Turks at an Inn

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

Characters: Cissnei, Reno
Progress: Complete... I think. We've moved over to Mooglenet to get some answers
Summary: Cissnei and Reno meet at the inn
Location: Lindblum
Date: August 4, 1804
Warnings: Foul mouth on Reno's part, possible spoilers if you haven't seen/read/played all of the FFVII arc, and Cissnei being unusually emotional

Cissnei, with the strange chalice of water clamped in her hand, made her way through the city, deftly maneuvering between people and collapsed buildings. She wondered what exactly had happened. It was as if she was dropped in the middle of a war zone and she definitely knew what that looked like.

"This must be the place," she said to herself, shaking her head upon seeing the gaping hole in the roof. What was the point of a roof if it had a hole in it? Someone should fix it immediately. Cissnei opened the door and walked in cautiously. She was clearly out of place and the stares didn't help very much. Cissnei, with a small smile, saw wild, fire-red hair and instantly knew it was Reno. "Long time, no see."

Comments

[turks-reno.livejournal.com]

He'd been laying back in a chair in the lobby when the door to the inn opened and a face he hadn't seen in quite some time slipped across the threshold. Cissnei. A former partner amid the crazy group that was the Turks.

He stood and headed over to the poor girl who'd just been thrown into this mess mere days after he had, smirking and reaching out to ruffle her hair a tad. "Hey, pretty lady! Good to see ya." Blue eyes fell to the chalice she was holding, and fingers flicked out to the thing, arching a brow. "What the hell -is- that thing? Magic? An awesome new way of carrying water from place to place? The fountain of youth condensed?" He smirked, then gestured toward the chairs... then thought better of it. A room would be easier. So off to the room it was.

"Eh, come on. Walls have ears and all that shit, even here. Better to talk in private, if you don't mind?" He still wasn't sure if there were enemies around, and he'd rather not risk anything. Turks training was too strong in him, despite his lackadaisical facade.

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

She couldn't suppress a grin upon seeing Reno and acting the same as he ever did. It was nice to see a familiar face. "This thing? I'm not sure what it does, but it's called a Crystal Chalice. I'm getting more intel on it, but that's all I have for now. And no, I don't mind."

Cissnei followed him, trying to keep up with his long strides. When they walked in, she closed the door carefully behind her with one hand still holding the Chalice. "Is this enemy territory we're on? Are we being watched?" she quickly asked him. "Just what exactly is going on?" She stopped herself before bombarding Reno with a million questions, particularly those concerned with Zack and Cloud. They were her responsibility, to an extent.

Answers will come in due time as necessary, she told herself. Patience.

[turks-reno.livejournal.com]

"Crystal Chalice, huh? Fancy name for... well.. whatever it is," he replied as he held the door to one of the rooms open for the girl - hey, he still knew how to treat a lady, whether she was a civilian or a Turk!

"As for territory? No idea. I think Lindblum's friendly enough, but I don't even know who our 'enemy' really is. They're pretty sure whoever it is they're after's in a place called 'Terra'. But that's about all I really know. I feel like I came to this place only to be left behind." Blue eyes flashed as he sat down in a chair, gesturing for Cissnei to follow suit in the only other chair in the room - both facing a small table. He hated being away from his Partner. Rude.

Damn, this was going to be rough.

"Anyway... everyone else, their mother, and the damned kitchen sink is either at Terra or ... I guess one of the Shrines - whatever the hell THAT is - to try and reverse whatever the hell it is that caused us all to be here." He frowned, glancing over his former companion in ... well, was it really crime, when they were given license by the government to do it?

"Cissnei..." He groaned, shaking his head. "The last time I saw you was..." he trailed, considering the issue, "at least two years ago. Perhaps even three. We fought off Zirconiade... and then you disappeared. Pfft. Gone. And after that? All hell broke loose. I..." His jaw tightened, and he shook his head, the devil-may-care expression that so often found its way on his face was gone - in its place something akin to regret marred his features.

"Never mind that. But let's just say that people I never wanted to see die were killed. And they're -here- Cissnei. They're alive here." Fingers poked at the Crystal Chalice for a second, perhaps a childish want to delve into things that would likely get him into trouble. "Can you blame me for having mixed feelings? I even got to see -you- again, though..." Ah, there was that grin. "Far as I know, you didn't die. Just disappeared into the wilderness, never to visit your poor old Turkmates again. For shame." Teasing? Yep. Though maybe there was a little truth behind it.

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

Cissnei shifted her gaze from the Chalice Reno was poking at to his face. Maybe he didn't remember that he had helped her with some clones of Genesis, but that wasn't important. Not at all. She almost forgot too until she remembered seeing him. Cissnei came to realize that, in a way, this wasn't the same Reno from before. Something happened. Something big and terrible.

"Who died?" she asked quietly, arms and legs crossed. Her heart broke upon hearing the news of death, but she didn't show it. At worst, her face was blank. "And I didn't leave, Reno. It's been... a complicated mission I've been working. Or was working."

Hell. She knew of some hell that had broken out. She saw the mess that was with Zack and Cloud... of some of SOLDIER going crazy, but other than that? And it was true, she had little contact with other Turks for the latter part of her mission, save for Tseng who relayed orders. Cissnei had been alone.

"Wait. Three years? At most, it's been one year, maybe two." Her eyes flitted about in search of answers. "What happened?" she pressed. Cissnei, who was smack in the middle of this hell, didn't know a thing now.

[turks-reno.livejournal.com]

Reno frowned. He hated being the bearer of bad news, at least to those he considered to be friends - or as close to friends as Turks could get. Hell - Turks was better than friends. Turks was *family*. One big, fucked up family.

Blue eyes took in the girl who had fought by his side almost as much as Rude... until she disappeared.

"You remember Zack and Cloud, right? Tryin' to find them? THAT is when you disappeared. After Zack died, and Cloud... and Sephiroth... aw hell... this is complicated." It certainly was a sort of 'you had to be there' type of crisis. After all, who would believe it?

Another Turk would.

"Brace yourself, Ciss. And whatever you do, believe me - I'm telling the truth, Turks honor." Nevermind that most thought Turks didn't HAVE honor. Turks knew they had their own version of it. "After Zack died, he passed on that monster of a sword to the kid. But cuz Cloud was suffering from Mako poisoning at the time, his brain kinda took what Zack told him and turned the stories into memories. So Cloud had *Zack's* memories, or at least some of them. He started work as a mercenary, met up with a slightly less intense version of AVALANCHE, if you remember those guys? Yeah. They hired him. All the while, blondie thinks he's an ex- Soldier, First-Class. Just like Zack. And he acts it, too, pullin' shit off that a First Class could - and would. But the President... eh. He feels threatened by this new AVALANCHE, and he gets US to do damage control for him. Except his version of damage control is to *cause* some damage. Namely, he had *ME* drop the fucking plate on top of Sector Seven." Yeah. A harsh cross between anger and self-loathing flashed across his features for a split second before he continued.

"Anyway... that got the ball rolling. Sephiroth shows up soon enough, only he's absolutely batshit insane. Kills the President. Steals Jenova. Leaves that badass sword stickin' out of the old, fat man like a fuckin' shish kebab. Rufus takes over and promptly turns the company around on a 180. No more playin' nice with people. We were going to find the Promised Land and suck it dry of Mako. Only problem is, we had AVALANCHE and Cloudy-boy trying to stop us, and Sephiroth going after the Promised Land, too. Nevermind the place was *supposed* to be a myth."

He sighed, leaning back in his chair and tapping his fingers along the table-top in a gesture of pent-up tension.

"Sephiroth killed Aerith along the way. Nearly killed Tseng. And somewhere in the middle of all the chaos created, the bastard summons the mother of all Meteor spells - and when he killed Aerith, he did while she was praying for some way for the planet to stop the Meteor summon. Praying for Holy. Whatever it was he called down, it was like a small planet was aimed for us, closing in on us. The Planet woke up and tried to defend itself against him and *US*, and more of those Weapons woke up. One nearly wiped out half of Midgar, nearly killing Rufus along with it. Another nearly took out Junon. Cloud's posse actually stopped them, sort of. But all the while, Meteor was closing in."

He fixed another 'look' on Cissnei, a haunted expression, as though he'd seen far too much at this point.

"I'm leaving a shitload out, but that's because telling you all of it would take weeks. Anyway, long story short, Meteor destroys most of Midgar before the Holy spell Aerith was praying for finally kicks in - just as Cloud and Company kick Sephiroth's ever-loving ass into what we all thought was oblivion. It's not enough to save Midgar, but it saves the planet itself. And everyone -thought- it was all over. Fuckin' shows what WE knew."

He paused here, letting Cissnei catch up with what was told to her so far before daring to delve into the story of Geostigma, Kadaj's gang, and the disappearances that followed after they were taken care of. It could wait. He didn't want to shock the poor girl any more than necessary.

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

She gaped and stared in shock. This wasn't what she had signed up for.

"That hasn't happened," she said shortly, quietly. Cissnei buried her face in her palms. It couldn't be true, but here it was, all being told by Reno and he was getting too emotionally invested for it not to be true. "It couldn't be. I spoke to Zack, he was alive!"

What hadn't she done? "I should've been there, I shouldn't have gone off the map..." Cissnei ran her fingers through her hair as she tried desperately to save face, to not cry, but it was an overload she didn't expect at the least. "Ignorance is bliss, they say," Cissnei said bleakly.

[turks-reno.livejournal.com]

Shit. Shit, shit, shit. He hadn't meant to make Cissnei cry - or even come close to it. He wasn't -good- with crying girls, or comforting them. But he tried, reaching a hand out to rest on her shoulder. "Damnit, I'm sorry, Cissnei. I ... yeah. Ignorance is definitely bliss. And I'm sorry I had to be the jerk to shatter that. There's SO much more that happened, too..." Though luckily, no one that mattered had died after that. Unless you counted Sephiroth, again.

"You were there. You were hunting for Zack right along with us. It wasn't enough. None of it. The Army found them before we could." Reno sounded utterly crushed about it, too - apparently, he blamed himself just as much as Cissnei was questioning her own abilities. "I've had about three years to come to terms with all of it. I feel like an outright jackass for even dumping any of this on ya, but..." He shrugged almost numbly, a frown still playing over his lips. Cissnei had asked. She'd wanted to know why Reno had mixed feelings about going back. Who had died. Why he wanted to be -here-, despite it all.

"I don't even know if, after we go back to where we're from, if we'll remember any of this, anyway. But.. if you remember anything at all, maybe poke your head in on an old Turk friend, hm? You fell off the damned grid shortly after Zack died. Not that I can blame ya. Word was that you were fine, but that's all they'd tell us - if we dared to ask." And Reno had, thank you.

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

Taking a deep breath, Cissnei straightened herself out. "If any of us remember this," she began, "it would change everything." She sniffled. "The last I remember was talking to Zack in Gongaga. Everything you told me... it's the future. If we remember any of this, we could change it. But would it be worth it?"

She stared blankly at the Chalice, devoid of emotions. "We're shaped by the past. If we change the past, we change the future. Would we be the same people?" These questions began to charge full-speed at her. "It doesn't matter now. Too many people have lived a future I haven't seen." She was just one Turk, one teenage girl. Cissnei hadn't felt so unsure of herself in a very long time. What a screwed up world she was to live in.

Cissnei looked up at him and half-smiled, grabbing onto his hand. "If I remember anything, I'll visit you and the rest of the Turks. I promise. Or at least an e-mail, if Tseng doesn't set me up on some kind of mission."

[turks-reno.livejournal.com]

He shook his head with a small frown. "I don't know. It's tempting. But what happened in the past happened for a reason, don't you think?" Since when did Reno ever get this philosophical? Perhaps the same moment he learned that people who were dead in his past had shown up there, on Gaia.

"And yeah, a fucked-up reason's still a reason," he added with a faint grimace. "Sometimes I think fate's got a very twisted, sadistic sense of humor." Of course, mention of pasts and futures did give way to mention of a visit, and his expression brightened once again, giving the hand that had latched onto his own a little squeeze.

"You better. Turks gotta stick together, right? Hell, if I remember anything at all, I'll have to hunt you down." He blinked, laughed, and shook his head. "Don't know why I haven't done that yet. You'd think, you know, being a Turk and all, that it'd be the first thing to pop into my head. And I guess it was..." he trailed with a slightly puzzled look. "I just thought maybe you had your reasons for disappearing or something..." Pretty much. That and they'd all been -told- Cissnei was fine.

But then, they'd been told that Genesis had died, and Genesis had pointed out rather happily that he was alive and well, despite what had been said about him.

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

"I might. I might not. I won't know until I get there." That is, if she got there. If Cissnei learned one thing right now, it was that nothing was set in stone.

She laughed when he realized that his usually bright Turk brain of his failed, or was to fail in her case. "I won't put it past you to put a GPS somewhere on me now in the middle of the night." She took a deep breath and began to regret not having taken them into custody right then. Could she have saved them? But Reno was right: things happen for a reason. "If we all don't wind up in some kind of amnesia," she said, "I don't know how I'll be able to live with myself, allowing what is to happen to, well, happen."

"But enough about that," Cissnei cut herself short suddenly. "What about you, Reno? How about it? What's happened here, now?" She appeared more at ease but very deep down, she was shaken. Where could she even start with her doubts, her fears? Cissnei was born and raised into a ShinRa, a Turk from the moment she opened her eyes and now they were partially responsible for Hell itself opening its great maw and spitting chaos out.

[turks-reno.livejournal.com]

He gave a curt little nod. It was true - Cissnei wouldn't really understand her reasons for dropping off the grid until the time came. "I dunno... I don't think we'll remember much of anything if we go back. Maybe we'll get bits and pieces, or maybe it'll be absolutely nothing." A faint sigh left his lips, leaning back in his chair a bit and raking a hand through fiery-red hair.

"I kinda want to forget, in a way," he began, fingers tapping lightly along the fabric of his left leg. "If someone tells me about my future? Yeah, I can't help but wanna know NOW, but I wouldn't want to be in your situation, knowing what's supposed to happen, what MY present says happened, and either not be able to stop it..." he trailed, his voice sobering startlingly, "or having to decide to try to stop it, or let it happen. I mean... As I said - everything seems to happen for a reason. Maybe ... maybe Zack dying is the only reason Cloud went up against Sephiroth. Which would mean that if Zack lives, a calamity beyond imagination could happen. Meteor might hit the planet. We could all be obliterated."

He kicked at a table-leg half-heartedly, lifting blue eyes back up to view Cissnei. Haunted. "Too many people died in my present, Ciss. But even more could die if we try to fuck with things."

He shook his head, glancing at the door and trying to muster a smile. "Damn, I hope Rude comes back soon. I miss the big guy. And he'd want to say 'hi' to you, I know." Changing the subject? Hell yes.

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

Cissnei appreciated the change of subject, she even welcomed it. "So it's just us three, yeah? Where is Rude anyway? Last time I saw you two, you didn't have that rat-tail," she added with a smile. "Is he still wearing those useless sunglasses?"

She took the Crystal Chalice from the table and held it up to her face. "Looks like this thing is important to some other people. It stores some kind of purifying substance to guard against environmental evil." She paused with look of curiosity and interest growing. "I think I might have a job again, Reno."

[turks-reno.livejournal.com]

Was that a flicker of worry in Reno's eyes? It was gone before a person could blink, even as the dark-suited shoulders rose and fell in a small shrug. "Not sure where Rude went. I think he joined the group that went to fix this crazy mushed-worlds thing... but I honestly don't know. Maybe he thought better of it. Maybe he's getting a doughnut." Another frown, another sigh - replaced by a grin at the mention of his ponytail, and Rude's sunglasses.

"Hey, no bad-mouthing the tail! You like it?" he asked curiously, pulling the line of nearly blood-red hair over his shoulder. Reno was damned proud of that thing, thanks! "And yeah, Rude's got his sunglasses. Wouldn't be Rude without them, would it?"

Of course, the conversation went back to that little chalice of Cissnei's, peering at it curiously even as she held it up. "Environmental evil? Could use it in Midgar, for all it's worth. That place is a bit grime-coated, no? Coulda used it when Verdot took off his shoes, too..." It was just a joke, though, and Reno knew damned well from the description that the 'environmental evil' had nothing to do with city grime or stinky feet.

"Maybe there's something here we might need to use it on? I mean, if it arrived here, there's a good chance that we'll probably need to use it at some point. We could take a look, if you want?" We? Well, Turks stuck together. If Cissnei was on a mission? Reno wouldn't be keen at all on letting her tackle it alone. Hell, he was having a hard enough time with Rude being gone, leaving him rather alone.

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

"It suits you," Cissnei decided quite simply about his ponytail. "He must have a thousand pairs of those sunglasses littered everywhere, in case he loses them."

She smiled broadly when he said about Verdot's shoes. "Tell me about it. And... I really don't know if we're ever going to use it, but there's gotta be a reason why I have it and another girl, Rinoa, does too. I wouldn't know where to start, though," she said as she shook her head. "The thing that powers thing is from a tree that isn't in this world," Cissnei frowned.

"Only if you want to help, though. I'm not really sure if this is a 'job' or a 'mission' but it gives me something to do." A distraction would be the better word. Focusing on one thing, the Chalice, would divert her attention away from the ideas of futures past and people she knew who were dead at one point are alive again and vice versa.

[turks-reno.livejournal.com]

Suits him? He could have beamed at the compliment, but only the smallest of smirks managed to reach his lips before dying - he'd managed to kill a number of Rude's trademark sunglasses. Thankfully, their paychecks were large enough to cover replacing such things. "Usually his inside pocket has another pair," he commented knowingly (almost sheepishly) before his attention focused on that chalice.

"You're a Turk, Cissnei. Turks help each other. Even when we aren't ShinRa, we're Turks. Of course I'm gonna help you. And what else am I gonna do here? I've been sitting on my ass collecting a fine layer of premium dust waiting for Rude to come back," and worrying said ass off over the outcome of whatever Rude was doing, but he'd not admit that, "So spill. This Rinoa has one of these. Do you know if she's figured anything out? And if this chalice thing came from another world, who knows? Maybe this tree's here too!" He scratched the back of his head with a single finger, then straightened up out of the slouch he'd found himself in.

If Rinoa knew something, then Cissnei would share. And if not? The Turks could hunt down ... well... -almost- anything. Almost. And they could certainly find this silly tree, right?

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

She smiled broadly. "You and the Turks... You're literally my only family and I'm happy that you want to help. Besides, the dust doesn't look very good on the suit."

Cissnei fumbled with the phone then gave up trying to figure out how to find old recordings. "There are some Sky People called Selkies and they say that these Crystal Chalices are used to collect myrrh, which come from myrrh tress. They have this thing in their world called the Miasma and they have these crystals that could absorb the Miasma. It's very dangerous stuff to the people and the land from what I could understand. The myrrh collected from the trees would then be used to purify those crystals. The crystals can only protect the people for a year, so yeah, it's a never-ending cycle. But here's the thing: the Miasma has been dealt with, it's gone forever. So I asked them if these Chalices have another use and both of them said they hadn't tried it... but then they started to argue about... naps."

She ended with a frown. At least she got some information from the Selkies, right? "I don't know if Rinoa knows anything else besides what I've told her. She wasn't a ray of sunshine when I talked to her. Rinoa seemed... depressed about something."

[turks-reno.livejournal.com]

Pale fingers swept over his shoulders, as though to chase off any dust that might have accumulated there (not that there was any). "Well then, little sister, let's keep the dust off me, and get down to business."

And he listened as Cissnei told more about these mysterious little chalices. Miasma...? Some sort of toxic vapor? Gas? Atmosphere? And what was this myrrh? He frowned, leaning back once more in his semi-comfortable chair.

"We should find out if there're others out there that have these things besides Rinoa. And ask around if there are any trees in -this- world that existed, or cropped up like skypeople have, that emit noxious fumes. If so? ... Well, let's cross that bridge when we get there, yeah?"

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

"Well... you know it's possible that one of those trees might be here, somewhere. That tree Garland planted is thriving. I'm not really sure what exactly causes the Miasma. They mentioned something about memories having to do with its destruction."

Cissnei chewed her bottom lip. "Don't take this the wrong way, you probably will, but I'll have to get used to seeing you much older than I remember. You're an old man, Reno," she teased.

"Maybe we should send a blanket call, see if anyone's seen a myrrh tree, or something like it?"

[turks-reno.livejournal.com]

"Old?" He sputtered, shaking his head. "I thought I was aging rather well," he added, faking a little sulk. "You should feel lucky if -you- look this young when you're my age." But he winked, then sobered and got back to work.

"Hm. A blanket call ought to help. The more people who know what we're looking for, the more likely it'll be that someone has seen something, right? And it's not like this has to be hush-hush or anything. No ShinRa secrets to hide, right?"

Or were there? He didn't -think- so. "Perhaps we should make sure just the folks WE know get a call first, though?" Just to be safe. Who knew who was listening on the other end of the Skyphones, right?

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

"We might get a slimmer chance of information, but it'll probably be much more reliable if it's only people we've talked to," Cissnei agreed.

"I'm assuming you know how to work this thing," she said, holding up the phone, "better than I do."