R i k k u ★

Not A Drill || Paine;

There was something to be said about university fire alarms, and that was that they never went off at a convenient time. Usually, it was when everyone decided to sleep, or start cooking— For Rikku, however, she just so happened to be taking a shower when the shrill alarm bounced off the walls, forcing her into such a panic that she nearly slipped over the wet tile in her naked haste. Talk about disasterrific. Having enough decency to wrap a fluffy towel around herself, she skidded out of the shower stall to follow the rest of the gathering crowd toward the exit— an exit that guaranteed the bite of November’s unforgiving chill, something that the blonde had completely forgotten about. Wincing and grasping the towel closer to herself, she scurried over to the closest patch of available space away from the dormitories, scalp already tingling from the cold.

Okay, so maybe showering at nearly three in the morning wasn’t such a great idea, but it’s not like she anticipated a fire alarm so late— Grumbling in Al Bhed, she wondered who it was this time that decided to set off the smoke alarm with their terrible popcorn microwaving abilities. Gippal? Probably. At this point, she slowly became aware of someone else not too far from her spot, clad in nothing but a sports bra and boy shorts.

Paine.

She stood there, smoking a cigarette, looking all the more indifferent to the world. Rikku didn’t care for tobacco at all, preferring to protest the behavior but the way Paine was holding it made her forget that she was sort of blatantly staring at the girl while practically naked herself. Glancing away as inconspicuously as possible (which for Rikku, was not at all), she shivered and hugged her obnoxiously sunshine yellow towel closer, wishing she didn’t have to be a dripping mess right now of all times. Maybe she didn’t notice. Right? Right.

Well, it hadn’t been like she was sleeping, or anything.

Oh wait, she was.

Grunting, she dragged herself from the dorm issued mattress, eyes still clouded in sleep as she dragged her hand across the desk to grab a few smokes and a lighter on her way out. She kept one between her lips, the rest tucked gingerly in her bra for later. She knew how long these things lasted, and she wasn’t keen on waiting outside in the chilled early morning. She would have stayed in altogether if not for the loud blaring sirens… and the last time she’d gotten suspended for trying to sleep through it.

How was she supposed to know the firemen actually checked every room? Nobody told her that was actual protocol. Especially in a college! Some idiot probably just lit up a joint in their room. Like Gippal. Tough shit.

Speaking of, the alarms had already sounded, so her cigarette was lit before she left the building. What was the harm in that? It’s not like anyone had taken note, all too weary from just being woken up or being unable to climb in bed. So she puffed at the little stick as she made her way downstairs and into the cold November morning.

No surprise; it hadn’t been just her building, but the entire campus lit up from the alarms likely from one single source. If she found them, she would kill them herself. Nobody wanted to be awake right now, especially her who could hardly fall asleep on a good day.

Paine scanned the area finally as she took the last drag of her cigarette and quickly stomped it out with the sole of her foot. Students sleeping on curbs, some chatted quietly amongst themselves. One seemed to be readjusting the blanket on a sleeping figure. Suddenly she stopped, eyes catching a very particular blonde in her sights.

She lit up another cigarette and walked over.

“Now, how stupid do you feel for showering at three a.m.?”

#HOW THE EFF DO YOU DELETE THE PREVIOUS POST I MADE #A WILD RIKKU APPEARS #gdi you i should be sleeping not reviving years old fanfiction mah gadd #im so rusty SO RUSTY!!! CUNNO #fynneun

Rikku jumped with a bit of a squeak, wishing she hadn’t grabbed a towel that proudly screamed “LOOK AT ME AND MY POOR LIFE CHOICES!” in such panicked haste-- too late now! She’d caught plenty of other students staring at her in amusement toward her predicament, but the blonde wasn’t really embarrassed about her lack of attire or anything like that-- she’d never been one to feel self conscious over her body. She’d probably be laughing with her classmates the next day over her mishap, anyway. It just kinda, y’know, super sucked that she was a few sore seconds away from turning into an icicle thanks to her incredible timing.

Yet with Paine, Rikku found herself flushing under the scrutiny. “Hey! How was I supposed t’know the fire alarm was gonna go off, huh?” The blonde huffed, curling bright yellow nails into the matching fabric of her poorly chosen attire. Even her fluffy towel was beginning to feel a bit crispy from the chill. She wondered if she could just make a run for it back in the building now, and never look Paine in the face again-- what would kill her first, hypothermia or embarrassment? If the blonde were wearing her beads, they’d definitely be clacking from all the violent shivering she was doing. “Maybe you’re the one who set it off, hmmmm?” Rikku pointedly acknowledged, finding it hard not to focus on the smoke trailing from the girl’s cigarette. ‘Cause it’s, y’know, bad, the blonde internally affirmed, not ‘cause she’s making it look super hot or anything, nope, nuh-uh. She found herself fidgeting, bare toes curling into frigid grass as if she could physically anchor herself from her own wandering thoughts. Can they just let us back in already?!!

Debt Drunk { Rikku }

If he had a drink, he would be spitting it out. He never expected her to even consider it– wasn’t sure he’d be prepared to share a room with someone he didn’t even know– a girl he didn’t know.

Ever since girls suddenly weren’t allowed to go to sleepovers with the boys when they reached the fourth grade, it had become abnormal to consider sharing a room with a girl in a completely platonic way. Leave that to parents to completely ruin the idea of friendship between opposite genders. But this could work, right? It kind of had to. They would figure it out along the way, and like she said, it wasn’t like it would be a permanent thing. He could even help her find a place for the new semester!

Yeah… this would work out. She seemed like someone he could handle better than the rest of his roommates, anyway.

Would he have to start sleeping with a shirt on?

“Alright.” He said finally, a sigh escaping after. “We just gotta push all my stuff to one side of the room. I wasn’t sure what to do with all the space, anyways.” The only person with a room bigger than him was Axel, and he’d already given up half the space to his own friend. Since they were the first two in the house, they naturally got first pick.

Though he was surprised when Larxene didn’t bitch her way into one of their rooms when she moved in.

“You got anymore luggage?”

#college AU;#yasounoshirabe

“Oh, yeah! Just a little more!”

She scrambled back into a standing position, running off to the door to try and get the rest of what she had left behind. Rikku was actually sort of relieved when he consented, despite realizing that her situation was much worse off after stepping foot in this house. It gave her time, at least...time to figure out how to fix this mess without worrying where to sleep in the meantime. The perfect scenario would have been that none of this would have even happened, but she wasn’t exactly the type to linger over grievances. She felt pretty optimistic about the whole thing, honestly. When she opened the door, three suitcases were waiting for her-- in addition to the two they had brought in. She had been expecting her own bedroom, after all, so who could blame her? One of them was strictly business and nearly bulging at the seams, zippers straining against whatever the blonde had managed to shove in there-- which happened to be just about as much stuff from her personal workshop that she could physically manage before raising suspicion in airport security. She came here for engineering, after all. Of course, the rest of it was definitely designated to far too many pairs of shoes, accessories, clothing and scarves. “Er,” She shot him a sheepish grin, “Y’think it’ll fit...?”

#off for the night! i have work in 6 hours #hahahhhh...ouch #7 am morning is gonna suck @_@#thief's thoughts;

Debt Drunk { Rikku }

“You’re not pitching a tent,” Her groaned, wondering why he was even concerned about this girl’s living situation. It didn’t have to involve him if he didn’t want it to, but the semester would begin in a little over a week and if they didn’t accommodate her, she’d probably wind up homeless.

“I can’t think of an easy solution to this, hangover or not.”

Head slumped on the edge of the couch– kick Rox out and bunk with Axel? Except Roxas actually paid them to stay there. He was too afraid to bother Vexen, and Zexion and him wouldn’t be able to share the same living space without one of them being driven mad by the other.

And he was not sharing with Larx.

The Garage? Spiders. Basement? Even more Spiders– and flooding. The living room wouldn’t be feesable. There was no place for her to put her things, and zero ability for privacy. The house had a pretty open floor plan and Vexen was unbelievably creepy.

Axel would draw on her face.

“I’d give you half my room, but I have a feeling you’re not really inclined to rooming with a guy.”

Much less, housing with three of them.

#truth is shes not gonna get anywhere else #hua hua hua #yasounoshirabe #college AU;

Well, she thought it would’ve been a great idea. Rikku decided to consider his offer-- after all, what other options did she have? He’d already painted Larxene as some sort of serial killer, and while she had no idea who he was he at least seemed nice enough so far. It wasn’t like Rikku wasn’t used to living with males; she’d shared a living space almost her entire life with two guys who had enough testosterone to blow the roof off (and one time, it had literally come off. Brother was never allowed to mess with chemistry kits inside a walled structure again). He might be a stranger, but she was sure she could handle whatever came her way, as long as he wasn’t actually a murderer...or something. “I mean, it doesn’t have to be like a permanent thingie, right? I can try and talk to ‘em, and figure out getting a new place and just stay here for now, y’know?”

“Tch… druikrd cu.” She smirks.

#fynneun #takes TWO to tango #hue

“Still... just ‘cause y’agreed to it, doesn’t mean it’s all my fault~”

Debt Drunk { Rikku }

Shit.

“… No, We didn’t. Lemme just–” He snatched the papers up from her hands and started fishing through them. Everything was official, but they didn’t even give her their names. Weren’t they supposed to throw the tenants their school emails? They did that with them as a formality even though they were all friends. So what the hell was this? Who did they forget was on the lease they just renewed before the last semester ended?

He couldn’t just… leave her outside though. He waved her in, reaching down to grab one of her bags himself before walking down the short hallway and into the living room. “Just uh, sit here for a second. Unless Larxene pops in. Then you might wanna run.” And he was gone, back down the hall and up the stairs, digging through his room for the lease papers he packed away those few months ago.

How could the school screw this up? This was… Unbelievable. This would affect everyone in the house’s year.

He returned down the stairs a minute later and held out the paper in front of her, all 3 of his roommates names on the paper along with his. “This school is a wreck with records, but look. There’s already four people on the lease. The rooms are full.” And Roxas spent nearly the entire school year bunking in Axel’s room. Vexen and Zexion were working on their chemistry thesis together, And with how many others crashed on the couch some days, there really wasn’t a place for her.

“I’d suggest Larxene’s room, but it’s small… and I’d never willingly send someone to their death like that.”

#yasounoshirabe #IT'S OKAY RIKKUS JUST GONNA FUCKING PITCH A TENT OUTSIDE #AND HAVE A BONFIRE EVERY NIGHT #and crY #no LARXENE PleASe #college AU;

“Um....” She left her unvoiced question hanging, watching in confusion as he bolted off, eyes trailing over some posters decorating the wall closest to her. After a few moments she allowed herself to adjust to the darker lighting, but maybe it would have been better not to take it all in right away.

“Whoa, talk about disasterrific--” This wasn’t really the kind of dig she was expecting, and the blonde was pretty sure the living room mostly resembled a warzone rather than a place for...well, living. When he came back down, she took the papers with a quizzical frown. “Y’gotta be kiddin’ me-- wait, really?!” She looked over his again, then hers, and then his. No way. This...this wasn’t happening, was it? The time it would take to go through the college again and fight for her money back and then find a new place, knowing how hard it was just to get this one... school would have already happened by then, and she knew she was definitely too far from home to have her family be of any help. With a defeated groan, the blonde slumped to the ground and shook her head. “Maybe I can take the couch?” She proposed, not really keen on the idea of whoever this Larxene was-- he made it sound like she was a chocobo getting sent off to a chocobo eater. Rikku wasn’t really a fan of getting eaten through hypothetical situations, or murdered, in real ones. “Ooh! Or I can set up a tent outside, and it’ll be like a biiiig camping adventure....except, for a whole semester... that wouldn’t be so bad, y’know?”

“Well, if you don’t thinks so… I can leave.”

#translation: i'm an enabler-- tumblr messed up the link thing so i cant do the translation how i used to oi #fynneun

“Hey--! That’s no fair!” Huffs for a second. “E's yh ahypman.”

Debt Drunk { Rikku }

…. Wait, what?

Living… here? But they had a full lease. The school couldn’t have possibl– No, they could have. And they would. The school had done this to their students so many times, from classes to housing to tuition payments. They’d sucked a few out of him and tried to act like he hadn’t paid them. There was no way they had the room, and it wasn’t surprising the school had no idea, either. They just didn’t have the space in such a small house. Especially with how often their friends crashed on the couches.

“You have got to be kidding me right now…”

He sighed, running calloused fingers over his brow. There was no way he was in the right state of mind to figure out just how the school screwed this one up– not that he was surprised in the least. And the idea that they would fix their own mess almost had him laughing. So they had to figure this out on their own.

“Look,” He muttered, eyes focusing on the girl in front of him. “Did you already pay them for this?”

He wasn’t exactly sure how to break this to her, and he wasn’t just going to turn the girl away. She was promised a place to stay, and well… if they couldn’t get her a new one, then… She’d get a spot in their place. Even though he knew how that was going to turn out.

Please, please don’t leave her stuck with us.

#yasounoshirabe #college AU;

“Duh, y’gotta pay first before they let ‘ya in, see?” She took this moment to ruffle her papers toward him, just in case he really wanted proof. What was the big issue? Maybe they didn’t notify the house or something? “Didn’t y’get some sorta’ email about it?” After all, that’s what a college is supposed to do, right? Her state university never really had any issues with housing, and Rikku pretty much assumed that would be the same for here as well. Either way, the jet lag combined with the exhaustion of lugging all her stuff over here was putting her in a bit of an impatient mood. She just wanted to put all her stuff in her room and call it a day, and maybe skype her cousin when she got the chance. Yunie would definitely be hearing from her soon.

“Says on the big fancy paper I’m supposed to be the fourth person here-- They didn’t exactly tell me it was gonna be co-ed, but that’s not a big deal, y’know?”

She tugged at one of her bright yellow suitcases, eager to get inside. “So y’gonna let me in now?”

“… Rikku is an enabler.”

“Whadd’ya meaaan, enabler?” Cheeky grin at full blast.

#fynneun #love me #OwO

Debt Drunk { Rikku }

A week ago, he may have been optimistic. A week ago, he may have walked through the front door of their student issued housing with a smile on his face and an anticipation to catch up with the friends he missed over the summer.

A week ago he had learned better than to believe in optimism.

If Zexion hadn’t left, maybe he wouldn’t have come back to this. If Zexion had come home before him, it was possible the sudden shift in mood would not have occured when he stepped past that threshold into the chaos his friends had thrown their house into. But without him, demands to keep anything the slightest semblance of clean hadn’t been heard, and the living room was a wreck, garbage was everywhere, and he wasn’t even sure how the stairs were usable with the amount of dirty laundry trailing down them. The sink was filled to the brim with dirty dishes, the garbage overflowed, and half the fridge was filled with expired food.

The past week had been spent recruiting Roxas, Sora, and Kairi {all of whom did not live there] to help clean up the house while Axel mysteriously went MIA and Larxene refused to put her hand in the filth she helped create.

So when all was said and done, they had a few drinks. And Demyx drunkenly punched Axel in the face when he walked in acting like he had the right to ask Demyx for anything right now. Maybe he had over reacted. Maybe he was a little drunk. But he still thought Axel deserved it, even if he was ignoring him now.

He groaned at the knock on the door, trying unsuccessfully to nurse the pulsing headache from a shitty hangover as well as the ache in his knuckles when he swung the door open to find some petite blonde standing on the front porch.

“What’s up?”

#yasounoshirabe #here we go #college AU;

With a grin bright enough to rival the surely unwelcoming sunlight pouring into the house, Rikku-- still out of breath from lugging five suitcases from the campus center to here-- paid his obvious disgruntlement no mind. “Hiya! Um...Campus says I’m supposed to live here now, soooo...” She peered to his side with housing papers in hand, trying to make out anything discernible from her future living space, “...Lemme in?” She wasn’t really expecting to live with any guys, but it didn’t bother her-- the only one who’d surely have a fit was her brother and Pops, though...they didn’t have to know. They still acted like she was fifteen, when in reality she was already nearing the last two years of her college career. To be honest, the Al Bhed native felt excited to get out of her local area. Sure, she’d miss the food, the culture...but getting away from family would be a relaxing break for once. She didn’t expect to be spending her time at Besaid University, but when her favorite (and the country’s most accredited) professor for engineering bailed from Bikanel, he pretty much took the entire program with him. And hey, they had a pretty interesting chemistry program too.

How bad could it be, really?

“--Yikes! That’s a whole lotta’ dust, huh...”

#blows months of dust off of this blog #i see some people are still following me-- a lot actually i'm surprised!#well hey #this is me tentatively stepping back into RP after so long #i wont be suuuuper active because i now have a job #and other IRL things to attend to #but send me a message if youd like to reconnect or even just say hi!#@_@;#im gonna have to revamp my theme oi #thief's thoughts;

Mission Time: Sleepover!

fallal

Surely, Rikku was a force to be reckoned with. Her spiraling gaze and eager expression left the brunette slack-jawed, thoughts ruminating over how wrong this could possibly go. If they really had the house to themselves…

It wasn’t like she had to get drunk. She would just have a few drinks and call it a night.

With a solid look of hesitation, Yuna let out a sigh and grasped the bottle in her hand. Only once before had the brunette ingested anything alcoholic, and she could remember all too well the fiery burn of the Al Bhed drink as it ran down her throat. This would be no different— no, worse.

Well there was no going back after this.

with one final breath she put the bottle to her mouth and drank.

#eff this editor for real #fallal

Whoa, she actually did it! With Rikku, she might consider the possible consequences in the wake of her actions, but for the most part? That kind of stuff really just didn't matter if the prospect of fun was right in front of her face. And that kind of fun just so happened to be a nice, big bottle of Vena. Pops was pretty clueless when it came to missing alcohol from the basement, so the blonde had zero concerns on being found out-- if anything, her father probably thought he'd drank too much and forgotten about it. "My turn, my turn!" Snatching the bottle back from her cousin, she managed to keep a fairly neutral face when tipping it back-- though to say she wasn't trying to keep from grimacing would have been a lie. Maybe she did want to impress Yunie, just a little. After all, it was an Al Bhed brand and just what kind of Al Bhed would she be if she couldn't handle the heat, anyway?

"Did'ya know they really make this stuff with fire? It's like some really old tradition or somethin'-- neat, huh?" The bottle was urged back toward the brunette, a not-so-silent indication to keep drinking until they started to really feel it kick in.

Mission Time: Sleepover!

fallal

Oh, so that’s what she had been whining about. She gave the bottle a scrutinizing glance, realizing Rikku intended to spend this sleepover a little less than sober.

It only took her another moment to realize that meant Rikku intended to get her to drink, as well.

"… Are you sure this is a good idea?" Not that the blonde could go through with her plan now, but still… They weren’t quite old enough… yet. Or well, Rikku wasn’t, but if one of them weren’t able to, then none of them were. She wasn’t keen on being responsible when someone possibly found about Rikku’s inebriation. What if uncle Cid found out!

Then again, everyone knew how easily Rikku could manipulate, well, almost anyone. But she wouldn’t fall for it this time! Rikku had another thing coming if she was thinking of using her cousin’s age to procure any kind of alcoholic drink.

Really, though… without Paine around, Yuna was doomed.