Anything for the perfect tan
Who: reno_acrufuselfbacking_wind )
When: Monday night
Where: Visitor Center
Summary: Where the HELL has Reno been??
Rating: PG
Warning: None.
(Quick 2 week Re-cap...)
Reno's first day on the island had been like a vacation day on Costa Sol. He had been dropped on the dock during a time when no one else had been there and noticed foot tracks in the sand of the beach. Heading off in the same direction he discovered he was very much alone on that immediate section of island. Survivor that he was, Reno had gathered strange fruit from the trees, sacked out on the softest sand he'd ever seen and promptly fallen asleep. When he woke several hours later, he was covered in little green monsters. He screamed, jumped up and screamed some more when several of the little creeps had the nerve to bite and hang on….
It takes running into the ocean to make the little buggers fall off. When they finally stop pacing the shoreline and give up on Reno coming back in, he cautiously crawls out and grabs his M-Rod from his pile of clothing. Unfortunately the fruit and nuts he had stored in his clothes seem to have been the little dinosaurs' favorite snack and they completely destroyed Reno's clothing to get to them. Left with nothing more than his torn white shirt, Reno ties it around his waist for modesty and moves on.
Most of the next two weeks are a blur of hide, run and hide some more. After spending most of the 2nd week trapped on a little island in the middle of a river, zapping the water with his M-Rod anytime a dino got curious enough to come sniffing, Reno is hungry, tired and cranky but relatively unharmed save for a few bumps and cuts by the time he reaches the Visitor's Center on the island.
*******
Present Day
The Visitor Center swish open and a very tired, weak Reno stumbles through them. His clothing is close to non-existent, the original suit long gone the way of the---dinosaurs. Literally. He has what looks like was once his shirt, tied around his waist and his M-Rod dragging behind him like a caveman's club. Nothing else. He drops to his knees.
"Made it…yo."
Rufus is taking a break from working in the clinic; his eyelids are drooping, the water bottle in his hand is in danger of falling, and he's about to nod off when he hears a familiar, much-missed voice. His eyes fly open; he stares in amazement at the sight before him, and is moving even as the words come to his lips. "Reno! Odin's balls--what happened to you!" He hurries to his Turk and checks him over carefully. "Gods! Come over here and sit down--I have some water."
"I couldn't find anyone. Been walkin' in circles and then I got trapped up a tree. Boss, this island sucks. I wanna go home." He gets up and walks with Rufus, sitting on one of the vacant beds and looking around. "Damn. We all end up here?"
"Pretty much, yes." He opens the water bottle and puts it in Reno's hands. "Here--you need that. I'll get someone to bring some food after I'm sure you're all right." He starts checking Reno's injuries, swearing softly under his breath. "What in Hel happened! You're all ripped up--and your clothes!" Rufus checks his bracer and slots a FullCure.
"Do you wanna hear about the little dinos first, or the big ones. They all suck pretty much equal. In fact, I think the little bastards are worse. I woke up with them all over me!" Reno uncaps the water and gulps it down without stopping, which results in a tremendous belch. "I was sunbathing on the beach. It was nice and peaceful and I guess I fell asleep. Next thing I know, I wake up and I'm covered in little green monsters! So I dash out of there. Forget my clothes...and run headlong into this big ass thing with three pointy horns! Thing was meaner than Rude when I step on his sunglasses. Do you have another water?"
Rufus blinks in surprise; the thought of waking up covered in biting dinosaurs, even little ones, is way outside his comfort zone. He looks around for gathered supplies, and finds not only another water bottle, but some dino jerky. He decides it would probably be best not to tell Reno where the food came from. "Here you go. Drink that down--more slowly this time, please!--and then I'll cast FullCure on you. It should help even if it isn't as strong as it could be, for some damned reason."
Reno had already started to guzzle and slows himself down with a guilty look toward Rufus. He bites into the meat and chews. "Mm. Not bad. Kind of salty. Otherwise, tastes like chocobo. The rest of our Turks here?"
Rufus does his best not to smile. Many people had been saying the same thing about the dino meat. "I think so. Rude's been busting his tail helping in the clinic; Tseng too, when he's not watching me and trying to track all the crap going on here. Elena's been in and out, pulling guard shifts. It's been a busy couple of weeks--and it doesn't look like it's letting up any time too soon." He holds up the FullCure orb. "Just let me know when you're ready? Or would you rather I get you upstairs to as good a bed as we can give you, in case receiving this wears you down? You look like you could use a safe sleep."
Reno takes a few more bites of the jerky but stops suddenly, his face twisting. "Eh...maybe I will go lie down. Kinda think I overdid it. Ugh. Stomach is pissed off."
"Bed it is, then." Rufus pockets the orb and carefully loops Reno's right arm over his shoulders. "C'mon; let me get you upstairs, I can put you into bed--well, on the floor, but at least safe!--and cast this for you, then get you squared away." He has a sudden inspiration as he goes to stick Cloud's cast-off bracer in his pocket. "Or wait--hey, I can let you have this, then when you're strong enough to equip it, you'll be able to heal yourself as you feel up to it! I can keep an eye on you, of course." He lifts an eyebrow, eyes twinkling. It is a huge relief to have Reno back and safe...
[Reno snugged his head up under Rufus' chin and sighed. The horrors of outside seemed eased away with Rufus there. He allowed himself to be taken upstairs and to the makeshift bed. He takes the bracer with a grateful smile.] Wish I'd had this out there! I did find a few small things. A compass someone dropped. And a lighter. No cigarette to go with them though.
I'll poke around and see if anyone has extra smokes--someone must have something here, I've smelled smoke a few odd times in passing. [He does his best to project calm and normalcy--in the midst of dino hell--for Reno's sake, tightening his hold on him and heading slowly toward the stairs.] Sorry the elevators arent working; we still don't have electricity, though I suspect people are trying to change that.
"Boss...we've been here a long time. Seems like way more than a week, yo. Do you think...maybe we're stuck here for good?" Reno catches sight of a spare sheet and trades up from his tattered shirt loincloth, not minding at all that Rufus catches a glimpse of his tanned ass.
Rufus lifts both eyebrows and unashamedly looks. "Nice tan, ace... no pale lines, I see!" He ponders the question somberly, however. "I... don't want to believe that. The doctors have left us in alternative facilities for up to three weeks before; this is the third week. Unless they completely fuck up, we should be out of here by Sunday. Odin knows I sure want a long hot shower and some clean clothes!" He gives Reno a quick hug, as much for the Turk's comfort as his own. "It'll work out somehow. Getting completely out of here though? That's going to take a whole Hel of a lot longer, I'm afraid. Getting home, I mean."
Reno flips up the sheet to give Rufus an encore view. "How do you think I lost most of my clothes? I was tannin' and caught bare-ass! I guess we'll just have to hang in there then. How are the supplies holdin' out here? You were pretty generous with my water ration, but I know how you are with me too."
Rufus smirks and bats Reno's hands down. "Not until you're well, Turk. Plenty of time to hand out bonuses later." He does his best to hide just how anxious the thought makes him: Reno alone, unarmed, unclothed, against a bunch of ravenous little lizards with nasty teeth.... "We've got some supplies--the fish are apparently safe to eat, or no one's died of it yet at least. Some of the dinosaurs are edible too, and there have been various fruits and nuts brought in--things like that. It rained like Hel on this part of the island the other night, so we gathered in the rain water; I cast a Fire on some wood we gathered, and we boiled the crap out of it. We're recycling bottles from the gift shop." He smirks. "I'll see if Ichiru has another pair of jammies you can borrow--he got some for Cloud." Then in one of those mercurial moments he has from time to time, Rufus looks rather intense for a heartbeat. "Yes, I do know how I am with you. I don't think my life would be the same without you in it. So no more of this dino-bathing, all right?" They make it up the stairs; Rufus leads him into the same office where Cloud is resting on the floor. "Here we are--some blankets is the best we've got, but it IS safe here."
"Feelin' is mutual, Boss. I had some pretty close moments out there. Was worried about you too. I kept walking and seeing signs people had passed through, but no actual people. I---Cloud!" Reno peers at him with concern. "Is he...?"
Rufus looks up, momentarily confused--then realizes how Cloud looks, and hurriedly shakes his head. "No. Oh, no. Cloud's not dead; he's... kind of locked inside his mind. I'm not completely clear on the details myself--he just disappeared one morning last week, leaving his bracer and notes behind. Ichiru and Ishtar found him face-down in a puddle and damned-near drowned. When we brought him back, Sasha Nein tried to reach his mind--he was really out of it--but had only a little luck." He gazes worriedly at their comrade from home, and bites his lip. "He's pretty much been like that since before the weekend. I hope he comes out of it soon." He reaches the pile of blankets, etc. and makes a nest for Reno to rest in, then helps him down to the floor. "I hope this isn't too uncomfortable for you."
Reno laughs softly. "Boss, I fall asleep on pool tables and on bar stools. I think I can handle this." Exhausted, Reno climbs into the middle of the blankets and lets his muscles--aching from days of walking and climbing-- rest. "Lie with me a bit? Or do you need to get back right away?"
Rufus smiles, surprisingly softly, and stretches out beside Reno, pulling him into his arms. "I can stay; I was on my break anyway, and this is where I've been pretty much staying. Besides, I need to hit you with this, now don't I?" He reaches into his pocket for the FullCure, then tucks Cloud's bracer under the blankets under Reno. "Just keep the rest of that safe--it's all healing items at this point. Tseng and Rude have the offensive stuff with them. You'll need those later." Rufus casts the FullCure--which really doesn't feel nearly as strong as it normally would--and absorbs the mana drain, all the while watching Reno carefully. "Did that do any good at all?"
The tinkle of warmth and healing was familiar, but for such a powerful spell, Reno expected more of a result. Then he remembered that everything was cut down here. He nods and smiles. "Yeah, man. Yeah, it did. Rest will help too. But you know what helps most of all? Having you here."
Exhausted, Reno still manages an affectionate kiss to Rufus' lips before curling up and nodding off into the first good sleep he's had in two weeks.
When: Monday night
Where: Visitor Center
Summary: Where the HELL has Reno been??
Rating: PG
Warning: None.
(Quick 2 week Re-cap...)
Reno's first day on the island had been like a vacation day on Costa Sol. He had been dropped on the dock during a time when no one else had been there and noticed foot tracks in the sand of the beach. Heading off in the same direction he discovered he was very much alone on that immediate section of island. Survivor that he was, Reno had gathered strange fruit from the trees, sacked out on the softest sand he'd ever seen and promptly fallen asleep. When he woke several hours later, he was covered in little green monsters. He screamed, jumped up and screamed some more when several of the little creeps had the nerve to bite and hang on….
It takes running into the ocean to make the little buggers fall off. When they finally stop pacing the shoreline and give up on Reno coming back in, he cautiously crawls out and grabs his M-Rod from his pile of clothing. Unfortunately the fruit and nuts he had stored in his clothes seem to have been the little dinosaurs' favorite snack and they completely destroyed Reno's clothing to get to them. Left with nothing more than his torn white shirt, Reno ties it around his waist for modesty and moves on.
Most of the next two weeks are a blur of hide, run and hide some more. After spending most of the 2nd week trapped on a little island in the middle of a river, zapping the water with his M-Rod anytime a dino got curious enough to come sniffing, Reno is hungry, tired and cranky but relatively unharmed save for a few bumps and cuts by the time he reaches the Visitor's Center on the island.
*******
Present Day
The Visitor Center swish open and a very tired, weak Reno stumbles through them. His clothing is close to non-existent, the original suit long gone the way of the---dinosaurs. Literally. He has what looks like was once his shirt, tied around his waist and his M-Rod dragging behind him like a caveman's club. Nothing else. He drops to his knees.
"Made it…yo."
Rufus is taking a break from working in the clinic; his eyelids are drooping, the water bottle in his hand is in danger of falling, and he's about to nod off when he hears a familiar, much-missed voice. His eyes fly open; he stares in amazement at the sight before him, and is moving even as the words come to his lips. "Reno! Odin's balls--what happened to you!" He hurries to his Turk and checks him over carefully. "Gods! Come over here and sit down--I have some water."
"I couldn't find anyone. Been walkin' in circles and then I got trapped up a tree. Boss, this island sucks. I wanna go home." He gets up and walks with Rufus, sitting on one of the vacant beds and looking around. "Damn. We all end up here?"
"Pretty much, yes." He opens the water bottle and puts it in Reno's hands. "Here--you need that. I'll get someone to bring some food after I'm sure you're all right." He starts checking Reno's injuries, swearing softly under his breath. "What in Hel happened! You're all ripped up--and your clothes!" Rufus checks his bracer and slots a FullCure.
"Do you wanna hear about the little dinos first, or the big ones. They all suck pretty much equal. In fact, I think the little bastards are worse. I woke up with them all over me!" Reno uncaps the water and gulps it down without stopping, which results in a tremendous belch. "I was sunbathing on the beach. It was nice and peaceful and I guess I fell asleep. Next thing I know, I wake up and I'm covered in little green monsters! So I dash out of there. Forget my clothes...and run headlong into this big ass thing with three pointy horns! Thing was meaner than Rude when I step on his sunglasses. Do you have another water?"
Rufus blinks in surprise; the thought of waking up covered in biting dinosaurs, even little ones, is way outside his comfort zone. He looks around for gathered supplies, and finds not only another water bottle, but some dino jerky. He decides it would probably be best not to tell Reno where the food came from. "Here you go. Drink that down--more slowly this time, please!--and then I'll cast FullCure on you. It should help even if it isn't as strong as it could be, for some damned reason."
Reno had already started to guzzle and slows himself down with a guilty look toward Rufus. He bites into the meat and chews. "Mm. Not bad. Kind of salty. Otherwise, tastes like chocobo. The rest of our Turks here?"
Rufus does his best not to smile. Many people had been saying the same thing about the dino meat. "I think so. Rude's been busting his tail helping in the clinic; Tseng too, when he's not watching me and trying to track all the crap going on here. Elena's been in and out, pulling guard shifts. It's been a busy couple of weeks--and it doesn't look like it's letting up any time too soon." He holds up the FullCure orb. "Just let me know when you're ready? Or would you rather I get you upstairs to as good a bed as we can give you, in case receiving this wears you down? You look like you could use a safe sleep."
Reno takes a few more bites of the jerky but stops suddenly, his face twisting. "Eh...maybe I will go lie down. Kinda think I overdid it. Ugh. Stomach is pissed off."
"Bed it is, then." Rufus pockets the orb and carefully loops Reno's right arm over his shoulders. "C'mon; let me get you upstairs, I can put you into bed--well, on the floor, but at least safe!--and cast this for you, then get you squared away." He has a sudden inspiration as he goes to stick Cloud's cast-off bracer in his pocket. "Or wait--hey, I can let you have this, then when you're strong enough to equip it, you'll be able to heal yourself as you feel up to it! I can keep an eye on you, of course." He lifts an eyebrow, eyes twinkling. It is a huge relief to have Reno back and safe...
[Reno snugged his head up under Rufus' chin and sighed. The horrors of outside seemed eased away with Rufus there. He allowed himself to be taken upstairs and to the makeshift bed. He takes the bracer with a grateful smile.] Wish I'd had this out there! I did find a few small things. A compass someone dropped. And a lighter. No cigarette to go with them though.
I'll poke around and see if anyone has extra smokes--someone must have something here, I've smelled smoke a few odd times in passing. [He does his best to project calm and normalcy--in the midst of dino hell--for Reno's sake, tightening his hold on him and heading slowly toward the stairs.] Sorry the elevators arent working; we still don't have electricity, though I suspect people are trying to change that.
"Boss...we've been here a long time. Seems like way more than a week, yo. Do you think...maybe we're stuck here for good?" Reno catches sight of a spare sheet and trades up from his tattered shirt loincloth, not minding at all that Rufus catches a glimpse of his tanned ass.
Rufus lifts both eyebrows and unashamedly looks. "Nice tan, ace... no pale lines, I see!" He ponders the question somberly, however. "I... don't want to believe that. The doctors have left us in alternative facilities for up to three weeks before; this is the third week. Unless they completely fuck up, we should be out of here by Sunday. Odin knows I sure want a long hot shower and some clean clothes!" He gives Reno a quick hug, as much for the Turk's comfort as his own. "It'll work out somehow. Getting completely out of here though? That's going to take a whole Hel of a lot longer, I'm afraid. Getting home, I mean."
Reno flips up the sheet to give Rufus an encore view. "How do you think I lost most of my clothes? I was tannin' and caught bare-ass! I guess we'll just have to hang in there then. How are the supplies holdin' out here? You were pretty generous with my water ration, but I know how you are with me too."
Rufus smirks and bats Reno's hands down. "Not until you're well, Turk. Plenty of time to hand out bonuses later." He does his best to hide just how anxious the thought makes him: Reno alone, unarmed, unclothed, against a bunch of ravenous little lizards with nasty teeth.... "We've got some supplies--the fish are apparently safe to eat, or no one's died of it yet at least. Some of the dinosaurs are edible too, and there have been various fruits and nuts brought in--things like that. It rained like Hel on this part of the island the other night, so we gathered in the rain water; I cast a Fire on some wood we gathered, and we boiled the crap out of it. We're recycling bottles from the gift shop." He smirks. "I'll see if Ichiru has another pair of jammies you can borrow--he got some for Cloud." Then in one of those mercurial moments he has from time to time, Rufus looks rather intense for a heartbeat. "Yes, I do know how I am with you. I don't think my life would be the same without you in it. So no more of this dino-bathing, all right?" They make it up the stairs; Rufus leads him into the same office where Cloud is resting on the floor. "Here we are--some blankets is the best we've got, but it IS safe here."
"Feelin' is mutual, Boss. I had some pretty close moments out there. Was worried about you too. I kept walking and seeing signs people had passed through, but no actual people. I---Cloud!" Reno peers at him with concern. "Is he...?"
Rufus looks up, momentarily confused--then realizes how Cloud looks, and hurriedly shakes his head. "No. Oh, no. Cloud's not dead; he's... kind of locked inside his mind. I'm not completely clear on the details myself--he just disappeared one morning last week, leaving his bracer and notes behind. Ichiru and Ishtar found him face-down in a puddle and damned-near drowned. When we brought him back, Sasha Nein tried to reach his mind--he was really out of it--but had only a little luck." He gazes worriedly at their comrade from home, and bites his lip. "He's pretty much been like that since before the weekend. I hope he comes out of it soon." He reaches the pile of blankets, etc. and makes a nest for Reno to rest in, then helps him down to the floor. "I hope this isn't too uncomfortable for you."
Reno laughs softly. "Boss, I fall asleep on pool tables and on bar stools. I think I can handle this." Exhausted, Reno climbs into the middle of the blankets and lets his muscles--aching from days of walking and climbing-- rest. "Lie with me a bit? Or do you need to get back right away?"
Rufus smiles, surprisingly softly, and stretches out beside Reno, pulling him into his arms. "I can stay; I was on my break anyway, and this is where I've been pretty much staying. Besides, I need to hit you with this, now don't I?" He reaches into his pocket for the FullCure, then tucks Cloud's bracer under the blankets under Reno. "Just keep the rest of that safe--it's all healing items at this point. Tseng and Rude have the offensive stuff with them. You'll need those later." Rufus casts the FullCure--which really doesn't feel nearly as strong as it normally would--and absorbs the mana drain, all the while watching Reno carefully. "Did that do any good at all?"
The tinkle of warmth and healing was familiar, but for such a powerful spell, Reno expected more of a result. Then he remembered that everything was cut down here. He nods and smiles. "Yeah, man. Yeah, it did. Rest will help too. But you know what helps most of all? Having you here."
Exhausted, Reno still manages an affectionate kiss to Rufus' lips before curling up and nodding off into the first good sleep he's had in two weeks.