Room 503, Tuesday Afternoon

[dojima_hime]

After her class with Aly-sensei, Dōjima went back to her room to go over her notes.  Give how much time she'd spent out on the beach lately, she needed to stay out of the sun if she wanted to keep from becoming a burned lobster-girl. 

Besides, she still needed to email Ino those photos, which is why she was currently uploading them from her phone to her laptop.  Ah, technology.


[OOC:  Door and post are open!]

Comments

[raspberryturk]

There was a redhead at the door, in only a slight state of panic. Nothing serious.

Except for the whole knocking on the doorframe and staring into the room wide-eyed thing.

"Doji! Doji, I need your help."

He did. Reno needed all the help he could get. And that was on a good day.

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

"Of course you do," she answered, looking up from the laptop. "Doesn't everyone?"

"You know, you can come in, Red. Don't stand there and flail."

[raspberryturk]

Reno was more than happy to come on in. Yep. In he went, continuing to flail (but only flail a little, he was a Turk, he had his dignity, dammit).

"Tomorrow's Rikku's birthday," he announced. "And I ain't got no clue what the hell to get for her, yo."

He was wide-eyed. He was worried. He hadn't for the life of him figured that finding a girl a gift could be so damned difficult.

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

"Cuttin' it a bit close there, aren't ya?" she asked, trying not to boggle at him. "Tomorrow? Okay, let's narrow down the field a bit, and see if that helps. What sort of things does she normally like? What have you gotten for her before?"

[raspberryturk]

Reno wasn't pouting. At all. Really.

"I had paperwork for like the past week and some shit," he groaned. "And then I had to double that load in order to find out it was her birthday, on top of that. Ain't had a chance to get out yet, even. But she likes... Uh. Machinery, explosives, and... orange shit."

He shrugged. He didn't have any idea.

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

...

"Orange shit," Dōjima repeated slowly. "Buuuuuuuuusted. So, so busted."

"So how'd you find out?" Scrunching up her nose, she started flipping through some of her favorite shopping sites. "I don't know anything about explosives or machines, but I can help you find shiny 'orange shit' if you like."

[raspberryturk]

"Shiny orange shit would make you into a freakin' lifesaver," Reno decided, peering over at the screen. "Rude gave me a call, all, 'I know somethin' you don't know,' and I had to freakin' barter more paperwork for the information. Rikku wasn't gonna tell me her birthday was comin' up. What's with that, anyhow?"

Et tu, Reno?

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

"So says mister 'my birthday isn't important'," Dōjima scoffed. "Serves you right, yo."

"Remind me to hug Rude, should I ever get the chance to meet him. I don't even know the man, and I think I like him." She scooted her chair over a bit so Reno could get a better look at the screen. "Tada, shiny orange shit. We've got the basics, and some fancier stuff. too."

"If you want to be daring, you can be a bit more original and try other colors, or go with a loose stone and put it in any necklace you want."

[raspberryturk]

Reno stared at the things she was pulling up. There was a lot of staring. A lot of mildly confused staring, granted. But staring all the same.

"She wants rocks?"

He had to admit, that cast silver thing was kind of neat. And that orange loose stone thing...

He was making an O-face of "sparkly."

"Maybe, uh. That. And that other one. Those?"

Really. Rocks? They weren't even materia. Now there was a stone worth giving to a girl. But they didn't come in orange, really. And probably didn't look half as nice set into a silver... thingie.

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

"You said shiny," she said, wrinkling her nose in confusion. "Well, these are shiny. Jewelry. Baubbles. You know, girl things. If you were thinking of some glowy-orange-weapon-thing, you got the wrong girl, I don't know anything about that kinda stuff. You could ask Ino or one of the other people at the weapon-store, but that kinda defeats the idea since that's something she could get for herself if she wanted."

"Clothes, jewelry, flowers, those things I can help with, but not so much gifts of the non-girly variety."

[raspberryturk]

Reno considered for another moment.

"Okay. Those. And... Flowers. Orange ones. Yeah." A pause. "Flowers, I can see. But- I dunno."

He squinted at the necklace on the screen.

"I mean, s'nice and all. But why?"

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

"Sometimes a girl wants to feel like a princess, Red." Yurika turned to look at him, propping her chin on the back of her seat. "It's not about what we need, or even what we think we want. We like to be surprised with something pretty, sort of a reminder that we're special, you know? Yeah, in the end, it's just a shiny rock and some metal, but it's because you gave it to her that it means a lot more than that."

She held out her arm so he could see the bracelet she was wearing. "Romeo got me this," she said simply. "Not because we were dating, which we weren't then, or because he felt he had to, but because he wanted to. That's what makes it all the more precious to me."

[raspberryturk]

Reno pinched the bridge of his nose and tried to wrap his head around that.

"Down near where I grew up, there was this marketplace. Some guy there sold ribbons and shit, but I couldn't never afford 'em. Had better things to spend my money on, and didn't see the point anyhow. That's what all that was for?"

He just had to make sure he was on the right track, here.

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

"Yup," Yurika answered, shrugging. "Hair ribbons, a pretty comb, heck, even a neat seashell you found on the beach. Yeah, we don't need them, and you could probably get us something practical that we'd like just fine, but it's the fact you went to the extra effort."

"Think of it this way; the easy choice for Romeo's birthday would be to take him to Caritas on my tab, and then have a 'private' celebration later. I could just stop there, or I might get him a new gun, or call his cousin and find out what his favorite type of cookies are, and get them shipped from Verona. Does he need them? No, but it makes the gift a bit sweeter."

[raspberryturk]

Reno took a deep breath. Right. Okay. This was new and novel and educational.

Awesome.

"Okay. So- I'll get her that necklace there. And maybe that orange... rock. And some flowers?" He considered for a moment more. "And somethin' else. Somethin'. I'll figure it out. No problem."

He would. It wouldn't be. Really. Or... something.

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

"You don't have to do a lot, Red." Yurika nudged at him with her foot and grinned. "Breathe. You're gonna do fine, okay? Just the necklace would be fine, or you can add the flowers if you want. You can never go wrong with flowers."

"Besides, Rikku adores you. You could bring her a box of chocolates, and she'd think you brought her the moon."

[raspberryturk]

"I try to avoid includin' interstellar bodies in my gifting," Reno replied, and he was rubbing his forehead again. Because...

He sucked at birthdays. Clearly.

"Chocolate's too... somethin'. Everyone does chocolate, right? So, none of that, yo. Somethin' that's more Rikku. I'll figure it out."

He peered at the monitor for another moment, then gave a quick nod. Okay, he knew what he was getting for her. Or, at least, he had some sort of idea as to what to look for. And that? That was far more than he had a few moments before.

"Thanks, Doji. I owe you one."

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

"I hear the shipping cost on the interstellar stuff can be killer," she deadpanned. "Especially to a nexus like this? Customs is evil."

"You don't owe me anything, Reno, I mean it. Anyone else would have done the same." She paused for a moment, thinking, before grinning at him crookedly. "Well, Romeo probably would have used fancier words, but you get the idea."

[raspberryturk]

Reno had to laugh at that.

"Romeo would've been freakin' astounded that I didn't know girls like shiny things, I think," he smirked. "And then his fancy words would'a confused the shit outta me, and I probably would'a gotten Rikku a toaster or somethin' after givin' up, yo."

Probably not.

"I'll buy you a drink or somethin', anyhow. S' the least I can do, yo."

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

"Well, I never turn down a drink from a good-looking guy," Dōjima purred, eyes flashing with mischief. "It's a date, then, for whenever your woman finally unties you from the bed." What? There was no way Rikku was going to let Reno out of her sight for the next few days if he managed to pull this off.

Which he would, Red was smooth like that.

"And we both know if you'd gotten Rikku a toaster, she'd be on the floor taking it apart within ten minutes. Shiny, Red, shiny."

[raspberryturk]

Reno had himself a good chuckle before he straightened up and shook his head.

"Maybe gettin' her a toaster wouldn't hurt anyhow," he mused. "Or a Roomba. Or both. See if she can rig up a toaster that automatically cleans the floors for you, or whatever. She's Rikku. I got no doubt that she could pull it off, yo."

Which reminded him, there was something from back in Midgar that he'd been meaning to get Rude to ship up for a while, now. He'd better get on that.

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

Dōjima smirked slightly and shook her head. "I've never seen her work, but she's told me about her habit of taking things apart and having leftover bits after reassembly," she replied. "Like, oh, say, the laundry machines. Better not give her too many tinkering ideas, or that precious suit of yours might turn neon purple or something if the roomba-oomba decides to try its hand at dry cleaning."

[raspberryturk]

"After her assault by water balloons filled with hot pink paint, a dry-cleaning roomba's probably the last of my worries." Reno shrugged. "Anyhow, thanks for the crash-course on... girly shit. Really needed the help."

He did. A lot.

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

...He probably wouldn't be thanking her if he knew that the paint-filled water balloons had been her idea, so Dōjima just smiled. "You don't need as much help as you think you do, Red, you've got the basic idea down. Flowers good, shiny good."

"Now, shoo," she teased, pointing at the door. "I'll email you the links for the ones you liked, but now you have to do the shopping. There's only so many miracles I can do in a day."

"Well, for free, anyway."

[raspberryturk]

Reno laughed and shrugged his shoulders, turning for the door.

"Right, then. I'm gonna go stalk my e-mail, waitin' for those links. I got some other shit to arrange, anyhow."

He had to see a bald man about a roomba.