Incomplete

[riotinstereo]

Who: Reno and Rude
What: Of Awkward Awesome Reunions
Where: Near the Residential Area / Alley
When: Present / After Event

Comments

[nospeechesplz]

Rude had done his best to take the string of recent events in stride. He'd found himself somehow dragged into a secluded city; that had been easy enough to accept. Besides familiar faces, there were people from other worlds; as long as they stayed non-hostile, he could accept that too. Reno had been here for weeks already, even though Rude has spoken to him not five minutes before being hit by a peculiar dizzy spell and ending up here. That was peculiar indeed, but there was no use denying it if that was what Reno claimed was true. He'd been injured as well, and that certainly hadn't been the case when he'd seen him back in Edge City. Reno had been staying with Tifa. That was... awkward and confusing, but he accepted that too.

And then Reno had reverted into the body of a child. Shocking as it had been, it fortunately had been some kind of epidemic and not just Reno; he'd have been much more concerned about it otherwise. By the time he'd started trying to adjust to that, he'd changed back, and now here they were, finally face-to-face without anyone else watching and without any extenuating circumstances getting in the way.

Rude adjusted his glasses after Reno spoke and returned to his usual stance, the silence dragging on for a little longer. He didn't really care to talk about it either, although now he wasn't sure what to ask.

"...What are we going to do about this?" He was referring vaguely to their situation, stuck in this city, but he didn't need to elaborate to be understood.

[riotinstereo]

He cracked a smile at that question. Rude could have teased him mercilessly about any number of things, but being Rude, he kept focus on what was important. Either that or he was going easy on him. Reno imagined he looked a lot more stressed out than his partner was used to seeing; constantly running up against forces that he didn't entirely understand had taken its toll. Maybe now that he had someone he could rely on, he could start feeling like his old self again.

"You sure you want to ask me after how well my last idea went?" Reno asked with slightly forced nonchalance. He stretched his arms and rested his hands behind his head as he considered their position. Since arriving he'd been mostly following his instincts; though he somehow ended up working a hell of a lot harder than he was used to. The time he'd spent at Tifa's was the first he'd had to relax in weeks.

His partner hadn't remarked on that particular choice of alliance, but he knew it had taken him by surprise. If it had been anyone but Rude who showed up, he'd most likely be getting flack for it. Like any of that mattered. Had Tseng been the one giving orders, he would have probably been working with a vastly different strategy. But Reno knew plenty about tactics, and although his methods were a little crude, he could usually get the job done. Though these weren’t really normal conditions and 'the job' had turned into more of a survival game than anything else.

"Kadaj, Yazoo, Cloud, Zack, Hojo, Sephiroth..." Listing the names in a row seemed to paint a disturbing image in his mind, and his voice carried a sobering tone as he continued. "It's not a good mix. I'd like to focus on finding a way out of here, but they're going to be hard to ignore."

He sighed resignedly and closed his eyes. As outnumbered as he was, and as insane as the environment had been, he'd had a hard time just keeping his bearings. It was almost impossible to form a plan when he couldn’t predict what was coming. "Not to mention, whoever has been playing us hasn't come out of hiding. Who knows what they’re doing." He also didn’t mention the dozens of other hostile residents that had been populating the area lately, but he had enough to think about as it was. "The good news is that everyone seems to be preoccupied with each other. That gives us some time."

Aside from a few incidents, Reno had kept himself detached from the others, not wanting to get tangled in a death match against the rest of Jenova's offspring. They needed to be careful if they wanted to keep it that way. "We could hope that they all kill each other, but when have I ever been that lucky?" He turned back to Rude with an apologetic gaze. "All I know is that these guys are tough. We might have to do some recruiting pretty soon."