raspberryturk | Tseng's Office, Edge, Wednesday Evening

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Tseng's Office, Edge, Wednesday Evening

Okay. Reno could do this. Reno had made a decision, and he was a big boy, here. He was totally capable of telling the Boss that he was going to set forth to do one thing that was actually good for him for the first time in damn near a year, now.

Damn near? It had been a year, hadn't it? Shit, how time flew.

Really, this would be easy. This was a matter of lifting his hand, like so, and rapping his knuckles against the door, like so, and then waiting.

And hoping to Ramuh that Tseng wasn't actually in his office, so that he could just resort to leaving him a note along the lines of 'Going 2 Fandom, BRB Maybe' instead.

Reno thought that the 'maybe' would have been a nice touch.

[For the aforementioned NPC employer, who will be played by

findingelena today because she is awesome. NFB and NFI and all of that good stuff, otherwise.]

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Tseng, for his part, was in a considerably better mood than might have been anticipated, by Reno. He was sorting his paperwork, he had coffee, and he even responded easily to the interruption.

"Come in," he called, and there wasn't anything in those two words to suggest that he was working on plans to set Reno on fire.

That almost counted as cheerful, for Tseng.

Aw, fuck.

Well, here went nothing, right? Reno would just saunter on in as casual as anything, and hope that Tseng's mood held out.

"Yo, Boss," he mused as he peered around the door. "Got a minute?"

"Of course," Tseng said, setting aside the letter he'd been signing. A hint of wariness had entered his voice, but it was only a hint.

Reno might well be coming for legitimate reasons, and not as part of a personal campaign to aggravate him.

It was entirely possible, in some universe or another.

"Something you wish to discuss with me?"

"Damn, you're good," Reno replied, smirking a bit.

So far as Reno's usual smirking range went, this was was sitting somewhere around 'nervous.'

"See, I been givin' a lotta thought to this whole 'Edge' thing, and I been thinkin', shit, there's some grass growin' over there, and maybe shit's about as cleaned up here as I'm ever gonna get it, and meanwhile, back on Fandom, there's a lotta mess goin' down, if you know what I mean, and someone's probably gotta stick his neck out for the Rookie and make sure that some other Gaia don't end up blown up by a giant friggin' space rock, and all of that..."

Reno had to pause for breath.

Tseng could probably see where he was headed, with this.

Well. That was a more familiar expression on Tseng's face. One that suggested that his good mood was rapidly being replaced by thunderstorms.

"You've been thinking about Edge," he said, wondering how long this conversation would take to give him a pounding headache. "There are spots of grass, so you believe our work here is done."

Dripping with sarcasm? Tseng? Why would you think such a thing?

"There are spots of grass, and hovers, and not so many people are pukin' up their lungs in black liquid form no more," Reno replied. "And there's a lotta work to do."

At least Reno was willing to admit that much.

"But what the hell else is there that I can do?"

"Apparently, go back to that island," Tseng said. Oh, yes. No trace of that good mood now. "That's what we really need. I was especially hoping you would want to take an extended vacation, since that would leave me with only one underling. Ideal circumstances for planning a move."

Reno's eyebrows furrowed, and the corner of his mouth twitched. It was not into anything resembling a smile.

"Thought you said when you broke us off from Rufus that where we went from there was our call, Boss."

Even. Flat. Empty. What Edge hadn't hollowed out of Reno, this conversation was threatening to.

"I can still be useful from there, zoto. Can send money. Ain't like I wouldn't be workin'. You didn't think I was gonna register for classes again, right?"

"It was, and is, your decision," Tseng said, as flatly as one might discuss the shade of carpeting or the weather. "Should you wish to leave the Turks, I will not endeavor to change your mind. It has been an experience, being your superior. I expect you will turn in all company property before you depart."

And back to his paperwork.

Reno's jaw clenched, just then. His eyebrows furrowed. His hands balled into fists.

There was either bile rising in his throat, or else it was the beginnings of a scream that he was choking back.

"There ain't no company, Tseng," he said, low and deep and in a tone that was almost a growl. "I think outta the four of us, you're the only one who hasn't figured that much out yet, yo." That said, he was shrugging out of his jacket, and then he was going to shake it in Tseng's direction. "You gonna fit this, Boss? Fuck, I hardly do, anymore! You go right on ahead and dismiss me! Good fuckin' luck fillin' this uniform again!"

This was going well.

Tseng set his pen down and gave Reno the sort of look that could freeze lava.

"I humbly apologize for using the colloquial term," he said darkly. "You are correct. ShinRa is gone. I do, however, flatter myself that I am still your superior, at least until you have officially resigned. In that case, please return all items which do not belong to you before you leave. I imagine you will be difficult to replace, but I have had to replace other Turks before you. I would lastly like to note that I did not 'dismiss' you, as one can hardly fire an employee who has quit."

Reno would see that look that could freeze lava and raise him one that could melt lead.

"I never said I was quittin', did I?"

"Did you have to?" Tseng's temper was getting the better of him. "You've decided minimal progress suffices, in Edge. You'd like to take extended leave to return to that island, as it's more enjoyable than your work assignments. Then go. I have no need for an employee who no longer wishes to be one. Nor do I feel like being your superior only on those occasions wherein you feel like coming to work, and hoping for the best the rest of the time."

"Minimal progress?" Reno's had was now balling into an even more tight fist into the fabric of his coat. It took all of his self-control to keep from throwing it at Tseng. "We got soil, after a quarter of a century of ShinRa killin' the land. We got hovers, ethanol-powered vehicles, when all we had before now was mako and, way before that, coal. I been handin' out seeds that don't need lifestream to grow, around Edge, an' soil from another friggin' world! What part of that is 'minimal' fuckin' progress?"

Reno's lip curled back, then.

"You wanna tell me how we would'a got any of that, without me goin' to Fandom?"

One eyebrow was raised.

"Is that why you propose to return?" Tseng asked. "Really? You wish to find new technologies. Help for the starving, and the destitute. And not merely because you wish to drink and amuse yourself with your friends."

Tseng was Not Convinced.

"Romeo's graduated. Doji's the same. Rikku's on Spira," Reno pointed out, simply. "If I was just lookin' for a good time, it wouldn't be Fandom I wanted to head off to, Boss. There's too much goin' on there that can make shit messy."

He shrugged.

"And if I wanted to quit, that'd be what I said, right from the start. I ain't no chickenshit."

"No," Tseng noted dryly. "Merely an employee who believes the rest of the organization should cater to his every whim. Rules apply to others, and not yourself. You find it amusing to deface my property, to harass your co-workers, to show up late and leave early. I have permitted your eccentricities, which has only led to you believing yourself entitled to more."

Another twitch, at the corner of Reno's mouth.

"There's another Gaia, with a timeline that stands to be screwed with in ways you can't begin to imagine," he said, at length, in a cool, carefully picked out tone that hardly sounded like himself even to his own ears. "My eccentricities an' I don't wanna see a reality where Sephiroth wins, zoto. Me an' my eccentricities also came back from Fandom stronger, an' faster, an' willin' to put in more hours for you than I was puttin' in for ShinRa before the Plate came down. You gonna deny that I done good, here?"

He shrugged.

"If I ain't been good for nothin', then you don't need me anyhow, yo."

"You've done well," Tseng said, grudgingly. "I would say that this particular Gaia should weigh more heavily on your mind than any possible other iteration. I would also note that a good employee who is inactive and living in a separate dimension is not terribly useful."

Reno smirked a little. As much as he wanted to kick Tseng in the nuts sometimes, it was still good to hear that he thought of Reno as a good employee.

"Sendin' back money to fund our move to Junon ain't useful?" He shrugged, and then started pulling on his jacket again. He felt practically naked without. "And if I wanted to go to Fandom to teach, it ain't like I'd have more than one class keepin' me occupied all week, yo. Who's sayin' I'd have to be totally inactive?"

This did not mean that Reno was going to let Tseng get away with sending him on missions in Edge six days of the week, no.

"Not if you spend most of it on liquor and pornography," Tseng replied. "I would rather have a full-time Turk than any amount of money you may be thinking of sending. And I doubt that your one-day-a-week obligations would result in me seeing you for the other six."

Tseng was familiar with how Reno operated.

This was because Reno liked to function in a realm that most people refer to as, 'more or less sane.'

...

'If you squint.'

"You're sharp, boss." Reno sighed, and then shook his head. "You got an option, here. You take it or you leave it, an' I peel outta this uniform and walk outta here in my friggin' underwear, if it'll make you feel better about Turks' property, yo. You take what I'm offerin'. Part-time Turk, actually payin' you for the right to be one, sendin' back whatever else I can to help the situation here in Edge..."

And then, a shrug.

"Or I do quit, an' the money goes to Reeve, instead. The WRO can take whatever it can get, zoto."

"That's your offer?" Tseng asked, looked unimpressed. "You're leaving my employ, either way, but in one, you'll send me money and consider doing your job now and then. This is my incentive?"

"You want more?" Reno pursed his lips for a moment, shaking his head a bit. "I can't tell you more. You got some time to go for a walk with me? I'm sure your paperwork'll wait until you come back."

Tseng considered saying 'no' merely for spite. Finally, he tossed his paperwork down, stood, and straightened his jacket.

If Reno was resigning, perhaps he owed his co-worker to at least take a walk with him while they finished their unpleasant business.

"Very well," he announced. "A short walk."

"Short walk to a hover, then," Reno replied, shrugging. "Either way, I got somethin' to show you, yo."

He suspected, somewhere along the way, that Tseng was getting irate. It wasn't a short trip to the place that he had in mind, no.

But at the same time, Reno figured Tseng deserved to know.

When he pulled the vehicle to a stop out in the wastes, he didn't bother speaking a word as he walked toward a cliff, and an area thick with flowers that overlooked Midgar's ruins. He just crossed his arms over his chest, and he gave Tseng a look.

If this didn't say what Reno had been failing at saying all along, then very little would.

Tseng stopped, waiting by the hover, not approaching that particular cluster of flowers.

"Is this why you brought me here?" he asked. His tone was trying for detached. Instead, it seethed. "To throw my failures into my face? I'm sorry that I gave you the chance."

He had trusted Reno. More the fool him.

Reno shook his head.

"Ain't why I brought you here at all," he sighed, keeping his eye on that flower patch. "You so hell-bent on bein' in your mood, you figure I came here outta spite?"

He scoffed. It was weird, somehow, when Reno felt as though he was suddenly more grown-up than Tseng.

"Elena's Rookie ran here, after spillin' her blood for this place. A girl from another world, bleedin' herself for a bunch of total strangers. That's what people do, in Fandom. That's what people are worth, there, yo." Reno shrugged. "But she came here. She felt this. An' then she felt him. You think you're the only one walkin' around with his death on your head, Boss? I go back there, I gotta make sure it happens. I gotta make sure that the people who already know do the same."

He swallowed, and then shook his head and narrowed his eyes, looking Tseng's way.

"But this is what Gaia's worth. Even to people who never have to see this again."

"I don't know what to make of you!" Tseng snapped. "All that we Turks have ever had is one another. First you, then Elena, heading off to some island, unsure if you'd even care to return. Is Rude next? Some days I wonder why I didn't dismantle us two years ago, after ShinRa fell. It might have saved everyone some time."

Reno nodded a little. His gaze was moving, now, from the flowers to the ruins that rested over the cliff and beyond the wastes.

He'd just told Tseng that he was leaving, and had then dragged him to his best friend's gravesite. He could see how the boss would be less than pleased.

"I gave you my reasons, an' I gave you the options. I'll give you a day to think on it. A day'll be enough time for me to pack and book a portal for Saturday. You get me part time, or not at all, yo." Reno shrugged, turning to head back to the hover. "Take it or leave it, Tseng."

He paused, glancing over his shoulder, offering a cockeyed grin.

"Maybe instead of wastin' all my first pay on porn and booze if you force me to quit, I'll buy you a friggin' vacation somewhere. Looks like Edge is killin' you as much as it's killin' the rest of us, zoto."

He wasn't going to dignify the latter with a response. He was perfectly fine. Why Reno pretended everything had such drama to it, he would never know.

"You'll have my answer by tomorrow, then," he said curtly.

He was going to follow Reno back to the hover. A shame he couldn't head in another direction, entirely. But it would be lunacy to walk back to Edge.

He was, it should be noted, still tempted.

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Tseng's Office, Edge, Wednesday Evening

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