Room 429, Thursday Evening

[raspberryturk]

Tseng glanced again at the letter he'd received, a few days prior. It had been weighing heavily on his mind. The situation with Reno had perhaps been worse than he had realized. Astonishing, as he had imagined it to be fairly difficult.

No use starting that again tonight. In exchange for a translation of Reno's innermost thoughts, the girl had demanded payment. An assignment for Reno. There had been little work for any of them, of late, and certainly too small to justify calling Reno in from his position at school. But there was a folder now on his desk that seemed promising, and Reno's particular talents could be of use. Besides, Tseng always paid his debts.

Perhaps he also had a perverse sense of humor. He lifted his phone and dialed one of the numbers committed to his memory.


Reno was Reno. Which meant, of course, that Reno was bored. And a bored Reno was never a good thing, as Mako was learning. Or, to be more accurate, as Mako was failing to learn. Bored Reno, after all, had the laser pointer out, and was using it to make the poor ferret run in circles. Or trip in circles. Or trip in rather oblong shapes which were intended to be circles.

Mako had never been very coordinated.

When Reno's cell rang, in a snap-and-tap sort of beat that could only mean another Turk was phoning him, the pointer dot jerked to the side while Reno dug for his phone and Mako went gracefully careening into the wall.

"Yo!" It was possible Reno sounded entirely too excited to be getting a phone call from Gaia at all.


"Reno," Tseng said pleasantly. There was something comfortably familiar about this, wasn't there? To be perfectly sentimental about it, perhaps Tseng missed his errant Turk. Life was far too quiet, in his absence. "How is your schedule?"


"What, at school?" Reno reached to scoop up the ferret, who had settled up against the wall in an effort to attempt to gnaw the dot off of it. It wasn't working. "Class Fridays and Mondays, I work Sundays, but the bosses are nuts, please tell me you're callin' with a job, damn you."

No. He wasn't desperate. Much.


Tseng allowed the silence to fill for a moment. Reno might be able to hear his smirk, over the telephone lines. "I am calling with a job."


"WOO!" And no, Reno hadn't bothered to pull the phone away from his mouth when he did that. Was he supposed to? "What kinda job? When? Where? What do I need to bring along? Pay's good? Asses to kick? Booze to drink? More asses to kick?"

Reno needed details, here.


"Some valuable merchandise had gone missing," Tseng said, opening the folder again. "The thief or thieves you may deal with as you wish. The client is not concerned with revenge. The primary objective is to retrieve what has been stolen. The items may no longer be in the thieves' possession. It is imperative that the merchandise be returned in pristine condition. Undamaged. Unmarked."

Tseng was, of course, omitting some of the details for the sake of time. Such as the name of his client. The Gold Saucer.


"And you're askin' me to get somethin' back in one piece." A pause. Reno wasn't really the most gentle of the Turks, by any means. "I always liked a challenge, zoto. I'll bring some bubble-wrap or somethin'."

If there was one thing that Reno had learned from Fandom, it was that if you didn't want something busted, bubble-wrap it.


"Bubble-wrap will not be required," Tseng assured his underling. "None of the merchandise is quite so delicate as that. Other skills of yours recommended you for this mission."

Such as the ability to run at high speeds for very long distances, and to withstand a beating. Some of the merchandise might fight back.

Sometimes, Tseng thought that he was very funny.


Reno quirked an eyebrow at that while Mako attempted to gnaw his thumb through at the knuckle.

"Other skills? Uh. If you say so?" He considered that for a moment. "I'll be doin' some runnin', will I?"

It wasn't that Reno didn't do other things besides running, but that really was the one thing he did better than anyone else that had ever joined the Turks. Moving like a guy always stuck on 'Haste' was sort of a notable skill, after all.


"I believe it's possible you might," Tseng said. Which, as Reno should well know, meant that he was in for a work-out. "I had hoped that you would be able to begin sooner than Tuesday, however."

The manager at the Gold Saucer was becoming impatient. No one could bet on chocobo races if all the prize chocobos were gone.


Pffft. The first job Tseng had called Reno with in months, and Tseng thought he was going to put it off for a few days?

"I can get a portal out there by tomorrow afternoon, yoto. Keep supper warm for me, would ya, sweetheart?"

Yes, Reno thought that he was funny, too.


"I believe that's Rude's department," Tseng said lightly before hanging up his phone.

He was impressed with himself. Not a single laugh. Not even considering that he was sending Reno down to hunt missing chocobos across the countryside. On foot.

The manager of the Gold Saucer had warned him that the chocobos enjoyed playing with any who came in direct contact with them. And that "playing" usually took the form of kicks to the face.

Reno was going to have an interesting weekend.


When Reno hung up his own phone, his first course of action was to let out a triumphant "WHOOP!"

And his second course of action, naturally, was to put down the ferret and start making the checklist. Gil, materia, potions, his EMR, booze. The essentials.

This was going to be an awesome weekend.


[Open! Tseng was provided by the ever-awesome the_merriest! Last post I'll be making in Alberta, yay! Rikku's thread is last chronologically, because I said so.]

Comments

[the_merriest]

Rikku had a seriously chirpy voicemail and that meant Rikku had to pop in and pester her favorite Turk ever.

"A job?" she asked with a grin. "Seriously?"

[raspberryturk]

"A job," Reno agreed while Mako honked a happy counterpoint. "Seriously, yo!"

Happy Reno? Seriously happy!

[the_merriest]

"That's awesome," she smiled, leaning against the doorframe and thinking a hundred things at once. Wondering if this was related to the letter she'd sent. Glad that he was so cheery about having work again. And, okay, worrying about what it meant.

She didn't exactly like him taking missions, even if she had tried like hell to get him work. It was one of those things.

"Do you know ... how long?" she asked. If Tseng needed him back for a couple of months or something like that, she was going to hurt him.

[raspberryturk]

"Can't be that long," Reno replied, and was he bouncing a little? He was totally bouncing a little. He was allowed to bounce. He was positively giddy. "Boss says it's the kinda job I'm gonna have to do a lotta runnin' for. Gettin' back some stolen property or whatever. How long could that possibly take, yo?"

It was possible that Reno did not suspect that the stolen property was going to be running away from him, no.

[the_merriest]

Stolen property did not sound like it was too crazy-dangerous, in the large scheme of things, or like it was particularly messed up on the black-white-gray scale they'd been fighting about lately. She was trying not to be too obviously relieved, here.

"Remember to eat, or you'll start looking like your ID," she grinned.

[raspberryturk]

"Never again," he promised, with a jovial sort of mock-solemnity that wasn't bound to last for more than the next two seconds. "I happen to be a big fan of things like, you know. Sandwiches, zoto."

Yes, he was adding 'food' to the checklist, now.

No, he didn't think it was strange that booze had gone onto it before food had.

[the_merriest]

"If you get too skinny, I'm going to fatten you up," she warned, wandering over to inspect his packing. "There will be lard involved. And butter. You'll have love handles when I'm through with you."

His ID looked positively emaciated. She was allowed to worry.

[raspberryturk]

"Hey, so far as I know, I won't be takin' any more mako showers, yo." A pause. "Mostly because there ain't really any more refined mako on the planet. You know."

A playful sort of grin, and he patted the spot on the bed beside him.

"Do me a favor and make sure Mako don't eat Edmund's underpants while I'm gone? He's a pain in the ass, but even he don't deserve that kinda indigestion, yo."

[the_merriest]

"I'll move him in as soon as I get back," she promised, sitting down next to him and curling up close. "I'm still gonna be in California for the weekend, with Dawn and all that. If you get back before me, can you feed Petey? I leave food out for him, but he kinda ignores it. I'm ... not sure why."

Because Petey was stupid, probably.

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

"I hate you forever," Dōjima announced, leaning in his doorway. "I need directions."

It wasn't a non-sequitur; they were connected in her head.

[raspberryturk]

Reno blinked up from his chocobo-scratched, ferret-chewed checklist and smirked faintly.

"Ladies room is over that way, yo."

Reno was in a good mood. He still thought he was amusing.

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

"Bite me, Red," she retorted cheerfully. "I don't need to know where you do your business."

"Well, actually, I do. Diner. Mainland. Directions."

[raspberryturk]

"You got yourself a dinner date, did you?" Reno raised an eyebrow, and then shoved his checklist out of the way before reaching for a fresh sheet of paper. "I'll draw you a map, yo. My directions ain't worth shit."

Well, they were good directions, really. It was just unfortunate that the only people who could usually read Reno's writing were Tseng, Rude, Reno himself, and pharmacists.

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

"Mmm. She sounds cute, too," Dōjima replied, wandering in to lean over his shoulder. "Perky, at least."

[raspberryturk]

Reno's map was mostly understandable. That squiggly thing there was a tree. You could tell, because there was an arrow pointing to it. And a label. Supposedly, it said 'tree.'

"Eh, she ain't bad. Just the kinda woman you never expect to see in the business, yo. Which is sorta the point, ain't it?"

[dojima-hime.livejournal.com]

"I keep telling you, blondes have more fun," she teased. "Maybe we should add some streaks into that mane of yours, give you a little more color."

Right. Like Reno needed color.

"Get off the island, meet new and interesting people, possibly shoot things, and get dinner out of it. I can't see a downside."

[raspberryturk]

"I recommend the fries, yo," Reno chirped, drawing a circle which was supposed to indicate the diner, and then drawing two lines through it which were supposedly indicative of a hamburger. "It's real hard to fuck up fries."

The place was run by undercover government agents, not McDonald's line cooks, here.

[once-a-traitor.livejournal.com]

Edmund returned to their room and set down his oilskin bag and hung up his coat. He looked around. "Are you leaving?" There might have been the slightest bit of hopefulness in his voice. It wasn't Reno, it was the idea of a room to himself again.

[raspberryturk]

"Hey, don't get your hopes up like that," Reno replied, smirking up from the list as he scratched 'socks' off of it. What kind of Turk randomly decided to change their socks on the field, anyhow?

A clean one, that was what kind.

"I'm just headed out for a little bit. A job came up back home. Bit of work. Probably only take me a few days." A pause. "Maybe longer. Hard to say, with the way shit likes to hit the fan out there, yo."

[once-a-traitor.livejournal.com]

"The dangerous sort of job?" He really knew very little about Reno, but he didn't seem like the bicycle courier type.

[raspberryturk]

"Might be," Reno replied, shrugging one shoulder dismissively. "Didn't get many details from the boss, but that's usually how it goes out there, yo. Keeps me on my toes. Keeps the stun baton from gettin' rusty."

He grinned and poked at the ferret that was toodling about on his bedspread.

"You mind makin' sure this little freak's got some kibble, if I ain't back by Monday? He don't bite hard or nothin'. And I can't see me bein' gone too long. I'm just gettin' back some stolen property or somethin' like that for someone."

[once-a-traitor.livejournal.com]

Ed raised an eyebrow at the ferret. "I'm sure we'll keep each other entertained." Or he'd wake up to find the ferret sitting on his head. Either way, fun times were ahead. "And I wish you luck with your job. I hope it goes smoothly for you."

[raspberryturk]

"Always goes smooth," Reno replied with a laugh, stretching his arms before reaching for his list and just ripping it up.

He'd wing it. Lists were for losers, anyhow.

"Worse that can happen is the world'll try to end again, and that ain't part of my job description, yo."

Sure, he'd made it part of his job description on more than one occasion. But that didn't mean anything at all.

[once-a-traitor.livejournal.com]

"If you're going to bring the end of the world back with you, will you call ahead and give some warning?"

[raspberryturk]

"That's what the cell's for." He gave his pocket a pat. Smirked. Poked at the ferret a few more times. "Though I think if the end of the world shows signs of followin' me around, I'm gonna just hang out on Gaia until it goes away. Call me soft, but I'm gettin' kinda attached to this place, yo."