Edge, Saturday Afternoon

[raspberryturk]

It was a good thing that Bat Eyes were so damn easy to take down, Reno mused, as he wiped some bloody monster sludge off of his baton and onto his pant leg. Things had been busy in Edge over the past few days. A few monsters had wandered into the outskirts of the town out of the ruins of what used to be the Midgar slums, and they were having their hungry ways with the locals.

Which suited Reno just fine. He got the pleasure of being hired on by the WRO in order to take care of the threat while they continued working on setting up their military, and on top of the pay that they were giving him to deal with the job, he got to keep whatever the monsters dropped when he took them down, too. Mostly ethers and bubblegum money, but he could live with that.

He finished rummaging through what was left of the corpse of the last one as it faded away to join the lifestream, or whatever it was that dead monsters did, and then he took a seat on the nearest bench, sprawling out, looking up at the bluish-gray haze of sky above him, pulling out his phone, and turning it on.

Sometimes, rebuilding wasn't really so bad after all.

[For anybody who wants to phone or be phoned! NFB for distance, of course! Zack-related spoilers throughout the threads. Read at your own risk, yo.]

Comments

[raspberryturk]

Killing people was still probably not a good thing.

"The Ahriman ain't so tough, no. They're kinda like these giant eyeballs with green bat wings an' tails? But there are different breeds of 'em, so even if the ones in Midga-" He caught himself there, and sighed. "In Edge ain't so tough, there are bigger challenges in other places anyhow."

[intraspective]

On Fandom? Probably. Ino's opinion was a bit warped the rest of the time, though she wasn't a fan of the idea of killing in a temper.

Which, hence, flying and avoiding the cabins.

"Giant eyeballs," she repeated. "With wings. I don't suppose you can mail one to me?" Because monster killing might be fun. "Midgar or Edge? They're the same place, yeah?"

[raspberryturk]

"Not quite," Reno replied, glancing over his shoulder at the towering monolith that used to be the ShinRa building. "Edge is the city that we're buildin' up in the shadow of what's left of Midgar, zoto. Midgar's kinda..."

A light breeze blew by, and a steel girder fell to the ground somewhere in the distance.

"... Kinda a bit of a fixer-upper, yo."

[intraspective]

"Same place, but not," she said, shifting as the wind picked up. "Okay. What's got you messed up between them then?"

[raspberryturk]

"I grew up in Midgar," Reno replied, sighing. "I'm lookin' at it right now, actually."

The same place, but not.

[intraspective]

Ino sighed. "No getting depressed," she ordered him. "Otherwise I'll have to show up and give you a hug."

[raspberryturk]

"An' I'm sure that'll do wonders to help you keep that sour mood of yours," Reno mused. At least he was grinning again. "Tell you what? I'll see what I can do about catchin' the next Bat Eye that flaps its way outta Midgar and into Edge, and then I'll tie up the little motherfucker and send it your way if I can find someone nuts enough to let me ship it, yo. It ain't exactly the toughest monster out there, but shit, is it ever juicy when you smack it in the face, yo."

Oh yes. Reno was completely sane.

[intraspective]

Sane was overrated!

"How sweet," she cooed, "getting monsters in the mail. I knew there was a reason you were my friend."

Really now, monsters in the mail.

"'Sides, maybe getting out of town would help. I haven't had a mission for awhile and it's different thinking on a mission than here." Ino shrugged. "Not much I can do 'bout that, you know? I wish we had random monsters like that in my world."

[raspberryturk]

"Oh, yeah, because them killin' and eatin' people on a regular basis is a real party," Reno snorted, but his tone was pretty easygoing regardless. "Tell you what, Ino. You find a way to Gaia, and I'll get some spare time. Maybe take you on a trip through the badlands. The monsters there got bigger'n meaner since Meteorfall, yo. Sometimes they're even a challenge."

[intraspective]

"Is for the monster hunters, and you can't tell me you don't enjoy it. If I get killed 'cause I listened to you, you get to talk to my dad, 'kay?" She was actually laughing. "I've seen you at Fight Club, and I know you're more badass than me."

A beat.

"Not, mind, that I'm not game. 'Cause I totally am."

[raspberryturk]

"I got no doubt that you are, Ino," Reno chuckled. "Don't worry. I'll keep the big bads from eatin' you, an' I'll have a few spare potions on hand just to be sure."

Potions were the one resource that he could find relatively easily around here. Every monster and its uncle dropped one of those when it died, it seemed.

[intraspective]

"I'm not a baby," she said, making a face at him even as she laughed. Well, at her phone. "I just know that your easy and mine might not be the same. I'm totally badass too."

[raspberryturk]

"You totally are," Reno agreed, smirking. "You know who else is?"

[intraspective]

"Maaaybe," she said, "depends on how badass we're talking here."

[raspberryturk]

"Well, there's this kid in one of your classes," Reno said, cooly. Because he was totally sneaky like that. "Wears a SOLDIER uniform. Comes from a small town called Gongaga. I hear he's pretty badass, yo."

[intraspective]

"He's pretty cute," she said, swinging her legs. "I did mention him, yeah? He's going to show me how he uses Materia 'cause he's pretty awesome. Super friendly, I bet he'd let me hug him anytime I wanted."

Yes, Ino noted the coolness, she was just waiting to see what that meant for her.

[raspberryturk]

"From what I hear, he's a pretty huggy kinda guy," Reno agreed, looking idly up at the sky. "You'd probably have a tough time gettin' Zack in any mode other'n 'puppy,' yoto."

Oh yeah. Reno had been informed.

"I suggest tryin' a collar with that one. Or somethin' that squeaks."

[intraspective]

"Why would I want to collar him?" Ino asked interestedly. "Do you know him? Who told you his name? I didn't, that's for sure. How badass is he? He said 1st Class is where it's at, but 2nd doesn't sound shabby to me."

[raspberryturk]

"He gained a reputation around here for bein' like a puppy," Reno mused. "A collar kinda fits the bill, zoto. Arthur mentioned that he was lookin' at him as a potential replacement for me at the reserves, so I gave him the rundown on him. He ain't gonna be a 2nd forever. I met him once, but I don't know if he's met me yet or not. If he was tryin', where he's at right now, he could probably give me a run for my money, yo."

Because all Square-Enix characters are cleverly concealed marysues. Trufax.

[intraspective]

"Will he come if I whistle?" Ino wondered. "Ugh. Poor Zack, saddling him with two people like that, that's mean, even if Arthur is vaguely okay."

Ino's own classification system for people probably needed help as it made sense only to her, and even then not always.

"He'd probably bounce and leap for it though, he does that a lot. Why are all of you badass? Is Rude badass, your partner?"

[raspberryturk]

"Rude could clean my clock with one punch, if he could catch me," Reno laughed. "It ain't that all of us are badass, yo. It's just that Fandom seems to keep attractin' the elite of the elite from ShinRa's different military and intelligence units."

Which was to say, a certain Mun had a definite affinity for ShinRa boys.

"I'll bet you fifty gil he comes runnin' if you whistle at him next time you see him, yo!"

[intraspective]

"Maybe Fandom thinks the elite need highschool?" Ino teased. "I don't think I've met Rude, actually, and that's kinda sad." Or something. "Do I gotta get a picture or something 'bout him coming? Or do you take my word for it?"

[Mmmm, ShinRa boys!]

[raspberryturk]

"Better gemmie a picture anyhow," Reno decided. "SOLDIER 2nd Zack Fair is somethin' I gotta see with my own two eyes to believe, anyhow."

For reasons that were quite possibly obvious if you knew why Reno had been kind of freaking out, earlier.

"I can send you a photo of Rude, yo. The guy's huge."

[intraspective]

She shrugged. "Pictures in general ought not be that hard. He was asking questions 'bout you, you know? Didn't tell him your name either but he was super curious 'bout who else had come here when I called him SOLDIER boy in class. So excited, just 'cause I knew what he was."

"Rude as cute as you?" Ino was teasing, and yet not. After all, Reno was hot. "I've no problems with pretty pictures at all. Giving or getting!"

[raspberryturk]

"Yeah. That sounds like the SOLDIER kid that Cissnei an' Tseng hung around with. An' I ain't no judge of how cute Rude is or ain't," Reno laughed, scrolling through the images on his phone as he spoke. Speakerphone: An amazing invention. "But the ladies around Fandom that he has met sure as hell don't seem to complain. If you like 'em big an' quiet, anyhow."

Aha! Photo of Rude. Being... Well. Being Rude.

All photos of Rude looked essentially exactly the same.

"Incoming!"