Reno's Room, 29 Chimera Court, Thursday Evening

[raspberryturk]

Call it whatever you wanted, Reno was in a state tonight. Repeated attempts to appeal to Tseng's better judgment hadn't quite gotten him the 'yeah, come back here and we'll actually fix that' results he had been hoping for. While he enjoyed the island as much as anybody possibly could, what he was actually accomplishing here, besides babysitting a Rookie who was really only in any real danger back in Midgar - and wouldn't be in that danger unless a certain silver-haired mama's boy reared his head - wasn't nearly enough. The Gaia that Ino, that Iris, called home now had become a godsdamned wildcard, and for all that they'd sorted out the AVALANCHE mess that had ruined the Turks in his own timeline, with Zack and Cloud out of the game, they'd unleashed a whole new sort of beast on the Planet.

There were a lot of things Reno could do. Sneak back to Gaia, try to put Rude up to doing something stupid, send Tseng a few more completely inappropriate care packages from Dite's, just accept his lot in life... but these past few weeks, with a direct order from Baby Boss to keep his chocobo-tattooed ass on the island and babysitting the Rookie, the most productive thing he could manage was just thinking.

A lot.

Into a bottle.

Fuck this shit. The world had ended once on his watch, if it was going to happen again, he intended to at least be drunk for it.

[OOC: Cut for your typical end of the world reminiscing and a Turk exercising an old drinking habit. For one!]

Comments

[intraspective]

Okay, so Reno had been really fucking off for the last few weeks. He managed to sober up enough that he weren't totally flunking his work, but Ino knew him. She knew him a lot.

And, shit, he was many things, but his functional alcoholic thing was a new one to her. Ino had given him a few weeks to see if it would sort itself out--she knew all about times where the only solution was to drown the garbage and wait it out--but... no, it weren't clearing up and her only other option was to call Rude in.

Which, while that might work, it wouldn't get her closer to the bottom of the problem. She was Reno's Rookie and she was worried about him.

It was child's play to silently break into his room.

She picked up Mako, to cuddle, and also to help at least modulate the excited honking of Reno's insane ferret. It was late. She didn't need someone else in the house coming in and demanding anything from Reno until she was done with him.

"I know you're awake," she said, pressing two fingers to his skin. Her fingers glowed a pale green.

This world had no way to sober someone up fast. She didn't have that problem.

[raspberryturk]

There was a long, long silence as Reno laid there on the bed, eyes closed. He wasn't asleep, of course he wasn't. Even Iris couldn't come into his room without waking him up. Not if she was going to pick up a ferret who was thrilled to see her, anyway.

"Jus' five more minutes, Mom," he muttered, finally.

[intraspective]

"My," she said, taking a seat on his bed, "that's an alternate universe that ain't happened yet."

Ino left her fingers against his skin for another moment, then moved them, adjusting the squirming ferret that was trying to burrow into her jacket.

"Some water will help with that headache you've got now."

Sure, she could also heal that, but… eh. It was Reno. She wanted him functional, not in tip-top condition.

[raspberryturk]

"Yeah, yeah," Reno muttered, shifting his weight around and grudgingly sitting up. Was he making a journey for water right yet? Not a chance, nope. He reached up a hand and quietly dusted off his jacket. "Shit. What a waste of perfectly good booze."

[intraspective]

"Good booze?" Ino wrinkled her nose as she gently picked up Mako and dropped him on the bed. "You were wasting good booze on this?"

Wow, that was a waste. Even before she’d sobered him up.

No lights were on, but she wasn’t particularly inclined to turn them on either. What little that came through the window was enough for her.

[raspberryturk]

"All booze is good booze when you've been drinkin' the end-of-the-world shit I had back home," Reno pointed out. The blinds were welcome to stay shut, too. It wasn't exactly light out, but they still wouldn't have done his headache, or his mood, any favors.

He sighed.

"What're you doin' here, Iris?"

[intraspective]

"I’m here ‘cause you’re a shithead and a pain in the ass and I’m your Rookie."

Those were real reasons, shut up.

"And you ain't been behavin' like normal."

And she were worried. Like, a lot.

[raspberryturk]

They were at least mostly real reasons if you'd ever met him, anyway. Reno stole a sidelong glance at Ino as she rattled them off, and then sighed and turned a glower toward his knees.

"Okay. And?"

[intraspective]

“Sharing time,” she said evenly. “’Cause I ain’t workin’ with someone whose shit ain’t together this badly.”

[raspberryturk]

Reno heaved a sigh, straightened up again, and cast a sidelong glance at Ino.

"See, that's why I stayed home, yo. You ain't workin' with me if I don't show up to work."

Well. The logic tracked for him, anyway.

[intraspective]

“Yeah right,” she said, making herself comfortable and reaching out to pet Mako. “That’s why you moved here after finding out I died in some timeline. ‘Cause we don’t work together at all if you don’t show up.”

She was on to you and your mama ducking, Reno.

[raspberryturk]

Reno just maintained that sideways look at her at that. Of course she was calling him on his shit right now. And his head hurt enough that he wasn't sure if he wanted to give in, or to argue even harder.

"You moaned about it enough, figured you'd rather I not be here anyway, yo."

Apparently he was settling for bullshit: the middle ground.

[intraspective]

She smiled faintly at that.

“Don’t tell me you took that seriously,” she chided. “Getting sensitive in your old age, are you?"

[raspberryturk]

Reno snorted dismissively at that.

The, "Maybe," he answered with was directly at odds with it, though.

[intraspective]

Her eyebrows raised slightly.

“If you were wonderin’,” she said, after a moment, “if I ain’t punchin’ your lights out, I’m usually happy to see you. You’re a pain in the ass but you’re one that’s meant to be around.”

[raspberryturk]

"Yeah, yeah. I know." He reached a hand out to poke his ferret. Mako responded by chewing on his finger. "Got some shit on my mind, yo. It'll blow over, give it time."

... It had been weeks.

But, you know. Time.

[intraspective]

"Tell me 'bout it instead of lookin' for oblivion in a bottle," Ino suggested mildly. "I ain't goin' nowhere."

She’d told Zack that she was staying at Reno’s tonight already.

No, Reno didn't get a say. Then again, Ino honestly couldn't imagine Reno ever kicking her out either.

[raspberryturk]

Of course he wouldn't.

Reno stared at her quietly for a minute.

And then hiked his shoulders up and tilted his head back, staring at the ceiling.

"Longer I spend there, the closer I get to crawlin' outta my friggin' skin," he muttered. "And the more time I spend here, the closer we get to a repeat of the ugly shit, and I'm bracin' for it, maybe."

[intraspective]

Pursing her lips, Ino thought about that. She knew he’d been having some issues adjusting to her Gaia, but… well, they'd seemed mostly authority-related and she hadn't been super keen to get in-between her boss and her Reno.

But then the rest of it…

"Bracing for…," she trailed off, considering what she knew of the timeline. Most of what she knew had already happened. The rest was... generalities.

"We’ve already saved the Turks. Sephiroth ain’t made a move yet."

[raspberryturk]

"Yet." Reno cast her a sidelong look. "You wanna take bets on how long that'll keep? I ain't losin' no more Rookies. I refuse." And that came out almost viciously, a bite in it that was almost terrifyingly uncharacteristic coming from Reno's mouth. "Not after the last time."

[intraspective]

“You ain’t never mentioned really what happened last time,” Ino said, crossing her arms over her chest, leaning back against the bed.

She was glad the darkness hid most of her flinch.

[raspberryturk]

"You're right," Reno agreed. "I didn't."

And it was going to take him a minute to get to that, too. First he needed to re-claim his hand from the ferret. He was getting twitchy.

"Long story short, AVALANCHE got all their pretty little marbles, yo."

Short story was going to be made long. But he needed time to circle back around to it.

[intraspective]

And she’d give him that time, now that he were talking.

“Summoned whatever’s in those marbles, huh?”

Turks were good but they weren’t literal gods.

[raspberryturk]

"Summoned what was in the marbles," Reno confirmed. And he was quiet for a long moment before he added, "Rude, Tseng an' me, we weren't there with 'em to see it happen."

[intraspective]

Oh.

“So… so you just… they were just gone.”

That was… that hurt, even just imagining it. She didn't want to imagine it, knowing Cissnei, and Rod, and Adrian and all the rest were just... gone.