raspberryturk | Rude's Apartment, Edge, Thursday Evening

Rude's couch was lumpy and hard to sleep on.

Rude's couch was lumpy and hard to sleep on, Rude's booze was running low, and the lighting in Rude's living room sucked.

All that, and Reno had more reading material than he could have ever hoped for. And a bean sprout in a plastic cup sitting in some wet paper towel. And a pair of cacti that he hadn't managed to kill yet. And an anxious ferret, attempting to help him either with the booze, or with the reading, whichever Mako happened to be able to reach more easily at the time.

As such things went, after a week and a half back in Edge with no outlet to the real world, it was time for Reno to take a break. He'd written a letter earlier in the week in reply to one that he'd gotten last week Thursday, which was all well and good... but dammit, he needed to hear a voice that didn't belong to a Turk, a member of the WRO, or some random person living on the street corners in Edge.

Spare Gil for the homeless, they'd beg, and he'd toss them a few, just because he had a few to spare. But not without a mumble and a frown.

Yeah. You an' everyone else, yo.

He needed to make some freaking phone calls, or he was going to go out of his mind, damn it.

[NFB for distance, open to anyone who thinks that Reno would have a reason to call them! Or, heck, open to anyone. He's bored, he'll probably just hit buttons until he hears familiar voices, at this point.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Eh, I can get by in life without the ponies. I was an action figure that day."

That had kind of sucked, okay?

"But penguins, I approve of. If those ever hit the island again, you gotta try an' snag one for me, yo!"

"Oh yah." Murdock remembered action-figure Reno. It was quite something.

"You got it dude! One of them little buggers pop up, I'll get it for ya."

No idea how he'd get it to Reno, but why bother with the details now?

"Any other special requests?"

"Booze?"

Reno was not a problem alcoholic. He simply repressed as a hobby. Using booze. Totally different.

Riiiight.

"Growin' beans in plastic cups is thirsty work," Reno intoned, seriously.

"Thirsty for you or the beans?" Murdock snickered. "Though I doubt booze will help your little bean sprout grow."

"I'll... see what I can do. Gotta figure out logistics of shippin' an' all that."

Truthfully, some part of him still figured Reno as a kid and was a bit resistent to the idea, but then again... Reno wasn't a student anymore and he knew that Reno's home wasn't exactly a chipper place.

So yah, he could do booze.

Heck, Reno did booze before he'd even considered that he might ever be a student. And he'd stopped thinking of himself as a kid before he'd even become a teenager.

Which didn't make the booze thing okay, really, but Reno was also the sort to simply not care.

"You're the best, man. I owe you one."

"Nah, just helpin' out a friend. You don't owe me a thing. Maybe you could send me a picture or two of your bean plant. You gonna name it?"

So what if he had a thing for naming plants? It was totatlly normally.

"Name it?" Reno raised an eyebrow, and then looked at his plant, considering.

Well, it was green, and kind of tiny. And completely unexpected in that 'totally sprouted' kind of way.

"Gremlin."

Gremlin the bean. Yes. That would do.

He was not homesick for Fandom, shut up.

"Gremlin, I like it. Fits somehow. So you send me pictures of Gremlin, and I'll send you booze. Everclear, right?"

See? Sometimes his memory does work.

"Everclear," Reno agreed, sounding for all the world like he was talking to his new hero, or something. "For all the pictures of Gremlin the Bean that I can manage, yo. I'll make a photojournal or somethin'. The Life Of Gremlin. Everythin' from now until the day I either manage to kill it or I'm pickin' beans offa it, all done up pretty-like in a book, yo."

Reno. Scrapbooking. The world may never be the same.

"Ooh, I like that," he chuckled. "You could turn it into a novel. Maybe even get movie rights."

"So... I reckon I'll yack at ya when next I yack at ya. Right dude?"

"That sounds about right. Things are still kinda busy, so I don't think I'll be throwin' out phone calls all the time or nothin', but I'll be sure to give you a shout next chance I get, boss."

It was kind of weird, calling Murdock 'boss,' considering he was working for Tseng again. Dang.

"Sounds good to me dude."

'Boss' wasn't so weird to Murdock. Not since he hadn't been a teacher in a while, anyway.

"You take care, alrgiht?" he stated, going completely serious for the moment.

"I got too much on the line not to," Reno replied, equally serious.

He couldn't afford to get his ass killed or something like that. He had a girl to go back to.

"Don't worry about me, man. I been doin' this a long time before Fandom."

He nodded, not that Reno could see it however.

"I know. Just sayin'."

Cuz he was going to worry any damn way. Dammit.

"I'll check in," Reno assured him, grinning faintly. "No big deal. I got people here who got my back, too. You keep an eye on Fandom for me, okay?"

That did make him feel a bit better.

"Good. Always good to have back-up. And I will. Any invadin' beasties come by, I'll sure to kick their butt for you."

"I appreciate it, zoto." Reno grinned a little, and then reached over to poke at Gremlin the Bean again, thoughtfully. "I probably better get goin' now, though. Lots of calls to make, an' more work to do before the day lets out."

More beans to plant, actually.

"Yah, I know the feelin'. Gotta get ready in case there's a busy day at the office tomorrow, ya know."

Or not hardly.

"Darts to throw, goldfish to feed? Spatula needs his fish flakes, yoto." Reno chuckled a little. "Take care, man. Talk to you when I talk to you."

"Yep," he chuckled. "You too man."

Murdock hung up with a wistful little sigh. Damn, he was already missing that kid.

Rude's Apartment, Edge, Thursday Evening

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