raspberryturk | Office #7, Saturday

Entry tags:

Office #7, Saturday

Reno really didn't come into this office often, as could be evidenced by the fact that it was pretty much bare. Sure, there was paperwork scattered across his desk, phone numbers and forms and letters for people through Edge and the rest of the Midgar continent, some of it all even actually regarding things he needed for class.

This week, of all the people he could be making arrangements with, he was working on negotiations with a rancher outside of Kalm. Things were going pretty smoothly, at least, since he'd done business with the man before.

For once, he was sitting in his office and not firing pencils at the ceiling using rubber band slingshots. Probably for the best, since his door was open in case any parents wanted to stop by and ask him what the hell he was teaching their little darlings.

[Open!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

A slim, dark-haired woman in back pants and a gray shirt strode into Reno's office like she owned it. "You teach my son, Tobias."

"Do I?" Sorry, lady. Reno had never called the kid by that name, and he wasn't easily impressed by people with attitudes bigger than their reputations. He gave her a casual, not terribly impressed once-over, and then shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, that name's been on my roster more than once. Never had a student in my class who went by it, though."

Evelyn frowned. "What does he go by instead?"

Reno took a quick tally in his head, marrying up students and nicknames. Jeff was Joker, which meant-

"Four," he shared, shrugging his shoulders before shuffling some of his paperwork off to the side of the desk. "He never said why, I never asked. We get plenty of students in who don't go by their given names, yo."

"I certainly didn't name him Four," Evelyn said, pressing her lips together.

"Yeah, most parents don't name their kids numbers," Reno replied, seriously not seeing the issue with this. "But I come from a place where people get names like Cloud and Genesis, so it ain't really like I'm in a place to judge."

If you asked him, Evelyn as a name was just fuckin' weird.

"A student asks me to call 'em something, that's what I call 'em. It's none of my business why they want to disassociate with the name their mama gave 'em."

Edited 2014-09-27 15:52 (UTC)

Evelyn frowned again. "It was his father's idea."

Which probably explained it.

"I'm Evelyn Eaton."

"See, now there's a weird name," Reno chuckled, leaning forward to offer her a handshake, because, shit, that was just manners or something. "Reno. Also not my given name. You're here to check up on Four, then?"

Sorry, Evelyn. Reno was never gonna call him Tobias. He respected the kid too much for that.

Evelyn nodded. "I intercepted the invitation before it could reach his father."

"Intercepted, huh?" Interesting choice of words. But then, this woman didn't really carry herself like a homemaker, either. "That's a good thing, then?"

Reno didn't know much about Four's family life. Class talks had always focused more on the way his society worked, after all. But he didn't get the impression that the kid came from a happy home.

Evelyn shrugged a shoulder. "I don't think he would have come, regardless. He didn't take it well when Tobias changed factions."

It had made the papers.

"Ah," Reno replied, nodding faintly. "Good. I'm not a big fan of people who show up around the island just to stir up shit with my students, yo."

He'd hate to have to kill somebody. Mostly. It was sort of part of the job as a Turk.

"I'm here to reconnect. Tobias and I haven't seen each other in years."

Won't that be a lovely surprise for him!

If Reno had any idea that Four thought she was dead, he'd probably be throttling her right now, if that was any indication as to how lovely it was.

"Yeah? Bit of a falling out in the family or something?"

"An extremely ugly divorce," Evelyn said, nodding.

"Shitty deal," Reno replied, more or less sympathetically. "Haven't seen the kid since then, I'm guessing?"

He was starting to sort of form an image of just how well this reunion could potentially go, here.

"Not in person, but I've been hearing stories through other people," Evelyn said vaguely. "It made the news when he switched factions during the Choosing."

"Choosing, huh?" Reno pursed his lips faintly. "You mind explainin' that one to me? We got entirely different worlds at work, here, and I don't think Four's told me that one yet."

He knew about the Dauntless, to a point, and a bit about how far that world had fallen, and something about how they had picked up the pieces again afterwards. But the Choosing was a new one to Reno.

"Most children are born into one of the five factions," Evelyn explained. "There is a ceremony the year they turn 16 to choose one for themselves. Most people stay in the faction they were born into. Tobias was born into Abnegation--the Selfless. Going from that to Dauntless is practically unheard of. It hasn't happened in almost two decades. His father is an Abnegation leader: Tobias's defection was seen as a sign of weakness, for all that the factions teach 'faction before blood'."

Reno wrinkled his nose a little at that.

"Of course it was," he sighed. "A heaping pile of steaming political bullshit to brighten anyone's day. Damn shame society's always been made up of hypocrites, no matter where you go. I've seen Four at work, and he's as Dauntless as they come."

Why yes, yes his voice did hold a note of approval as he talked about Four. It took guts to stay true to oneself out there. It shouldn't be any surprise to anyone that it would be somebody choosing Dauntless to do it.

"Most of the other factions are afraid of the Dauntless," Evelyn said. "They're too intense, too alive, too in-your-face. This is especially true for Abnegation. He couldn't have picked a faction more guaranteed to hurt his father. That was probably at least part of the reasoning behind it."

She didn't sound surprised. Their home life had been far from a happy one.

Reno couldn't help but snort at that.

"You'd think somebody who identified himself as 'Selfless' wouldn't be too up his own ass about it."

Reno's two cents, Evelyn. He was giving them to you, free of charge.

Evelyn laughed, but it didn't come close to reaching her eyes. "Well, Marcus has never been the most devoted member of Abnegation."

"Hypocrites," Reno snorted again, shaking his head. "So. There anything in particular I can do for you? I'm gonna assume you came in here to ask about Four or somethin', since today's the day for it, yo."

Evelyn nodded. "Just tell me how he's doing here."

On this bizarre island.

"I can't speak for how he's doin' outside of class," Reno noted, frowning thoughtfully. "But when he is in my class, he's tough. Takes shit that makes other students cry with a grain of salt, does what needs to be done. He gets what's goin' on in a way most kids his age don't. In a way they shouldn't have to, yo."

Reno shrugged his shoulders.

"I think he's gonna be fine. He's too friggin' stubborn not to be."

"Well, this island is much softer than what we've dealt with," Evelyn said, "and Tobias hasn't been a child in a very long time."

Reno gave a bit of a snort at that.

"This island's softer than what half the student body's dealt with, yo," he replied. "And my classes ain't made to coddle. He's tough, even for a boy who had to grow up too gods-damned fast, and you're sellin' him short if you figure any of what I'm seein' from him is because the island's soft."

He drummed his fingers against his desk, and then shot her a sharp-edged grin.

"You even know what I teach, or you just in here because his name's on my roster?"

"Because his name is on your roster," Evelyn said.

Reno just gave a crooked little smirk and rolled his eyes up toward the ceiling.

"Figures," he muttered. "He's been in a few of my classes, yo. Classes about improvised weapons, about survivin' the end of the world, that sort of thing. This semester, we're actually hittin' up ground zero and working to pick up the pieces in a place that's still tryin' to get its feet under it again after everything went more or less nuclear. He passed my test when I ran people through the ropes to see who gets trusted with a weapon while we're there. He spent half the summer takin' down all kinds of nasties in my other class. When I say he's tough, I mean he's a goddamn survivor, and that's when I set him next to kids who kill monsters for fun. This place is soft most of the time, but I put my rookies through their paces, yo. Some of 'em need it if they're gonna survive when they go back home."

Reno was... a little fierce when it came to people underestimating his rookies, so far as he saw it. Of course, it didn't take much for Reno to see it that way.

Evelyn smiled a little proudly. "Dauntless," she said softly. "Marcus must be livid."

She sounded more than a little smug about that last part.

"And that'd be Marcus' loss," Reno decided. "If he's gonna be a politician first and a father last, then his opinion of what Four's doin' with himself is the last opinion that matters."

That statement wasn't necessarily a Marcus-centric one. It seemed to Reno as though Four had been on his own for a while, now, in one fashion or another. If he felt that he belonged among the Dauntless, his was the only opinion that actually counted.

"I'm sure he'd have a different opinion, but I stopped carrying about that about a decade ago," Evelyn said. "As far as I'm concerned, the whole system could come crashing down."

"Hasn't done enough of that already?" Reno gave his shoulders a shrug. "Systems are gonna suck, no matter how you look at it. Gotta admit, all I know about yours is what you said and what Four has, but it's really sounding like typical 'what you get when people are in charge of people' messed-up-world chocobo-crap."

He drummed his fingers against the top of his desk again, and then tilted his head at her.

"You ain't a fan. Just how far outta Four's life are you?"

"People don't get divorced in Abnegation," Evelyn said. "I'm factionless now--as good as dead."

And oh, there was some anger there.

And the picture she was painting here just kept getting more and more interesting. Reno nodded a little.

"Of course they don't," he sighed. "Because why the hell would the Selfless need divorce."

Reno kind of wanted to kick this faction system in the nuts, now. And this whole thing was sounding messier by the minute.

"You figure you're gonna get a warm welcome from him?"

"Probably not," Evelyn said, "but I couldn't turn down the chance to see him. It's been a very long time."

Reno had a lot of opinions on that one. Most of them sort of circled around the 'you selfish piece of-' line of thought, with a lot of creative swearing thrown in for good measure. But presumably he was supposed to actually behave himself during these things.

Presumably.

"Don't hurt him," he said instead, frowning more deeply. "These weekends are for the students' good, not their estranged parents, no matter what the invitation letter tells you."

Four was tough, sure, but if Reno's mother were to walk in here, refusing to use the name he went by, looking for him, he'd be messed up, too.

"I won't hurt him," Evelyn said, frowning hard. "That was always the other one. This has been very interesting Mr....Reno."

"Super educational," Reno agreed, his own frown breaking into smile that wasn't remotely genuine. "You have a good weekend, there. Watch out for gremlins, all that jazz."

He was making a mental note to check up on Four on Monday. Looked like the kid had an interesting weekend lined up for him.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Office #7, Saturday

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

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