Third Floor Common Room of Face-Punching, Friday Night

[the_merriest]

Okay, so lunch had been a wash, and Rikku didn't go around inventing holidays in order to not punch people in the face.

So the third floor common room was crammed full of all the moddable snacks she could get her grabby little hands on, and she'd even made a banner:

Happy Hu Uha Eh Vyhtus Ghufc So Ranedyka Yhofyo!

That was all the warning anybody was going to get.

... Of course, the snacks looked good enough that she'd probably risk a few hits in order to snag some. That was how these fake holidays went, you know.

(OOC: Come one, come all! Remember: snacking means punching in the face. Come for the snacks, stay for the gratuitous violence?)

Comments

[dark_slippy_thing]

"There had better not be need for a next time," Valentine sniffed indignantly. "So, am I going to be able to eat more cake without another fist to the face?"

[the_merriest]

"I already said you could," she laughed. "What about me?"

[dark_slippy_thing]

"You're just lucky I don't tell everyone in the room," Valentine replied with a grin.

He was not at all conniving, really.

"I might be able to forgive you. If you pass me one of those cookies, as well."

[the_merriest]

"Have two," she grinned, handing them over. "And I've been telling people anyway."

[dark_slippy_thing]

Valentine laughed and took the cookies, shoving one into his mouth as quickly as he dared, lest someone notice him about to eat it and sock him one.

"Did anyone else punch you?"

[the_merriest]

"Sokka and Ino both did," she said cheerfully. "Viva la holiday!"

[dark_slippy_thing]

"You," Valentine decided around a mouthful of cookie, which was soon followed up by a mouthful of cake, "are a very strange person."

He was grinning, anyhow. Probably a good sign.

[the_merriest]

"Well," Rikku shrugged, "It wouldn't be fair of me to not get punched, if I was punching people."

[dark_slippy_thing]

"So I imagine this means that you've had a happy..." Valentine had to look at the banner. "Hoohah-Evita-Gafaxoreneda-kaya-yoyo." ... "Thingie."

[the_merriest]

"You know," she mused, looking at the banner, "I've been printing up Learn to Speak Al Bhed in the paper for months now. And if anybody actually bothered to pay attention, they would've known I made the holiday up."

[dark_slippy_thing]

...

"The words are all so very teeny on that page, you know."

Valentine was going to blame this on his pinhole eyes. Perhaps he could get away with it. And if he could, he wouldn't have to fess up to not being able to pay attention long enough to actually commit anything to mem- Oh! There was a slice of black forest!

[the_merriest]

"I named the festival something like 'None of you know my heritage anyway'," she grinned, a little wistfully. "Should've been a dead giveaway. So much for that, huh?"

[dark_slippy_thing]

Valentine, now halfway through his slice of black forest, gave a shrug of his shoulders and a bit of a grin.

"Anything that prompts you to put out food as bait can't be all bad, real or not."

This was possibly the best he'd eaten in weeks, after all.

[the_merriest]

"Yeah," she mused, slightly distracted. "Guess there's really no point to it if no one's reading, right?"

[dark_slippy_thing]

"Oh, I don't know. I read the last one. Even knew to expect a punch in the face. I just have the reading comprehension of a sphinx. With less chewing on the pages."

More chewing on the cake.

"Perhaps you should hold a meeting, sometime. So that people interested in learning the language can practice it around someone who can openly laugh at them for so thoroughly butchering the pronunciations."

[the_merriest]

"I'm not sure anyone is interested," Rikku said with a shrug. "I mean, it's just me rambling on about Al Bhed. Just another language."

[dark_slippy_thing]

"I don't imagine I'd ever have someone to speak it to, aside from you," Valentine said thoughtfully, actually setting down his second cookie, "but that doesn't mean I'm not interested. Teach it to me."

Not that Rikku's world was high on his list of places to be after graduation next summer, but it wasn't like anywhere else was really up there, either. Why not learn the language?

[the_merriest]

"Just in case you're ever in Spira?" she asked, one eyebrow raised. "It's okay. I'm just all ... blah lately. Don't mind me."

[dark_slippy_thing]

"Well, you have your arm back, and a retarded kitten," Valentine said thoughtfully, "and you've managed to single-handedly fool a portion of the student body into punching one another. So, there's slightly less reason to be 'blah,' right there. If you're up to it."

He poked at the cookie.

"As it stands, I don't see any reason why I shouldn't bother to learn other languages and the like. Unless you can think of a better place for me to go after I graduate?"

[the_merriest]

"Don't go to Spira," she said quickly. "It's not safe. It's dangerous. It's backwards and people ... don't. Why not stay here? Fandom's nice. This world has good places in it. I'm ... probably staying."

Rikku shrugged. "This is the kinda mood where I knew what I really needed was a couple hours curled up with Jude," she said, shaking her head. "Guess I'd better find a new way to snap out of it. It's, uh. It's his birthday. Today."

[dark_slippy_thing]

"Your face is far more normal than mine is in this world," Valentine pointed out, then ate his other cookie. When he had swallowed, he continued. "It doesn't much matter where I go, I won't fit in, really."

And then, oh.

"I suppose the cat can't do it all," he said, carefully. "But it's a good way to celebrate, at least. With food and punching."

[the_merriest]

"That's what I thought," Rikku said, nodding. "About punching people. It'd cheer me up and all that. So I wouldn't think about it. And fitting in is overrated. I mean. I don't fit in. Look how I dress."