Edge, Tuesday Afternoon

[raspberryturk]

"Back to work, back to work."

Work for Reno, it should be noted, mostly consisted of him putting his feet on his desk and pretending to be busy. There were reports to be filed. He didn't wanna. That required effort.

Taking jobs that involved him chasing down monsters or beating terrorists to a messy pulp or, dare he say it, the jobs that required making hits? That wasn't work. That was play.

Reno? Reno was working. So hard at work. Staring at paper. Paperwork would be less boring if maybe it came in crossword format. Or word search. Or if it was written out in code that replaced each letter of the alphabet with a different picture of a naked chick. If it did that, maybe it wouldn't be so much work!

Yes, he was totally spending his time hard at work trying to will the phone to ring with his brain. Ugh, work.

[For phonecalls, of course. Reno is, as usual, boooored.]

Comments

[raspberryturk]

Reno was going to need a moment to stare at his phone, dumbfounded.

ur rookie wants u 2 hurt her? wtf ino?

And then, a moment later, he had to send more.

did u yet? i got potions or somethn if u need

[raspberryturk]

Awww, Reno liked that ringtone. It was all chick-chicky-boom and junk.

"Yo, Sweetheart."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Then I'll send you the fixings," Dinah decided, since hey, kids who liked superballs would probably like ice cream as well as Reno. "They could make enchiladas? Maybe some tortillas or something." Which was Dinah's idea of how you ate beans, as part of the spiciest Mexican food you could make. "Why wouldn't it be safe? Structurally, or something else, and why are you there then?" she asked, worried.

[raspberryturk]

"Oh, no, the building is fine, Rookie. That ain't it." Reno sighed, shifting his weight a little and looking at the ceiling. "People get the idea that a Turk is gettin' soft on the neighbourhood kids, though, they're gonna do what it takes to get to the Turk."

[intraspective]

Heeey, he'd typed her name in! Ino wondered if that was because it was shorter than 'rookie' was. He seemed to go for short in text.

not rookie. sib. hopelessly-naive i think. Ino contemplated that as she ditched capital letters. yeah. she don't get it right. thinks it's...

Ino had no words for what Jen actually thought about it, now that she had to put it down.

i don't mind, one way. medical purposes, need to know what will heal. Controlled situation better than mid-battlefield and dying. but sis just smiles and don't get what it means more than that. talked to miss atreides bout it. she thinking bout supervising it.

[raspberryturk]

It was tooootally because it was shorter than Rookie was. Yes.

Lady Ghanima's good 4 that kinda thing. if its got 2 b dun, then have her there, yo

Yes, Reno totally typed his 'yo's.

nuthn srs tho ok? until u kno if the minor stuff'll heal fine 1st.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Oh." Dinah processed that, then said, "Oh." Not safe for the kids. Right. "Gotcha." A moment of silence, then a bit more soberly, "Anyone thinking you're a good target lately? I really hope not."

[raspberryturk]

"Nobody we ain't been able to deal with," Reno replied dismissively, snorting a bit somewhere in that statement. "It ain't nothin' new. Someone gets wind of the guys in suits who used to work for ShinRa, tries somethin' dumb, an' a few hours later we're handin' 'em off gift-wrapped to the WRO so they can figure out what to do with 'em without any real legal system set up."

A pause.

"Shit, do we ever need some kinda prison system."

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"The WRO, they're the ones taking care of people mostly, right?" Dinah checked, trying to remember. She was quiet a minute, thinking about prisons. "They're always a pain. Keep people out, keep people in..." She sighed, remembering Al Hawke. "Too bad you can't put an ankle bracelet and a tracker on them. I'm guessing that wouldn't be enough."

[intraspective]

Ino made a face at the screen.

not stupid, reno. start with the baby stuff & adjust 'cordingly sis dont know yet if she wanna do the chemical bit. think she should.

She had opinions on that, yeah.

sis think drugs worse'n blades. sis slow sometimes. all weapons do damage & drugs heal too & put her to sleep if goes berserk. is possibility. need to know. important, yes?

[raspberryturk]

"It ain't never enough. But right now, we are the law. Us and the WRO. World Regenesis Organization. They're rebuildin'. Kinda got the beginnings of an army happenin' there, but their progress is slow. They're hirin' kids offa the streets, just so long as they're old enough to hold a gun. That ain't an army. That's a buncha people who threw away their pride because they were hungry."

Reno could relate. But at least he found something to be proud of in the Turks when he'd done it.

[raspberryturk]

So long as u got some-1 like Lady Ghani watchin mite as well do wat u can, yah. better with suprvisin than on the field or somethn.

Reno sighed. Daaamn, he wished he could be there for that.

A beat.

Any idea when u were gonna do that?

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah sighed, frowning and pacing. "You gotta get some due process, too. If only to keep track of them, Reno. I mean, I don't know if the WRO is letting them go or... doing other stuff. But secrets are weapons to everybody else." She got that much. She paced a little farther, and then asked, "Is there anyone that almost everyone trusts to be fair? Or any code, or authority, or... I don't know. Even religion, that they'd all be good with? If not making the rules, then arbitrating them?"

[the_merriest]

"Hi," Rikku said. It was the sort of small, tired voice that suggested she was wrapped around the phone, yes. "I love you. I'm so tired right now. I don't even know if I'm gonna make any sense. Are you okay? I mean, how are you? There's ....... news. Here."

[raspberryturk]

"People trust Cloud an' Tifa an' them," Reno said, sighing and shaking his head. "Because they all stabbed the big bad more'n once until he stopped movin'. Thing is, they ain't exactly the best role models, either. I wouldn't let 'em dole out justice at their say so, no matter how thankful I am that they saved the world."

A beat.

"Twice."

Shut up.

"Before they got their world savin' schtick on, they were runnin' around, detonating bombs in the mako reactors around Midgar. They ain't heroes any more'n I am."

[raspberryturk]

"I'm fine. Bored at the desk, yo. You got news? You first, then."

He wanted to reach out and hug her through the phone lines. Damn phones, haven't invented the hug button yet.

[intraspective]

not goin' play the pain tolerance game on sis without miss atreides, promise. both for sis sake and mine. don't wanna get killed if sis' powers freak out. i'm tough but flingin' me around like a toy ain't good for me either.

And Ino was light-weight. She'd go flying if that happened.

thinkin' preserve. want clinic but don't want other nurses in danger or equipment get broken. sis goes crazy when adrenaline goes uuup and anger-pain-fear will be cocktail for it. being careful in planning.

[findingelena.livejournal.com]

"That would've been cute," Elena said. "Numbnuts. Kinda mean, but still cute."

Elena: not so great with naming things.

"I don't want to name her anything stupid," she insisted. "She's adorable. And she wobbles. Wobble-wobble-wobble and then she falls over, so she mews desperately until I get her. But she's not dumb or anything, I don't think. It's too early to tell. Just all tiny and new, still figuring out which end is up."

[raspberryturk]

Reno was having one of those 'ideas' that he had every now and again. Someone, please alert the authorities.

think u can put off till homecomng?

[the_merriest]

"Yeah," she said. She had news. She didn't have much coherence, but news seemed to be around here somewhere, right? It'd work out. "It's ... okay. Things are good. Kinda? Things are better. I think. It was sucking harder and harder and Lulu was about to start stabbing people right in the face and I would have helped her because everyone was being so fucking stupid and then -- and then the Guado kinda --"

"... Didn't suck."

Words seemed to be in spurt mode. Off, or on. Back to off again, for now! On would return in a few seconds.

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, that's... going to blow, until someone sane and smart without an axe to grind steps up," Dinah said, guessing that the last one would be the hardest to find. "And you wouldn't want to bring in anyone from outside. Nobody would trust them." She shook her head, thinking. "And elections could get rigged, especially with everyone all upset and no one paying attention, and that might not get the best person making rules either." She frowned. "Maybe Arthur has some ideas? This is his thing, kinda."

[intraspective]

dunno.

At least she was honest.

sis eager for it. sis stupid bout it. want it done fast fast fast. can talk to her but worry if say no then sis find someone else for doing it.

And someone else wasn't acceptable in Ino's opinion.

why? you want to help?

[raspberryturk]

Snerk. Yes, that was totally a 'snerk' sound that Reno made into the phone.

"Sounds to me like you picked up your first rookie, Rookie."

[raspberryturk]

"Don't get me wrong, I got all the respect in the world for Arthur. Good buddy of mine an' everything. But I think askin' a guy who grew up with a life of privilege what the best way to build a government on the outskirts of the ruins of what used to be called home is... Might be a little much to dump on the guy's shoulders. He's still rollin' his eyes at me for blowin' up the overpass, yo."

... In all fairness, the overpass kinda had to go. Even if it was really really really important.

[raspberryturk]

ill be comin to fandom 4 homecomin yah. figure u can use all th help u can get, rite? but if shes gonna be an idiot an put herself an the island in danger then make sure you got some kinda backup, k?

He worried about his rookies, damn it. His wee little blond rookies.