Very late Wednesday night / Early Thursday morning - Roof

[the_merriest]

Rikku was thinking. She wasn't sure why she couldn't sleep, but she couldn't, dang it, so here she was, up on the roof, looking at the stars.

It wasn't necessarily bad thinking. Just ... a little quieter than she was used to. Trying to sort out a few things and find where she was, under it all.

The roof was open, as roofs tend to be, and Rikku would welcome anyone else awake who wanted to stop by and talk.

Comments

[moonbrain-tam.livejournal.com]

River had woken up early, so early it could be considered late, and had also made her way up to the roof. Expecting it to be empty she had kept her mind wide open, even letting the dreams of the sleeping students drift around in the periphery. So she sensed Rikku before she saw her, but it didn't matter. Without a word she walked up to the other girl and stared up at the sky too.

[the_merriest]

"Hi," Rikku said with a soft smile. "Couldn't sleep, either?"

She stared up at the stars again. "They always make me homesick."

[moonbrain-tam.livejournal.com]

River smiled back and gave a slight nod. "They make me want to dance," she said. "But not tonight."

[the_merriest]

"You could see way more of them, out in Home," she said, smiling. "The desert, so you get all the little bitty stars and all the sprinklings inbetween, you know?"

She looked over hesitantly. "Bad night?"

[moonbrain-tam.livejournal.com]

"In space they surround you. Nothing in between to distract. And ice cold desert of rocks and dust torn apart." River smiled again. "A night for contemplation and thoughts that crowd my mind."

[the_merriest]

"That sounds beautiful," Rikku said. "Do you miss it? I spent most of my life in the desert, and then we lived on an airship for a few months, and it was old and clanky and yet the strange thing is, I didn't miss the ground at all."

She blushed. "If I, uh, if I'm thinking too loud or whatever? Tell me and I'll try not to."

[moonbrain-tam.livejournal.com]

River shook her head, her face turning serious for a moment. She could keep people put now if she had too, even the loudest one of them all, the one she'd never think she'd want to stop listening to.

In reply to the first question, she said: "Do miss it. I have a ship here though." A smile returned as she thought of flying in the company of Kerrigan.

[the_merriest]

"Really?" Rikku's eyes lit up. "That's so cool. Do you get to go flying a lot? Do you go way out into space and just zoom around, or just little orbit-y kinda trips?"

[moonbrain-tam.livejournal.com]

"Slow ship. Usually a spin around the moon." Rikku being Rikku the enthusiasm wasn't surprising, but it still made River pleased and she let it show.

[raspberryturk]

Reno walked over to the two girls sitting on the roof, and looked them over. Rikku, he knew. This other one, he hadn't met before.

There was probably no end to the people he hadn't met before on this island. New people probably crawled out of the woodwork like termites. Reno probably wasn't entirely sober yet.

Either way, looking up at the sky seemed like the thing to do.

So he stood beside them both, and he looked up, as well.

[moonbrain-tam.livejournal.com]

River turned her head and smiled. "Some of them are already dead. Ghosts of light."

[raspberryturk]

Reno glanced back at her, and it took him a moment to piece that together.

"The stars?" He looked up at the sky again. "Never got to see them like I see them here, really. Either all clouded up or blocked out entirely. And they're all different from the ones where I come from, I think. Could probably stand here all night lookin' up at the ghosts anyhow, yo."

[moonbrain-tam.livejournal.com]

"Nothing wrong with ghosts," River replied, now smiling up at the stars. "Can still dance with them if you have a ship."

[raspberryturk]

"You've been up there?" Reno's gaze didn't break from the sky this time. "Shouldn't be surprised, huh? Don't imagine you're the only one on this island who's been higher than just the clouds."

[moonbrain-tam.livejournal.com]

"I have a ship. I'm not the only one." She tilted her head. "Fandom let you see past the clouds?"

[raspberryturk]

"See past the clouds clearly, I guess. When I'm out workin' in the helicopter, I'm not really lookin' up. And when I'm not out workin', when I'm back on Gaia looking at the sky, it's mostly dust and smog and whatever other junk Midgar left behind. It's clearing up, but I don't ever see the stars like this." He was smiling, in spite of himself. "It's really somethin', isn't it?"

[moonbrain-tam.livejournal.com]

She nodded. "Lets you see what things will be like when you've finished cleaning up someone elses mess."

[raspberryturk]

The cold night air. The chill sobered people up. After certain sorts of conversations, sometimes heading up to the roof to appreciate the cool air was welcome, even if it meant sobriety.

What Reno hadn't been counting on when he went up there was company, really.

But then again, maybe sobriety was best spent shared with a friend.

"Yo, Rikku." Pause. "It's cold out."

[the_merriest]

"Gonna offer me a coat again?" she asked. "How've you been?"

[raspberryturk]

"Always wearin' it, might as well offer it," Reno said, shrugging out of it almost immediately. "Can't complain, can I? I'm here, yo." He offered her a smile as he handed her his jacket. "You?"

[the_merriest]

"Just thinking," she said. "Sorry, I didn't mean that like, 'hey, gimme your coat' or whatever."

She took his coat anyway, wrapping it around her and noticing again that it smelled like him.

"Trying to get my mind around some stuff. You know?"

[raspberryturk]

"Story of my life," he agreed, shaking his head a little. He'd have to get her a coat of her own, maybe. But somehow, if it fit her properly, he figured it might not be half as endearing. Figure that out, huh? "Gettin' anywhere with that?"

[the_merriest]

"Not really," she admitted. "Just kinda weighing some stuff. Classes, and ..." Well. Jude. "... old friends, and ..." Reno being weird. "... stuff. I dunno. You?"

[raspberryturk]

"One step forward, two steps back and into a pitfall. Nothin' new." He was smiling slightly, regardless. "But still here, yo."

[the_merriest]

"Pitfalls don't sound so hot," she said, smiling sympathetically. "Yeah. Here. It's February again. Time's either slowed down to a crawl or it flies. I think it does it just to mess with me."