Reno's Current (and Elena's Former) Apartment, Edge, Late Thursday Afternoon
Elena
Elena was just relieved that they got Karla back to the apartment without her keeling over. She'd pushed the concerns out of her mind, mostly by switching herself into professional mode: watching Karla's face to see if whatever spell this was was getting worse, and hoping to get them off the streets quickly so that Karla didn't look like prey.
It helped her nerves to know that Reno was doing the same thing.
Once safely inside her apartment (his apartment? it was more his than hers, at the moment) she insisted that Karla go lie down for a few minutes, even if the girl swore she was feeling better, really. It couldn't hurt.
Also, it would let her close the bedroom door behind her, catch her breath, and have a few moments of privacy with Reno. He was harder to read than Rude, for all that he never shut up -- most of what he said was distraction. But she was fairly sure he was thinking the same thing.
"What now?"
Reno
Reno had his hands shoved into his pockets. Mostly because his smokes were in his pockets, somewhere, and fuck, did he ever need one right about now. Of course, the rummage for the aforementioned vice was done with his usual slouch and his trademark lazy grin, and so it was entirely possible that he didn't look as bothered by this as he was feeling at the moment.
"Now? Now we make sure your girl there is gonna last ten minutes in Edge without pukin' before we even think about any more 'what nows,' yo. Tell me the truth, Rookie. She ain't really portal sick, is she?"
Oh sweet, beautiful nicotine.
Elena
"No," Elena said. "She's not."
If Karla were the type to get portal-sick, she probably would have mentioned that on the Causeway. 'Hey, if I start violently puking in a few seconds, don't worry, I always do that.'
"I don't know what that was. I'm not sure we shouldn't go back now."
Reno
Pardon Reno for a moment. Now seemed like the perfect time to blow a smoke ring or three.
"Give her a chance to wipe her face off, at least." Reno reached over and flicked some ash into a mostly empty glass of what might be paint thinner, or might be Corel ale. "You got the girl this far, yo. It'd be a shame to drag her back to Fandom now."
Another deep drag from the cigarette, and then a shrug. "She seemed pretty damn determined to prove that she could do this, when I talked to her, yo."
Elena
Elena was fighting down the urge to dig out her own pack. Or else bum a smoke from him.
"I know," she said. "That's what worries me. She's not gonna tell us if she can't handle it. She's just going to push herself until she breaks."
Reno
"So, we keep an eye on her." Reno shrugged lightly, shaking his head. "You know what a breakin' point looks like by now, Rookie. It's part of the job, zoto. So, she's here, she's doin' us a favor. That means its up to us to make damn sure that she comes outta this okay, no matter what goes on, yo."
He still wasn't holding out much hope that she'd be able to heal the land here, no.
"Question is, what do we do to make this easier on her?"
Elena
"Food," Elena replied. "Sleep. She's said she'll need plenty of both. And we keep her away from the rougher parts of town."
Seeing starving orphans wasn't good for anybody. And it would just make Karla push herself harder.
"If she doesn't start feeling better, maybe we don't stay in Edge. She came all the way here, so we don't give up yet, but she might rest better if we spend the down time in Kalm."
Reno
"Yeah," Reno agreed. "You seen Kalm, lately? They're doin' better than most places on The Planet were doin' before Meteorfall."
It helped that so many of Midgar's survivors had gone there. And that the ground around Kalm wasn't dead.
"Means we got a hell of a trek through the Wastelands each day to get back here, but we got hovers, now. I tell you about them?"
Elena
"No," Elena said, tilting her head at Reno. "Do they work? Has food been coming in?"
Non-mako powered vehicles. Nice.
"I know it'd mean more travel," she added, "but ... fuck it. If it makes it easier on her, what's a little travel?"
Reno
"They work. That's the crazy thing. They been mostly bringin' in building supplies, but now an' then, Reeve's got 'em on runs for food, too. People gotta eat, yo."
He leaned his head back and exhaled more smoke toward the ceiling, before offering his cigarette to Elena.
"There's other options, too. Places in Midgar that ain't dead." A beat. "A place in the wastes that ain't quite dead, too. I dunno if that'd be a good place to park her ass for a refresh or what, but maybe they'd be okay for gettin' a feel of how the land is supposed to be."
Elena
Oh, he was awesome, and she was stealing that cigarette and sucking on it like it might save her life.
Why she couldn't just dig out her own pack was beside the point.
"I'm not even sure what's doing it," Elena admitted. "But if she can talk with the land, maybe it's telling her exactly how fucked it is."
The land near Midgar would have a hell of a lot to say, on that particular topic.
"So, first step, we see how she's doing, and then we try to find some place that's not so bad, see if we can start there." She tapped her foot idly. "Tseng offered help, but I'm not sure what we even need."
Reno
"Transportation, into Kalm and back again. Preferably fast. Chocobo ain't slow, but we gotta stop to feed and water 'em, and that ain't no good if we're tryin' to get her outta the wastes." Reno crammed his hands into his pockets and pondered that some more. "Food. If we can get Tseng to chip in on a room at the inn in Kalm, all the better too, yo. They ain't cheap, now that the place is seein' activity, yo."
Karla
For her part, Karla was feeling better--physically, anyway. She was doing her best not to facepalm herself into a concussion.
Way to make an impression, Karla.
She knew very well what Elena and Reno were talking about, even if she couldn't hear them. Which meant that she was probably dealing with a limited time to convince them that she was capable of doing what she promised, dammit.
It would probably be better to talk to then once her hands stopped shaking, true.
Closing her eyes, Karla did a few meditation exercises, clearly delineating what was her and what was not. She could feel the lingering, malignant sickness of the land just seething outside her shields. A few more minutes and she should be able to ignore it long enough to go prove to Elena and Reno that she wasn't some kind of pampered, missish liability.
Elena
"I'm sure Tseng would be happy to help us finance the trip," Elena nodded. "Can we borrow one of your hovers? It sounds like you've got locations staked out already, so that should help."
She held out the cigarette, offering it back to him. Nicotine fix: achieved. Reno: best ever.
Reno
"I'll check with Tseng and Reeve both, then," Reno decided, taking his cigarette back and nodding toward the door. "In the meantime, we make sure your girl's gonna be okay, Rookie."
Elena
"Right," she said. Nerving herself up. Not worrying. Turks didn't worry. They evaluated, they processed, and they acted. She would check on Karla, and they would all make a decision from there. See? Nothing to worry about.
Some days, Elena wondered if all Turks were just faking it and hoping for the best.
Elena rapped lightly on the door. "Karla?"
Karla
Karla answered the door herself, rather than call out. She'd tidied her hair and straightened her clothes (and washed her shoes)--basically, making sure that when she opened the door, she looked ready. Steady. Professional.
"Sorry about that," she said, giving them both a nod. "You weren't kidding when you said I'd have a lot of work to do. When to we start?"
Reno
Reno was going to take this opportunity to give Elena a look before finishing off his smoke in another long, deep drag, and then stubbing it out against the wall.
"As soon as we can arrange for transport an' we get together whatever you're gonna need to do this," he replied, stepping forward and crossing his arms over his chest. What was left of his cigarette was going back into his pocket for later. "So, kiddo, you tell us what it is we can do for you, we get you set up, an' we're good to go."
He looked about as confident about this whole thing as Reno of the Turks ever looked about anything that he wasn't stepping in to pull off on his own.
Which was to say, for the first time in his life, he looked about the same way as he felt.
(OOC: Part 2! Preplayed with the muy awesome glacial_witch and raspberryturk. Immediately follows this and will be followed shortly by part 3. Elena and Karla will be back tomorrow! NFI, NFB, OOC is love.)