Middle of Nowhere, Gaia, Saturday Night Fandom Time

[raspberryturk]

Reno stared at the little sphere in his hand, squinting hard at it. It had almost killed him to get this damn thing, this stupid fucking piece of doomsday that AVALANCHE - the real AVALANCHE - had been so hell-bent on getting their mitts on. And he hadn't told Tseng yet. Hadn't really told anybody but the Rookie.

He had a little piece of the end of the world, the beginning of the end of the Turks, right there in his hand. Shit, he was still bleeding on the damn thing. Or maybe that blood belonged to the Ravens he'd taken down to get it.

AVALANCHE would notice it was missing before long. They'd send someone to investigate and they'd find blood and footprints and the telltale smoke and ozone smell of thundaga in the air. And he'd be long gone by the time that happened. He looked down at the corpse of the Raven on the ground. He spat on it as the body began to fade.

And then he picked up his phone and placed two calls. One to Portalocity, telling them to send a portal to a location that was a good ten minutes away on foot, if he ran like hell. And, as he was running like hell, he placed a second call.

Now the mission was out of his hands and over to Iris.

[OOC: For one!]

Comments

[intraspective]

Iris answered halfway through the first ring.

She'd been waiting, having left Jono and Hannibal's place a while back and just--waiting, out in the starry night of Fandom, near the Causeway.

"Yo."

[raspberryturk]

"Yo," Reno said, ducking a tree branch, jumping over a narrow creek, and pressing on. "Got you a present. For real this time. You got a game plan? 'Cause I could really stand to get outta here fast, zoto."

[intraspective]

"Of course I have a game plan," Iris said, a bit nettled at the idea that she wouldn't. Then again, he hadn't ever worked with her. "You near a portal?"

[raspberryturk]

"Got one on the way, first stop Causeway, then wherever the hell you sorted it out. I'll be there in... three minutes."

Unless he dropped dead halfway, but he seemed to be hanging in there.

[intraspective]

"Just try not to die now," she said, smiling. "I'll see you in three."

Then she hung up because he didn't need the distraction of talking to her right now.

[raspberryturk]

He reeeeeally didn't.

But that was okay. He was stumbling through the portal and kind of pouring out onto the Causeway in three minutes all the same, not so much collapsing onto the ground as he was very deliberately finding something to lean against as the portal closed behind him.

Well. To lean against. To bleed against. Little of both.

[intraspective]

That something to lean against and bleed against was most definitely not her. They didn't have the time for her to find a new dress or get the one she had on dry cleaned.

Ino didn't bother speaking first, just raising her hand and casting Curaga at him in a flash of green sparklies and swirls.

"Feel better?" she asked, one hand on her hip. "You ain't lookin' as bad as I thought you might be."

[raspberryturk]

"Got all my arms and legs and things," Reno replied, posture straightening somewhat as he reached up a hand to dust off his shoulder. "I'm just that good, yo."

He'd had a bit of time to improve on his methods, since he was little. Not to mention his training from Lady Ghanima, and a new habit of actually looking before rushing into things that would probably love to see him dead.

[intraspective]

Pffft. What a silly habit to get into.

"You need another Cure?" Ino asked, watching him. "Or a hand up?"

She'd laugh at him if he did. But she'd help.

[raspberryturk]

"I need to eat about twice my weight in hamburgers, a shower, and a smoke, not necessarily in that order, yo." He inclined his head a little, and then flicked a marble-sized ball at her. "Catch."

[intraspective]

"Well, you'll definitely need a shower before the main event gets going," Ino drawled, catching the materia in one hand. "The smoke and food you can get there though."

She held the materia up to the light of the moon. "Good work on getting this. You give the nicest presents."

[raspberryturk]

"I know what makes my Rookies happy," Reno said, shrugging his shoulders as if it wasn't any big deal. Because leave it to Reno to make out like that was no big deal.

Then again, compared to Kadaj and his goons, it sort of wasn't.

"So, what's the main event? Gotta know what I'm dressin' for, here."

[intraspective]

"We're goin' high class gamblin'," she said cheerfully. "Trust me, it'll work. Got it all planned out."

And on Gaia.

Which he'd just left.

Reno was going to try and kill her when he found that out.

[raspberryturk]

Oh, he absolutely was.

"Gamblin', huh? Gonna make some good gil tonight while we get the job done? I can live with that."

[intraspective]

"I thought you might like it."

She tossed the materia up into the air, once, and then hid it in her dress.

"You gonna clean up here? Or on location?"

It was dark, so Ino didn't blame him for not fully realizing just how blinged out she was.

[raspberryturk]

The second they got somewhere with a light, though? Reno was going to freak out. So far, he could tell she was wearing a dress.

"You don't mind me borrowin' your shower, here'll do. How fancy is this casino? Am I gonna wanna actually do up the top button?"

He hated doing up the top button. Hated it.

[intraspective]

"You're gonna have to do up the top button," she said, heading for town. "Brush your hair. Get the blood out of your uniform... it's top-notch, this place. The kind with fireworks every night."

[raspberryturk]

Reno paused at that, and then laughed a little before following along.

"Shit," he said, "I ain't been somewhere that fancy since..."

He squinted.

"I ain't been somewhere that fancy. Good thing Turk uniforms clean up good."

They kind of had to.

[intraspective]

"They're useful for that," she said, smiling more. "Zack'll be confused at seein' you but he's already confused. Just ignore him."

Ino. Ino, that was not a thing you were supposed to say.

[raspberryturk]

Reno gave a little snort of a laugh.

"I ignore Slick like a champ, yo. I think I can manage that."

Zack was going to be so sad that the hot date was an older Reno. So sad.

[intraspective]

He could suck it up and deal. Ino was in work mode now.

"Good, but don't take too much time. We're on a schedule." She grinned over her shoulder at him. "Ain't so bad, this schedule though. Much better than yours."

[raspberryturk]

"So long as your schedule includes time for some sightseeing, I'm game, yo." Reno wasn't difficult to please, no. "I'll be ready in... twenty minutes. How undercover are we goin', here?"

Just fancy, or did he want to put some cover-up on those facial tattoos and maybe run some brown through his hair?

[intraspective]

"We're goin' pretty undercover," she said, after a moment's thought.

See, Ino knew whose mission they were crashing. She was going to be so, so double dead.

"I've even got contacts in to give me pupils."

Since most people had those.

[raspberryturk]

"Huh. That'll be a sight once we get in outta the dark," Reno drawled. "Okay. So, top button, lose the goggles, put on a tie... mind if I borrow your make-up? You got temporary hair color anywhere?"

He knew he stood out. He kind of banked on that, most days. But this was one of those 'stopping the end of the world' deals. Blending was important, too.

[intraspective]

"I'm so blonde my hair glows in the right light," she noted, "of course I've got temporary colours around. Take your pick when we get to my place and yeah, use my make-up."

Turks as a whole tended to stand out. Even Tseng, who'd claim he did no such thing.