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]

"Giant shuriken," she said, her eyes narrowing slightly. The Crystal Cross was a good weapon. "Wire, knives," kunai, "poisoned needles."

Why were they heading this way? Stairs? He had to be kidding.

"Thundara, Fire, Blizzaga, Wall," she rattled off, and really, she thought she had the basics pretty well covered in that.

[raspberryturk]

Hey, Reno wasn't going to knock a person with a huge throwing star, or anything. After all, Cissnei was one of his favorite Rookies, and she swore by hers.

"Just Fire, huh? We'll see if we can't get that levelled up for you today, then. Fire ain't gonna do shit against what we've been up against lately, yo."

He actually held the door open to the staircase for her. Apparently, he was totally not kidding.

[intraspective]

Ino stepped past him and out onto the landing and found herself facing stairs.

Lots and lots of stairs.

"I don't like Fire," she said, which likely explained some of why it was just a wee materia. And waited for him to start down the stairs.

Like hell was she going to go down them without him.

[raspberryturk]

"Neither does a lot of the shit you're gonna run into out there," Reno noted, glancing her way before starting down the steps, taking them two at a time.

She totally thought he was joking about the stairs.

That was so cute. <3

[intraspective]

"I know," she said, following him and picking a pace that would let her keep up reasonably well with him. "But the other two work on many of them better or just as well."

[raspberryturk]

"Many," Reno agreed, "that don't mean you gotta limit yourself, yo."

Said the guy who relied almost exclusively on Thunder-based Materias, yes.

"Talkin' about, you ever had your limit break, before?"

The weird crap that came up on this Planet. Really, now.

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"No," she said, not even sure if she'd get one.

After all, she hadn't been born here.

[raspberryturk]

"Eh, sooner or later," Reno replied, dismissively. There were plenty of people who hadn't, really. He'd gotten more than his share of rookies who hadn't had any clue what they were really capable of until he threw them bodily into a fight that looked like it was over their head at a glance.

Wow. Only fifty more floors to go!

"How you keepin' up, kid?"

[intraspective]

Really, it could be worse. It could be a hundred floors to go, and Ino was keeping up well enough--she was, after all, ninja-trained and meant to be able to run for days with minimal rest.

"Kid?" she objected. "I am not!"

[raspberryturk]

"Younger'n me," Reno decided, whether she actually was or not. "Close enough, yo."

She didn't seem to be tripping over herself, and so he picked up the pace a little.

[intraspective]

She was, though not by much.

Ino rolled her eyes and kept her silence, picking up her own pace. Of course he'd be an ass about this too, but it felt good anyway, to be able to move and to be able to follow and not have to try to figure out how to save the world on her own.

"What's your limit break?"

He'd asked about hers, she would ask about his.

[raspberryturk]

Reno paused to glance over his shoulder at her, and then he grinned and shrugged his shoulders.

"That thing you don't like," he replied, easily enough. It wasn't like it hurt to tell the rookie stuff like this, after all. "I don't bother with Fire materias, because I make my own, push comes to shove, yo."

Turk Light was awesome. And he'd kick the ass of anyone who ever suggested otherwise.

Forty-five more floors to go, now.

"The hell made you agree to joinin' the Turks, anyhow? I know you been shadowin' that SOLDIER around, and had some shitty scrapes with the Wutai. But the Turks are a big step, yo."

This was actually the Reno equivalent of small talk.

[intraspective]

"It's boring," she muttered, because fire was when compared to the thrill that using Thunder gave her or the icy shock of Blizzard. And Wall had it's own charm, the ability to encase her and protect her and not impede her movements the slightest.

"Tseng offered," she replied, leaving out a number of details, because obviously he wasn't getting them right now. "And this sort of work suits me just fine."

More than fine, even. Ino had never claimed to have a soul that was goodness and light.

[raspberryturk]

"Just fine, huh? Your file said you were some kinda ninja before here, but that don't tell me much." Reno's eyebrow was raised as he glanced over his shoulder at her, and then picked up the pace again.

Yes, it was absolutely a test.

"You got some knowledge about us before comin' in, too. That mean you know what the first assignment is gonna be?"

[intraspective]

Ino grit her teeth for a moment, resisting the urge to snap at him, then sped up further. He wanted her to keep up? Then she would so help her, even if she needed to use chakra to match him.

She wasn't using it yet, however.

"Patrolling Sector Eight," she replied, her voice stubbornly level. And not replying to his first comment. So there.

[raspberryturk]

Reno twitched a little bit of a smirk. So the rest of her file wasn't lying to him, either. The SOLDIER kid wouldn't know what the first mission they took new Turks on was, so she did have experience with a Turk before them.

He was still curious about the weird texts that he got from her now and then, though. Another Reno was a tough pill to swallow.

"Good, good." Thirty more floors. "You'll get along with the Turks fine, Rookie. You're way sharper'n you let on, yo."

Wandering around the Turks floor and holding up the meeting aside.

[intraspective]

"Bein' too sharp in the wrong spot gets you killed," she retorted, not quite sure what to make of that comment. "I ain't stupid."

She'd just never been on the floor before, or the ones around it, and the receptionist hadn't exactly been useful.

But now she knew, and now she wouldn't get lost again. It worked out.

[raspberryturk]

"Didn't think you were, yo. Tseng don't recruit no dumbasses."

Well. That was possibly up for debate, considering the one doing the talking right then.

"And what do you know about what it is that Turks do?"

There was really only one thing to be said about what the Turks did.

This, too, was a test.

[intraspective]

Her grin went a bit vicious, at that.

Oh yes, she knew the answer to this question.

"Turks," she said, cold and clear, "do the job."

[raspberryturk]

"Oh, I'm keepin' you."

Ino had passed. Obviously.

... This was not going to stop Reno from breaking into a broad grin at her, and then taking off down the rest of the stairs at a full-out run, though.

At least there were only twenty-five more floors to go, by that point.

[intraspective]

Ino couldn't help the laugh that bubbled out of her throat, past her lips, as he bolted with all his speed.

She would try and catch him, then. Ino took the stairs she was on at her current run and, on hitting the next landing, pushed off it with her chakra wound around her legs, giving her speed and endurance and the ability to keep her from slipping and missing a step.

It felt like flying, almost, the reckless, way she flung herself down after him, trusting that her body, her chakra, herself could keep it up. And she was gaining speed with every landing.

[raspberryturk]

Oh, she thought she could catch up, did she? Well, Reno had a reputation to uphold, here, as the fastest Turk, and like hell he was going to let anybody outdo him, never mind the rookie.

She hadn't even earned the upper-case R yet. That's how rookie this rookie still was.

And so he barked out a laugh and kicked up with another burst of speed, flinging his way down that last flight of stairs and practically breaking the door down when he rammed into it to stop at the bottom.

Okay, so Iris wasn't afraid of a challenge, either. That totally got her some bonus points.

[intraspective]

She was going to lose, Ino had known that from the moment he'd really decided to put on speed, but between her own training and her chakra which was boosting her speed past what she was usually capable of, Ino wasn't so very far behind as all of that.

And she was grinning, still, when she made it down to the bottom, coming to an abrupt halt that had everything to do with her chakra sticking her feet down firmly.

Ino raised her eyes to his, and waited to see what he'd say. She felt--exhilarated, and Silly was grumbling quietly under her hair.

[raspberryturk]

By the time she came to a stop, Reno was leaning back against the door and laughing.

"Well, shit," he replied, somewhere between the heh-heh-heh sort of cackle that more or less passed for his laughter, "looks like we just found the second-fastest Turk, yo."

Which was... really high praise, coming from him.

[intraspective]

There were--several things, really, she could say to that.

Ino went with the one that came to mind first.

It was always better to go with the natural reactions, after all.

"And I'll get faster," she promised, with a flick of her hair. "Make you work for your title."

She would, too. Reno, on Fandom, was faster than this one was. He could get better.

And so could she.