fandomhigh | Library, Tuesday

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Library, Tuesday

Rinoa was quiet today in the library, for better reasons than last week. But she wasn't hiding. Conversation would be a pleasant distraction.

And if there wasn't any to be found, she'd welcome the stacks of books here. Libraries were the best place for quiet contemplation.

(open / ocd-free because I am running late / pings will have to wait a few hours until I am home again!)

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Kenzi had yet to experience one of those things, but from her own experience, personal shit was always worse. "Sorry?" She gave Rinoa a worried frown. "Suckiness? Did everybody come back in one piece, at least?" That was the priority.

"Okay. Hunh." Kenzi held out her hand for the bottle, willing to let Rinoa share when she was ready, though. "Um, here they're kinda... fighters, yeah. Or they were, like, a hundred-umpty-something years ago. For the country, and the royalty. Now you can get given a knighthood if you're a really good musician or actor." She shrugged. "They're romantic in the books. Rescuing girls. Fighting dragons... so wait, Squall is protecting this Sorceress? That's cool."

"Everyone from here," she said, nodding. "The person we went to help is okay, too. We saved most of his friends, even."

There had been a few people they couldn't save, which went without saying, and which deserved a quick sip from the bottle before she passed it back to Kenzi again. (Feeling a bit guilty for hogging the alcohol, yes.)

"It's still romantic," she said, a light smile playing on her lips. "Don't freak out, okay? But ... I'm her. The Sorceress he's protecting. He's been my Knight even longer than he's been my boyfriend."

"Oh, cool. That's good." Most of his friends. It sucked that it wasn't all, but Kenzi wasn't that much of an optimist. "But I'm guessing it was intense and all." Rinoa's expression kind of gave that away. And the extra shot. "Must be a good friend."

Kenzi stared a little, then laughed. "No. Way. Seriously? Like, he's your bodyguard, and you're the one with the magic, and he's assigned to throw himself in the path of a bullet and... oh, wow. You guys are like an epic fantasy romance movie!" That deserved another shot, before handing the bottle back to Rinoa. "Shot!"

"Very," Rinoa said, nodding. She didn't want to think about Jono's friends, or the bodies in the church. She couldn't, dammit.

Which was why she was taking the bottle back again, even though this was ... really, far too many shots for her. They would be catching up soon, too. She was so getting fired for this.

"Something like that," she laughed. "He's supposed to protect my spirit and guard my soul. And the bodyguard thing, too."

She took a small sip before handing the bottle back. "To romance," she said. "So tell me about you and Toby. Toby of the brain tumor that doesn't exist?"

Kenzi hiccuped a laugh, and toasted Rinoa with the bottle. Not buzzed. Well. Maybe a little? "Protect your spirit and guard your souuul. Awww. That's... neat. Very cool. That stuff, it needs protecting too." She grinned all over her face at the mention of Toby. "Umm, well, we're both from Canada, north of here, but we never met before this summer. He's a little younger than me, but... we had the same kind of stuff happening for us before here."

She paused, taking a shot, but hey. Rinoa had been up-front about a lousy weekend, and the weirdness with her boyfriend and her ex, and it wasn't like Toby wasn't honest about the foster kid thing. She could be a little honest too. "Toby's a foster kid, I blew off my parents two years ago, about. So we get each other. I tried to steal his apple at my first welcome picnic, and he thought it was funny."

Which, come to think of it, must've been telepathy. That sneak.

"...and he's a very good kisser? We're still having fun just finding out stuff. You know?"

"I haven't talked to my dad in a while," Rinoa admitted, "and Squall and Seifer are both orphans. It's ... I think I get it."

Okay, Squall had turned out to have a father, but one who didn't know he even existed until Squall was 17, and vice versa, so. That sort of felt like orphan-with-an-asterisk.

"It's rough," she said, nodding. "Why were you stealing his apple? Flirting, or because you wanted it?"

Either was a legitimate answer, in her mind.

"And good kissers are always a bonus," she added.

"Yeah." Not exactly the same, whole different worlds, but there was stuff that was more important than that. Kenzi took a swig, and handed back the bottle. Then grinned. "Both? And to see if I could? He had it in the front pocket of his hoodie, if I'd managed to distract him that hard, wellll..." She nodded vigorously. "Yes. Much bonus. I went on the 3-minute dates, and there were guys I liked, but it just kind of... solidified? That I liked him best of all." She tilted her head. "He has really pretty eyes." And oh God, never let her sound like that in her head around Toby.

"Okay, fess up," Rinoa said, putting the cap on the bottle and setting it down. No more booze for her right now, thanks. "Did you go on the three-minute things to see if you wanted other guys, or to try to make him jealous, or did you just get signed up for it and you rolled with it?"

"First one," Kenzi admitted, swaying only a tiny bit. "Didn't tell him I went 'til after. Then to check if he'd care, I guess? And he was all worried for a minute. 'Til we got that straightened out. I think being around Seifer made me worried, you know? But I bet that was, like, ninety percent crazy and priest's costume." She grinned wickedly. "Bo's the one that got signed up and had to roll with it, not me."

"There's nothing wrong with going just to go, either," Rinoa said, shrugging. "I had to do a lot of the making-him-jealous stuff, at the beginning. It's a long story. But it's also good to know for sure if you're wanting to settle down or not. Better to be sure than to end up hurting somebody."

She flipped through her mental file of students and frowned. "I don't think I know Bo, either," she said. "I really need to get out more."

"Yup, that," Kenzi said, nodding vigorously. "So yeah. We're dating now. Not much different than before, just with smoochies." She grinned, and took another bite of ice cream. "Bo's the Security Person. Chick. Here. Not a student. We're buds."

Well. She felt perfectly comfortable breaking into Bo's place. That made them buds, right?

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Library, Tuesday

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