Chapter 7: Diversions and Butterflies
Reno lights a cigarette, hoping that the nicotine will calm his nerves. Out of habit he offers the pack to Elena and is surprised when she accepts, something she seldom does. /Guess I'm not the only nervous one here.../ Reno thinks as he leans forward and lights Elena's cigarette for her. "Ever eat at a place like this?" he asks as he snaps his lighter shut, hoping to change the subject and buy more time to think.
"No, I've never been anywhere fancier than a chain restaurant."
/Could be why she's nervous. So much for the idea I was maybe causing it. She's probably fully in 'just friends' mode.../ "What, are the guys in IW all cheap or something?" he jokes.
She laughs a little at this. "A few were. I didn't date much when I worked there. It was too awkward, like we were from different worlds or something."
"They were all born and raised on the plate, right?"
"Yeah, and trained at universities. Kinda hard for a self-taught slum rat to fit in there..."
"Hate to say it, but I'm not surprised to hear that. It's the same for pretty much the whole damned company. That's the other reason I haven't had a serious relationship since the war. Most of those plate women are spineless sheep, not good for anything more than a one night stand. When I'd try just talking to one it was like they spoke a different language."
"Pretty frustrating," Elena observes while staring into her wine.
"Yeah," Reno agrees, also staring into his wine. /Did she just give me an opening, or is she just sympathizing with a friend because we both have shitty love lives? Damn, I can't tell. This is so much easier when I'm just trying to get laid by some chick I don't care about.../
Rude returns to the table during the latest awkward silence. "It's shocking enough to see one of you being quiet. Never thought I'd see you both shut up at the same time..." he wryly observes as he takes his seat.
"Just more of that strange shit you see when the world's about to end," Reno says with a faint smile as the appetizers arrive.
"Next thing you know, the sun'll rise in the west, the sea'll boil, and Rude'll turn into a chatterbox," Elena says, continuing the gallows humor. "Hey, these are pretty good," she states after biting into a crab cake. "What's in them?"
"Crab," Rude answers.
"Well yeah, obviously. I meant besides crab."
Reno shrugs. "More crab? Hell, none of us are exactly good cooks here, Lena. So why would we know?"
Elena shrugs. "Just making conversation. Kinda boring just sitting here with nothing to talk about."
"Yeah, but maybe we oughta stick to talking about stuff we know about."
"Alright, so what's the plan for tomorrow?" she asks as the next course arrives.
"Well, someone's gonna have to pay a visit to the Junon offices, make sure they're following my orders. Also, the other day I called Junon Stoneworks and made an order for a small memorial piece for Tseng, they should have it ready for pickup tomorrow."
"So what're we gonna do with that?" Elena asks while cracking a crab leg between her fingers.
"Right after this's all over I figure we can go down to where the temple used to be, have a little private ceremony. You know, say bye to him properly."
"After holding it in this long, it'll be nice to finally have time to let loose," Elena says with a somber expression on her face.
"Yeah, Lena, less pressure's always nice. Speaking of less pressure, we also need to find you some comfy shoes. Can't have you limping around in heels all the time," he says with a goofy grin in an attempt to lighten the mood.
"Limping?" She tries to look outraged, but the gleam in her eyes betrays her real mood as she mimes throwing a crab leg at Reno. "Hey, why are these things so expensive? Sure, they taste nice, but there's hardly any meat and it's a pain in the ass to get to."
"Because upper crust types are gullible. Take a big bug that lives underwater and tell them it's a delicacy and they'll pay stupid amounts of money for it. You know there's snails on the menu here?"
"Snails?" Elena makes a disgusted face. "I ate one of those once, but only because I was starving. They'd have to pay me to get me to eat one now," she declares as the next course, grilled marlin, arrives.
"Same here. But those idiots," he points a thumb over his shoulder at the other diners, "happily pay eighty gil for a small plate of the things. It's bizarre."
"Weird. When you put it that way I'm half-surprised I didn't see rat on the menu."
"How can you be half surprised?" Reno teases. "I always thought you either were or weren't."
"It's just one of those stupid figures of speech, smartass. All right, I'm mildly surprised. Happy now?"
"Overflowing with goddamned joy," he replies with a smirk. "Anyways, getting back to the plan for tomorrow, we probably oughta also top off the VSTOL's tanks. May as well take advantage of free fuel while we can."
"Does it have a name?"
"Nope. Shin-Ra doesn't name planes unless they make it into mass production. All it's got's an acronym and a ridiculously long project number."
"Maybe we should give it one. Something that'll sound better than just calling it VSTOL all the time."
"All right. How about Turkmobile?" he suggests with a lopsided grin.
"What? You can't be serious."
"What's wrong with Turkmobile?" he asks, trying to look offended.
"...sounds stupid," Rude contributes.
"No one'll take us seriously flying around in something called that," Elena adds as the main course arrives.
"Meh, you two aren't any fun," Reno laughs. "You're the one that wants to give it a name, Lena, so you think of one," he offers as the main course arrives.
They eat in silence for a few minutes while she thinks. "How about the Falcon?" she suggests.
"Yeah, flying predators are kinda cool. What do you think, Rude?"
"Sounds a lot better than Turkmobile."
"Alright, I guess it's the Falcon now. Although I still like Turkmobile," Reno jokes.
"Excuse me," their waiter says when he sees they're finished eating. "Madam, sirs, would any of you care for desert?" They all shake their heads. "Very well then, I shall return in a moment with your bill."
"Don't bother," Reno orders, handing over his business expenses card. "It's the company's accountants' problem, no point showing it to me."
"Very good, sir," he states as he accepts the card and walks away.
"I'll be right back," Reno announces as he gets up and walks towards the restroom.
"Hey Rude, mind if I ask you something about Reno"? Elena asks after she's sure Reno's out of earshot.
Rude shrugs. "I can't really answer that if I don't know what you're going to ask."
"Fair enough. Earlier he said something that made me curious. He spaced out while you were in the restroom and said later he was thinking about a promise he made that he hadn't gotten around to fulfilling. Any idea what he's talking about?"
"Yeah. When he says he'll do something and he's being serious, he does it. I only know one exception," Rude answers while the waiter returns with Reno's card and places it on the table. "Back during the war none of us had any illusions about our chances of living very long. Reno and Angela both promised each other that whoever lived longer would move on, find someone else to be happy with, and enjoy however much time they had left."
"So he still hasn't let go?"
"Not exactly. He's let go of her, but he's had trouble finding someone else. He's come close a few times, but has a bad habit of choking and backing out. It makes it easy to tell when he's starting to feel seriously about someone, because he starts to get nervous and hesitate. See, losing her hurt him real damn bad."
"Yeah, he told me about that, and how he reacted when he found her."
"Really? I'm surprised, he usually doesn't open up like that to people." /I think that's all the hints I can give without coming straight out and telling her. If Reno doesn't do something soon I may just do that.../
"Can't really blame him. It's easy to just try and forget painful memories like that. Too bad we can't..." Elena spots Reno walking back to the table. "Thanks for telling me Rude." They stand and walk to meet him. Rude tosses him his card when they're a few feet away.
"I called a cab. Don't really feel like walking that far when I'm so damned full of fish."
"Good idea," Rude agrees. The three exit the restaurant and find one of the Junon air taxies waiting for them. Moments later they exit in front of their apartment building and make their way to the elevator.
"How'd you like dinner, Lena?" Reno asks.
"Everything was great, but it wasn't good enough that I'd actually pay as much as they charged for it. I still can't believe I ate that much."
"Heh, sounds like I'm not the only one feeling overstuffed," Reno laughs as the trio exits the elevator and heads into the safehouse. "Think I'll go ahead and hit the sack, get to work on digesting this stuff."
"Sounds like a plan," Elena agrees.
"The beds here aren't as nice as the one at my place, but there's enough beds for everyone," Reno says. Once again, Elena changes in the bathroom and the guys use the bedroom.
"It safe to come in?" Elena asks a minute later, knocking on the bedroom door.
"Yeah," Reno answers. Elena walks into the small bedroom wearing a loose-fitting white t-shirt and plaid boxer shorts. Looking around she sees that Reno's once again wearing an old faded gray pair of sweat pants that were cut down into shorts while Rude wears a pair of new-looking black sweat pants. Two normal twin sized beds sit against one wall and a long twin sized bed sits against the opposite wall. A large dresser and a closet fill much of the space between the beds. "Sheets are in the closet," Reno announces as he puts a set of sheets on one of the small beds. Rude, whose feet would have hung over the end of a normal twin sized bed, has already claimed the long bed. Within moments, all three beds are readied and the Turks allow the pleasant lethargy that often follows a large meal to pull them down into sleep.
Much later, Elena is awakened by the sound of a voice. "No, no more..." Glancing to the side she sees Reno thrashing around on his bed, soaked in sweat. "...stop, please..."
She quickly rushes over to his bed and shakes him awake. "Hey, wake up." He sits up with a loud gasp as his eyes snap wide open. Elena sees something she's never seen in his eyes before, stark terror. "It's alright, it's just a nightmare," she whispers in his ear as she wraps her arms around his trembling body in an attempt to calm him.
"Lena? God, it was horrible, I was a kid again..." he whispers between ragged breaths. Most people would be confused by his statement, but Elena knows first-hand what childhood as a slum orphan is like.
"It's just a dream," she whispers, stroking the back of his head with one hand. "You're not alone anymore. You'll never have to worry about running and hiding again."
"I can still see their faces, the sick bastards..." Elena feels a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach as she hears this, certain that she knows what the nightmare had been about. "Barely six and they used me for a gang initiation, damned rapists..." he whispers in a trembling voice, confirming her suspicions. He then stiffens up and unsteadily stands. Although she's never seen Reno like this, Elena has a fair idea what he needs, so she pulls one of his arms over her shoulders and helps him stagger into the bathroom. In the corner of her eye she sees Rude sitting up in bed with a concerned expression on his face. Apparently deciding that Elena's doing well enough and there's nothing he can do to help, he stays where he sits.
After staggering into the bathroom, Reno falls to his knees in front of the toilet. Her Mako-enhanced speed allows Elena to pull his unbound hair out of the way before he begins to vomit. After expelling the remains of his dinner into the toilet, he leans back, still shaking like a leaf. "Sorry you had to see me being weak like this, Lena," he gasps out before leaning over the toilet again. Having already emptied his stomach, he now experiences gut wrenching dry heaves.
"You're not weak. You wouldn't have been able to escape that hell if you were weak," Elena tells him after he leans back from the toilet and she wraps her arms around him again. "I still have nightmares sometimes about... when that happened to me. I know what it's like to wake up terrified by old memories and I usually have to throw up after having one of those nightmares." Reno leans forward again and has more dry heaves, the nausea center in his brain still in overdrive despite having already emptied his stomach. "It's just part of growing up alone in the slums. 'The strong take what they want and the weak suffer,'" she whispers, quoting the rule of the slums. "But we're not weak anymore. Or alone."
"Thanks, Lena," Reno rasps out through a sore throat, his voice muffled due to his face being buried in Elena's shoulder. After a few minutes more of huddling together on the cold bathroom floor, Elena feels his racing pulse slow, his breathing begin to steady, and his trembling cease. "I... I think that's the last of it" he announces. With Elena's help he stands, then he makes his way to the sink where he immediately grabs the bottle of mouthwash and begins to gargle in an attempt to remove the taste of vomit from his mouth. Elena reaches over and flushes the partially digested seafood while Reno gargles and spits several mouthfuls of mouthwash. Reno then walks into the main room and plops down on the old couch that sits on one side of the conference table. Elena follows him in and hands him a towel that he uses to wipe his face. He then begins to wipe the sweat from his chest and arms. "Now you see why I like to drink myself to sleep. Drinking till I pass out damn near always keeps the dreams away. Or maybe it keeps me from remembering them. Either way's fine with me."
"Feeling any better?" Elena asks. She sees the answer in his eyes as he looks up at her.
"No. Still too fresh in my mind."
Elena sits down next to him and throws an arm around his shoulders, giving a reassuring squeeze. "Well, I guess we'll have to find something to get your mind off it." She looks up at a nearby clock. "I doubt you'll be able to get back to sleep after that and I know I can't after thinking about dreams like that. So, what's there to do in Junon at four in the morning?"
"Not much," he answers. "Only things open now're a handful of convenience stores and all-night diners."
"You need to get something in you to settle your stomach, so let's go to one of the diners." When Reno makes no move to get up, Elena grabs his arms and hauls him to his feet. "Come on, I took your advice yesterday, now it's time for you to listen to Doctor Elena." A weak smile briefly flits across Reno's face at this comment. "Now go get dressed, it'll be good for you."
"Hey Rude, you awake?" Reno whispers after closing the door behind him.
"I am now," comes his quiet reply. "How you feeling?"
"Like shit. Damn past won't leave me alone. Hey, Lena's dragging me off to a diner to get something to settle my gut. You wanna come along?"
"I'll pass. You two should do fine without a chaperone," Rude jokes, successfully drawing a ghost of a smile from his friend. "You better hurry up and dress before she gets impatient and comes after you." /He always recovered quickest when he was around Angela, I bet Elena can do just as well./
Reno exits the bedroom clad in jeans, a white button-down shirt that he doesn't bother to button, his worn shoes, and his gunbelt and shoulder harness. He carries his tattered trenchcoat in one hand as he quietly closes the door behind him. "Rude managed to fall back asleep, so at least one of us'll get a full night's sleep," he whispers. Elena, dressed in snug jeans, a simple light blue tank top, her gunbelt, and the jacket and sandals she'd worn to dinner, nods and leads the way out of the apartment. Reno grabs a bottle of pepto on the way out and takes a swig before pocketing the bottle. "Elena? Thanks again," he says as they enter the elevator.
"I'm sure you'd have done the same for me," she replies. "Hey, I've been there, so if you ever need to talk about it, or need to use my shoulder again I'll be here."
"Thanks Lena. Your shoulder's a lot nicer than Rude's," Reno says the last part with a trace of his normal humor in his voice and a faint smirk on his face. Elena takes this as a good sign that he's recovering.
"What, did I steal his job or something?"
"It's not something we'd normally talk about, but he's got his share of bad memories too. Over the years we'd lend each other a shoulder when it's needed. You know, you're only the fifth person to see me like this and understand. And three of them're dead," he tells her as they exit the elevator to an underground parking garage.
"Tseng, Angela, and Elly?" Elena guesses.
"Yep. Hey, do you mind driving? I'm not really feeling up to it."
"Sure. Which one's your's?"
"Take a guess."
She spends a few moments looking around. "That one's definitely you," she decides, pointing to a black thirty year old musclecar with blue and green flames painted on the hood and fenders. The windows are tinted black and a large chromed supercharger sticks up through the center of the hood.
"Good guess," he says while tossing her the keys.
"As old as this is, I'm surprised it's not stick," Elena states as she slides behind the wheel and settles into the dark blue leather bucket seat.
"It used to be. I couldn't stand shifting with my off hand so I had it converted to auto," he answers as Elena starts the engine. "It's got some other mods too." He presses a button on the dashboard and the hardtop roof folds up and disappears into the small space behind the two seats. "Turn right," he instructs as Elena pulls out of the garage.
"What do all these buttons do?" she asks while pointing to the dashboard in an attempt to force Reno to think of something other than the past.
"This one does the tire cutters in the hubcaps. These switches're for the nitro system. This controls tire pressure in case I have to go offroad. These ones over here adjust the suspension. I've got it set soft for cruising around town, but I can set it for high-performance too." He then moves the sliding switches he'd been talking about. "Feel the difference?"
"Yeah, I'm feeling every bump in the road now."
"Better traction that way," he explains as he returns it back to it's previous setting.
"This must've been expensive."
"I use it on jobs sometimes, so I was able to get the company to pay for most of the mods. Couldn't get them pay for the paint, but I tried. Check this one out." He presses another button and the left fender leans away from the car, opening a gap between the top of the fender and the hood. A light machinegun rises up from the gap and locks into place. "Trigger's on the wheel. It's thirty caliber, loaded with armor piercing and a tracer every five rounds for aiming. I've only had a couple chances to use that, it pretty much shreds cars." He presses the button again, causing the LMG to return to it's place under the hood. "I had to have the battery, brake cylinder, and washer fluid moved to the trunk to make room for that big bastard and it's ammo. Turn here."
"I didn't expect it to have that much firepower. What else've you armed it with?"
"That's pretty much it, except for some goodies I've got stashed in the trunk and here and there inside." He points to the dashboard. "Everything else there's for stuff like heating, air, radio, things like that. Hey, there's the place," he says while pointing to a 24-hour chain restaurant. Elena pulls into the near-empty parking lot and raises the roof and windows, then shuts the car off. The two exit the car and walk into the restaurant where they are quickly handed menus seated in a small booth. Elena orders a pair of malts, chocolate for her and an easy on the stomach vanilla for Reno.
"You know you forgot your goggles?"
"Really? Damn."
"So, what's the plan for when we go freelance?"
"Honestly, I haven't thought that far ahead. I never was much for long term plans. Hell, I always used to believe I'd never live to see twenty. Now here I am just a couple years away from thirty. All these years just living day to day. It's a weird feeling," Reno says, looking oddly wistful. "The type of feeling that gets me thinking about all the time I've wasted over the years, missed chances, all the shit I've done for the company..."
"I sure it hasn't all been that bad," Elena says as the malts arrive. "Like that story you told me with the big cardboard cake. Lots of people never get to experience anything like that. I'm sure you've plenty more good memories."
"Yeah, I know... I've got this bad habit of staying depressed for a while after having one of my recurring nightmares. Sorry if I'm dragging you down or anything. I'll get over it eventually, as long as I've got you and Rude around I won't stay down too long."
Elena remembers several times when Reno had been quiet and moody at work and makes the obvious connection, but doesn't say anything about it. "Once your stomach's settled, would it cheer you up if we unpacked one of those cases of liquor you brought and got wasted?"
"I wish. Normally I'm a goofy drunk, but when I'm in a mood like this I turn into a weepy drunk. It's not a pretty sight, Lena. You really don't want to see me wasted right now."
"Alright, I'll take your word for it. I guess the booze can wait till I cheer you up, then we can celebrate having you back to normal," she declares with a smile.
"Sounds nice."
"How's your stomach doing?"
"Better, the malt helped. I oughta be able to keep breakfast down if you're ready to order."
Elena waves over the tired looking waitress. "What'll it be, sugah?" she asks, eager for the end of her shift to arrive.
"I'll take the stack of pancakes and coffee," Elena answers.
"What about you, hon?"
"Same thing she's having, and a side of bacon." The waitress walks off to hand their orders to the cook, then returns with two mugs of coffee.
"What sort of work do you think we'll be doing when we start freelancing?"
"I talked to Reeve on the phone earlier, and he said he'd find something for us to do. Nothing specific, though. He'll probably have us spy on one of the other Shin-Ra factions, maybe do some sabotage if one looks like a threat. After that I figure we'll probably do private detective-type work or something like that. All low profile and mostly legal since we won't have government backing anymore."
"So no more wetwork?"
"Yeah, unless someone's dumb enough to give us a personal reason to come after them."
"Good, I never really liked that type of work. Unless it was personal. ...I hope you don't think I'm weak for admitting that." The two are silent for a few moments as the waitress delivers their breakfast and refills their mugs.
"We all knew already. It was kinda obvious when you'd drink heavier than normal after a hit. But it didn't stop you from doing your job professionally. Hell, none of us actually enjoyed killing cold, it was just part of the job. That's how it's supposed to be. See, an assassin who enjoys killing'll eventually start doing... extra in their spare time. Eventually they turn into a liability for the company. So they'd hire people who didn't really like that part of the job, but who'd be professional enough to do it anyways."
"Really? I never knew that."
"You'd have figured it out after enough time on the job." The two eat in silence for a few minutes.
"Mind if I steal a piece of your bacon?"
"Go for it." As they finish the last of their breakfast, the waitress brings them the bill and another coffee refill.
"It's a little after five," Elena announces after glancing at her watch. "Any idea how to kill time for the next few hours?"
"Well, I'd planned to work on your training a little during our downtime. If we weren't running on caffeine here, I'd head to the airport and get you some more flight hours, guess we'll have to work on something else."
"But none of the training facilities on the base'll be open before seven."
"We'll just have to do it old school. Drive out of town, find a nice open area, do a little sparing, maybe a little shooting. Oughta be enough to keep us busy until stuff starts opening."
"Sounds like it could be a fun change of pace. Should be better than a musty gym."
"Ready?" Reno asks after finishing his coffee. At her nod, he stands and pays the bill, then leads the way to his car.
"Finally feeling better?" she asks when Reno climbs into the driver's seat.
"A little," he answers as he starts the car and lowers the roof. "Thanks. Heh, you're probably getting tired of hearing me say that." His trademark smirk makes a brief appearance as he accelerates into the street.
"Don't worry about it. We headed anywhere particular?"
"Nope," he answers as he merges onto a highway. Noticing that the highway's empty, he takes advantage of the situation by adjusting the suspension, turning on the nitro, and pushing the gas pedal to the floorboard.
"What's the rush?" Elena yells to be heard over the sounds of the engine and wind.
"Nothing. An empty highway's just real tempting." After a few minutes, they exit Junon. Reno slows down and makes some adjustments to the controls on the dash, then goes off-road, driving down the coast. "I really like places like this," he confides in Elena as the city's lights recede behind them. "No people, no buildings, about as different from the slums as you can get."
"It's nice," she says while looking at into the dark waters.
"Yeah, it feels good to get away from the city sometimes. I guess we're far enough south we won't have to worry about stepping on a rusty needle or something." He then brings the car to a halt and turns it off. They both exit the car, leaving their jackets and gunbelts on the seats. After looking around and seeing that the beach is entirely soft sand, Elena removes her sandals and tosses them in the car. Reno follows suit since he enjoys the feel of damp sand underfoot, mainly due to associating it with many of his happier memories. He then walks around to the rear of the car and pops the trunk. "I thought so," he says after a brief search. After closing the trunk, he tosses a small object to Elena. Catching it easily, she recognizes it as a plastic training knife. Reno holds up another as he walks out to a point about halfway between the car and the surf. "We've already taught you the tricks you didn't know and everything else you need, so you'll just be working on refining it." He stands in a relaxed posture, arms hanging loosely at his sides. "Make your move," he challenges as the pre-dawn light outlines the mountains to the east.
Elena approaches casually until she's roughly six feet away from him. She then kicks a cloud of sand towards Reno's face and rushes forward in the cloud's wake, leading with the tip of her blade. Reno's unsurprised, since the first thing he'd taught her in combat training was to do whatever it takes to win. He sidesteps to his right and slashes forward into the space he'd just vacated. Elena has to quickly halt to avoid running into his blade. "Not bad," he states. "You'd have killed most people with that trick." She then slashes at his eyes, but it's a feint. As Reno leans back to avoid the slash, Elena slashes straight down, knowing that he'll have to bring his hips forward as his head goes back to keep his balance. After the initial impact, she turns the blade to the side and runs it down his inner thigh, tracing the line of his femoral artery. "Ow, shit!" Reno yells, wincing from the impact. "What'd I do to deserve castration? Wait, don't answer that."
"Sorry, I thought I pulled the hit more than that."
"Good thing I wasn't planning on ever having kids," he jokes. He then reaches into his back pocket and touches a compact pistol, using one of the materia orbs in it's grip to cast cure on himself. "That's better."
"I didn't hit you that hard, you big baby."
"Hey, materia's quicker than walking it off. Good hit, I'd be dead by now if it was live steel." He then pulls his hands up into a more defensive posture with his right hand open and palm down slightly in front of his mouth and his left a few inches in front of and below his right, holding his knife in a reverse grip with the tip pointing at Elena. He plants his feet firmly about shoulder-width apart and flexes his knees slightly, facing her head on so he can put both hands to good use. Elena adopts a similar posture, except with her knife in a foreword grip and her empty left hand slightly ahead of the blade.
Elena advances more cautiously this time. She uses measured thrusts to probe his defenses for weaknesses, tossing in an occasional cut to keep from becoming too predictable. He parries most of her strikes easily, occasionally launching a counter.
This continues for several intense minutes with neither landing anything more serious than a glancing strike which would result in superficial cuts with real knives. Elena then simultaneously launches a thrust at Reno's face and a low snap kick at his right knee. He responds by simply falling over to one side, dodging both attacks. Reno then scissors his legs, landing kicks on the front of Elena's left ankle and the back of her left knee at the same time, which throws her face first onto the sand. He then rolls towards her in an attempt to turn the throw into a joint lock. She twists to the side and rolls with him, avoiding the lock and attempting to reverse it. Both are focused fully on putting a lock on the other and are therefore very surprised when they roll right into the water.
They separate on impact. Elena brings her feet up near her head and then quickly kicks back down, snapping herself upright in the ankle-deep water. Reno kicks off the sandy bottom to gain some distance and uses the water to bring himself almost effortlessly to his feet in water that was a little less than waist-deep. "Wasn't expecting that!" he laughs as he stands.
"Back to normal?" Elena asks as she approaches him, seeing the laughter reflected in his eyes.
"Hell yeah, I'm back!" he announces while using both hands to splash water at Elena.
"Glad to see it," she laughs as she continues to advance, splashing back at Reno. Both continue to laugh as the formerly serious sparring match quickly degenerates into a childish splash fight. They run out of steam after a few minutes of this.
"Heh, that was fun," Reno comments while lazily treading water on his back, a contented expression on his face.
"I've never seen that expression on you before," Elena says. "I like it."
"Hey, sunrise," Reno remarks, pointing over her shoulder. Elena turns and sees that the mountains and the sparse clouds above them appear to be on fire, colored in streaks of vivid crimson and purple that are separated by bright pink.
"Wow. Somehow, it never looks this nice in the city."
"That's cause out here it's the only light. Nothing to distract from it."
"Heh, you're just full of surprises. I never figured you for the sunset watching type."
"It's a distraction. You know I like things that distract me, keep me from thinking on the past."
"That's your excuse if anyone catches you watching one, huh?"
"Maybe." /If you're going to ask, now'd be a good time. Shit, can't afford to screw this up. Play this wrong and you'll maybe alienate one of the only two people living who understand you. Hell of a thing to risk. What the hell, I thought my stomach was settled? If this keeps up, I'll need to chug some more pepto. Shit, gotta hurry up and make a decision.../ Reno thinks as the sun crests the mountains.
"Hey, um... All that coffee I drank's finally catching up with me. Is there anywhere around here I can, well..."
/And she breaks the mood. Yeah, go piss over there and while you're at it, maybe you could think about going out with me? Heh, that'd be a hell of a way to ask. Ah well, gives me more time to think./ "Just pick a spot on the beach and go. There's no one out here to see you," he says while standing and turning to look out to sea and give her privacy.
"You sure there's nowhere better? Alright, don't peek."
"Don't worry, Lena. I don't have that fetish. Even if I did, I don't feel like getting shot today," he answers with a laugh, wondering how badly she's blushing. After hearing her exit the water and the distinct sound of a zipper, Reno suddenly finds the waves and their noise very fascinating, focusing all his attention on them.
"Reno? What's okay to wipe with here? Those plants don't look very soft."
"Those plants'll give you a rash. Just use the water to clean up." He hears splashing behind him as she takes his advice. He's wondering if it's safe to turn around when he suddenly feels a weight crash into his back, knocking him face down in the water. "That's an odd way to thank me for not peeking," he observes after turning his head to get his face clear of the water.
"Sorry, I couldn't resist," she says, partially laying across Reno's back in the shallow water.
"Heh, that's like something I'd do. That's the sorta excuse I'd use too."
"Guess I'm picking up your bad habits," she answers, drawing a laugh from him.
Reno begins to swim forward and is amused when Elena hitches a ride by grabbing onto his shoulders. "Lazy," he teases.
"Just another of your bad habits," she retorts.
Reno starts to swim out farther and notices that Elena's grip tightens and she tenses up. "What's wrong?"
"Sorry, I only learned to swim last year. I haven't had that many chances to practice and I've only ever swum in pools."
"The waves're bugging you, huh? Don't worry, I won't let you drown. Trust me, just relax and let go."
"Alright." As Elena releases her grip on Reno shoulders, he turns over so he can keep an eye on her.
"You're doing good, Lena," he says while keeping pace by her side as she swims in a slow front crawl. They stay in the water for over two hours, Elena gradually swimming faster, before climbing out onto the sand. "It's almost eight," Reno announces after checking his watch. "Ready to head back?"
"Yeah, that was pretty fun. Any chance you've got towels or dry clothes in your car?"
"Nope, I wasn't planning on getting wet or anything. It's got heated seats though. Hold on a second, gotta get rid of that coffee." He then turns away from Elena and unzips his pants. She looks away to give him privacy. "There, now everyone'll know I've been here," he announces while zipping his pants.
Elena turns and laughs when she sees that Reno's written his name in the sand. "Somehow I'm not surprised you did that," she teases. The two then walk to the car, pull their shoes and gunbelts back on, and drive off.
"You really seemed at home out there," Elena observes.
"It's from all the amphibious missions I've been on. Back in the war, Rude and me did a lot of missions where we'd land by parachute a mile or so offshore with a scuba tank and a compass and swim to the target. Slipped around the radar and sonar that way."
"Jeeze, I'm glad I haven't had any missions like that."
"Could be worse. A few years back I did a job where they dropped me about in the middle of the ocean with a rebreather, a grapple gun, and a tracking monitor so I could find the ship that was supposed to be headed my way. That was a interesting challenge. It was the middle of the night with ten-foot waves and I had to tag the ship with the grapple and pull myself on deck, then find and eliminate my target without being spotted. The target was some union leader who was giving the company all kinds of trouble with strikes, so old man Shin-Ra wanted him to disappear without a trace. That part was easy, I just strolled right in, snapped his neck while he was sleeping then carried him up on deck. I grabbed some chains on my way up, wrapped the body, then the two of us went over the side. Once the boat was out of range, I called for pick-up and a Gelnika seaplane swooped down and picked me up."
"Hey, there's a shoe store," Elena says, pointing.
Reno parks the car and the two exit, pulling on their jackets to conceal their weapons. The two make an odd sight as they walk in the store, clad in rumpled and slightly damp clothing. "Remember, you're just here to get a pair of comfortable shoes," he reminds her when he sees her eyeing an aisle stocked with high-heeled shoes.
"That doesn't mean I can't buy something fun while I'm at it. The company's picking up the check, right? Hey look at these ones." Reno rolls his eyes.
Much later, Reno shifts the large stack of shoeboxes he's carrying so he can see his watch. /What'd I do to deserve this? It's been over an hour now./ "Lena? We've been up and down every aisle twice now. You done yet?"
"Almost. I guess I can hurry up if you're gonna whine about it."
"Whine? I don't whine, Lena."
"There you go, whining again," she teases. "Alright, that's the last of them." She then takes half of the stack Reno's carrying, allowing him to see what's in front of him again.
"Finally."
"Hold on, I can't have you standing there all that time and not get anything out of it. Let's get you a pair too."
"Don't worry, mine're fine. They still have tread on them, see?" He lifts a foot to demonstrate.
"Not much, and they're looking pretty ratty."
"But they're broken in real nicely."
"And about to fall apart. Come on."
Reno gives it up as a lost cause and follows Elena into the men's section. "These ones look alright," he says, grabbing a pair his size that look like a newer version of the ones he's wearing. He then tries them on. "Comfortable enough. There, I'm done. Let's go check out."
"That was fast. Sure you don't want any more?"
"Yeah, I'm sure, let's get going." He hurries to the checkout before Elena can argue and charges everything to Shin-Ra. "Hope this all fits in my trunk." Reno jokes. The boxes fit easily.
"Hey, I just had an idea," Elena announces as Reno closes the trunk. She then grabs his arm and drags him across the street.
"What're you doing?" Reno reads the sign on the building they're approaching, Junon Body Art Studio. A smaller sign advertises tattoos and piercings, giving Reno a good idea about Elena's intentions. "A tattoo parlor that's open in the morning? What's the world coming to?" he jokes as she pulls him through the door.
A heavily tattooed and pierced employee, almost a walking advertisement for the store's products, approaches them. "Hi, what can I do for you?"
"Do you do custom tattoos?" Elena asks.
"Of course."
"Good. Take your shirt off, Reno."
"You want one too, huh?" he says while complying. The tattoo artist looks surprised by the assortment of armaments revealed when Reno removes his jacket.
"Can you give me one like that?" Elena asks, pointing at Reno's tattoo.
"Hey, that's pretty cool. Like an old-school military tattoo. Yeah, I can do that easily."
"That's because it is an old-school military tattoo," Reno informs him. "Show me some of your work before you ink her."
"Sure thing." He hands a photo album to Reno and Elena that shows much of his previous work. "I've never had an unsatisfied customer."
"Not bad," Reno pronounces. "You'll do."
"Alright, do you want it on the same arm?"
"No, she's right handed. This sorta tattoo's gotta be on the strong arm," Reno states. The tattoo artist directs Elena to sit in what looks like a dentist's chair, then moves another chair back to back with it for Reno to sit in so his tattoo can easily be used for reference. When Elena removes her jacket, he looks surprised at the amount of weapons she carries. He than uses a pen to copy the design so he'll have erasable lines to trace when he uses the tattoo gun. After sitting still for several minutes, Reno feels his PHS vibrate. He pulls it out, checks the number calling, then flips it open. "Hey, Rude. Finally awake?"
"Yeah. How you feeling?"
"Back to normal."
"I thought so."
"What d'ya mean?"
"I remember someone else who could snap you out of a depression fast like that."
"Yeah, me too. Hey, guess where we're at."
"No."
"Heh, you're no fun," Reno laughs. "We're in a tattoo parlor."
"What? Since when are tattoo parlors open at nine thirty in the morning? So what're you getting?"
"Yeah, it's strange, I've never seen one open this early before either. And I'm not the one getting drawn on. Lena's getting inked."
"Our old unit symbol?"
"Good guess. If this guy does a good job I might have him give mine a touch up. It's getting a little faded."
"Not a bad idea, I might find a place to work on mine later. I'm headed up to headquarters to make sure things're going smoothly. I'll check if Tseng's memorial's done after that. How about after you're done there we all meet up at the safehouse and head out to lunch? It oughta be sometime after eleven."
"Sounds good. See you then."
"Later."
"Hey, Lena, we're gonna meet up with Rude for lunch later," Reno says while pocketing his PHS.
"Alright."
The two sit quietly until a few minutes after Reno hears the tattoo gun begin to buzz. "How you doing back there, Lena?"
"Doing fine. It just tingles a little."
"Huh, guess they've got better equipment nowadays. The needles they used back in the day stung like hell."
They resume sitting in silence while the tattoo artist works. "All finished," he announces.
"Pretty good," Reno judges when he sees Elena's tattoo. "Now how about doing a touch-up on mine, it's getting a little faded."
"That's an easy job. Have a seat." He waves at the chair Elena had been sitting in. "This looks pretty old, how long've you had it?" he asks while fitting a fresh needle and ink reservoir to the tattoo gun.
"Twelve years."
"You fought in Wutai?" he asks while beginning to trace over the old lines with fresh black ink.
"Something like that."
"You're all finished." Reno looks his tattoo over and approves, then pays the bill. Reno and Elena then put their coats back on and head back to Reno's car.
"Any idea where we're gonna eat?" Elena asks as Reno starts the car.
Reno shrugs. "We'll figure it out when Rude shows up." He quickly drives back to the safehouse and the two make their way to the elevator, carrying the stacks of shoeboxes. After a short ride they enter the small apartment and place the shoeboxes on the conference table. "I think the coffee's wearing off," Reno announces with a yawn while tossing his jacket over a chair. He sits on the edge of the couch then leans back and stretches out, leaving his hands dangling over the top.
"Yeah I'm getting pretty tired too," Elena says, placing her jacket over another chair, then sitting down next to him. "Guess getting up so early's catching up to us."
"I guess so." /And I guess now's a good time to ask. Hell, my stomach's acting up again./ Reno's reverie is interrupted when Elena leans against him. Looking down, he sees that this is due to her falling asleep. /Heh, I guess now's not a good time. That looks like a good idea. Just a short nap until Rude shows up.../ Reno brings his arms down, wrapping one around Elena's shoulders, then closes his eyes and easily drifts into sleep.
Several minutes later Rude walks into the room and smiles at what he sees, glad that he's in the habit of moving silently. Deciding to let his friends catch up on their lost sleep, he quietly leaves a note in front of them on the conference table. On his way out the door, he's unable to resist pulling out his PHS and taking a quick picture. /I haven't seen either of them look that peaceful since before Tseng died. Have to show this to Reno later, see how he reacts.../
The first thing Reno notices upon waking is that Elena has somehow gone from leaning on him to using his chest for a pillow. /Well, this's definitely a nice way to wake up./ He notices that she has a faint smile on her face. /Must be a nice dream./ Looking up he sees that they've slept in until five in the evening. "Hey Lena, wake up," he says, gently shaking her. "Have a nice nap?" he asks when he sees her eyes open.
She looks at the clock. "Guess I was more tired than I thought," she says, standing up and stretching. Reno follows suit, causing his back to pop loudly. "Looks like Rude left us a note."
Reno reads it over her shoulder. 'Decided to let you two sleep. Call me when you wake up. -Rude'
"Lena, mind giving him a call while I try and find where I left my goggles?"
"No problem," she says, pulling her PHS out of a pocket and selecting Rude's number.
"Hi Elena," Rude answers.
"Hi Rude. Thanks for letting us rest."
"Sure. I'll be over in a few minutes."
"Alright, see you in a bit," she says before pocketing her PHS.
Reno walks back into the room, adjusting his goggles. /Alright, man, now's a good time to ask her. Let's just get it over with.../
"Reno?"
/Okay, see what she wants, then get it over with./ "Yeah?"
"How about dinner, just the two of us?" she asks, looking nervous.
Reno looks surprised. "Wha... Lena, did you just ask me out?"
Elena begins to blush, but looks Reno in the eyes. "That's right. I'm not going to wait around for you to notice how I feel. I already made that mistake once, I'm not going to make it again. So what's your answer?" she asks as the blush begins to spread down her neck.
/And she beats me to the punch. Guess I don't have to worry if she feels the same as me anymore. Alright now, play it cool./ "I'd love to," he answers. Reno then takes her hand and kisses the back of it. /Where the hell'd that come from? That wasn't cool, that was corny as hell! She's probably gonna think I'm some kinda dumbass now.../
Elena's nervousness seems to disappear as a wide smile spreads across her face. "Thanks," she says, wrapping him in a hug.
/Okay, maybe she likes corny. Or maybe I'm still not thinking straight./ "So where do you wanna go?"
Author's Note: Big thanks to Noroi for her kind offer to beta for me. In exchange I'll be betaing for her, and hopefully neither of us will have those embarrassing typos that sneak past spellcheck anymore. Thanks for the great reviews Cathy7, Bruna Aquino, Noroi, The Tiramisu Of Impending Doom, icewolf9, and RenoOfShinRa. The encouragement's very appreciated. Sorry about the oversized paragraphs Cathy. I generally try to avoid having my readers crash into a wall of text, guess I slipped a few times. I went back and broke up the larger ones into more easily digested chunks, I'll upload the edited version later. Bruna, yes the text in / is thoughts. I might go back and put a note about that after the disclaimer in the prologue. Noroi, I was a little worried my scene changes might not be as smooth as I wanted. I'll go back and edit that later by adding in occasional '--'s when needed. Tiramisu, don't worry about it. It's one of those obscure cult hit type RPGs, so I wasn't really expecting anyone to recognize it. If you ever see a used copy(it's on PS1) give it a shot, it has my highest reccomendation. The only thing I took from the game for Elly was her name, although a few lines I've thought up for Reno for later in the fic were heavily inspired by it.
The rule of the slums was inspired by a line from Suikoden 2, another fairly obscure PS1 RPG that I highly reccomend. The Falcon's name is homage to both Final Fantasy 6 and Star Wars. Reno's car is the result of me watching too many Bond movies and merging a typical Bond car with an old GTO. Then I toned it down after deciding that surface to air missles, while very cool, were a little too over the top.
REdited again because some site update deleted all the '--' lines I used to use to denote scene changes. So time to slap horizontal rulers into all my fics.