Room 206, Friday Morning

[dark_slippy_thing]

Why no, Valentine wasn't sitting on his bed feeling doomed and possibly particularly helpless. Honest.

Except that he mostly was. Because there was no way to weasel out of this 'save the world' shtick that Will had dragged him into. And he didn't much want to die. And he was not hero material. And he hadn't stocked up enough non-perishable foodstuffs to sneak under his bed and hide until this whole thing blew over.

"To starve under the bed, or not to starve under the bed," he asked a mask that he held in one hand.

"Die one way, die the other, what difference does it make?"

His masks were being jerkfaces today. Even if he was the one supplying the voice. He didn't want to talk to them anymore.

(For Rikku)

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[the_merriest]

Bright and early Friday morning, Rikku wandered down to Valentine's room. He'd be in, right? Back from whatever-it-was they were going to on Thursday?

Knock-knockity-knock!

[dark_slippy_thing]

"Don't answer, it might go away," he mumbled to himself, waving the mask around.

"And if it's here to save my life?"

"Even worse! Good intentions-- horrible things!"

Valentine was particularly suspicious that his conversations with himself were decidedly grumpy ones.

He shoved the mask off to the side and took in a deep breath. "Yes?"

[the_merriest]

Rikku heard voices, and they all sounded like Valentine. Okay. He was cracking up. That was Bad.

She opened the door and poked her head around it. "Uh ... you holding up okay?"

[dark_slippy_thing]

"Just fine," Valentine insisted, smothering his mute and inanimate disembodied face under a pillow to ensure that it didn't add its two cents. "How else would I be? I mean, it's only certain doom. And it's just you and Will and myself and I don't know where to look for more."

[the_merriest]

"I was talking to Dawn, you know, the Spoooooooon Avenger? And she totally has stuff to do this weekend but she said we should ask her sister Buffy. You know, the cheerleader? She's awesome at stuff like this." She nodded her head. "And you've got me and Will, two Guardians. What can go wrong, right?"

[dark_slippy_thing]

"We could get eaten by the sky," Valentine said, attempting to come off as droll and mostly just managing morose. "But-- Buffy, you say?"
He mused on that a moment.
"She keeps sharp things on her wall."

At this point, that was a very important thing.

[the_merriest]

"She does!? What kinda sharp things??" Rikku was bouncing a little at this. "I'll have my godhand and I even got a weapon for you. Well, not for you, 'cause I totally need it back? It's Jude's. And there's armor too but I think I'm gonna swipe his and you can have mine because if I get killed on our anniversary Jude is so never speaking to me again."

[dark_slippy_thing]

"Sharp things that she'd like me to juggle sometime," Valentine said with a shrug, then tilted his head curiously. "Weapon for me? What kind of weapon?"
He was having difficulty picturing a weapon that he could lift, let alone actually use and not die in the attempt.

[the_merriest]

"A blitzball," she grinned. Wait, nobody here played blitz. "Uh ... it's about this big," she held her hands out, "blue, little spikes on it but, like, ones that won't hurt you if you're just holding it. You bounce it off things and it comes back to you."

[dark_slippy_thing]

"A ball."

Valentine had to take a moment to get his head around that one. But really, what better weapon was there for a juggler than a ball? "So, what, it comes back on its own, does it?"

[the_merriest]

"You bet!" Rikku bounced a little. "And it's got a sleepstrike, so whatever it hits is gonna be taking a nap. Plus it's got evasion on there so it can actually dodge for you. Burned a teleport sphere on it."

[dark_slippy_thing]

Valentine was smiling and nodding.

"I'm going to pretend I know what you're talking about, alright?"

He might have dug his elbow into the pillow that was covering the mask he had stashed under there.

Yes, it was entirely possible that he was going off the deep end.

"So, you're okay with this 'run off and save a world' mess, then?"

[the_merriest]

"What I'm talking about," Rikku said carefully, "is the fact that that weapon can sometimes sense incoming attacks and teleport you six inches out of the way. So hold onto it."

She shrugged, considering his other question. "I'm ... I mean. It's not my dream weekend or anything, and I had to move some plans around. But you need people, and your world is kinda dying, and ... this is what I do. I mean, I'm good at it. Yeah? So ... it wouldn't be right to not help. Besides, you're a friend." She smiled, a bit wryly. "So that's kinda that."

[dark_slippy_thing]

...
"I like that ball."

He fell silent for a moment, sighing and looking downward toward the floor. "You know, I still don't want to do this. I wouldn't expect anyone to want to do this. Except for Will. But Will is quite possibly insane. Too much spandex getting to her head, you understand? And I have reasons to stay behind, I think, beyond that I really would rather not die this weekend. And I..." He looked up with a wry smile of his own. "I owe you for this. Thank you."

[the_merriest]

"You're welcome," she said softly. "Besides, some day, when I'm all rich and famous, it'll be because a young director dared to take a chance on a leading lady who knew in her heart she could be ... a chicken."