raspberryturk | Rude's Apartment, Edge, Thursday Afternoon

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!]

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And why look, if this wasn't the perfect time for Arthur to call him.

It was absolutely the best time for Arthur to call him!

Or, at least, it could have been worse. Juggling a phone, beans and a ferret was less troublesome than juggling a phone and some Bat Eyes would have been.

"Yo!"

Please excuse that honking sound. That was the honking sound of a ferret who wanted to play with the phone, too.

"I need you to hit me," Arthur told him, without preamble, "In spirit. Don't ask questions."

"Um." Reno really had no idea how to hit anyone in spirit. Mostly, he just kicked the shit out of people face-to-face. It was more satisfying, that way.

He let Mako thump against the receiver of his cell phone before scooping him away again. Sure! That would do.

"Take that."

"Thank you."

Arthur had never had a phone before this. He was used to people being able to actually hit him.

Also, he had an inkling that the only person who even had any advice on this particular issue of his was Romeo, and he wasn't going there. No. Oh no. So a subject change was good.

"...Was that your ferret?"

"Mako's good at kickin' ass and takin' names," Reno replied, the smirk well-apparent in his tone. "You want me to smack my phone around, you're gonna be the one replacin' it, yo."

Reno was kind that way.

"I can pay for it," said Arthur, with absolutely no trace of irony. "How's everything else?"

Reno took that moment to cast his gaze around the room again.

"... Cluttered. Kinda looks like I'm livin' in the slums all over again," he snorted, nudging at a bag of soil with one foot. "An' busy. You managed to catch me on my first day off in weeks."

"What have you been working on?"

Not that Arthur was trying to rule Edge - or at least Reno's apartment - from Fandom, really.

"Whatever work Tseng wants to throw at me," Reno replied, biting back a tired huff. "Pullin' double-shifts killin' monsters an' keepin' rioters in check since the Rookie took off, yo."

It was not unheard of for Reno to go a few days without sleep and food, at this rate, no.

"He hasn't found any new Turks to replenish your number?" Because that was something of a failing, there.

"The trick is findin' people who don't want us all dead, first." It was very, very tricky, really. "There ain't too many fans of ShinRa out there, yoto."

"But you're still working," he observed, blinking at his phone.

"If I don't do it, who will?"

Reno was, for a lazy bastard, one hell of a workaholic, yes.

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

"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."

"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."

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."

"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.

"... 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."

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

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."

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

He chose that moment to close his eyes.

"Make sure they know that."

"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.

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

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

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