fandomhigh | Fandom High Welcome Picnic, Front Lawn of the School, All Day: Part II

Entry tags:

!event: welcome picnic

Fandom High Welcome Picnic, Front Lawn of the School, All Day: Part II

Oh look, there were tables and chairs over here too, away from all the informational stuff. Enjoy the food!

[~~WAIT FOR THE OCD PLEASE.~~ OCD IS UP. This is the FIRST post for general mingling. Please use this post first, if your browser can handle the comment load. Roommates, fake siblings and teachers are here and there is more room for mingling here.]

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Reno could feel eyes on him from a thousand miles away.

Which was, perhaps, only slightly an exaggeration.

He raised an eyebrow and glanced back at the kid who was looking at him.

"Yo. You lost?" Most newbies, typically, were. So he wasn't too worried about being wrong, here.

Hinata squeaked a little in dismay and looked down, feeling the need to fidget rising. "A-ano," she stammered, "just... standing."

Reno smiled faintly at that. Cute kid. Awkward, but cute.

"Standing's good," he decided. "I think everyone on the island does it. Carry on. Good work."

And all that.

Her blush deepened. Was he making fun of her? Was she being that weird? She'd answered his question hadn't she? Wasn't that good enough?

"A-ano," Hinata managed after a few moments of trying to think of what to say, "have y-you seen Ino-san?"

Aha!

"Oh, you're a friend of Ino, then? Yeah, I know her. Haven't seen her about today, though. She's gotta be somewhere around here, anyhow. Island ain't too big, yoto." He shrugged and grinned a bit. "You're here, might as well keep eatin', right? Name's Reno, by the way. If I bump into Ino somewhere, who should I be tellin' her is lookin' for her?"

Hinata would not call them friends, not exactly, not daring to be that bold. But they were classmates, and Ino-san was familiar, and she'd always been kind enough when Hinata had tried to talk to her before.

So... that got a nod, rather than try to explain that. "Thank you very much, Reno-san," she said, trying not to mumble, and offering him a shy smile, "I'm Hyuuga Hinata."

Reno chewed on that for a moment. The formalities she was throwing in there reminded him of Dojima's Japanese whatever-it-was. Right, then. So that meant, uh. Last name first?

He was pretty sure.

"Good to meet you, Hinata." He popped a grape into his mouth and glanced around the picnic idly. "Lookin' for people's part of what I do, yo. Ain't no problem askin' Ino to keep an eye out for you if I happen to bump into her, anyhow."

It was just that there were so many people and Hinata had had no warning and that Ino-san was no doubt in the thick of things. Which, quite honestly, terrified Hinata the thought of it.

"W-what you do?" One on one. Okay. She could do this.

"Odd jobs. Mostly I work for a-" He had to pause to consider. Right, then. "-a pretty powerful guy, back home. Used to be I did all the stuff that had to get done that nobody wanted to touch. Mostly now, I'm kinda like a glorified bodyguard, yo."

See, totally protective. Casual conversation and not actually lying about ShinRa without telling the whole truth.

He figured he was on a roll, here.

"Right now, though, mostly the odd jobs part."

Hinata studied him carefully. "L-like the ANBU?" And hoping that Ino-san had mentioned those to him. "Are there a lot of odd jobs here?"

"Everything about this place is odd," Reno decided with a shrug. "I got kidnapped by squirrels to read a radio broadcast at the beginning of last semester. Stuck to it every Tuesday since. You find a niche to fit in, no matter who you are. That's the kinda place this is."

And then a pause. To consider.

"I'm afraid I ain't too familiar with the ANBU, though." If she'd mentioned them, she hadn't really explained them in detail, he was pretty sure.

...

"...a squirrel?" Hinata blinked at him. "A-and the ANBU are the Black Ops back home." Though the actual translation of the name was a lot more blunt.

"Lot of squirrels," Reno corrected. Being kidnapped by a squirrel would have been humiliating. No matter how drunk he was at the time. "And, uh."

Hmn.

"Yeah. Got a bit of experience with the black-ops scene."

Lying at the beginning of the last semester hadn't done him any good. Maybe he'd start this one on a better foot. By idly admitting he was a sack of shit who would kill people if he was told because the gil was good enough. Good show, Reno.

She filed the information about the squirrels away for now, something to consider later.

"A-ano," Hinata said, gathering her courage, "you sound like that's a b-bad thing?"

The kid was observant, Reno had to hand her that much credit. Shy. But observant.

"Guess it all depends whose side you were on at the time, Hina."

Reno was big on nicknames. He'd just come up with one for her. It was a good sign, really. Meant she was worth enough thought that he actually bothered to come up with one. That the word actually had meaning, however, he'd had no idea.

Sunshine. That's what it meant. She blushed at that, but didn't protest.

"A-ano," she said, "b-back home the ANBU did a lot of good... doing bad things for the village when we were rebuilding." This was when she'd been too young to even talk, but Hinata had listened to the stories. "Ino-san would p-probably know better than I though, her f-family tends to gravitate towards the ANBU."

He listened, intently, and nodded faintly.

Good people doing bad things in order to make good. So long as it didn't involve trying to destroy all life on the planet, Reno was okay with that. They weren't AVALANACHE, then.

"Might have to ask her about 'em sometime," Reno mused. "They sound interesting, yo."

She shrugged a bit. Just a wee bit. "F-father's forbidden any Hyuuga to join," Hinata said, "I only k-know the stories."

"Ain't nothin' the matter with knowin' stories," he replied. "And havin' an old man who looks out for you can't be so bad, either, can it?"

Another grape fell victim to Reno's hungry maw. Mm, fresh fruit.

"How do you know Ino? Friends from back home, or whatever?"

It was more that her Father didn't want to dirty the Hyuuga name than any care for her well-being.

Hinata looked down, but didn't comment on that. "Ino-san and I were in the same class," she said instead, "and we were friendly enough."

Not friends, not exactly, but nothing bad either.

"Ino's good people," Reno mused. And then shrugged again. "Most people around here are. If any stupid twit ever gives you problems though, Hina, you let me know, and I'll kick'em in the teeth for you until they stop, or whatever."

It was an offer of friendship. Believe it or not.

She heard it as such, and blushed more.

"A-ano, I'm sure I'll be fine," Hinata said, as she was a ninja after all, "but I'll remember. Thank you, Reno-san."

"Hey, s' the least I can do," he grinned. "We were all newbies once, yo. If you need anything else, I'm up in room 429. Knock whenever, and if I don't answer, leave a note. I'll get back to ya, alright?"

She looked at him, a startled laugh slipping out. "A-ah," Hinata smiled, "I'm in room 423, so that's c-convenient."

"A couple doors down, yo." Reno chuckled a little in turn. "We're practically neighbors. Works well, don't it?"

Highly convenient for checking in on shy little newbies. Very good.

Fandom High Welcome Picnic, Front Lawn of the School, All Day: Part II

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