raspberryturk | Edge, Friday Afternoon

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Edge, Friday Afternoon

Distress calls from Rookies, left, right, and center. That was what Reno came home to, after over a week without phone reception out in the wastes. And now it was the countdown, before one Rookie would get here, with Ifrit only knew what kind of trauma fresh in her head.

Pick up the phone. Dial numbers. He had well over an hour, between the time Ino's portal would arrive to pick her up, and the time it would actually make it into Edge, after all.

"The boss sends me on one mission in the middle of nowhere, Mako, an' the whole universe goes to Hell without me, zoto."

[NFB for distance, as usual. Open for anyone who needs a Reno call or who wants to give one, all calls will sit chronologically before a certain Ninja visitor, yo.]

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Oh, Shiva.

"You looked the kid in the eyes first, didn't you?"

"Kid thought I was her mom," Ino answered. "And maybe lots of moms don't but Kinjo--seemed a pretty good one."

The downsides of spying on your target. Ow.

"It's harder to get over it if you look 'em in the eyes, first," Reno said. Frowning. Sharing the tricks of the trade, here. "It don't matter if your target figures it out because of it. They're gonna be dead either way, an' they won't be talkin' then."

She considered that silently.

"I'll remember," Ino said quietly. "I just--can't. Right now, it's all messed up and I keep thinking 'bout what... what other people would say."

"To hell with other people," Reno decided, stopping and standing still just long enough to give her an even look. "They wanna give you a hard time? They don't even know what your world's like, they got no place to judge."

Do the job.

"You got the job done, no matter what. The guy in charge said good. Damn, Rookie, I never got no praises for the work I did. Good for you."

She kept going for a step and a half before stopping. Ino wrapped her arms around herself though she wasn't cold.

Like Asuma-sensei the word good both soothed and unsettled.

"I did it," she answered, "and I'll do it again. Whenever Hokage-sama needs me too."

In and out and count to seven.

"But I--I don't know. It's stupid. I--Fandom hurts. Maybe other people don't got room to judge, but I do and I don't know what's right or wrong anymore. Hokage-sama ordered it. Asuma-sensei said good. I know what most of Fandom would say and I can't tell if they have a point or not any more. Maybe I'm mental now, 'cause it's not supposed to matter."

"But it sort of--does. But I'm not... guilty. I didn't do anything really... wrong. I did the job. That's what I'm supposed to do. Otherwise I'm a waste of space."

... Damn.

"Sometimes," Reno said, "the job hurts. No matter how good you do at it."

He turned and looked at the wreckage of Midgar, wincing a little before lifting a finger and pointing at a particular portion of that plate, one that seemed significantly closer to the ground than the rest.

"That part was me."

She silently raised her gaze to follow where he was pointing. It was--her mind reeled at the idea of how many people had been killed in that. Ino swallowed.

"The Turks don't hate you for it," Ino said, eventually. "My village doesn't think bad of me for what I do under orders. Maybe that's all that should matter."

Biting her lip, Ino reached to try and gently push his arm down. "But it doesn't mean that what other people do and say 'bout it doesn't hurt. I'm--scared. I don't want them to recoil, or worse. Some of them are my friends. And... I don't think you tell everyone 'bout that either." Another shivery breath. "What should matter and what does--I don't know if it's me being weak from being in Fandom so long or not. I'm not, it wasn't, you know... easy. But I'm not... I don't think I'm as bad off as Fandom people would be. Fandom's very... gentle."

You could be gentle and cruel all at the same time.

"Fandom's civilans," Reno replied, his hand returning to his pocket as he cast her a sideways glance. Couldn't look at Sector Seven right now. Couldn't stomach it. "I don't go broadcastin' what I did. Trusted a few people enough to tell 'em about that. Now I just pass it around to the ones who'll get it, once they earn it."

You get burned enough...

"Tseng an' Rude can't look me in the eye, when the plate comes up in conversation." Just sharing, really. "Just 'cause somethin' had to happen don't mean even the people on your side are always gonna be okay with it. That's another perk of the job, zoto. You do it good, you get judged for it from everywhere. But it's still the job."

She stared at the area where the plate had gone down, then up at him. "Thank you," Ino said, blue eyes steady. "For thinking I've earned it."

Personally, she wasn't sure she had.

"I know that, when it comes to facts," Ino shared, "but I don't think it's--sunk in yet. That there's... always judging." ANBU were the monsters of their village. The darkest jobs, the worst reputations. Little wonder why their identities were secret, why they wore the masks.

Ino, though, didn't have a mask.

"Is it wrong to look at--what you did--and want to say good job?" She didn't know if it would help, or hurt, or what. "Because it's awful, and horrible, but it was. A good job, I mean."

Reno went quiet for a long moment, considering that.

"Was a damn good job," he agreed, looking up at the fallen plate again. Twisted metal, screaming, didn't think he'd make it out, didn't want to. "An' I'm damn proud that I got the job done."

A long pause. Mulling it over for a minute more.

"I ain't proud about what I did. Just that it was another mission accomplished. Dunno if that'd make any sense to anyone who ain't had to do the dirty work, before."

She was just a baby, really, on the scale of things. Staring at what he'd done made Ino feel small. Weak.

Here she was upset over one mission and it wasn't even that--bad.

"It sounds like it should make sense," she said, scuffing her feet on the road. "I'm just a rookie."

"You're a rookie with a notch or two on your belt, now." He shrugged. "This is the job, Ino. There ain't no glory in it. You do it because it's gotta get done and there ain't nobody else made to take that mission. You take pride in it, because fuck knows if you ain't proud of the jobs you do right, you won't have nothin' to be proud of later."

"I did do a good job," she replied, giving her hair another tug. "I know that. Even the... kid. Just made framing Kinjo easier. Made it look worse."

She still felt cold though.

"I ran, from Fandom. 'Cause I couldn't play their lie. Does that make me weak?"

Anyone else, she wouldn't have asked. But Reno was the only one she knew well enough who really--got it. Her world. He trusted her, she could trust him back.

"I'm scared."

And Ino did not like admitting that, a slow flush spread across her cheeks. So weak, she chided herself.

"You're holdin' it together," Reno countered. Gently. Or, really, as gently as Reno ever could manage. "I didn't run from Fandom. I just did a lotta hidin' while I was there. If you're weak, Ino, so am I."

Hand in his pocket. Eye on the broken skyline.

"I spent a hell of a lotta time scared, too. You learn not to let it show. People confuse fear for weakness. That's bullshit. Fear keeps you alive. keep feelin' it. Only a damn idiot sacrifices himself like that for the job."

"I wish I could do it like the rest of my team," she admitted. "It was easier--on the mission, you know? Like, there were always things to think about."

She shrugged a bit.

"Not holding it together that well--not if I can't even manage just being alone in my room 'cause it's on Fandom."

"You got a room with me as long as you need it, Ino." He offered her a wry sort of grin. "Personally, I think Edge would get to you after a while. Too much grey. Just breathin' starts to sting after a while if you ain't used to the smell. Could probably catch a cart outta town an' show you some of the nearby places that ain't so dead as this. Kalm, maybe. Or this chocobo ranch that's through the hills. You'd mentioned wantin' to see a chocobo sometime."

He was rambling, he knew it. So?

He was rambling, but she was smiling slightly, so it was probably a fair sort of trade.

"I do want to see one," Ino agreed, giving the ruins another long look, then tilting her head at him inquiringly. "And a demon house. I've been wanting to see one of those for forever."

Seriously. Demon. Houses.

"A cart, though, might take some convincing. Feet generally work."

"Feet ain't gonna agree with you after a week spent wanderin' the desert," Reno laughed. "You leave Mid--" Sigh. "You leave Edge, and there ain't nothin' livin' for forever an' then some. Gotta carry a hell of a lotta water an' food to get you past the wastelands alive, yoto."

"Running is our fastest mode of transportation back home," she shared, making a face at him. "Can't blame me for rathering it."

"Do you think things will live there again?"

"I can run as fast as a chocobo at a normal run," Reno shared. This was a big deal, considering most humans couldn't keep up with a chocobo at a merry trot. "But that trip still takes at least a day on birdback. You wanna leave here, you pack for it. Bring a tent."

That would also be more impressive if she knew exactly how fast they ran. Ino could tell it was hugely likely to be pretty damn fast though.

"I'm guessing you're used to camping then?" Ino queried. "All things considered."

"I spent the last week an' some in the wastes killin' monsters," Reno agreed.

...

"It sucked."

She glanced sideways at him.

"Killing monsters sucks?"

"Rottin' in the wastes alone, smackin' around one-hits sucks," Reno clarified. "I'd sooner be travellin' to somewhere that the monsters actually give me a challenge, yo. They're dangerous to civilians around here, sure, an' they like to mob people. But boooooring."

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