raspberryturk | The Seventh Heaven Bar, Edge, Wednesday Night

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The Seventh Heaven Bar, Edge, Wednesday Night

Admittedly, a Wednesday night was a pretty shitty night to go to any bar that didn't actually have something going on. And, in a place like Edge, it wasn't just Wednesday nights that were like that, even at the most popular stop for alcoholic swill in town. It wasn't as though people were going to get together and sing karaoke. Name that tune was pretty much a thing of the past, too. Trivia night? Not so much. But if you got Cid Highwind drunk enough, he'd tell you all about that time he spent about five minutes stuck outside of Gaia's atmosphere.

Word to the wise: Don't get Cid Highwind drunk enough to tell you all about that time he spent about five minutes stuck outside of Gaia's atmosphere.

Fortunately, Reno didn't come to the bar unprepared. He was a Turk. He came prepared for anything, thank you very much. There was a stun baton hidden up his sleeve, extra money for booze tucked away in one pocket, and a deck of cards in one hand. Tifa even tolerated his presence here because he was more or less good business, and he tended to handle her cutting him off when she'd decided that he'd had enough with... minimal leering. Which made him significantly less obnoxious than some of the folks that stopped in for drinks.

And anyhow, kicking the asses of the bar's other regulars at poker? Totally made hitting this place up on his evening off worth any unpleasant aftertaste that his allotted few servings of Corel Ale left behind.

Hey, it wasn't Reno's fault that Barrett was shit at calling bluffs.

[Open for anyone who might want to give Reno a phone call, or what-have-you. He'll probably gloat at you relentlessly, just to rile up the big guy some more.]

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"Nah, not always. Higher-ranked SOLDIERs used to be able to make some damn sweet materia, too. I mean, nothin' like a kickass summon materia or anything like that, but... Let's just say, you don't go wanderin' around and just magically trip over a Hell Thundaga, most of the time, yo."

Mmmm, Hell Thundaga. Reno wanted one.

Reno would never get his hands on one.

Reno was pouting again.

"Hell Thundaga?"

... Higher-ranked SOLDIERS, hm? HMMM.

There was a scribbling noise as she wrote down notes on that.

There went Reno, flapping his yap. Go figure.

... Maybe if he was lucky, he'd get a Hell Thundaga for his birthday next year, or something.

"It's like Thundaga? Only more frickin' kickass. And it inflicts status ailments."

He wasn't purring as he said that. That was totally your imagination.

And that was totally an imaginary squeak of 'eeeee' from the other end of the line.

"Like what? Poison? Darkness? Hmmmm..."

It wasn't his birthday she was thinking of, no lie.

"Poison's one possibility," Reno agreed, grinning. "I seen 'em cast shit like Poison, Silence, Stop, and Death."

That last part? That part was shiiiiiny.

That was not shiny.

"That needs a Safety Bit to avoid it, yeah?"

... the fact that she knew that probably said that she and Zack had been talking a fair bit, yeah.

Reno narrowed one eye a little, squinting at... well, at the wall. But, yes, the sentiment was there.

"Yes. Yes it does, yo."

You could practically hear the squint, now.

"What?" Ino asked, all innocence. "Zack said he'd maybe consider taking me on a few treasure huntin' runs but that he had to run 'em first to make sure there was nothing that'd do that to me."

Or something like that. Besides, she wanted to see if the squint could get louder.

It was the loudest squint ever. Seriously.

"Yeah. Well. No freaking insta-death missions for my Rookies until they get the right equipment," Reno decided. Because he'd already pretty much come to terms with the fact that he couldn't tie the girl down and keep her out of Zack's life.

Much as he wanted to.

"I might be able to dig up a Safety Bit somewhere, yo. They ain't really frowned at like materia is, nowadays."

Bratty Rookies were better than dead ones, shut up.

And he was the bestest Reno ever, really.

She was awwwing and her ceiling and grinning a bit. "I been doing good," she reminded him, "I've been sending heating pads like promised. And I ain't gone on no missions yet," liar, "but he said he wouldn't anyway 'till he was sure I'd be safe. He don't want me dead either."

But Zack's method was more sink or swim than Reno's way of protecting first.

"I won't say no, though, to one?"

"Well, I'll keep an eye out. It's probably only a matter of time before I beat some dumb shit down for one, yo."

... Or before he won one off of a very broke Barrett or Cid because they weren't about to back down without winning a game against Reno. There was a thought...

"Best Reno ever," she informed him brightly. "I like living, you know?"

He could probably guess.

Ino chewed on her lip and debated between questions and... news. Hm.

"Training's getting ramped up at home," Ino said, deciding that questions could be on hold for the second. "Ain't getting the rank, but getting the clearance and access to training the rank'd give."

"Eh, rank ain't everything," Reno replied. And, hell, he believed it. What he wouldn't give to step down from his position as Tseng's second, without stepping down from the Turks as a whole.

But then it wold be on Rude's shoulders, and he wouldn't wish that on Rude. Or on anybody, really.

"You're gettin' the training, at least. That's pretty kickass, zoto."

Ino glanced at her phone.

"Training's fine," she said, finally. "Don't change the fact I'd have liked the chance to try for the rank as well."

"Eh, it's just another stripe on your shoulder or whatever," Reno pointed out. "Maybe some better work, but you ain't back in your own world to be able to put all your focus on work anyhow. An' besides, if rank means bein' in command of people under you, how're you supposed to do that from Fandom?"

See again, Reno wishing that he was there, where all of his Rookies were, so that he could feel as though he was actually doing his freaking job.

Ino sighed because, oh sure, he was applying logic to it. Logic didn't have that much to do with her feelings, after all.

"Rank don't always mean bein' in command," she said, knowing she was just nitpicking. "But yeah, I know. I ain't sayin' it's a bad thing, exactly, just..."

She shrugged, knowing he couldn't see it.

"It just kinda sucks too. My teammates are both Chuunin and I've got the skills to be one," had had them since she'd been fourteen, even, "so it's not very fun to get a call sayin' you're forbidden to try, yeah?"

"It's a matter of pride," Reno replied, picking his words carefully. "I get that, Rookie. Ain't no fun bein' left behind when your class is movin' on without you, yo."

See, he could slap some sympathy in there whenever he damn well pleased.

Ino chewed her lip at that.

"Guess it's--fair, though?" Ino said fair like it was a dirty word. "I mean, I ain't been there. But it don't mean I haven't been training or working hard or nothing so it's kinda like a--you aren't good enough, anyway. Even though my clearance is going up like it would with the rank, you know?"

She had words, they maybe made sense.

"Slap in the face," Reno sighed. "Shit, Rookie, I'm sorry they're puttin' it off that way."

A beat.

"You bein' in school gettin' in the way of you doin' your job at all? That why they're holdin' you back?"

"Dad said something 'bout it being 'cause of the exam length," she explained. "Chuunin exam is a month an' a half in total--counting time between the last two to scope out the competition. It ain't something that'll be scheduled 'round the needs of a hopeful either. It's an international exam."

A substitute for war and a chance to see what sort of talent other villages had in case it came to war.

Ino gave it a little more consideration. "School might be a factor. I know I'd have more missions if I were home--but they ain't going to pay portal fare to drag me back and forth for every mission I could do, you know? Not at my level."

"Nah," Reno agreed. "An' Fandom has invasions, but nothin' near enough to have 'em be much use for trainin' yourself up or anything like that."

Yeah, he'd totally danced that dance before.

"Ever give any thought to comin' out to Edge now an' then? I can spring for portal fare, yo. All I gotta do is play poker against the schlubs who hang around this joint."

Cid was going to bust Reno's nose the second Tifa's back was turned. It was official.

"Yeah--so I get missions that require my skills and some others when they figure that they'd better make sure I don't forget how to be a shinobi, you know? And half the time Fandoms invasions are more fun than real." Ino shrugged a bit, using the time it took to answer the first part to think about the second.

"I--" Have been spending extra time in Midgar? Which wouldn't go over well, she thought, even if he seemed alright with the idea in the very abstract of treasure hunting missions. "Not really," she admitted, "I know Edge is in a bad way so I weren't sure how well it'd go for a Rookie tagging 'round after you sometimes? I wouldn't mind, though, if you don't?"

...When she wanted to be, Ino was pretty good at spinning truth and lies together, yes.

"Well, a run around, takin' on Boundfats an' Kalm Fangs? Couldn't do no harm."

This was almost cruel of Reno, really. Boundfats were far meaner than Kalm Fangs. But at the same time, it seemed like an effective way of figuring out just how much use Ino was putting that materia of hers to.

He could be sneaky with the best of them, here.

"Wouldn't be takin' you along on any of the missions Tseng hands me, of course. We'd just be makin' the usual rounds, securin' the area. Sorta like the Turks would do with Sector Eight, back in the day."

It was nearly symbolic, that way. The first mission any new Turk had was to secure Sector Eight, after all. Not that Reno was going to share that point.

"Weren't expectin' you to let me go on a real mission," she said, only a smidgen sulky. Ino knew the rules, after all. Even if it was Totally Unfair that no one was letting her play with things that she wouldn't be able to handle.

Yes, Ino, how dare they protect you? What?

At least the whole security clearance thing made sense to her.

"I'd like that, though," she added quickly, in case he changed his mind. "Doing a round and stuff." Turks in Sector Eight meant she'd have to play the 'see if she could spot them' next time she went to Midgar. No one would think it weird for someone who hadn't been there much or often to be all wide-eyed and checking things out.

"Well, you pick a weekend or whatever that works for you, then," Reno replied. "I'll handle the rest from there, yo. Ain't like I got anything big goin' on around here lately."

No, really. After the better chunk of a year stuck in Edge, Reno was finally realizing that most of the missions that he went on were really just him running in place, pretending that there was progress to be made.

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