Liquid Mercury [cissnei/turks]

[Deleted]

LOCATION: Healin

He was late. Reno was often late. It wasn't that he had poor time keeping (if Tseng told him he had to be on time boss knew he would be), he had a reputation to cultivate and maintain. Reno was lazy, yeah, when it came to paperwork. He hated sitting at his desk, doing nothing but writing on paper and pretending his writing wasn't freaking calligraphy was hard. He found it frustrating, believe it or not, to not write in a curled script. He used small words and pretended he didn't know what a proper sentence was. Truth was, he was highly educated, from before his time in the slums, and then by the Turks. The few years between was an interesting adventure.

His lateness came with a cloud of smoke from a cigarette he lit and let burn a little. He didn't smoke it, or really breathe when it was lit. He just wanted the smell to infuse into his clothes so it just smelled like he was smoking. He'd get moaned at, but that was the point. His last physical showed (and his last hospital stint) his lungs were completely clear of tar. He could take full deep breaths, run fast and run long.

Reno swaggered in late and flopped down on a sofa, lying back and completely relaxed, ignoring his broken rib. The last mission, well, it went a little south and his rib was still broken of course. He wasn't to go on any missions yet and Reno had only informed Tseng because he had to but not anyone else. Rude would know the second he saw him - the guy was like...telepathical or something.

Today was going to be a long day.

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Cissnei was at her desk in the basement of the Cabin. She sighed as she just was finishing up her report from her last mission. The mission had lead her to encounter Zack, Genesis, and Sephiroth. Finding out they were all alive was a little more than unpleasant…with the exception of Zack. It turned into a battle for the world they were on with Zack, a flirtatious monkey boy, and surprisingly Genesis were on her side and against Sephiroth and his band of……actually she wasn’t sure what to call them. But after the battle they all disappeared and Cissnei had lost her targets.

The Turk organized her papers and was about to take them up to the President’s office when she saw another stack of unfiled and unfinished paper work on her desk that wasn’t there yesterday. She looked confused at it for a moment before check the date. “This isn’t from my mission.” She said to herself. Then it hit her. “Reno…..” She said more than annoyed. The red head gathered all his paperwork and the folder with her’s and headed up stairs. As she rounded the corner she saw a patch of spiky red hair lying on the sofa. The room also smelled heavily of smoke. She waved her gloved hand in front of her nose to try to clear some of the smell.

She rolled her eyes and snuck up next to the other red headed Turk. She dropped his paper work on his face. “Nice try, Reno.” She said to him. “You did the mission…you do the paperwork. And seriously open a window.” Cissnei walked over and started pulling open windows.

[Deleted]

He and Cissnei didn't have the best of relationships. She was just far too rule following for his tastes. It wasn't her fault. Until recently he had pitied her. She hadn't experienced freedom until she chose to leave the Turks for a while following Zack's disappearance. Having never tasted the free air Reno could honestly say she had never lived. Now that she had, he pitied her more because she was still following the rules. Rules were more like guidelines, to be honest. OK, some couldn't be broken but many weere made to be bent and others were just plain stupid. What needed done didn't always allow for the regulations set in place by ShinRa. You had to do it your own way. But Cissnei was loyal to a fault. You had to be careful with her. She was loyal to ShinRa, not the turks, like the rest of them.

Reno was constantly on alert. It was rare he let his guard down - usually when Rude was in the room and could do the eariwigging for him. he was the only one he trusted to have his back no matter what. It was probably a fault on his part. Reno knew that if you wanted to get to him you had to do it through Rude - it was the best way. He supposed nowadays you could probably set him up in the eyes of AVALANCHE, since, you know, he couldn't defeat them and he rather trusted them to be all honourable and noble. If there was one thing you could trust an honest person to be, it was honest. They would do the right thing. If the right thing meant smashing his head in or slicing him to pieces then so be it, you know?

So when Cissnei came into the room he knew someone was there, he just didn't know it was her. Most Turks didn't have much of a footfall so it was extremely difficult to tell who was who. Rude he could tell always because he lived in that guy's pocket for so long. But the rest? Hmmm not always. He didn't know Cissnei quite as well as he would have liked - not anymore. It's been years since they had actually done a mission together. "Oof!" he complained as the files hit his face. A couple slid forward onto his belly, the others flopping onto the floor. Pain flared in his side at the contact. Reno shoved the files to the floor. "Gee take it easy Ciss," he replied. "No need to get your knickers in a twist for a few files,"

he ignored the folders on the floor and remained lying down. "Yo, if it bothers you that much open the damn windows yourself. I can't smell Nuffin',"

[Deleted]

“It isn’t Ciss…It is Cissnei.” The female Turk turned around to face Reno with, crossing her arms with the glow of daylight from the window behind her turning her into a displeased silhouette. She had become very fond of the name Cissnei since she was given it, even more so since the death of Zack. She never told him her real name so the name he died knowing her by became more precious to her then it originally was. Even a shorten version of the name made her angry for some reason. “And it is never just a few files, Reno. If it was I wouldn’t have a problem with it. But it is every single time. Do your own paper work.” She nagged at him.

She walked over to the other windows and through them open as well. “How can you possible not smell the odor that those cigarettes leave in the room? Honestly I don’t see how you are in the line of work you are in and can still smoke without any problems.” She eyed him not sure how he does it. “I would think you would be dead by now from it.” She didn’t want her fellow team member to die from anything…though it was kind of a occupational hazard. Cissnei realized she was doing it again. Being a nag and all motherly toward people. But when things didn’t sit right with her, she really couldn’t help it. She wanted to protect the only family members she ever had.

She shook her head. “Never mind….forget I said anything.” Cissnei said more aggressively then she had originally meant to. She gave a sigh and walked over the desk to re-organize it. “Where is your better half anyhow?” She asked referencing to Rude. She hadn’t seen the bald headed Turk in a while and it was very rare to see one without the other, So rare in fact…that it kind of scared her.

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Reno was one for giving nicknames to everybody, even if they weren't wholly polite. Sometimes he called Tseng 'dot man' just to try to rile the guy, but the Commander of the Turks had cotton on years ago and simply ignored him. reno suspected Verdot may have had a word with him about it. Verdot, a great boss, was more relaxed with him than Tseng had ever been. Maybe that was because Tseng didn't think Reno respected him the same way, but that wasn't it. Maybe it was because he had gone from second to first in a violent manner and Reno hadn't taken it too well. Just life as a Turk you know? Sometimes you gotta kill your boss. it was just the way things went.

Anything for ShinRa, right?

Reno didn't exactly operate on that policy though. He worked to the letter if he had to - like saying he couldn't possibly attack AVALANCHE because he was currently on a break and therefore not working for ShinRa at that moment in time. It hadn't gone down too well with Elena, (and she probably tattled on him) but there hadn't been much she could do about it at the time, not with him being Second and Rude backing him up. So she had to just sit there and stew. In reality she was talking his year off right until he told her to shut up or he'd do it for her. He wouldn't have killed her, not for that, but back then she hadn't been too sure about any of them just yet. Except for the way she made eyes at Tseng. That was an instant crush. At least Cissnei didn't...oh wait she did have that problem: Zachary Fair.

Zack's untimely death had hit her hard and she hadn't stuck around for the aftermath. It was probably just as well. Lucky for Elena. They might not have pushed her promotion if they had had Cissnei around to cover his tail while he was recovering from getting his hide thoroughly kicked. Reno winced at the memory. it was a huge sword. Huge Heavy. Sharp. Good for battering not Mako Enhanced Turks.

Reno rolled his eyes. She was so dramatic sometimes. Of course he could smell it but that was only because he didn't breathe when he lit it. Not really. But smells were kinda programmed into your nose after a couple of minutes. It was categorised and shoved into the back of your head, where it remained until the smell went away. In fact you probably wouldn't even notice it was gone. Smoke must smell different to smokers. Could he be classed as one if he didn't really inhale when around it? He had to keep his lungs clear.

And there in lay her answer. If he was as fit as always, didn't that say something? But people always saw only what they wanted to see: Turks were no different. Cissnei wanted to believe him lazy, foul and creepy and so he was. She saw him as he wanted to see her because he projected a self belief so profound he almost believed it himself. In fact, most days he was convinced he really was from the slums. "Don't worry Ciss. I'm not gonna die. Am gonna live long enuff to be a constant pain in your fine backside," and he gave her a cheeky wink to finish it off.

"Girl you gotta learn to relax," he said before shrugging. "I don' know. Wha' am I? His keeper?" he asked with attitude but in reality he usually did know where Rude was. He didn't like not knowing where the big guy was. It made him feel uneasy. Rude was like...his soul man. "He's probably talkin' with boss man,"

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Reno would never stop being Reno. That was something that Cissnei could alway count on. In away it was kind of a relief. If his personality had changed even the slightest for any reason, she would be worried about him. Even though he was a pain at times....she had come to rely on it...somehow she had found solitude in the fact that as long as Reno was there being his usual self, everything was going to end up alright. In away that is how he was a leader to her. Even though, technically speaking, he was one of her superiors. He never pulled rank on her. She couldn't really tell if it was because he was lazy and didn't care too, or if it was something else.

She couldn't help but grin and roll her eyes at his comment that he was going to live long enough to be a pain in her backside. "Good to know." She giggled. "You really are hopeless sometimes."

Cissnei crossed her arms and shifted her weight so that her hip was popped to the one side. "Oh I know how to relax. That is why not that I am done with everything for today, I am going out to have a drink." She assured him. "Reno is to Rude as Tseng is to the President. So yes. I would expect you of all people to know where he is, thus making you his keeper of sort." She had a mischievous grin on her face as she sassed him. "Any other questions?"