towerofanimus | (no subject)

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."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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."

Shion grinned back tenatively and then nodded slowly, he did know the word and what it meant. It would even be quite useful here, Shion had a feeling that it was going to be figuring things out, solving the mystery of the collar liquid that would give them any chance at all against the administrators.

His smile faded though at the mention of Diarmuid, "Not yet..." He had to he knew. He just hadn't quite got round to it, for a lot of reasons one being that he wasn't too good at finding people to ask for help.

But more than that. "What if he doesn't know... what if it doesn't work?" He had been thinking, whilst he had been resting. What if no one had an answer, they only had ten months and if this was easy to fix they probably could have done it themselves.

"Then you got to try harder. Us Turks work from our own strength, it's the training we get to know how to use it that's different. I wouldn't have made ya one if I didn't think you could." Even as he said those words, a bit of guilt crept up Reno's spine. Recently, he had been wondering whether he had made the right choice in choosing Shion. But it hadn't been Shion's fault at what happened in the Music floor, it was Reno's. That had been the turning point...

"But, if ya really want me to be honest here, Shion, I kinda think your problem is yourself."

He nodded, he just had to work harder it wasn't like failure was really an option. Reno believed he could do it, so he could do it. In a way that was calming, in another it was terrifying.

He blinked at the last, looking up at Reno. All traces of smiles gone but not saying anything, just waiting.

"Got to have more confidence in yourself, kid." Reno continued, after giving Shion a look that said he'd wanted Shion to finish it himself, but wasn't going to press the issue. "You get too reliant on other people for that."

He blushed at that and looked down, "I know..." He was still far more reliant on people, still a burden even now, even after all that Reno had tried to teach him.

He wrapped his arms around himself and looked down, "I need to work on that..."

"Hey," Reno protested, moving to the same step Shion was on. "Don't get like that, that's one of the problems. You can count on us, but if you don't believe in yourself, we're not gonna make much difference." And he wrapped an arm around Shion's shoulders, giving an easy squeeze. "You got no idea how lost I'd be without the lot of you insane nutcases."

Shion blinked at him and blushed a bit, believing in himself was hard, especially since he messed up so much and so often. He blinked up at him when he was squeezed and turned round hugging Reno properly, burying his face into his side. "I'm sorry..." He whispered.

"Ehh..." Awkward. Goddammit. Always awkward. Still, Reno gave Shion a pat or two and tried to extricate himself. "Don't be sorry. Say 'I will believe in myself.' And stand up straight. It ain't that hard." It came out like an order, and it pretty much was. "Control yourself and ya won't have problems."

Reno stepped away and Shion blinked at him before looking down and trying to stand up straight all at the same time. Feeling even worse, though he could explain how or why. "I'll believe in myself." Or at least try, "And I'll talk to Diarmuid."

Shion got a firm slap on the back and a grin. "That's the spirit. You keep sayin' that, you'll be all right. I'll set up a meeting, kiddo. We'll get this thing straightened out."

Shion nodded, "Alright." His voice was quiet, but determined. And trusting. It would be alright, he just had to try harder, they could sort this.