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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"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?"

"Wasn't much of a fan of it, nah," Reno replied, smirking a little. "Just means I had to say it more, to rub it in, yo."

It was his sacred duty. Truly.

"Cissnei always took that kinda thing better, anyhow."

"Somehow I'm not surprised that you'd rub it in," she answered, toying with a bit of her hair. "Cissnei? Another Rookie?"

"Yeah," Reno replied, still smiling as he eased back into his seat.

If he leaned any farther back into it, it would fall over and take him with it. And then Barrett would laugh.

"ShinRa raised her, so she was pretty much prepared for the job before she even got it, yo. Good kid, though. Bit of a flirt to some of the weirdest freakin' guys," like Zack, "but we didn't hold it against her or nothin'."

"How generous of you," she said, a bit amused at that. And wondering what Reno would consider a weird guy. "Didn't know ShinRa had raised kids, though."

"Didn't bring up many like that," Reno noted. "Cissnei was a bit of a... project, I guess. Get 'em young, raise 'em to be loyal. They did run a few orphanages an' shit like that, but I never paid too much attention to that kinda crap."

And now he was the one feeding kids and helping them survive.

"Nothing wrong with raising people to be loyal," she said, instead. "Especially when it gives you good people."

"Can't deny she was one of our best," Reno agreed. "I was confident in all of our Turks, not a problem. But if there was ever a mission I had to go on where I couldn't bring Rude, Cissnei would'a been my next choice."

"Bet that would have pleased her to know," she said thoughtfully, sifting through responses and hoping she was coming up with ones that--worked. "It's a measure of--trust, you know? If you know something like that."

"That ain't the kinda thing that you run into every day," he agreed. "Somethin' like that would'a pleased me to hear, too."

From someone other than Rude. Rude was a given, c'mon.

"And it kinda makes you want to live up to it," she replied. "Like, if you know someone wants to work with you, picks you over other people, then you got extra reason to keep doing your best beyond personal pride and pride in the job."

"Because Ifrit forbid you ever disappoint," Reno noted, nodding. "It ain't just a matter of doin' the job, then. It's a matter of keepin' your eye out for family, yo."

The Turks were every bit his family, yes. Even if Tseng was an ass and Elena was a bit of a twit.

He thought of them as such... lovingly.

The urge to say she was sorry that there were--only four of them left, four of his family, including him, was growing.

Ino ignored it. She didn't have anything to be sorry about. And saying it might make him think she pitied him which... wasn't the case at all.

"Protecting your precious people," she said softly. "It's something that makes anyone strong."

"It's what bein' a Turk was about. Still is, yo. It's why we're hangin' in there even if shit sucks here in Edge."

And here he was, pondering ways to get out of there again. Which made him the heel of the year, didn't it?

... Nah.

It made him tired. Needing a break.

Made him human.

"Loyalty isn't worth much if it's only fair-weather loyalty," she said. "I might only be a Rookie, but I know that much."

"You ain't only a Rookie," Reno replied, and there he was, grinning again. "You're my Rookie, yo."

That made all the difference.

"Guess I gotta live up to that then, yeah?" Ino was smiling, and still looking at her calendar. "Wouldn't want you to have a no-good Rookie on your hands."

"You know? For whatever reason, I ain't all too worried about that."

When it came to his Rookies, he rarely ever was.

Either way, she was grinning down like a dork now and glad he couldn't see it.

"Yeah? Guess I ought to thank you then."

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raspberryturk - 2010-02-13 20:38 (UTC) - Expand

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