Edge, Saturday Afternoon

[raspberryturk]

There were some things that were totally worth getting in trouble with the boss for, Reno decided. Being a grumpy son of a bitch was good for things like getting on Tseng's nerves, teaching the rookie how to run for cover, and also for getting sent on impromptu vacations to other worlds in order to visit the girlfriend.

It had totally been worth

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[flowering_mind]

Ino was bored at the clinic, and avoiding her notes, and vaguely wondering where her boyfriend was hiding out (and sighing about that) when her phone started ringing.

Oh, hey! Distraction!

She pulled it out, and answered without checking the number. "Yesss?"

[raspberryturk]

"I'm lookin' to order some beans," Reno drawled, leaning back against Rude's lumpy couch and grinning. "Ones that don't need too much sun. The ones I got are lookin' all yellow, zoto."

He'd figure out sooner or later that yellow wax beans were supposed to be yellow. Really.

[flowering_mind]

Ino snorted, amused. "Depends on your bean--maybe they ought to be yellow? Hey, you. Did you really need me to do a bean run?"

[raspberryturk]

"... They make beans in yellow, too?"

Well. Huh. Consider Reno educated, now.

"And nah. I don't need any emergency bean runs or anything right now, yo. I'm just callin' to check up on one of my fave rookies, yo."

He said 'rookie' in a friendly way. Honest.

"Got your text, zoto."

[flowering_mind]

"Ah," she said, making a face that she knew he couldn't see. "Yeah. I just--" though he'd get it, "--I'm not a rookie!"

She so so was.

[raspberryturk]

"There ain't nothin' the matter with bein' a rookie," Reno chuckled. "Some of the best Turks I ever knew were rookies, too."

Some of the best Turks he ever knew were still rookies, and would be until Tseng got around to hiring more. Poor Elena.

"What's up, Ino?"

[flowering_mind]

She sighed. "I don't think, we're, like talking at the moment? Me and Romeo? He asked how I was, I told him I was fine and had dealt with injuries from my latest mission, he asked about the mission thing and if my opinions mattered, I said they don't on the mission 'cause the mission is the mission and comes first no matter what it is, and that doesn't have any bearing on how I feel 'bout the mission later. Then he asked 'bout babies and I said yes, he looked horrified and then asked me about if I had a God. Said we didn't much have one back in my world. Then he kinda, you know, fled."

Other stuff was going on, but that was probably the most important one. "So. I don't know. I'm just pretending it didn't happen to other people. He doesn't seem to be talking it out either."

[raspberryturk]

Reno sighed and nodded a little as he listened.

Ow, tricky situation.

"You do the job," he said, at length. "It gets messy. And it sucks. And you do the job anyhow. He ain't from a world that works like that, zoto."

[flowering_mind]

"I know," she said, sounding tired. "But he asked, and I don't like lying to my friends. Maybe I should've, I don't know. And the missions don't always suck and I don't know how to explain that either, I like missions where it's like, 'go kill these bandits' and I'm all 'hurrah, bandit killing!' but I don't think he'd like that either."

[raspberryturk]

"He knows about the things I did for ShinRa," Reno noted. "But I don't think our conversations ever quite went... uh. That way."

He drummed his fingers on his knee for a moment, thoughtfully.

"At least you were honest. It's better to jus' be up-front about it than try an' lie. Lyin' always bites you in the ass, zoto."

[flowering_mind]

"Quite that trainwrecky?" Ino said, grimly amused. "It's a gift, I guess. I don't know--I mean, I don't get why it's hard to get, and I don't think he gets why I don't get why it's hard to get."

"I don't know if it was worth it this time, honest, being well, honest. I mean, he's leaving soon, and off-island it'd be a lot easier for me to keep lying to him 'bout stuff like that."

[raspberryturk]

"It's hard to get because it's different," Reno said, at length. "What you texted about? The killin' babies stuff? I would'a told him the same thing if he'd asked about it. But that don't make it any less..."

Hrm. Words.

"Less rotten, from a civilian standpoint, zoto. Those could be their babies. Or somethin'. I kinda suck at gettin' into a civilian's head unless it's by beatin' on it with my EMR, sometimes."

[flowering_mind]

She nodded. "I just--I mean, I get that to most people killing babies is, like, bad, right? And I even get that, ow yeah, I don't want to kill babies, and that I'd rather no one did, honest. But I don't get the not-getting-it that, if it's a mission, you don't get a choice."

"I mean, some things, mission-wise are fun for me, and probably fun for you that civilians don't get, but I don't think most of us really enjoy killing babies, but will if we got to. I don't think the lack of saying no makes sense to him."

[raspberryturk]

Sigh. Nod. Yeah, Reno could see how that would be an issue.

"Did I ever tell you about Sector Seven, Ino?"

Sharing and caring time was now. Yes, indeed.

[flowering_mind]

Ino contemplated that.

"I don't think so?"

[raspberryturk]

"Biggest, worst thing ShinRa ever asked me to do," he shared. "I didn't say no. You do the job."

Long pause, while he figured out what to say from there.

"I don't regret it, either. I mean, not really. Makes me sick thinkin' about it. I had people stop talkin' to me over it at Fandom when they found out. I had other people throw it in my face to prove that they're better'n me, once they knew. You don't kill millions of people all at once without somebody gettin' upset, after all."

Two towns at once, technically. Bottom and top.