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]

She was definitely going to have to pester him for that story sometime. You know. After he killed her.

"Just a few minutes," Reno agreed. "So, what exactly is the plan once we get there?"

[intraspective]

"Most of it's easy as pie. We get in, we mingle, we have a great time gambling," Ino said, wondering if there was a way to get out of dying. Probably too late now. Oh well. "In a few hours their nightly fireworks are going off. Our small marble friend is going to go out with a bang. That's going to be the hardest part of the whole thing, just planting the materia where it won't be removed before they send it up to die."

[raspberryturk]

Reno nodded thoughtfully as he processed that plan.

"Okay, so what we're gonna need is either some damn good sneaking, a damn good distraction or a little bit of both?" He gave her a little grin. "Call your dibs now before I pick the fun one."

[intraspective]

"I'm always up for the fun one," Ino said, grinning back at him. "Though, in this case, we might not need to cause anything ourselves."

You know, since they were crashing Tseng's mission.

The portal popped up, right on time. "Ready?"

[raspberryturk]

"We might not?" Reno blinked at the portal, and then at Ino, and then back at the portal. Damn it, he couldn't hold this thing up, but he suddenly had the sneaking suspicion that he was going to want to throttle her later. "... Guess I'm as ready as I'm going to get."

This would be rich.

[intraspective]

She was so, so dead. SO DEAD.

"Come on," she said, already heading through the portal. "It's time to get the show on the road."

[raspberryturk]

Reno just shrugged, shook his head, and then followed along after her, ever the picture of a man who knew exactly where he was going and for what purpose.

Even though he was neither.

[intraspective]

The Gold Saucer was home to a number of casinos. Some were the sort that just anyone could get into by showing up. Others were... rather more exclusive.

The one they were dropped down across the street from, in one of the many alleys, was the most exclusive one the Gold Saucer had. VIPs only was just the start of it.

And Ino was going to put a few steps between her and Reno pronto.

[raspberryturk]

Yeah, Reno's confident gait faltered for just a moment. Just one moment, as he processed where it was that the portal had dropped them off.

"Iris..."

There was a low note of disapproval somewhere in there, just in case she wasn't sure.

"Which Saucer is this?"

[intraspective]

"Mine," she said, figuring that beating around the bush weren't going to help her out any. "Time was tight and there's already a distraction in place here. We'll be fine. You don't even look like the guy that were huntin' birds earlier."

[raspberryturk]

Reno gave Ino a terse sort of look that would have been far more at home on the face of the man whose speech patterns he was trying to imitate. And then he pulled in a breath, made a bit of a disgruntled humming sound, and held out his arm so that she could take it.

High society. Think high society, not murder.

"And what's the distraction?"

[intraspective]

She looped her arm through his casually, smiling up at him like she hadn't a care in the world.

"Come on," Ino said, her voice bright and airy. "I can't wait to see the inside! I've heard their chandeliers weigh more than five men together--and that's the smallest of them!"

Her other voice, in his mind, was cool and crisp.

Tseng's running an assassination tonight. It's meant to be public and done to frame another man in attendance.

So. Like. She was going to get yelled at by everyone tonight. But it'd work like a charm for their purposes.

[raspberryturk]

I'm going to wring your neck, yo.

Look, Reno figured she was probably listening in anyway, this was the best way to let her know that she was DEAD FRIGGIN' MEAT later.

While he also gave an easy laugh, leading her into the building. A couple of men at the door gave them a critical once-over before rolling their eyes and letting them through.

"Five men? I wonder how they managed to hang them, if they're that heavy. Do you suppose they put the chocobos from the race track to work, or they simply hired a crane?"

Vapid conversation was a go.

And me wringing your neck is only gonna happen if Tseng doesn't fuckin' murder you first.

[intraspective]

"Oh, you don't think they would do anything that would possibly strain the chocobos, do you? I won gil earlier today in the races and they seemed fine then."

Ino was damn good at vapid.

It'll work. It's everything we needed. There ain't nothin' connecting you, hot stuff, to the man who stole from the Ravens. They won't come after your other self and this way another world ain't in danger either.

Amongst the other VIPs in the crowd, they fit right in. That was terribly reassuring.

But yes, I know my time is numbered.

[raspberryturk]

Yep. So numbered, Rookie.

But hell, he couldn't find the flaw in her plan. Not really. He'd put this mission in her hands and he trusted her to do it right. It was her home, after all.

"Ah, too true," he said, looking thoughtfully around the room. "You know, I always find myself wondering about the chocobos. The ones that they taught us how to play polo on were quite skittish. Didn't you say they have the most remarkable fireworks shows here regularly? Do you suppose they're simply used to that much noise?"

[intraspective]

You love me anyway.

"I still remember the time Amalia dropped you in the lake at Daddy's summer home," she said, smiling at the memory. "You were so handsome, soaking wet. They must be used to the noise here, wouldn't they? It's never quiet at the Saucer."

[raspberryturk]

I do. Don't let it go to your head.

"Ah, Fleur, stop," Reno waved his hand at her, pretending to be flustered. In a rich boy manly way. "I might never live the lake incident down. Though Amalia did seem properly repentent afterwards."

As repentant as a bird could possibly be.

"I will confess, I am rather curious about these fireworks I've heard so much about," he continued. "Where do you suppose they fire them from?"

[intraspective]

Which wasn't very repentant at all! For a fictional bird.

"Wouldn't they be up above?" Fleur wondered, laughing. "Honestly, Rubedo, they wouldn't be underground! I wonder if they give tours?"

[raspberryturk]

"Oh, I do hope they do," Reno replied. "Here, I'll ask one of these gentlemen if they know--"

And then, with all the fearless of a man with money, he was walking up to one of the men working security to ask just that. A few moments later, he was walking back to 'Fleur,' all smiles.

"Good news! This kind sir has told me that they have tours twice a day, and there's one coming up in twenty minutes that still has room enough for two!"

My, how convenient. Almost as though it had been planned for.

[intraspective]

Ino did, in fact, know what she was doing, Reno.

"Oh, how wonderful! There's time enough to get a drink before we go," she said, beaming at first 'Rubedo' and then around him to the kind sir that had helped him out. "Isn't it wonderful? And the tour is early enough that there will be plenty of time to play the tables."

[raspberryturk]

"A lovely tour with lovely company, and then a few games of roulette to end the day on. This was absolutely the best choice for our spring vacation, Fleur. Absolutely."

Out of the corner of his eye, Reno noticed a familiar gait moving around the room, dark hair tied back neatly. A trained eye would be able to tell that he was subtly tailing a target. Two targets, though one with intent to kill.

[intraspective]

You're getting terribly sarcastic, dear.

"Of course it was, darling, honestly," she said, fluttering her hands at him, as her mind followed his line of thinking. Ah. Tseng.

Well. It was going to happen at some point. He hadn't noticed them yet.

"I told you, when it comes to holidays, there's no one better than I for ideas. Now, where--ah, look, what would you like to drink? My treat."

[raspberryturk]

Still gonna kill you, sweetheart.

"Oh, you know I don't drink while gambling," Reno admonished in a statement that was as far from being Reno as was Reno-ly possible. "It muddies my judgment." He paused. "Oh, perhaps a martini, though. There's one I've heard of that they make using pahsana greens that is apparently to die for."

Apparently rich Reno wanted fancy alcoholic apple juice. Okay then.

"I wonder if we can take beverages on the tour?"

[intraspective]

"Just one won't hurt," Ino wheedled, which was... about as far from Ino as possible as well. "Not when it's a martini! I'm sure they'd let us take them with us. They would't want their guests getting thirsty now, would they?"

[raspberryturk]

"With the money we're going to spend here tonight, I certainly hope they wouldn't," Reno mused, making his way toward the bar, ordering his pahsanatini, and then looking back across the room, eyes sliding right by Tseng even while he made mental notes about the mission.

He remembered this one. Some big shot from Midgar, not a great person, certainly not the President's favorite, but influential enough politically that the loss would be felt across the city. And there was a dignitary from Wutai here tonight. Tseng was to kill the Midgardian politician to further cement the President's footing at the seat of power, and then frame the Wutaian so that the President had an obvious reason to push the occupation and restructuring of Wutai. One of the events that, a few years down the road, led to his own 'vacation' in Wutai after the dropping of the plate.

His eyes came to rest on where people were gathering for the tour.

"Ah, hurry, hurry," he urged the bartender, "we're going to miss it! There are only two tours in a day, you know!"