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.]

Comments

[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.

[raspberryturk]

"You better," Reno replied, reaching out to give her an affectionate sort of punch to the shoulder. "Somebody's gotta keep me on my toes around here, yo. Gods know Rude ain't gonna do it."

Rude was freaking slow. It was fun to tease him about that now and again, but it kind of made for really frustrating moments when they had to get somewhere fast, and Reno kept having to circle back to wait for him.

[intraspective]

She giggled, just a little, both from the comment and the touch. This was... bizarrely nice.

This Reno hadn't--hadn't turned her world upside down.

"I'll consider it a duty," she informed him, a bit impishly. "Onwards to business, then?"

[raspberryturk]

"Damn right," Reno agreed, pushing the door open. "Even easier with you than with some of my rookies I had before," he mused. "Since you already know your way around the sector, yo."

He didn't even have to ask her about that. The Turks had tailed her around this place on more than one occasion, after all.

[intraspective]

"What can I say," Ino murmured lightly, slipping past him and outside. "I like to know my whereabouts."

[intraspective]

"What can I say," Ino murmured lightly, slipping past him and outside. "I like to know my whereabouts."

[raspberryturk]

"Yeah, and the hot chocolate ain't all that bad, either."

Yep. Reno had totally had to tail her one of those times, too. She wouldn't take it personally, he hoped. She really was pretty kickass, for a rookie.

"C'mon. We'll head up to the North end of the sector and make a sweep comin' back this way, and go from there."

[intraspective]

"We all have our vices," she replied, with a shrug as she followed him. "How long does a patrol usually take?"

[raspberryturk]

"Depends," Reno replied, "on a lotta shit. There's usually trouble. This is Midgar. Wouldn't be Midgar without any, yo."

The day they went out and had an uneventful first run of Sector Eight was going to be the day that Reno ate his own EMR.

[intraspective]

She nodded thoughtfully.

"Alright," and her eyes hardened slightly. "To work, then."

[raspberryturk]

"To work," Reno agreed, and then gave his head a shake and loosed a little laugh before taking off at a run, again.

Maybe if they lucked in, there would be some monsters that were more threatening than goblins lurking around, today. Wouldn't that be nice?

[intraspective]

That'd be exciting! It really would be!

This Reno had no idea of the way she'd all but danced the first time she'd come face-to-face with a Hell House.

Ino kept pace with him, wondering if he was going to have them run the whole shift, and at the same time marvelling at the anonymity the uniform brought her. If people saw them, they saw two Turks.

Not her. And not Reno. Not really.

"How long have you been doing this?" she asked, curiously.

[raspberryturk]

"Which part?" Reno glanced sidelong at her, skipping sideways to keep from tripping over some dumb kid playing in the street. "Bein' a Turk, or trainin' 'em up?"

'This' could mean so very many things.

[intraspective]

"Both," she said brightly, irrepressibly.

Because, who knew, that might get her more answers.