(no subject)

[midgarhorizon]

Characters: Reno, and you
Setting: Floor 76 - The Greenhouse, Jan 8th
Format: Either
Summary: Catch all for post-event things. Fall out goes further than battles won and battles lost.
Warnings: Mentions of a lot of things possibly in the future, tba (At least some blood)




A victory didn't mean they had won. It had taken years and a tower full of horrors for Reno to learn that. Everyone had died who had been involved. So many people that had trusted and fought for something they believed in, wiped out with barely a thought. People that trusted him fell because of he hadn't been good enough. At least, that's what he thought.

For days he had been avoiding people, even going to the hotel floor when he needed to sleep and have it mean something, so that's why he was able to stay out of his room for so long. His current haunt was the greenhouse, finding a strange comfort in the fake but poisonous plants that filled the place. He just, needed time to think, to go over everything in his head to make sure there had been nothing else he could do. But every time he did, he became convinced that there had been, if he had just protected them, some way, they would have made it.

He had failed them, and there was no forgiveness for that.

This day, he's sitting on a bench clear of plants, still wearing the same bloodstained clothes he had worn during the war. Arms wrapped around his middle and finger pulling at his lower lip, he thinks he's alone here. It isn't one of his usual haunts and nobody came here. A trip to the sauna had dealt with most of the dirt from the disaster, but his clothes were permanently stained with the blood of friend, enemy, and himself. It's fitting, metaphorically and literally, that he stayed bloodstained.

Comments

[provenworth]

[Since the disappearance of the plague doctors, Elena has been busy searching the Tower for Reno. She had come to learn that when things turned for the worse and plans ended up in failure, Reno liked to retreat into himself and into the Tower. She had pulled the Turks together and made a plan for each to work in pairs and search the floor in quadrants every day.

When a strategic search didn't appear to work, tactics changed and she encouraged the team to search places they would suspect to find Reno. Places he liked to frequent. Then work backwards to areas he would be less likely to be. Which had, eventually, brought Elena to the Greenhouse floor. She herself rarely came to the floor, having no need to visit or investigate. But with a missing husband and Director, she figured she ought to give it a shot.

And its that random shot in the dark that proves most fruitful. Elena had barely started her search of the floor when she finds him seated, bloodstained, curled around himself, with a distant expression on his face. She's hardly in a better state than he is, covered in a blood mix that is part plague doctor and part hers. The sleeve of her left arm is scrunched up over her elbow, the lower part of the arm wrapped in a splint and resting in a makeshift sling, and a large gash on her cheek is held closed by medical tape and covered by a large piece of gauze that's faintly pink in the center.]

....So this is where you've been hiding.

[Her tone isn't angry, in fact she sounds amused that he's done so well in playing an unannounced game of 'Hide and Seek'. But her expression doesn't match her voice, giving him a look of disapproving concern.]

You're not an easy man to find.

[midgarhorizon]

[Eyes flick up to watch her approach, impassive. It figures it would be Elena that finds him first, and her being the person he most of all wanted to avoid...

Sighing, he stretches his legs out and shakes his head, going without comment to the accusation. It's true, and intentional.]

You're a mess.

[And that is the first thing he says to her in... really, he's lost count of the days since he did see her last. Was it a week ago, or a few days?]

...What did you want, El?

[provenworth]

So are you.

[Its not exactly how she thought he'd respond to her arrival. Then again, a part of her had wondered if she expected anything different. She stops a foot from where long legs finally ended with his feet, her good arm bending, putting her hand on her hip.]

You've had your time to be miserable and be by yourself, but now its time for you get up and get back to work. We have plenty to do and all the Turks have been searching the Tower for you the last few days. I think they'd feel a lot better knowing that you are doing all right, even if you have been avoiding us.

[fionnuisce]

No one really did come there, generally speaking. On the other hand, the laboratory had the tendency to get crowded with a handful or two of people. (At least, too crowded for Waver's tastes. So today he had the same idea as Reno but for different purposes.

Purposes which were almost immediately forgotten the minute he noticed Reno and his bloodstained clothes.

"What the fuck happened to you--are you injured? How bad is it?" Rough wording aside, Waver did sound genuinely concerned.

[midgarhorizon]

Looking down at the stains, Reno blinks for a moment before realizing what exactly Waver was going on about. "Injured- oh, no. 's just stains. I was."

At least he's not asking where he's been or demanding he go down and rejoin the humanity on the lower floors. Or is it humanity? They came from all kinds of worlds and some weren't even human. Could a couple of people, humans and non-humans alike be called "humanity?" Even if it could happen, they probably hardly counted, being resurrected like so many toys on a whim. The idea made Reno laugh softly, but abruptly stopped when he realized he didn't sound quite right, laughing out of the blue at his own thoughts.

"What're you doin' up here, Waver?"

[fionnuisce]

Once the pressing issue of whether or not Reno was seriously wounded had passed, the lecturer frowned and narrowed his eyes at the laughter. He wasn't exactly Professor Social Skills, but even he could tell something wasn't quite adding up here.

"I was going to attempt getting some work done on my own. The laboratory gets a little too popular on occasion. What about you?"

[savedbyasong]

Shion doesn't look too happy when he sees Reno, his eyes terrified as he looks him over, looking for injuries that could have gotten infected because it didn't look like Reno had sought any help at all. Shion hadn't seen him, and he had spent the days after the fight helping those who were injured. He had been so busy that he hadn't seen Reno in a while, and it wasn't until he went looking that he realised Reno hadn't wanted to be found.

Once he was certain that there was nothing of immediate concern to deal with he walked forward and handed Reno a pile of clothes. "You need to get changed."

[midgarhorizon]

"Shion..." Reno didn't take the pile of clothes yet, wondering why Shion had been walking around the Tower with a change of clothes on his person. It's the kind of thing he would do though. The kid was prepared for everything, could fight, hide, research, paperwork, anything he needed to. Reno was proud of the kid.

[savedbyasong]

"Reno." He held out the clothes again, he had been looking for Reno. After looking in Reno's room and coming to the conclusion that Reno had not been there for a while, the clothing need had been an educated guess.

"You need to get changed." He repeated, his voice soft but no nonsense.

[oathshackledbird]

"You look like you need this. Thank Shion when you see him next," a familiar bottle of homemade alcohol comes to rest against Reno's shoulder from behind. "He gave it to me after Elena rounded us all up and asked us to look for you."

Diarmuid steps around the bench to sit next to Reno, bottle still held out, "Were you there or did you just come across the aftermath?"

To be honest, Diarmuid isn't sure which would have been worse. It had been a while since the end of the fight and so plenty of rumors about what had happened were circulating through the Tower. While the details varied, the result was always the same. Jason escaped. Everyone else died. Finding them all...

He shakes his head, refocusing at the miserable man sitting next to him, "It's not your fault. Whatever you're telling yourself. It's not."

It's a shot in the dark, but his guesses about Reno have been pretty accurate for the most part so far, so Diarmuid doesn't think he is that far off now. Besides, not long ago, he had been he person who had gotten many following him killed.

That urge to hide someplace quiet and away from everyone else is a familiar feeling...

[midgarhorizon]

"I failed everybody." Grabbing the bottle, he pulled the cap off without ceremony and took a long drink from it. "I got injured and went in too late. My orders were wrong. I don't know what I'm doin' and I don't have the experience to do it anyway. That's pretty much my fault."

[oathshackledbird]

"You weren't a leader before you came here, Reno, and to be honest, I get the feeling it is a role you would not have willingly chosen for yourself. Still, you were brave enough to take it because someone had to, but that means learning how to lead from scratch," Diarmuid watches Reno drink from the bottle for a moment and then looks out over the greenhouse.

"Leadership isn't something that can be learned from a book, though. It can only be learned through experience. However, that means going into battles unprepared. That means making mistakes. That means suffering loss and having lapses in judgment," he glances back at the red-head next to him. "You're not doing anything that a hundred leaders before you haven't done. Leaders bear heavy burdens. They bear the pain you are feeling now. The hopelessness, the fear, the sharp sting of failure. They bear it so their soldiers don't have to."

"As much as it hurts, feeling what you feel right now is not a sign you are a failed leader. It is a sign you are leading the way it should be done, in the way that it must be done."

[attheclocktower]

[Given that she hadn't seen him for days, Xion had gotten the impression that Reno didn't want to be found. Either that, or he was gone back for a visit home... Both possibilities had been worrisome enough in enough on their own. But when she went to the graveyard floor and found a certain someone's name - in addition to Terra's and Aqua's a few days earlier - it pushed her to check.

He was already there once. If he left, he wouldn't leave another grave, would he?

When she finally finds him, she lets out a breath she hadn't even realized she'd been holding and steps forward, almost hesitantly.

In the end she sits down next to him, close enough she can lean over and bump shoulders very slightly. A quiet reminder, more for herself, that he's there and solid. And maybe a nudge to remind him that she's there for him too.]

[midgarhorizon]

[Reno wraps an arm around her shoulders, giving her a squeeze. So far she's the only one that's just... sat with him. Not yelled at him for being stupid or shutting himself away. The gesture is touching, and he realizes just how much he had needed it. Reno might be able to hide the shaking, but there's no way he could hide the deep sigh and hitched breath.]

...Who is it now?

[attheclocktower]

[Xion jumps a little in surprise. She hadn't expected him to guess, right off the bat like that. A moment later though, her shoulders slump and she bows her head, leaning into the sort of hug he's giving her.]

Roxas.

[There's something resigned, defeated, in her voice. They hadn't had much time to talk or bond this time, and he hadn't stayed very long last time either. She's afraid, afraid of what Ruana does to those who leave. But it's nothing more than a generous dollop on top of the fear she feels already, for Fey, for Yu, and all the others who've gone.

It's a different kind of grieving. She isn't crying. She's just... quiet.]

[puppy_lancer]

[Lancer had wandered into the greenhouse by chance. The knowledge that not even their lives were enough to stop Jason had sent him into a sulky mood for the past couple of days. Right now, he was just drifting around, without much of his usual energy.]

[As he steps through the floor, he spots Reno, dressing in his bloodstained shirt.]

...Woah, man, you alright there?

[midgarhorizon]

Yeah.

[Reno got the feeling that it would be awkward for the next few months until he could get some better clothes.]

This place isn't that easy on clothes.

[puppy_lancer]

[He waves his hand in front of his nose to dispel the smell of blood.]

Tell me about it. I see people making themselves and others new suits all the time.

[nordic_dovahkiin]

[Brunwulf had his gaze fixed in front of him when he entered the greenhouse. He can come to see if he could find some herbs to mix a decent enough health potion. A Restore Health back in his own world. He had become injured many times when hunting, fishing or fighting monsters. Herbs were always useful when he could find them.

He walked past a few plants and wondered if they could be any use, but then he spotted Reno sitting on a bench. Was he alright? He seemed injured, there was blood.]

Reno? Are you alright? What did this to you?

[midgarhorizon]

Yeah, I'm fine. Just had a rough time down during the little war there.

[Rubbing at one of the stains, it stayed stubbornly stuck there.]

...Some of those masked creeps got me, but that was a while ago.

[nordic_dovahkiin]

Those masked monsters? Such evil invaded the castle and many casualties I saw with my own eyes. [He frowned.]

Do you need healing?

[bashfulshifter]

[It's been a few weeks since he's seen Reno around, and Rick is starting to get worried. As he does. True, sometimes the Turk gets busy with other things and he doesn't hear from him for a few days, but just when he thinks he's safe to relax the man always seems to sneak up on him again. Perhaps Rick has gotten to the point where he exercises enough on his own, such that Reno doesn't feel he has to hound him so much.]

[With what's happened recently, however, Rick suspects it isn't so simple or pleasant. Surely Reno would have planned some kind of offensive--one that the depowered shapeshifter was too miserable to participate in and is rapidly starting to regret. Did Jason take people with him? Is he not reviving them anymore? Where could he have gone?]

[Not home, said the Graveyard, so he's likely around but hidden. Rick hasn't had the foresight to ever search for Reno before, so he's not aware of his usual haunts; instead he goes through every floor that isn't extremely dangerous and looks in the normal way: ]

...R-Reno? Hello?

[Not exactly the most thorough sweep, but there are a lot of floors to cover and he isn't sure what else to do. It takes long enough getting to floor 76, and from its description on Diarmuid's Tower guide Rick is anxious not to stick around. Still, he and Tristan give it the same treatment of the others, wander partway inside and call...Reno is far enough in that Rick hasn't caught sight of him yet.]

[midgarhorizon]

[Reno is wondering if Rick is just lucky or if he can really see him there. It's weird enough that he shifts in his seat, trying to look over at the staircase.

It's not one of those shadows, is it?]

[gradosfinest]

[The Greenhouse. Amelia was pretty sure she'd never really looked at this floor before, and the only reason she'd even come by it this time was because she was in the middle of attempting to run the Tower staircase in her newly regained armor, the tremendous weight of it turning climbing the Tower into a rather impressive workout. And there is what Elena said as well, so when she halts her ascent on account of needing a moment to catch her breath, what better floor to look for Reno on than the one she just stopped on?

It does take a bit, the young soldier moving somewhat cautiously while silently regretting her decision to check this floor. The intense humidity of the greenhouse is not the most comfortable atmosphere to be in when you're wearing an incredibly heavy suit of armor, and while she thinks she's alone she can't help but mutter a couple of curses under her breath. She doesn't think she's likely to run into her boss, but perhaps she's just lucky this particular day because soon enough...

When she spots him she pauses for a moment, not entirely sure how to go about approaching him. Folding her hands behind her back in an attempt to look about as professional and knightly as she can, she quietly clears her throat before actually speaking up, figuring she should talk first to make it clear who she actually is under that armor.]

... I'd ask if you're alright, sir, but that's probably a stupid question. [People didn't vanish for days on end if they were fine.]

[midgarhorizon]

[Amelia seems to just be getting all the respect points lately, but he still stares a little at her impressive suit of armor.]

No, not really. There's a lot I have to answer for.