The Abode of Valentine and Naminé, Monday Evening

[dark_slippy_thing]

Valentine had gone and gotten himself a job.

It was a good job. A strong job. A decent job. A job to take pride in. A job that Valentine would pay the bills on. A job that would allow him to bring home food and new clothing and a million other things that he'd never been able to do when his sole source of income was juggling on the sidewalks. It was a job that made him square his shoulders and say,

"Valentine, you're a bloody amazing waiter."

Even if his first day at work had proven to be... slightly catastrophic. His employer had given him a second chance, and the next day had gone far more smoothly. Less boom, fire, volcanoes, more "Yes sir, may I take your order sir," and "No, ma'am, that doesn't have to come with the capers. Might I recommend the cracked peppercorns instead?"

Being a juggler, a performer, and a lover of fine food, day two of the new job had proven to be far, far more amenable than day one had been. At the rate he was going, he was in line for a raise - a raise! And perhaps someday, he might even strive to own a fine restaurant of his own. One had to dream big dreams, after all. It simply wouldn't do for him to settle with considering himself to be merely the greatest waiter Brighton had ever seen.

This accomplishment piling up onto a dozen other fantastic moments he'd had lately, Valentine settled himself in the somewhat broken-down loveseat that he and Naminé had inherited (and made a note that he'd have to replace that! With his own money!), and he picked up the telephone and dialed Fandom.

There were people he hadn't spoken to since before he left, after all.

[Nfb for distance. But open for anyone who might like a phone call from a Very Important Man.]

Comments

[the_merriest]

Rikku could get different ring tones for everybody who called her cell. But that would kill the surprise. What fun would that be?

"Hellooooooooooooooo?"

[dark_slippy_thing]

"Well, hulloooooooo, yourself." Valentine was going to pull the phone away from his ear for a moment. Just in case. Better safe than sorry, after all.

Rikku had herself an impressive set of lungs when she was excited, he remembered.

[the_merriest]

"Valentine!!!!!"

Pulling the phone away was a very smart move. Full marks on that.

"How are you!? How've you been!?? You never sent me your number! Dude! Hi! How are you!?! HI!"

[dark_slippy_thing]

That there, that was a chuckle which started off faint and grew a little stronger as the receiver was returned to the side of his head.

"I've been doing well, Rikku. Brighton is a very different place from Fandom, mind you. A little more grey, far fewer trees. The cupcakes haven't filled me with a desire to direct anything lately." He considered for a moment, and then murmured conspiratorially into the phone. "I think the gulls on the waterfront are out to get me."

They always eyed him oddly when he had fish and chips.

"How have you been? Has Fandom been treating you well?"

[the_merriest]

"I thought it was fish you couldn't trust?" Rikku asked, bouncing on her toes. "I've never been to Brighton. You should totally get better cupcakes, because we need to get to Fandom Chicken -- uh -- this would work better if I remembered what number we were on, and could just go 'dude, we never made Fandom Chicken That-Next-Number.'"

Sigh.

"I'm good! Everyone's leaving, you guys so aren't allowed to just leave like that."

[dark_slippy_thing]

"Five, I think. Or was it four? I'm afraid I've lost count. In any case, I might have difficulty filming more, with my entire cast and crew across an ocean in Virginia. Did you know there was an ocean past all of that water off the shore of the island? It would have been fantastic if somebody had gone and informed me."

Valentine was having difficulty getting his head around all of that bloody water, clearly.

"There's always homecoming," he decided after a moment's pause. "I'll visit then, I'll make a point of it. Good luck trying to pick me out in a crowd, though."

It might be easier than he thought. He'd be the one boggling, wide-eyed, at everything he caught with his peripheral vision.

[the_merriest]

Blink. Blink. Blink.

"Um, Valentine?" Rikku said. "You ... I mean this nicely? But you kinda ... stick out. It's good, it's a good thing, I just, I've never had trouble ... finding you in a crowd."

[dark_slippy_thing]

"And that would be because I was the only one around wearing a proper face," Valentine agreed, and then he chuckled some more.

It was still odd, feeling his skin crinkle up at the corners of his eyes when he smiled. Like everything was alive and could shift about and move. Which, of course, it could. But he'd only been without a proper face for a short while, now. It would take far longer for the novelty to wear off.

"I don't imagine anyone would know me to see me now. Naminé very nearly didn't, actually."

[the_merriest]

This was a silence filled with more blinking.

"Wouldn't ..." Oh, the blinking. "She ... what happened to your face!? Did it get damaged or something?"

He'd taken the masks off before, and there were more underneath, so if one got messed up, he could just ... go for ... the next one? Right?

She had no idea how those worked.

[sarcasm-guy.livejournal.com]

Sokka still wasn't entirely comfortable with the concept of telephones. All the same, answering them properly wouldn't be any fun.

"Thank you for calling the Magical Awesomeful House of Fish! If you'd like a fish, just make a wish!"

[dark_slippy_thing]

"And what if I wish for a bathtub of fish? One can never have too many fish, you know. Except for those untrustworthy sorts."

It was important to have this matter cleared up before actual conversation could take place.

[sarcasm-guy.livejournal.com]

Sokka frowned. That voice was VERY familiar... He was sure to recognize it eventually.

"Yeah, you know how those fish can be -- one moment they're in a bathtub, and the next they're all... untrustworthy on you and stuff. ...But we don't have any of the untrustworthy sort. I checked."

[dark_slippy_thing]

"Not even the flying untrustworthy ones? Those are the worst, you know." Valentine cracked a grin and shook his head. "They get away from you so very easily, and then all you're left with are the non-whip low-fat soy lattes that they were hiding, and even those are terribly fishy, afterward."

[sarcasm-guy.livejournal.com]

"VALENTINE!" Sokka shouted gleefully -- hopefully not in a "hey, I just now recognized your voice" sort of tone. "How've you been?!?!?? With the you and the Naminé and her not being sucked into someone else and stuff?!?!"

[dark_slippy_thing]

"My face is all wrong!" This was said quite conversationally. Conversationally, of course, meaning about as drama-queen-like as Valentine could possibly manage. "But Naminé and I are doing well, I believe. She's been drawing, and I've gone and gotten myself a job- a job, can you believe it? And this is all Real."

Real.

[sarcasm-guy.livejournal.com]

"How wrong?" Sokka asked. "Wrong-er than usual? I mean, I hate to tell you this, but your face is pretty weird."

He frowned and shook a finger at the phone, because of course Valentine could see that. "And of course it's real! You've ALWAYS been real -- you and Snowmonster both!"

[dark_slippy_thing]

"I've gone and lost my pinholes," Valentine pouted. "My entire proper face is somewhere else entirely and I'm stuck with this other face that seems so very drab and wrong and there's skin all over it."

Ew.

"And I know we've been real. But now there isn't even room four doubt. It's her and myself in a flat in Brighton, and she can't tell me she's a Nobody, and I can't tell her I'm a drawing, because neither of us are. It's... bizarre, really."

Awesome. And bizarre.

[inthereflexes.livejournal.com]

Jack was trying to juggle. Trying to juggle and almost got it and why does it keep flying off like that and hey--oh. right. One of those Sell Phones. Cellular. Which didn't make sense, because it didn't look like that bacteria thing from the microscope, but who the hell thought they'd kill the Camaro so it was fine that this place did not make sense. "Hello?"

[dark_slippy_thing]

"I bet you still can't juggle," Valentine casually informed the voice on the other end of the phone.

Yes, he'd called Jack simply to mock him for lacking hand-eye coordination. He was thoughtful that way.

[inthereflexes.livejournal.com]

"I'm getting better," he declared. Once he got the phone situated the right way. "Up to four now. Easy."

He had only tried four once.

[dark_slippy_thing]

"Ah, very good," Valentine mused. "Then I suppose you won't be needing any advice that a seasoned juggler might have to offer."

Valentine did indeed have advice. And it was good advice. Really.

[inthereflexes.livejournal.com]

"Hey, a guy's an idiot if he doesn't take advice, right? Go ahead. Shoot."

Jack may be an idiot, but he's willing to learn.

[dark_slippy_thing]

"Well," Valentine said, as casually as possible, "the first thing you have to do is fill yourself a large vat of custard."

[inthereflexes.livejournal.com]

"Large vat of custard. What's custard? Is that like the stuff in donuts?" he asked, custard-specifically.

[dark_slippy_thing]

"That would be precisely what custard is," Valentine replied dryly, rolling his eyes and leaning back against his kitchen counter. "You'll need a large vat of it. Are you following me so far?"