You Can't Hide Forever {Reno}

[Cissnei]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 400px; background-color: #171818; padding:20px; border-top: 10px #171818 solid; border-bottom: 10px #171818 solid;] repair your broken wings {WORDS } 605 {TAGGED } Reno {WEARING} Something! Another day nearly gone. Cissnei glanced at the water, studying it for a moment, before dipping her hands in and swooshing it over her face. It had taken her far too long to make it out of those tunnels. She had no idea what was happening really, nor did she have any way of finding out. The confusion had yet to leave her, and though she supposed she should try to make contact, Cissnei was slightly apprehensive to do so. From what she had seen, this couldn’t be Gaia. At least…no part that she could remember ever seeing. But how did that even work? What had happened back there? The days had strung together, but Cissnei didn’t think much time had passed since she had woken in the underground tunnels. No more than two weeks, if even that. Things just didn’t seem…right, here. To be perfectly honest, Cissnei wasn’t sure she even wanted to find out who inhabited these rugged lands…if anyone did. So what had happened when the odd lights and destruction had started to happen around her? Cissnei only had fuzzy glimpses of what had happened, and she had been trying to piece them together in her mind. The problem was that she had fallen and hit her head nearly directly after it had started to happen. Because of this, she had hardly any recollection of anything aside from the events that had started to happen, and then waking up here in this strange place. It had taken her days – nearly a week in fact – to find her way out of the tunnels. Thankfully she had found an underground spring that had given her the liquids she had needed to survive, even if she hadn’t had much of anything to eat. Following that stream wasn’t an option, since it disappeared under the ground, and so for that time she had been tied to her one water source, venturing further and further every day until she had managed to find this place. Cissnei had been here for the last few days, surviving off the wildlife and plant life that grew abundantly here…or swam abundantly. Cissnei had just gotten herself healthy again, and was only just now at the point where she had started to want to venture out to try and find somewhere with people. In the meantime, she had set up a makeshift camp in this watery place, calling it her ‘base’, and returned every night. The water made life easier, and she had all of the basic necessities that she needed…though no soap was problem. At least the water seemed fresh, and her clothes had been through a few good washings in it now – as well as she herself. But she would rather not smell like wilderness for the rest of her life. So she was going to have to get to some sort of civilization at some point. Walking back to her little camp, Cissnei started her nightly process of starting a fire and making herself a meal before it got dark. NOTES: Icky post is icky

table by CALIFORNIA DREAMING of CAUTION 2.0, lyrics by maroon 5

[Reno]

Life, life cannot go by the letter

time, time, prozac can make it better

TAG: CISSEH Words:

ONE LAST THING:

”I knew it!”

With the exclamation coming out a little louder than he’d wanted it to, Reno jerked back to halt himself only to have his elbow send a small cascade of rocks off the side of the mesa where he lay on his stomach. Grumbling a few near-silent curses, Reno, wide-eyed, looked back through his binoculars in the direction of the subject who had first brought on his exclamation. Whew, she hadn’t seemed to hear him. Reno grinned widely to himself. ”Now what are ya doin’ all the way out here, Ciss?”, he said under his breath to himself, as he stared a little longer at her. Reno had been sure, a couple days before while he’d been hauling some of the PSICOM cronies around in one of their airships, that the person he’d randomly caught site of as he’d been idling in the area was the ex-Turk who’d left them all high and dry…a pretty good while ago now. Reno had come all the way back out to this Sulyya Springs place – a place that wouldn’t have been half bad with the company of a couple ladies sporting their best swimwear – just to make sure he wasn’t going crazy. Heck, the whole world could think he was crazy for all Reno cared. Now that he’d figured out that it was definitely Cissnei hanging out in nowhere all on her lonesome, for her own strange reasons. ”I wonder if she brought her swimsuit…”, came another quiet comment to himself.

Sticking his tongue out in concentration, Reno started to carefully push himself off of his not-so-concealed perch and get to a wobbly set of legs that resulted from all the loose rocks. After figuring out that he had good enough footing, Reno started to ease his way down the side of the mesa, alternating between sliding, rushing, and jumping before he got to the ground and landed uncomfortably on both feet, earning a few more unpleasant words. He really did wonder what had gotten into Cissnei’s head to make her up and leave the Turks, and then later, end up here with him of all places and start living like a hermit. Yeah, Reno knew that Shinra’s…incident with Zack Fair probably hadn’t encouraged her to stick around, but the redhead had always believed that Shinra employees were always made aware that those sorts of incidents could happen at any time. To be honest, Reno didn’t see it as much of a reason to up and leave without even saying anything. She could have yelled at the President for all he cared; Reno only wished she’d done something.

A little bit of a stealthy approach, and Reno had Cissnei’s camp in sight, finally. All sorts of proud of himself for managing to sneak up so well and even practically beat her to the camp, Reno carefully eased his way to a nearby rock that could provide him with some cover and eyed the ex-Turk for juuuust a few more seconds until he could make what would be the perfect, Reno-style entrance. He unleashed said entrance by trotting into the camp as if he belonged there, pulling at one of the weird, glowing plants nearby to pull an odd-looking little flower free and stared at it as if it was the most interesting thing on Gran Pulse. He spoke as if they’d been conversing for the last several minutes, not even looking at Cissnei just yet. ”This is what ya quit the Turks for? Turnin’ into a hippie an’ tryin’ to find your ‘oneness’ with nature or somethin’ like that?” Finally, his eyes rested on her as he twirled his binoculars in his hand by the strap casually. ”IIIIII’m just a little disappointed, Ciss.”

noise, noise, any kind will do

TEMPLATE BY: THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE MIKEY ! @ CAUTION.

[Cissnei]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 400px; background-color: #171818; padding:20px; border-top: 10px #171818 solid; border-bottom: 10px #171818 solid;] repair your broken wings {WORDS } 598 {TAGGED } Reno {WEARING} Something! Had Cissnei known she was going to have a visitor, she might have stayed away. As it was though, the last thing she expected was such. No sooner had she crouched down to stir up the coals in her fire pit when she heard a familiar voice behind her. Hands stilled while the voice spoke. Cissnei’s mind raced to attempt to come up with something to say, but he had for the moment rendered her speechless. Reno. Of all people, he might be the last she expected to be here – though she really shouldn’t have felt like that. Until this moment, she had thought that perhaps she had managed to leave her old life behind her finally. Had hoped…dreamed of being completely free. Surely ShinRa didn’t have far enough reaches to have any weight here, right? With a tense body, Cissnei slowly straightened up from where she had been crouched. “Hello Reno.” The words of greeting were spoken softly, more of an acknowledgement than anything else. Still she didn’t turn around to look at him. If he was even there and not just a figment of her imagination. Things had been weird lately after all. Sighing lightly, Cissnei moved in the opposite direction that he was standing, still refusing to look at him for the moment. Ignoring the sarcastic humor, she replied. “You know why I left the Turks.” Even if he didn’t, Cissnei thought they had to have known. Even now it brought memories back from her. Zack Fair. Cloud Strife. Sephiroth. Hojo. Cissnei had failed to keep Zack and Cloud alive, even though she had promised herself she would. Even now it hurt knowing that she had failed. She could still remember when she’d been told. Sure, they were supposed to be ready for that sort of thing to happen at all times. Easier said than done. At that moment she had questioned everything that she hadn’t up until that point. ShinRa, President Shinra, the Turks, Tseng, herself, all of it. So she had left in the middle of the night, leaving no trace of where she had gone. Still they had pursued her. Finally she turned to see if he was there. He was. Looking just like the Reno she remembered. Just like the Reno she had worked with for years. She had missed him. She’d missed all of them. Tseng, Rude, Kylie, Ethan, Rod…she’d missed them all. But somehow, what came out of her lips was nothing sentimental. “Why are you here?” The demand to know came out softly, but suspicion lightly touched her eyes. {NOTES} Suspicious Cissnei is suspicious.

table by CALIFORNIA DREAMING of CAUTION 2.0, lyrics by maroon 5

[Reno]

Life, life cannot go by the letter

time, time, prozac can make it better

TAG: CISSEH Words: 577

ONE LAST THING: Such a charmer.

Pfft, what kind of a greeting was this!? Reno eyed Cissnei from the back – or the behind, either one – suspiciously, finally making a defeated gesture when she spoke to “greet” him and didn’t even turn around to look at him. With Cissnei out here in the middle of nowhere with…big, goopy flans being the best-looking things around, Reno would have thought that the ex-Turk would be thrilled to see a face like his. Instead, she was wandering in the other direction like she’d gone blind in one eye and couldn’t see out of the other one. Though he would have said something, he stood with shoulders drooped in anticipating, thinking she just had to turn and acknowledge that he was around before too long. Right? Right!? Nooooo, she was going to head over to the other end of the camp like it was more interesting than the one human being she’d probably seen in the last week! She was going to talk to him through the back of her head, too, and be all short and dramatic with what she was telling him. Reno stuck his tongue out distastefully, shaking his head. ”Nooooo, remember? Ya up an’ left in the middle of the night without sayin’ a word!” With her getting on his nerves like this, Reno had to do something to return the favor. Looking at the back of her gave him enough of an idea, and the expression from before returned to his face. ”Unless ya left just because ya wanted me to chase you… I see that as a pretty good reason.”

Okay, so Reno pretty much knew why Cissnei had left, but that still didn’t mean she should have run off without saying anything. She made things harder on all of them when she’d dropped out without saying a damn word to anyone – it was their jobs to find her, and Cissnei’s job to get away while they’d been looking for her. So what if everything that had happened with Zack and Sephiroth had weighed on her conscience a little? If Cissnei had told someone about it, chances were she would have been released from Turk duty with nothing but supervision from the company plaguing her for maybe a year, maybe two, before they let her live her life like she wanted to. Reno could have gone into all sorts of rants on the subject, but it didn’t matter much now. They were out here in another world where everything was completely and totally different, and Shinra wasn’t what it used to be anymore even back on Gaia. If she was having her little play of ignorance just because Reno represented something about a life she’d left behind, she was crazy, and he’d be happy to tell her as much.

Oh, Reno wouldn’t have to say anything about that. She turned around. Weeeell, she definitely didn’t look any worse for wear, anyway. Narrowing his eyes at her as he resumed spinning the binoculars around, he waited a few seconds before he answered her question, trying to gauge whether it was anger, fear, or something else entirely that she regarded him with. Pfft, how was he supposed to know? He didn’t read body language, aside from Rude’s. But then, what else was he going to read? ”Do I need some kinda reason to visit an old workmate?”, Reno asked, somewhat rhetorically. ”What, ya don’t want me here? Are the…fish things out there better company?”

noise, noise, any kind will do

TEMPLATE BY: THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE MIKEY ! @ CAUTION.

[Cissnei]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 400px; background-color: #171818; padding:20px; border-top: 10px #171818 solid; border-bottom: 10px #171818 solid;] repair your broken wings {WORDS } 70 {TAGGED } Reno {WEARING} Something I will make eventually... Would her past always haunt her? While she tried to avoid looking at the redhead, Cissnei tried to keep her hands busy. They stilled though, when he mentioned the way she had gone from the company. She did regret how she had gone sometimes. What would have happened had she asked to leave? Would they have granted her wishes? Honored them? Looking back, she knew that she hadn’t been quite in the perfect frame of mind when she’d made the decision to leave. At the time though, it had seemed like the right course of action. She could be free from everything, at least in her mind. Free from ShinRa, from the guilt, the responsibilities, everything. That hadn’t turned out to be the case, but eventually she had managed to ‘fall off the map’, she’d lived in constant fear of her past coming back to haunt her in the future. Why should she feel like she owed him some sort of apology now? She felt like chewing herself out for it, but she nearly did so. Instead she clamped her jaws shut and ignored that little voice which instructed her to apologize for her disappearance. Why should she explain to him her actions? He wasn’t her father, nor was he her superior anymore. His comment about chasing her – no matter how much is appearance might upset her, caused a slight smile to cross her features. Same old Reno. “You didn’t do a very good job.” ShinRa had in itself, but Cissnei had never seen Reno – even in glimpses – after she had ran away from ShinRa. Perhaps things would be different now had she seen him. It took her a while, but finally Cissnei turned toward her former comrade. Beyond the suspicion in her eyes was sadness. With his answer came a deep sigh from her lips, along with her eyes skittering away from him and locking on the rocks behind him. Because she didn’t quite know how to respond to the first part, she simply didn’t. Once again he nearly coaxed a smile from her lips at the second part. “Fish don’t give you a headache with too much talking.”, she pointed out. “And they taste a lot better.” Not…that she’d ever tasted him. Knowing Reno that was going to be twisted into something sexual. With her eyes slightly narrowed, Cissnei propped her hands up on her hips and watched him. “Don’t comment about that, it can’t be anything wholesome.” Letting her arms go back into being crossed over her chest, Cissnei glanced at the ground and then back up at the redhead nearby. “What…what happened?”, she finally asked. “Back there. I got thrown into some underground mining tunnels. It doesn’t look like anywhere on Gaia I’ve been-…but…” Cissnei didn’t have to finish that for him to hopefully understand she thought the idea of being somewhere else was insane. {NOTES} None! :3

table by CALIFORNIA DREAMING of CAUTION 2.0, lyrics by maroon 5

[Reno]

Life, life cannot go by the letter

time, time, prozac can make it better

TAG: CISSEH Words: 581

ONE LAST THING: Blaaaargh.

”We’re Turks. We always do a very good job. Who says we couldn’t a’ had ya dragged back in anytime we wanted?” And as far as Reno knew – and he knew most things – they couldn’t, but Cissnei didn’t need to know that the Turks hadn’t ever been ordered to focus on tracking her down. He knew there were some files lying around about Cissnei and some different ways to monitor where Shinra employees had gone, but Reno had never gotten his hands on them. That was probably something Elena or Tseng would work on – they were the ones that liked to creep on people. Heck, they were probably creeping somewhere out here right now, watching Reno and Cissnei’s conversation. With a suspicious eye, Reno regarded the surrounding area before shrugging the thought off. He’d rather the two of them were back in Gaia anyway, instead of here sassing him or handing out orders or doing whatever else they did most days.

What was that from Cissnei? A sign of life? It was about time! Reno smugly regarded her, though that smug expression slowly fell as she tried to deflect the comments back at him. Right, she was going to keep playing this like she wasn’t remotely happy to see him. Like that was gonna make this whole conversation any easier for her. Reno clicked his tongue and shook his head…before she basically dug her own grave. With a raise of his eyebrows at her, Reno let loose a few tones of amusement. Fish tasted better than he did? She was planning on tasting him? A wide, all-too-pleased grin plastered on his face, Reno opened his mouth to ask her that exact question when she caught her mistake and tried to cut him off before he could say anything. Oho no, she wasn’t gonna wriggle away that easily. ”Hey, I was just gonna ask ya if ya wanted to taste me now or later… Man’s gotta know these things for…scientific reasons, ya know?” That might earn him a punch to the jaw or something far worse for him as a human male, but Reno was willing to take his chances to pass a few lines. If he did say so himself, that one was a good one.

But, riiiight, she’d want to go ahead and get down to business. Reno had figured that she wouldn’t know much about what was going on in this weird world, being all the way out here on her own. As usual, he was the one who knew all there was to know about the given situation…or he knew far more than probably most of the people who’d been pulled into Gran Pulse from another world would know. Looking all matter-of-fact as he took a few steps towards Cissnei and regarded the landscape around them with a gesture of his hand, Reno provided her with an answer. ”Well, ya might’ve figured this out already…but we ain’t on Gaia anymore.” He shook his head at some of the surroundings. ”This place is Pulse or Gran Pulse or whatever ya wanna call it, an’ apparently it’s screwed up somehow. Big surprise, eh? Some goddess died an’ time stopped an’ yadda yadda. Then we, an’ a bunch of other people, got brought here for some physics reason.” Clearly, that was the best explanation anyone could give about their situation. Clearly. Reno turned to regard his former teammate again. ”An’ it sounds like I’m your one source of information right now.”

noise, noise, any kind will do

TEMPLATE BY: THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE MIKEY ! @ CAUTION.

[Cissnei]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 400px; background-color: #171818; padding:20px; border-top: 10px #171818 solid; border-bottom: 10px #171818 solid;] repair your broken wings {WORDS } 754 {TAGGED } Reno {WEARING} Something! Cissnei didn’t turn her head to look at him when he made his quip about why she thought that they couldn’t have simply brought her in if they wanted to. And he was right to a degree she supposed. They were the Turks after all. It was hard to run from an enemy so powerful and so resourceful. There was one problem with that equation however. “I know because I do just as good a job as you.” If Cissnei had wanted to disappear – which she had wanted to – she could have, and did. Sure, they probably had bigger fish to fry given the whole Cloud and AVALANCHE situation, but she still knew that she had been careful all those years separated from ShinRa. It had taken living in constant paranoia, but she’d kept hidden away in the village in Wutai, teaching children for a modest living. Still, she’d had time to restart her brain during those years, give herself a new start – or so she had thought. The first sign of any actual response she had at seeing him or happiness for doing so only came after his comment about the fish. Of course Cissnei had wanted to find some sort of civilization, but she’d also been perfectly content to rest up before she made some sort of huge trek. Right after she commented on it though, Cissnei realized that she had probably said the wrong thing. Okay forget that, she had definitely said the wrong thing. From the smile she though was going to split his lips apart, she figured out that he instantly had some sort of fantasies about being tasted. God it had been too long. Even despite her warning him not to say anything, the moment he did opt to open his mouth, Cissnei rolled her eyes back annoyance – though she couldn’t make herself be really annoyed about it. It was just Reno being Reno after all. “I vote much later.”, she replied back, before pressing her fingers against her forehead. “Really Reno…scientific reasons? Have you really become a creeper in your old age? What are we, Hojo?” Well regardless of that, they had other important topics to discuss, like just where the hell they actually were. At least now he had stopped acting like he was going to ravish her right then and there for…’scientific reasons’ and had started to act like the second in command Reno that knew his job and was now doing it. “I’d figured we couldn’t be.”, she said in a response to his comment. While he continued the rest of what he was talking about, Cissnei sat down on her makeshift seat – really just a large boulder – and tried to digest it all. Damn. That just didn’t sound like it was a good situation at all. “Time stopped?”, she asked in surprise, her crimson gaze turning up to look at him, before gesturing over toward another boulder that could serve as a seat by her small – but building fire. She actually smiled again when he mentioned that he was the only one that she could get information from. “I suppose I won’t be able to let you get away then. So don’t misbehave or I’ll have to get the ropes out.” She was teasing him of course, but there again she obviously hadn’t been thinking when she said that either, since he would probably not mind that at all. Nearly groaning, Cissnei didn’t even try to take it back. It would be impossible now anyway. “Don’t…don’t comment about that either.”, she muttered out. {NOTES} None :3

table by CALIFORNIA DREAMING of CAUTION 2.0, lyrics by maroon 5

[Reno]

Life, life cannot go by the letter

time, time, prozac can make it better

TAG: CISSEH Words: 557

ONE LAST THING: Another bleh one!

”Pfft. Keep thinkin’ that!” Reno naturally wasn’t going to admit that there was a chance that Cissnei could be right that she was good enough to keep her distance from Shinra’s net, especially because he had no way of knowing either way. Heck, the bosses probably didn’t much care with Sephiroth and AVALANCHE and all that crap to deal with. A runaway Turk had to be the lowest problem on the totem pole, especially when so many Turks had left the organization before Cissnei anyway. Damn. It was still weird to think back to when there were enough Turks to cover every city on Gaia, especially now that there were four of them and they were basically all Shinra had left in terms of skilled manpower. And tiny blond with anger issues power. And now they were down another member – not to mention their heart and soul - with Reno stuck in this place! The Turks had all the skills but none of the luck, didn’t they? Reno sure as hell didn’t have any…what were the odds that he’d get stuck out here in this weird little world for absolutely no reason?

Well, the odds were apparently good enough for another Turk, even if she was a runaway, to get stuck here too. And Cissnei was really stuck, out here in the middle of nowhere. At least Reno had dropped right in on PSICOM’s heads and had some resources to work with. Cissnei had nothing out here…aside from a chance to talk to him. Reno was going to make sure that she got the most she could out of the conversation, especially if she was gonna start talking about tasting him. He held his hands up defensively at her questions. ”You’re the one that brought it up, now ya blame me? I think you’ve been away from me for so long that ya wanna make up for lost time. That makes you the creeper, Ciss…but ya don’t see me pointin’ fingers at you for it!” Reno tried his best to sound defensive and upset, but he was sure the sly look on his face kind of ruined the effect. Oh well! Cissnei had to like that look anyway.

Especially because she pretty much needed him desperately…not necessarily for tasting purposes, but because without him she’d be stuck out here in her little camp without knowing a dang thing about what was going on. Judging from what Reno had seen of Gran Pulse thus far, she could get killed not knowing anything. ”Aha, inviting me in now?”, he teased her, taking a few steps over towards the boulder she indicated and dropping himself loosely down onto it. His attempt to get comfortable suddenly ended when Cissnei mentioned she would bring out the ropes for him. Reno stopped to eye her, again looking all kinds of pleased with the situation. ”I don’t have to say anything at all. You took care of it nicely,” he said, reclining for effect. ”I don’t think it’s only my information that ya wanted...”

Reno knew when it was time to digress, though, and leaned forward again. ”So that’s what I know. Why don’t ya get out of this place an’ head back to the place where I learned all I know about this place? Might have a suit hangin’ around that’s your size…”

noise, noise, any kind will do

TEMPLATE BY: THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE MIKEY ! @ CAUTION.

[Cissnei]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 400px; background-color: #171818; padding:20px; border-top: 10px #171818 solid; border-bottom: 10px #171818 solid;] repair your broken wings {WORDS } 756 {TAGGED } Reno {WEARING} Something! Cissnei refused to comment when he once more taunted – or at least she thought he was taunting – her about whether or not she actually remained free from ShinRa’s grip because she had the skill set to do so, or if it was just that they didn’t care about them. She was adult enough to admit that what he said played a vital role in how she had remained under cover for so long. If ShinRa had wanted them dead that badly, she had no doubt that she would have had to continue to run from them – perhaps even run forever. But she was also firm in the belief that she could have stayed one step ahead of the organization without too much of a problem. That was a dangerous game to be playing however, and she was glad that she hadn’t had to play it for long. Regardless of that though, Cissnei though that ShinRa had absolutely no arms reach here, and if that were indeed the case, then she needn’t worry about running any longer. There was that little nagging voice in the back of her head that continued to warn her however. And what it said was true – ShinRa had never needed any actual warrant to take whatever it was they wanted As always, it was hard to remain completely serious – even if she would rather so – when Reno was around. It seemed as if she was rusty in her knowledge on how to deal with Reno. At least the slip ups she was making said as much. Twice now, she was going to have to start reining in what she said if she wanted to actually continue the serious conversation and not get one that consisted of seventy five perfect innuendos. “Alright, so it was.”, she finally conceded just to let it pass, because she was sure if she continued to not take the blame for his state of mind he would continue to deny that he had anything to do with it. And so she readily took the blame if it meant being able to figure out what was happening faster. Motioning for him to join her, Cissnei settled on her seat and watched him sharply, all the while playing it off as if she wasn’t watching him. If anyone would know better, it would be him, but she didn’t want to blatantly stare – and she didn’t quite fully trust him not to pull anything. “If you promise to be good, I might even give you something to eat. That is if you like fish, I haven’t quite got the desire to eat any of the other creatures that call this place home.” Cissnei swallowed the comment she would have made back on only wanting information, and instead sent him one of her looks – one that had given her the nickname ‘mommy Turk’ back in ShinRa. His invitation was more welcoming than he realized, but Cissnei hesitated and reached down to pick up a stick that had settled beside her. She just…didn’t know. With a long sigh, she took that stick and poked around at the embers that were starting to form in her fire, stirring it up a little more. “Alright, so where exactly did you come from?” The mention of a suit got to her as well, causing her to shift slightly in her makeshift seat. A suit would be nice…especially since she hadn’t exactly had the best clothing in her time here. But she just wasn’t sure… {NOTES} AAAND ANOTHER ONE GONE AND ANOT-...eerr..

table by CALIFORNIA DREAMING of CAUTION 2.0, lyrics by maroon 5

[Reno]

Life, life cannot go by the letter

time, time, prozac can make it better

TAG: CISSEH Words: 552

ONE LAST THING: Bleh again!

”Food for me?,” Reno rhetorically asked the former Turk, glancing around at the place where they were both sitting for effect before his eyes turned back to focus on her, confused. ”I was gonna offer you somethin’ to eat, with ya livin’ out here in the middle of nowhere with nothin’ but a bunch of slimy fish an’…earthworms to eat.” He again looked to the camp incredulously. ”We got plenty of food back at the base I’m workin’ at….” For effect, he leaned back and let the words sink in, his best idea for tempting the little lady into his obvious offer of the food he was getting daily as a part of his PSICOM diet. The fact that Reno was devouring all of the food PSICOM could put in front of him was probably why he avoided being grumpy like the majority of people who worked for them. Of course, bringing that up wasn’t remotely relevant to the conversation with Cissnei, especially if he wanted to try to tempt her into going back with him and grabbing herself another one of those suits that she looked pretty damn good in back in the day. ”Think about it…whole plate of nice, warm, not-slimy food for ya to eat wheeeever ya want it. If I’d been stuck in a camp for…however long you’ve been here, that would sound like a preeeetty good deal to me.” He feigned boredom to make it not seem painfully obvious that he genuinely wanted to tote her right back to PSICOM along with him. Eh, she was probably smart enough to figure it out, but he could most definitely try the subtle route…since Reno was always so good at subtle.

He could tell by her sigh and desire to pay more attention to her little fire than to him that his offer wasn’t the worst thing she’d ever heard. From behind his flopping, red bangs, he stayed silent to study her for a few seconds. So maybe he didn’t feel the greatest about what she’d been put through after Zack Fair died and all that, but it was always gonna be part of the job for intelligence agents. Reno was willing to partake in that…less appealing part of Shinra work. But thinking about it, if she was still bothered about that part of her career that led to…bad things happening, wasn’t that more incentive for her to get back into work that she couldn’t get emotionally attached with while giving her a chance to…uh…make up for running off from Shinra? Something like that, at least.

She spoke again, triggering Reno to give her a lazy smile and start to explain. He had her riiight in the palm of his hand! ”The way it is, there’s some guys that want to fix this whole time problem by sittin’ around pointin’ at books, an’ then there’s some that want to actually go out an’ get things fixed. Ya know, I’m not too big on books.” He made a wide shrugging gesture, cocking his head. ”Gettin’ out an’ doin’ somethin’ active to get back to Gaia…I dunno, sounds better than sittin’ around in a camp to me. They got a nice, big headquarters on that planet hoverin’ on the other side of the planet, just like Shinra, but without the baggage.”

noise, noise, any kind will do

TEMPLATE BY: THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE MIKEY ! @ CAUTION.

[Cissnei]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 400px; background-color: #171818; padding:20px; border-top: 10px #171818 solid; border-bottom: 10px #171818 solid;] repair your broken wings {WORDS } 745 {TAGGED } Reno {WEARING} Something! She had to admit that food cooked in a kitchen sounded amazing, but of course, she hadn’t made up her mind to go with him quite yet, if she ever would. Slightly shrugging one shoulder, Cissnei turned her lips up into a real smile and glanced at him. “Maybe I developed a taste for slimy fish and earthworms in my time hiding from you in Wutai.” It wasn’t true of course, she’d had wonderful food in her time there, but knowing Reno he’d probably believe her. “Then again, I may have developed a taste for that sooner in life, when I was working as a Turk.” It was definitely true that they didn’t always have the ability to eat wonderful food when they were chasing down psychopaths that wanted to burn the world. Some trashy little side vendor that had mystery substance they passed off as food and a minute to eat it on the run was usually how that had went for them. She could still remember the moments they would pick to complain about that when the mission had turned stale and they were waiting for another lead. That seemed worlds away now, literally she supposed. By turning her attention on the fire and resting her eyes solely on that, Cissnei gave herself a few extra moments to actually think. She finally had her opportunity she supposed, to go with an actual destination. She had only remained here to get her energy back up to par after being weakened from crawling around in those caves without any sort of food for so long. That coupled with not knowing where she was going, or even if there was anything out there had kept her rooted in her current location. But now that she actually had someone that was telling her that there was actual life out there and he knew where it was, Cissnei knew she couldn’t let this opportunity go. Besides that, she wasn’t heartless, and she had missed her family – the only family she had ever known, Reno included. As much guilt as she felt, that was being overridden by her desire to be around at least one person she knew. She would need to find out more about this whole situation he had mentioned though. And so instead of answering his pleadings for her to come back with him disguised as temptations of food, she turned her attention toward that subject and her questions revolving it. “Heh, no, you never were big on books.”, she agreed. After listening to his explanation, Cissnei felt unsure again. “Nothing is ever without baggage…” Resting her chin on her palm, she thought about it a few moments more, before removing her hand and gesturing in a sign of giving up. “But you win. They sure had better have a suit my size Reno, or I might just stomp back out to my camp.”, she threatened. With that, Cissnei tossed her stick in the fire and stood up. Now that she had made the decision she was eager to get it done. Or perhaps her eagerness was more tuned toward a hot shower, new clothes, and a freshly cooked meal. Picking up her shuriken and gun, Cissnei tucked the one in her waistline, eying her companion while she did so. “Did any of the others make it? Rude? Tseng?” {NOTES} MWUAHAHA OFF TO PSICOM TOWN

table by CALIFORNIA DREAMING of CAUTION 2.0, lyrics by maroon 5

[Reno]

Life, life cannot go by the letter

time, time, prozac can make it better

TAG: CISSEH Words: 786

ONE LAST THING: I had some muse this time! HECK YES MAYNE.

He knew what she was trying to do. She was trying to be facetious. Reno fixed her with a hard attempt at a displeased gaze – it was hard when she was smiling like that, especially – to discourage her. It probably wasn’t working. ”If ya had shitty food for that long, why wouldn’t ya want somethin’ good, then?” Taking on a dreamy act, Reno leaned back and stared off into the sky, not having to convince his mouth into watering as he thought of all kinds of delicious foods he could rattle off to her. People typically thought he didn’t eat much to keep his very much well-cut and attractive form looking so good, but Reno had learned a long time ago, before he’d joined the Turks, that food wasn’t a thing to be wasted. It was a thing to be really, carefully enjoyed…like the company of a good-looking woman, of course. ”Just thiiiink about it, Ciss. Crispy, lemon-kissed fish; some big, tender green vegetables; miles and miles of velvety chocolate; nothin’ with a pound of slime sittin’ on top of it…” Yeah, PSICOM didn’t exactly give out that kind of food every day of the week, but to Reno, their usual meals were pretty damn good too. He cast the same dreamy eyes on her. ”An’ your best friend Reno around for dessert. What more could ya want?” Sealing the deal with a wink, he leaned forward in his seat again, casting sly eyes on her and probably doing a good job of not seeming as if he was thinking of her in miles and miles of chocolate…

He could tell that he had her brain working, though, when she went silent, and for once in his life Reno knew when it was time to shut up for a few seconds and let Cissnei convince herself that joining PSICOM was a good idea. Reno tried to keep his eyes away for a few seconds, going back to twirling his binoculars in his hand as he waited. Oh, she’d come along with him one way or another, that much he knew. He wasn’t going to force her into anything...maybe. She was small; he could probably throw her over his shoulder and get going back to Bhunivelze in a jiffy. It’d be all the more fun if she tried to fight back, too. But, to be honest, he kind of wanted her to want to get back into the swing of things so he could have the entertainment of having a partner he knew again, and a partner who was automatically more fun to be around than…stone-faced PSICOM women, even if Cissnei could be a little stone-faced herself sometimes. At least she wasn’t a bitch about it, unlike certain people who walked around in their snug little PSICOM battle suits and still got pissy when a guy decided to look at the most snug of places. Why dress like that if a close inspection was illegal!?

Hmm, maybe Ciss would want to wear one of those combat suits…

He rattled off answers to her questions, glad he didn’t have to wait any longer without saying anything. The grin Reno produced as it seemed like he had her right on the brink of agreement changed to a ”Hell yes…sounds to me like the Turks are back in business!” when she finally agreed to his proposition. Popping up with a suitably Reno-like wink to her, he studied her up and down. ”I’m sure we can find ya a suit that brings out your best…” He chose to blatantly glance at a feature she wore well, just above her legs, as she reached for her weapons. ”…assets.” Looking again at her miserable little camp, he trotted over to prop a foot where she’d been sitting. ”I left the car riiiiight over there,” he said, pointing to the little outlay of rocks where he’d previously been spying on her and not bothering to mention that it was pretty much a tank that he’d…taken from the PSICOM hangar without so much as saying anything to anyone aside from a sheepish engineer. Figuring they’d get going, Reno fixed Cissnei with a glance before turning and trotting off in the right direction, hands finding their way into his pockets as she asked about the others.

”Nah,” he answered her, about Rude and Tseng. Reno clearly didn’t have enough awkward silence and raven-haired flower girl addicts in his life at the moment. ”’member Teag, though? She popped up outta nowhere an’ joined right up. She an’ I were never close like the two of us.” He swung an arm over Cissnei’s shoulder just to reinforce the point. ”But I did always like the way she handled…shotguns.”

noise, noise, any kind will do

TEMPLATE BY: THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE MIKEY ! @ CAUTION.