Rude's Apartment, Edge, Thursday Afternoon

[raspberryturk]

Reno had a bit of a dilemma, and he had today off by some miracle. And so, on his day off, he was going to attempt to fix it.

His living space since he'd moved in to Rude's apartment had become a little on the cramped side. Sure, it was more space than he'd had while he was living in the dorms on Fandom Island. But while he was in school, he hadn't been trying to cultivate greens, either. Unless one counted the green fuzz that sometimes grew on whatever he'd left sitting around, but that was a different thing entirely. As it stood, Reno was staring in bewilderment at the contents of Rude's living room.

Rude had set off for work today with a clearly stated mission for Reno to handle before he got back. He didn't care how he did it, just so long as it was done.

The clutter... would have to go.

So much easier said than done, when you were used to stockpiling whatever you could get your hands on, and you had people sending you care packages from all over creation. Nevermind the assorted bits he'd managed to gather with full intent to toss together a makeshift greenhouse in he future.

"Mako," Reno sighed, plucking the ferret out of his beans for the umpteeth time this afternoon, "I think this couch-surfin' shit ain't all it's made out to be, yo."

[NFB for distance, naturally, but open for the usual riffraff to give their phone calls and what-have-you!]

Comments

[raspberryturk]

Oooh. Yeah, that kinda summed it up pretty well, right there.

"Somethin' go down that I missed?" If it was big enough to get people kicked out, Reno was actually kind of sorry he hadn't been there. But then, he was a shit-disturber that way.

[bitchprince]

"And, it seems, claiming some connection to ShinRa."

[raspberryturk]

"We're Turks, we can't shake that," Reno noted. "And anyhow, my eyes broadcast it clear enough. Not too many folks runnin around with 'em quite this blue, man."

[intraspective]

"I walked away from a fight?" Ino said, sighing. "Because apparently it's totally awful of me to not want to fight against someone who can't turn their powers off when I'm not allowed to use my powers in the gym. So she went and whined to Atreides, and then Mr. Durden kept trying to make it out that I was just jealous of my powers being banned when I was more pissed off that she a) didn't have the control to get rid of hers enough that it was a fair-ish sort of fight and b) can 'learn really quick'," you could practically hear the sarcasm in her voice, "'cause she never fought at all 'till after her fifteen birthday and yet, now, if she sees things she can just pick it up with a wee bit of practice to convince her muscles that they know it. Apparently I'm not allowed to bitch 'bout that when I've been training since I was four to be as good as I am."

"And, okay, I probably should've been a lot politer to Mr. Durden, but it was like talking to a wall."

[bitchprince]

"I wondered about that for a while," Arthur said, conversationally, "Like the Fremen, but a ShinRa thing." He leaned back on his bed. "Still. You need support."

[raspberryturk]

Reno was going to be silent for a moment while he processed that verbal barrage. That was a lot to cover all in one breath, really, wasn't it?

"Kick a wall hard enough, apparently you can break your foot," Reno noted wryly, running his free hand through his hair. "So she's good. You're better. Ain't no reason you couldn't kick the livin' shit outta her anyhow, right?"

Yes, that was Reno's solution to a lot of things.

[intraspective]

"Ain't no reason I should have had to fight her either and let her steal what I know," Ino snapped back. "So I didn't and I walked away and no one can tell me why that's such a freakin' big deal."

[raspberryturk]

Reno sighed, propping himself back against his wall.

"Yeah, you're right, there. On both counts. Mako eyes are pretty much ShinRa specific. And we need support. The Turks are just coverin' one city while the WRO gets their shit together, but they're recruitin' kids who ain't never seen a fight before. They can't handle monsters, an' they can't handle puttin' a bullet in someone's head to keep the peace, either."

You do the job.

"Sooner or later, man. It's gotta work out sooner or later, yo."

[raspberryturk]

"Ino." There was that Turk in him, coming out. Reno could understand why Ino was frustrated, but he didn't take too well to being snapped at, either, and so he was going to keep his tone firm. Talking to a Rookie. Not quite pulling rank, but the demand for respect was there, yes.

"Siddown. Talk to me. You don't want her learnin' what you know, is that it? Somethin' you been workin' on your whole life, an' it's somethin' for you to be proud of. An' then this perfect little princess steps in sayin' she can learn it overnight?"

[bitchprince]

"You can hardly be the lone fighters out on your streets," Arthur continued, considering his fingers. "Perhaps you need to slack on your requirements." Not that he was speaking from experience.

[raspberryturk]

"... How you figure?"

Okay, so the requirements to join the Turks were pretty high, yes. Mostly because if they weren't, people were going to die horrible deaths. And that kinda sucked.

"I ain't gonna ask much, so long as people ain't gonna try to smash my skull in, yo. It's gettin' Tseng to agree to startin' to recruit. It's messy. I don't think he's up for draggin' more people into this."

[intraspective]

Ino took a deep breath. Right. He hadn't done anything to her.

"In a few weeks," she said, once her tone had settled into something more civil, and she was sitting up straighter, not that he could see it. "But pretty much that. And I didn't much like that everything kept being turned around to the fact that I can't use my powers when that wasn't my problem at all. She doesn't have any control over whether she can use hers or not. That's not what Fight Club is supposed to be--people are supposed to be able to say yes or no to powers."

[bitchprince]

"Sounds like your whole world's a mess," Arthur said, vaguely, and considered the wall next. "Test anyone who's willing."

[raspberryturk]

That sounded... like good advice, actually.

"At this point, anyone who happens to be willing has gotta be worth trainin' up," Reno agreed. "It ain't like we're rebuildin' ShinRa. We're just tryin' to get by."

[bitchprince]

"Then if they hate ShinRa so much..."

He chose that moment to close his eyes.

"Make sure they know that."

[raspberryturk]

Reno was wearing a tired sort of grin as he thought back to the incident with the logs.

"An' hers don't turn off. I gotcha." He tapped a finger against his knee, mulling it over. "Might be because hers ain't so obvious, too. I mean, I ain't gonna excuse anything on either side, I wasn't there, Ino. But you gotta admit, learnin' stuff ain't half as... flashy as some of the stuff plenty of Fandomites can pull when they're tryin'."

[raspberryturk]

"So, what, you want me to post flyers?" His head thunked back against the wall. He wasn't going to be getting much cleaning done today, no. But then, he wasn't a friggin' housekeeper, either.

"I'm growin' food. Hell, I'll share, if anyone asks. The word 'Turk' don't mean the same thing it did two, three years ago. Probably won't ever again, either."

And he actually hated that fact.

[intraspective]

"What's that matter?" Ino asked, kicking at the tree. "It's still a power, and I didn't want it being used on me. Isn't that the point of having to come to an agreement before you start fighting?"

She chewed her bottom lip. "I could tell you what was said?"

[bitchprince]

"If anyone asks," he echoed. "Are you distributing anything?"

Because that was more important to him than whatever Turk meant. Sadly enough.

[raspberryturk]

"As it stands, I'm tryin' to just build up a decent stock of seeds, first," Reno admitted. "Got, like, a half a pot of beans outta the deal so far, but I don't have near enough room to grow a decent crop. If I knew someplace where I could put this stuff where I wouldn't have to worry about it bein' raided in the night, then it might be different. Rude's livin' room ain't cuttin' it."

[raspberryturk]

"That'd be good," Reno decided. "Let's hear what went down, yo."

He was now contemplating if it would be a good idea to get ready to hold the phone away from his ear.

[intraspective]

Maybe during the last bit when she had lost it at Mr. Durden.

Ino settled back in her tree, cradling the phone, and gazed at the branches above her. "Okay," she said, "let's start with me and Fiona then..." Ino went on, going through the conversation word-by-word and mimicking the intonation that had been used all through out. "Then I went to Mr. Durden right after that..."

She rattled off the conversation, much the same way and then hit the one that was really--well, awful. "And Mr. Durden and I in class on Tuesday..."

Eventually she wound down and just sat there, staring up at the leaves and taking a moment to wish that she was home.

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

Elena had news, and she had some downtime this afternoon, so it seemed like a good time to bother Reno.

"Guess where I am," she said, whenever he picked up.

[raspberryturk]

.... It probably said a great deal about Reno's patience that he managed to sit through the whole run of it. The first two encounters seemed reasonable enough. Biting, maybe, yes, but Reno was known to say far, far worse. The third, however?

"Ow," he said, finally, when she'd worn down and stopped. "That's a lotta..." He tapped his fingers against his knee, frowning. "I dunno. Sounds like there was a lot bein' said on both sides that wasn't bein' heard."

So weird for him, trying to play the voice of reason.

[raspberryturk]

"Somewhere that ain't here?"

Reno was good at this game!