"The peons are untrusted"
The redhead recalled his reaction; His mouth had fallen open as an expression of anger spread across his face, whilst he looked back and forth several times between the silver haired men in front of him, and familiar, sunglasses framed face of his partned behin him. It wasn't that they - those remnants, remains of something that should have been destroyed - were able to affect him in any such manner with what they thought. After all, they were but children. It was what they implied, that he was not trusted, and by whom. His boss, his superior, his colleagues. His friends. If there was one thing that was needed in his job, and that was the concept of trust. He had always felt that with his colleagues, they had what would simply be described as a bond not unlike that which bound a family together. The Turks had shrunk drastically in size over the years, and those that were left... He liked to think that they were left for a reason.
His thoughts strayed to their blonde headed boss; Rufus ShinRa, a wry smile appearing on his face. Rufus had always been different to his father, who was an idiot of a man who tried to placate the people with empty promises and dreams which were nothing but a pipe dream. Rufus, on the other hand, even before his ascension to President, had understood the Turks far better, had attempted to get to know them. Sure, the man was stubborn, and always wanted to have things go his way - or not at all, and of course... Vindictive. He almost laughed. The latter of these traits had 'toned down', as it were, since Rufus' injuries, since the defeat of Sephiroth, and destruction of ShinRa. He was still a stubborn bastard, though. The red head moved his hand in a circular motion, watching the amber liquid in the glass swirl round as he did so, a faint, somewhat murky reflection of himself present in it as he peered at it. Raising it to his lips, he paused for a moment, before downing it. Yeah, the Pres., despite his flaws - but then, who was he to talk about flaws? - Was a guy that should Reno die on the job, he wouldn't consider it a fools errand, wuoldn't consider it 'sacrificing himself for the job'. No, he'd simply view it as saving a friend, and that, that was something not many people could do.
Then there was Tseng. Reno shook his head, th ealmost smile on his face growing slightly larger. When he first met Tseng, he'd claimed without qualm, that the man needed to get his head out of Veld's arse once in a while. Whilst thatwasn't applicable these days, he liked to think he'd help the elder man loosen up a bit. He definitely wouldn't have described Tseng like a father figure, he realised, screwing his nose up as the analogy dared to enter his head. Yeah, he respected him, admired him, even, but christ. Father figure's tended to disappoint. Whilst Tseng had made mistakes in the past, wasn't always the perfect leader, he had always held true to his ideals, acted with dignity. He knew why Elena had had a crush on the man.
She, herself, had changed a lot over the years. Sure, he still took the piss out of her, teased her. She was like a younger sister, he just couldn't not do it. Still, she was a far cry from the young girl that had been drafted into the Turks to cover him whilst he was out injured. She was smart, intelligent, emotional. She had developed into a damn fine Turk, and despite this, he was well aware that they all felt like they ought to protect her from some of the things that went on. He ordered another drink, his expression turning slightly bitter. He wasn't proud of the fact that he'd turned tail when Elena and Tseng had been in the Northern Cave, but an order was an order. To go against it would be disrespecting them as people, and he'd have been hard pushed to have been forgiven for that, from them, and even more so, from himself. Still, he couldn't help but regret that it had been that-- He frowned, taking a mouthful of his drink. He was glad, of course, that Vincent had managed to save the two, but it was frustrating that it had been Vincent, and not one of them. He made him feel... Inferior, almost, if that was the correct word, and he wasn't sure it was.
"Hey, partner," Reno's gaze shifted sideways for a moment, resting on the face of Rude. There had been once a time when he'd taken guesses as to what expression the man wore behind his ever present sunglasses, but these days... He didn't need to. None of them did. He didn't say much, but when he did speak, it was something you had t listen to, something worth saying - most of the time. They'd pissed each other off in the early days, but then... Reno pissed a lot of people off, before he got to know them, before they him. He couldn't really remember when he and Rude were first partnered together. Sure, he could remember certain facts, certain actions, comments, but he couldn't remember what he'd thought, what he'd felt, not really. Too much of it was influenced by what he knew and felt now. "Ready to shoot on?" He finished, a small smirk on his face. These were his friends, his family, the only people that would matter to him, on a constant basis until he died. And that, he reflected, was the reason why he had been so offended to have been called untrustworthy. To have these people think that--
He shook his head, stray strands of hair falling to his eyes which he ignored, much like the direction of his thought processes. Those kids had known just where to hit him, he realised, somewhat disappointed. Perhaps it was because that was what would hurt them most, not to be trusted by the one they held dearest.