towerofanimus | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Characters: Reno/Sparky, open
Setting: Sunday the 20th
Format: Prose OR action
Summary: Trying blatantly to ignore the horror of seeing his planet totally lifeless, Reno tries to go about life as normal- as it can get in the Tower.
Warnings: Broken people

Cafeteria

After his wake up in the tower again after visiting the home world, Reno had been shaken but forced it back down. Shion hadn't been in sight and he had focused on that. This morning, however, he sat at a table wearing his black shirt and pants, hair unbound, staring off into the distance and trying to process everything he had seen since Jason had sent him back.

One of the questions he had running around in his mind was why had they brought him back. He almost would have rather stayed. Everyone he knew had died, everything he knew was gone, save for this Tower- and the Tower was hardly the place he wanted to call his new home. It shouldn't have been him. There were better people that they could have saved, though even that he was torn on. The Tower was just so awful.

Call it survivor's guilt, or call it trauma, or stress or anything. Tried as he might to push it away, it was coming back to bite him in the ass this morning.

Floor 25 - Meadow

Much later, he was feeling a bit better, if still raw around the edges. The enormity of actually being there still hadn't hit him, not fully anyway, and he knew when it did, there was a distinct possibility he might go crazy. In the mean time, a routine was good, and he felt better sticking to something that was at least somewhat familiar by now. Besides, people were relying on him.

He showed up at the meadow for his usual training session, wondering if anyone else would come out of habit or stopped when he had gone home. It didn't matter either way, he was warming up, needing to do something other than think for a while.

Floor 32 - Forage Island

It was about a lunch time, if someone took their lunch late, and he was wandering the island on what was now Floor 32. He wandered around for a while, since this was a place he didn't get much time to explore after it appeared.

It kind of reminded him of the forests around Gongaga. Just about the time he realized that, he spotted a small cluster of berries.

Foood? Maybe, and it would be something more interesting than nutrient bars, but knowing this place? It was probably poisoned or would turn his insides out. Still- there was an idea.

Contemplating the different things he found, he started gathering some and putting them in his pockets to sort out later. Maybe he could find someone who knew how to identify these things.

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That was slightly odd behavior, not that Hojo was truly one to judge someone else for odd behavior. He couldn't see why the man would threaten him with vigilance and violence on one occasion, then ignore him the next.

Hojo would gladly have taken the credit for the white light if he could have, but he wasn't sure it was one of his results. He wasn't sure what to make of it all. Yet.

He plucked a berry to take for a sample, then paused to label the vial. This was rather low work--but he needed a basis for his study here, and he wanted to take the measure of every floor, one by one. Some were quite dangerous, and he'd been injured, but so far, he hadn't died.

He would have liked more samples from Gaians, but casting a sleep spell was too risky, even if the man's behavior was odd. "I wonder if your surveillance, such as it is, has been effective. My work is progressing... Which is all for the good."

Oh, Shiva. The hallucination was talking to him. It was talking to him. It was true, he was cracking up.

As if to test this theory, Reno tried looking everywhere but Hojo, and headed back to the staircase, then suddenly turned around as if to catch the hallucination disappearing.

No luck. It was still there.

Blinking, he walked right up to Hojo and tentatively reached out with a finger and poked him.

It was solid.

"Fuckinghellyou'rereal." The turk backpedaled and tripped over a tree root, right into a bush. Flailing around, he got back to his feet and leaned against a tree trunk, wiping his finger off on the bark.

Considering this increasingly erratic behavior, Hojo was on the verge of attempting to incapacitate Reno. He could shoot him, or use his Seal Materia. Once Reno was incapacitated, he could either gather samples or inject him with Jenova (that is, his own blood, full of Jenova cells, as he wouldn't want to waste a pure sample)--or both.

He tilted his head slightly to one side as these thoughts passed through his mind. There was no one else here... It was only the thought of reprisal and the possibility of having his work interrupted that made him hesitate. Of course, he was sure Fuhito would be all too happy to defend him against a Turk, but there were multiple factors to consider. It might be too soon for such an action. Yet it was tempting.

Now that he knew for sure that the Professor was actually there and not just some odd hallucination or nightmare he was having (and he was still having nightmares from that experiment) he was on guard, wary of the man.

Hold on. You again. That must mean Rusty's run into him already. He doesn't need to know there were two of him. "I thought you were one of those damn monsters running around. Illusions, you know."

He smiled, then laughed. "A monster, I see." Hojo shook his head. It was odd--the very different reaction, the belief that he wasn't real. It made no sense, taken together with the immediate belief and threats of before. "No, you needn't concern yourself with that. I don't intend to harm you." (Yet.) "I'm gathering biological samples, as you can see." He held up the labeled vial before slipping it into his case.

"And I see you're engaging in your own special brand of gathering." He raised an eyebrow, some sarcasm in his voice, as it was very clear to him that there was nothing scientific or methodical about what Reno was doing. Foraging blindly, blundering about, and tripping over himself.

"Hey, at least I'm doing it for practical reasons. You really like that shit they serve down in the cafeteria? You can have it." Folding his arms, he just shook his head. Let Hojo think what he wanted. Reno was no scientist, and the more scientists he knew, the more proud of that fact he was.

"Excuse me, Professor, if I'm a little off today. I just got back from a trip to the homeworld."

He shrugged, because what he ate was largely unimportant to him now. He could ignore such concerns easily in the face of larger matters, his greater purpose. As long as his nutritional needs were met, he saw no further need to consider it.

"Ah, did you? Yes, yes, I read the researcher's post and the replies. That's right. Our 'homeworld'." It would never cease to amuse him, how credulous the fools he worked with were. "Please, do tell me how that went. I'm quite interested in your findings."

A long silence met Hojo's request, and Reno shifted uncomfortably. Should he tell him this, or withhold that information?

Even as he thought about it, the realization dawned on him that yeah, information was Hojo's specialty, or in Reno's opinion his obsession. It gave him a sort of power, holding that experience over the Professor.

"It was- hmm, almost indescribable." Not really, but he was trying to bait here. "An entire world where there's- you know... maybe I should come back later. I know what kind of shit you pull and what you do to people. I got no motivation to talk about it with you." With that, he turned to leave, but hesitated and threw over his shoulder, "Unless ya got something to offer."

"Offer? Hmm." It was difficult for him not to start laughing again. Did he think he had anything of value to Hojo? Hojo was curious, but he didn't believe anything Reno had seen would have any real value to his research, as Turks' minds were far from being capable of the kind of observation and reasoning that would be of use to him.

It appeared rather easy to have such an experience, as their hosts would allow it with little prompting. Still, he was amused. "I'm not sure what someone like myself, who does what I do, could have to offer you." There was a touch of humility in his tone, but it was false. "What do any of us have here? I have only--my expertise."

"That is exactly what I want- for you to not use your expertise. I remember Nibelheim and what you did there, and I don't want a repeat of that here." Let Hojo laugh if he wanted. Reno was deadly serious here, and whether or not the professor realized it, the turk was dangerous. He had contacts here, though he wasn't going to let him know that. "I'm not countin' on you saying yes. I know you don't have that much respect for the Turks, or that I could possibly put a decent report together, but I'm willing to be surprised."

"Odd how you don't remember our previous conversation," said Hojo with a smile, sure now that there was something to learn where that was concerned.

Hojo also had no intention of letting Reno know about his own contacts and capabilities. "Nibelheim... I'm not sure what precisely you're referring to. If you mean the 'tragedy', I don't recall causing that, myself. I did have a laboratory there, if that's what you mean, but I had many laboratories." He shook his head. None of them really understood him or what he had accomplished, but he was used to that.

"I have no intention of listening to anyone's threats. You're all very simple-minded, aren't you? One note, over and over. It grows very tiresome to listen to. I fail to see why you wouldn't want me to use my considerable skills to analyze this place and our situation, which is what I am intending to do. You're certainly welcome to watch my work, if you'd like. I'm planning to analyze the plantlife of this floor after I'm finished here. Would you care to accompany me?" He gestured toward the stair.

"I mean the Nibelheim Project, you jackass." The professor's manner was getting on his nerves down, and he turned around fully to face him. There was nobody here to get in the way if he wanted to give him a piece of his mind, right? "I mean Zack and Cloud and all the poor sods you had Veld drag down to that laboratory of yours. I'm talking about Jenova."

"If you are going to discuss my project, please use its proper name, and then I will know what you are referring to. It was in no way limited to Nibelheim." Discussing his work with Turks, how laborious. They weren't intelligent enough to understand it. But then, that was true of most people.

"Ah, you mean the casualties of the incident who would have died if not for my treatments? Yes, I remember those subjects from quite clearly, thank you. The Turks were very helpful at that point, yes." Hojo tended to see things in his own way. Not that he had been intending to help in any way, but Sephiroth had wounded all them so badly, and then there had been those burned beyond recognition...

He paused. "Jenova." He touched his arm, where the needle had gone in, and then he laughed.

Reno was not stupid, contrary to most reports. He watched Hojo's actions carefully, eyes slightly narrowed, but when he touched his arm- oh, god. He didn't. Just the idea that Hojo would- no way, it was just- I have to get out of here.

"It seems like we don't have anything to discuss, so I'm going to go." The turk's voice was even, carefully masked to his inner emotions, falling back on that professional training that was now second nature to him. Slowly, he turned away, walking to the stairs without hurry. Turning his back on Hojo was giving him goosebumps, but what else could he do?

Hojo didn't exactly underestimate the Turks. That could be said about him, perhaps, but it was more precise to say he didn't care about them.

"You don't want a repeat, you say..."

There was no mistaking the amusement in his voice. He did consider attacking when Reno turned around. It would be easy to shoot him, and possibly interesting, but... no, not yet. He didn't have enough of a basis for his work, not quite. Aggressive action was riskier. Best to play along, for now.

He smiled. "You won't be disappointed. I don't repeat mistakes."

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