towerofanimus | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Characters: Reno, Shion, (closed)
Setting: Room 2-12
Format: Prose (I think that's our default.)
Summary: Reno goofs and Shion figures out some things about his roommate
Warnings: Uh I'll let you know.

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Reno was rummaging around in his trunk for a towel, tossing up a few other things on his bed in the process. It was getting to be a mess in that trunk; his uniforms were unfolding and draped over other things; stuff getting caught in other stuff. Giving a snort of disgust, he pulled out a towel and put it on the bed before trying to straighten a few things at least. He would have to go back over it later, but right now it was shower time.

Closing the trunk, he sighed and straightened, tossing the towel over his shoulder with a change of clothing. "Hey, Shion," he didn't even look up to check, walking over to the door, "I'm gonna be out for a while." Then he was gone.

His trunk wasn't, though, sitting there with the lid only half closed and socks hanging out of it. The corner of Reno's locked notebook was even visible, but there was something wrong with it. The lock didn't seem totally latched.

Now, how could Reno go and do a careless thing like that?

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Shion was lay on his bed reading, outside of working there wasn't actually that much to do here. At least his room was safe, the monsters didn't enter the rooms at all, a fact Shion was glad of even if he didn't understand why.

He nodded at Reno's words and looked away from his book. Reno's corner of the room was a mess. Shion shook his head and got up, going over to begin tidying it up.

He folded the uniforms and the clothes up. Reno had a lot of things and it took a while. Soon the trunk was organised though, he went to close it but realised something had fallen out. Picking it up he saw it was a book. He opened it, not even thinking that it could be private and began to read. He read the files on the various people here and flicked back a bit further, reading the ideas Reno had on the collars and then further still to a time before Reno was in the tower.

What he read shocked him and he was completely lost in the words, sat on the floor beside Reno's trunk.

When Reno came back, his hair was wet and wearing the extra change of clothing he took with him, the towel under his arm. He found Shion like that, his notebook open. His notebook. What the hell happened? He couldn't believe Shion would snoop like that.

"Hey uh," he started, realizing Shion might not have heard him come in. "What are you doing?"

Shion hadn't heard him but he glanced up. "Oh... erm..." He blushed and pointed to the trunk, "It was a mess..."

He just stood there for a moment, the fact that Shion had his report book finally sinking in. "A mess?"

With a swift movement, he stalked over to Shion and grabbed the book up, snapping it closed and locking it. As it should have been.

"Why were you reading this?" Reno asked, his usual demeanor completely gone. It was like another man had replaced the one Shion knew- serious and ready for anything, and even slightly dangerous.

Shion blinked as he book was snatched out of his hand and stood up watching Reno warily, confusion flickering over his face. In this Reno could he see the person who would do such things as had been written in the book. Shion was a little scared, he didn't know Reno that well. But still he didn't think he would hurt him.

"It fell out the trunk... I'm sorry if I was not meant to..."

This was pretty bad, and the worst part was he suspected it was his own fault. Reno was worried with what Shion might do now. His identity as a Turk wasn't something he had wanted out in the tower, and yet now Shion knew who and what he was.

"It's got a lock on it for a reason." His voice was calm and steady, though inside he was more tense. The fingers gripping the book were a little white. He paused, scanning Shion's face. "What did you read?"

Shion looked down, "I'm sorry Reno, I didn't realise..." He looked up again meeting Reno's eyes.

"A few things..."

That was enough to know Shion had read plenty.

Reno let out a sigh. "Look, Shion..." What was he going to do now? Kill the kid? Granted, that wasn't hard to do here but... there had to be another choice. "It'd be better if you forgot anything you read."

Shion's eyes flickered to him, he didn't think he could forget what he had read. He had a very good memory, things he read or studied stayed with him for a very long time and he couldn't just forget something like that.

"I can't..." He answered truthfully, "I wont speak of it if you wish but I can't forget it either..."

Was Shion being literal again? Reno shook his head. "Whaddya mean you can't?"

Okay, time to calm down a little. He took in a deep breath and focused. "How can I trust you to not say anything, anyway? I caught you snooping in my trunk. I didn't exactly want anyone to know this stuff!"

Edited 2012-04-01 18:09 (UTC)

"I can't... I wont be able to forget what I read..." He looked down again, sadened that he had lost his roommates trust. "I'm sorry... I was just tidying and the book was there... I didn't see the lock... But I wont tell anyone." He didn't know how to make Reno understand that he was sincere, that he wouldn't tell anyone what he had read.

It honestly hadn't occurred to Reno that Shion might have a photographic memory. Still, that didn't make him feel any better. "Ok, I just want to make this clear..." He held the book in front of him, waving it around. "Book equals lots of information that could get me killed. So book, plus you, equals bad. Got it?"

Sigh. He had no other idea how to get through to Shion. "So if you say anything, that's me getting killed."

Shion looked down on the floor at Reno's words, he could understand after reading how the book held information which could be dangerous to his room mate. He hadn't known Reno for long and so he also understand why his room he didn't trust him.

And then Shion realised just how much he had breached is roommates trust by going through his book. Shion was nosy, he knew this about himself. He knew so little about the world that he could not help but to seek knowledge where he could. Even here in this town in a completely different world to his own he wished to learn.

Reno was his room mate and his friend and so Shion was interested in him, Who he was and what his life had been like before he had been brought to this tower. What he had read had worried him, but also interested him because it seemed like there was much more to Reno than he had known before.

"I won't say anything, I wouldn't put you in danger." He fell silent and looked at the floor before speaking again. "But I want to know... Why... Why did you do those things?"

By the time Shion spoke again, Reno had turned to place the notebook back in his trunk. At his words, however, he paused and looked back at the other man. Studying him for the moment, Reno turned over the idea of actually telling him in his mind.

Shion already knew the what. Was it really that much more damaging to tell him the why, too? He glanced down at the book. It really was a report book, not a "why this is going to happen and what I think about it book." Maybe he was getting a skewed idea.

After tucking the book inside his trunk at last, Reno straightened to his full height and sighed. "Why do you think anyone would do things like that? I didn't have any other choice. The terrorists were mounting a high death toll and damaging integral city facilities." That covered Sector 7, anyway. "And, to tell the truth, we were on Shinra's shit list. Big time. If we even stepped a toe out of line, the President could have gotten us killed easily."

What about Don Corneo? Taking him down had actually been fun, if slightly annoying since it had to happen in the middle of his vacation. "As for the Don, he got exactly what he deserved. The guy was a slumlord, head of the lower mafia, and a rapist on top of that."

Folding his arms, he waited for Shion's reaction. "That about cover it?"

Shion had no idea what would make someone do something like that, but he also knew he knew very little about the world and he wanted to. Wanted to understand and so he listened. He couldn't imagine having no choice but to kill people, surely there was always a choice. Always a kinder way...

"There weren't just terrorists there though right? Normal people lived there as well?" His tone wasn't judging, he truly wanted to understand and at the moment he didn't. He didn't understand why Reno had felt he had no choice but to kill a whole section of a city.

This was something he often had to justify for himself, so it was no surprise his way of explaining it was full of reaching for straws. The truth was he did feel guilty. He felt guilty about it every single day, the only difference from day to day was the ease with which he lived with it.

"None of those people living there were innocent. The recon we did down there revealed they were all helping the terrorists." That did not explain the people who lived on top of the plate, however, but those people had worked for Shinra. What did the terrorists care of that? "Look, Shion. If a few people had to die so a lot of people could live, would you have done it? And if it was the choice between you or something you cared about gettin' that burden, who would you choose?"

Shion shook his head, frowning. He wanted to believe that Reno had made the only choice he could. But he also knew that there was always another way. Killing whole groups of people... no matter their guilt or innocence...

He couldn't believe that everyone had been guilty... But he did not know Reno's world. He barely knew his own but he did know people had to make tough choices. Killing everyone though... that was not a choice Shion would make...

"I don't know..." He shook his head, "I don't know your world but surely there was another way, why should some people have to die for others to live..."

Reno turned away, making a frustrated noise. He wasn't getting through, not that he really expected Shion to understand. Only another turk could really understand, he thought. Someone who had been there through all of it. He had made a mistake getting too close to Shion. That wasn't going to happen again.

"Why don't you ask AVALANCHE that?" He said, heading for the door, arms folded. "They seemed just fine with trying to kill every living person in the world just because they thought it'd keep the planet alive."

Shion was trying to understand, he really was. But he did not see how you could rationalise killing people just because some other people didn't die. All people were equal and so all deaths meant the same.

He didn't know who or what AVALANCHE were but that sounded wrong... why would they try and kill everyone to save the planet...

"What good would that do? Why would... Is that who you were fighting?"

"Heh," Reno paused just before leaving, giving him a cocky smirk. Something at the back of his head niggled at him about Shion. "Kid, do you even know how to hate?" And then he left, not expecting any answer.

Shion blinked at him as he left the room not knowing what to say. He stared at the door for a long while. It sounded like something Nezumi would say, Do you even know how to hate?

Shion wasn't sure he did. Had he ever felt hate enough that he would murder? Anger yes but hate? Hate enough that it would last beyond a moment...

There was so much he still didn't understand and this was part of it. He wasn't sure that he wanted to.

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