Fixer-Uppers, Saturday

[the_merriest]

Last night had been ... rough, at least, the news had been rough, but talking things out with Reno, that part had been good. Really good. Maybe she should actually try that more often. Like, you know, a normal person.

It wasn't her day at the shop, but she'd missed her day at the shop, so she was stopping in, anyway, to make sure everything was okay and tinker with a few of the projects. There was something really soothing about axle grease, if you were an Al Bhed girl.

(open, ocd-free!)

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[fiery-demigod.livejournal.com]

Leo had been dying to check out the local garages and junkyards since he got to town. His tool belt was good for, you know, tools but he liked the smell and feel of shops. His roommate probably would appreciate him finding a place other than their room to keep his projects as well.

The last time Leo had gone into an unknown shop there were a family of cyclopes there trying to eat his friends, so he was naturally hesitant about going into this one. But after slowly opening the door and not being assaulted with that gross cyclops smell, he figured it was okay.

"Um, hello?"

[the_merriest]

There were no unpleasant cyclops hanging around the store, and the only questionable smell was the smell of engine grease, which Rikku, personally, happened to like. It was a machina thing.

Really, the only dangers of assault were the eye-blinding horribleness of the sign outside, and --

"Welcome to Fixer-Uppers!" the owner bounced. "Here for all of your fixing-up-it needs. I'm ..."

She trailed off abruptly, realizing that she (thought she) recognized the boy standing in front of her.

"Warren!??" she asked, clapping her hands together excitedly. "You're back! It's you! HIIII!"

-- and the imminent danger of being tackle-hugged by a badly dressed blonde girl.

[fiery-demigod.livejournal.com]

Leo was actually getting used to being hugged by random chicks. Never in his life did he think that was ever going to be possible.

"Uh, hey!" Not touching, totally not touching. His hands were in the air. "I'm not Warren, but thank you for the warm greeting!"

[the_merriest]

"Oh!" Rikku said, straightening up and letting go with a laugh. "I'm sorry! You look just like this guy who used to go to school here? We get that a lot. People look like each other, or secretly knew each other from another timeline, or know other versions of themselves? This place is all freaky like that."

She was now going to do her best Official Owner Pose, so she looked professional.

"Welcome to Fixer-Uppers," she said, "where we fix things, and the owner gives out hugs to lucky customers who look like old friends. I'm Rikku. How can I help you today?"

[fiery-demigod.livejournal.com]

"That's not the first time someone here has confused me with that Warren guy, so I'm getting used to being hugged," he admitted. "I'm Leo. New student, checking out the town. This place happened to be at the top of my list. I'm sort of a junk...junkie."

[the_merriest]

"I'm kind of a hugger," Rikku said, "so you can consider that fair warning."

It was also a huge understatement. And way less important than the rest of what Leo had said.

"Oh! Seriously?? Me too!" Rikku was bouncing, now. She was also a bouncer. The two kind of went together. "That's totally why I bought the place! Do you ever take something apart just to see if you can put it back together?"

[fiery-demigod.livejournal.com]

"All the time!" he said, unable to keep from looking around the shop and looking at stuff he would love to take apart in here. "I love putting them back together and making them better than before. Which, okay, sometimes annoys people if they didn't ask me to take it apart but, whatever."

[the_merriest]

"It usually annoys people when I have bits left over," Rikku admitted, "but hey, doing things wrong teaches you how you're supposed to do them right, you know?"

Learning by doing: totally an Al Bhed tradition. Thousand-year-old ruins did not come with instruction manuals. You had to poke at them until you got them to work.

"Do you know anything about droids?" she asked. "Not the smart kind with AI and, like, personalities, just patrol ones?"

[fiery-demigod.livejournal.com]

"I used to have a mechanical dragon. Like, a huge one that flew. But he had a personality." Leo cried when he got destroyed and he was secure enough to admit it. "I've never worked with little patrol robot things."

Leo looked down at his hands. "But I can pretty much work any machine if I get my hands on it. Sort of a family trait."

[heromaniac]

Momoko had stepped in to see if Rikku was working today and found a not-Warren. She smiled and waved at him. "Hi! Leo, right? Remember me? Momoko?"

It felt TOTALLY weird to not hug him.

[fiery-demigod.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, of course I do!" Hard not to remember someone who tackled you randomly. "How's it going?"

[heromaniac]

Ah! She'd missed having that smile directed at her! It was totally unfair to Leo, Momoko knew, but she couldn't help it.

She leaned slightly forward and chuckled. "Great! All my classes are awesome this semester and I got my cat back and I found some great candy for sale today! How about you?"

[fiery-demigod.livejournal.com]

"Uh, well, my week didn't involve cats or candy, but it was still pretty good," he said, chuckling a little. "I'm mostly getting used to things. The classes here are different from what I'm used to."

[heromaniac]

She nodded. "They're totally different from back home, but they're totally useful. Well, not for taking college exams, but if you're going to do stuff like fight evil villains or monsters." Which, didn't everyone?

"But it's a great school. You'll make the best friends here; people who totally understand you and really care."

[fiery-demigod.livejournal.com]

Leo wasn't too sure about that since he was going into this thing lying right away, but he smiled and nodded at Momoko like he was excited about the prospect of meeting new people.

"Hey, I'm all for making best friends. I mean, I have best friends, but I can always make more," he said. "The more the better, right?"

[heromaniac]

Lies didn't last long here, she'd be MORE than happy to tell him.

"Exactly! I mean, I have three of the best best friends back home, but the friends I made here are totally just as awesome and I've only known them for a short time!" She gave him a V sign. "There's just something about fighting off invasions and syrup rain that just brings people together, you know?"

[fiery-demigod.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I totally get it. Weird stuff like that is how I became so close with Piper and Jason--my best friends," he said. "Though we've never had to deal with syrup rain."

[heromaniac]

Momoko was out shopping and had found the perfect jacket for Rikku, so she decided to stop in the shop and see if her big sib was working. She'd try Reno's next, if need be. This jacket was totally Rikku.

"Hiiii! Rikku?"

[the_merriest]

"Momo!" Rikku waved. "Come in! Do you have something that needs to be fixed, or did you just stop in to chat?"

[heromaniac]

"Fixed!" She placed the box with the jacket in it on the table with a smile. "I found this totally awesome jacket on sale and it's apparently missing an awesome big sib to go around! Do you happen to have one in the back?"

[the_merriest]

Oh, that jacket was beautiful. Rikku stared at it for a few seconds before needing to give her little sib a huge, squeezy hug.

"You shouldn't have," she said. "It's perfect!"

And maybe she was clinging a little. It had been a rough twenty-four hours, and something special and just for her, that was really making her feel good.

"Thank you," she said. "You're the best."

[heromaniac]

"No. You're the best. I totally had to! It was just pining on the rack for you, I swear!" Momoko laughed as she hugged Rikku back, normally at first, then... a bit tighter.

Rikku's hug was feeling a lot like clinging.

"Hey," she whispered, clinging back. Did something happen? "Do I need to go beat Reno up or something?"

[the_merriest]

"What? Oh!" Rikku straightened up again, a quick smile flashing over her lips. "No, no, he's fine. Everything's okay. Sorry! Didn't mean to worry you. I'm good. It's all good."

It was nearly convincing, at that.

"This is so cute," she said. "Where did you even find it?"

[heromaniac]

It was totally convincing! Except Momoko was also a practitioner of that art.

Momoko named the store, looking carefully at Rikku. "I may not win, but I'll totally bruise him for you?" Because if it was someone else who'd made Rikku sad, Momoko was sure Reno would have beaten them to a pulp.

[the_merriest]

Rikku gave Momoko another hug, fully appreciating the sentiment. It was unbelievably sweet, and ... well. She needed all the warm fuzzies she could get, today.

"It's not Reno," she said, giving a wry smile to her friend. "Promise. I just got some ucky news from home. I'm gonna have to make another trip soon, that's all."

Which was ... true. As far as it went.

Look, she'd dropped the Everything is Fine facade. A step at a time, right?