Reno emptied his fifth bottle of beer at the tavern Blue Steel. Why it was called Blue Steel he never knew nor did he care to know. He did know that steel was not blue but actually a shade of construction and dismay. It's the color of the slums. A place that never sees the color blue unless in a picture and that is even rare. Blue steel my ass. He drops some gil on the counter and nods toward the bartender. Stepping out into the chilly night air, he lights a cigarette, tossing the brunt match on the already filthy ground. He undid a bottom to his shirt allowing the cool air to hit his heated skin. Taking a deep drag then blowing out a puff of smoke to mingle with the hazy polluted air. He set off down the grimy streets, walking at his leisure pace. The streets were quiet and nearly empty of people. The few people out that came across Reno's path quickly crossed the street to avoid him and hope they aren't on his list.
No one wants to be on Reno's list or on the Turks list in general. If they find their name on the list then they are not long for this life. A cold grin spreads along his face as he watches a man half drag his woman for the night away from him. Reno made a little lunge toward them and laughed when the man tripped on the curb. Coming to stand in front of a small three story shabby apartment complex, Reno stopped to ponder such a waste dump of a place. The building itself was crumbling to dust and its puke green window shutters were on the verge of falling apart.
Who would live in such a nasty place? He thought. Glancing down the streets he shrugged and headed in the building. His key took some twisting in the rusty lock to finally allow him entrance. The damn lock needed to be replaced in fact the whole door should be replaced. One good strong kick and anyone could come in. Pushing the door open it revealed a musky hallway that smelled like cat pee and century old mold, yum. As quiet as possible, Reno tried to walk pass the first door without alerting the resident of his presence. But he must have been waiting for him because the door flew open to reveal a pudgy little slinky man with balding hair.
"Reno," he called in a raspy smoker voice.
"You know the more I hear your voice the more I know I should quit smoking," he replied, easily cutting the other man off. Without paying any attention to the smart comment that Reno had spilled out the man continued to talk.
"Where's my rent this month?"
"Oh this is about rent not about your cat," he said scratching his nose uninterested.
"Yeah this is about the rent…wait what did you do to Mr. Button?" his landowner said his face becoming a deep shade of purple.
"Ahh nothing that would piss you off," he said raising his hands in defense.
"Well either way you owe me four hundred gil."
"Ah the rent is two hundred per month land owner dude."
"It's two hundred if you pay every month. But you haven't paid me for two whole months. I am not running a homeless shelter here. You either pay me my money or get out." With that he turned and slammed his door in Reno's face.
Well I guess it's time to find another place to live, he thought. He wasn't going to pay him his money. That was four hundred gil he could spend on booze. He walked into his small apartment, flipped the light switch just to watch it go out with the rest of his electricity.
"Damn he means business this time doesn't he," Reno breathed under his breath. He flopped down in his chair, lit a cigarette and closed his eyes. It was getting hard at work. Not the usually hard work that people complain about, but just tiresome work. Reno could handle the dirty jobs that were given and the fact that they just became short of workers. But what he couldn't handle was the loss of one of his coworkers.
Cissnei
The name held so much to him. So much so that he had to leave his last apartment because of the painful memories that they shared together. He loved her. Plain and simple. Of course he never told anyone not even his best friend/partner, Rude. Not even Cissnei herself. There had been days that he would practice saying the words in the mirror. But that was as far as he would go, it wasn't a Turk thing to fall in love, let alone announce it. But now he regretted never telling her. He knew she would have never returned his feelings. Four years her mind was distracted by some ex-solider or some such thing and that he was nothing more than a sexual partner. Someone to use for the night with no consequence in the morning, only there was one. He loved her.
His PHS rang, he answered after a brief second. Tseng's voice sounded over the receiver, "Reno I have a job for you." Reno took a deep breath, opened his blood shot eyes and obeyed.
"Yes sir."
End