Note: I ended up taking a little detour. Since it's almost Thanksgiving, here's a little tribute to the holiday that kicks off the consumerism frenzy that is Christmas. I wrote something like this a while back, but I lost it. This one is better though, a little different, and a bit random. A little weird, too. Yes, they like football and video games.
Note 2: Good Buy is actually a little known part of Best Buy. They can only be found in Midgar and cannot be called Best Buy because they charge too much (Shinra regulations) to really be called Best Buy.
Disclaimer: Yeah, I bought Squenix since my last story, and now it's all mine. (eye roll and blatant sarcasm) Best Buy, the Wii, Bioshock, and Resident Evil aren't mine either.
The Day After Thanksgiving
It was an exceptionally quiet Thursday afternoon at Reno's apartment. The Turks had their annual Thanksgiving dinner at his place (much to his displeasure) earlier, and now they enjoying each other's company. Well, kind of. They were spread out in the living room, with Tseng talking a nap in the armchair, Elena watching the football game, and Reno and Rude looking through the newspaper ads. Stacked together, they were roughly the size of a large dictionary.
"Yes! Midgar's ahead!" Elena cheered and took a long drnk form her beer.
"I had no idea she was such a big football fan," Reno muttered as he tossed a coupon book to the floor. Rude nodded in agreement and handed him an ad. "Lessee, Good Buy. Ohhh! No way! A 45 inch HDTV for 500 gil? Hell yeah! Let's go get one on Saturday!" Reno yelled. Rude shook his head and pointed to some small print on the ad. "'One day only – Friday. Maximum 4 per store.' Shit. We have to do day after Thanksgiving shopping?" Rude just stared at him. "Well, I guess it's worth a cool T.V.," Reno said.
"Fuck!"
Reno and Rude looked over just in time to see Elena throw a bowl of chili at the T.V.
"Okay, two cool T.V.s," Reno corrected. Tseng snored loudly and rolled off the chair.
Reno's Room – 2:00 a.m…
The soft, gentle beeping of the alarm clock quickly escalated to an obnoxious, blaring foghorn that could wake the dead. At least that's what Reno thought. He took his gun off the table the alarm was on and shot it twice, for good measure. Satisfied with the results, he rolled over and fell back asleep. Soon after, he started dreaming that Rude was standing next to him poking him in the shoulder with his gun. He slowly opened his eyes and realized he wasn't dreaming.
"…what the fuck are you doing?" Reno asked, rather groggily.
"Time to go," Rude said.
"Nothing bothers you, does it?" Reno asked. Rude didn't respond. Reno sat up and sighed loudly. "Fine. I'll meet you in the parking lot in five." Rude raised an eyebrow. "With coffee." He nodded and left.
The Parking Lot, Eight Minutes Later
Reno walked out into the parking lot with a huge cup of coffee in each hand. He gave one to Rude and got in the passenger side.
"You drive, I'm taking a nap."
Rude sighed and adjusted his sunglasses as he sat down.
"How the hell can you see through those things at two in the morning?" Reno asked. Rude shrugged and started the car. He pulled out of the lot and sped off to the nearest Good Buy.
Good Buy
Rude drove around the parking lot, but couldn't find a spot, so he pulled into a handicapped spot. He took out a tag that identified him as a Turk and hung it from the rearview mirror.
"…we're there," Rude announced. Reno wasn't waking up, so he poked him a few more times.
"Quit with the damn poking!" he complained and sat up. They got out of the car and walked up to the front doors. There was a large group of tents, fold up armchairs, and people playing video games out of the back of their cars. "When the hell did you people get here?" a bewildered Reno asked one of the shoppers.
"Yesterday morning!" he said, cheered, and slammed a shot glass full of espresso. Reno shuddered and turned to Rude.
"So?"
"…what?"
"We'll never get one of those T.V.s, let alone two!"
"…you're a Turk, aren't you?"
"Ohhh, yeah. Right," Reno nodded happily and walked to the doors, in front of an obnoxious looking woman.
"Excuse me," she whined, even though being polite was the last thing on her mind.
"What?" Reno responded, wishing he didn't have to deal with this.
"You have to wait in line!"
"No, I don't," he said, hoping the conversation would end.
"Yes you do! You can't cut!"
"Did you just get out of fifth grade, lady? And I can cut! I work for Shinra. I could take your wallet and shoot you if I wanted to. Fortunately for you, it's too early to be cleaning up blood." The woman gave Reno a horrified look.
"Kids these days! I swear…" The woman was still ranting when Rude dragged her off into a storage closet and locked the door.
"Always thinking of good solutions," Reno said.
"…it's what I do," Rude said and adjusted his sunglasses again.
"Seriously, dude, the glasses."
"…don't cramp my style."
"…oookay."
They waited in front of the store for another few hours until they finally unlocked the doors. Reno and Rude were the first ones in, and as soon as they were, they turned around and locked the doors back up. The angry mob of overly caffinated bargain hunters began beating on the door, but to no avail.
"Nice move," a voice said from behind them. They turned around to see Rufus, Scarlet, and Reeve, along with a random group of Rufus' lackeys. They had a couple of carts jam packed with things like an X-Box 360, a PS3, video games, a couple of different iPods, a T.V., a laptop, and various other high end electronic items.
"How did you get in before us?" Reno asked.
"Oh, I just called ahead and said it was company business," Rufus replied lightly and flipped a strand of his hair back. "You could have too, you know," he added as he handed a clerk his credit card. The clerk handed it back and Rufus and his group left in the limo waiting outside the doors, the angry mob having been cleared by a few SOLDIERs.
"He enjoys that a little too much," Reno muttered. He turned around, but Rude was gone. Moments later, he came walking up with the two T.V.s stacked on a cart. He handed his credit card to the same clerk, who rang up his items, then gave the card back. Rude put it back in his wallet and adjusted his sunglasses. Yes, again (Rumors that he will be starring in CSI: Midgar are unconfirmed).
"Mission accomplished," he said dramatically and walked out.
"I need a new career," Reno said and followed him.
Shinra H.Q., 67th Floor
Reno, Rude, and Elena were sitting in the Turks' lounge. There was an extra large pizza (sausage and mushroom, easy on the sauce) and a good dozen beer bottles on the table in front of them. New speakers were scattered throughout the room, and a Wii with Resident Evil 4 was plugged into the new T.V.
"No, knife him!" Reno yelled as Rude was swinging the Wiimote around haphazardly, trying to kill Jack Krauser.
"You should have played on easy mode, you newb," Elena mocked while flipping through the game manual. "Oh, he is so cute," she sighed.
"Krauser?" Reno asked, a little disturbed.
"No, you ass, Leon," she said.
"I'm better than Leon," Reno said.
"Doubt it," Elena muttered. "You don't have shit on Wesker or Chris, either."
"You know what," Reno started, until Tseng walked in.
"Where did all of this come from?" he asked, surveying the little lounge turned entertainment center.
"Good Buy," Elena said, looking up from her PSP. She was now playing Final Fantasy Tactics. "You know, the sales."
"Ah, right. The sales. Well, glad to see you all made it back alive," he said simply and left.
"Who's up for some BioShock?" Reno called and waved the box around in the air. Rude plugged in the X-Box 360 and they did RPS (rock-paper-scissors) for first dibs.
"Yes!" Reno shouted, grabbed the controller off the table and chugged another beer.
