timeandtides_backup | Comfort Food

Entry tags:

Comfort Food

Characters: Cissnei, Reno, Tseng
Progress: In Progress
Summary: Reno and Tseng get back to Turks HQ in Lindblum and arrive to quite a tasty surprise
Location: Turks HQ, Lindblum
Date: December 6th, 1804
Warnings: Fluff, will be added as necessary

Some hours earlier, Reno had request of Cissnei to get a hold of food similar to that of Wutai's food. Cissnei had searched the local areas for anything similar but to no avail. So what did she do? Pulled a lot of strings and paid several pretty pennies to get food airlifted to Lindblum from Wutai. She haggled and bargained more than she would care to admit to get a cheaper price, but she was proud that she was able to get it all worked out. That's what training as a Turk was: making things work no matter the situation.

Cissnei had laid out all the food, except dessert of course, in a very organized, very precise manner, of course. She kept shoving bowls a centimeter this way, plates a millimeter that way, always unsatisfied with the arrangement. In the end, she gave up, knowing that the boys probably wouldn't even notice. She was well aware, however, that they would notice the bottle of whiskey she set dead center on the table. All she could do now was wait for them to arrive.

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According to this little Turk, things were going quickly downhill. "Just get the dress and I'll try it on," Cissnei said, a tone of resignation a little obvious. At least it was up to her to get him a nice tie. "Any color preference for your tie?"

She propped her elbow on the table and let her head rest in the palm of her hand. Joy. Order were orders, though, or something like that. Cissnei felt a little relieved that Tseng would agree to making sure the dress was, indeed, not overly revealing. She could probably get away with it, but she wouldn't feel comfortable at all.

He gave the girl a little nudge. "Aw, don't be so upset. You're getting a tie around my neck. Not even a direct order from the President managed to do that," he insisted earnestly, reaching out to tweak her auburn hair. "Besides, you're going to be the belle of the ball. I promise. Heads will turn, and in a good way. You have full permission to smack me with Rekka if I lie. Just... trust me."

Most people didn't, he knew. It was his own fault, too. His mask was that of the clown. The joker. The lazy ass that couldn't care less. But surely Cissnei had seen that there was method to his madness by now? Tseng knew it, too.

"And... any darker color, I guess. Light ones tend to clash with my hair. Not a pretty picture at all." And with that, a dumpling stuffed with leeks and pork was popped into his mouth with a quick flick of chopsticks that were picked up as he finished speaking.

"It's true," Tseng answered with a nod. Not that there hadn't been attempts over the years, but none of them had come to anything. Reno could be convinced to clean up, to look nice, but somehow that tie always managed to end up not in attendance. For the most part, Tseng hadn't asked about it either, once he'd learned of the futility of the gesture.

They all seemed to have masks. But for this, Tseng was quite willing to take Reno's word at face value. If he said he was going to make Cissnei look brilliant, he meant it.

"Which we certainly can't have." The might as well all look their best, since it was the season for it.

Cissnei sighed lightly, giving Reno a small grin. "I guess I'll trust you. No guarantees. I'm getting you a really, really nice tie too," she added. "Just a tie for a dress and all the accessories isn't really fair." But she was still a little sore from having to wear a dress. She didn't like it, but she was going to do it. To be a Turk, you have to be willing to do things you don't like, right?

It didn't mean she was going to make it entirely easy. She was between being upset and being annoyed at Reno for bringing up such a trade-off, but really, who could argue free clothes? The best thing was to just not think about it until the moment happens. Cissnei could already imagine a few crazy situations with several dresses that weren't exactly appropriate or tasteful just to spite the poor girl.

At least she had enough taste to distinguish a good tie from a bad one.

There. She 'guessed' she'd trust him. It was grudging, but it was still trust. Cissnei appeared to have learned enough about Reno to give him that much, and he wouldn't let her down. Of course, Cissnei might not exactly appreciate looking 'sexy', but Reno would make sure that she looked tastefully so. No super-mini-skirts, no plunging necklines. Just something that would fit nicely, show off without being overly daring, and catch the eyes of whoever Cissnei wanted to catch.

Tseng's vote of confidence had him smiling a bit, and he leaned back a little in his chair, chewing on a second dumpling. "Enjoy the food, Ciss."

He sighed as she mentioned that the tie for the dress and accessories wasn't fair. "You wearing a dress as opposed to me wearing a tie isn't fair to you. So to make up for it, I'm buying you the dress and everything that comes with it. That is fair. Now hush and eat." Listen to Mama Reno, Cissnei.

Fair between the two of them, perhaps. Tseng wasn't entirely sure how the compensation that Reno had already effectively asked for was going to play into things but maybe that was the point. Reno made it fair for Cissnei and he, in turn, made it fair for Reno. The question was, then, was the sight of seeing Reno and Cissnei properly formal supposed to mae it fair for him in turn.

It was an interesting question, but instead of voicing it, he simply turned his attention back to his food, with the slightest ghost of a smile on his lips. It was rather refreshing to see things work out well enough on their own, for a change.

Oh, seeing Cissnei in a dress was not, in Reno's mind, anywhere near 'compensation' for wearing a tie. Yes, it'd be amusing. And he had a feeling that Cissnei would look absolutely breathtaking in whatever dress he found for her.

He also knew that she felt wearing a dress was far more to ask of her than to ask Reno to wear a tie. He knew it. Which was why he evened the odds to ease her mind. Paying for the dress, and making sure that he would not be removing that tie of his until the end of the evening. But Tseng's silent acknowledgment of his demand for compensation?

That had made it worth it to Reno.

And he had a feeling that his compensation would be coming by way of some interesting uses of said fancy tie....

But that was neither here nor there at the moment. Reno plucked up a few slices of roasted duck and placed it on Cissnei's plate, then did the same for his own. He'd be wary of the bird the first time it was offered to him, but since tasting it? He'd fallen in love with the taste. Chopsticks flashed briefly before he was swallowing a bite of the rich meat, a blissful expression flooding his features. "Remind me to buy you something very expensive to go around your neck for this party, Cissnei. Because this meal is worth it."

"Will do," she replied, eying the duck. She nibbled at it and though it was very good, her appetite had, at the very least, gone down considerably. At least there would be enough for several days. As good as she was at reading people and as extremely perceptive she was, Cissnei couldn't manage to figure out what exactly Reno was up to, besides that he was up to something, pulling some kind of cloaked scheme. One of these days, she'd get it out of him, knowing that it would probably take some time to actually be told what he was planning.

"I think I'm done," she informed as she pushed away the plate and set the chopsticks down.

Cissnei needed out, fast, if only for a few hours or even a few days. She desperately needed a distraction from this dress business. Sure, she'd get him the tie (she'd scour the map first before heading out, to not lose any time of course) but that would be the extent of it. I'll figure it out.

That sudden pronouncement got a slight look of surprise from Tseng. Oh, he was well aware that they were very likely to be unable to finish all of it in one sitting, but he would have thought that she would have been more willing to see the fruits of her labor enjoyed. But here she was up and leaving. Perhaps something had bothered her more than he'd expected?

After all, it had been a while since he'd last seen her, before his arrival here. Much though it would pain him to admit it, he was somewhat less in touch with her then he was with those who had who had stuck with the company after Meteorfall. But he knew enough to not try and keep her. If she was going to leave, he'd let her.

He was as startled as Tseng at Cissnei's sudden need to leave, and he looked the woman over curiously. Had this dress business bothered her that much? "Ciss..." he trailed, but what could he say? Sorry wasn't right - he wasn't. But saying anything else didn't seem to sound right, either.

The poor woman looked trapped, too - though it was subtle, as any sense of emotion in the Turks was muted physically. They were trained for it. The last thing they needed was an enemy seeing their pain, anguish, joy or anything else. Unfortunately, it made for a difficult time for friends trying to figure out just what the other was thinking. Reno knew something was wrong, for example. But just what it was, and how badly Ciss was feeling? That was a mystery.

He raked a hand through his hair, looking a little sheepish and flustered - and letting those emotions take root on his face rather than mask them. Cissnei deserved honesty from him. "... Just... thanks. And don't do anything I wouldn't do, kay?" The words were casual in and of themselves, but the tone lent itself to something a bit more meaningful.

It wasn't exactly the dress, not really. Maybe the catalyst? Cissnei wasn't used to having anyone this emotionally close to her, willing to do things for her and with her. She wanted to be out of sight, out of mind for a few days. As strange as this was, this was her creature comfort, what she was used to. For a moment there too, she felt like she didn't belong. That look between Tseng and Reno... was she ever going to get to that point? Even Reno had mentioned that she fell off the grid in his time. There was... what was it? A disconnect. That's what it was. Cissnei felt disconnected from them. Sure, they were Turks and sure they did things together, but it wasn't the same.

Add to that that she was so much younger (not to mention a little more hormonal) than the other two... "Don't mention it and I promise I won't," she said simply with a wry smile. "You two don't finish the whiskey in one sitting, yeah? Don't expect me to drag the two of you to your rooms." Even though she would anyway.

"One thing... The Stigma. I want to know what it is."

There was a pair of soft clicks as Tseng laid his chopsticks down on the edge of his plate. That particular topic was one that wasn't really conducive to any attempts to eat. It far too serious, if only for the fact of just who they'd come far too close to losing because of it.

"The proper name for it would be Geostigma. It's a disease born out of - we believe - Lifestream tainted by Jenova's cells. Its symptoms are... rather unsuited to the table. In addition, until very recently, the condition was inevitably fatal."

A slow, lingering death that they'd been forced to watch Rufus succumb to even as they tried and tried again to find some way to stop the disease in its tracks. Had it not been for that miracle of cure they would have no doubt lost him for good.

Edited 2010-12-20 20:03 (UTC)

"Sir... Cissnei might not even know about Jenova. Or at least, not the Calamity from the Skies we know it... or 'her' as." And a calamity Jenova had become. He twisted to better face Cissnei, his own chopsticks joining Tseng's and Cissnei's on the table.

"Sephiroth was, unknown to most, not just Hojo's child, but his twisted science experiment, too. He was obsessed with Jenova. Sephiroth was, genetically, the son of Jenova as well. And he did NOT take kindly to the information, either. At any rate, when Sephiroth was defeated by Cloud, he faded into the Lifestream, and with him went Jenova's cells and will. She manifested as Geostigma, giving those infected by her a slow and rather painful death while Sephiroth waited to be 'reborn'. Cloud and Rufus were both infected with the Stigma..."

And there wasn't much else that needed to be said about that.

"I see." Right. Just a couple of more screwed up bastards and bitches back home that she'll have to face one day. No problem. The Turks were limited in number and this... Calamity, as they called it, didn't help things either. Shin-Ra was a place she didn't want to be, that much was certain now. But... family. It was all she knew and as far as anyone knew about her in the future she disappeared entirely. They could've used another hand, some more help. Stupid Cissnei. In a matter of minutes she sobered up, back to her serious, usual demeanor. Whatever amount she had relaxed was going to take a little bit of time to recover.

Now she really needed to get away. This was some great Greek tragedy just playing out and she was part of the audience.

"I'm sorry for not being there." With that, she got up and left to her room. When she got there she dropped onto her bed and hugged her knees as she played with her phone, scrolling through numbers and maps. There you go, poking your head in none of your business, Cissnei scolded herself. She hoped that the day they all returned she wouldn't have to remember or know all of this. It was a vicious circle that she had thought she had escaped. Turns out not.

If it was any consolation, they'd never had to face the Calamity herself directly. Remnants of her power, yes, as well as Sephiroth on one memorable occasion, but never Jenova herself. Only what she'd left behind, not that that wasn't more than enough for anyone. As for ShinRa... it was true that the former president had had some highly unorthodox ideas as far as who was and wasn't hireable, but things had changed, after Meteor. They were more Rufus' now than ShinRa's.

The explanations would, however, have to wait, given Cissnei's not unhasty exit from the table.

There was a moment of silence, and then a sigh from Tseng, before he turned back to Reno. "I suppose it would be a shame to let this go to waste." And yet, for all that he made no immediate move to pick up his chopsticks again.

Edited 2010-12-20 23:07 (UTC)

He sighed as Cissnei left. He knew it had to be hard to take. He knew she had to be struggling to accept things, and not knowing what had dragged her away from ShinRa between the time she'd been taken from and the time he and Tseng had been removed from must weigh even heavier.

He frowned at Tseng's comment, but picked up his own chopsticks and drink, toddling over to sit beside his boss now, rather than at the further space he'd chosen for while Cissnei was there. "I'll go and talk with her after dinner, if she's still in her room. I'll wager she's packing and getting ready to go off on her own. I'd probably be doing the same, if I were in her situation." He hesitated, then picked up a piece of sauce-coated chicken with the wooden utensils.

"I'd want some time alone, on my own, to sort things out." Which was the only reason why he didn't go off and chase the girl down right then and there.

"I don't blame her," Tseng commented quietly, before picking his own chopsticks once again. Did he want to chase her down and explain? Yes, more than ever. But it wouldn't help just yet. She needed to come to her own conclusions about the situation first. Then he could explain what still needed to be explained. Presuming he was asked, of course, but he could hardly be blamed for that.

"Besides, we should be able to hold the fort for a few days."

He would, of course, propose that some of the leftovers be saved for Cissnei as was her rightful due, but other than that he didn't foresee any major problems in the future. He'd let her have her 'vacation' if that was what she felt she needed.

She was still in her room, simply sitting and staring blankly. Cissnei decided that she'd leave later, probably late at night or early in the morning. Right now, she wanted to do really nothing. It had become rather uncomfortable in her suit sitting in that position and it was getting extremely wrinkled, so she changed into her pajamas.

Cissnei sprawled across her bed looking up at the ceiling and sighing. She really did want to know what happens to her, but was it the best? She turned off her cell phone because she didn't want to be contacted and didn't want to know anything happening on the network right now either. Cissnei covered her eyes with her forearm and sighed heavily again. "Of all the times I could've been plucked from... damn it all," she muttered.

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Comfort Food

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