Hey my awesome readers I want to tell you there is an actual chapter on its way and that I'm going to be at Anime Revolution in Vancouver! So if any of you are going to be there, keep an eye out for the guy dressed as Axel (from Kingdom Hearts). Also, until the actual chapter is ready, here is a little something to hold you over.
I think the rating for this mini-chapter is a bit higher than T but not really M so… Who cares? Enjoy!
Beep beep beep beep beep…
On and on the little alarm on his phone went while he lay there glaring at the side table where the offending electronic rested. The alarm was far more annoying today because of his lack of sleep and hangover but it was time for him to get up and get ready for work. He sat up and grabbed the phone, turning the off as fast as his sleep deprived body would allow. Staring at the phone for a moment, he decided to toss it back on the side table and lay back down.
"What the hell… I'm normally late anyways…" He grumbled as he tried to get back to sleep. A pillow hit him in the head but as annoying as it was, he didn't care enough to deal with it.
"Hey, time to get up!" He heard a girl's voice command. He grumbled into his pillow in response "Get up!" She said in a less friendly tone and pulled the blanket off the guy.
"What's up with you, yo?" He said, the irritation obvious in his voice as he glared at the woman with copper colored hair which he only knew as Cissnei.
"You should try being early for once." Cissnei said with a smile as she started buttoning her shirt, the only piece of clothing she was wearing other than lacy panties, which the guy on the bed stared at for a while "You could get some paperwork done for once."
"Yeah, that wouldn't make Tseng suspicious at all…" He reply with sarcasm dripping off his words "You go be early like the good li'l Turk you are."
"You know you'd get promoted if you worked harder, don't you Reno?" Cissnei asked as she pretended she wasn't making a show of putting on her pants.
"But then I'd have to spend more time in the Shinra building." Reno spat back. Cissnei rolled her eyes and made a comment about him not being a morning person as she turned to leave.
The barely clothed man stood up and made his way to the shower. He leaned against the tiled wall and let the hot water roll down his body for a while before washing his long vibrant red hair. Stepping out, he looked at his reflection and saw his own young but dull and tired eyes staring back at him. He sigh and pulled his hair into his regular ponytail style.
On his way out of his apartment, he saw Cissnei had left him a travel mug full of coffee as she did every other time she spent the night. He thought it a cute gesture but it tended to annoy him as she never made it right. The coffee was always either watered down or much too strong but he didn't mind the latter too much, at least it woke him up. It was strong today. Most would say he wasn't a morning person but if anyone actually knew him, knew who he was, they would say he was tired of everything. Perhaps it was best no one knew him well enough for the latter statement. As he lost himself in his thoughts, he decided to take the scenic route to work as per usual. Even if Midgar was a depressing city to live in he still enjoyed looking at all the dreadful dirt brown and concrete gray buildings in the shadow of the shining white monolith to greed.
When he finally arrived at work, Tseng gave him the usual chewing out which he sat through patiently and let the coffee work it's magic to help him wake up. After the stern lecture about being late and how he only had a job due to a few redeeming qualities, he felt awake enough to put his mask on for the day. He strode into the office space for the Turks, the exception being Tseng, with a goofy smile on his face.
Cissnei's, Elena's, and obviously Serah's, desks were empty. Only Rude was at his desk, which faced Reno's. The literal redhead flopped into his chair, propped his feet up on his desk and immediately forgot about the paperwork he saw on his desk. Rude looked annoyed at Reno's entrance but didn't say anything about it, he spoke of something else instead.
"You need to stop seeing Cissnei." Rude said flatly.
"Why? Jealous?" Reno reply with a sly smirk. Rude huffed.
"You know the rules about office relationships."
"There's no relationship." Reno said simply as he finished his coffee and purposely was as loud as possible while slurping the last few drops. Rude rolled his eyes, Reno couldn't see it because of the sunglasses but he knew Rude did it.
"Really?" Rude was doubtful.
"Yeah, really." Reno dropped his travel mug on his desk and laced his fingers behind his head "We just have wild sex every now and then."
"Right." Rude went back to work, not believing Reno's story.
Several minutes later Cissnei and Elena entered the office and sat at their desks. They were talking about something but Reno didn't care enough to listen in. The next couple hours consisted of Rude working on his paperwork and Reno somewhat working on his. Cissnei and Elena worked on theirs but also talked a fair amount. Tseng came and went a few times through the day, stopping to chat with a couple of them, announcing updates on a few of their long term missions, and some 'Turk only messages'. Eventually Reno's phone buzzed and he took a glance at the message. He got up from his desk and ignored the questions thrown at him as he walked out.
He took the elevator up the tower to the president's office and saw Rufus waiting on the balcony, their usual meeting spot. Reno walked outside with his hands in his pockets then leaned back against the railing.
"Wha'sup, yo?" He said with his goofy grin in place.
"I want an update." Rufus said, ignoring Reno's greeting.
"Tseng is still being a broody Wutaian and Elena is still a blonde ditz." Reno explained with a smile, Rufus glared at him "Serah is still with Avalanche and Team NORA so that is still going well I guess."
"You guess?" Rufus raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah."
"How can you not be sure?"
"Whatever you did or said to Tseng made him stop telling us everything and now Elena is being just as secretive. So congrats Mister Prez, you screwed up the mission ya gave me." Reno let a fair bit of a hostile tone into his voice.
"You should watch your tone with me, Reno."
"And you shouldn't go around shooting people in the face with a shotgun." Reno snapped back as he walked away.
He went back down to the floor with the Turk offices and just before he reentered his phone started to vibrate. Not his Turk phone but a special long distance direct connect phone he kept with him in a secret pocket. He slipped into a janitor's closet to answer the phone.
"What?" Reno said harshly.
"I want-"
"Shinra's falling to pieces." Reno started, cutting off the man on the other end "Give it a year or two and Shinra will be going bankrupt trying to pick up whatever's left."
"I see, anything specific you can share?" The man asked in false friendly tone.
"Some weird shit's going on. Sephiroth is running around messing stuff up."
"I need more details than that."
"I don't have any more details than that! Shinra is covering up everything to do with Sephiroth and Jenova! I'm just part of the clean up crew!"
"Don't make me-" the man was getting annoyed.
"Oh shut yer trap Dysley!" Reno was getting tired of dealing with people like him "You've been making that threat for three years and guess what? I'm still here near the top of Shinra and you're still stuck in a country that's turning against you!"
The call was silent for several moments.
"I'll call for the next update in five weeks. I suggest you work on your attitude in that time, Axel." Dysley was pissed, Reno could tell from his false calm tone.
Reno hung up and started fuming. He kicked a bucket as he left the closet, sending it tumbling down a hallway, and left the door wide open. Frustration and stress were raging through him so much he forgot where he was going. He found his into a bathroom and leaned onto the counter in front of a sink. Rinsing his face helped reduce the stress a small amount but it was better than nothing. He stood with his hands on either side of the sink and water dripping off his face for a minute before someone entered the bathroom.
"Uh, Reno?" Cissnei asked with her arms crossed, he turned to her and realized where he was "This is the ladies room."
"That it is. Guess I should go then."
"Yeah, that'd be a good idea." Cissnei said with an amused smile.
"I'm leaving, I'm leaving." An idea popped into his head before he made to leave "Or we could lock the door for a little while."
Cissnei sigh, rolled her eyes, then turned and flipped the lock on the door. Reno chuckled. He thought it was cute when she acted like it was a chore. It was obvious she enjoyed it more than he did.
This was written in like an hour and a half, so let me know about errors.
Please leave a review.
