Edge, Thursday Evening

[raspberryturk]

"I'm friggin' bored," Reno announced, possibly to nobody in particular, possibly to the bowl of beans that he'd picked. "Bored bored bored."

The beans said nothing.

"You know how bored I am?"

The beans waited patiently for a reply.

"I'm so friggin' bored, I'm talkin' to string beans."

This was what happened when Reno got himself suspended from duty for two weeks.

Fear.

[NFB for distance, as usual, but totally open for phone calls!]

Comments

[raspberryturk]

"Sounds like you earned a bit of a break, zoto. Enjoy the sun an' the sand, and hopefully you won't get attacked by giant squids or somethin' while you're tryin' to sunbathe."

... Though that would be kind of fun.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Calamari special if they do," Dinah said threateningly, then snickered. It would be kind of fun, and hey, she'd already fought a tentacle-mess in Vancouver. "I'll send you stuff tomorrow. So you can have a week of trying to entertain yourself if your boss doesn't just give up and put you on the slums detail like you want."

[raspberryturk]

"Sewers," Reno corrected, casually. "Slums ain't there no more."

They were kinda flat.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Which was... depressing. And hard to know. And something she'd just keep to herself.

"Sewers. You missed it here," Dinah said lightly. "When we had to chase the alligators down into the sewers. Now it's your turn, if your boss will get over holding a grudge over a harmless, funny, joke!" Snort.

[raspberryturk]

"Eh, Tseng's Tseng. He's got a stick shoved up his asscrack at least three meters long," Reno replied, dismissively. "There ain't nothin' keepin' me outta the sewers anyhow except the fact that I ain't gettin' paid for it, an' nobody's handin' me intel on where's safe to go down there until I get back on duty."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah grinned. "That makes sense. Take back-up? Seriously?" Dinah sighed. "I worry about you, you know. I know it's not all growing beans and handing out blankets and annoying Tseng." Who would also never ever get mentioned.

[raspberryturk]

Never mentioning Tseng to Zack would be a good thing, yes. Zack was probably Tseng's best friend... ever. And the kid hadn't even met him, yet.

"If there's backup to take, I'll take it," Reno assured her. Kinda. "With Rude out coverin' the legit jobs, I might be better off just takin' up a patrol around the edges of town. I ain't gettin' paid for it, nah, but the monsters'll drop enough Gil to keep me fed, anyhow."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"That is so weird, that your monsters drop treasure. I swear. None of the ones in Vancouver left anything but bruises and wrecked set pieces," Dinah complained. "But I'm glad you can stay in the money when you're suspended that way. And are being careful." She hadn't seriously worried about his pay being suspended; maybe because no way anyone he knew would let him starve. Ramen, after all. "Any food you want me to send? Not the seeds, you've got those. But anything you miss from here?"

[raspberryturk]

"I would damn near kill for some beef jerky," Reno laughed. "An' beer nuts. An' peanut butter cookies. Pretzels, too. Not potato chips, though. We already got too many damn potatoes."

It was dangerous to ask a man who had been eating potatoes since June what kind of food he missed.

"An' pizza an' cheeseburgers an' steak. You know how long it's been since I had a steak?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah wasn't taking notes, oh no. She was typing the list into her computer. "I'm making cookies tomorrow anyway. As a thank-you to Francine's mom." And a cheer-up present for both her and Francine. "So that's easy. So are the pretzels and beer nuts." She grinned. "Steaks, well. I don't know. Hunh. Somebody must know how to ship those so they're not nasty and green when they get sent across dimensions, right?"

She'd bet Arthur would want to go in on something like that, and maybe Leto. Turtle might even get them a deal, you never knew. "Do you have a microwave, Reno?"

[raspberryturk]

"You know, I actually do?"

It was a luxury item in Edge, and Reno totally had one! He'd scored it from some jerk who was keeping hostages last week. Kicked his ass and then looted his apartment, because the son of a bitch deserved it.

"It almost kinda works, even!"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah squinted at that, then shrugged. "If it's not making you radioactive or blowing up, it's good." Maybe frozen dinners? Turtle would know how to do this.

And no, it wasn't guilt doing this; that would be her compulsive checking on Zack for the next few weeks, that he didn't disappear or change his mind about going home or anything. This, this was what you just did for a friend who was stationed somewhere kinda boring and with limited food, who was doing his job, and who could leave but never would.

"I'm so getting you a food care package. Just for some variety. If I can't spice up your work day, at least your meals can be more fun."

[raspberryturk]

"I'm already as radioactive as I'm gonna get," Reno promised solemnly, and then laughed. "You guys are all too damn good to me, zoto. There any way I can pay you back for that?"

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Pffttt. Come to Homecoming? Tell more stories, buy me booze then." Dinah smiled. "Consider it payback for not laughing at me when I yakked after the harpies. And listening to me panic on your answering machine off and on." She sighed. "Someday, I'll call when it's good news. I swear."

[raspberryturk]

"Hey, freak out on my answerin' machine all you like, Rookie. It gives me somethin' to listen to on the boring days, yo."

People's voices! He remembered what those sounded like!

"But homecoming, I can do."

He'd be there if he had to skip shifts or tie Tseng up and leave him in a closet or something.