Tseng's Office, Edge, Wednesday Evening

[raspberryturk]

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.]

Comments

[raspberryturk]

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."

[turk_mailman]

"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."

[raspberryturk]

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.

[turk_mailman]

"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.

[raspberryturk]

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."

[turk_mailman]

"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?"

[raspberryturk]

"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."

[turk_mailman]

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."

[raspberryturk]

"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.

[turk_mailman]

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.

[raspberryturk]

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."

[turk_mailman]

"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."

[raspberryturk]

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."

[turk_mailman]

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.