"Good to see ya, babe." Reno smiles soon as he sees Cloud.
The blonde refused to roll his eyes. Instead he took to studying the other Turk who must be Rude. A tall bald man with dark shades. Cloud noticed quite a few piercings. Cloud would have found it hot, but right off the bat he sensed that this man preferred strictly girls.
"Babe?" The man seemed disturbed at the nickname.
Maybe Reno was the one exception.
"It's nothing serious, partner. Just a running gig between us." The redhead assured.
"Oh so we're not gonna cover sweetheart, goldilocks, and baby?" Cloud raised an eyebrow.
He couldn't help but enjoy seeing Rude squirm. Reno seemed to get a kick out of it, too. Yep, the redhead had his partner wrapped around his little finger.
"Don't worry, we never got past talking. He too special for me." Reno admits, easing up the atmosphere.
"No, you just haven't earned me yet."
"Oh so you are interested!"
"Shut up." Cloud shook his head.
"The boss is waiting for us." Rude cleared his throat.
"Right. Welcome to the dysfunctional little family!" Reno threw out his arms in apparent excitement. It was easy to see the sarcasm.
"It can't be as bad as being a Honey."
"You just might eat those words, later." Rude commented with a soft chuckle.
Cloud knew he should have known what he was signing up for. When he was lead to Tseng, he noticed a woman with brown hair down to her shoulders. And the kindest light brown eyes he ever did see. Cloud wondered there must be something special about her to be a Turk.
"Cloud. You will be trained under Cissinei." Tseng introduced.
"Cloud? The same Cloud that Zack is depressed over?" She recognized the name.
"He talks about me?" He shouldn't be surprised.
"Of course he does. He regrets whatever he did that failed you." She informed.
"It wasn't him. It was me." Cloud shook his head. It looked like she was going to reply, but Tseng interrupted their chatter for the more serious matter at hand.
"You can catch up and talk later. For now, it's time for your tour. Cissinei, you do the honors since you'll be training him."
"Right, follow me." Cissinei lead the way.
"Is he always like that?" Cloud wondered when they were out of earshot.
"You'll get used to him." She smiled. He really wondered if he would.
She showed him around the floor the Turks called home. There were the usual offices, that was boring. Cloud felt out of place with the offices. That was until Cissinei showed him the weapons room.
There were guns. Throwing knives. Stun rods of varying sizes. Cloud studied them all curiously. While they weren't swords, they were still admirable.
"As your training progresses, we will test you to see which of these best suits you." Cissinei explained.
"I know how to use a gun. But it's not my style." Cloud admitted.
"Close combat or distance?"
"Close combat." There will always be a part of him that forever dream of being Soldier.
"Then the stun rods might suit you best. We will see which kind later. Of course, you could also be hand to hand like Rude and have no weapons."
"I'm not that proficient." At least he was being honest.
"We will see." Cissinei continued with the tour.
At the end of it, Cloud didn't know what to think. He noticed the numbers of Turks were rather small.
"Is this all of you right now? Just a handful of you?"
"I am afraid this is all of us." Cissinei sighed. "A number of us retired recently. I've only been here a few years and they're already putting me up to training baby Turks."
"Why isn't Tseng training me?" Cloud knew Reno wasn't training material. Which also left Rude out of the question.
"He's training another baby Turk. She should be arriving tomorrow."
Turns out this other baby Turk was also a blonde. And she had a mouth on her. He knew she was trouble the moment their eyes met. And she leered at him like he was some sort of competition. All good that showed him was how deeply insecure she was.
Cloud was used to this by now from his few years as a Honey. There had been many girls and boys who were jealous of him. He intimidated them enough that they were insecure about themselves.
"Cloud, this is Elena. Elena, this is Cloud." Cissinei was being ever so polite.
"So you're the other trainee? I bet you wouldn't last two days at this job." Elena snickered.
"Oh, honey, I can assure you I can last much longer than you." His voice purred, and Reno caught onto what he meant and busted out laughing. Cloud allowed a small smile of victory when the joke went way over her head.
"Leave it to a former Honey to turn everything sexual!" The redhead laughed.
Even Cissinei was hiding a smile. Rude caught onto the sexual joke and adjusted his tie like it was the most important objective in the world. Cloud could see why Reno was so attached to him, he's so easy to rile up and embarrass.
"A former Honey? What's a Honey doing as a Turk? What are you anyway? Boy or girl?" She was having trouble what insults to use in terms of gender.
She had trouble gaging him due to the fact he decided to use some make up and keep his voice neutral toned. The uniform suit gave no indication of either male or female since it was so form fitting.
"None of your business since I'm clearly out of your league, honey."
"I meant what is in your pants."
"Chaos." He winks, earning another snicker from Reno.
"Ugh! You insufferable little - "
"I hope everyone is getting along?" Tseng enters the room. Even Reno straightened up in all seriousness. Elena flinches, but didn't continue with her rant.
"Splendidly." Cloud sufficed with a warm smile.
Elena glared at him again. This time there was more venom in her eyes. Cloud stood his ground. He already knew her weakness, and he wasn't going to allow her to figure him out.
Bring it on, honey. He mouthed to her soon as Tseng turned away.
Elena elegantly flips him the bird behind her back.
