Of Chalices, Trees and S'mores

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

Characters: Cissnei, Reno, Zack, Tseng
Progress: Closed; follow-up post here
Summary: The Turks are out and about, investigating Cissnei's Crystal Chalice
Location: Qu's Marsh and the routes in-between
Date: September 30, 1804
Warnings: Reno cussing, Cissnei being somewhat emotional, violence and monster killing


After Reno helped Sephiroth to settle in at the mansion in Lindblum, the two began to trek to Qu's Marsh. According to amassed information, there was a strange tree at the Marsh. Maybe it's a Myrrh tree like the ones the Selkies spoke of? They wouldn't know until they got there. The Chalice had been such a mystery to Cissnei, and now that a total of three people had a Chalice, there surely had to be a reason why they all found one.

They walked across terrains, talking of nothing and everything, sometimes staying silent for the sake of Cissnei, who sometimes truly could not handle Reno's confusing motormouth. It was turning late, a little too late, but luckily they managed to get most of the way to the Marsh. Both decide that it was a good time to stop and rest and finish the rest of the trip the next morning.

Cissnei starts to set out her sleeping bag underneath a large tree they came across. "Hey, Reno... Um..." She pauses and tries to figure out how to word her question without offending him. Rufus seemed quite flat about what he told her. "Rufus... Rufus told me that Veld's daughter was behind AVALANCHE. When? Why?"

Comments

[turks-reno.livejournal.com]

As soon as they stopped to make camp, Reno set to work unpacking - and prepping their campsite. His bedroll was set aside for the time being as some of the brush was cleared away, not wanting to risk an out-of-control campfire, and the small twigs and branches were broken up to make tinder. With such a large tree near them as well, larger branches could be found, which would help a great deal. Thus he set to work, making sure that the fire was down-wind of the tree (so they didn't set the poor tree on fire!) as he created it. A large span of dirt with rocks in a circle around it to keep logs and branches from tumbling out. Small twigs at the bottom, larger branches forming a sort of tee-pee over-top.

Of course, midway through building the fire, Cissnei interrupted his thoughts with a question - and one that had him pausing to think before he spoke (yes, yes, it happens!).

"Shortly after Rufus was found to be conspiring with Avalanche, actually, we found out about Elfe. Veld defected from ShinRa once he learned the truth - and with him went most of the Turks. Including me, Rude and Tseng. How could we fault the guy? I mean... it was his *daughter*. But defecting... The company was furious, but since we had the only heir in our grasp," he winked at Cissnei, obviously indicating Rufus, "we technically had the upper hand the whole time."

He arched a brow at her, then set to work starting up some flames in his pretty little campfire. "Would it surprise you to know that Avalanche was proven correct? That ShinRa really was killing the planet? Yeah. Blew our minds, too." In truth? Reno had been shocked and rather upset that the very company he'd devoted his life to had been one of reasons the planet had nearly been destroyed. "We nearly brought about the end of our planet, Ciss. Luckily, a new and smaller version of Avalanche cropped up in the nick of time. Not that we made it easy for them." Did he sound ashamed? Yes. Very much so - even as flames leaped to life beneath his fingers, crackling as they ignited the timber.

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

"We were never the good guys, were we?" She asks silently. Again, that feeling of insecurity sneaking into her mind. How much had changed since her time? She bent her knees and hugged them, trying to make herself feel a little better, a little more secure, just like she did when she was a kid in the orphanage after getting picked on for being so small.

She poked the fire with a branch she found, trying to bring it to life some more.

"Where did we go wrong?" Cissnei knew the answer, but still, she couldn't help but asking. Zack dead, ShinRa behind the killing of Gaia, the Turks defending planet-killers... What a wonderful world, she thought bitterly.

[turks-reno.livejournal.com]

Reno flashed her a grin as he rummaged through his pack. "Oh, we were. Recently, we've become very 'good' guys. I mean, we'll never be angels - it simply isn't what the Turks or ShinRa is all about. But since the Meteor incident? Yeah... Rufus has turned the company around. We're finding new sources of energy, we helped with one of the newer bad-guys that tried to threaten our planet, and ... no one's completely sure, but I think Rufus is funding - or helping to fund - an organization that's trying to clean up after all of the crazy. Yeah, we're still kicking ass and getting our asses kicked, but... for once, it's for the good of our world. Nearly dying has changed Rufus, and for the better."

He pulled out a few items - a knife, a box of cinnamon crackers, some marshmallows, and chocolate. Two twigs were found as well, and he began sharpening one end of each with the knife. "We're the good guys *now*, Ciss. Or at least as good as we assassins, kidnappers, and all-around dirty-job-doers can be." He winked, then popped a marshmallow on a fresh-pointed stick, passing it to her.

"You need cheering up, Ciss. And I can think of nothing better than s'mores for that. What do ya say?"

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

She smiles broadly at him, taking the stick with the marshmallow on the tip. "How can I say no to that?" Cissnei places the marshmallow over the fire to let it roast, turning it slowly, methodically.

"So does this morally ambiguous hero have a girlfriend in the future?" she teases. She didn't want to think about all that happened, was to happen. "Or, you know, something like that," she adds with a wink. Reno? Girlfriend? It could happen.

Or maybe more like a friends-with-benefits kind of thing.

[turks-reno.livejournal.com]

"Girlfriend? Nah. Not my thing, really," he insisted. That much was true. Girls, while fun, never were for 'settling down' in Reno's mind. Hell, he really wasn't in the mood for a fling, either. Contrary to popular belief? It simply wasn't in his nature to use someone like that.

But there was...

Aw, was that a blush? Yeah, those cheeks turned pink just beneath the red lines that curved around his eyes, and he shook his head. "Let's just say I got my eye on someone, but I don't think it'd work. They're..." He shook his head, stabbing a marshmallow with his own stick, sticking the white fluffy thing directly into the flames. No waiting around for Reno - nope! The thing ignited, and the senior-Turk's eyes lit up for a second before removing it from the fire and blowing the charred thing out. Two blocks of cracker and a piece of chocolate later, and he had a very gooey, sticky treat.

He nibbled on it, then shrugged. "I think I'm doomed to a life of bachelorhood, darlin'. I know for a fact they're not attracted to me." They'd openly admitted, years ago, to liking a certain busty bartender, after all.

"What about you? You're always so damned quiet about your personal life - I never did find out if you had your eyes on someone..." And he prided himself in knowing the office gossip!

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

"Well I'm sure you already know that Cissnei isn't even my real name," she said with a grin. "Like I told that cowboy Irvine, you should give it a shot. You never know, I mean, we are on another world after all. Anything could happen."

She thought about it. Zack...? She shook her head. He was an objective, not a person to like. Well... no! She felt her ears turn hot pink. She deflected the question entirely and very obviously by taking a huge bite into her gooey s'more.

[turks-reno.livejournal.com]

He laughed, swallowing a bite of messy s'more, then nodded. "Yeah, though no one knows what your 'real' name is. I do like 'Cissnei', though. Cover-name or not, it's nice." Of course, he couldn't let the 'cowboy' comment go.

"It's good advice," he acknowledged with an arch of his brow, already reaching for another marshmallow - setting the bag between them. "But would you take it, yourself? That little ear-blush tells me there's *someone* out there." Ha. Damn him and his Turk habits, but Reno was trained to pick up on things like that. "Come on, spill the beans. Who knows? Maybe I can help? Yanno - fix it so you guys are trapped alone for a lil while?" He grinned, but he didn't laugh - this wasn't a laughing matter at all. But then, matters of the heart never were. While he was a bit excited both at the prospect of helping and the fact he might get some more information on their elusive partner, the one thing Reno would never do is tease someone over who they liked.

Why?

Well, mainly for the fact that, despite being few in number, Reno's crushes were all either unobtainable or excessively frowned-upon. Meaning until he retired? His hands were essentially tied in regards to them. It was asking for trouble, even if they liked him back.

"You tell me, and I'll tell you?"

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

"No," she replies, taking another marshmallow and skewering it with the stick, "I wouldn't take my own advice. To build up hope when something's already dead is pretty backwards." Ding ding, that should be a bit of a tipoff. "He's not on any world anymore and he already has, or had, a significant other." If the sirens aren't blaring now, well, she's probably doing a good job of hiding the identity of mystery man Zack Fair, SOLDIER extraordinaire. She was being vague enough after all, or so Cissnei thought.

She was interested in Reno's love interest, true, but she couldn't take the offer. She just couldn't. Cissnei could lie, true, but that wasn't a very good way to start off a new Turk job now was it? "You'll probably think I'm ridiculous if I told you," she said sheepishly.

[turks-reno.livejournal.com]

Reno whipped out his phone at Cissnei's mention of not being able to locate a tree on their maps, and instead of pulling up the map function, quickly selected to talk to Tifa.

The conversation was brief, but when he hung up?

The map was brought out, and their current location placed. "Here we go. Tifa said the tree was pretty much dead-center. So we just need to head to the middle of this squishy place. Easy." Okay, maybe NOT easy, but not exactly the battle of a lifetime, either. "Let's head out, darling. Sooner we find this tree thing, the sooner you can be out of here, and we can get clean." He winked, then headed off toward what appeared to be the middle of the swamp on his glowing map.

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

"Yes, clean," Cissnei repeated, following Reno closely. "Clean sounds good." She tried to keep a straight face, but the deeper they got into the swamp, the more sour her attitude turned. It didn't help that she was so short and her pack was getting dirty too. Cissnei tried to keep the Chalice out of the muck as much as possible.

"It's so easy for you boys," she snapped. "You could be dirty for a week and you wouldn't even care." Oh yeah, her temper was running a little short right now.

[turks-reno.livejournal.com]

He held up his hands as if to surrender. "Hey, hey... Male I may be, but I don't like getting this dirty any more than you do. Besides. The males-like-dirt thing is a lie. Have you ever seen a speck of crud on Rufus' white suits? Or seen Tseng's uniform mucky? Not unless he's knee deep in it, like us." He stuck his tongue out childishly at her, but sloughed along ahead, keeping Cissnei near him at all times. Who knew if anything would attack them out here?

"We'll find a nice stream, then, and you can rinse the dirt off. It's not a shower and laundry service, but it'll do till we can get back to civilization, right?" He didn't mention that he'd like it, too.

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

"Well, Rufus is Rufus," she said flatly. Cissnei quickly flicked her tongue out at him mockingly.

"Well, there should be a stream or a river nearby I would think." She swatted away a few flies from her face and shifted her hair over one shoulder. "Maybe we'll find something clean in Midgar or along the way." She chewed her lip lightly in thought. How were they going to know if this tree would work with the Chalice or not? We'll know when we get there, she thought.

[turks-reno.livejournal.com]

"And Tseng?" Tseng was just prim and proper. Like Cissnei.

"There's gotta be some stream or the like to provide the water for this stinking place," he agreed, nodding and smacking a mosquito as it tried to make a meal out of his hand. "Imagine if the pipes in Midgar still worked! Wouldn't that be a miracle?" A shower. It'd be bliss. But hopefully they'd be able to get clean *soon*. The mud was getting to him, even as he lifted a mucky leg out of the swamp, only to squish back into the mire a second later.

"Hey... is that a tree there?" he pointed off in the distance to what *looked* like a ... well... it had a trunk. And the branches looked like crystal palm leaves or something like that. "Is that it?"

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

She cocked her head, wondering. "Well, it looks like it's made of crystal and it's the only tree-looking thing here." Cissnei tried as fast as she could to get out of the muck, lifting her feet and knees way, waaaay high out of it to actually cover a decent amount of distance.

And that's where she noticed something. "Uh... Reno." All kinds of creatures bared their teeth and hissed at the Turks as they got closer to the tree, as if on cue. One mu pounced at Cissnei, but she deftly beheaded it and caught Rekka. "I hope you have a plan, because I haven't come up with one."

[turks-reno.livejournal.com]

He'd taken note of the nasty little creatures that were heading for them just as Cissnei brought it to verbal attention.

"Shit." Well, that about summed it up. "At least these guys are easy enough," he added, whipping out his EMR and pressing the little button that had it humming to life. Smack-down time.

He flashed a grin at the girl. "Keep hacking heads off until either they run out of heads, or we need to call for backup. And don't forget to collect anything they drop. Something tells me we're gonna need it." There was a devilish look in his eyes - but nothing that showed he was overly concerned about the situation. Yet.

"Deal with things as they come, Ciss. It's all we can do right now." And with those words, his EMR came crashing down on the front and side of a charging sahagin, sizzling the wet creature and sending it scurrying backward with a cry of pain.

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

Well, that was a plan. Sort of. She slid past the sahagin and swiped the dropped items from the mu, throwing Rekka straight into a dark grenade that was floating dangerously close to them. This definitely had to be the tree they were looking for. She lopped the heads off a few more mus as they pushed through.

Cissnei groaned in pain as one of the mus bit into her leg. Angrily, she stabbed its head with one point and pried it off. "There goes my suit," she muttered flatly, picking up the potions and unceremoniously throwing them into her pack.

[nogoodpeople.livejournal.com]

Reno hadn't been kidding when he'd said the place was marsh. If it had gotten any wetter, Tseng almost would have been willing to call it a lake, and as it was he was surprised that there was enough solid ground for a tree to actually make a living here. Still, he'd take their word for it, and it wasn't like it was too hard to follow their path between the assorted monster corpses and foot-steps half swallowed by the marsh itself.

It was slow progress, yes, and more than once his progress was impeded by the monsters still infesting the place, but still, it was progress and that was what mattered in the end. Getting to the tree, or to wherever they were along the way. Such was inevitably the way of things.

What he hadn't expected was to find them fighting a dragon of all things. He'd hoped that the behemoths were the worst this place had to offer. So much for hope then. Help on the other, that he could give, and as soon as he was in range of the beast the sharp crack of gunfire rang out, aimed at the dragon's eye. Even a dragon that seemed to be a rotting mass needed to be able to see its prey, or so he was assuming.

[fairesthero.livejournal.com]

Mentally acknowledging Cissnei's orders, Zack kept hacking away at the dragon's leg. It would be a small victory if he could get one out of four, but it would bring them closer to finally taking down the damn thing.

Getting in a nice, solid hit, Zack could feel his blade meet bone. He grinned, proud with the progress, but also knew it would be that much more difficult to retrieve his blade. He gripped the hilt strongly and tried to dislodge it, but at that same moment, the dragon grew fed up with their attacks and lashed out. Out of the corner of his eye, Zack saw Reno roll away, but he was more concerned with the wounded leg that suddenly pulled up, picking up Zack via his sword.

He let go and scurried out of reach of the swiping claws, but he wasn't fast enough. Those claws caught on him, throwing him out of the way and grazed an arm as it pulled back.

Zack blacked out for a second, blinking madly to regain his composure. Shit. Almost distantly, however, he heard gunfire. But...who could that be?

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

Cissnei grinned when she heard the shot. Tseng. But she didn't have very much time to think about that: Zack was in a poor, sorry state after getting a good hit on the dragon. "Zack, you idiot!" she shrieked, sliding over next to him. "You're SOLDIER, not invincible," she scolded, handing him an uncorked potion and nearly force-feeding him.

She slapped his face lightly to try and wake him up, madly trying to drag him and herself away from a now extremely vicious, extremely angry dragon. How much did he even weigh? To her, it was like dragging a ton of bricks. In a split-second decision, she pulled out a bomb fragment and threw it at the dragon to buy some time for the two. "C'mon, get up," she muttered angrily.

[turks-reno.livejournal.com]

The shot that rang through the early afternoon sky had him nearly crying for happiness. Tseng! "Good to see you, sir! Welcome to the mud-spa!" he joked briefly, blue eyes never leaving the very angry dragon, even as Zack's attack succeeded and failed at the same time.

"Zack!" he yelped as he saw the SOLDIER fall, frowning and throwing a potion toward the dark-haired warrior and the petite Turk. Of course, due to his own wounds, that throw went wide and crashed directly into the putrid hide of the beast they were fighting.

He cursed as the glass broke and the liquid sank into the wounds on the creature's legs, but perked as - instead of giving the creature more energy or helping close the wound, the dragon emitted another harsh cry of pain. The potion HURT it. Of course it did - it was a zombie. Not alive.

"Got an idea, everyone! Check THIS shit out!" After downing a potion of his own, he pulled his bag over his shoulder, reached into it and pulled out a length of twine that had originally been used to hold some of their food containers closed - now that they'd eaten some of it, there was no need to keep all of it. He wrapped the twin around as many hi-potions and regular potions as he could manage, tied it tightly, then flung it at the dragon with all his might. The ensuing roar that left the dragon's throat had him quite literally jumping up for joy, and whooping as the creature staggered.

"Anyone have phoenix-down? Might not kill it, but it'll hurt it even more!"

Who ever said that Reno couldn't plan? He just was best at coming up with them in the heat of battle.

[nogoodpeople.livejournal.com]

"I wouldn't have thought spas had monsters," Tseng answered, raising an eyebrow. He would agree that there was certainly mud, but the place was far from anything he'd ever consider a spa. Especially when there was still a monster to work on taking care of.

True, Reno's stroke of genius (assuming it could even be called that) had saved them some time, but he rather doubted it would go well if they trusted to only one method. Even more so because they didn't know how much damage they had left to do. With something like this... it probably wouldn't even give them the benefit of showing how badly it was hurt.

"I didn't think to pick any up before leaving. How many potions do you have left?"

[fairesthero.livejournal.com]

Zack tried not to choke as he was force-fed the potion. And then he tried to catch his breath as Cissnei slapped him awake. "I hear ya, I hear ya..." Shakily, he rose to his feet, though his balance was offset by the marshy ground. He hoped Cissnei wouldn't mind if he used her as a leaning post for a second.

The pain in his harm didn't stung yet, but he knew it would soon enough, after the adrenaline of the fight wore off. Watching Reno's grand plan, he saw his sword still embedded in the dragon's leg.

"Crap. I gotta go." It was difficult, but he sloshed his way back into the fray. Now, how to get that close again without any weapons...

"Reno, Tseng, cover me." And he threw himself at the monster, hoping to get the Buster sword back without too much trouble.

[shurikenfemale.livejournal.com]

Cissnei gnashed her teeth for a split-second as he supported himself without any real warning that he was going to do so, but managed to find stable footing for the both of them.

Reno and Tseng? Reno and Tseng? Did someone just manage to push one of Cissnei's buttons? You bet. She crossed her way into the battle next to Zack, who was very stupidly valiant in his efforts to get his weapon back. "You're not going by yourself," she informed. It wasn't a question, it was a statement. If there was only some way to pin it down or at least get it to a position where the leg was stunted and useless.

"Don't waste the potions unless you're willing to go get more!" She shouted at Tseng and Reno. Which is exactly when an idea occurred to her. Frantically, she uncorked a potion and doused Rekka in the liquid. Cissnei flung the weapon with surprising force and accuracy, raking the dragon's eyes. "Make it fast, Zack," she snapped.

[turks-reno.livejournal.com]

"How else do spas keep people in shape if they don't have monsters?" he asked with a chuckle, now that he knew that Zack was okay. Humor was Reno's weapon of choice when things got tough. It gave him reason to keep at it.

Reno patted his pockets at Tseng's question, then wracked his brain to do a mental tally of what he had left. "Hm. I'd say ten more, give or take. Mostly hi-potions, a couple regular. Ciss has more. Zack should have some, too. We kicked the collective rear ends of a LOT of monsters before this one lumbered along." He frowned, eying the dragon again.

"If you take out the other eye, and Ciss can get both wings in shreds, I can zap it's skull again, and Zack gets the ankles, this thing won't be able to move. Or at least, not well. It'll be easier to avoid its claws..." He tutted. "Almost feel bad for this thing. It'll be a sitting duck." A very confused, brain-fried sitting duck.

It was all of their plans rolled into one, and likely Tseng was already thinking the same thing. "I wonder if an antidote can do anything for his breath..." he muttered half in jest, finger hovering over the button that would fire up his EMR again. "Wonder if I can get some of those potions in his mouth? I mean, the effect's gotta be more potent, right?"

Even so, as Zack and Cissnei moved in to get Zack's sword back, he hurled another potion at the creature, trying to distract the thing away from the two opponents. It was 'cover' enough, especially with Cissnei helping the man.

[turks-reno.livejournal.com]

He had to admit - it was impressive. Perhaps not as much as seeing Bahamut explode into the sky, ready to attack, or the effects of Holy and the Lifestream straining to destroy Meteor. But impressive, all the same.

Equally impressive (and a bit mind-boggling) was how a single drop from that tree could fill the chalice (which seemed to have invisible walls, as well) a third of the way. One drop. He scratched his head, figuring that he'd rather not wait for an explanation, then nodded toward an area about 90-degrees left from where they'd originally entered the swamp from. "If we could head out that way, it'd be appreciated. Ciss and I have another location to scope out before heading back to Lindblum. We're checking out Midgar once we break tomorrow."

Because there was no way - not even Shiva herself could make him - that he was setting more than ten steps outside that swamp. They were going to find solid ground, and they were going to camp, damnit.

Hefting his pack on his shoulder, he glanced to his companions for their answers. And regardless of whatever direction was settled on, Reno trudged as quickly as his sore limbs would carry him. Cissnei needed to get that wound cleaned and healed. They all needed a rest. He wasn't stopping until he knew he wouldn't have to move again for a long while.