Office #7, Tuesday

[raspberryturk]

So, Reno really hadn't been here at all this semester, with a couple of exceptions. It stood to reason, with him, that almost a week before his final class was probably a good time to make an attempt at that

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[wish_kebab]

All things considered, once she'd snuck on over to Fandom Island, it hadn't taken long for Aerith to track Reno down. All of life went back to the Lifestream, and Reno belonged to Gaia, in a way that resonated with her, no matter where he chose to make his home these days.

Aerith drifted through the school invisibly until she found his office (which she went through the wall to get into) and, still invisible, surveyed him curiously. He looked better than he had back when everything was falling apart.

He also looked dreadfully bored in her estimation.

She grinned at him, though he couldn't see it, and called down the rain. Aerith had been able to do this back when she'd been alive. Dying had only made her stronger. But this was just a small, localized rain.

Inside his office. Right on top of him.

[raspberryturk]

The first raindrop hit Reno's face, and he squinted up at the ceiling, wondering if there was a busted pipe somewhere.

The second raindrop hit his face about the same time he realized he couldn't actually pick out a soggy part of the ceiling anywhere.

And then the deluge happened, and his confusion was replaced with irritation and a stream of curse words that wasn't fit for use in polite company.

"--Shiva's tits, Fandom!"

Because of course Fandom was doing this, right? Reno was hurrying now, to pack some of the papers up off of his desk. Most of them weren't important, he was pretty sure, but there wasn't a hell of a lot of time to check before everything would be sodden through anyway.

He barely had time to hiss between his teeth at a deep papercut that his rushing had rewarded him with by the time the rain had already soothed it and healed it away.

...

"You're shittin' me."

So, probably not Fandom, then.

[wish_kebab]

Definitely not Fandom!

Girlish giggling answered him as Aerith took a seat on his desk. (All right, so she took a seat about an inch above his desk, but that was pretty much the same thing in her opinion.)

She faded into view, translucent and intangible, and familiar.

"Hi," she said, all bright, still-laughing eyes and an unrepentant grin.

[raspberryturk]

Reno let loose a groan as he sank back into his seat with a wet squish.

Well, that was fun.

"Friggin' hell," he complained, because really, he didn't have to keep up a cool-as-hell visage around somebody who was already long dead, did he? "The Ancient? Really? Little far from home, here, yo. Does Portalocity charge extra to open portals for the dead?"

Yep, that was his complaint. Not 'I'm soaked to the bone,' or, 'apparently I'm being haunted today,' or even, 'gods dammit my office.' Reno was clearly concerned about Aerith's travel expenses.

[notacokeperson]

So. So.

Karina had gotten that voicemail and, yeah, okay, so she was planning on ditching school for the rest of the week--Heroing obligations--but she supposed she had time enough to drop by and see what he wanted.

Like, it couldn't be about next class since he'd threatened to keep her back at the end of it, if she didn't show up now.

And he'd sounded angry.

Karina didn't like that, since she had no idea why, so she wasn't exactly at her most cheerful when she leaned in his doorway. "Hey. You wanted to talk to me?"

[raspberryturk]

Reno was still somewhat damp by the time Karina stopped by - he was offering no explanation for that one, no - as was his office. But at least he'd managed to rescue (or not throw at the ceiling) a single pencil, which he was rolling between his fingers when Karina showed up in his doorway.

"Yeah, yeah I did," he agreed. "Come on in, rookie."

Uh-oh. Lowercase R.

"I wanna talk to you about how classes have been goin'. Think of it like a refresher in the class rules."

[notacokeperson]

Karina gave him a doubtful look, because she wasn't stupid and actually did have self-preservation instincts that were clanging loudly that she was in trouble.

Because of that, she looked back down the hallway before stepping inside.

"Are we waiting for Kathy, then?"

Was this a TA thing? She kinda doubted it, but it was nice to pretend.

[raspberryturk]

"Nnnnnope."

So, yeah. If your 'in trouble' senses were tingling before, Karina, they ought to be clanging double by now.

"Pop quiz," he said, with a lazy little smile. "What were the rules I gave first day I took you guys to Edge?"

It shouldn't be difficult. There weren't many.