milliways_bar | (no subject)

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Rikku's only been a part of Yuna's party for a day, and already the advantages of having an Al Bhed in the party have made themselves clear: to wit, Yuna has her favored staff back, now equipped with special abilities it didn't have when it left Besaid. And Tidus's shield is a lot sturdier with just a little bit of tweaking. It's amazing what you can do with junk you find in the jungle.

Yesterday was not a good day. Today is a decidedly better one. It's that much better for having a cup of tea (or Pepsi, if you are a horrible savage from Zanarkand) and a soft couch in it.

In other words, Yuna and Tidus, in the bar. Tag either or both.

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The Zanarkand savage feels that there is nothing horrible about Pepsi.

No one should ever have given Tidus caffeine. The mun is appropriately ashamed. ~~But snickering.~~

"Rikku does good work," he comments as he admires his shield.

"Mm-hm." Yuna likes the staff from Besaid; she likes it a lot better with the upgrades. "The Al Bhed are good at that kind of thing."

"Yeah. You should've seen the ship Rikku was on when I met her! If we had one, I bet we'd make it to Zanarkand in no time."

...Everything in Spira's by water, he can't believe there isn't a path to everywhere they need to be that a boat wouldn't make shorter.

Yuna smiles; one of those, Oh Tidus, you're so naive smiles he must be getting used to by now.

"That really wouldn't do any good, you know."

...He hates that smile.

Less so on Yuna, admittedly.

(Lulu's is the worst. Just for the record.)

"Why not?"

"Say you were a blitzball rookie. Would it do you any good to get a bye straight to the championship? Would you win?"

"...Well, no," he agrees reluctantly.

Then he grins.

"But my feet would be a lot less sore."

She laughs. "I know. But it wouldn't work so well."

"Guess not," Tidus sighs reluctantly, and pokes at his glass with the straw.

...Ooo, more bubbles.

"Still. I think when Sin's dead there should be some changes made to this 'no machina' thing."

She frowns. "If we just go back to the way things were, we'll just bring Sin back. But there must be a way to use machina to help people, without taking on too much power and angering Heaven."

"Maybe," he shrugs, "or maybe not. I mean. Maybe Sin won't come back as long as you don't make weapons?"

"I don't know," she says.

It's not going to be my problem, she thinks, selfishly.

She sips her tea.

"Me neither. I bet the maesters'll all ask you, though," he grins and slurps at his pepsi.

...And a little more.

"Man, I'm glad we can get here."

A little guilty when the others don't.

...But only a little.

She colors, faintly, when he mentions the maesters--her feelings, about Seymour and Tidus, still aren't entirely sorted.

But she reacts to the second part, instead. "When was the last time you were able to?" she asks.

"I don't know. A while ago," he says and gestures at...absolutely nothing.

But he thinks it's appropriately eloquent, as answers go.

(He is, a bit, wrong.)

"I was here yesterday," she admits gingerly. "For a week, on this side."

"Lucky."

Stupid lack of caffeine in high doses in Spira.

"Anything exciting happen?"

Does he need to hunt any demon bunnies?

"I learned to summon Ixion, finally," she says.

Beat. "And--I helped a friend of mine, and her family, move on to the Farplane."

"Awesome!"

And it is, and then he stops. And winces, a little. "Man. That's--that's gotta be rough."

...Now he sounds stupid.

Great.

"I'm sorry."

"It's all right," she say quietly, and sips her tea. "She was a good friend. But she'd been here unsent a long time, and she was ready to go."

"Yeah, but--"

Tidus is silent for a minute before asking, hesitantly, "Are you...really all right?"

She turns her eyes towards him, just barely moving her face, and her expression is--vulnerable.

Not sad, exactly. Just young, and sensitive, and vulnerable. It's almost a snapshot of the girl she would've been, in another world.

And then something solidifies, and she smiles sadly. "Of course."

Tidus watches her for a minute as he drums on the table, before asking, "Do you want to talk about it?"

He's pretty sure that's the thing you say in moments like this.

And now she looks down, her hair hanging over her face.

"No," she says, quietly. I have to move on.

There's a moment where he's quiet--they do happen--before asking in the same tone, "Don't want to or don't think you should?"

"I want to do what I should," she says, her voice brisk now. "So it's the same thing."

Her hands are folded in her sleeves, and he can't see them twist.

"I don't think that's true."

That's just a statement, as he shrugs and sips his pepsi.

"That's because--" Her voice is close to snapping, now, and she reins it in.

"There's a difference between what I want to do, and what I wish I could do. What I want to do, I do, to the best of my abilities, and the rest is in Heaven's hands."

"What I wish to do--"

"I wish lots of things." The last is barely audible, dispirited and tired.

"You can have some of them though," he points out.

"I mean, you're a great summoner. The best I've ever known! And you're going to defeat Sin and bring the Calm! But...she was your friend. I think you're allowed to--I don't know. Be human, I guess."

"I cried," she says. It's not quite an accusation, not quite a shout. But it's ragged. "And I feel it, okay?"

"But I have to have control. People, are watching me, and I have to have control. There is a time, and a place, and I had that, and now I have to have control. Even if I feel it. Which is why I didn't want to talk about it."

She folds her arms around herself, tucking up small on the couch. "I have, to be strong. At least on the outside."

"You don't have to here."

He hesitates before adding, "You don't have to with me. I mean. It's not like I'm going to go tell Donna or anything."

She looks at him for a long moment, and there are so many things she wants to say.

I want to believe that.

I can't, because I don't know if you're strong enough.

I can't, because there's too much you don't understand.

I can't, because it can't be you.

"Tidus," she says, unevenly.

"Yeah?"

She leans against him, his shoulder at a right angle to hers, her head dipped so her brow is almost touching his jaw.

"I don't know," she whispers. "I don't know what I--"

want wish does he make you smile

It's too selfish.

but he'd have loved you

"I don't know what I was going to say," she whispers, lamely.

He wants to kiss her hair.

He shouldn't.

But he wants to, and Tidus is still for a minute before he tilts his head enough to rest her cheek against the top of it.

Friends can do that.

"S'okay," is what he says finally.

Her arms creep around his waist, and now she's leaning more against his chest than his shoulder. Her eyes are closed.

"I wish--"

Tidus is very careful not to freeze.

Because this is totally friends, right?

(He really kinda hopes it's not.)

And for once in his life, he's quiet and he waits.

I wish we could run away and never look back.

But that's not what she wants to do. Is it.

She sighs, gently, and straightens up, untangling herself from Tidus. "I'm sorry," she says.

I'm not, he thinks.

And, Dammit.

Tidus just grins a little at her, though, and says, "Hey. What're friends and guardians for?"

He sounds a little disappointed.

He doesn't know it.

"Thank you," she says. She lays her hand over his, and then thinks better of it, and... pats it.

"For being strong for me. For a little while."

He's being patted.

Dammit.

He really wants to--

But. Yuna may do what she want, and Tidus is pretty sure he...can't.

Dammit.

"Guardian, remember?" he says again, and flashes his best blitzplayer smile.

"Mm-hm." And she beams at him, the Summoner with the very best Guardians in all Spira, and if she's at all disappointed, it would awfully hard to tell.

Makita's not exactly bouncy, she's not that kind of girl, but she does seem a bit less intense than the last time they spoke. "Hey, Yuna, are you--" she cuts off when she notices that the other girl isn't alone.

"Oh, um, hope I'm not interrupting?"

"No, of course not!" Yuna bounces to her feet, smoothing her skirt. "Um, Makita, this is Tidus, one of my Guardians. And Tidus, this is Makita. She's a good friend."

She gestures for Makita to join them as she seats herself.

[I am going to be mostly-offline for the next some days, but feel free to let Yuna blend in to the sofa for a Makita-Tidus thread.]

Makita grins at Tidus, "So you watch out for Yuna, huh?" She mock-scowls, "You better do a good job."

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