Previously in NWC-
Reno decides to check on CeCe to find her thinking to herself. He delivers her food and begins talking with her while waiting for her to finish eating. CeCe begins asking about Luna which is quickly shut down by Reno politely. CeCe decides to share a secret with Reno, that CeCe is a shortened version of her name, and that if anyone found out who she was she would be in trouble...
Reno throws his hands in the air with minor irritation.
CeCe's annoyance is replaced with a small giggle as she sees Reno's reaction. "Didn't anyone ever tell you how scary us girls can be?" CeCe leans forward slightly, playfully glaring at Reno.
Reno sighs and hangs his head. "You guys are seriously stressing me out with all these secrets! I might just have to duct tape my mouth shut at this rate!"
CeCe smiles and tilts her head. "Well that wouldn't be very fun, now would it?"
Reno shakes his head and sits back down. "I'm sure Luna would prefer it. She gets mad at me like every day lately."
CeCe's expression drops slightly as she nods her head. "I heard. Who do you think she vents to?"
Reno glances over at CeCe, one of his eyebrows raising. "What's she been saying?"
CeCe waves a finger at Reno and shakes her head. "Girl talks are absolutely top secret! I can't just betray Luna's good faith like that!"
"Can you at least give me a hint why she's always getting mad at me?!" Reno begins to raise his voice with a slight hint of anger. "I don't even do anything and she gets mad at me!"
CeCe observes Reno's face for a moment before speaking. "Let me ask you something, but I need you to gather your thoughts before we continue so this doesn't devolve into you shouting, okay?"
Reno looks slightly offended at first before realizing he was getting slightly short with her. "Fine, alright. What's your question?"
CeCe claps her hands together and smiles. "Great, now for the question!" What can you tell me about Medusa?"
Reno smirks with confidence as he holds up a finger to indicate a smug expression. "She loves colder water, hence why she prefers the water from my magic. She usually keeps herself somewhat small, but she's easily able to engulf an entire house or even the FTG with her vines."
"FTG?" CeCe cocks her head."
"Ahh, that's right, we didn't tell you. We call out base in the forest the Future Training Grounds."
"Got it." CeCe holds back a chuckle as she doesn't want this subject to turn into a tangent.
"When she gets excited, her eyes and mouth glow slightly brighter. When she gets sad or nervous her light gets dimmer. If she closes her eyes and mouth she can completely block all of the light."
CeCe nods her head, letting Reno go on for two whole minutes about tiny minute details about Medusa. After Reno finally stops talking, she smiles and nods. "I can tell you really care about her! Dose she mean a lot to you?"
Reno's face turns to confusion as she asks him this. He hadn't actually thought about how he felt about Medusa and was caught off guard by the inquiry. "I mean yeah, I guess. She might just be a creature to everyone else but she's like an adorable puppy to me."
"(Luna wasn't joking. He totally gives off dad vibes.) Great! Now, I have a second question! What can you tell me about Luna? Without giving away any facts you promised not to, of course."
Reno's previous expression of joy is quickly strained, replaced with stress. "She likes to yell at me."
CeCe remains silent for a little before finally speaking. "That's it?" Her eyes widen slightly with disbelief. "You can't tell me about her favorite foods or what she likes to do when she's not yelling at you?"
"Not really. She's just kind of always with me most of the time. I never really thought about what she liked because if she wanted to do something she could just say it."
CeCe nods her head and smiles with confidence. "Just as she said. That's a big part of the problem!"
Reno looks over with confusion. "What, that I let her choose what we do if she wants to?"
CeCe shakes her head. "No, no, nothing like that. It's what you said before."
"Before?" Reno tilts his head slightly.
"You never really think about what she likes."
"So what? I should ask her what she likes and then she'll be happy again?"
CeCe sighs, slightly in disbelief at the words coming from Reno's mouth. "It's not that simple. She wants you to learn what she likes, but she doesn't want to tell you."
"Then how the hell do I learn?!" Reno throws his hands up in annoyance, his voice raising again. "She can't expect me to just know!"
CeCe shakes her head and gives Reno a sympathetic look. "Reno, listen. Women are not as direct as men. Most women want guys to be able to pick up on small hints, whether it be verbal or through gestures. And believe me, I understand that it can be hard to pick up on physical gestures when she's literally just a ball of floating light, but she's definitely used her voice for it."
"Again, I don't think it's fair that she's yelling at me simply because I don't know what she won't tell me!" Reno continues to voice his irritation.
"You say it's not fair for her to yell at you, but here you are raising your voice at me." CeCe speaks bluntly, her voice flattening.
Reno, realizing the truth to her words, begins calming down. "You're right, I'm sorry." He continues to calm himself down and return to a normal tone.
"It's fine, really! Now, on to your other point. You say it's impossible for you to learn something that she won't tell you, right?"
"Correct."
"Okay. Now tell me, how did you learn the page and a half of facts about Medusa that you were able to flawlessly recite a moment ago? And don't tell me Medusa told you, because I already know she doesn't have that big of a vocabulary."
Reno's eye twitches slightly as he slowly begins to see the issue. "I mean… okay, yeah. But that's different. Medusa isn't capable of telling me these things, so I have to watch her and learn them myself. Luna is capable of telling me so I don't really need to give her the same attention."
"And now we've reached the root of the problem." CeCe smiles with excitement, seemingly proud of herself for managing to get this far this easily. "Luna sees you giving Medusa all of this attention, going out of your way to do things for her and learn stuff about her. But on the other hand, you don't do anything for her, not even make an attempt to learn anything about her. Luna feels left out, Reno."
Reno thinks to himself for a moment, absorbing everything being told to him. "Why wouldn't she just tell me?"
"You already know the answer."
"Right."
"Reno, do you care about Luna?"
"He stops in his tracks, completely caught off guard. "What? Yes, of course I do!"
"The you're going to need to put in a bit more effort to prove it. Because the only one who doesn't believe that is Luna herself."
The two go silent, sitting and observing the sky which had quickly become dark. Finally, after a couple of minutes, Reno sighs. "Alright." He slowly stands up, brushing himself off and grabbing the empty dishes. "I guess it's getting late, we should head back." Reno begins walking back to camp, taking his time so he can think.
"I'll be there in a bit. I promise, don't feel the need to check on me. Go get some sleep, we have another fun day tomorrow!" CeCe waves off Reno, sighing as she thinks to herself. "I really hope he can figure it out."
Reno returns to the campsite, seeing that Medusa had kept the fire alive via instructions from Luna. "I'm back!" Medusa looks over with excitement and waves one of vines." Reno walks over and begins cleaning the used dishes in their designated cleaning bucket. Luna and Medusa sit around the fire, doing nothing in particular. Reno makes a quick glance back at Luna before turning back around and speaking. "Are you having fun, Luna?"
Luna is quiet for a few moments before she finally decides to speak. "I suppose."
Reno is still, listening to her voice for any indication of ulterior meanings. Not entirely certain if she was telling the truth, he gambles and assumes she isn't. "I'm sure it'll get better, right?"
Luna is surprised that Reno wasn't immediately taking her words at face value. It takes her a second to recollect herself. "Right." Her voice is slightly different, indicating a sense of appreciation.
He finishes cleaning and stands back up, stretching. "CeCe said she'd be back later, so we can go to bed."
Medusa and Luna begins making their way towards the tents as Reno uses his water magic to put out the fire. He watches Luna slowly make her way to the tent her and CeCe were sharing. "(If I remember correctly, she isn't able to regulate her body heat in this form very well…)" Reno watches, thinking deeply about his next move. "Hey, Luna?"
Luna stops in her tracks and turns to face him. "Yes?"
Reno scratches his head, nervous that he's making the wrong decision. "I don't know how long CeCe is going to be out. So, if you want, you can sleep with Medusa and me. Since, Y'know, you can't regulate your body heat that well…" His heart pounds as he waits for her response.
Luna's own heart flutters slightly at his display of affection. "I'm fine." She slowly enters her tent and gets in a sleeping bag.
"I've heard that when a woman says she's fine that she's actually, in fact, NOT fine." He turns to Medusa a puts a hand on her shoulder. Medusa, may you please sleep with Luna and keep her warm?" Medusa gives Reno a playful salute before she rushes off, joining Luna in bed.
Luna's voice can be heard, muffled by Medusa. "I said I was fine, dummy!" Her voice sounds irritated, but almost as if she was trying to make it sound like that.
Reno sighs, getting in his own tent. "I think I'm starting to understand this talking to women thing. No matter what I do, I lose. Therefore, I might as well choose the option that benefits her the most so her levels of anger are the lowest!" Reno, proud of himself, falls asleep.
TO BE CONTINUED...