paixaorpg | And no, coffee addiction is not a crime. [Closed finally]

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And no, coffee addiction is not a crime. [Closed finally]

Character(s): Tseng, Elena and Reno
Content: The boss meets up with his co-workers. ~~And incessant coffee drinking.~~
Setting: One of the few taverns dotted around in square Q-15, central Paixao
Time: Mid-afternoon, Friday
Warnings: None as yet, but probably swearing later, since it does involve Reno after all.

The unpleasant laugh of yet another of the women at the table across from him momentarily distracted Tseng from his relentless network-prowling. Well, that, and the arrival of possibly his sixth cup of coffee.

Not that he didn't find it entirely odd that taverns did have coffee in the first place; when the young blonde (one of them, anyway; all the locals were blonde and albino, it seemed.) who had brought him a mug of that precious caffeine source that he had absently requested, almost by reflex, in reply to her inquiry for an order, Tseng had spent a good five minutes examining it before eventually deciding, quite pleasantly surprised, that it was indeed some rather delightfully strong brew of coffee. He had downed it frightfully quickly, the relief that followed almost instant. Finally, something that reminded him of home. Or rather, the office. Something familiar, at least. Slowly the Wutaian found himself able to block the myriad of noises surrounding him, just as he'd managed to ignore the incessant chatter, as well as song-singing and shouting (usually Reno), back in ShinRa HQ, concentrating on trying to get more information on this place.

He'd been lucky enough to find Reno and Elena, with the latter apparently on her way to meet him; hopefully with Reno in tow. The weather outside was obnoxiously cold and Tseng really wasn't in the mood to go hunting for that redhead, not before they had found out anything else about this place.

Tseng sighed as he finished what was left in the cup and signalled for a refill before he leaned back against the chair to continue waiting for his co-workers to show up.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

((Hey, Reno and I are gonna need this to take place on Friday instead of Thursday, for coherency's sake. Could that be changed, you think? Thanks in advance.))

"Tseng!" came an elated female voice from the doorway. Elena stood there, her face a bit flushed with the cold (though she didn't seem to mind), her journal under one arm and nothing in tow. Not even Reno- yet.

After swiftly making her way over to the man, Elena sat down and realized for the first time how cold she was. But she didn't want her boss to think she was a weakling who couldn't take a little cold, she reasoned. And so Elena merely rubbed her hands together for warmth as she spoke.

"Tseng, are you okay? When did you get here? I've been looking everywhere for you!" the blond said to Tseng, not able nor willing to surpress a smile.

Normally, Elena would have spoken more. But the cold was starting to get to her, and she wanted to be sure that Tseng was alright above everything else. So she shut up and anxiously awaited answers.

The first thing he noticed about the younger Turk was that she was in the dark blue uniform which had already been recently replaced with the new black one. Still, it undoubtably was Elena, so Tseng supposed that the uniform wasn't of much importance now, making a mental note to himself to ask her about it later.

"Still in one piece and not riddled with bullet holes, at least. And if you mean when I arrived at the gates, that would be this morning," Tseng replied, giving her the once-over; maybe it was his imagination, but he could have sworn that Elena looked exactly how she did back when she was still a rookie. Then again, maybe it was just the color of her uniform. He was sure of one thing wasn't quite right, though; Tseng was expecting to see two familiar faces, not one.

"Hm. We have lost Reno in transit, it seems."

Blinking once as Tseng's last comment sunk in, Elena looked around and found that Tseng was, in fact, quite correct. Reno was nowhere to be found. But after what the redhead had put her through the following day, Elena was still a little bitter. That and her combination of relief at seeing Tseng again kept her from caring too much. Besides, she reasoned, her coworker could take careful of himself. He always did, no matter how much trouble he would get himself into.

“He must have gotten lost...” remarked the blond, not exactly sure whether she should blow it off or be extremely concerned. It wasn’t that she didn’t care, but she was sure that Reno would be fine on his own. And she didn’t want to waste her time with Tseng worrying about that frustrating guy.

So Elena, stifling her slight shivers, simply looked at Tseng and waited for some kind of cue. After all, she didn’t want to react the wrong way in front of her boss!

"Considering it is Reno we're talking about, I'm fairly certain he'll be able to find his way here." Tseng raised an eyebrow as he noticed the blonde Turk doing her best to not to be bothered by the cold in the slightest.

"Get something hot to drink, Elena, I can't have you falling ill. And I highly suggest you move away from that window as well; you're not going to get any warmer there."

Elena smiled and nodded at Tseng's comment about Reno, not wanting to seem uncaring but she was rather glad that he didn't make a huge fuss about it. She knew that Reno had followed her out of Cid's Shop, and he was good with the maps on these journals. Better than she was, anyway, and she had found her way here alright.

At Tseng's next comment, Elena nodded again. She seemed to notice for the first time the many empty coffee mugs surrounding the man and, not being much of a coffee person, added, "I'll order a tea when the waiter comes back."

As she spoke, the blonde looked around for a place to move that was further away from the window. It was making her significantly colder sitting so close to the thing, she realized, but with the way the booth was set up, it would be nearly impossible to move away from it... at least on her side. And she didn't want to get up and move to sit next to Tseng, leaving her entire side of the table's booth unoccupied. Even the thought of it forced her to surpress a slight blush.

"I... I think I'll be fine right here," Elena stumbled unconvincingly, giving Tseng a smile to assure him that she could, in fact, handle the cold.

Wet and soggy, the red-head finally made his dramatically long awaited entrance, practically stumbling into the place rather loudly.

"Phew! Cold shit out there, yo!" He worked his swollen jaw a little from when that assclown kicked him, nursing it gently with his hand as he finally spotted Tseng and Elena.

"Yo! Order me some ice?" Reno asked, pointing to his cheek as he began making his way over - awkwardly too, accidentally kicking people's chairs and getting his black coat's button stuck in some poor woman's hair; But in the end made it, boorishly plopping himself next to Elena.

"So, where's Rude?"

Tseng barely raised an eyebrow as Reno made his grand presence known to everybody, knowing full well it was second nature for him to generally cause a ruckus and command attention to himself wherever he went, but he did pity those people who were unfortunate enough to be in the guy's way.

"I don't know," the older Turk answered, acknowledging the redhead with a slight nod. "I expected him to be with the two of you, if he was here at all."

Elena glared at Reno a little. "This isn't a game like you kept thinking, Reno," the blonde said a little shortly, pointedly. But she was careful not to get too snippy in front of Tseng. "He may not even be here at all!"

Though it didn't make sense why one Turk would be left out when all the rest had suddenly and randomly appeared in Midgar. "No sign of him at all, though, Tseng," Elena remarked to her boss in disappointment. "But I don't see why we'd all be brought here and not him!" she pointed out. "I just hope he's alright... wherever he is..."

There was a moment of eerie silence for the red-head, looking slowly from one Turk to the other.

And then he laughed.

"You guys are funny, yo." Reno snorted, wiping fake tears from his eyes before pointing with his chin. "Good one. But ey, don't think I didn't see Rude, he's right there. So what, is he going to come in and yell surprise now or something?"

The Turk kept laughing, shifting suddenly in his seat to clumsily reach over Elena - most likely squishing the poor blond in the process - and yell in the window like a retarded arse to the unmistakable big blob of black outside, "YO! RUDE! BUDDY, YOU CAN COME IN NOW!"

Haha, really, as if they could trick the great Reno. Everyone in the room could stare, he knew they were all in on it!

There wasn't much else to do here but walk around, so that's what he did. He hadn't done much with the journal he'd been given other than wonder how hard he'd have to throw it to knock someone unconcious, and his PHS was barely getting a signal. Not like there was anyone to call here or any--

On occassion Rude would mishear his name. How rude this, rude that, blah blah. But there was no mistaking the muffled 'YO! RUDE!' he could have sworn he heard coming from bar. Sure enough, there through the window was Reno, and, luckily enough, Elena and Tseng as well. For a moment Rude stood there dumbfounded, shifting on his feet as he shook his head. Opening the door to the tavern with one hand and adjusting his tie with the other, Rude nodded at Reno. "Yo."

Elena stared for a moment in disbelief. "Rude?" was all she could manage. She looked over at Tseng to try and decipher if he had known about this also, but Reno's smug look caught her attention and she lightly hit him on the arm. "Reno! How did you...-!? Why didn't you say anything earlier!"

His same expression of absolutely no expression at all betrayed none of Tseng's relief at finding his Turks all in one piece, and none the worse for wear. Another nod of acknowledgement to Rude, and he instinctively shifted to make room for the last of their motley crew- or at least, just the Turks; Rufus was still nowhere to be found, although at the rate things were going, he wouldn't think it out of the ordinary should the President have just walked in as well within the next five minutes, and maybe followed by Strife and everyone else. Oddities like that were, he was slowly coming to accept, seemingly commonplace here.

As per usual, Elena went ignored so the red-head could stand and go greet his longtime buddy - once again accidentally hitting people and shoving a waiter aside - with a playful punch in the shoulder, which didn't budge the other in the least.

"Yo! Real funny! Where ya been all this time?" Reno bubbled, turning around to snicker at the Turks still seated. "I swear man, you guys were almost freakin me out there!"

With another all-knowing laugh, the Turk finally settled as the jut of surprise died down now that everything was out in the open.

But... Why wasn't anyone else laughing?

After a few shifty glances from Rude to Elena, to then Tseng - who most likely all thought him the biggest assmonkey right now - the red-head gave a soft nervous chuckle, piecing the last two pieces of the puzzle together.

"Yo..." He scratched the back of his head, wincing a little. "This wasn't all a big joke, was it..."

Swaying dutifully under Reno's punch, Rude snorted a quiet laugh. Apparently they thought he'd been here the whole time, eh? Yeah, the President's Turks were up on thigs, as usual. He merely shrugged at Elena and Tseng in response, before looking at Reno, a brow raised over the rim of his sunglasses.

"I think the joke's on you, aibou. ... ...I just got here yesterday."

Elena, wanting to seem especially responsible with Tseng present, seized this opportunity. "I told you, Reno. Nobody would play a prank like this. Just because you can be immature, it doesn't mean that everyone else around you is, too!"

Elena, still cold from her half-dried clothes and the nearby window, glanced around for the waitress. The place was a little understaffed to begin with, but Reno's entrance had frightened any possible helpers off. Reaching for an already-present glass of room temperature water, Elena indignantly took a sip.

"Would it be worth it to ask if you know how we got here, Rude?" Elena ventured, a bit dryly. "Because none of us have any idea."

So Rude got here yesterday, Tseng.. Well Reno didn't know, little was peeped from the man as he seemed bonked with another migraine, and Elena.. He never asked either.

"And so how'd you get here, yo? Just poofed up?" The red-head mocked, earning Rude a snicker. But then crossed out his question with a thought back to his own arrival.

"A fancy fire looking gate, eh?" His look suddenly shifted serious. "So the joke is really on all of us."

Growing rather thoughtful, Reno crossed his arms, gaze unconsciously on his female co-worker. Her subtle shivering catching him rather offhandedly.

"And why the hell are you wearing the old school uniforms, Rookie? We all know that the new ones dry faster and are more tear resistant, yo."

"H-huh?" asked Elena, not expecting such a question at all. She looked at the others and noticed for the first time that the dark blue of her own outfit didn't match the black of the others. She hadn't really noticed before, as it was a simple thing to overlook. She was about to protest against Reno calling her outfit a 'school uniform', but she didn't really feel like arguing at the moment.

But it was easy enough for Elena to assume that she had simply missed out on something. She was 'the rookie', after all, and many things were brought to her attention late... or in this case, she figured, not at all. Or maybe it was while she was in Paixao, before the others arrived? Or had they simply not had time to make one for the new girl yet? There were many possible reasons, Elena sighed to herself.

"Um, I'm not sure..." the blonde began, unsure if she should be embarassed for having missed out on this issuing. "I... I don't think I was given one of those yet."

There was an awkward, confused silence for a moment before Elena tried to remedy the situation with a hesitant, "But it's okay, I'm not really that cold. I'll be fine!" But she still got the feeling that she had said something very wrong... and that she was missing something fairly important.

Although Tseng had been, for the most part, ignoring the rest, he raised an eyebrow at this. He was fairly certain that all the Turks had been issued the new uniforms, and just before finding himself here he'd been in the North Crater with Elena. Who was in the new uniform; he was sure of it. Unless there had been something wrong with his eyesight, or his memory.

And he was quite sure that neither of those were the case.

There was something here that wasn't quite right.

The feeling of wrongness became very mutual, and the red-headed Turk narrowed his eyes. The information wasn't right, he'd seen Elena in the new uniforms himself.

"What's my favorite color?" Reno asked dubiously, now wondering if this was actually an Android version of Elena someone made for another cruel joke.

Which led him to look everyone over now.

"Yo, if you're all frikken Robots, that ain't cool."

"Robots!" Elena nearly cried, frowning with concern. Her gaze travelled back and forth between her three coworkers, hoping that they wouldn't be condemning her for... well, simply for being herself. She didn't know what was going on, but whatever it is... she really, really didn't like it.

"Reno," she started helplessly, "I'm not a robot, you spent all day with me yesterday! Remember? That's not...! How could I be...!?" Elena said, looking at the three of them as she spoke as if attempting to convince them all at once.

But the blonde stopped herself mid-stammer as her face grew hot and the slightest trace of tears welled up in her eyes. The three were all looking at her with confusion and thoughtfulness, but to Elena it was suspicision. She knew who she was, but it suddenly seemed utterly hopeless to her that she could convince these three of her authenticity. And without these three... she wouldn't know anyone. She wouldn't know what to do with herself.

Biting her lower lip ever so slightly, Elena lowered her gaze to the floor and avoided eye contact. She knew it was stupid that she was getting so worked up over this (and she could almost hear Tseng scolding her for it in her head), but she had always hated having to think on her feet and having to deal with surprises.

The best she could do right now was not look at any of them, and try to keep from spazzing out anymore than she already had.

...

....

Robots?

Looking at Reno as skeptically as one could while wearing sunglasses, Rude shook his head, feeling his multitude of earrings make his earlobes wriggle. "Don't look at me." He shrugged. "Ya'll'd gone missin' and I got put on the case to figure out what'd happened. Was on my way back to Junon when everythin' went apeshit." Fidget fidget grumble. "Next thing I know I'm starin' at that friggin' Gate."

Rude shrugged, gesturing with his hands as if to say 'Hell if I know what's goin' on'. As much as he liked to play dumb, this time it was true. He really didn't have so much as a clue as to what the hell had happened.

The Wutaian had a sudden ridiculous want to actually laugh to himself, which faded as quickly as it came. A robot? Though he had been called one on numerous occasions due to his being an incurable workaholic, Tseng certainly didn't feel like he was literally a machine right now. After all, machines didn't tend to down coffee at the rate he just did not too long ago.

Sighing, he took another sip from his now- again -almost-empty mug and kept quiet, preferring to let the others get over the shock and settle down before doing anything else.

"This isn't helping," Elena half-pouted after pause. "If we don't know what's going on... then maybe we should try to figure out what we should be doing here. Right, Tseng?" she asked.

Hell if she knew what was going on, but the group wasn't getting anything accomplished doing what they were doing now... yet what they could accomplish in Paixao, Elena didn't know.

A last skeptical glance was given to the woman before she seemed like she was about to cry.

"Err, Yeah, it's her alright. Don't cry." Reno bluntly said, though whether success was with him or not, he didn't bother to witness his word's results as he turned to look his buddy over.

"What?" He almost snickered, mostly to hide his confusion. "What do you mean we all went missing, yo?"

Oh shit was getting weirder by the second. And Reno didn't like it.

"If we don't know what's going on... then maybe we should try to figure out what we should be doing here. Right, Tseng?"

That did ring in a sense of truth, yet the red-head couldn't quite grasp the big question. What were they supposed to be doing here? And what the hell was going on?

That reminded him...

"Yo, that's not just it either. There's more weird shit going on with the people. That flower girl is supposed to be dead!"

"Flower girl?" asked Elena, frowning in thought ever so slightly. "You mean Aerith!? She's here?" the blonde practically exclaimed. She looked at her partners and, not seeing the same zeal that she felt, was left slightly confused.

"... come on, guys!" Elena began. "We've been after her for awhile, and without Cloud it shouldn't be a problem! What are you waiting for?"

Aerith was still alive?

Surprising as that might have been, Tseng had learnt to take any and all bits of new information to be anything but shocking. He had idly toyed with the idea that they were dead and in the lifestream, given that before he found himself here, he had been shot- decidedly more than once and in quite a number of vital areas as well. The news that the flower girl was here served to be even more support for this.

When Wutaian finally spoke, clearing his throat before he did so. "There's a slight problem, Elena. Aerith is supposed to be dead. Sephiroth..." He unsuccessfully repressed an involuntary shudder at the memory of his run-in with the ex-General; and the wound, though healed, suddenly throbbed with a faint ache that was not quite there, yet irritatingly hard to ignore. Doing his best to tuck the memory into a corner of his mind, Tseng continued. "... killed her at the City of the Ancients before we could get to her."

Reno could only stare disgruntled at Elena. The hell?

"Yo we let that go ages ago. Where the heck--"

He was cut off by Tseng, who informed the clueless blond of the brown haired girl's demise and nodded. Reno still had bet with Rude that she faked it, but when meeting up with the said girl.. She didn't seem to know a thing. Or even who he was!

"I still go with the fact that this place is messed up, and needs investigating." Looking over to Rude, the red-head's expression was thoughtful. "Does your phone work? I lost mine somewhere back when... Nevermind. Does it?"

Elena nodded, taking on Tseng's somber attitude for a moment in respect. Aerith may have been a goal to achieve and a tool to use to the Turks, but she was still a person. When Reno spoke, Elena was brought back to reality a little bit and gave a slight smile.

"Oh, you can use mine, Reno. I have it right-" she began. But then Elena paused, her face hardening with the realization that her purse was not under her arm like usual. Narrowing her eyes in suspicision, Elena pursed her lips and looked directly at her redheaded coworker.

"Reno," Elena began, doing her best not to get all worked up again, "You did remember to get my purse and my journal when we left that place last night... didn't you?"

Riku leapt and swung from the rooftops until he was drenched in sweat in spite of the snow and rain. When he deemed it enough, he dropped gracefully into an abandoned alley to catch his breath.

Moving around blindfolded was all well and good, but he wasn't going to be able to access his journal this way. Riku figured the best place to start tracking down Axel was to scour the journals and city intranet.

Before he could decide on the best way to do this, Riku came under attack. He'd thought he'd felt something following him before, but he'd been moving so fast, he'd thought he'd lost it. But it was several its that descended on him now, lumens of various shapes and sizes who got more offended the more of Ansem was palpable in him.

Still blindfolded, Riku dodged and flipped, slashing away at his attackers--who only appeared to him as bright points in the darkness behind his eyelids--until their light had been extinguished. And when he was done, he felt a new presence watching him from the mouth of the alley. Something a bit different.

Riku waited, short of breath, to see what this one would do. The presence took a few steps into the alley and then, like the lumens, let out a feral hiss and ran at him. Riku wasted no time cutting it down, even though he knew this one was one of those creepy blond citizens of Paixao. He remembered how they had tried to attack Ansem. He also remembered that Ansem had decided they were some kind of freakish lab rats created for the fake-city, not real people at all. Not that Ansem's opinions were very trustworthy, but Riku didn't feel very bad about having killed one of them all the same. Either way, Ansem's influence showed in him.

Feeling he was finally alone, Riku took off his blindfold and looked down at the non-man. He sure looked human enough. Sort of. A wide-brimmed hat lay on the cobbles behind the broken body. He walked over and picked it up, thoughtful. If he could just hide his eyes, maybe he could go inside and warm up for a little bit. If he wasn't going to be able to sleep, at least he could get some food.

Riku still had Sora's money, a fact he felt very guilty about. He would have to get it back to him somehow without making contact with his friend. Maybe he would leave it by his bedside after dark in the next day or two. He figured Sora would be all right for now seeing as the room was paid for in advance, and Namine still had money for food. And for now, so did he.

Carefully positioning the hat on his head to hide his eyes, Riku crossed the street and bought a warm cloak from a haberdasher's. His wifebeater just wasn't going to cut it in this weather, especially since he planned on sleeping outdoors when he did have to sleep.

Not far from the shop was a tavern, and Riku slipped inside to get something warm in him while he browsed the network of journals. He ordered at the bar and claimed a solitary table in a dark corner of the room. Riku did not notice the ~~jackass~~ familiar face lunching in the same room with his cronies.

While having turned to ask Rude his question, Reno did not miss the speck of silver entering the place from the corner of his eye - after all, Silver Haired ones were what he'd been after not too long ago, it became instinct to grow alert to them.

When his eyes darted to it, the Turk didn't even bother holding in the surprised - rather loud - dumbfounded sound of recognition.

"HOH!"

And pointed to Riku, almost outraged.

The tavern was crowded and Riku was preoccupied with his mission. He did not hear Reno's outburst--luckily for Reno.

He was careful to shield his eyes from the waitress when she brought his food, and then settled down to his task of scouring the journals, taking haphazard bites while reading.

Raising an eyebrow, Tseng turned to look in the direction Reno was pointing (though the little voice in his head told him it was merely him picking a fight in frustration), catching the slight flash of silver as he did so. He was immediately alert- quickly reaching into his jacket and fingers wrapping around his gun, inwardly relieved to find it still there; Tseng wasn't about to let himself be assulted by another of the silver-haired ones, even if he really was dead already.

Rude grunted. Things weren't adding up - Elena didn't know that the Flower Girl'd been killed, or even maybe that Boss had been hurt at the Temple. Scratching his cheek thoughtfully, Rude blinked at Reno's question.

"Phone...?" Flipping open his PHS, Rude looked down at the screen. "Ah. It works, I just don't have a sig-" Reno's sudden outburst and pointing to the silver-haired kid made him twitch, stuffing the PHS in his jacket pocket. Tugging at his gloves, the Turk gestured to the kid with his chin, eyebrows raised. "Eh. We gonna bust him up, aibou?"

"That kid!" Reno blurted in disgust, not even paying attention to the other two - Oh ho ho, that damn kid. The one who dared kick him, HIM, Reno, in the FACE.

"That damn kid, yo I had a run in with him!" He finally informed, looking back to his co-workers. "A damn hothead, I can tell you that much. Flower girl claimed him to be her friend, I think she got gonked on the head, yo!"

Reno's eyes darted back to Riku with a snort, rolling his shoulder as his fist came up to his other hand and cracked a knuckle. His stance became mildly slacked back while he prepared himself, a grin forming those sexy lips.

"We also happen to have unfinished business." He gave a nod to Rude. "While at it, say we kick some answers out of him - He's bound to know something or other."

Payback was always a bitch, especially with Reno.

Frowning as the entire group shifted it's focus, Elena looked from Tseng to Reno to Rude and then back again. "Um, am I supposed to know that person...?" she asked with a concerned frown. She looked back over at Riku, squinting a bit as if it would help her recognize him.

There was no immediate answer, and the blonde sighed. "I... really think I'm missing something, guys. Who is that?"

Well, of course, Rude had no complaint with the kid, but since Reno had a gripe with him, it was reason enough. Giving a final tug on his gloves, the Turk rolled his head on his shoulders, his neck popping. Almost instinctively his stance widened, as he poised himself on the balls of his feet, ready to rush in at a moment's notice.

"So ya got a beef wit' him and unfinished business." Rude's fists tightened, but stayed at his sides, the only change in his normal fighting stance. "Sorry," he plainly addressed the young boy. He didn't know why he had a habit of apologizing like this - but then again, anyone who wound up on the wrong side of the Turks was in for a good hurting, and a beating like that was worth an apology. So long as he didn't start to offer to pay out medical bills after the brawl, he guessed it was no big thing.

Riku had been so engrossed in his research, having finally found Axel's journal, he hadn't noticed the tension building in the room. Even when Rude walked over to his table, it took Riku a minute to notice as he was penning his good-bye letter to Sora at the time. But the man's apology got his attention.

Snapping the stylus back into its slot and quickly shutting off his journal before tucking it away, Riku felt all he needed to from this situation. He closed his eyes in case the man decided to knock his hat off.

"For what?" he asked with a smirk. Odd tough guy.

...So it seemed that Elena really did have absolutely no idea what was going on. While it wasn't exactly the least of Tseng's concerns at the moment, there were one or two other things of sliiiiightly higher importance...

Such as Reno and Rude getting ready for another fight ~~as usual~~. Had the person they were targetting been anyone else other than a silver-haired kid, the Turk would've normally stepped in, but this time he merely kept a tight grip on his gun, muscles tensed and ready in case anything happened. None of them were sure whether the kid was the same as those they encountered in the Norhtern Crater, but in these situations, Tseng found it made a little more comforting to shoot first, and ask questions later.

"Another of those silver-haired figures," he said simply, in reply to the blonde's question, while keeping his gaze trained on the two of his Turks who were sizing the boy up. Since Elena was probably completely clueless about the entire affair he supposed it was rather useless to try explaining it to her now.

And smoothly professional this time, Reno popped from out of nowhere and leaned back against table on the other side of the boy, answering the question for his buddy.

"For something crude if ya don't apologize for earlier. Oh and a little spill of some.. say, answers we want. Ya?"

Casually, the teen's drink was plucked from before him and brought up to the redhead's lips with a cocky smirk, a slight nod and an arrogant "Thanks." given before drinking.

What? Who cares if the kid was gonna drink that, yo.

Riku could smell the stench wafting off that jackass from earlier, recognising him even before he heard the man speak. He sneered as Reno demanded he apologise for earlier and expanded on Rude's unspoken threat.

It was the finishing touch of a moron to snatch Riku's water and drink it, as if that was some huge insult to the teen. Plus, it was water, for crying out loud. Reno may as well have ganked his diet coke.

"Oh no, thank you," Riku told him. "I wasn't sure how I was gonna get rid of that mug of piss. I couldn't find a bathroom earlier." From underneath the wide brim of his hat, he cast a superior smirk in the redhead's direction. The contents of the mug were clearly water, but he was sure his statement would make the Turk look twice just to be sure.

Riku's muscles tensed, preparing for that moment when the two men finally exploded.

There was a pause.

Then a skeptical glance down his nose in mid-swallow to the pristine clear water.
Ha. Ha. Ha. Funny guy.

Swallowing his last sip, the glass was then hovered over the boy's remnants of food, Reno's lips curling in a particularly mean smirk.

"Yo, think you're so cool, don't you."

And poured the glass in. "Hopefully that can help wash down and out that stick up your ass. You'll need it - especially since your arms will be too broken back to do it once we're done with you."

The signal was given to Rude, laced perfectly in that exact sentence, and widened the arrogant grin on the red head's lips.

Not everyone responded to Rude's strange apologizing habit in a desirable way, so the question was shrugged off. Eh well. He tried, at any rate. Mildly unimpressed that the kid had tried to pass off the water as piss, Rude's eyebrows lifted a fraction in Reno's direction. What sorta dumbass would keep a glass of piss on the table at any rate? Shit. Didn't they teach proper taunts at school nowadays or something?

It didn't matter though, because his partner'd said those magic words. Risking a sidelong glance at Tseng - while he was indeed the 'boss' of the Turks, hardly did Tseng ever complain about he or Reno's extracurricular dispense of beatings. ...Yet somehow it didn't hurt to at least pretend to care.

Wrapping his fingers around the lip of the small tavern table, Rude heaved. The table didn't upend, but skittered across the floor with a loud series of squeaks and clangs. Now that the obstruction between he and the silver-haired kid was out of the way, the tall Turk went into action, lifting his balled fist in preparation to strike.

Elena had been watching in confusion up to this point, unsure of what was going on. She felt that she should have known, however, and decided that it would be best not to ask Tseng for now... so as not to seem stupid. But when Rude heaved the table across the floor, Elena couldn't help but react.

Standing up, the blonde frowned in confusion and surprise. She instinctually covered her mouth with one hand as she did so, and spared another look at Tseng, who seemed to be watching passively enough. But even as alarmed as she was, Elena did not move from her spot and decided to keep watching what was going on. She didn't want to get mixed up in something she was clueless about.

"Yo, think you're so cool, don't you."

Riku's smirk widened.

Yup. Made you look.

What a jackass.
As Reno poured the mug of water onto the leftovers on Riku's plate (any moron could have observed he'd stopped eating a while ago to concentrate on his journal), he resisted the urge to open his eyes and roll them. Whaaat a loser. And clearly a homo with issues. Seemed like he mentioned ass-sex every five minutes from what Riku had seen in journal comments as well as meeting the guy in person.

But he kept these thoughts to himself, merely leaning back from the table so none of the water would get on him. He knew it was coming. Any minute now the guy would lash out. But there was a split second of silence when something passed between the man who had apologised and the jackass. Then Mr. Apology went into action.

Man. This guy couldn't even finish his own battles. He had to get mommy to do it for him.

As soon as the table was gone from in front of him, Riku was in the air, doing a handspring off of Reno's shoulders that shoved him forward toward Rude's flying fist. Meanwhile, Riku landed on the balcony above the tavern area, where the rooms were that were available for rent by the hour.

He smirked down in the direction of the men below, his closed eyes visible to them from the current angle. "Thanks for lunch." Well, it's not like he'd have time to pay now. Really they were getting off easy for starting a fight with him.

Riku was about to deliver a parting smart remark, when his keen ears picked up an ominous click through the din of panic that had erupted in the bar below. Someone had just chambered a round, though the noise had not come from the location of the two men he'd just left below.

Deciding that discretion was the better part of valour where firearms were involved, Riku left it at that, ducking out the nearest window and swinging up to the roof for another aerial sprint. He'd like to see them try to follow him on this route.

As surprising as it seemed, it wasn't at all but by then the red-head couldn't stop it as the twit pushed back off from his shoulders - Guess his reaction time was getting a little sloppy.

Or maybe not - proving himself just in time ducking quickly out of the way with all the instinctive reflex one could muster not to eat a big truckload of fist à la Rude... Which sent Reno staggering into a bunch of tables, people already up and running from all the commotion.

"Dammit!" Reno cursed when he regained his balance and swung his head up to where the pompous bitch had sprung up to. The audible click was heard as well and the Turk knew his boss's .44 Magnum Desert Eagle anywhere.

However, the kid made a run for it just in time to miss the shot, setting the red-head already off for the door.

"C'mon Rude! Can't let the shit get ahead -- Boss, we'll communicate on the Devices!"

And with that was out, already making a run for the back of the tavern.

Growling a bit as he staggered forward trying not to sock Reno with his misdirected punch, Rude clambered to a stop in time to see both Reno and the kid making a break for it.

"Aaaaagh! Aibou! Wait for me!" Thumbing his sunglasses up, Rude took off behind Reno, raising a hand to Tseng and Elena as he darted around the commotion, keeping a bead on the flaming red mullet that gave his partner away. He was used to getting drug into messes like these by now, so even the muttered grumbles were half-hearted. Another day, another chase. Even in a completely strange place the Turks never changed.

As the two took off, Elena flashed Tseng another alarmed look. She wasn’t sure whether to follow the duo or stay here. Or, honestly, who the newcomer had been and why everyone was thrown so off guard by him. She glanced back at the retreating Rude and the (now) barely-visible Reno, and then at Tseng again.

“Should we-?” the blonde began unsurely, hesitating as she gestured towards the two other Turks. She lowered one hand to the handle of the gun at her side as she watched her boss for a reaction, staying on her toes in case he suddenly took off, too. She had been alone in this place once already, and she wasn’t about to let that happen again.

Tseng's eyes were narrowed, himself inwardly troubled as the bullet went way off its mark, embedding itself in one of the wooden ceiling supports. How could he have missed a wide open shot like that?

There wasn't time to harp on that though, as both Reno and Rude had taken off out the front door of the tavern, hot on the tail of that boy. Leaving out the amount of money he thought all that coffee was worth on the table, Tseng swiftly got up and made his way towards the door, motioning for Elena to follow. It wouldn't do to hang around after all that damage had been caused; especially not if they were going to make him pay for it.

Watching Tseng calmly place some money on the table, Elena frowned and glanced at where her fellow turks had just left. It was then that she noticed the whispering- everyone in the room now seemed to be looking at the two remaining turks, and the blonde couldn't help but shift uncomfortably.

Elena turned to Tseng just in time to see his retreating form gesture for her to follow. Of course, she thought with the smallest hint of a smile, getting lost in her own little world for a split second. One step ahead of me. Tseng always seems what to do, he's so calm and collected...

And so she spared one last uncomfortable glance around the room and, after snatching up her journal from the tabletop, mustered up whatever pride she could and held her head up high and officially as she followed her boss out.

Taking special care to step over all of the debris, of course.

[OOC: sounds perfect. You wanna start the new one? And do you want to post this or shall I?]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

And no, coffee addiction is not a crime. [Closed finally]

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It lives!

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Gaiz We're gonna need to speed this one up, yo! :x

Agreed, let's rush this!

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