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.

[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.

[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.

[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.