It was a four day trek to Corel, a mining city that they couldn't pass through as they were. Everyone in Corel would know their faces, and as the town contained maybe twenty or thirty survivors of the disaster of ten years ago, there was no way to sneak through the city unnoticed by daylight.
On the third day, Tseng and Reno camped several miles from Corel, and, at Reno's insistence, made a fire with which to cook some of the food they'd brought from Midgar. Reno was stretched out on the ground, his face buried in the grass, when night fell.
"You're going to get insects up your nose," Tseng admonished wryly, watching Reno's peacefully prostrate form as he himself perched on top of a rock he'd found hear the forest.
"Better than having a stick up my ass, like you," Reno pleasantly acknowledged. After a moment, he rolled over on to his back and regarded Tseng with a reflective gaze.
"You know," he said, "I was almost married, once."
"Were you?" Tseng glanced at him, eyebrows raised. "I didn't think you'd be the type."
"Yeah..." Reno scratched the back of his neck with a nervous hand. "You should have seen her, though, she was a beautiful girl. Long curly hair, big green eyes…"
"What was her name?" asked Tseng.
"Marin." Reno sighed. "She was too good, though."
"Too good for you?" Tseng seemed unconvinced.
"It's that not hard to imagine," Reno replied, nodding. "I had to lie to her all the time, you know. Who I was, what I'd done with my life, where I came from." He paused. "I wanted to start over with her, but lies, you know, they never end." He bit his lip. "You can't begin with lies, can you?"
Tseng answered as honestly as he could. "I don't know," he said.
They sat in silence and watched the fire die.
The next night, they crept through Corel, as far from settlement as they could. They entered past the reactor and across the bridge, going around what could only be called an encampment of the Corel inhabitants. There were no guards or watchers to sound the alarm in Corel, as there was nothing there worth stealing, not by anyone's standards. No one threatened the once mining town, and Tseng and Reno were able to pass through it with very little trouble.
The problems arose when they reached the tram. In order to operate the Gold Saucer tram, someone had to be inside the booth to flip the switch.
Tseng and Reno regarded the set up with resignation.
"You're younger," Tseng said to Reno. "You've made enough fun of me for that on this trip. You do it."
"Only younger by what, five years?" muttered Reno, but he entered the operation booth anyway, and waited for Tseng to climb into the tram, leaving the door ajar.
"Ready?" Reno asked, fingers poised above the controls.
"You're the one that has to be ready," shrugged Tseng.
Reno sighed. "True." He flipped the switch. The tram kicked into gear and began to slide along the wires from which it was suspended.
"Come on," called Tseng urgently, as Reno rushed across the platform towards the moving tram. Tseng extended an arm towards him, and Reno grasped the proffered wrist, kicking off the side of the tram with one foot to propel himself into the seat next to Tseng. He landed in a mussed heap, grinning.
"Oh," he said, "oh, still got it."
Tseng had never liked flashy, and the Gold Saucer was certainly flashy. The air of greediness and happiness permeated the air like an obnoxious stench. Reno was equally put off, but mostly because of the outrageous entrance fee.
"Whatever we eat from now on," he muttered, as they walked through the entrance archway, "we're catching it ourselves." He paused. "Maybe Elena'll lend us some cash."
"Shh," Tseng reminded him. "I hate this place, it's unnecessarily confusing." He scanned the signs above the passageways, until he found one that read "Chocobo."
"You know what, though," Reno said, "something's occurred to me."
"What's that?" asked Tseng, starting down the corridor.
Reno ran to catch up. "Why don't we stay here for the night? Comfier than rocks, and it's a long trek back to Midgar."
"We're not going back to Midgar," Tseng replied distractedly. Reno had no time to answer, for at that moment they found themselves in chocobo square.
All around them monitors displayed the currently active race. Reno watched intently until he recognized racer number seven, wearing a bright blue jockey's uniform. "Hey," he said, "hey, that's her. Look at her go, hell, yeah, yeah, that's my girl!"
"Shh!" Tseng warned. It wasn't necessary. Reno wasn't the only one cheering a particular racer. The room was filled with eager viewers, most of whom had money resting on one chocobo or another.
Tseng approached the counter, where a girl in Gold Saucer uniform was registering bets. "Excuse me," he asked, "I have a question."
"Yes, sir?" She looked up from her own desk monitor. "How can I help you?"
Tseng leaned against the side of the booth. "I've got something to give to miss "L," an admirer's gift. Where could I find her, when she's not on the track?"
"Well," said the girl, "I don't know about gifts, but she'll be out to sign autographs right here, just after the race. If you'd like to place your bets now, you can stick around and watch until she comes out."
Tseng shook his head. "No, no bets, thank you, but thank you for the help."
"Sure thing," said the girl, and returned to watching the race.
Tseng crossed back to Reno. "Hey," he said, "She'll be out after the-!"
Just then, an eruption of cheering broke out in the room. Reno beamed at Tseng. "She won! Wouldja look at that, she won. I mean, not that I'm surprised or anything, but…"
"Of course she won," Tseng dismissed, "She's the champion." He glanced around. "Wait over there, okay?"
He left Reno's side, and followed the throng that was heading towards a door at the far end of the room, presumeably to meet and greet the reigning champion.