Comfort Food

[shurikenfemale]

Characters: Cissnei, Reno, Tseng
Progress: In Progress
Summary: Reno and Tseng get back to Turks HQ in Lindblum and arrive to quite a tasty surprise
Location: Turks HQ, Lindblum
Date: December 6th, 1804
Warnings: Fluff, will be added as necessary

Comments

[turks_reno]

"Winterfest?" He tipped his head to the side as he pulled a bowl of rather pungent soup filled with noodles to himself, sipping at the broth. "What's 'Winterfest'? We're supposed to be invited somewhere?" He considered this, then frowned. "Please tell me I'm not expected to dress up, Ciss. Please?" Reno wasn't exactly one for donning a tux and tails, thanks. Now, a festive holiday sweater wasn't exactly off the table. But a dress shirt and tie? Verdot - and then after him Tseng - had learned it was nearly impossible.

He swallowed another mouthful of soup, leaning back casually in the chair as he surveyed the spread in mild awe of the girl. She certainly didn't do anything halfway! And when was the last time he'd had food from that little island nation to the west? Months. It had to be. Many painful months. He plucked up a pair of chopsticks set out on the table, then nipped a warm dumpling drizzled with sauce - one of his favorites! - popping it into his mouth with a satisfied hum.

It'd been shortly after getting to know Tseng as a very young Turkling that he'd been introduced to the wonder of this particular style of food, and Tseng himself had taught him how to use those sticks, years upon years ago. But...

Back to this 'winterfest' thing. "Details, Ciss. We need them."

[nogoodpeople]

"One of the local holidays," Tseng answered, claiming another of the bowls. "I believe it's largely intended as a celebration of good will." Something about the onset of the darkness of winter always did seem to bring about that sort of feeling in people, not that he was about to complain. It might do the world some good to open up a little more to people who weren't of this world.

But he'd worry about that later. For now, there was food, and he wasn't wasting anytime in dipping his own pair of chopsticks into the soup and grabbing out a mouthful of the noodles. Proper noodles, even, and not simply that looked like them. Someone had spent time on these, and it showed.

"I can look into the matter of invitations. If nothing else, we might be able to arrange to hold something here."

[shurikenfemale]

Cissnei nibbled one of the vegetables in thought. She can't even remember the last time she had food from Wutai. Had she ever had food from there? Maybe on one of her more brief missions. "Or, you know, we could just, go anyway." She dipped the vegetable in the sauce that was intended for the dumplings but she didn't really care since it was all tasty anyway.

"You know, I'm not sure if we're supposed to dress up. I'd venture a guess and say yes on the basis of invitations being sent out." Cissnei switched to the noodles once she was done with the vegetables. She had mastered long-range weapons, hand-to-hand combat, lying, spying, drinking poison, and everything under the sun Turks training had thrown at her, but she never could get those damned chopsticks to work when it came to the noodles. She nearly had a stare-down with the food. "I'm done with you!" she impatiently told it through grit teeth.

Finally, finally! Noodles! One could've confused her eating with inhaling. "I'm sure we can get more than enough people here if all else fails," she said once she finished with her mini-struggle.

[turks_reno]

"Gate crashing, Cissnei?" he commented lightly, taking a sip of hot tea. "Color me impressed." And he was. That, and he was incredibly amused. "I'm all for it. Parties were meant to be crashed, after all. Especially if they were silly enough to have forgotten to invite us." Insert devilish grin here.

He considered, then nodded. "Invitations means semi-formal or formal, typically. Damnit..." His shoulders sagged - he hated dressing up. Hated having a tie around his neck, regular or otherwise. Of course, he was trying hard not to laugh at the poor girl's attempt at using the chopsticks, reminding himself that Tseng had been very kind and patient with his own fumblings when he was learning.

"Ciss, dear... keep the bottom one still, braced by your thumb. Hold the top one like a pen, and you'll be surprised how much control you'll get over the top one." He actually reached out then, and positioned her fingers much the same way his own had been guided when he'd been learning - and he knew Tseng would remember it. And he even cast the other man a warmer expression for a second as he imparted the same instruction given to him years ago.

[nogoodpeople]

"I can't quite say I'd condone the action, but it would be possible." Of course, Lindblum wasn't quite Midgar, but that didn't mean that gate-crashing wasn't entirely out of the realm of possibility. Just something that needed to be carefully considered before it was put into motion.

"They'll probably be expecting ties," he commented, almost as if he were commenting on the weather. He knew perfectly well that Reno didn't much care for them, but for something like this it was a necessary sacrifice. Not to mention the fact that it was highly unlikely that anything particularly serious would break out in the middle of a party. Not impossible, no, but significantly less likely than might have been in either Midgar or Edge.

[shurikenfemale]

Cissnei, with a bit of a frown, watched Reno take her fingers and position them properly. "Hey!" she exclaimed. She grabbed some noodles with the chopsticks and they, to her amazement, didn't slip away! "I... thanks," she said somewhat timidly. Getting help out of someone's free will wasn't what she was used to.

"A nice tie, too," she added."If we're going to go, which I think we should, you're going to wear a good tie, Reno, not one with silly little Moogles or palm trees on them." She would be doubly embarrassed if she had to walk next to him with such a tacky-looking tie to a formal event.

[turks_reno]

He smirked as Cissnei was capable of picking up some noodles without them falling. Noodles still would be the hardest to do with chopsticks, but once the trick of keeping the bottom stick still and moving the top like a pen was mastered, it only took a few hours of practice before those two little sticks danced with the same precision as one would use a spoon or fork. Perhaps even more.

"Anytime," he replied lightly to her thanks, but his expression soured at the mention of a tie.

"Killjoy," he huffed, serving himself a small helping of a stir-fried chicken dish. "I wear a tie the day you wear a pretty red cocktail dress. It's not going to happen." Hmph. So there.

[nogoodpeople]

Tseng would have been inclined to say that noodles were merely one of the hardest things to pick up properly with chopsticks, but the point was moot anyway. As long as Cissnei was managing to at least grab something with them, it was progress. The rest would come with practice.

"I'm sure both could be arranged."

It might not be easy, but since when had Tseng ever particularly cared about doing things the easiest way possible?

[shurikenfemale]

Cissnei was both stunned and speechless. "Wearing a tie isn't the same as wearing a dress!" she cried shrilly. "If you get tired of wearing it, you can just take it off or loosen it. A dress? I'd have to wear it the entire time!"

She gave Tseng a cold stare. "Good luck with that. I don't have the time to wear a dress and heels." Which was probably the biggest lie she could come up with since they basically had nothing to do. She's worn a dress, sure, but it's not like she was clamoring to wear one again. "Fine, the day you wear a tie I'll wear a dress." She crossed her arms and scowled. She'd much rather wear her uniform. She wasn't even entirely comfortable wearing her swimsuit the time she was tailing Zack at the beach. Ugh, such rudeness!

[turks_reno]

He set his chopsticks down gently, blanching at Tseng's insistence that both articles of formal-wear could be arranged. He swallowed, considered his options quickly, then sighed, giving Tseng a 'look' that he knew the other man could interpret. Tseng had the experience, after all. That Look said "either you compensate me for this, or I'm going to make this very, very difficult for you." Pretty simple.

"Here's a solution, Ciss. I pick out a nice dress for you to wear, you pick out the tie you want me to wear. I swear upon my death the tie will not leave my neck until we're back here and you are capable of removing your dress without being indecent. The only exception to the rule is if a fight breaks out. I can't fight with a tie on. It chokes me." Well, it choked him more than usual when he fought. Even Tseng could attest to that - his fighting style simply didn't allow for ties easily. "We can have a spare Turks suit waiting for you in a bag, if you'd like, too - just in case things get crazy. Not expecting it to, but..." They were Turks. Shit often hit the fan at unexpected times. They were trained to be ready.

"I'll even pay for it. Shoes, stockings, necklace... everything to turn you from Lethal Turk to Femme Fatale." All of that for the cost of wearing a tie? Yup.

[nogoodpeople]

Didn't have time? Oh, Tseng very much doubted that. But he wasn't about to bring that point up. It would have been counterproductive at best and at worst would have rather drastically changed the overall mood of the day and he didn't feel much like doing that right now.

Besides, Reno seemed to have the situation well in hand and while he'd noticed the Look of Reno's (and knew perfectly well what it meant) he didn't directly answer. He knew quite while that Reno would be aware of the fact that he had seen and that he knew what it meant. Instead, he merely nodded at Reno's comment about having a spare suit handy.

"I wouldn't ask you to fight in a dress."

[shurikenfemale]

"Stockings, what am I, you grandmother?" Cissnei hissed. But really, she couldn't exactly deny having clothes bought for her. But still, it was a dress. "Thanks for being so gracious, Tseng." She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms, still scowling. It seemed her idea to go somewhat backfired.

Free clothes.

A dress.

Free clothes.

Cissnei sighed. "Fine, fine, fine," she grumbled, then quickly stuffed her mouth with vegetables to avoid answering anymore questions. When exactly was the last time she had worn a dress, anyway? She had probably blocked out that moment in time. At the very least, it was on an entirely different world, full of strangers and a few people she knew... Shiva, this was starting to sound worse the more she thought about it. "Don't make me regret it," she mumbled.

[turks_reno]

"Stockings. Or nylons. Or pantyhose... whatever you want to call them - I've heard all those names. And don't give me that 'grandmother' bullshit. Girls still wear them, especially to formal stuff. I'm not that ignorant, Ciss." Actually, he'd been forced to wear them once. No thanks to a rather stupid bet of his.

"And so long as you've got some daring in that petite body of yours - which I know you do - you won't regret it. It'll be something tasteful, but sexy." Sexy? He offered a grin at Tseng. "I'll make sure Tseng approves of it before it becomes official. I'm sure he won't let me pick anything that would reflect poorly on our little team." There. Problem solved.

[nogoodpeople]

Oh, so he was to be dragged into this little fiasco after all? He couldn't quite claim surprise at that, although it did make for a rather interesting turn of events. But since he'd been called on as the final authority, he merely nodded at Reno's words.

"Of course not. We wouldn't want to offer give people the wrong idea about either us or Shinra."

Even if Rufus wasn't around right now.

[shurikenfemale]

According to this little Turk, things were going quickly downhill. "Just get the dress and I'll try it on," Cissnei said, a tone of resignation a little obvious. At least it was up to her to get him a nice tie. "Any color preference for your tie?"

She propped her elbow on the table and let her head rest in the palm of her hand. Joy. Order were orders, though, or something like that. Cissnei felt a little relieved that Tseng would agree to making sure the dress was, indeed, not overly revealing. She could probably get away with it, but she wouldn't feel comfortable at all.

[turks_reno]

He gave the girl a little nudge. "Aw, don't be so upset. You're getting a tie around my neck. Not even a direct order from the President managed to do that," he insisted earnestly, reaching out to tweak her auburn hair. "Besides, you're going to be the belle of the ball. I promise. Heads will turn, and in a good way. You have full permission to smack me with Rekka if I lie. Just... trust me."

Most people didn't, he knew. It was his own fault, too. His mask was that of the clown. The joker. The lazy ass that couldn't care less. But surely Cissnei had seen that there was method to his madness by now? Tseng knew it, too.

"And... any darker color, I guess. Light ones tend to clash with my hair. Not a pretty picture at all." And with that, a dumpling stuffed with leeks and pork was popped into his mouth with a quick flick of chopsticks that were picked up as he finished speaking.