revivalproject | [Open] Not His First End Of The World

Entry tags:

[Open] Not His First End Of The World

WHO: Reeve Tuesti, Richie Tozier, Open
WHERE: Temba, The Warrens
WHAT: Volcano Event Catch All
WHEN: August
WARNINGS: N/A

I. Help I've Fallen And I Can't Get Up | Closed to Richie

It wasn't that Reeve had meant to ignore the evacuation warnings. In fact, he'd taken them very seriously, especially because the warning had come from Jon. The man knew things and Reeve trusted the warning of his friend quite seriously. No, for him the problem came from the fact that there were earthquakes. Not even because they made him nervous, giving him reminders of what it had been like when Midgar had been collapsing under Meteor.

No, the issue was how easily Reeve got sidetracked in trying to save as much of his work, his designs, and his tools as possible. He himself would get a few bags and a small crate of supplies. Mini would get another two smaller bags of his own, ones that would be packed with the more fragile papers. Papers that he was carefully slipping into the cat's satchel along with some design books for the wood working and...

And he didn't see it coming. The quake shakes and trembles, he's immediately thrown off balance before he can run, and...

When he wakes up it's with the ground still again, his body pinned under a heavy shelf.

"Reeve!" Mini was saying, his voice filled with sorrow, as the little construct tried in vain to lift the shelving unit Reeve was trapped under.

"Mini. How-?" he starts to croak out. And frowns. Long enough for his throat to be dry.

"Hours," his feline companion said. "Ya communicator is trapped with yah. Ah cannae get to it! I cannae get help! We're runnin' out of time."

Reeve groaned. Because of course this would happen to him.

"Guess Karma's finally found me."

II. They Slice Metal Like Cheese

"How do you think they're doing it?"

Reeve Tuesti spent more hours here than he perhaps should, legs carefully folded under him so that he wouldn't put extra strain on his sprained ankle. The one that was kicked up on... well, not a pillow, but rather on Mini's back. The feline construct was sitting on the floor himself, his head tilted to the side, so Reeve's ankle could be supported on a fuzzy shoulder, cushioned by Reeve's own suit jacket.

In a way, it's almost adorable. Maybe. Unless you're worried about the cat. Or how closely the feline is watching the Funfronds darting around, his tail lashing from side to side in clear feline interest.

"Maybe thay're tha ones who made this place?" Mini suggested, watching as one Funfrond skirted around him. His hand flexed for a moment before going very still, as Reeve sighed.

"Neither of us believe that," Reeve reminded his companion. "And you know you shouldn't upset our hosts with that sort of behavior."

"Maybe ya shudnae have made meh feline then," Mini countered, his tail still flicking. "Cannae help mah nature."

III. Sauna? Sauna.

Bad news: cleanliness. It was an issue that they really needed to take care of and it was far from easy to expect the limited amount of showers he was aware that Dustin kid was working on to account for all of them all the time. And how, Reeve wondered, was the kid going to solve the heat problem? Well, honestly, he figured he'd leave the kid to it because the work would require interaction with those little plant creatures and Reeve couldn't understand them at all.

Good news: there were always ways to improvise solutions. A small collection of cloths gathered from that kind weaving woman, a few stools put together from the scraps of wood he'd managed to collect from other people's supply boxes that were empty, and two glowing stones set into the metal bracelet at his wrist.

The final step had been stringing up one of the rush curtains the little people made and then setting himself another stool just outside of the room. He rested there, eyes half closed, head leaned back against the wall, while Mini sat in his lap and waved at anyone approaching.

"Need some sauna time?" Mini asked with a wave. "Nae better way ta pass some time and get clean! And entertained! Magically powered it is!"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Of course you did."

Outside, the air is close and triggering almost claustrophobia as Richie inhales it. Like breathing through a straw. A smaller quake rattles the ground and he holds tight to Reeve's waist to make sure he stays upright. In the distance he thinks he sees...

"Is it glowing over there?"

The arm around his waist definitely helps keep Reeve stable when the tremor comes, and he has to close his eyes to hold against the pain.

"Is it?" he asks. "Sorry, I'm keeping my eyes on my feet."

Richie squints and yeah. Yeah there's some sort of light around the perimeter of town. It's not molten stone though so on the whole a win.

He shifts the weight on his frame and hopes that let's them move faster.

"Yeah? They both still there? Doing tricks? I'm missing all the fun..."

Okay, that's a whole ass thing for there to be, but Reeve is intent on his feet.

"Definitely doing tricks," he agrees. "One step at a time."

At least while he's looking at them they're going one step at a time without falling over.

"Yeah, that is pretty much the best tricks I could come up for them to do."

All they needed was a quake to make them fall on their faces.

"Mini, you doing alright back there?" The light at the edge of town was growing a bit. The forcefield, right? Yeah. That would probably be helpful. Didn't feel great out here. "Almost there..."

"Oh, I'm sure I could devise others," He says and his tone is... laughing. Probably teasing. Better not to think of it.

"Ah'm good," Mini promises, doing his best to carry the bags. "Ah just need ya ta focus on him. Ah can be replaced. Ya fleshy things cannae."

Richie snorts a laugh and gives Reeve's hip a soft smack. "Don't you go tempting me with a good time when you're not gonna deliver, man."

"Alas," Reeve says with a light chuckle, "with my ankle so dearly compromised, I can only tempt and fail to deliver."

"Wait, are you telling me you're just gonna be a tease? Sorry, man. I am gonna have to leave you here. I was only saving someone who put out."

Richie shoots Reeve a wink before looking back at Mini.

"Drop the bags, bud. Survival of the sluttiest out here."

"Oh my dear friend, have you known be to be anything else?" Reeve laughs at Richie's comment. Of course he's going to be a tease. He's going to be exactly what Richie needs him to be.

And in this moment, they both very clearly need to be quite amusing to themselves to manage to make any of this less stressful than it properly is.

"Ah dunnae need ta drop anything but my hearing when tha two of ya are like this!"

Mini rushes to catch up some, and he's clearly not dropping the bags.

"He gets his stubbornness from me."

Richie snorts another laugh and reaches up to flick at his ear. "I don't know if you've always been a tease. You have your moments."

He glances back at Mini and chuckles at the poor thing. "Why do you hate friendship, Mini? Tsk, tsk. You should be happy we get along so well."

"Mah issue is more with tha way you two are flirting right now," Mini says, rolling his eyes. "Focus!"

Reeve actually starts snickering at that.

Reeve laughing is music to Richie's ears. "Flirting? Us?! Do you hear this slander, Reeve? Accusing us of flirting in the middle of an evacuation. I would never be so reckless, Mini."

He nudges Reeve's shoulder.

"I don't know, man. Came all this way and I'm just getting abused. Raw deal."

It is not reasonable to be amused in this moment. But he is perhaps on the edge of hysterics from the pain, the threat, and Richie's intoxicating presence.

"Or heedless of danger, clearly," Reeve agrees, still giggling. "Truly the cat is a cruel taskmaster."

Mini just groans and actually passes them.

"Oh, babe. You're getting delirious, aren't you," Richie asks. He's half concerned and half amused because what the fuck is he supposed to do about it right now? The air is like bubbling soup and they still have ground to cover before making it to the mines. Laughing is actually the best reaction they could be having to this shit, right now.

"If you laugh enough to pass out and make me carry you, I'm gonna demand a backrub or something. Warning you now."

"Not delirious. It's all just so ridiculous. I've faced a meteor bearing down on me before. And now a volcano?"

It's all just a little improbable.

"I give good back rubs."

"Oh do you? God, I knew this would pay off for me."

Richie snickers a little. "Mini is gonna lock the mine doors shut on us if we keep talking like this. Maybe I should just ask you to tell me about the meteor. No flirting there."

"It was always meant to pay off for you," he says with a laugh.

Do the mines even have proper doors? Reeve doesn't really know about all of that. He just cares about getting moving.

"The meteor almost destroyed my world. Definitely not flirt worthy."

Richie smiles at Reeve and gives him a little squeeze from where he was holding him around the middle.

"Alright. Meteor is a downer. What do we have that's not flirting and not deep trauma? Uh... Hey! Bright side, here: after everything is done you'll probably have a lot of work to do with the city!"

"I don't suppose you could just tell me joeks as we walk. Though... That last part almost sounds like one. I'm never going to make progress if we keep knocking down my blocks."

The repairs are going to require so much effort.

"Jokes? Oh, I got jokes. Why did the chicken cross the road? Or...wait. Let me make it good for you: why did the...uh. Chocobo cross the road? That's the birds, right?"

He remembers thinking they sounded like chocolate something. Has to be this.

"That's the birds," he agrees with a smile. "Why did the chocobo cross the road?"

He's proud the guy actually remembered that actually.

"He heard there was a hot guy there and wanted to go visit." He beams and goes to the next joke. "Knock knock."

"That's a horrible joke, unless you are the chocobo," Reeve laughs. "Who's there?"

"THE CHOCOBO!"

Edited 2023-09-15 20:57 (UTC)

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject