Reno's (& Elena's) place, Edge, Gaia, Monday Afternoon

[intraspective]

Ino had her stuff packed and was cross-legged on the floor giving the seedlings she'd sent Reno a little while ago a good looking over while waiting for her portal.

She was still… iffy about that whole Fandom Thing, but while being around was fun, she was pretty sure that putting it off would only make it worse.

Zen. She was zen. Okay. As much as Ino ever was.

Which… wasn't very. But alrighty then. Lying to herself was totally healthy!

"So," she said, "you wouldn't whine if I wanted to come kill monsters some more sometime?"

[NFB due to distance and for the red-haired Turk!]

Comments

[raspberryturk]

"Shiiiiit. You don't ask much, do you?" Reno considered. And then shrugged. "That long ago, Midgar was still pretty new. Under construction, yoto. ShinRa had their money like always, an' they had their Turks. Somewhere in there, I was born."

That was the important part.

"Grew up under the plate, so I missed a shitload of whatever was happenin' outside of the slums. ShinRa had a war goin' on with Wutai for who-the-hell-cares how long, mako became the staple power source around the planet, an' with that came people who were convinced that it was killin' everything."

Snerk.

"Whaddaya know, they were right?"

[intraspective]

"I'm demanding," she said, with a toss of her head. "That's... a lot of changes in a pretty short time, yes."

Kinda horrifying, really.

[raspberryturk]

"You wanna lot of changes? 'Few years back, the job description for the Turks started changin'. Wasn't just about doin' the dirty work, no more. It was about the coverups. Killin' off entire towns an' coverin the company's tracks. AVALANCHE, this eco-terrorist group of tree-huggers, tries to save the planet by killin' off everyone on the planet. 'Bout the same time, SOLDIER had a mass-desertion, an' one of theirs got hard to work tryin' to kill off the company because of some kinda twisted bent for revenge that he got put on."

He shrugged.

"I still don't even know what for. He got some Jenova on the brain or somethin', I guess. Them genes are nothin' but mental friggin' poison."

[intraspective]

That was... new. Ino was pretty sure that was new.

"Jenova genes?" Ino asked, tilting her head at him. "Like, the SOLDIER mako stuff?"

[raspberryturk]

"Yeah. Jenova cells were part of SOLDIER treatment, too, yo. Most Soldiers managed to not go fuckin' nuts, though. Just a special handful of 'em lost their shit, yo. Their treatment was different. Experimental bullshit, yo."

Reno shrugged. "Jenova's one of them hideous freaks from outer space, crashed on the planet thousands of years ago an' tried to kill everything on it."

[intraspective]

...

"...a book would be lovely," she decided impishly.

[raspberryturk]

And another laugh.

"An' here I ain't even gotten to talkin' about Sephiroth an' Nibelheim an' the fact that the guy's been killed three friggin' times now, zoto."

[intraspective]

"You got a lot of resurrection happening in your world?"

[raspberryturk]

"Not typically, no." Reno shrugged. "There's whatever we do with phoenix downs, zoto. But they only work under certain situations. More often than not, dead means dead."

[intraspective]

She set the seedlings aside.

"So what, he was just that special?"

[raspberryturk]

"He was just that bent on destroyin' the world."

Or he was just that special. Take your pick?

[intraspective]

"You almost have to admire that sort of determination," she said carefully. "Even if it royally sucks."

[raspberryturk]

"I'd admire it more if it wasn't the cause of Meteorfall," Reno scoffed. "An' Geostigma. I friggin' swear, if he comes back a fourth time, I'm gonna blow up the planet myself just to get rid of 'im."

No, he wouldn't.

[intraspective]

"No you wouldn't," she chided. "Not after we found a spot to grow things."

[raspberryturk]

Reno scoffed at that for a moment, but then sighed and leaned back against the wall, shrugging.

"Yeah, you're right. I ain't gonna put all this time into makin' plants grow just to turn around and destroy the world, zoto."

[intraspective]

"Knew it," she drawled softly. "You spend way too much time on them to want to do something like that. Now, beating peoples' heads in? I can totally see. Destroying the world? Not so much."

[raspberryturk]

"Few roads, maybe. Some man-made constructs. I'm always good at droppin' shit when someone's gotta die, yo."

Well, he was. Plates, criminal dumbfucks, overpasses. You name it.

[intraspective]

Ino was just going to lean over until she could try and poke Reno in the leg.

"Yes," she said, staring up at him. "You are good at destruction. That's a skill to be valued too, and it's not the only one you've got."

[raspberryturk]

Awww, the Rookie cared.

Reno offered her a little grin, and then a wink and a thumbs-up.

"What can I say? There's somethin's gotta get done, I do it an' I do it good."

Humble, wasn't he?

[intraspective]

"People notice that," she said, sitting up. "And depend on it."

[raspberryturk]

He considered that. Considered it good.

"Talkin' of, you doin' any better?"

[intraspective]

Ino made a face at him. Denial was easier when people weren't talking about it after all.

"I--maybe?" she said, giving that a bit of a shrug. "You know it's... easier here. Than in Fandom? Because, hell, any glance around and you see that this ain't no sunshine and roses place to be."

"That's... helpful."

That also wasn't entirely an answer, Ino.

[raspberryturk]

"All the better for hidin' from it."

Yeah, Reno knew that song and dance number well enough to perform it solo and acapella.

"You know I'd let you stay forever if I figured it'd do you any real good, Ino. But this ain't the place for you. People on the island might not get it, but I got my phone if you need me."

[intraspective]

"I got it on speed dial even," she said, shooting him a glance. "And--yeah. It's not. I have my own world, even if the... growing pains are a bit hard."

Yay understatements.

She laughed softly. "Though, I suppose, if I utterly had to pick a different world, this one wouldn't be bad. I could do good here, I think."

[raspberryturk]

"You could kick ass here," Reno laughed. "You're already kickin' my ass with your plant knowledge, yo. Just what I need is you gettin' so damn good you're showin' me up durin' monster hunts or somethin'."