raspberryturk | Rude's Apartment, Edge, Thursday Evening

Entry tags:

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

"Heeey. Safe glitter? You know, after hearin' that, it's kinda sad that my entire world's just been turned upside-down, yo." Reno laughed. "Please tell me it managed to break at least one newbie's fragile little brain? Huh? Huh?"

It was fun breaking the newbies! Kinda!

It was. Best part of newbie day almost, in Ino's opinion.

"No," she said, a bit grumpily. "My new sibling took it rather depressingly well, and I've only talked to one other and she kills things with a yo yo that cuts everything. You should see it though, there's like a swarm of them. Loads of new kids."

"A yo-yo that cuts everything? Has she ever met Momoko? They'd probably break each other's brains. If that ever happens, I want it on film," Reno mused. "Damn, I'm sorry I ain't there to see, Ino. I'm such a friggin' sucker for rookies."

"Oh, sure," she drawled loftily, "and your friends are just so much chopped meat, right? Whatever. And I don't know if Fiona's met Momoko, radio didn't say, but I could've missed it, I suppose. What's up on your end of the line?"

"I have a bean sprout," Reno reported proudly. "It's sittin' in a plastic cup with wet paper towel in it!"

This was a big deal.

"I'm usin' some of that miracle water from the church on it. I mean, that stuff is a limited supply and all, but it might be a damn find startin' place, at least."

Was that a squee coming from her end? Yes, yes it was.

It was an amazing big deal!

"And every starting place can be built on." Which somehow reminded her... "Hey, Reno. Midgar's in your world, right?"

Hey, there was an unexpected question. Reno raised an eyebrow, sitting up again.

"Yeah, it is. I can see what's left of it lookin' out Rude's living room window, zoto."

It wasn't a pretty sight, actually.

"Well," she said, squinting up at her alcove's ceiling. "There's this guy in my class that says he's from there--do you know anything 'bout that?"

"A guy in your class, from Midgar?" Reno squinted out the window at the husk of a city, silhouetted beyond the beginnings of the new city of Edge. "Nah, I don't know nothin' about that. Did he say anything about the place? Or what he was doin' on the island, or anything?"

"He said he's from some place called Gongaga originally, but was working out of Midgar? He's, like, super cheerful and wears what looks kinda like a uniform?"

Because that was useful, Ino.

"A dude in a uniform, from way out in the middle of the asscrack of nowhere," Reno replied, snorting a little. "Sounds kinda like SOLDIER or somethin', if it's got him workin' outta Midgar. But SOLDIER's been gone for a few years now, Ino. If you're in class with a SOLDIER boy, I probably don't know him anyhow."

SOLDIER tended to be a little on the prissy side, when it came to working alongside the Turks. The little wussies never liked getting their fingernails dirty.

She shrugged a bit. "SOLDIER? I didn't know, I just figured, hey--there can't be too many Midgar's out there, right? I haven't actually talked to him yet, I admit, so I don't know much beyond what he said in his intro."

Ino'd made a point to check where he roomed in the dorms, on the listing, but that wasn't useful information for anyone but her and even then maybe not.

"Only one Midgar," Reno agreed, "but it was the biggest city on The Planet until it kinda... fell down." Was crushed. And blown up. And so on. Same thing. "Askin' if I know a happy guy who moved there from a small town is kinda like me askin' you if you ever met a ninja, yoto."

She sniffed. "At least now I know he's probably from the past, right? That's more than I did before, so I ought not to mention the whole falling down bit to him. So that's a help, you know? And at least with ninja, I might know of them if they're 'round my age? We don't graduate that many of us, at least from my village. Only nine in my grade passed the final."

"That's because you're all hardcore, an' junk," Reno chuckled. "And yeah, you should probably take it easy on the SOLDIER kid. I mean, the Turks have been around since before SOLDIER and their messed up gene-splicing surgery crap, so it'd be safe to mention you know of one, but tellin' the guy that the city he's workin' outta is doomed, and so is the company he's workin' for? That might not go over so well, yo. SOLDIER boys hang onto their honor the way Turks hang onto their pride. He wouldn't buy it, I'm thinkin'."

"I'm the least hardcore of the three girls that made it," she said dryly. "Either the least, or the most. Hinata's able to see through crap and paralyse people with her hands, and Sakura these days is learning how to practically heal someone from the dead. I'm just a supposedly ditzy spy who can't even tell people in Fandom why I'm so good at it."

Matter-of-factly.

"I can take it easy on him," Ino promised. "He's cute anyway, and really... grin~y. I'd feel bad. It'd be like kicking a puppy to say something like that, and if he hasn't figured out that the other timeline thing is possible, he'd think I was insane."

"I'm sure if he's been on the island for nearly a week, he's probably got that much figured out," Reno laughed. "See, now I kinda wanna make bets with you or somethin', yo. See how long it takes to break the SOLDIER punk."

Okay, the Turks and SOLDIER, they had a long, long running rivalry. It was fun to fuck with their heads.

"And don't you never underestimate the worth of a spy, Ino. It's damn fine work. Especially if you do it right. Just 'cause it's the shit nobody else wants to do don't make it less important, yo."

"It's just irritating sometimes, when everyone pays more attention to face to face combat and that's my weak point. I mean, I'm not bad at it--Asuma-sensei says I'm one of the best girls in taijutsu he's seen for years--but I don't compare." Ino shook her head. "It's just a complaint, I guess?"

"If you want me to try and break him, just say so," Ino said. "Feeling bad 'bout it won't stop me, but timelines can be tricky."

"You're allowed to complain. SOLDIER used to say that kinda thing about the Turks all the time, yo. 'This ain't SOLDIER work, make the Turks do it.' Like they get a friggin' choice. I mean, they did. We didn't. Sure, we get to do the dirty shit, so they don't have to clean under their pretty little fingernails."

Reno could bitch about SOLDIER all night if Ino would let him.

"You don't gotta break him," Reno decided, after a moment's thought. "But feel free to mess with his head a little. Have fun with him. He's just SOLDIER, yo."

"Five potions says he says you're just a Turk," she said immediately, "if he found out about that. But head messing I can do."

"I'm going to have more to complain 'bout as I go up in rank," she said, "because ANBU is where I'm headed, and ANBU are the nasty-bad guys of the ninja world. They do all the dirty work the normal ninja won't do in addition to the super sensitive stuff that can't be trusted outside of their ranks. SOLDIER and the Turks like that, yeah?"

"You got five potions on you, Ino?" Reno laughed. "The way I see it, I might as well start packin' them up and mailin' 'em off to you anyhow, yoto. He's SOLDIER. He's gonna be a dick about the Turks, you wait and see."

He stretched, thinking on that some more.

"SOLDIER and the Turks both like doin' that kinda thing, yeah. They're the firepower, we're the brains. If we ever had to work together, it was so that one of them could beat on shit while we did the sensitive stuff. Just blowin' things up won't work every time, yo."

"I do, actually," she said, sounding smug. "I got them off of Rikku before she left. Some exploding stuff too, 'cause she trusts me to use them right." A beat. "I'm not going to complain if you want to send me more potions though, not for an easy bet like that."

She wriggled her sandal off and let it hit the floor. "Turks for me then," Ino said, "if I was in your world. Think I'd make a good one? I'm kinda mouthy." Oh, Ino. "ANBU and regulars don't interact much--it's like, the difference normally between preventing a rebellion and murdering all the kids in an orphanage. Guess which gets which job?"

"Heh. I'll send some more your way, then. They're about all the monsters around this place drop, so I got 'em comin' outta my friggin' nose. I'll send you, like, fifty. I can't carry too many anyhow."

Reno was very giving. And he beat up on a lot of monsters.

"I think you'd make a good Turk, yo. I mean, lookit me. And you ever meet Rude? Now there's a mouthy guy if ever I met one!"

... Right, Reno.

"I love potions," she assured him, "and I'm totally certain I can find uses for them, even if it's just using them during an invasion to keep people on their feet 'cause chakra healing takes longer."

Because she was a trainee still.

"I haven't met Rude, but if he's mouthier than you I'm not sure how you two work together!"

"Rude an' me, we've been partners since he joined the Turks, yo." Which was about the same time Reno had, for that matter. "It ain't so bad, anyhow. We work good together. Might as well be able to read each other's minds, or somethin'."

Reno was already making the mental note, send Ino potions. They'd pay her back for all of the research she'd done for him since they'd met, maybe.

Rude's Apartment, Edge, Thursday Evening

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)