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

[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.

[raspberryturk]

Tseng might not stand out as much if he wasn't so damn pretty all the time. Honestly, now.

"Thanks," Reno replied, nodding. "Don't worry, I clean up quick."

He moved faster than the water did when he had a mind to. So mostly he managed to clean up at the speed of shower.

[intraspective]

And that voice of his alone...

The Boards were a comforting thing to Ino, even though she wasn't staying there long as she unlocked the door and headed up towards the apartment.

"You're lucky this is tonight," she noted, "I think Zack'll have taken all the dogs back by now. We were overrun for the last few days."

[raspberryturk]

"Oh yeah?" Reno grinned faintly at the thought. "How do you end up overrun by dogs exactly?"

Not that he didn't know full well what Zack was currently doing for a living. Still seemed like a good idea to ask.

[intraspective]

"It was cold out," Ino explained, climbing the stairs.

Wait, that didn't explain anything.

"Zack took Girl--that's our dog--with him to work one day and I complained 'cause I were freezing my ass off and he took my heater. So I demanded all the dogs and he delivered."

Because he was the best boy.

She got the door opened and, as she stepped into her apartment, flicked on the light.

"Come on, you said twenty minutes to get ready, right?"

[raspberryturk]

"That's right," Reno agreed, smiling and shaking his head as he stepped inside. "Shouldn't take too lo-- whoa."

Okay. No. It might take twenty-five, now.

[intraspective]

Ino looked at him in her impossible hair, gorgeous dress, and perfect shoes.

"I told you," she said, smiling. "It's top class."

[raspberryturk]

"Shit," Reno replied, still kind of blinking, but walking a good lap around her just to take in the details. "You just raised the bar, Rookie. Make that twenty minutes half an hour, yo."

He was going to have to style his hair instead of just brushing it. Or, shit, maybe lose the ponytail.

[intraspective]

"That's high praise, comin' from you," she said, honestly delighted. "We can do half an hour."

[raspberryturk]

"Good, yo," Reno replied, looking a little relieved. And still a whole lot impressed. "Bathroom's that way?"

He mostly just picked a direction and pointed. He wasn't wrong, but it wasn't as though he actually knew.