(no subject)

[midgarhorizon]

Characters: Reno, recruitment candidates!, Elena, Shion
Setting: Floor 82, Tower Exploring, Dorm Floor 5 empty room
Format: Whatever you're comfortable with.
Summary: The Turks have been busy, and it's time to recruit members for Operation Last Resort.

Warnings: To be yet announced!


Floor 82: Masquerade Ball

Reno had set up camp on the Masquerade floor today, his own mask firmly planted on his face. He had business here, and it was time to start putting plans in motion.

To those he had spoken to previously, people he had gotten to know a little and tested, letters and notes had gone to each one of them, to meet him here at specific times. The anonymousness of the black mask suited him, and he didn't dare take it off while he was on the floor- he'd found out the effects the hard way.

It was recruiting day, and he knew just the kinds of questions to ask the candidates when he unmasked them. Sure, it wasn't the regular method of recruitment, just having an interview, but it was short and sweet; they didn't have the time for lengthy handshakes anymore. It seemed fairly reliable, too, and Reno figured he'd just have to learn how to trust a bit more.


---

Exploring with Shion

It's been a while since Reno really got to explore the Tower. So far, he had come across some pretty interesting floors, and barely remembered whizzing pass others. This time, he took Shion with him, leaving it up to the kid whether or not to take the note. They needed to spend some "quality" time together, and he was taking it easy with him, knowing he still had some healing up to do. Man, healing up the long way sucked, and Reno didn't blame Shion for not wanting to stay in bed. The Turk wasn't the best of influences.

---


Dorm 5, empty room

Reno was laying on one of the best relaxed, most of his uniform dropped by the side the second he'd gone into the room. One arm rested on his stomach, the other draped haphazardly across his forehead, and he stared up at the ceiling. His hair still felt pretty weird so short, but he could live with it. There were a lot of things he had to live with these days, like not being able to spend as much time with Elena out in the open as he liked.

Elena, Xion, and Shion. They were bright spots in the Tower these days. The ones he wanted to keep close and protect as fiercely as he had wanted to protect the other Turks back home; maybe even more so. Being in the Tower... it had a way of changing people, and that thought led one to another. Rude had said once that Reno had changed, though he had denied it at the time. He had been still too young, too unready to really see what life would dish out to them all.

Slowly, he raised the arm that partially covered his vision, and looked at his hand closely. They seemed the same... but they were a lot more bloody than they used to be, even if the blood was invisible.

"Heh... Rude was right." He spoke quietly, after a long period of silence, flexing each finger one at a time but not really focusing on them. "I've changed."

Comments

[Floor 82 lessgo lessgo]

[bloodyashes]

[Well, here's another redhead, a bit early for his appointment and eyeballing the rest of the floor. The last time he was here was before the glamour came down, at the ball that even Ruana had noticed.

It's settled in his mind as a floor where things change, one way or another. But that doesn't mean he can't enjoy it. The ornate gold and black mask is pulled from his face, and Asch hangs it loosely from the sword at his side.

When Reno comes to find him, the other redhead is leading an invisible partner in a stately waltz, and actually seems to be enjoying it.]

o/

[midgarhorizon]

[Wandering toward Asch, Reno tilts his head at him, wondering what that was all about. He'd find it sort of creepy actually, if he hadn't known Asch would be here.]

'Bout time you showed up.

[The mask is still on his face, waiting for Asch to respond before he took it off.]

[bloodyashes]

Last I checked, I'm not late.

[He dips the imaginary girl and brings her back up before letting the fantasy disappear. Business before pleasure. His arms get folded over his chest instead.]

[midgarhorizon]

Heh. Kind of hard to keep a time piece around here.

[Sliding the mask off, the anonymous affect wears off, leaving Reno in a somewhat vulnerable position- one he was willing to take for Xion's sake.

Still, be careful what you ask.]

Xion seems to trust you, Asch. That goes a long way with me. It's why I asked ya down here.

[bloodyashes]

Can't be the only reason.

[It's not actually a question, so Reno is free to answer or not as he wishes. Still, being on level, not-anonymous ground with the other redhead is a good thing, in Asch's book. It's just another conversation that way.]

[savedbyasong]

Shion was keeping up as best as he could, he still got dizzy if he tried to do too much, or tried to read for long periods of time which was annoying. But he was feeling a lot better than he had been. And a lot happier too, despite the tower and everything associated with being here he had family, Reno, Elena, Xion, and it made him smile just randomly.

He was quiet though, the trip devoid of his usual babbling, he was still feeling his way, afraid that the other shoe would drop and Reno would remember that he was supposed to be angry with him.

[midgarhorizon]

There's no indication at all of Reno being angry with him. Nope, he was the friend he always was, helping Shion out when he needed it. The staircase saw a lot of use with them, even as they were coming up on the Musical Floor.

Going over old floors couldn't hurt, after all.

Slowing down, Reno turned to look at Shion, on the staircase behind him.

"...Hey, Shion. I got a question. Remember that time I was doin' something stupid, and you yelled at me?"

[savedbyasong]

Shion slowed down as well, blinking in question to why they had stopped. The question made him look more confused and there was a moment before he answered. "Which time?" There had only been a couple, one being just a few weeks before but they had been under different circumstances and for different reasons so Shion wanted to clarify.

[midgarhorizon]

Good question. Reno paused, folded his arms and shifted his weight to one foot while he thought about it. Shion had been something of a moral compass at important junctures for Reno, brought him back to center and sometimes questioned why he tended to do things a certain way. Back home, certain things he'd never have thought twice about.

He grinned. "All of 'em. So how about this? I want ya to keep doing that. You're a smart kid, and you got some experience under your belt now. You'd be great as an Booker." The term was one Reno never spoke out loud, but Shion might have read it in his report book. A Turk agent that focused more on intelligence and administerial duties than field operations. "You just need a bit more training."

There was so much more he could tell Shion, man to man, about this and that. Talk about his training, how well he did at whatever he put his mind to. But, they were winding down, had a deadline to deal with, and the situation felt all too much like when Tseng had gone missing, leaving him with Rude and Elena to deal with. The grin faded, and he sighed.

"Look, Shion, have you talked with Diarmuid yet? I really want to keep trainin' you, but we got only ten months and I don't think I can do it before then." Their conversation from before had never really gotten finished, and now was as a good as time. "I need fully trained people... I need you level headed and focused. Otherwise, it'll just be me and Elena, and I can't burden Elena with more than I got her on."

I'm going to assume they gave each other names. >_> Or at least Tobias would've.

[notachickenhawk]

[Tobias actually has some clothes on that aren't the white jumpsuit - it's under his clothes just in case, but he's got on a polo shirt and pants. Rachel'd picked out this outfit for him, and it's kind of nice that it was taken along with him.]

[He's still awkward, though, and when he heads over across the dance floor towards Reno it's with quick, awkward movements. This is far from his sort of comfortable situation. His mask is rust-colored, with a long beak-like nose. He pulls it off as soon as he's close - it's wildly uncomfortable for him. His vision is bad enough as it is.]

Sure!

[midgarhorizon]

[Sorry Tobias, Reno just needs to make sure the people he recruits aren't admin spies.

He turns toward the kid, grinning when he sees the mask go and the anonymous switch off.]

Hey, Tobias. Glad you could make it.

[He pulls his own mask off, letting his own identity out for once. Since he never really took his visor off in their last meeting, it was a start to building trust.]

Run into any problems on the way down?

[notachickenhawk]

[It's understandable, it doesn't mean he can't hate it.]

Sorta. I kept to the stairs, but I can't run that fast. ... I should've used a different morph and just carried my clothes, now that I think about it.

[Mental note, made.]

Anyway, I'm fine now.

[midgarhorizon]

If you need a moment, I can wait.

[Reno shrugs, folding his arms across his chest.]

I asked ya down here in case you were interested in joining up with my team.

[Dorm 5]

[provenworth]

Scouring the Tower for an unknown brat was a helluva lot harder than she'd thought, which she had originally pegged as challenging. Bits and pieces of information came forward slowly, many people not wanting to talk about what had occured in the rooms - mostly out of embarrassment and discomfort in reliving what happened. The lack of information was making it very difficult to get a peg on the asshat who caused the pain and then death of two of her family members.

It had been days since she'd seen any sign of Reno, and while she had not sought him out on purpose she had experienced moments where she thought she saw a figure wearing the AVALANCHE uniform. It was a struggle to not seek him out directly, but she had her own mission to complete and it was of up-most importance that she not give away the fact that he was in the Tower. But Shiva's tits it was hard to not find him out, even for a few moments of just being next to him.

Then the note arrived that they were to meet, earning an excited grin. Just before the scheduled time, she was already en-route, checking behind her every leg of the way to ensure she wasn't being followed. At the designated door she gave a little knock - three quick raps followed by three slow ones - and then entered, locking the door firming behind her.

"...Eh?"

She'd caught his words, but had only half-heard them, her attention first on the door and then, once she'd turned around, on him and his state of undress. Lips pulled into a grin, arms crossing loosely across her chest, closing the gap between where she stood and where he laid with quick, deliberate steps. Her hello comes as a quick kiss to the forehead, careful to not disturb the raised arm, before sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Changed? How so?"

[midgarhorizon]

"Eh, it was something Rude said coupl'a years ago. I haven't thought about it in... ages." Now that he had her attention, he felt less willing to talk about. In fact, he looked decidedly uncomfortable. "Huh, nevermind."

It was getting harder and harder to ignore the fact that Rude... might not be coming back, that the big lug had gotten stuck somewhere between universes. Thinking about the fun times they had together was getting painful.

Stretching out his arms, long and lengthy, he rested them around her in a loose hold. "Don't get to see you much lately. Keeping busy?"

[provenworth]

"Rude said that?" That earned a little surprised look on her face, an eyebrow lifting. Rude was by far the most silent of the group, which made the words he said have all the greater impact. It did nothing to salve her curiosity when his expression shifted, his discomfort obvious, but she doesn't push. For now. "...You can always tell me later."

Shifting on the bed to give him the best angle for his arms, she turned toward him knee resting up on the bed, stretching the pleats of her skirt. Hands reached out to touch at the exposed arm in front of her, fingers drawing lazy circles on his skin.

"Could say the same to you, Red." There's an amused smirk pulling at her mouth, a red herring to keep his attention and mood positive. While she wanted to tell him she was rather miserable not being able to see him more often, to have a few minutes of his time each day, they had a job to do and she was going to follow orders. "Yeah, trying to track this little snot-nosed brat has kept me moving around so much, I swear I've lost a few pounds. What about you? Anybody recognize you in that silly getup?"

[midgarhorizon]

Geez, Elena, cut right to what he doesn't want to talk about. Reno sighed, bumping his head against the pillow. Might as well just come right out instead of beating around.

"Ganondorf knows I'm back. I tried pulling one of my disguises on him, but he grew suspicious way too soon and unmasked me. Hasn't done anything... yet. But he did sorta laugh at me."

Things didn't seem to be going too well for either of them, which made him really want to forget about it all for a few minutes. He waved at the parts he had already taken off, making a face. "I'm wondering why I still wear the damn thing, other than I got nothing else much. Shion's been wearing my clothes." And his tailoring skills really weren't up to the task, either. There were more important things to deal with, too, like stealing away time with Elena.

His hand reached out to pull on one of her blond locks, a mischievous smile starting to form. Ganondorf and clothes were the last things he really wanted to talk about, to share with her just now, when they were being intimate like this. So little time to themselves anymore... "Tell me somethin', sweetheart, d'ya think we made a mistake? Y'know... the ribbons and everything. How do you feel?"

Floor 82!

[gradosfinest]

This floor.

When Amelia had first received the note she'd been worried it was another trick from the admins, the last thing she'd received in her mailbox was quite painful enough. But this didn't feel like one of the admins ploys, surely they had other ways of fishing information out of the residents?

What that didn't change was that it felt like a potential trap with entirely too many unknown factors. Funny how that didn't stop her from showing up, taking a second at the stairs to give her equipment a once over. Sure, the safe bet would have been to ignore the note but she didn't feel like she had many secrets worth keeping in the first place. Nothing dangerous anyways. And honestly... she was somewhat curious too.

So come the time mentioned on the note she was present on the floor, an almost regal looking orange and gold mask tied to her belt while she leaned backwards against one of the walls. There was no way to identify anybody who had a mask on, but if her back was to a wall she'd at least be able to see when somebody might be approaching her and keep an eye on most of the floor at once.

Nothing to do now but wait, and she suspected she would not be waiting long.

[midgarhorizon]

Someone sidled up to her, though she was aware of his approach. He wasn't really making any effort to hide, and then his mask came off.

"Glad you could make it." The voice was familiar, the same guy who had spoken to her days earlier in the Upper Lounge. Reno gave her a half smile, and shrug. "Didn't think you would show for a minute there."

It was a general greeting, a way to test out the waters before he told her what it was all about. Amelia seemed like a wary enough person, at least, the fact she had her back against the wall wasn't lost on him.

[gradosfinest]

Although Amelia was not a person generally inclined towards lying, this seemed as good a time as any to test the effects of the floor for herself, offering a small smile in return. The easiest way to tell would be to simply try and lie through her teeth.

"I... honestly wasn't sure about this, getting a strange note out of the blue and all. But I was kind of curious who could have sent it, so here I am. I gotta admit, I wasn't expecting it you be you, Cage."

Alright, that confirmed that. There was a short pause as she blinked a couple of times, her head tilted slightly to one side.

"... guess it's true what they said about this floor, because I was just trying to lie about that." At least she knew though, and with his mask off as well that left them both on equal footing, a fact that made her slightly more comfortable with this whole situation.

[midgarhorizon]

He grinned a little, giving a half shrug in response. "Seems like the best thing when you're tryin' to figure out if someone could be a plant. Operating without getting spotted by the admins is damned difficult these days."

It was down to business, now. He tried testing out the floor, too, when he first discovered what it could do, so he didn't really blame her. "Just don't wander too far to the walls, and stay quiet. I got some questions to ask, because you kinda impressed me back there when we met. I'm takin' a big risk here, I don't know ya or anything. But I need people and we don't have time to get cozy. I guess I should tell ya why." He cleared his throat, feeling uncomfortable talking so much, but the truth impulse seemed to want to rectify those little lies he'd told her last time.

"My name's Reno." Odd, though, that he didn't correct her Cage wasn't his name. "I've been in the Tower off and on since March last year. Not a whole lot of people know I'm back, so if you could keep it quiet, that'd be great. Anyway," he ruffled his hair a bit, looking at the floor while he thought on how to word things, "I'm looking for recruits for my team. I wanted to know if I could trust you as an ally."

Floor 82 - sorry this is late I didn't realize Xion had vouched for Sheba already OTL

[seekinganswers]

Sheba had been flipflopping back and forth on whether or not to show up. On the one hand - this could be informative. On the other, it could be a trap. In the Tower, the written word couldn't always be trusted.

But curiosity wins out over cautiousness and at the arranged time, Sheba is stepping off the staircase and onto the masquerade floor. The mask that appears over her face is a simple enough thing - white, edged with lilac and gold, and by all rights it shouldn't obscure her identity as much as it does, but it serves its purpose well enough.

She seeks out the lone figure on the floor and approaches. She doesn't remove her mask just yet - she is hesitant to do so before verifying that this person, even if she can't identify him, is the one who called her here. It would be pretty stupid of her to remove the mask and be at the whim of someone she hadn't agreed to meet, after all.

"Are you the one who called for me?"

[midgarhorizon]

The mask was obstructing Reno's recognition of her, so he hesitated a moment before answering. Sheba, when he finally realizes it's her, or at least has to be considering the time, was practically the first person that hadn't taken the mask off before talking, which he was rather pleased to note. She was cautious. A good mark for a candidate, though they all had their pros and cons.

He would be the one to take his mask off first this time, a gesture of trust. "Might be, but kinda helps if I can tell which one you are."

[seekinganswers]

It's only when the mask is fully away from Reno's face that she seems to relax - but even then, only just a little. Reno had been in that room with her, and he was clearly important to Xion, which meant he was a bit more trustworthy than the average stranger. Generally speaking, those who were trapped in the Tower could be trusted, if only because they had a common goal...

So she nods and reaches up to remove her own mask. She smiles faintly.

"I'm guessing so, then. It's good to see you again."

[midgarhorizon]

Reno's visibly relieved it is Sheba, relaxing a little bit. Although, he didn't expect her to admit it was good to see him, but then there was that little matter of the truth thing. Tilting his head, he shrugged at that. "Can't say I particularly want to remember our first meeting, but Xion had good things to say about you. She's the reason why I asked ya down here."

Lifting an arm, he held out something small and diamond shaped. It was a pin, just like the one Xion always wore on her clothes. If Sheba knew what it meant, that was all the reason he needed to show.

"Has Xion told ya about this?"