raspberryturk | The Seventh Heaven Bar, Edge, Wednesday Night

Entry tags:

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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"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.

...

That would be the sounds of Ino wriggling over to peek at her calendar.

"Next week, maybe? Break starts on the twenty first, I think? But I got the few days before that off from everything 'less home drops something in my lap."

Ino was not optimistic about that, no.

"What, you wanna spend your whole week here?" This was Reno, sounding vaguely bemused. "Pretty shitty way to spend your spring vacation, Rookie, trust me on that one."

"Nooo," she said, making a face at him. Well, at her phone. Shut up. "I didn't say that! But, vacation starts on the twenty-first, you know? And once I'm off work on the seventeenth I'm free? So that's a few days between work and vacation that I don't got nothing going on, see?"

"Okay, okay," Reno chuckled. "No hoggin' the Rookie for a week for wacky misadventures or whatever."

Yes. Reno just totally said 'wacky misadventures.'

"So, the seventeenth until when, then?"

"You'd strangle me if I kicked 'round for a whole week," she insisted, laughing. "Um. I don't know? A few days? Or something?"

"Well, the school goin' off on its usual trip or anything like that you might wanna take in?"

Reno had been a student of Fandom long enough to remember the trips, okay. He got fake-married on one of them! As Sven Higurrnurrhurrdurrson, or something like that.

"To some beach thing," she said, wrinkling her nose. "But I don't know yet if I want to go. I always get bored halfway through with all the relaxation stuff going on."

There was only so much time that she could spend on a beach or wandering and she wasn't old enough to go drinking anywhere off Fandom...

"Fair enough," Reno replied, giving his shoulders a shrug. "How 'bout you show up, hang around, and I kick your ass outta Edge whenever I get sick of you?"

He was joking. If they went that route, he'd try to recruit her to the Turks, and then he'd never let her leave.

She laughed.

"Depends on if it'd take more than a week for you to get sick of me or not," Ino answered. "I don't think I'm supposed to just up and take as long a vacation as I want, you know."

"I guess they'd miss you if I went around tryin' to keep you tied up in Edge, huh?" Reno chuckled some, at that. "See, your vacation totally ends once I sign you on to the Turks, yoto."

Dastardly schemes were afoot! Apparently!

Ino's eyes narrowed contemplatively even as she laughed a bit.

"I'd hope they'd miss me, at least. My feelings would be hurt if they didn't." True enough. Ino liked to think she mattered on some level to people.

"And I thought Tseng was all reluctant to hire people, yo?" With an amused lilt in her voice.

"He is," Reno sighed. That was a sulk, shut up. "So I guess that means I'd have to sneak you onto the payroll, yo."

And that would work for a whole... what, three minutes? Seconds? Less?

"Rookies are important in this line of work too."

She smile softened as she realized he was a bit more serious about it than she'd first given his idea credit for. "Missing having Rookies?"

Ino rested her head against her pillow. "I'll try and come by more often, okay? You can show me some ropes, even if Tseng wouldn't hire me, yeah?"

Ino had clearly never gotten an opportunity to see Reno in his element, back in the days when he'd take Rookies out on their first runs of Sector Eight. He was so missing having Rookies.

"You know, I think I'd like that?"

How was that, for a weirdly serious note from a slightly tipsy Reno?

"Ain't much to keep a guy goin' in a place like this. Showin' someone the ropes would be at least a little like old times again, zoto."

"Wouldn't be much of a Rookie if I didn't have you teaching me things now would I?" Ino asked, tugging her calendar and wondering what days, now, she could spare to go and keep Reno company.

That was important. She could find the time for that.

"If I were a new Rookie in your care what would be the first thing you'd tell me?"

Reno exhaled softly, with a little 'heh' to go along with it. When had he gone and turned into some kind of nostalgic schmuck?

"Just four words that'll keep you goin' a lot longer'n most Rookies do, if I do my job right and you figure out what I mean by 'em, yo. 'Don't worry about it.'"

"Don't worry about it?" she echoed, turning the words over in her head and letting them settle there. "Don't think I get it, yet."

"That's fine," Reno replied, giving his shoulders a shrug. "It's somethin' you gotta lean about on the field."

By worrying, usually.

"If you wan't somethin' easier to work with, try tackin' on 'hang in there' for good measure."

They were really far, far more loaded words than their cliché roots let on, when they came from Reno. Worrying could get a Turk killed or worse.

Ino hummed thoughtfully at that.

She twirled her pen around absently and wondered if she ought to ask. He seemed like he--might be okay with it? A little bit? They were already talking about Rookies, after all.

"Ne, Reno? What were some of your Rookies like?"

"Oh, shit," Reno replied, and there was a quiet laugh to go with that. "You're askin' all the hard questions tonight, yo."

He was... okay with that, though. Tonight seemed like a good night to pick at things like that. He wasn't much of a fan of just letting them stay gone and forgotten.

"Most of 'em were convinced they were gonna be the best damn Turks ever. Had a few tried to tell me how to do my job. Had a few afraid to do theirs. There was the kid I caught tryin' to jack a bike from ShinRa. Kicked his ass ten friggin' ways to Junon, then offered him a job."

There were many shiny and exciting ways to get a job with the Turks. See?

"Do you mind?" Her laugh was just as soft. "Why did you offer him a job? Because he was almost good enough to get away with the bike?"

"Reminded me of me, I guess," Reno grinned. "Cocky, proud, an' he earned that pride, yo. Was the leader of his own gang before we picked him up. Turks could'a used a kid like that. Would'a been a shame to let that kinda talent sit an' rot in a ShinRa cell for the rest of his life, yo."

Reno mused over that for a minute, and then he was laughing again.

"He chose an EMR as his weapon. Shot the shit with me an' Rude like he was there all along, yo. Caught on quick to bein' a Turk. Couldn't call him Rookie for too long."

"Sounds like a good one," she said, smiling. It was--nice, to hear Reno talk about things like this. And not because Ino wanted information out of him. She wanted information but this sort... wasn't the type.

"If he was that cocky, bet he didn't like being called Rookie much, yeah?"

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject