intraspective | Reno's (& Elena's) place, Edge, Gaia, Saturday Early Evening

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Reno's (& Elena's) place, Edge, Gaia, Saturday Early Evening

It was kinda funny how she was getting used to being cold.

Not that she'd complain to Reno about it—what the hell was he going to do? Give her another blanket? As if she was going to let him do that when he was the one that was painfully thin and had to feel it more—or anything but, still. She was pretty sure she hadn't been properly warm since getting to Edge and that? That was totally not cool.

Ino was glad, at least, that it wasn't too windy right now. Drafts were demon-things. She tucked the blanket she was using around her feet more securely and went back to her reading, on the couch, while Reno played with Mako. (Or, well, Mako waged war or something and Reno didn't seem to mind. Ino wasn't paying that much attention to them, honestly; her book was pretty good.)

As far as she was concerned they could totally do this for a little while longer before going to look for fun. Mako wasn't tired yet. Ino was cold and didn't feel like moving.

Which, of course, was when someone knocked on the door.

Ino turned the page in her book. "You get it, yo," she told Reno impishly. "Rookie is lazy."

[For the one she's talkin' to! NFB due to distance.]

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"I don't wanna leave the kids behind," sighed Reno.

It was a bunch of little Renos, all running around and starving, with no hope of a real future.

He hated it.

"Fuck, Fandom made me soft."

No, Reno. Life did that.

Ino agreed with him, though, about Fandom making people soft.

"You could stop by and visit them," she suggested, almost gently. "But you won't do any good living like this forever either."

"Nah," Reno agreed, and this time when he sighed, he was sighing as his free hand reached for the vodka. "It's just doin' more damage to me than I'm doin' good for it."

It wasn't like he hadn't noticed the looks that people from Fandom gave him when they saw him, lately. He knew he looked like shit.

He knew he looked better than he felt, most of the time.

"There's a rule back home," she offered, saying nothing about the vodka. "'bout medics. Medics come first. Putting something back together means you got to be together in the first place."

Reno quirked a smile at her for that, and then he was working on getting the cap from the bottle.

"You sayin' I ain't got it together?"

"Do you?" she asked, glancing sideways at him. "You don't look it."

Oh Ino, why so blunt?

To Reno's credit, he totally managed to refrain from flinching at that. Didn't slow him down from opening that bottle, either. He wasn't taking a pull from it just yet, though.

Soon, probably. Not just yet.

"So, I lost weight. Ain't nothin' to eat, here."

"There'd be more to eat if you didn't give it all away," she said softly. "I know all your Rookies been sendin' you stuff. You think none of us worry 'bout what you're doing to yourself? You think it's fun for us to know what we send you is going to be picked at, maybe, and then given away when it was meant for you?"

She looked down at the ground.

"I ain't sayin' that giving things away is bad," Ino continued, "but it's like you don't care 'bout what happens to you and that's bad."

Now? Now Reno was taking a mouthful. Not really a desperate one. Just a thoughtful one. Something to think by.

"Thinkin' of headin' back to Fandom," he admitted. "Don't know what for. Dunno what I'd do there. Get more soft, probably. But it'd keep people from worryin'."

She was just going to fiddle a bit with his sleeve, if he let her, and consider what to say to that.

"Get healthy," she said quietly. Softly. "Time to figure out how to help without--without living here. There's jobs you could take in Fandom--maybe even your old job, just pick it up again."

There was that urge to cry again. Ino wasn't going to let it win now more than it had when she'd been dealing with Edge's people.

"It would keep people from worrying." Already she knew she had to visit more often, as long as he was here. Not because she had questions and wanted to snoop (though she did) but because... Reno needed people.

She was a Rookie. Her visiting made sense.

Having his own space while Elena was at school was well and good, but it meant that he was pretty starved for human companionship. For his own mental health, crashing on Rude's couch had been better. Hell, Rude had pretty much taken to thumping him upside the head until he agreed to eat something, while he was living there.

Here, it was him, Mako, the shadow of Midgar at three in the afternoon, and whoever was starving outside. He was free to fade away at his own leisure.

"Wouldn't want people to worry, zoto."

"Liar," she accused. "You don't even think 'bout those who care 'bout you while you're here. Too busy giving way to dyin' just like the rest of this place. Being here don't make you wanna live none."

Did he think she couldn't see that?

"People're already worried. People who care 'bout you no matter what you did. Bet Rude ain't happy with what you're doing. Bet Elena ain't. Bet Tseng ain't. He needs the Turks and he's got a Turk here who is just letting himself go. What 'bout Rikku? How does she feel 'bout you dying an inch at a time? What 'bout Romeo? Dojima-san? What 'bout me, Reno? You think I don't care?"

And now she was shaking, a fine trembling in her body from the effort of saying something like that and not yelling it.

Another mouthful. This one was deliberately slow. So that he wouldn't be downing it was desperately as he wanted it.

Of course people cared. He would care, too.

"... Back to Fandom," he said again, furrowing his eyebrows and staring at the gravel at his feet. "Or Junon, or somewhere. I ain't made to roll over and give up, neither."

"Start by eating," she said, still pushing. "More than you are. Would you let a Rookie get away with eating as little as you do?"

She doubted it.

"Get away from here," Ino said, "but if that's not going to happen immediately, start eating. Start--taking care of yourself. Please, Reno?"

"I can do that," he replied, nodding. Slowly nodding. "Guess it's easy to forget eatin's somethin' I gotta do too, when I'm the only way some of these people ever see a meal, some weeks."

Not days. Weeks. It all added up. And now and then, there were fewer mouths to worry about.

But it was never because somebody had ever found any good way out of the poverty.

Ino's eyes flashed at that.

Maybe she was cruel for this, but--

"And if you die from lack of feeding yourself first," she said coldly, "then even more of those kids are going to go 'cause then there ain't no one around to help them. What use are you dead, Reno?"

"I'm gonna drop dead from bein' overworked a long time before skippin' a few meals'll kill me," Reno replied, almost sharply. But he was too damn tired to be too sharp, right then. "I lived on less than this, before. I know how much I need to keep goin' on."

He held up a finger for a moment, and then went digging in his pockets. Out came the jar of vitamins. He gave it a shake.

Only about half-empty.

"Take them for yourself," she said, wrapping her arms around her torso. It was cold. She was tired. This conversation made her want to do something stupid like cry. "Eat more. I--just--"

Words failed her.

"Take care of myself," Reno sighed. And then he nodded. Took another mouthful.

No, it wasn't conducive to taking care of himself. He figured he could start worrying about his health tomorrow. He wasn't going to get much worse off after tonight.

"Couple meals a day. Real food. If I promise I'll do that much, would that help?"

"If you keep it," she said, because that was really the whole point. "And not just say it to keep me from worrying for a little."

Reno actually cracked a bit of a grin at that. "You want I should film myself eatin' until you notice I'm puttin' weight back on?"

"No," she said, smiling very slightly back. "I'll just keep coming to visit and nagging if you ain't."

"Probably more effective that way, anyhow," he decided, giving his head a shake, and then moving to put the cap back on the bottle. "Wouldn't say no to the company, neither."

Even if she wasn't Rude.

"I am excellent company," she informed him. "And, yeah, you'll be seeing me for sure 'round here."

Even if her wallet was going to have a heart attack. Lucky for her that hunting monsters meant she got money from them.

Monster killing was easily the most lucrative business on Gaia. Next to, of course, owning a power company.

"Lookin' forward to it, Rookie." There was another pause, and then he was shooting her a little grin. "What say we get the hell offa the curb now, huh?"

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intraspective - 2010-02-22 02:36 (UTC) - Expand

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