The Preserve, Late Wednesday Morning

[raspberryturk]

Well, this place certainly wasn't devoid of trees, was it?

Reno wasn't entirely unimpressed by the meeting place that he and Rikku had decided on for their little sparring match. Plenty of things to trip over and be thrown into, which would make things interesting.

That is, if the crazy girl with the unique fashion sense didn't chicken out and stand him up.


[[OOC: For Rikku, please!]]

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[raspberryturk]

"Makes me feel much better," Reno decided. Didn't even take him a moment to think that one over.

He opened the vial, held it up and tilted it a little, sort of a toast to a morning well wasted.

"Bottoms up, yo."

[the_merriest]

"Cheers," she said, digging one out for herself. No point wasting the clinic's time on sparring mishaps, right? And she had a good stash going again, thanks to the Omega Ruins.

"How come you're wearing a suit, anyway?"

[raspberryturk]

Well, there was a topic of conversation that he hadn't quite expected while he was trying to down a potion.

"Uniform." He gave a shrug of his shoulders and left it at that.

[the_merriest]

"But we came out here to spar." Rikku shrugged. "Would've thought you'd want something less constrictive."

[raspberryturk]

"Didn't bother with the tie," he said, as though that was somehow different from the norm. "See, less constrictive already."

[the_merriest]

"There's supposed to be a tie?" Rikku blinked. "What's the uniform for, anyway?"

[raspberryturk]

Well, here was a topic of conversation that he couldn't exactly afford to delve into too deeply.

So, instead, he shrugged his shoulders dismissively, bending at the knees a few times to make sure everything was in proper working order again.

"The job."

[the_merriest]

"You're here for work?" Rikku tilted her head at him. "Aren't you off-duty right now, anyway?"

[raspberryturk]

He was going to dust off his sleeves, now. See how unimportant the topic of his job was? Sleeves were fascinating.

"Packed light, yo."

[the_merriest]

"You don't have any non-work clothes?" Rikku frowned. "There's a clothing store in town. Run by this kinda crazy pixie who hates everybody. But good clothes anyway."

[raspberryturk]

"You sayin' the suit isn't good clothes?" Nibbing her here wasn't going to hurt anything, was it? "Custom made, you know. Fits and everything."

[the_merriest]

"It's a nice suit," she said, eyerolling with a laugh. "You didn't say 'I wear it all the time 'cause it's the best thing ever.' You said you packed light, yoto."

See? She was getting the hang of it.

[raspberryturk]

He had to grin at that. Yeah. She was kinda getting the hang of it.

"Okay. I packed light. And it's the best thing ever, zoto."

[the_merriest]

"It's not bad," she admitted. "Not enough colors."

She pirouetted so he could get an eyeful of her ensemble. Oh, hey, that reminded her, she was down a streamer. She picked it up and frowned at the bloodstains. "Gross."

[raspberryturk]

"Used to be blue," he mused, eying the blood that he'd let soak into his sleeve before dismissing it with another shrug of his shoulders. "Guess the boss likes to switch it up every couple of years for a change of pace, yo."

[the_merriest]

"What do you do, anyway?" Rikku asked, still eyeing her streamer. Huh. No sense reattaching it all bloody and ugh. Better idea: pull off the matching one. Ta-da!

[raspberryturk]

Very nice. She was now symmetrical. Ish.

"Work for an electric company. Runnin' errands for 'em. We're supposed to call our branch of the company the 'Department of Administrative Research,' but the 'Turks' is less a mouthful, yoto."

It was not a lie. Really.

[the_merriest]

"You do research?" she asked, looking up at him with dancing eyes. "Can't picture you as the science-y type, you know."

[raspberryturk]

"Oh yeah. I'm here on a research trip, anyhow." Probably the first thing he'd done in ages that required the 'research' part of the name to apply. "I don't usually do the paperwork and filing if I can help it, yo"

[the_merriest]

Rikku raised an eyebrow. "You're serious?"

She shook her head. "Never would've pegged you for the science type. Kinda why I'm here, except it's not a job or anything. More, y'know. Information. Technology. Research. And sitting and fiddling with mach-- machines."

She was trying to stop calling them "machina", but old habits and all that.

[raspberryturk]

Mock-machines? ... Sure. Real ones were obviously so difficult to come by.

"I don't usually do the science-trips," Reno said after a moment of consideration. "Usually, I'm doing roundup duty."

Rounding up candidates for SOLDIER, for example.

"But times change, yo. Staffing issues, that sorta thing."

[the_merriest]

"So ... you're some kinda business guy?" She raised an eyebrow. "All serious and filing and staff reports and ... you know that's weird, right?"

[raspberryturk]

"Can't stand paperwork." He felt the burning need to clarify that point. He was well aware that agreeing with her would have been a nice, easy out on the conversation. But... eugh, he hated to be considered a paper-pusher. "When it's all said and done, I guess you could call me a... glorified gofer, yo. Jump when the boss says jump. I'd sooner be active than stuck at a desk."

He'd sooner be stuck at a desk than trying to dodge the truth about ShinRa to the cheerleader who had managed to screw up his knee. Thank whatever for potions, anyhow. Meant he could at least pace back and forth some.

[the_merriest]

"Glorified gofer?" That got a raised eyebrow, but she grinned. "Okay. Slightly more believable than you sitting somewhere typing up forms, yoto."

[raspberryturk]

Progress. This was progress. Self-depreciating progress, granted. But progress all the same.

"Running around doing the stuff nobody else wants to do," Reno agreed. "Someone's got to suck it up and get it done, yo."

See, if he was going to be a gofer, he was going to try to be the most badass gofer he could be.