towerofanimus | 001

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Entry tags:

001 | Open

Characters: Rod and ???
Setting: Room 04-14, Dormitory Floor 4 hallway
Format: Prose!
Summary: Rod wakes up in some weird fetish scene that he definitely didn't sign up for.
Warnings: Rod's foul mouth

It was, however, the first time that Rod had woken up in an unfamiliar place, completely incapacitated and more than a little disoriented and clad in what was possibly the most uncomfortable outfit ever, complete with some kind of freaky BDSM collar.

…seriously, what everloving the hell?

After grappling with the collar around his neck for several minutes in a vain attempt to get the fucking thing off already, Rod swore colorfully and heaved himself up off of the bed to further examine his surroundings. Whoever had set all this up was clearly one very sick individual, judging by the wannabe horror flick notes he’d found on the bedside table and the fact that he was wearing a fucking skin-tight cat suit and a god damn collar.

Yeah, okay, can we just take a second to revisit the collar? Rod was a pretty firm believer in ‘whatever floats your boat’ – hell, just about everyone was into something a little weird if you dug deep enough – but this kind of get-up was going way beyond the realm of anything that he would even remotely feel comfortable with.

He must really have pissed someone off good this time.

Thankfully, whoever he’d managed to piss off had been thoughtful enough to pack him a freaking chest of necessities, so it wasn’t long before he was stuffing the strange white outfit into the chest and donning his much more comfortable black suit. It was true that he didn’t really need to wear the uniform anymore, since technically the Turks of his era had disbanded, but he’d found that things tended to run a little more smoothly when he was wearing a suit; suits meant business and potential negotiations, whereas dressing like a punkass generally guaranteed he'd be duking it out with his fists, whether he wanted to or not. Whoever he ran into was just going to have to suck it up and deal with the fact that he was wearing combat boots, though, and he hadn’t even bothered to check if his tie had been packed in with his personal effects.

Wallet, gloves, and one thunder-equipped EMR later, he was ready to get his reconnaissance on, oldschool Turk-style. Cautiously, he poked his head outside the room, hoping against all odds that he’d recognize wherever it was he’d been taken captive and be able to get out without too much trouble.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

There might be a familiar Turk-face nearby leaning casually against one of the walls. Most of her face is hidden by her hair but between that same hair, the suit and her boots and the pair of fingerless gloves she always wore, she should seem familiar. What kind of Turk could forget details like that, after all.

"Didn't expect to see you here, Rod." She commented casually, kicking her boots against the floor in the hopes of making some permanent scuff marks. Petty but it felt good to stick it too whoever brought them here in whatever way she possibly could.

"Then again, apparently there are two Reno's here."

He'd spotted her almost instantly, sharp eyes going wide as he picked out the familiar details even in the feeble emergency lighting.

"Siira?!" If it was possible to relax a bit while immediately being put on his guard, then that's exactly what Rod did the moment he recognized the other Turk. Sure, it was in immense relief to see a familiar face in the middle of this freakshow, but at the same time, if there was another Turk here and she'd been kidnapped just as he had, then that could mean that this whole incident was bigger than he'd originally assumed.

Much bigger.

The words coming from her mouth weren't exactly making much sense, however.

"Two Reno's? The hell's that s'posed to mean?" he demanded, the edge to his voice arising more from sheer confusion at the situation than any kind of anger towards her. "He's here too?"

Pushing herself off the wall, she walked over to stand with Rod. More Turks was good news to her. It meant that whoever was responsible for all of this had a hell of a backlash coming to them. Nobody screwed with the Turks, after all.

"Hell if I know. One of 'em apparently has shorter hair than the one I ran into. Said something about us coming from different times." And she hated that last part. What the hell would they think about things she remembered but they didn't?

He blinked, staring at Siira like she’d just grown a second head. Then, he snorted. “Uh, yeah, right, okay. Great joke; where’s the camera? This some kinda surprise reunion or something? You guys really shouldn’t have. I mean, hell, it ain’t even my birthday!”

Emerging fully into the hall, he slung his mag rod over his shoulder, fully prepared to grin and laugh the whole thing off. He never got quite that far, though, as the look on Siira’s face never wavered.

“Wait… You’re serious?”

Siira watched him sling his rod over his shoulder, eyes moving to his collar and then tapped her finger on her collar after a moment, looking a bit thoughtful.

"Tried playin' with mine a bit. Feels like it's goin' into my neck but it don't feel like a needle or anything."

"Dead serious. I may screw around when we're all relaxing but this." She waved her hand around vaguely, meaning everything as she did so. "This is beyond something I'd come up with while we're drinkin', ya know?"

And then she had to think about how to phrase her question. Ultimately, she had no choice just to ask straight out. Especially with all the time nonsense she'd heard of.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

He thought of the notes again, the words Your world has been destroyed flashing across his mind’s eye with a much more chilling effect than they’d had earlier. Suddenly, he really wished that this was some kind of hardcore fetish scene that someone had thrown him in the middle of out of spite – at least he was used to dealing with pissed off underworld thugs who were out for revenge.

“Uh, well, you know, Midgar fallin’ apart at the seams after the ShinRa building went down takin’ Rufus with it; giant fuckin’ glowing rock in the sky; impending doom – wait, did that meteor hit? Is that what that note meant about the ‘world being destroyed’ or whatever?”

So Rod was from before her time as well. Meteorfall wouldn't have a chance to destroy the Planet, not so long as Holy got the Lifestream moving and it would. It did. At least she could give Rod a small bit of reassurance while everything else went from shitty to shittier.

"Nah, Meteor didn't hit. Got close though. That five years ago. It did screw things up for awhile though, people gettin' sick with Geostigma and dyin' from it until the healing water appeared." And then things got worse. Again. Because none of them could ever catch a break.

Five years ago… Geostigma… Healing water… It was all making Rod’s head spin and he didn’t like it, not one bit. Rod was sharp where it counted – he had been trained as a Turk, after all, and he had street smarts to boot that he sometimes even adhered to – but the Turks hadn’t exactly hired for his brain. The actual thinking was best left to other people on a normal day, but stuff like this? Body doubles and separate timelines… all this was of a magnitude that made Rod want to punch things until they went away and stopped giving him a god damn headache.

“…shit,” he muttered, slumping against the wall next to him as if to borrow its support. He wasn’t sure if he believed all this was actually happening – how could he? – but he figured he might as well go along with it instead of trying to process it all at once. So, back to the basics:

“And we all got these collars? Even Reno?” he asked, tugging at his absently before helpfully adding, “Yours is a different color.”

Siira was still doubting all this as well, so he wasn't alone. Anybody was welcome to call her a skeptic for that but she would never believe the Planet was gone. It was too outrageous, too stupid.

"Yeah. Looks like everybody around here is fitted with one. A bunch'a different colors too but I haven't figured out why. What color is mine?" She hadn't found a mirror yet and she wasn't up to seeing the collar if she didn't have to. That, and she'd had other priorities.

"Yellow," he answered, tugging at his own collar as if the device might just give up and gtfo if only he kept hassling it long enough. "These things gimme the creeps. This place is fuckin' shady as all get-out, yo."

Rod and Siira could definitely form the Skeptics Club, because it was definitely going to take a lot for Rod to be convinced that this wasn't all some kind of fucked up plot to get revenge on the Turks by driving them all crazy or something.

He sighed. "Man, I need a drink." Blue eyes roamed around the hallway warily as he spoke. "You scoped the rest of the place out yet? I dunno 'bout you, but I'm seriously ready to split."

"And yours is orange. Weird. Wonder what the colors mean." She wished they would come off so easily. A passing thought, she wondered if they could shoot the collars off but that could be way to dangerous. "Be a little less freaky'n dangerous if the lights would work but hell no, apparently our worlds being 'destroyed' isn't enough." She even added air-quotes on that.

A possibility that Siira had considered. Even with WRO support, ShinRa was still on the outs with the world and Turks were one of ShinRa's symbols. Anyone would try anything to get back at them.

"I explored a bit of it, haven't found a drink yet. Reno said him and Rusty, the other Reno, were makin' something with a still they built. We might have'ta bug them later."

"Fuck what the colors mean; I just want this thing off," he grumbled. The feeling of the collar around his neck was starting to get to him in a bad way, feeling tighter by the second and making him feel like he was choking for lack of air. It was all in his head, of course, but Rod didn't handle any form of restraint particularly well, and the collar was giving him horrible mental images of lab animals and test specimens - or what became of them - like he'd seen one time down in the ShinRa labs.

Seeing Siira make the air quotes, Rod laughed, albeit nervously. He raised a brow at the name 'Rusty.'

"What, they gave each other nicknames? What's the other one called?" he asked, before shaking his head and chuckling again. "'Least they're workin' on somethin' worthwhile."

Siira reached out as he tugged at the collar and lightly hung her hands on his wrists in the hopes it would calm him. Fighting to get something off would hurt almost as badly as trying to shoot it. They needed to be calm right now.

"They're just Reno and Rusty, I guess. They didn't mention other nicknames." It was nice to hear him laugh, if only a little. Morale was important. Even Turks needed to keep it up.

The sudden touch surprised him, but it wasn’t unwelcome; having someone – especially another Turk – reach out to him like that reminded Rod that they were all stuck in this together... whatever this really was. Siira was as much an unwilling participant as he was, and losing his cool wasn’t going to help any of them.

Taking a deep, shaky breath, Rod reigned his thoughts back in, giving himself a mental shake and offering Siira a weak smile. Then, he willed himself to let go of his collar, his hands dropping slowly back to his sides. At least now he felt like he could breathe a little more easily again.

“Which room did you wake up in? I'm guessin' no one was lucky enough to find a PHS in their chest?” If that was the case, not being able to communicate easily was going to make him uncomfortable as all get-out, but he’d have to deal with that later, once he confirmed that no one actually had a working phone on them.

Good. A calm Turk was a useful Turk. None of them needed to be panicking and hurting themselves right now. They could worry about getting rid of the collars when they got home.

"Room 2-13, for me. Got a helluva welcome from my roommate. She pointed a gun right in my face when she walked in the door." Siira managed to calm that situation down at least. And without having to hurt anyone or fire a single warning shot.

"No PHS's though, so far. We'll have to check with the others and make sure. Can't keep 'em powered up long here anyway, until we get power everywhere." Although... A well placed lightning spell? No, that would blast one to bits.

“Roommate, huh?” His room had been empty when he’d woken up. While he hadn’t noticed anything right off the bat to suggest that anyone else had been staying in the room before he’d arrived, the three other beds suggested that more people would probably be arriving. He’d have to take a closer look at the room now that he was calmer... maybe poke around for a flashlight as well. “Guess everyone’s kinda off their game…”

He blinked, then, as something struck him. “So, wait, your roommate ain’t someone you know? Not another Turk?” Now, that was interesting; maybe this wasn’t just about the Turks after all.

"Nope, no Turks in my room. Damn shame. The girl I met already didn't even know what a Turk was. Or ShinRa, for that matter. I had to actually tell her about it and then she asked me if I knew anything about 'Zeon' or 'Gundams.' Weird shit, here." Siira was getting used to the lack of emergency lighting on the other floors.

And her materia gave off just enough of a glow that she didn't have to worry about falling to her death, in exchange for a slight drop in temperature.

"Gets worse though. Hojo and Fuhito are here."

Reno was climbing the staircase, on his way back to his own room, when he saw a familiar figure with red hair down the hallway. Wait, was that Rusty?

Did he cut his hair short? What was he doing down here, anyway? Those were all interesting questions, so Reno stepped off to find out, seeing as that if Rusty was up to something, he definitely wanted in on it. Getting closer, however, he could tell that wasn't Rusty.

His steps quickened just a little. It couldn't be. But- wait, yes, it was.

Hoping the kid hadn't seen him yet, he ran up to Rod and stuck his EMR against Rod's head.

"Hey, slick. That bike doesn't belong to you." That was almost word for word what he had said on their first meeting. Only with less cussing. Then he dropped it and just grinned.

See, this was exactly why letting Rod think too much was a dangerous thing – at least so far as his personal wellbeing was concerned. With everything going on, Rod’s head was swimming with thoughts and questions and a whole lot of what the fuck, so much so that he’d simply been standing there in the hall zoning out, his weapon hanging uselessly at his side.

Needless to say, by the time the approaching footsteps registered in his mind, it was too late. Rod practically jumped out of his skin when someone grabbed him from behind, letting loose a string of swear words not unlike the first time Reno had snuck up on him. In fact - sadly - this could have been exactly the same Rod as that time all those years ago. His body went rigid when he felt cold metal pressed against his head, but when his attacker spoke, Rod's eyes narrowed and he sent a well-aimed elbow towards Reno’s gut. Luckily, Reno chose that moment to drop the act and let him go.

“Weren’t you always tellin’ me not to sneak up on a Turk?” he growled, whirling around and glaring at Reno. As pissed as he wanted to be, though, that grin was infectious; Rod found himself mirroring the expression, a note of fondness seeping into his voice. “Fuckin’ a, man, you scared the shit outta me!”

"Yeah, but where was that other rule, something about 'use anything you can to your advantage?'" Reno clapped Rod on the shoulder, still grinning. He actually looked happy to see him. There were just a few differences in Reno's appearance, mainly the length of his hair and the orange collar he wore. "And what'd I tell ya about your dirty mouth, rookie?"

The implications of seeing Rod here meant that another Gaia-universe had died, but telling Rod had him torn up inside. Sure, Siira could handle it, probably even Elena, but Rod? He'd probably fly off the handle and try to tear the Tower apart.

Reno figured it best to hold off for now, get Rod used to the idea he was here first.

And yep, now that he thought about it, Gamzee sort of reminded him of Rod.

"Still copying me, huh?" The older turk reached out and tapped Rod's EMR with his own.

“Sorry, princess, did I shock your virgin sensitivities? You gonna cry now?”

Apparently, some things would never change. Rod fell back into the old sarcasm easily, and only half because he was desperately grasping at anything that was familiar right now. Siira had said there were two Renos here, right? Well hell, bring 'em on, because he’d let the both of them give him a verbal ass-whopping straight into next week if it meant he could safely ignore the rest of the shit going down in this fucking nightmare tower. The worst part was, Rod hadn’t even been here a full day yet; he didn’t even want to imagine what other nasty surprises the place had in store for him, that was for damn sure.

“Fuck you, yo, you know it’s my name sake.” What else would Diego Rodney carry if not for a freaking rod? Honestly, it was like Reno needed Rod to hold his hand through the simplest logic. “By the way, those fruity hair bands from twenty years ago called – they want their hairstyle back.”

"That's 'sensibilities', Dirtface." Reno's grin faded somewhat, and he folded his arms, trying to look intimidating. "So what time did they snag you from? Just after ya made Turk?"

The last time he had seen Rod (not counting the time they met up in Meteor) his old habits had kinda smoothed over. He wouldn't be surprised if the kid was from six years ago. But that didn't explain why he looked older than that.

"There's some things you got to know about this place, and I don't feel like sitting down and yappin' at ya if you aren't gonna listen or believe me."

"Ugh, whatever!" Rod rolled his eyes and made a face. Apparently, even though Rod was twenty-five, Reno could still bring out the young punk with an attitude problem. "And I ain't been a Turk for a while now - not officially, anyway. Been gettin' my lurk on mostly down below the plate, while the rest of the planet freaks out about that big, glowing rock in the sky."

He cracked a grin, some of the standoffish attitude leaving him. "Guess you could say I been takin' advantage of the chaos - like you taught me, right? Rufus is dead, ShinRa's fallin' apart, Midgar's goin' down the shithole, and what with the world comin' to an end or whatever, ain't no one payin' attention to gutter scum like yours truly."

You'd be proud, he didn't add, because he wasn't exactly sure if that was true. Oh, he'd taken advantage of the opportunities at his disposal, all right, but he had no idea how Reno would react if he knew the kind of business Rod had been running.

"So yeah," he continued, his expression growing sombre. "Can't promise I'll believe you, 'cause I can't really wrap my head around any of this mess right now, but I'm thinkin' I'd rather stick with someone who knows the ropes around here than try to figure it all out myself, so you can bet I'll fuckin' listen."

So they were from around the same point in time. Reno was only a few days after Meteor fell, but it sounded like Rod was a little bit ahead. But those comments set off a flag in his head. Reno knew Rod pretty well, it made sense he'd probably fall back to old habits.

"I didn't teach ya to get caught up in the underbelly again, slick. It's not like ya couldn't put any of your other skills to use, could it?" Shaking his head slightly, he started heading off to the staircase, fully expecting Rod to follow. "Damn it, Rod, I need fully functioning Turks here."

Rod just rolled his eyes. "Yeah, like you ain't involved in any shifty business anywhere. Look, I got connections and I'm usin' 'em; havin' a whole network down under can only come in handy if I ever go back on the record as a Turk, get it?"

He shoves his free hand into his pocket, following Reno towards the stairs automatically, if a bit sullenly. "Trust me, I'm functioning just fine, so don't you worry 'bout me none, just tell me what the fuck's goin' on."

Inwardly, he cringed. Trust Rod to psychically know Reno was involved in something. Granted, it was for keeping eyes on the less savory crowd and foster 'peace' or something in the Tower, but it was still pretty unsavory.

"That ain't about me. Anyway, this place is kinda a safe haven for people, if you can call it that." He was walking down the staircase now, taking each step one at a time and slowly, which was a bit unusual in that this was Reno, and he generally rushed everywhere- or did. Life in the Tower taught him caution on the steps. "It's kinda outside space and time, or at least I'm guessin' that's what it is otherwise this place'd be impossible. You got your collars, and supposedly they keep us nice and healthy while we're here. I'm ready to believe it, I saw what happened when one kid got his off, kinda messy if ya ask me."

There was more, but he didn't want to break Rod with the fact the Planet was pretty much a floating hunk of rock and not much on it. Not that he was a big believer in Jason, but if Reno couldn't trust his own senses there sure nothing he could trust.

To his credit, Rod actually seemed to be listening intently to what Reno was saying. This was no easy feat for someone as typically antsy as Rod, but the way his brows drew together and the look of seriousness on his face betrayed the fact that the cogs were turning inside his head. Not that they were producing much at the moment beyond huh buh wha?, but it was something, at least.

After a few moments pause, Rod hesitantly asked, "What happened when he took the collar off?"

He wasn't sure if he really wanted to know or not, but the collar was still bothering him. That, and it was just about the only piece of information Reno had relayed that he could actually deal with right now. Focus on the individual details, contemplate the big picture later; if he tried to take it all in at once, he'd freak the fuck out.

Reno didn't answer at first. Only went down a floor or two, stepping out on a large floor that looked like a lounge- Floor 38. Finding a comfortable sofa, he flopped down on it and motioned for Rod to do the same. It was easier talking down here than standing in the dorms. It was only then that he decided to answer the question.

"The collar fell off and the liquid, stuff, whatever it is in the collars started bleedin' out of the kid. Then sirens went off and the kid died. So don't go messing with it. If ya do, don't say I didn't warn you."

The tiredness Reno was feeling lately started showing through, and he rubbed his face. "Rod, this place is gonna test you to the extreme."

As he followed Reno into the lounge, Rod's gaze roamed the room with unveiled curiosity. He seemed a bit perplexed by what he was seeing - what was the point of offering them comfort like this when they were being held captive? - but he chose not to say anything for the time being. Might as well accept the small luxuries that would make this shitshow at least a little more bearable.

Although he'd been planning to explore the room a bit more while he listened, he sat down heavily on the couch once Reno actually started speaking. Blue eyes having gone as big and round as saucers, for a moment Rod couldn't even begin to answer. Oh, he had a couple things to say about what he was hearing, all right, but even as the words rose in his throat like bile, they stuck there, leaving him completely speechless. Finally, after the excruciating silence ticked on around them for several seconds, Rod swallowed thickly and managed to focus on Reno once again.

"You're tellin' me this shit's actually goin' inside of us?"

If the collar had felt snug before, it now felt like a vice grip around his windpipe.

He shook his head hard, as if that would make him forget what he'd just heard, bowing his head and running his fingers through his hair in agitation. It was clear now that Rod had been making a valiant effort to keep his cool, but after everything he'd learned - which wasn't even all that much, considering - his capacity for seriously messed up shit was reaching critical levels.

"Fuck!"

The younger Turk launched himself up off the couch, pacing across the room before whirling around and leveling a look at Reno that pleaded with him, Please, for the love of all the fucking summons out there, tell me you're joking.

"What, so if I fuckin' cut myself open am I gonna bleed nasty orange junk too?!"

"No, you just bleed like normal." Reno seemed far too calm for this, compared to Rod's rising agitation, but then that was one of the things that had set them apart before. The older turk tended to keep his cool in bad situations, even way back when.

"Sit down, I'm not done. You keep going on like that, I'm gonna stop wondering why Tseng chose me for Second."

He shot a glare at Reno, but the senior Turk's eerie calm seemed to settle Rod down at least a little. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and letting it out roughly before moving back and collapsing on the couch once again, one hand thrown over his eyes.

"Yeah. Fine. Keep goin'. This is all just so fucked up."

Rod's pose made him snicker a bit, "Stop being so dramatic, slick. Give it a month, it'll all start seeming like routine. Got to say, right now is pretty much the worse the Tower's been since I got here." And he had a few theories about that, but he wasn't going to get into that whole thing just yet.

"By the way, you can't die here."

"Wow, I'm so reassured," he muttered sarcastically, rubbing his face with his hands and starting to feel about as tired as Reno looked. Gods, he didn't even want to think about how he'd feel or what he'd look like after being here as long as Reno had. He had to face the very real possibility that he was in this for the long haul, though; if someone as good Reno couldn't even escape, then someone like him didn't have half a chance of getting out of here. Maybe with all the Turks on board, though...

"How's that?" he asked, peering resignedly at Reno. "I dunno if I should be relieved or even more fuckin' freaked out now."

"Can't answer that, but I wouldn't go freakin' out just yet. It could get ya in a lot of trouble here." That was one of the rules back home, too, but Reno gazed at Rod with a slightly worried note. If he hadn't been following with Turk standards lately, Reno wasn't sure what to expect from Rod anymore.

"Seems to me we need to stick to the ideals just to survive in this place, slick."

Taking in another slow, steadying breath, Rod seemed to mull over Reno’s words for a moment. Though his expression was unreadable aside from the tightness of his jaw betraying the overall stressful nature of the situation at large, he at least seemed significantly more put together now.

Seeming to come to some sort of decision in his mind, Rod nodded, looking up at Reno with a renewed determination. "Right. You’re right."

Rod wasn’t anywhere near okay with this; he didn’t know how long it would take him to get used to what was happening, or if he would ever be able to get used to it at all, but he did know that, right now, he had to push the terrifying thoughts away. Right now, he had to rely on himself – on his instincts and his training, neither of which had ever failed him before. He was a god damn Turk, so it was time to show whoever had put them all here right were to shove it. Plus, he had a whole team of people he trusted by his side; what more could he ask for? He had the best of the best.

"So, what’s the plan?" Reno seemed to know what was up, which was all the better for Rod. If Reno had some kind of plan of action and could give him some direction - something to focus on - then Rod could funnel all that erratic energy into his goal instead of flying off the handle.

"Plan?" Reno seemed rather incredulous at the question, giving Rod his bed 'are you fucking with me' face. "The plan is to survive, and tell the Tower people to shove a couple of large materia balls up their ass."

Sighing, he rubbed his forehead, feeling an all too familiar headache coming on. "Preferably with sanity intact, but not holding out for that one. Ya want something to do? I'm gonna start organizing you guys into task forces."

Rod gave him a wry grin. "Sounds about right." Survive and stay sane. He could do that. Totally.

"You got specific tasks in mind or you want us just patrollin' and keepin' people outta trouble?"

Just staring at him a moment, Reno wondered if Rod had any idea of the kinds of things that were in store.

"I haven't decided yet. I need to get you guys all together and have a meeting. Rusty is... that's the other me... he's got the director pin and more experience surviving in this kinda place than I do, so he's kinda acting in that capacity."

To say that Rod had absolutely no idea the kinds of things he was in store for was putting it mildly; Rod was so far out of his element as a newcomer to the tower that he was practically on another planet. Hell, his mind was still focused on another planet: his planet, which was apparently dead and gone now.

It was a depressing, nauseating thought.

Though he was doing his best to put on a brave face, the corners of Rod’s mouth tugged down ever so slightly and he couldn’t help but let out a sigh. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to help, but he was so blindsided by everything that he just didn’t know how. He wanted to take command, to stand tall and lead people through as someone who was strong and sure of himself. As disoriented as he currently was, though, he could barely even think of where to start, and he hated how useless he felt.

“Gettin’ everyone together would be good, yeah,” he said finally. “We gotta be coordinated in this, plus I gotta meet this other you.” He grinned again. “Still callin’ bullshit on that ’til I see the guy for myself, yo. I know you gotta be jerkin' my chain.”

If Reno had truly been pulling Rod's chain, he probably would have started laughing and admitted it, ruffling Rod's hair in the process. But he didn't, just gazed at Rod with that slightly impassive expression.

"He's the next best thing to Veld and Tseng we got, slick."

And probably the one that'd see them survive the Tower. It was weird, seeing what he was capable of in the right situation. In a way, it was helping him deal with these things, making an effort to do the right thing, but he was wondering what it got him, sometimes. Rusty never seemed to have fun, as far as he had seen.

"I got no time to be making jokes anymore. Maybe next month."

Yuffie's exploration of the tower still hadn't taken her very far -- all the talk of monsters and people dying painfully had instilled a small measure of impulse control, thank you very much. She hated to be still in such a creepy place though, so she often wandered through the dorm floors, and it was on such an occasion that she noticed a redhead poking out from a door.

Wait, was that Reno? She had a score to settle with him. (What exactly that score was, she didn't know, but she had one, damn it!)

"Oi, Reno! Did you finally cut off that mulle--"

She stopped dead in her tracks and stared. That wasn't Reno. But that suit...

"Who're you?"

Great, just great. Barely two minutes in the stupid tower and people were already mistaking him for Reno. This really was a nightmare world.

Grimacing, he turned around, half expecting to see another Turk standing there behind him, what with the way they'd been coming out of the freaking woodwork lately Instead, his eyes fell upon someone who... well, she definitely wasn't a Turk, that was for damn sure, but she did look kind of familiar. Eh, probably just the bad lighting playing tricks on his eyes.

"Depends who's askin'." Stepping fully into the hall, Rod regarded the girl warily. "You know Reno?"

While the guy wasn't Reno, he did appear to know him, and that put Yuffie on edge. She eyed him warily, ready to grab her weapon and attack if he did anything funny.

"I wish I didn't! He's a real pain in the ass." There was none of the affection in her voice that would've been there if she were to, say, call Cloud the same thing.

"Gawd, you're a Turk too, aren't you? Don't you ShinRa people ever go away!?"

She just wanted some peace and quiet and not have to be reminded of any Planet-destroying corporations, but noooo, some asshole in a Turk suit just had to show up and ruin her day!

He snorted with amusement at Yuffie's knee-jerk response, unable to keep himself from adding, "You got that right." Rod's look was fond, however; to be sure, Reno had always been a pain in the ass, but he was a pain in the ass who'd made Rod into a better man. Even if Rod had slipped back into his old habits a bit since he'd last been an active Turk, he still owed Reno - and all of them, really - an incredible debt.

Yuffie's next comment didn't seem to amuse him quite as much.

"Woah, the hell's your problem, pipsqueak? Yeah, I'm a Turk, what of it? If I remember all the way back to two whole seconds ago, you're the one goin' around talkin' to guys dressed like me, so just chill the fuck out, okay?"

Edited 2012-06-06 03:29 (UTC)

"PIPSQUEAK!? I've kicked Reno's ass before, I'll take you on too!"

Granted, she was fighting beside AVALANCHE during those battles, but he didn't need to know that. She grabbed her Oritsuru and aimed, ready to strike. "Get ready to cower before the great Yuffie Kisaragi!"

GURGLE.

Yuffie looked down at her stomach, the guilty party that had emitted that atrocious noise, and sighed. "Damn it, I'm hungry! I don't have time to fool with you."

Rod just smirked, snickering when Yuffie's stomach growled and holding up his hands in mock surrender. "Oooh, I'm shakin' my boots, here! Please don't hurt me, great one, I promise I'll be good!"

He was hungry too, though, come to think of it. Didn't that note say that there was a cafeteria somewhere?

"So, you new here too?" he asked, dropping the act and peering at Yuffie curiously. She was kind of a cute kid, even if she was dressed all funny and waving what looked to be a very sharp weapon around. Someone should probably take that thing away from her before she hurt herself. Or someone else. Or, more specifically, him. "I hear they got food for us somewhere - real tasty soundin' shit called 'oatmeal' or whatever. Yeah..."

"You try going without food for a few days and see how you like it!"

This guy was just as annoying as all the other Turks; maybe that was criteria for joining. Well, Rod could write Yuffie off as just a "cute kid" if he wanted to, but he'd be the one to regret it when she lifted his materia from him.

She shoved her hands into the front pockets of her shorts and glowered at him. "...A few weeks," she muttered after a few minutes.

Oh, yuck. Oatmeal. She had discovered the hard way that you have to eat the oatmeal first. It was a shame that the tower was short on everything but oatmeal, or she'd try to trick him into making the same mistake. Although...

"The oatmeal's pretty good, actually. Better than a lot of the other stuff."

“It’s good, huh?” Rod seemed to perk up a bit at that, regarding Yuffie with renewed interest. Good eats could fix just about any crap situation, as far as he was concerned. Although... aside from the fact that a part of him was completely convinced this was all a dream, something about what Yuffie had said in particular was bothering him. It seemed awful nice of their kidnappers to not only pack their bags for them, but to provide them with ‘pretty good’ food as well. There had to be a catch.

He smirked again as he realized what it was that seemed off. “So how come you ain’t had anything for a few days, hm? Oatmeal must not be that good… Or else it’s complete chocobo turd and you’re just havin’ me on.”

Rod felt proud of his deduction; on occasion, his brain wasn’t a completely barren wasteland!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

001 | Open

4th floor hall obv.

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The word he actually wants is "sensibilities."

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Yuffie, why're you such a jerk? /sob

lol because Reno types, everywhere!

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