fandomhigh | Unconventional Tactics, Tuesday, Period 2

"You ain't gonna win 'em all." Nope, there wasn't even a 'Yo, Rookies!' today as Reno made his way into the Danger Shop, only a couple of minutes late. There had been an important stop for coffee this morning, which he was now pausing to take a mouthful of as he settled in. Suck it up, kids. "You ain't. And, much as you all wanna think otherwise, you ain't all gonna be able to survive everything that life throws at you without a few bumps an' nicks along the way, yo."

This was Reno-ese for 'people get their idiot butts killed out there all the time.'

"I know, you all been spoiled by Fandom's practically nonexistent mortality rate. An' maybe you figure you're all invincible or some shit as a result, an' you can handle anything that you go up against. But news flash, kiddos: You ain't. And you can't. I don't care how strong you are. I don't care what superhuman abilities you got. Someday, you won't be able to out-run, out-think, or out-fight whatever it is that's comin' down on top of us. Someday, you will be thrust so friggin' hard on your ass that you will consider yourself lucky if someone shows up like a knight in shinin' armor to haul your sorry self outta there."

He smirked. He shrugged.

"So, we're gonna have a bit of a team-buildin' exercise, yo. Bit of a go against the Danger Shop, here. And I want you to all try an' tackle it without powers, to try an' keep things on an even playing field. You're each gonna break off into pairs. One of you's gonna play injured and pretty much useless, and you gotta get your ass rescued, yo. It's up to your partner to drag you outta harm's way." He nodded, and the Danger Shop flickered. And suddenly, everyone was standing on one end of a very shoddy looking suspension bridge. "Across this, zoto."

Really, he didn't even need to toss in enemy fire for this exercise. You guys would have an interesting enough time of this activity as it is.

[Open!]

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"And most of the time you spend with Zack?"

Bear with him, Ino. He was getting to a point, here.

"Mostly?" she said, tilting her head and frowning at him. "Maybe half this weekend--Zack had a lot of missions I weren't allowed on."

"Trust me then," Reno said, shrugging his shoulders simply. "You're an asset."

Sector 8 was Turks' turf.

"...How do you figure that one?"

Dubious. Duuubious.

"Who do you figure got to pick up the bodies of them Wutai when you were done with 'em, Rookie? That shit would'a been all over Midgar news if it was anyone but the Turks."

Gotta love the Turks.

"And my killin' them makes me a good thing to them?" Ino glanced at him. "Can't say I quite see it other than an 'enemy of my enemy' sort of thing..."

"Enemy of at least two of my enemies," Reno pointed out, "and girlfriend of a close friend. Callin' and hintin' that you have info on things they wanna know more about? You're more'n what you're tryin' to come off as, Rookie. The Turks... they take an interest on people who make themselves interestin', yo."

Granted, all it took for some people to make themselves interesting was for them to break into ShinRa's garage and try to steal a motorbike, but Reno had liked Rod. He'd had spunk. Damn good Turk, too.

"Maybe mostly because most people don't wanna be interesting to us. We're the black suits that hang around in shadows. We're the ones that'll get you if you don't watch your back. Most people in Midgar, they ain't afraid of SOLDIER, or even Security. But they see this uniform, they start wonderin' if they're next." He laughed. "What you really gotta worry about is when you don't see the uniform at all."

She lifted her shoulders in a shrug.

"Ain't much different than the ANBU at K-home," Ino replied, wincing a bit. "Only no one really is afraid of them 'cause everyone knows what rules we all play by. Don't see much need to cringe in terror from a suit any more than I would from a mask."

"And that," Reno replied, with an exaggerated sigh and a shrug of his shoulders, "is exactly what'll make you interesting to the Turks, yo. You ain't from around there. I'm willin' to guess that whatever you used on them Wutai ain't from around there, either. You, my silly little Rookie, are a curiosity."

Lucky girl!

"Is that goin' to earn me a stop over in interrogation?" she asked, arching her eyebrows. "'Cause that ain't my idea of a good time."

Being watched, eh, whatever. She could deal.

Reno sighed and shrugged his shoulders a bit.

"You come up with a better way of keepin' outta trouble, you come right out and say it," he replied. "As it stands, half of Gaia is gonna be on your case, just because you're Zack Fair's pretty little elbow decoration. You don't wanna run, can't fight if you don't want to blow your cover, and you ain't gonna trust my say-so when I tell you to trust a guy that I know better by now than he does. I seen the way you can move, Rookie. Much as I hate to admit it, the fastest Turk they got back then is gonna have trouble catchin' up to you. You know full damn well, they gotta catch you before they can interrogate you, zoto."

It was a combination of scolding and compliment that left her feeling rather--confused.

Except for one thing.

"Wanna train me?" she asked, well, wheedled. "To be faster and stuff, I mean?"

"Train you to be faster?" Reno quirked a little smirk. "You know, Ghanima's the one to talk to when you wanna work with that," he noted. "I can make you run laps around the island, get you in shape for it, but for all I can do it, I'd be worried about messin' up teachin' someone else what she taught me."

It was a very nuanced sort of lesson, that Ghanima taught.

"If you want general survival crap, I'm your guy. You want someone to spar with before the sun comes up every day, another one of my Rookies an' I meet on the beach every day, yo. If all you want is faster?" Shrug. "Ghanima."

"I'm in shape," she protested, a bit stung at the implication that she wasn't. "And--I don't know. I could use more practice and--"

Shift a bit awkwardly there. Try not to mumble.

"I don't know that Ghanima likes me much."

Reno had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from barking out a laugh. He really couldn't help it, that was just the Reno way.

"We can practise, then," he replied. "Bust out the stopwatch an' see how long it takes for you to do laps, crap like that. You got your way of makin' you go faster, I got mine. We'll see if we can hone yours in a bit more. More you work with somethin', the stronger it's gonna get, after all."

Run a lot, basically. Sigh.

"Okay," she said, nodding. "I'd--like that. Yeah."

Hey! Before Reno had gotten mixed up with mako and the Weirding Way, that was how he'd gotten faster!

It was just nice to be a wiry gutter rat who had to run like hell regularly just to get by, sometimes.

"Meet me on the beach this week, bright an' early. We'll see what we can do for you, yo. If you want, I can have a talk at Ghanima on your behalf, too. But I can't make her like you, yo. And she don't do respect much for people who are too damn scared to get up and ask for that respect on their own."

"I'll talk to her myself," she said, trying to keep her temper. "I don't need no one holdin' my hand to talk to her even if she don't like me."

Hmph.

Reno was doing that twitchy little grin thing that he did when he was fairly certain that he'd just made some sort of serious personal victory, even if other people might not see it in the same light as he did.

"If you get her help with this, Rookie, you won't regret it." And then he was right behind her, back to her, grinning out towards the bridge and the little river that was rushing on by. "Believe me."

Unconventional Tactics, Tuesday, Period 2

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