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Chilly Boulder, Saturday Afternoon

Rikku was waiting at Chilly Boulder. And pacing. And monologuing. That one was new.

"I hope Dawn gets here soon," Rikku said, to no one in particular. "We have so much to talk about, since she left at the end of the summer term. My trip to Gaia last weekend, and her breaking up with Sam, it's just been such a crazy time. I think maybe we both need some ice cream."

Rikku frowned, glancing at the counterperson. "Was I talking to you?"

The girl shook her head.

"Then why the heck did I just say all of that? Who am I talking to, myself?"

(OOC: For Dawn, and their thread is locked, please, but absolutely open! Rikku is normal, but she keeps falling into soap-style dialogue and has no idea why.)

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Dawn finally pulled herself of bed at the crack of eleven thirty and didn't bother with breakfast--what was the point of breakfast when there would be sundaes?

"Rikku!" Dawn called as she came in. So the other girl wouldn't miss her or anything. "Our chocolate fudge awaits."

"Hi!" she said. "It does! And we seriously need it. Good thing they have the best sundaes here, in all of Fandom."

Rikku stopped and frowned again. "Okay, and I keep repeating things that I already know? And talking to myself? I dunno what's up with that but it's freaking weird."

She eyed Rikku strangely. "It really is. Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine," Rikku nodded. "I mean, I'm upset about what happened last weekend, and that's why we're meeting h--"

She pursed her lips. "Let's just ignore that? I feel fine, I swear. It just started this morning, when I woke up and noticed my roommate Ella was acting strangely. She --"

She clapped a hand over her mouth and rolled her eyes. Wishing there was a universal hand gesture for I think Fandom's weird again.

"She what?" Dawn asked, then grinned, catching the eyeroll. "It would be wrong to use this to tease you, right?"

Rikku giggled. "Not wrong at all. We're best friends, right? I mean, you knew that and I knew that and so that's really helpful, isn't it? Let's just go with me being more talkative than usual. Tease away."

She shrugged. "She was looking through my stuff and said she needed money? She looked sick. I gave her some money, since I have plenty and all, and I told her she should go to the clinic, since there's one here on campus. Wow, this is annoying."

"Maybe just for you," Dawn said, laughing. "On this end, it's pretty funny. Except for the part about your roommate--that doesn't sound so good."

"I hope she's okay," Rikku sighed. "She's really sweet, and this isn't like her at all. Oooh, that bit you didn't know, I think. I'm gonna check back on her later and make sure she's okay. Hopefully, it's nothing too weird."

She sighed. "You know what? I'm just gonna go with it. Apologizing only seems to make it worse. Did we want sundaes? I could use a sugar buzz. And we have catching up to do."

"We do," she nodded, heading over to the ice cream case. "Lots and lots of sundaes--and we can blame them all on the boys."

"The boys," Rikku sighed. "Have you talked to Sam at all? Do I need to smash his kneecaps in? 'Cause I'll do it. Reno and I aren't really ... I'm not sure what we are. Or what we aren't. I swear, I'm trying to stop doing this. Um. I told you stuff got weird last weekend, right?"

"Uh huh. Start at the beginning and finish with 'and then Reno almost blew himself up'," Dawn instructed, selecting flavors. "I threw a bunch of softballs at him yesterday, but nothing new since then."

"He deserved those softballs, after what he's done to you," Rikku said, completely unnecessarily. She paused long enough to order a super-extra-gooey sundae. Fudge was a requirement.

"A week ago, he got this call in the middle of the night. That happens sometime, with his job, since he works --" she eyerolled at herself "-- as a Turk, which is a dangerous position that has crazy hours sometimes. He had to go home, and they said it was a routine mission, but it kinda went to hell pretty fast. He ... called back to say it wasn't routine, he might be gone a while, and then he called back ... to ... say he loved me and goodbye."

Okay. Breathing. Good.

Dawn stared at Rikku. "Tell me he just expected you to sit there like a pillow on the couch."

"No," she said. "That's why he didn't tell me anything. Where he was, I mean? He thought it was the end of the world, he knew I'd show up, he didn't want me to get killed. Like I wasn't going to track his ass down, anyway. We got some guns and we got the posse and we went out. Wow, his world sucks. Um. I mean. Not like it smells funny or -- just -- bad things happened and now everyone's kinda all living out in the streets and ... seriously, not a fun place."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Dawn said, reaching over to give Rikku a one-armed hug. "That sucks hardcore."

Rikku curled up against Dawn. "It was ... bad," she said. "Then it got worse, and he ... they thought it was the only way. Overpass. Boom. We were ... we went and dug, through all the smashed-up stuff, just trying to ... find something. In all the rubble, just ... some ... something we could ..."

Couldn't say bury. Couldn't. If she squeezed her eyes shut, she wouldn't start crying. Okay. Breathe.

Edited 2008-10-12 17:36 (UTC)

More hugging was definitely called for. She rubbed little circles into Rikku's back. "He's safe. He's in one piece. It's all good."

"Yeah," Rikku said, nodding. "Yeah. He's. Okay. He shouldn't be. It's."

She shrugged. "I don't know what we are, right now. It's all weird. It got weird and it stayed weird and this whole weekend is weird. And I keep narrativing about stuff any time I try to talk. See? I'm doing it again."

"I'd noticed," she smiled a little bit. "Do you still love him as much as you did last week?"

"Yeah," Rikku grumbled. "I mean. I. I don't think I could stop if I tried. I just hate his stupid job and him being an idiot and trying to get himself killed. Jerk."

Being noble and trying to save the world while blowing yourself up: clearly a petty, horrible thing to do.

"That goes without saying," Dawn said, knowing exactly what side of the discussion she was supposed to be on. Plus, she couldn't blame Rikku--she'd felt the same way about Sam hunting, back when. "Do you want to not be with him anymore?"

That was a longer pause. "No," she said. "I ... do. I mean. I just ... sat there, digging him out, and ... then he was okay, and then I thought ... how long until we do this again? Next time he won't be. It's ... stupid, isn't it? To ... try to leave just 'cause ..."

It occurred to her that, possibly, leaving him over his stupid freaking job was just as bad as Sam breaking up with Dawn because she wasn't safe, or whatever he'd said it was.

... dammit.

This definitely called for more hugging. "Next time he might have to dig you out," she said, gently. "Next time he may be just as fine."

"... I am being stupid, right?" she said, shrugging a little awkwardly. "You can say it. Ugh. At least this time it would've been for a Good Cause or whatever. Usually with his job, it isn't. I hate everything. Except you. 'Cause you're awesome."

"You're monologueing again," she laughed, "but no, you're totally not being stupid. You're being you, and worried about Reno, and worried about you. That's normal, especially here. But, take it from me--if you love him, stay with him as long as you can, and try to make each other happy. Because you never know when it's going to be gone."

Rikku grumbled. "Oh, man. This is seriously not cool of me, not when you've got ... you know."

Oh, wow, tact outweighed the monologue potential on that one. Thank goodness.

She sat up a little, rubbing at her eyes. "Is it hard, being back? Are you okay? Any news with Kenny? Have you changed your mind about me being allowed to smash up his kneecaps?"

"What? No, of course it's cool! It's not like your life stopped just because Sam and I broke up," Dawn tried to reassure her.

She accepted her sundae, glad for all the chocolate. "It's kinda hard? Except I know how here works, y'know? So it's not me not knowing anyone and being dumptastic. I know that there are people here for me. Like you and Mel and Luke and Dean."

"No news with Kenny. He's still cute and sweet, and he says he gets that I'm not ready, but he's not going anywhere and he'll wait me out until I am ready, even if it takes a year."

Dawn wasn't sure she was ready for cute and sweet--look where that had gotten her before, after all. "No kneecaps."

"That's gotta be so weird," she sighed. "Being somewhere new, and adjusting, and if it's not as weird as Fandom is, I mean, that'd seem weird after being here for so long. I think I just said 'weird' like eight times. Patience is good. With Kenny, I mean. Don't ... rush things or you'll just end up getting hurt, you know?"

Dammit. She could really do a number on his kneecaps, too.

"Yeah," she nodded, "It was easy adjusting here, because Sunnydale was so weird, but now I've got to hide, like, everything I've ever done and everyone I've ever met because people won't get it."

Dawn sighed and tucked her hair behind her ear. "I don't want to rush things, because, yeah, still in love with Sam. Damn it. It's gonna take me time to get over it. I don't want to hurt Kenny either."

"Have you thought about finding other crazy spots?" Rikku asked. "I mean. Fandom and Sunnydale can't be the only weird places out there. But then CrazyTown might not have a good college to go to, huh?"

She took another spoonful of her sundae, which was sort of melting, but hey, fudge was still fudge. "He knows that, right? About Sam? If he's willing to be patient, I mean, that's his decision, to risk it. Getting hurt. Pretend I'm making sense? Man. I think I made more sense when I was expositioning."

"No, I probably need to stay where I am and prepare for the weird," she pouted, "since there's always weird coming. And he knows that about Sam, but I still feel guilty, making him wait."

"I wouldn't go that far," she teased.

"It'd be pretty dull, without any weird around," Rikku said, trying for a sympathetic smile. "Don't feel guilty. Totally his call. And hey. You knew I was like this when you met me, it's totally your fault for being my friend. Now you have to put up with me."

"You'll help me keep up the weird quota?"

"I'll export weird, if I have to," Rikku grinned. "Special delivery."

"You could just visit?" Yum, chocolate and melty vanilla ice cream.

"Absolutely," Rikku said. "A weekend, maybe? I can get a portal and you can show me what's awesome in California."

She frowned at her sundae. "Maybe in November. 'Cause I think October's not done sucking yet."

"That's so absolutely the plan," Dawn agreed, waving her spoon at Rikku. "And October shouldn't suck so much. Where do we file the complaint, do you think?"

"Is there some kind of Council on Months?" Rikku asked. "It can't just be here. October sucked pretty hard back home, too, so this is, like, a galactic conspiracy. We could be on to something big."

"Oooh, maybe we could have October canceled altogether." Dawn personally was all for canceling September, personally, and May.

"Maybe we just need to rename it?" Rikku suggested, getting some more goopy fudge on her spoon. "It wouldn't be October any more if it had a nifty name. Right?"

"This sounds like a plausible plan, yes. Um...what about if we named it, like...Edgar."

"Ooooh," Rikku nodded. "If we wanted it to sound all month-y, Edgar-ary."

Edgar-ember was too much of a tongue-twister.

"I like that." She tried it out. "Edgarary."

"Edgarary eleventh," she said, sounding it out. "It has a ring to it. Edgarary has twenty days to convince me it's better than October, and if it fails? We come up with a new name."

"Like, Dog Poop." It was possible all the sugar was getting to Dawn.

"I think if we named a month Dog Poop, it'd definitely suck," Rikku giggled. "Just as revenge."

Gavin's latest stop had taken him into an ice cream shop. Just how many whimsical shops did this place have? Gavin could probably guess why his prey liked it here so much. It was comfortable.

He hadn't been comfortable for ten years. Ten years of his life spent rotting away in a fish tank with bars. Ten years gone. He'd missed out on hamburgers and hot dogs, fish and chips and goddamn burritos.

He would make the ruiner of his life pay. Dearly.

He lit a cigarette only to smash it out against the door of the shop and blew a breath of smoke inside. Just girls. His search continued.

He headed out with a snarl.

"Gavin?" Rikku called out, leaning to watch him go. "That's so weird. I don't remember Gavin ever smoking. He seems to be acting strangely, too. I hope my little brother is all right."

Rikku humphed. "At this point, I'd settle for not telling all of this to the counterperson at Chilly Boulder."

Edited 2008-10-11 19:26 (UTC)

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Chilly Boulder, Saturday Afternoon

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