Midgar, Gaia -- Saturday

[intraspective]

Ino had felt—good, stable, all the way out of Fandom, off the island, and into Midgar, which was her own home now (and that was something she still had to remind herself of), even while they stopped to let her change into her uniform.

It was only as Zack pressed a kiss to her cheek, in the lobby of the ShinRa building and headed off for his own orders, that Ino felt the clawing uncertainty come back.

Talk to the receptionist, she’d been told. Ino could do that, though she despised walking into a situation blind. It was a comfort, at the least, that she already had her uniform, her I.D. , and that she was supposed to be here, so far as anyone was concerned.

That didn’t mean she wasn’t nervous, still, underneath the cool demeanour. This was her first time, after all, on the job, in this capacity. Her hair was down, flowing in careful waves down her back and her shoulders were straight as she approached the mission--reception desk.

“Excuse me?”

And Ino ignored the creeping panic that reminded her she had no idea of what else to say.

[NFB, please! For them that're in the building.]

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[intraspective]

"And proud of it," she murmured, in a voice that wasn't truly meant for him to hear. Both Renos had always been proud of that. "Why do you get to train Rookies?"

[raspberryturk]

"Because," Reno replied, his smile going a little sharp around the edges, "I don't get 'em killed their first day on the job, zoto."

Which was, in fact, something to take pride in.

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"We appreciate that," she said, a touch dryly, for all that it was true. "Death being a thing to avoid and all of that."

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All of Reno's Rookies were still alive. That said a great deal about the job that he did, bringing them all up to his very special Turk standard.

"You'll appreciate it more as you settle in better," he replied, and there wasn't even a trace of cockiness in that statement, so much as simple, stark fact. "I ain't trainin' 'em for the same Midgar their folks grew up in. It ain't the same Midgar, no more."

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Her eyes narrowed slightly.

"'Cause of AVALANCHE?" her voice was low enough that no one but him was going to hear her. She felt it safe enough.

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"That's part of it, yeah," Reno agreed, turning a glance her way. "Just part, though. There's always more to it, ain't there?"

Rogue SOLDIERs, Wutaian spies, mechs gone haywire through city streets, monsters, and a bigger, more iron-fisted ShinRa than ever before.

AVALANCHE was a fairly recent development, and, while they were strong, were really only the tip of the iceberg.

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She gave him big, wide eyes. Her idiot-persona's eyes, to be exact.

"Is there?"

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And in the face of eyes like that, there was really only one thing for Reno to do, right?

Which, of course, would be to grin crookedly and reach out to cuff her lightly on the back of the head.

"Save the stupid-face for the other guy," he chuckled, shaking his head. "It ain't like you need the practise here, yo."

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Ino had a response to that! Really she did, and she'd been about t say it, when Silly erupted from her hair, kweh-ing indignantly.

Silly did not like it when people disturbed Silly's hiding space.

There you go, Reno. You've pissed off a weetiny bird who is fluttering and puffing up as intimidatingly as it can at you, while scolding.

"Silly," she hissed, "shut up."

Silly didn't.

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Reno's run settled into a slow trot, and then a stop, as he crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow at the chicobo.

"Your mascot keeps that up, and I'm gonna have to tape its little trap shut," he noted, his tone going from light and affectionate to seriously not impressed in about a heartbeat.

And could Iris blame him, any? This was a job where people got killed for being noticed, and a chicobo might not raise eyebrows out past Kalm, but here in Midgar?

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"He'll be good," she snapped, "when you're not hitting where he sleeps."

Ino was very good at being a properly respectful Rookie, truly. Just... not to Reno.

She scooped her chicobo out of the air and it warbled at her. "Shhhh," she murmured, "be good, okay?"

That got an agreeable chirp. Ino eyed Silly for a moment, who seemed content enough to settle in her hands, and then lifted the ridiculous little bird back to her shoulder, where it could hide.

[raspberryturk]

This Reno was not the Reno that she knew, and the raised eyebrow and the seriously annoyed look on his face as he crossed his arms over his chest and tapped one foot against the cobbles probably attested to that one well enough.

"You wanna run that one by me again, rookie?"

Lowercase 'r.' She'd just taken a half-step back on the road to Reno's respect.

He'd never lost a rookie. He wasn't about to start now just because somebody couldn't keep her chicken quiet on an assignment.

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Ino gave him a look that was pure stubbornness.

"He'll be quiet," she repeated, politer. And resisting the urge to tell him that the only person who cared even a little about them right that second was a girl in the second storey of the building behind them who looked only because she was waiting for her boyfriend and he was late. "Sir."

Politer, we note. Not politely.

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"He better be," Reno replied, shaking his head and rolling his eyes as he started walking again. "The turkey decides to beak off at me again, and it'll be goin' into the report I file for Verdot on your introductory assignment as a nuisance and a liability."

Apparently, once upon a time, Reno actually knew what the word 'liability' meant.

It helped, perhaps, that AVALANCHE had been keeping the Turks on pins and needles for over a year, now, and he had damn good reason to be more jumpy than the older, more tired Reno on the island was.

This Reno was doing the job.

[intraspective]

Apparently so!

Ino set her chin and nodded.

"He'll be good," she replied, a touch crisper that time. Refusing to show that she was worried that, already, she'd screwed up massively, as she followed him matching his pace. "I wouldn't have brought him if I didn't think he could be."

But, after all, Silly was a rookie too. Ino wisely kept her mouth shut on that one.

[raspberryturk]

Yeah, Reno would have been less inclined to take on the chocobo as a protege on this mission, really.

"He's not impressing me so far," Reno noted, shaking his head and sighing. He'd given her as much of a lecture as he was willing to, considering there was still a job to be done. "This is the Turks, rookie. Not some kinda grade-school pet fair. C'mon. We're almost to our startin' point, we can do a sweep around here and then start headin' back along the side-streets, yoto."

[intraspective]

She also, wisely, did not point out that Zack ran missions with a gerbil in his pockets.

Ino was pretty sure that'd get her a snippy comment about the differences between SOLDIERs and Turks. Instead, she followed.

After a few minutes, sorry Reno, she was bad at shutting up. "You never did answer my question," she said, keeping her voice light. "'Bout what else causes issues 'round here."

[raspberryturk]

"I'd be all day givin' you a list," Reno replied, rolling his eyes. "Monsters, mobsters, political dissidents. You know about the first assignment and you know we do the job, I'm surprised you even gotta ask."

No, really, he kind of was. If there was another Reno in the picture, why hadn't he taught her all of this shit? It was leaving big, confusing gaps in her story, that made him wonder what kind of loser this other Reno even was.

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Ino shrugged, lifting her shoulders.

"Ain't got much information on Midgar and the Turks in the day-to-day," she replied with a sidelong glance his way. "Bit too borin' I guess, to tell someone."

Boring, she thought, was likely not the word for it. But...

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That earned a snort out of Reno.

"You expectin' borin', here?"

Because, Ino, he would take that deliberate turn down that particular alley right there toward a place where there was usually trouble, just for you, if that was the case.

He was nice like that.

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"I ain't," she muttered, folloing him. "But he might've thought it borin' after the day in and out of it."

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Reno just snorted and gave his head a shake.

"Remind me not to get knocked on the head as much as he's been," he mumbled, winding through the alleyways.

The way he was letting his EMR slide from his sleeve into his hand was probably an indication that he was anticipating trouble from down this way. And, really, it probably suggested that he went this way for the trouble. Possibly frequently.

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And Ino was definitely paying attention to what he was doing. Her eyes brightened--yes, yes fighting was bad whatever--and a kunai slipped into her hand, though she held it so it wasn't immediately noticable.

She also? Kept her mouth shut.

Bouncy though, for all that she moved silently.

[raspberryturk]

And as they moved down the alleyway, there came the sound of voices, hollowed out and distant, from somewhere farther along. Indoors, somewhere, if the muffled quality to them was any indication.

The grin that made its way over Reno's lips as he heard them was positively predatory.

This Reno was very much not the one that Ino knew from Fandom, in that moment. He was a different creature entirely, on the prowl, black on black in the shadows in the alleyway, stalking his chosen prey, skulking toward the door and lingering there. Listening.

If the chicobo made a peep right now, Reno would be having it stuffed.

[intraspective]

The chicobo was silent, Ino knew that better than anyone, given her proximity to it, and she was... quietly, but entirely, exhilarated.

She glanced at him, waiting for instructions, waiting for some indication of why they were hunting whoever was inside.

Part of her didn't care, not really, so long as there was a fight.