around just waiting for him to find it. His reactions are, well, you know Wakka, so I'm sure you can imagine.

How have you been, anyway? I haven't heard from you in a while, and I hope that that means things are going well. I've been thinking about our talk last time you visited, and I really do think you deserve a happy ending. And I'm convinced that one's on the way, so be on the lookout for it, okay?

Oh, and Tidus told me he was going to write you a letter too. You may already have it.

I miss you so much, so don't forget to stay in touch.

Lots of love from your cousin,
Yuna

P.S. Thank you for your gift. You were right: I opened the box and screamed "I can't wear this!" and then hid it under my bed. But I did promise. You were also right about me being flustered (that's an understatement) about it. But most of all, you were right about Tidus. I thought his eyes were going to fall out. It still makes me giggle and blush.

She'd actually worn it? Oh, wow. Rikku had been half-scared Yunie would chicken out. That was so great.

She picked up a pen - man, why couldn't Spira have cell phones!? - and started to write back.

(Yuna-letter courtesy of the way-awesome iseewhatyoumean. Door and post are open!)

Comments

[raspberryturk]

Reno was not at all unbelievably excited as he knocked on Rikku's door. No, really. He wasn't. He was just doing the most incredibly dorky happy dance that he'd done in his life. He had made damn sure that there was nobody looking his way as he did it, and it was brief, so it was totally safe.

He wasn't excited in the least.

Knock-knock!

[the_merriest]

"Come in," Rikku called, stopping herself in the middle of explaining that Tidus had better owe her one, here, and wondering how much she'd have to bribe someone for sphere footage of Wakka's "confuse shot."

[raspberryturk]

"Yo, Rikku!" Reno was not speaking in an almost-singsong as he opened her door and peered into the room, really. Any notion at all that he was grinning like an idiot was also purely someone's imagination acting up.

[the_merriest]

Maybe what Tidus owed her could be footage of the confuse shot! Check out how smart she was!

"Hiya!" Rikku grinned. "Dude! When does your friend get in? Tomorrow, yeah?"

[raspberryturk]

"Tomorrow," Reno agreed with a nod and a grin. "Hey, you still got that toy chopper?"

[the_merriest]

"No," she said, rolling her eyes. "I totally threw it away. I thought, what fun could I have with that? Sounds boring. I'll pitch it and lie about it later. Oops! I forgot that part!"

[raspberryturk]

Reno rolled his eyes, still in a good mood dammit. "That's a shame, yo. I was gonna say we ought to take it apart so I can explain all the little bits of it to you. You're gonna need to know this shit for the weekend."

Not explaining why. Too busy grinning. A lot.

[the_merriest]

"For the convention?" Rikku bounced. "Is there gonna be a class on choppers? And why they're awesome? And machina? And then you get to take things apart and put them back together which I love to do although I always have parts leftover?"

[raspberryturk]

Reno's grin was threatening to cut his face open and leave him dead on the floor, now.

"Well, it'd be more of a private class, yo," he replied smoothly. "Kinda one-on-one. I don't think I'm gonna let you do any taking apart, though. All the parts in the ShinRa chopper are there for a reason, wouldn't want to leave any out, yo."

[the_merriest]

If Rikku's eyes got any bigger, they might fall right out of her head.

"No. Way."

[raspberryturk]

Reno gave an ever-so-casual shrug of his shoulders.

"Would I lie to you?"

[the_merriest]

"You mean it?!" Rikku bounced up, jumping on her toes excitedly, and couldn't resist the urge to completely tackleglomp him. "Dude!"

[raspberryturk]

While Reno had been expecting some sort of reaction like this one, he still had to take a half-step back in order to keep the both of them from going for a tumble.

"Rude's bringin' the chopper," he explained, "so I'll be liberating it from him on Saturday. Keep the day free, would you? Never know when you'll get snatched by a shady guy in a dark suit so he can let you go for a good fly, zoto."

[the_merriest]

Rikku let go, blushing. "You bet. Uh. I might be at the con-thing? On Saturday? Is that cool? We can ... go whenever, you can just sneak up on me all ninja-style. Could be fun."

[raspberryturk]

"Could be?" Reno was smirking now, and he made a point to kind of straighten out his suit a little. Something to do with his hands while he worked to get his brain around the tackle of a moment ago. "You aren't sure?"

[the_merriest]

"I meant you trying to sneak up on me," she grinned. "Could be fun. Probably won't, 'cause I'm way more ninja than you and you'll never manage it."

[raspberryturk]

"You figure?" She was probably right. Reno was many things, but subtle? Never. His idea of being sneaky was casually leaning against a pew and telling people to go on, have their conversation, and forget that he was hanging around, after all. "Guess we won't know until I try, hm?"

[the_merriest]

"Guess not." Rikku laughed. "So then. Saturday. The con. I wait to get whisked off by a scary guy in a dark suit, and hope it's you?"

[raspberryturk]

"At MercCon, you can never be too sure, yo." Reno chuckled and gave a shake of his head. "There'll only be me and Rude there in this particular suit, yo. And you'll certainly know the difference to see us, I'm thinkin'. If it isn't me? Kick'im in the nuts and run."

Shrug.

[the_merriest]

"Rude doesn't have bright-red hair?" she giggled. "Uh. Are you sure he's okay with it? You borrowing the chopper just so I can see it, I mean?"

[raspberryturk]

"Rude? Hair?" Reno had to take a moment to laugh, here. "Rude? .... Hair?"

He was laughing again.

"You'll know Rude when you see him because you can see your reflection on the top of his head, yo. Needs a little spitshine, mind you..."

[the_merriest]

Rikku snickered. "Okay, so I should look for a guy ... wearing the same suit as you ... but bald?"

She tried to picture Reno, bald, and failed. Miserably.

[raspberryturk]

Reno nodded agreeably.

"Bald, bigger than me, nice pair of shades. He's been cultivating a bit of facial hair lately, so he's probably got that on the go." He smirked some more. "He'll be the one with the winning smile."

[the_merriest]

"A happy, cheerful kinda mercenary," she giggled. And then she narrowed her eyes. "Speaking of which."

[raspberryturk]

Uh-oh. That sort of eye-narrowing was typically a good indication that it was time to flee. Except that it was Rikku. And she had just tackled him. So maybe... not? He'd wait it out, and if he had to run, he was close to the door and probably faster than her. It would be okay.

"Yes?"

[the_merriest]

"What exactly is a 'gofer' doing at a mercenary convention?" Rikku asked. Very sweetly. Don't mind the folded arms, here.

[raspberryturk]

Eheheh. Right.

"Did I say 'gofer?' I did, didn't I?" Reno was doing his best not to shift his weight uncomfortably, here. "I think I said glorified gofer, actually. Way open for interpretation there, zoto?"

[the_merriest]

Rikku raised an eyebrow. "Cute. What do you really do, anyway?"

[raspberryturk]

Reno shrugged his shoulders and was not making eye-contact, here. Nope.

"Whatever needs to get done," he replied. "Mostly recon and bodyguarding, lately."

And, you know. High School.

[the_merriest]

"Mostly?" Rikku asked, skeptical. "I mean. I did the whole bodyguard thing. I didn't think that'd count, yoto."

He had to admit she was getting better at the whole 'yoto' thing.

[raspberryturk]

"Big company like ShinRa's got a few enemies. It happens, yo." CoughAVALANCHEcough. "That's where the Turks come in. It's not pretty work, but someone's gotta do it."

He was trying not to look too obviously like he was tiptoeing his way through this conversation.

[the_merriest]

"You, uh. Take care of ... problems?" she asked, hesitantly. "The, uh, the stuff nobody else is willing to do."

Okay. She could deal with that.

[raspberryturk]

Reno liked it when people made answering touchy questions easy by answering them for him.

"Just like that, yo. The Turks are the problem solvers of ShinRa."

The gritty, nasty, underhanded, conniving problem solvers of ShinRa. But the problem solvers nevertheless.

[the_merriest]

"Could've just said so," she shrugged. There was something ... unsettling there, but she didn't want to pick at it, exactly. Problem-solvers. She'd stick with that. "So ... Rude's bringing the chopper? And I get to see it, really?"

[raspberryturk]

Oh, look! Convenient topic-change!

"Rude's bringing the chopper, and you get to see it. Really." And right back to grinning now, because how could flying the chopper around again possibly be anything but awesome?

[the_merriest]

"I can't wait," she beamed. "This is gonna be awesome."

[raspberryturk]

"It is, yoto." Nod. Nod. "So. Saturday. Don't blend in too much, yo."

Right. Because that was going to happen with a girl in orange at a mercenary convention.

[the_merriest]

Rikku snickered. "One thing you never have to worry about: an Al Bhed blending in."

[raspberryturk]

"What? They all dress like you?" This was a good attempt at feigned surprise, really.

[the_merriest]

"You know, you're never gonna believe me on this," she said airily. "But for an Al Bhed, I'm pretty low-key, here."

[raspberryturk]

That earned Rikku a solid minute of just staring. Possibly slack-jawed, even.

"You're right, yo." Stare. Stare. "I don't believe it."

[the_merriest]

"I don't look that bad," she said, reaching out to give him a playful shove. "And you've never seen the rest of us. Naida worked the travel agency, in the Calm Lands? And she usually just wore a bikini and these ... leather chaps. Plus she had these funky crop-circle tattoos all over her torso. Seriously cool. Not so big on blending."

[raspberryturk]

Bikini and leather chaps with crop-circle tattoos?

Sounded kind of like a Hojo experiment gone horribly, terribly awry.

"Okay then. So, barring anyone else at the 'con is an Al Bhed, you'll be easy enough to spot, yo."

[the_merriest]

"Always am," she nodded. "And, uh. Thanks."

[raspberryturk]

Reno grinned a little.

"Could've been a compliment, yo."

[the_merriest]

"I mean for taking me on the chopper," she laughed. "But I don't think telling me I dress like a freak is supposed to be a compliment, yoto."

She wasn't contesting it, here. She just liked bright colors, okay?

[raspberryturk]

"You certainly pull it off," Reno decided. See, it was totally a compliment in its own special way. "The chopper's my pleasure, yo. Been dyin' to fly it since they left me here without it."