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 Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2006 2:57 pm
Dani freezes as she hears the rumbles from Kat's stomach. Bad news. Baaaad baaaaad news for her. Hastily rummaging through her pockets, she sighs in thin relief as she pulls a small hard candy, still in its wrapper, from her pocket. "Here; this might tide you over," she chuckles, offering the jawbreaker to the ballerina holding the velveteen so cockily with one arm.
"It's a good idea to let Bonnie come around on her own," Dani agrees, tail flicking in a manner that might be considered defensive as she fidgets around the ballerina. "But what's this about godzilla plushies?"
Way to go, Dani; out of the loop again. Rufus spares a glance to Reno's tapping boots, noting idly that they are free of mud for the first time in his memory. "Dinner," he repeats incredulously. "Where are you going to dinner that prompts you to make yourself so presentable? And who are you going with?"
There's the flash of suspicion; his eyes turn cold and calculating as his fingers tent before his face. "Yes," he says quietly. "Impeccable. Which is a word I don't use every day, especially not for people like you." His tone is somewhat scathing, but at least the man is honest. Completely ignoring the sudoku remark, Rufus stands and draws his coat from the back of his chair, stuffing the sudoku book under his arm. "Well, I can't say I trust you to keep yourself from flicking paper napkin holders across the table; I'll be accompanying you." BUSTED.
Minnie very nearly groans as Rufus makes his way toward them, pawing more insistently at his shirt and staring imploringly up at the Turk, begging him to just get out while he still can.
Of course, how likely is that? It's his boss, after all.
With a resigned sigh, Minnie settles into Reno's arm again, some small corner of her mind grumbling that if someone gets hurt, it's not the bear's fault.
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Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2006 3:28 pm
The jawbreaker has barely a moment to adjust to its new surroundings -- that is, Dani's hand -- before it's swiftly snatched away, snapped from its wrapper, and popped into the mouth of one maniacally grinning ballerina. "F'ank'oo," Kat wheedles, her breath whistling around the candy.
Wisely, she takes a moment to eagerly attack the jawbreaker, breaking it into a myriad of pieces, before she starts to speak again. Death by asphyxiation would be dramatic, and certainly interesting, but not quite... bizarre enough.
"Godzilla plushies," Kat starts. She wheezes for a moment, swallows whole a shard of candy, coughs spectacularly, and then begins again, "Pink godzilla plushies. I made myself a golem, right, but then a bunch of people took it down -- stupid people... but it laid eggs, and plushies hatched, and they almost tore down the Observatory."
She nods toward the tower, and indeed, there are cracks evident to the trained eye, near the edges of the massive windows... not to mention the mayhem and destruction of the furniture within. Although, Kat thinks darkly, tightening her arms around Bonnie, some of that could always be blamed on the Turks...
"I dunno where it'll be at, sir." It's an honest enough answer; Reno shamefully averts his gaze even more than it had already been averted, staring unblinkingly now at the worn carpet. "But it's with... friends, sir." The hand thusfar unoccupied with anything but nervous fiddling now flutters up to press first against his nose, and then to partially conceal his face.
Headache headache headache...
"Shrink friends, sir. And yes, sir." Reno chances a glimpse of Rufus's face, and then looks down again, something in his gut boiling with resentment for that cold suspicion. Minnie might notice the hand still supporting her slowly tensing into a fist, but otherwise, the Turk gives no tangible reaction to any of his boss's words...
...let alone those threaded with scorn.
"Yes, sir. Great, sir." And Reno turns on his heel and starts again for the door.
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Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2006 4:18 pm
"You're welcome...?" Dani manages, staring at the place where the jawbreaker had been a mere instant before, her gaze gradually traveling up to fix on the crunching jaw of the ballerina. "Don't kill yourself, please, I have cour don bleu to make and I can't do it unless I have ravenous people to tend to."
"...godzilla plushies," she repeats. "Pink godzilla plushies. From eggs. From golem eggs. Homy." She stares at the cracks in the windows, suddenly realizing why the furniture was in such disarray when she first arrived. "Eesh. How'd that go? Badly, from the looks of it. That must have been one angry mommy golem."Rufus very nearly falters in his stride at the mention of 'shrink friends.' He recovers quickly, though, moving smoothly past the Turk and holding the door open for him. "Shrink friends," he repeats coolly. "Like the psychiatrist downstairs sort of shrink friends?" Minnie whines softly as she pets Reno's clenching hand, snuggling closer to his shirt as she casts her venomous glare at the man now holding the door for them. That...
...that...
...her vocabulary has no word for it.
But Minnie knows that he is something and that something is not pleasant, and someday she will learn the word and it will immediately be associated with that cold-eyed pretty-boy.
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Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2006 4:28 pm
"You'll manage," Kat replies cheerfully, once again beginning to pet the head of her stuffed prairie dog, smoothing the beige fur and working out bits of loose fluff. The jawbreaker goes crack.
"Well." She glances back to the tower, and then takes an abrupt, close interest in the pale underside of her wrist. "Well. The mommy golem, see, someone set it on fire, so it wasn't around anymore. But the plushies, they, ah. They took over the Observatory, and then there was this show-down..."
Never mind that she never gets to finish her story.
Before he reaches the door, Reno hesitates, watching this gesture of -- dare it be said? -- politeness with narrowed eyes. "Yah," the Turk replies, shrugging the most aloof shrug known to any man's musculature. As he ducks past Rufus, Reno is simply radiating insolence -- although there are no words, nor gestures, it's there, nesting in his shoulders.
Damn those shoulders.
"How many shrinks do you think I need, boss?"
At once, Kat's head lifts. Emerald eyes dart across the vast expanse of wind-caressed meadow to fix upon the opened door of the Observatory -- widened in enthusiasm, and the desire to see clearer --
-- and then, at once, they narrow to knives.
"Oh, no," Kat hisses, beginning to puff up. "Oh, no."
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Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2006 5:11 pm
"Considering the fact that Arashi's a cannibal and loves chicken, you're probably right," Dani mutters. "But it won't be the same, eating without my ravenous guests. That would just be eating with my normal ravenous family...which isn't all that fun, sometimes, considering how much Arashi hates me."
There's that paranoid look again.
"...should I pity that mommy-golem? Because I sorta do right about now," she mutters, glancing toward the door as it comes open...
...and she watches as Reno stalks out, followed a moment later by a pale-haired man dressed in white.
"Perfect," she sighs. "Wait just one moment, please," she begs quietly, already striding across the lawn even as she speaks."Oh, look, here comes your psychiatrist now," Rufus states amiably, walking past Reno to meet the stone-faced half-fox. "I don't trust Reno to keep his manners, so I'll be joining you--"
--his head snaps to the side as her hand shoots out, striking him sharply across the face.
As the half-fox stalks past, he remains completely still, face blank, eyes distant and lost.
That was unexpected.Dani pauses in front of the Turk, eyeing his tie, his buttoned shirt, his de-muddied shoes, his hunched shoulders. "You look great," she says quietly, offering a soft smile...
...before grabbing his neck and pulling him down into a forceful embrace.
"We won't let him spoil our dinner, right?" she whispers. "If nothing else, we'll sic Kaen on him. I bet the quadrapedal birdie could take him.Minnie squeaks as she is gently squished between one Turk and one half-fox, wriggling out of the squeezing space.
But she smiles as she huddles down into Reno's arm.
Maybe it won't be so bad, after all.
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Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2006 5:29 pm
"Oh, no," Kat repeats, with slightly more conviction. If she had sleeves, you could bet she'd be rolling them up -- she might not like Reno, but Dani does, and anyway, Kat draws the line at any megalomania that isn't her own. "Oh, no."
Never mind that Rufus gets what's coming to him.
Without the ballerina's involvement, unfortunately.
No matter the few paces of distance, Kat knows immediately what has happened, when it happens -- the very instant that the President's head jerks to one side, the dancer flings herself enthusiastically into the air, gently using Bonnie as a sort of makeshift pom-pom.
"YAY~! GO D-CHAN~ GO D-CHAN~ IT'S YOUR... well, actually, it isn't, but..."
While the windswept field does briefly explode into a cacophony of one dancer's joyousness (and unwavering support of violent means in these violent times), Reno remains silent. Save for the slightest self-conscious stirring, he does not react at all to Dani's approach...
...at least, not until she yanks him down into an impromptu embrace.
There is the briefest moment in which the Turk stiffens against her touch, hands clenching to fists and jaw setting. But it lasts little more than a heartbeat -- and then Reno sags against his psychiatrist, relaxing fully into her arms.
"You shouldn't've," he murmurs, "shouldn't've done that, yo. I don't think he knows. Take Minnie." Despite these words, Reno makes no move to pull away, and would most likely protest if D-chan did. Ah, sweet hypocrisy! "She helped me tie my tie, yo. Talk about... talk about talent."
"YAAAAAAY~" Kat continues distantly, unabated. She punches one fist into the air, crowing victory over the vanquishment of an opponent that she had no part in.
But that's what cheering squads are for, right?
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Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2006 5:55 pm
Dani grins a small, secret grin as she hears Kat's distant cheering. She feels quite satisfied, all of a sudden, having released her anger on that pompous ShinRa president. Sure, she offered him an ear to rant to, but his sheer arrogance in these situations sends her blood boiling and puts her in a blind rage.
As has been seen.
"Keep her for a while," she says quietly. "She likes you. And even if she can be a pain sometimes, she's good emotional support, you know?" the half-fox gives Reno a few consoling pats on the back, still supporting him, making no move to pull away from him or even push him away.
"...wait...where did she learn how to tie a tie?" Rufus, meanwhile, is not a happy camper.
His eyes lose their distance, shining bright and close and icy with a deep-set rage as one hand twitches in the vague direction of his reddening cheek.
It never makes it, though.
In the next instant, the president of ShinRa turns, drawing the short-barrel shotgun smoothly from nowhere and pointing it at the half-fox's head. Dani stiffens at the touch of cold metal rings on her scalp. "Reno," she says quietly. "If I die, take care of Minnie. Please."
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Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2006 6:07 pm
"I don't know, I just --"
He knows something is wrong when Dani stiffens. Again, his hands tighten into abrupt fists, tangling perhaps uncomfortably so in Minnie's fur -- it's always the by-standers that get the worst of it, he thinks, and almost starts laughing. Reno knew something like this would happen. He knew.
But he didn't do a single thing about it.
"Sir," the Turk starts slowly, keeping the bear in his arms safely tucked against D-chan's chest, and mostly out of sight... but he can't do anything to stop her from hearing. "Remember that question you asked me, sir? I told you I wouldn't, and I meant it. I don't lie to you, sir. But I swear to you, if you do --"
A thought for Minnie.
"...anything... I will hurt you. I will hurt you. Very, very badly, Rufus; do you understand me?"
Sadly, it takes a slightly longer period of time for Kat to realize that something is amiss.
Her cheering sputters and fails in her throat; something wicked starts to glitter across eyes like knives of emerald. Sparing attention for nothing else but this, the ballerina begins creeping stealthily across the field, her socked feet scarcely deigning to whisper in the grass.
About time she came in handy for something.
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Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2006 6:35 pm
Rufus watches the Turk contemplatively, finger resting still on the trigger, unflinching and utterly motionless; he does not tremble, he does not let the gun waver, he does not let his finger twitch on the slender curve of metal.
Those cold blue eyes simply watch.
And at Reno's words, he smiles faintly, contemptuously, before pulling the shotgun back and letting it slip back into the nothingness from whence it came. "Forgive my curiosity," he drolls acidly. "I just wanted to see how you would react. Find where your loyalties lie."
The president of ShinRa shrugs stiffly as he retreats a few steps, examining the scene before him. "ShinRa will be leaving the Sarnin Observatory soon," he states calmly. "So you're free to leave now. Please, don't come back; you distract the hired help."Minnie does whimper as Reno's hands tighten in her fur, but it is more because the tension around her is literally palpable on her tongue and she is too small to do anything at all about it. She looks between Reno and Dani--what little of them she can truly see between the shadows and the embrace-- with frightened brown eyes, pleading for some explanation, for some resolution, for help...
...and then the situation calms, and she melts in Reno's arms, breathing shallowly now that the frightening pain in her chest has passed...yet...the helplessness still weights down on her.
Will she always be so helpless to save those she loves? As the touch of the gun disappears, Dani releases a thin, relieved sigh, hugging Reno just a bit tighter as her ears p***k back, listening intently to Rufus' words.
She considers for a long moment before drawing in the breath to speak.
"Where are you going to go now?" she asks quietly. "I've heard that ShinRa collapsed; so you have no headquarters to go back to.
"Reno still needs his Psychiatrist in the Wall.
"You can stay at my house, for the time being, if you'd like.
What is she trying to get herself into...?
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Posted: Wed Mar 08, 2006 6:57 pm
Well, Reno has an answer for that, even if he can't properly breathe and even if his heart hurts and even if his mouth tastes like bile.
"They lie with you, Rufus," the Turk replies promptly. "Just not when you're being a p***k for no good reason. With all due respect, sir." When Reno looks to his president over the head of one D-chan Spiro, there's something like apology in his eyes, even if he knows it isn't going to make a difference.
It never does.
He wants to add something scathing. He wants to snap back something like, I'm not your damn experiment, or go run your loyalty tests on a SOLDIER or two, but, while the words are there, Reno can't find it within himself to say them.
He squeezes Dani just the slightest in return, before he pulls resolutely away, turning the entirety of his attention to the bear in his arms. "Shh, Minnie. Shh, shh, it's okay. Everything's okay now, yo."
Even the gravity of the half-fox's offer is lost on him -- there's nothing now; Reno has nothing to give anyone now... not after that. "Shh, shh. It's okay, Minnie."
Meanwhile, Kat does not quite curse, although she does stomp one socked foot in the grass.
"Mexican stand-off!" she whines, and then corrects herself, "I mean, Turkish stand-off, so sorry. Not fair. Wait, wait, what's this now?" And she bounces up to listen attentively to Dani's words, her head put curiously to one side.
There is a long, long silence.
"Wot d'you mean, they can STAY AT YOUR HOUSE?" Kat points furiously at Rufus, trembling from floppy-hatted head to rainbow-clad toe. "Like, like a SLUMBER PARTY? You know he just tried to KILL YOU, right? Right? Hello? Earth to D-chan? Come in, D-chan?"
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Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2006 1:39 pm
Dani offers the Turk a few more consoling pats before he pulls away to tend to the animated plush. "What do you say?" she asks, grinning boyishly at Rufus as Kat makes her screeching assessment of the half-fox's mental health.
"Yes, I know that he just tried to kill me," Dani agrees easily, nodding slowly. "But Reno really does need his therapist, and I have large quadrapedal magic-weilding birdies to protect me if worse comes to worst. Kaen's pretty big, after all, and not easily swayed by power and megalomania, unlike some sarlings I know."
It's a friendly jab, and it's obvious that Rufus hears, though he does not react in any way besides keeping his eyes focused on her face.
"But no, it won't be a slumber party," she snickers. "It'll be...a temporary base of operations. The place is too big, anyway; might as well put some people in it, right? The doors have locks and bolts and taloned guards, so it should be safe enough, I figure."
"Besides," she murmurs, finally paying her full attention to Rufus as she steps boldly toward him, staring him in the eye even as she is forced to look upward, inwardly hating the fact that he holds an inch of height over her. And to think, if she'd just given up magic entirely she wouldn't have that height problem, in all likelihood. "Somebody has issues that could use an escape. If you keep it bottled up inside, you'll only hurt yourself."Rufus does not back away even as the half-fox invades his space, coming so close that he can see the minute dilations of her pupils as the sun's light is shielded by passing wisps of cloud. Fair-weather clouds, he speculates, or perhaps sirius; he finds it impossible to break her fierce stare to check; better to hold her gaze and prove his mettle than take up scientific habits again--
--something inside steels at her words.
For a long moment there is silence, broken only by the wind brushing through the glasses.
When it ends, it is as Rufus moves away. "And have you distracting Reno even more?" he asks icily, walking back toward the door of the Observatory.
"...I'll think on it.
And then the ShinRa president is gone. Minnie whines quietly as Reno tries to hush her, as though protesting his attempts. Can't he understand? Can't he understand how small she is, how little she truly can do, how highly she thought of herself and her abilities and now this crushing truth that has shattered all that she is?
...no, he can't.
The bear falls utterly silent, going limp in the Turk's arms and simply staring off into nothingness.
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Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2006 2:47 pm
"And me," Kat whines, before her friend has even has the chance to finish. "You have large quadrapedal magic-wielding birdies to protect you if worse comes to worst and you have me. I was gonna break his head, I was, if wossface wouldn't've been all like ooouh I'm such a scary scary maaaaan~"
Never mind that she breaks the stride of her fervent ramble to mutter ruefully, "Slumber party, Turks in party hats," since there's no one to shush her.
"...Minnie?"
Although one roguishly loyal foot had ambled after Rufus, working itself out of sheer habit and the decided absence of conscious control, Reno stops himself just in time to disguise the flinching movement as nothing more than nervous tension. The entirety of his attention remains focused firmly on one little bear...
...even if he does twitch irritably at the shrill, mocking cry of a Kat.
"C'mon, Minnie-bear, yo." Although Reno can't sense the finer details of her desolation, it's hard not to see that Minnie is upset; he forces a ragged smile for her benefit, even if he rather feels like going somewhere and sitting down in a corner and crying for a while, instead. "No sense in both of us being all woesome, yo. C'mon, cheer up?"
The slightest thoughtful pause.
"Kay," Reno starts, nudging the bear with as much playfulness as he can muster -- which is, under the circumstances, fairly impressive. "What's gonna happen if I have a tie emergency in the middle of dinner, huh, yo? I'm just gonna panic. Panic 'n there'll be mayhem 'n strangulation, yo, disrupting everyone's dinner. So cheer up so you can protect me from my tie.
"...Please?"
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Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2006 3:07 pm
"That's very true," Dani nods agreeably. "I do have you, if worse comes to worst. Thank you for reminding me," she grins. "But I say we should get going; standing around here isn't getting any of us fed and it's not getting dinner made, either."
The half-fox turns away, moving a few steps across the grassy expanse toward the line of trees before looking over her shoulder at Kat and Reno. "Are you two coming?" she asks cheerfully, trying with all her heart and soul to boost the Turk's swamp-bottom spirits...and Minnie's; now that she looks, the little bear looks about as depressed as Reno.
And that, more than anything, is disconcerting. Minnie barely deigns to glance up to Reno as he calls her. She growl-mumbles something quiet and unintelligible before burying her small head into his arm.
But her round ears twitch at the playfulness of his voice, talking about how his tie is going to get the better of him during dinner. And though she does not lift her head to show it, she allows a small smile to scamper across her muzzle before she draws back enough to look up at the Turk.
She nods weakly.
She is not herself yet, but...
...at least she is beginning to come back around.
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Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2006 5:21 pm
Folding her arms across her chest (and over her Bonnie), Kat huffs. "Reminding you. If worse comes to worst. Like you don't know that there's no one better fit to defend you than me."
With no further ado, the ballerina draws herself up to her full height -- which, admittedly, is not that much more intimidating than her ordinary slouch, but as long as no one points that out -- and attempts a ferocious snarl. Grr.
The ferocity dissipates immediately, of course, upon mention of food. Off Kat bolts, without attention to spare for anything but her frolicking and her glee and the occasional impatient hand-tugging of one D-chan Spiro.
"Let's go eat already! C'mon c'mon c'mon~~"
Meanwhile, that weak nod is enough.
Reno's frayed smile takes on a touch of color; he fetches out a hand from somewhere in the pocket of his trousers to lightly tap Minnie's nose, not quite laughing. "That's better, yo. That's my Minnie."
And then the Turk lifts his head and waves to Dani, trotting to catch up with her and the scampering ballerina. (He spares an offhandedly derisive glance for the latter, who cheerfully returns it with a rude, wild gesture of her own devising.) "We're coming, yo~ sorry."
...Finally, as he falls into an easy, loping stride, Reno gets down to what's really important here...
"What's for dinner, yo?"
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