[thread; closed]

[flyboy-red.livejournal.com]

Characters: Elena, Reno and later Tseng
Progress: Ongoing
Summary: Elena and Reno have to go pick up the Director
Location: Dollet to Treno
Date: January, 1804
Warnings: Turks? Reno + Chocobo = badnewsbears?


Tugging at the reins of two chocobos, Reno held them steady as he checked their packs were strapped in place well enough. It was going to be a long trip to Dollet, possibly shorter than his and Rude's journey, however, as they'd stopped to play with the widlife...

Pushing that thought aside, Reno pulled himself onto his chocobo, wheezing slightly at the strain on his ribs. This wasn't going to be an easy journey on him.

"Hey, Elena, you ready?" he called out, keeping the reins of both birds in his healthy hand. "I wanna go get Tseng quick so we can head on to Lindblum with Rude and the President."

Of course, he was hoping to just get the trip done soon without any of the stress or damage that he suffered the first time, or like what he put up with when the building fell on him.

Comments

[alwaysarookie.livejournal.com]

Elena came walking out a few minutes later, tugging absently at the collar of her clothes. She'd packed her suit, but she'd gone out and purchased some local travel clothes, baggy pants and a shirt and her coat, but she wasn't really used to them yet.

"Yeah, sorry, I'm here. I was trying to make this less itchy," she smiled at Reno as she moved to climb up onto her chocobo, checking the packs onc eshe had done so. Her arm was out of bandages, but she still had one on her head that she'd have to take off in the next day or two.

"You know the way?"

[flyboy-red.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, me and Rude came from Treno. We'll just go back the way we did." Reno still wore his suit, of course, but he also had some other clothes now, too. Mostly a lot of baggy, black, grey or brown pants and black or white shirts. He tended to wear dark colours because, well, a lot clashed with his vibrant hair.

Once he was sure Elena was sat safely and comfortably, he handed her the reins of her chocobo and tucked his damaged arm against his stomach, nudging his bird to get it moving.

After a moment, a smirk came to his face. "So. Excited to see Tseng?"

[alwaysarookie.livejournal.com]

Elena took the reins from Reno and shuffled around once more until she was comfortable, and then sent her bird following after him. Chocobo riding wasn't a required sort of skill, but they'd offered it at the Shinra school and she couldn't resist. There was just something fun about the birds.

At the question, she actually blushed, if only for a second, and then nodded. By the time the nod was gone she was back to normal. "Yeah, of course. Aren't you?"

[flyboy-red.livejournal.com]

Reno smirked a little broader at the blush he could quite clearly notice but didn't point it out verbally. "Yeah. It'll be good to have him back in charge. I think I'm done with this whole 'Acting Director' thing." He wasn't exactly cut out for it... though Tseng kept assuring him he'd make a fine leader, one day.

Really, he was content to just follow orders as sketchy as ever and drag Rude along for the ride but, well, today he was dragging Elena along and he figured that, despite the fact that she usually partnered Tseng and he usually partnered Rude, they could have their own fun on the trip.

"Man, this trip took long the first time... I guess we're gonna set up camp once it gets too dark to travel."

[alwaysarookie.livejournal.com]

"You did pretty good though, Mr. Director," Elena said with a teasing smile, though her eyes were elsewhere, looking at everything they passed. She really wasn't used to the idea of being on another world, where everything was different. She knew most of home, and now she had to memorize all this new terrain, new cities new roads...all of it. It was strange. "But it'll be nice to have Tseng back, yeah.

"I looked at a map, but..." Elena shrugged. "Not really sure where a good place to stop is. I thought I saw a river but it was kind of old." She shrugged, turning back to Reno. "Brought tents though, right?"

[flyboy-red.livejournal.com]

"Heh, thanks, Elena." It was actually nice to be complimented, even if he didn't think he'd done all that good a job. Heck, the monster invasion had been a disaster. Elena had been injured, Rude had gotten hurt, he'd been crushed by a fucking wall... but Rufus was okay and that was what mattered.

Nodding slightly, Reno replied "I only got the one. They're expensive in Dollet and it's not like we've never slept in the same room," he murmured, smirking at her.

[alwaysarookie.livejournal.com]

Elena flushed immediately at that comment, turning to glare at him. "We have but it's never voluntary, you know!" She sighed, looking away. Reno was that sort of accident she stumbled into once or twice a year when she had too much to drink and no outlet for the various urges she surpressed whenever she was working. But it wasn't something she talked about!

"You got two sleeping bags, at least?"

[flyboy-red.livejournal.com]

A laugh escaped him, only to be shut away fast by a wince of pain. "It's never voluntary on my part either, Elena." A smile settled on his face as he recalled how many times they'd accidentally slipped into bed before now. "It won't happen again, anyway."

Nodding again, Reno shifted on his bird. "Yeah, I got two, and a lantern. It's like... basic as Hell but I figure since it's not the two-thousand's here we're kinda stuck."

[alwaysarookie.livejournal.com]

"Pretty sure I said that last time. And you the time before that," Elena shook her head and sighed. She wasn't actually upset about it, just...embarrassed. It was the sort of thing she had once thought Turks were above (though she knew now that certainly wasn't true).

She nodded her head at his comments, turning to look out again at the scenery. "I think I'm getting used to it. Well, maybe just 'cause Dollet still has a lot of modern type things, but...it's...prettier here, somehow. There's no smoke from mako plants or the new coal plants, no cars or motorcycles rushing about." There was a little pause. "I really miss my hairdryer though..."

[flyboy-red.livejournal.com]

"And the time before, but I think that time I said maybe it shouldn't happen again." Reno felt pretty much the same way she did. It was embarrassing that anytime they were left alone and drunk they'd fall into bed with each other. He was sure it had been about seven times now but he tended not to keep track of those sorts of things.

It wasn't like it affected his reputation at all; he just didn't think repeatedly sleeping with a co-worker (and technically a subordinate) without being in a steady relationship would really help improve the company's reputation. Not there was much of a company at the moment, of course. Still, time would tell and maybe they could work from the ground up. Sure, Rufus had slid easily into the role of President when his father was murdered and, considering the shit that went down, things had been pretty simply for him.

However, here, they only had the five of them now and things weren't exactly going to explode into action like it had done.

Elena's words pulled Reno out of his thoughts and a slight nod came. "Yeah; it's kinda tough to even think about memorising any of this place... but I think I prefer home. I like the smoke and the vehicle fumes." Laughing slightly, he ran his fingers through his red hair. "Me and you both, pal."

[alwaysarookie.livejournal.com]

Elena just made a non-commital sort of noise and let the matter of the matter of them drop, distracting herself by leaning forward to give her chocobo a scratch on the neck. She just didn't much care to dwell on something that didn't really mean anything right now.

"I always hated the smell of cars. Well, not the inside, just...the everything else." She shrugged a bit, turning back to Reno. "So how long is this going to take, anyway? I know money's kind of an issue but we could've just taken an airship to pick him up..."

[flyboy-red.livejournal.com]

"It'll be about one and a half days if we set up camp. An airship might be faster but with everyone making a scramble to go kick Kefka's ass, we're kinda stuck for a flight." He would've loved to have his helicopter but, apparently, Gaia didn't think a helicopter was something he needed with him when he came. Stupid Gaia.

Wrinkling his nose, Reno grabbed his sky phone, looking it over as they travelled. "Besides; it ain't often you and me get to talk like this, right? It's always the three or four, or sometimes five of us." Reno gave a shrug, kind of trying to brush off the fact that he really did like talking to Elena and make it sound a lot more casual.

[alwaysarookie.livejournal.com]

"Kefka..." Elena shook her head. "He really...he creeps me out. I'm glad he isn't anywhere near here..." At least, she was fairly certain he wasn't. Elena had never had an issue with clowns, but after seeing him on the network, she was sure she could develop one.

"I suppose that's true," she let the conversation change naturally, turning to consider Reno again. "How are you handling....all of this, anyway? I mean, being stuck here, and...Midgar, and all that..."

[flyboy-red.livejournal.com]

"That guy's asking for an ass-kicking..." Shaking his head slightly, Reno put his phone away a moment later. He really didn't like Kefka. He'd talked to the crazy clown and developed a severe dislike for him. Frowning as they rode, he tugged slightly at the reins of his chocobo.

As Elena spoke, Reno glanced to her, pulling a face for a moment. "I... don't know, y'know? It's like some crazy ride that I kinda wanna get off of... but there's something about it that makes me wanna see it out to the end." He sighed slightly.

"Midgar... well, that was a whole other thing. You haven't seen it yet, have you?"

[alwaysarookie.livejournal.com]

"I flew over it," Elena said, her voice distant. "It looked like there were plants and trees everywhere and everything was a mess. Haven't...gone to look at it yet."

Elena wasn't really sure if she'd do that, honestly. She liked the memory of Midgar better than finding the ruin, somehow..

[flyboy-red.livejournal.com]

Reno nodded slightly, frowning as he did. "It sucks... the place is overgrown; it's just..." Reno fell quiet, shaking his head, his blue eyes focusing on the path ahead of them.

"I didn't handle seeing it very well... I'm just lucky Rude was there to get me out of the place..."