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Dorm Log The Sequel To End All Sequels

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It was invitation enough. She moved herself in, kept her hands to herself for once, and simply took the time to look around. Had she ever been to Rhys' personal quarters? No. Not really. Usually she went to his office, or they met somewhere else on campus. Idly she was a little surprised he even let her in, but after their last heart-to-heart, she supposed she ranked somewhere above 'mere girl' to him.

"Rest is good for the people who need it," she reminded him, thinking back to how he'd thought himself nearly lacking practicality. She hoped it wasn't going to be a repeated conversation, though she didn't mind reminding him that he certainly was important to her. "I like it when you're well, honestly."

"Oh, you have no idea how highly I favor that condition over this one!" he laughed before moseying back on over to the mess he was making to clean it up some, since it was almost directly in the walkway, and that just wouldn't do. "Or maybe you do. There aren't many people out there who haven't got an idea of what it's like to catch sick."

On the ground there lay littered mostly slips of paper creased and folded in many spots. The rest of his apartment remained tidy and in shape, with the exception of items that has seen recent usage- a thermos here, a blanket spread out on the couch over there, reading material stacked on surfaces... inconsequential things. While he placidly gathered them up, he added, "But I'm more interested in what you've been up to lately. Anything new?"

"I can't say I've ever been genuinely sick," Nabooru admitted. "Played hooky, yes. Actually sick, no. Not really. It doesn't look like fun, though, and knowing me as I am, bed rest would drive me crazy. I always have to be doing something to occupy myself."

As she looked around, she thought over his abode, thinking it seemed a good representation of him. Rhys had always struck her as being rather neat and tidy. Not that she wasn't, because her own quarters were extremely organised, which almost seemed a surprise to herself. Her eyes turned back onto him and she thought about stopping him and scolding him over rest, but she refrained. He probably wouldn't like it much and were she in his position, she wouldn't have either.

"Well... I adopted a kid," she said, somewhat offhandedly, hiding a smile behind her right palm. "So I'm adjusting to motherhood. Trying to figure out how a good mother should be. What constitutes a good mother. That kind of thing. I haven't been really open about it, though. I'm pretty sure you're the first person I've even told."

It was like a cheeky wizard zoomed on by and froze time for a second there. Rhys stopped everything he was doing and stared at Nabooru with his mouth agape for a moment. Surprise started shining into unabashed delight and as his smile formed he exclaimed, "You did?! Oh, that's wonderful, Nabooru! Such big news! I can't believe it!"

He stood up, a little too fast, mind, and nearly fell over. He certainly let a few papers slip between his fingers! "Wh-what's their name? Can I meet them?"

Rhys looked too happy. That was her first thought and the most prominent one, even after it was joined by others. She didn't mind it, of course, but it was a little surprising and considering she hadn't known what to expect, she felt... minutely flustered.

Clearing her throat, she tried to ignore the way she felt so obvious. Looking aside, she motioned somewhat absentmindedly. Pit's adoption was actually a big deal to her. She loved that boy inside and out. The problem was that she couldn't say it and it was hard to express it. Even when she wasn't saying it to him. One step closer to adulthood and a few paces back when she realised how juvenile she seemed.

"Pit," she explained before looking back to the priest. "The angel. I'm sure you've met him before. I'd be a little surprised if he'd never shown up in the infirmary."

His brow raised and his voice pitched even further in his excitement and disbelief. "Him? Really?! Oh, wow... Adopting an angel... Can you believe that's possible? In a place like this, I suppose it's not out of the question." His surprise simmered down a little as he settled into a more calm mode. "I bet it's nice. He's always so full of life. I only wish I had even a fraction of the energy he has."

"I can't say it was something I really thought on a list of things to realistically do," the Gerudo admitted after a few moments of silent contemplation on her part. "I'm coming to find the impossible is possible here. You can travel from different periods of time to a place that makes it seem like time is irrelevant. I've never known what to think of it. If I can meet someone who says I should be dead in his world, I see no reason why I can't adopt an angel as my kid."

No matter how weird that sounded and she knew it sounded off the wall. But as she listened to Rhys continue, she couldn't hide the way she was smiling. "He's a good kid. Makes me think a little of myself. He's got the right amount of mischief in him. But his intentions are better than mine were at his age. Well... Not his age. You know what I mean."

So she decided to repeat herself, just for the reiteration. "He's a good kid. He makes me feel like I can be a better person than I was. Kind of the way you've helped me grow up a bit."

"Me?" His whole face popped open in surprise and he pointed to himself. He was honestly taken aback to hear that he had some positive impact on her development. "I'm glad to hear I've aided you, but... wow. I never noticed I was doing it." He straightened back up after flashing a sheepish grin and clasped his hands in front of him. "Well, I'm glad you have people in your life that make you feel that way! I bet Pit is overjoyed to be able to call you his mother."

"You make more an impact when you don't realise you're doing it," she agreed. "That way you're not not trying too hard to make said impact."

Shifting her weight between her feet, Nabooru folded her arms over her chest with some thought and nodded slowly when the healer continued. "He's never had a mother, I don't think. Something like it. The goddess he serves, but I'm not sure he views her as a mother." Then she grinned as she continued, "I've never been a mother before, though. It's a learning experience for us both. It's nice that he and I can learn together. I just want to be everything he needs me to be."

"He doesn't have a mother...? I suppose that makes sense, considering he's an angel and all," mused Rhys, realizing how obvious that conclusion must be. He raised a new smile at Nabooru again and added, "But, you know... That's how quite a few parent-child relationships start, isn't it? With the oldest child, anyway. Both the mother and the son are new to the experience and learn new things from each other. If you want to ask my opinion, I think you're more than cut out for the role." He said this calmly and easily, like he didn't have a single doubt in his mind.

"I can't say much on the parental front. I don't remember mine too well. There's not much in my childhood I really remember at all. More or less the idea that I didn't have one. But that's Gerudo tradition. Childhood is the equivalent of weapons training."

She shook her head, "So this boy, who said he's never had a mother, I don't want to raise him the way I was. So I have to find this medium. I can't be as hard on him as my superiors were to me. Pit isn't a Gerudo. I can teach him discipline, but the way he is - immature and amusing - that's the way I like him. I don't want to stifle him too much, but I think the balance won't be easy to get."

Scratching at the back of her head, Nabooru gave a sheepish smile, "You're right, though. I bet parents are always like that. You'll help me keep an eye on him, eh? I mean, when it comes to bruises and all of that. I can't be with him always."

In response, he chuckled lightly and added, "Now that's something I can definitely do. Even when you can't be there, you have plenty of other people who will be. He seems to make friends easily, so I'm sure he will be just fine. Especially when you're the one giving him an extra push!"

"I think he'll be just fine, too," Nabooru agreed with a thoughtful smile. "Pit's smart. Cute, too. He might not necessarily need me, but I can give him a taste of something he's never had before. And he can do the same for me. I think that's what I need."

I hope it's what he needs.

"Every little bit helps, too. Not sure if you remember your parents at all, but if you ever think I'm not being a proper image of a parent, you should let me know."

"Oh, don't you worry! I have plenty of experience with the best parents I could have asked for. Surely they taught me a thing or two about good parenting. I'm onto you!" he joked.

"But in all honestly, I doubt I'll have to step in much. Nonetheless, I'll do my best."

She blinked when she heard him. Really? It was hard not to try imagining what his parents must have been like. Judging on his own behaviour, she was going to assume they were polite and probably akin to well-to-do. Or something like it. Rhys hardly seemed the sort to really be on her 'primitive' level.

"No, I don't think you will either. I'm pretty sure I'll have things under control." Then she furrowed her eyebrows with thought, "Mind telling me a bit about your family?"

"I'd love to!" he said with such a shining face. "Oooh, where should I begin? My parents are a good start, considering I didn't have brothers or sisters. They're the sweetest, kindest people you could meet. They were patient with me all my life, even when I demanded so much care and attention from them due to my frail condition." His smile waned, but never left. "But, they're so old... Nowadays, they look more like grandparents. Then again, they had always been in their later years, even when I was a child."

Right. Because Rhys was a human. Or so Nabooru had thought. Was it a particular tradition to have children later in life? She had no real way of knowing and felt it wasn't particularly important enough for her to dive into.

"Would you say you're a lot like them? You call them sweet, kind, and patient. I'd say you're much the same way. It sounds like you inherited quite a few good traits from them." Although she was a little surprised to hear him call himself 'frail.' She knew it wasn't meant to be self-deprecating, but it was still difficult for her to hear without wanting to protest.

Rhys laughed a little at being compared to his parents. He thought it amusing. "You know something? I think you're very observant. When I take a look at it more closely, we do share a lot of similarities. They are the ones who raised me, after all."

Tapping into memories of his parents was uplifting, and he could recall their smiling faces clear as day. He often wrote to them, sent them money, and wondered how they were faring in their tidy, modest-sized cottage back in his home village.

"Ahh, but how I miss them. It's been a while since I've visited. But it's been even longer since I saw my dear uncle."

She wasn't about to argue the compliment. Nabooru knew she was observant. Gerudo training, naturally. She listened and watched a lot more than most people gave her credit for and any stupid acting on her part was purely a charade. It was safer to keep a low profile than it was to expose so much of her wit. After all, if someone decided she was someone to be reckoned with...

Well. She really liked her peace and quiet.

"This uncle of yours sounds important. Did he have a big impact on your life?"

"Oh, he had a ginormous impact!" spouted Rhys in all his rising ebullience. He could probably be spouting complete garble just then and yet his zeal would give away the affirmation of his response. "He was my role model! Since I couldn't go outside and do much, he would sometimes sit down with me and fill my ears with marvelous stories inspired by his life as a mercenary. I was always eager to listen. The way he spoke sucked me in and made me feel like I could come along for the action, even though all I really amounted to was an audience." The longer he described his past, the more even his enthusiasm became. "He was an amazing man. You see, I... always longed for adventure, when I was young. Stories were all I had."

'Ginormous.' It was a cute word to hear him use. But there was something equally cute about seeing Rhys act akin to a younger child. She'd always been of the belief that he was a bit of an older man. Obviously not as old as she was, but older than many of the other people in the academy. Except when he started to act endearing. Because then he just seemed like another of her excitable students.

And that wasn't a bad thing.

"What would you call this then?" She asked as she gestured around with her right hand. "This academy is as much an adventure as the desert sands where I come from. I think you've been on an adventure already and maybe just haven't realised it yet." But she understood what he was getting at. He had been too fragile to live the life of a mercenary and if something had happened to him, she wouldn't have gotten to meet him.

"So as long as we're both here, let's try to level out our peaceful times and the adventures we have, too."

"That was an insightful thing to say," awed Rhys without dropping his kindled verve in the slightest since he started talking about his family. "You're absolutely right, though. This academy has allowed me many adventures, even if they were, at times, unpleasant. Like being forced behind the wheel of a car and made to drive at maddening speeds..." Oh, uh. He sort of paled at that memory. But he shook it off quickly just to keep at what he was saying. "Just like the journeys I've been on with the Greil Mercenaries. My life isn't a dull one at all. And that... makes me happy to think about."

A car. She'd never driven one. Raiden had taken his when they visited the desert. It was as close as she got to one where buses weren't concerned. But she was still old-fashioned to the point where she preferred her feet taking her places. She had a hard time envisioning Rhys in a car, wind blowing through his radiant hair.

He probably hadn't been in a car like that.

"Your life is far from dull. Things here are a little more calm. Sometimes. And I guess you and I can use that calm sometimes. Better to take those moments of peace before you lose them."

He had definitely not been quite so cool like that. More like the opposite end of the spectrum; it had been a full-blown panic attack. Needless to say, Rhys avoided vehicular transportation whenever he possibly could.

"Peace is nice," agreed Rhys. "We really should thank our stars whenever we have little turbulence in our lives. It's something we take for granted until it's gone."

"Normally I'd agree with that," Nabooru began with a thoughtful look. She moved, so she might be able to tap her chin with some consideration. "I see less turbulence in my life, honestly. In fact, things are so relaxed for me that I'm beginning to wonder what to do with myself. But it won't always be that way and I'm sure when things pick up again, I'll want to resume this life of lazing about and luxury."

Then she motioned over to him, "But you've always struck me as the sort of guy who likes his peace and quiet. Probably not much for parties. Probably prefer smaller gatherings. I haven't quite figured out how you and my king managed to hit it off so well."

Dorm Log The Sequel To End All Sequels

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