Then I'll just have to be the merriest!

Rikku was working on an e-mail. It was going to be epic, if she ever finished it. She had so much to update people on. The conference. Spira maybe behaving itself, for once. Coming to Gaia. Working for the WRO, with a guy who seemed nice enough even if he had a weird relationship with toy cats. At least her WRO outfit was supercute.

She was going to save the huge draft of this e-mail she had going and instead pick up her phone and make some calls. It was so great, not having to hold still and hope the signal didn't die on you. Edge was pretty spiffy, and not just because it had Turks in it.

(open for phone calls or hanging-out by the SO of win. Rikku's WRO outfit pic is by raspberryturk-mun, who rocks like it's her job. Woo, fall break!)

Could Portalocity please suck less? She'd never known it to be this backed up. Apparently, there were a lot of portals heading to Fandom. Must be some kind of special event.

Rikku hoped she hadn't missed Homecoming. That would suck.

Getting entirely too much luggage to come along with her didn't make things much easier. But it was essential, dammit. So she'd paid an extra fee, and then another, and she'd considered just bribing some of the officials outright.

Somehow, some how, she managed to get to Edge. Still exhausted from the whole week. She might need several hours of snuggle time.

There was very little "might" about that.

Hopefully, there'd be a Turk to help her lug some of this luggage? And for the aforementioned snuggle time, as well.

( After the End )

(OOC: Preplayed with the lovely mistressofblack and summoninghope. Ze conference is over, and Rikku is headed to Gaia for some much-needed time off. Can be open if you want to flag down the Al Bhed girl. NFI, NFB.)

( Just when the conference hits a low point ... )

(OOC: preplayed with the still-kick-ass mistressofblack and summoninghope, with some NPCing by mistressofblack and sarcasm_guy because they rock. NFI, NFB, OOC is love.)

( The Conference Begins (Badly) )

(OOC: Preplayed with the awesome summoninghope and mistressofblack. NFI, NFB, OOC is love.)

( Forming a Plan )

( And Confronting the Guado )

(OOC: preplayed with the fantabulous mistressofblack, summoninghope, and sarcasm_guy guest-starring as Tromell. Open to anyone who might be on Spira, including the one she doesn't realize is coming to visit, but she's probably not going to answer her phone tonight.)

( The Guado Bow Out )

Now was a good time to have a little chat with the Guado. One that was long overdue.

(OOC: preplayed with the awesome summoninghope. Establishy, but also open for calls, with the caveat that the Al Bhed girl is having a tremendously shitty day.)

To be perfectly honest about it? Rikku was nervous. She'd had this great idea -- a conference, in Spira. One where everyone sat down and talked things out. All the groups. No name-calling, no yelling, just -- actual real conversation.

She'd recruited Lulu to help her word the letter, so it sounded all fancy and not rambly like things did when she wrote them. Now all they needed was the one person with enough respect, enough clout, to call the meeting and actually have all the major players show up.

It helped that that person was her cousin and best friend in the known universe, Yunie.

It didn't help that Yunie never, ever used her clout. Ever.

But the future of Spira was at stake. Okay. Still nervous.

Being back on Besaid had its benefits, though. She had her bestest Petey ever on her lap while she waited for Lulu and Yuna to show up.

"Did oo miss me?" she asked, scritching under his chin. "I think oo missed me. Who's my Petey? Who is it?"

Peteys were great and helping with nerves.

(OOC: for those two Spirans, please, but totally open for phone calls afterwards!)

Rikku didn't feel 18. 18 sounded like a big, important sort of age. She was just Rikku.

Then again, she had had a pretty productive week. The cell configuration in Mushroom Rock Road was repaired, and Besaid now had its own tower, too. More importantly, the airship was fixed, thanks to her favorite Turk. Even Cid had stopped hating him.

... okay, Pops had just sort of grumbled at him about how he was glad the kid hadn't broken his damn airship, but you had to translate it. Reno was still the guy dating Cid's baby girl, after all.

And now? Now, Rikku was sitting on the beach in Besaid. Petey was ... attempting to eat the waves as they crashed into shore, because Petey was adorable like that. The sun was setting, a bonfire was burning, and this was a pretty sweet birthday party, Rikku decided. Low-key. She approved.

Her cell phone was on, in case anyone wanted to call. She had interesting blackmail footage to share. Wakka liked giving noogies far more than Reno liked getting them ...

(OPEN to anyone on Spira or anyone who wants to call. Reno modded with permission. SP is likely, as I am le sick.)

Rikku did not want to think about how much she missed Reno. She missed the smell of him. She missed the way his neck tasted. She missed -- okay, lately, her thoughts of missing him were kinda ... graphic, and not very polite. She was trying not to fidget. It was getting worse. Dammit. She used to be able to control herself.

She was too twitchy to be much good at anything that involved sitting still or playing nicely with others. Luckily, the cell tower's mainframe had broken. Okay, that part wasn't lucky, except for how it meant that she got to skip out on diplomatic stuff in order to play with her wrench and fight with a computer system.

So she was hot, and sweaty, and had grease-stains on her hands and probably her face, but this was better than sitting on her hands and thinking about .... okay, not going to think about that. She was saving her world. He was saving his world, too. She could be patient.

She could try.

(just for the Turk, please. HOORAY.)

Things that Rikku hated: the temple at Kilika, New Yevonites, old Yevonites, Spira, people who insisted on trying to fight each other instead of maybe trying to get along for once in their stupid lives, and worst, having to hold all of that in while playing stupid freaking diplomat for a bunch of jerks.

Things that Rikku didn't hate: much shorter list. The airship, which was where she was now. She was sitting up on the roof, and nobody had better bother her right now, not until she'd had some time to herself where she didn't have to pretend she was absolutely, totally okay.

That took a couple of hours. And then Rikku realized that the airship had a satellite link-up, so her phone might actually get reception here, and that she'd rather talk to people from Fandom than go fake being okay again for Yunie.

A little zap and the battery was charged up again. Thunder was so useful like that. And now, to see if she could reach anyone.

(OOC: if you want a call, you've got one, so long as you're okay with the Al Bhed girl having a rough day over here. Also open for any Spira peeps who might want to pop up and say hi.

ETA: Thread with Reno gets into some spoilers about Zack Fair's fate. And then, a while after that, it veers to the NWS.)

Info post! Which is very late, and from Rikku's account because I feel like using Rikku's account, dammit.

( The Al Bhed )

( The Unnatural Child )

( The Literary One )

( The Former Nobody )

( The Dog )

( The Lawyer, aka The New One )

( The Me )

She was mostly packed. Okay, she was totally packed, except for Petey, lying on the middle of her floor and burbling happily with one of his toys. But she liked calling it mostly packed, anyway. It sounded less final.

She had to ... take everything out to the Causeway, and meet up with Yunie and Lulu, and ... go home. Even though Fandom was what felt like home, to her.

She had told people to write, since e-mail was going to be a no-go. She'd bought extra batteries for her cell phone, and could beg people to send more. Now she just had to ....

Well. Leave.

Not just yet. First, she was going to sit on the floor and play with Petey and pretend she didn't have to, just yet.

(Rikku's goodbye post. Any and all are welcome.)

Rikku didn't really want to pack. She had to, but she was still a bit mopey on the whole deal. She'd stay in touch with everyone, but it wasn't the same.

So she was half-packing and half-tossing things idly into boxes. That turned into a lazy game of I Wonder If I Can Teach Petey To Fetch, which was closer to I Wonder If Petey Will Dodge If I Throw This Near Him anyway. (Which was why she was sticking to very, very light items. It was good to know your own cat's intelligence level.)

(expecting one; he's last, since he'll probably stay over. open before him chronologically.)

Rikku had handwavily picked up Ruba from Fight Club while Rede was still kicking butt and taking names, because Ruba was wee and had an earlier bedtime. Of course, Ruba was too wound up to actually go to sleep any time soon. Rikku had just resigned herself to that when inspiration struck.

( A Call to Home )

(OOC: Rikku is going to try to make a few phone calls to alums she knows as well as people back home -- if you are off-island and want to chat with the wee one, drop in!)

Rikku didn't want to wake up yet. It was warm and cozy under the covers, and just the sort of morning where you wanted to snuggle and be lazy and stay in bed all day. Or at least until it was early afternoon.

But there was knocking, at the door. Dang it. Rikku tried telling herself that it wasn't important, and whoever-it-was would come back, and she could pretend she hadn't woken up for the knock, but maybe it was important, and maybe they'd just keep knocking until she answered, and maybe just going to the door and answering it would mean they'd go away faster than if she kept laying here arguing with herself, and this whole argument had woken her up anyway.

So. She wriggled out of bed, trying not to wake the sleeping Turk, and tiptoed over to open the door.

(for the wee ones and reno, or if anyone wants to poke their heads in, afterwards)

Okay, so: it wasn't just prom. It was also Reno's nineteenth birthday. Which ... he kinda got weird about celebrating things like that, so she hadn't made a big fuss out of it -- although she was going to give a heads-up to the rest of the posse, just because they'd slap her silly if they didn't. She might ask them to keep it under wraps, though. Do something nice, and don't tell him it's for his birthday.

She had the day off work, thanks to her shift babysitting earlier in the week. She hadn't told Reno she'd asked for it off specifically because of his birthday. What was important was that they got to spend the day together.

She'd told him to show up whenever his classes were finished. And ... she had originally thought she should be waiting in lingerie or handcuffs, but ... but that kinda didn't seem right, after the mess of zombies and gremlins and injuries and everything else they'd been through.

Instead, she was in her PJs, and her bed had extra pillows and bedding and blankets on it, and there was popcorn and ice cream.

It wasn't like she couldn't toss on some lingerie later, if he didn't want to snuggle and watch movies.

(Just for the Turk, please.)

Rikku was in her room, minding her own business, with the door wide open. She was drawing up schematics for more cell towers, to see if she could make the design more efficient, and not paying attention to the fact that Petey seemed to be stalking something small and quick around the room.

Hard teeth dug into her calf. "Ow!" she shouted, jumping up and whirling around to glare. "Petey, no biting! That's --"

Petey? Was halfway across the room. And there was a flash of green ducking under her bed.

"Oh, no," she moaned, sinking down onto her bed and covering her eyes.

(JUST FOR ME, PLZ AND THANKS.)

Anyone passing by room 308 Wednesday evening might have overheard an Al Bhed girl softly singing a lullaby.

No, she wasn't gremlin-bit. Just baby-sitting the most adorable, awesome little one ever. (Not counting any of hers that she had met, of course.)

She wasn't sure if Janice would be staying the night or not, but she kept yaaaaaaaaaaaaawning in the most adorable manner, so Rikku was going to put her down for a nap, which may or may not have been bedtime, depending.

The lullaby seemed to be putting Janice to sleep, with the unfortunate side effect of also putting Rikku to sleep. So Rikku was going to curl up on her own bed, keeping her phone handy in case Cable called, and ... rest her eyes. Totally. Just resting them.

(mostly establishy. awwwwwwww.)

Rikku was organizing. Her room, that was. Everything in the known universe sucked, majorly, and nothing made any sense, and saving the world: that still sucked pretty hardcore. She couldn't organize any of that -- to be honest, she didn't understand half of it. (Like ... why she'd woken up alone at the clinic. Reno left?) And some of it she didn't want to deal with yet, like telling Cable how many guns she'd taken from the store, and how she had no idea where most of them were, now. Oops?

But she couldn't fix any of that. So she was going to organize, instead. Because her room was a freaking mess, and she couldn't just baby her knee forever. She didn't need to be in the clinic. She was okay. She had a bandage-splint-thing on it. That was good, right? It meant she could walk, if she was careful and kinda slooooow. So ... no reason to sit still when she could be pacing. Organizing. Organizing wasn't pacing.

Really.

(just for one, please)