Apartment Above the Boards, Friday Morning

[intraspective]

It was still disgustingly cold out, so Ino wasn't outside.

Nope, she was still hanging out on the couch, buried under dogs while the rest of them played or napped or wandered through the apartment at will. She'd never tell Zack, but a couple of the older dogs totally had her smitten.

Silly was perched on the back of the couch, watching the proceedings with beady eyes, but so far none of the puppies or the older dogs had made a go at eating Silly, which Ino figured was a win.

She was very damn near content as she worked on her petition for Tseng. Tseng was going to dismiss it no matter how much work she put into it, but hey, it gave her something to do.

And it would amuse her to send it to him.

[Open for visitors or calls~]

Comments

[raspberryturk]

Reno was in a good mood. Sure, Reno was often in a good mood when he was on the job, but today was noteworthy in that he was on the job and he had a good reason to call up his favorite Rookie. And shit, he'd even have some good news when he did so. How could he complain about that?

Ring ring, Iris.

[intraspective]

Just be glad her PHS hadn't been eaten by the dogs, Reno. Given the number that were around that was a real possibility.

But, hey, a phone call meant she didn't have to get up or move much at all.

"Yo!" Ino said cheerfully.

[raspberryturk]

"Hey, that's my word," Reno said, laughing as he brought the helicopter he was flying down toward a clearing in the woods.

Had he asked if he could take it?

Nope.

Did he care?

Not particularly. Tseng didn't need to know he was on this mission, and if anyone asked, he was taking it on a routine stress test or something.

"I'm gonna get you a present anyway," he drawled. "Even though you're goin' and takin' my words."

[intraspective]

She laughed, saving her petition on her laptop and then leaning back. "Didn't you know?" she asked. "It's every Rookie's duty to steal shit from their mama duck."

A beat.

"What's my present?"

[raspberryturk]

"For now, your present's just a lead," Reno replied, and was silent for a moment while he landed. Or maybe that was just a dramatic silence, to better build the proper tension. "But tomorrow? Around this time? Provided I ain't dead, it's gonna be one of them shiny little trinkets you want so bad, yoto."

He was too good to his Rookies, wasn't he?

[intraspective]

He was... certainly making up for times when he hadn't been so good. She'd give him that.

"You do know the right sort of present to get me," she noted, raising her eyebrows. "But, like, if you end up dead I ain't gonna be happy with you. You need backup?"

[raspberryturk]

"Forget backup," Reno replied, "I need you to secure somewhere to put that little toy as soon as friggin' possible, because I ain't holdin' on to that any longer'n I gotta. Not around here, yo."

Knowing his luck, he'd have it here a beat too long and AVALANCHE would come after the wrong Reno. He didn't want to be the guy that got another him dead.

[intraspective]

"Nice lot of warnin' you're givin' me," Ino half-heartedly complained, even as she closed her petition and pulled open a few screens to start looking for a good place to go. "A day to get everything set up? But I'll do it if you don't get your ass killed. Can't be goin' 'round bein' ungrateful if you're gettin' me such a nice present."

[raspberryturk]

"Heh, I only got the friggin' lead an hour ago, and I had to go tearin' off after it before the trail went cold. You ain't gettin' much less warnin' than I did, you know."

The things he did to get a Rookie a present. Honestly, now.

"Make it somewhere extra unlikely. I ain't opposed to travel."

[intraspective]

"You wanna stay in world for this?" Ino asked. "Or should we be headin' off to parts and portals unknown?"

[raspberryturk]

"We stay in world, there's a chance they'll find this again, sometime we ain't got a roadmap for," Reno pointed out. "Not a risk I'm willin' to take, zoto. Farther the better."

[intraspective]

"I'll do what I can," Ino said, frowning. "But while we're used to tight time lots of places ain't. Pickings might be slim, but I'll figure something out. You need anything for getting in and getting the job done?"

[raspberryturk]

"Just keep your PHS handy," Reno replied. "And some potions at ready for when I get out, zoto. I got a feelin' I'm gonna be burnin' through those to get to this thing. Ravens have always been bad news."

[intraspective]

She'd just slap a Curaga at him when they met up. Honestly, Reno.

"I'll make sure to get you healthy. Ain't no worry 'bout that. But, seriously, Raven's on your own ain't nothing to sneeze at. Watch your steps."

[raspberryturk]

"This ain't my first dance with 'em," Reno reminded her. "I know to be careful."

He was gonna end up staring at his own guts at some point, he was sure of it, but he'd brought along a few phoenix downs just to be on the absolute safe side, and he was far more experienced now than he had been back then, scrawny kid with an ego bigger than his brains.

"I can message check-ins. I miss one, message me. Gimme ten minutes to reply. I don't, I'm dead or worse."

[intraspective]

"Then you'd better not miss one," Ino said fiercely. "I'll be waiting for 'em, every last check-in."

Ino sighed, one of the dogs on the couch nuzzled at her elbow as she did. "Look, it ain't 'bout not trustin' you're abilities or your experience it's that--you're out there and I ain't and this ain't an easy job for no one."

[raspberryturk]

"I know," Reno sighed, climbing out of the helicopter, PHS between his shoulder and his ear. "I know. But thing is, I'm already in. This mission ain't gonna be a cakewalk, but I know what I'm gettin' into. Anything happens to me, you tap in Rude -- my Rude. He's got the details, an' info on where they'll be most likely to go next. In the meantime, I need you workin' on that drop point, Rookie. More'n just me depends on that."

[intraspective]

"And you'll get your drop point," she said, feeling a bit stung. "I ain't never let you down knowingly."

It was just... shit. She wanted to be there.

"Rude's gonna be hearin' so much from me he'll be sick of me."

[raspberryturk]

"Ah, he'll love it," Reno replied, his tone that low drawl again. And then he sobered up slightly. "Ain't gonna lie," he noted, "I'd rather not be runnin' this alone, yo. But time is... what it is. And it's more important we have a place to take this to once we have it than it is I even succeeed at this in the first place, stupid as that sounds."

Because being a Turk on the run with the prize was an invitation for trouble to follow. Getting in and out and not leaving any indication who it was who had been there in the first place, and then going totally off the grid? That was what mattered. They didn't need to know he knew what was there. There was Raven activity in the area, for all they knew he was just a nosy idiot. And if he went in and got his ass killed, he'd just be another dead body.

Or another Raven. Depended on just how much they could tune in to that hit of mako in him, he supposed.

"You can kick my ass when I'm outta here."

And if he didn't come out of here, she could kick that littler him's ass instead.

[intraspective]

She knew all of that, she did.

That didn't make it any easier to hear.

"The earliest portal that'd get me even to Gaia ain't for a few hours," Ino said, sighing. Of course she'd checked. What kind of Turk would she be if she hadn't. "Something about an angel delay. Too bad there ain't no angels that'd grant our wishes, huh?"

But there wasn't anything she could do about that.

"You'll have your drop point, healing, and a way to get the hell out of dodge. I got it."

Rude's was going to be super tired of her though.

[raspberryturk]

"The fuck is an angel delay?" Reno paused, then shook his head. "Nah, I don't even wanna know. First check-in is in an hour. Set your timer, yo."

He was going in.

[intraspective]

"Timer set," Ino said, her voice sliding into something cooler. Something more 'Iris'. "I'll be waiting."

[raspberryturk]

"I know," Reno replied, his own voice the very vision of calm, even as he set the charges to detonate the helicopter if it was disturbed while he was away. "Thanks, Rookie."

And with that, he hung up.

He had a long walk ahead of himself, and he wasn't going to be getting any sleep tonight. The sooner he was on his way, the better.

[intraspective]

Ino stared at her phone for a long moment, then pulled her legs up under her and got to work.

She had a lot of things to do in the hours between hearing from Reno.

He wasn't going to sleep tonight--and neither was she.