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[general_affairs]

★ RENO
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FF VII COMPILATION

source @ isopods

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[general_affairs]

[ He could see it well enough beforehand, but it was the intention behind specifically asking to see it. If it was a moment he wanted to share right now. Some lines of words he caught initially, and after looking briefly at the photo, he'd skimmed through some of the text again. ]

Oh, she's pretty.

[ It's a simple phrase, but it wasn't simply said. His tone was thoughtful and a little soft. ]

Twins. And you're both blond there.

[love_and_peace]

[ The text doesn't give away much. His birthday is 21 July 2406 local time. The plant that birthed them never came back online and was automatically recycled a day later. There's a long list of educational modules that he completed in that first year, some vital statistics that show that by his first birthday, he appeared to be a healthy and happy six year old. No allergies, minimal childhood injuries, no illnesses reported.

There's something at the bottom of the page about someone or something called Tesla, but Vash has his hand over that part. ]

Yeah.

[ He's still got about three bright blond hairs right at his left temple, but the rest has been black for more than a year. ]

His name was Knives. ...He liked to pretend that he was older, but I think he just liked telling me what to do.

[ She was pretty. Once Vash works up the courage to turn the page, he's going to slip that picture into his pocket... but he's not there yet. ]

[general_affairs]

[ It was like reading through some of the Science Department's files, and it made him tilt his head a bit. There was a glance back at the photo again, but then he visibly focused on his glass, giving Vash a modicum of privacy with his thoughts while picking up the glass.

Some of the small details fell into place, primarily about his dietary choices, some of the dodginess about those conversations. It was easy to surmise Vash had a lot in common with Aerith. Maybe. ]

It's kinda cute when you whine, so I can't really blame him.

So was she your mom?

[love_and_peace]

[ The only acceptable response to being called cute is to stick his tongue out at Reno. ]

She raised us.

[ Which is neither a yes nor a no, although with the name on the frontspiece, it's pretty clear what the answer is. ]

She was all by herself with two babies, and she raised us with love and compassion, and taught us about generosity, and bravery..

[ No, this page has been open long enough. Vash plucks her picture from the clip and sets it on the bar top so he can keep looking at it, and he flips quickly past the next few pages in the ledger, skimming for more photos. Vash's voice changes here, getting more serious. He's telling an important story instead of reminiscing about his mom, and it's not an easy story to tell. ]

There was a... an accident. [ Which is a baldfaced lie, but please let him tell it. ] We were part of a fleet of colony ships, headed for a forest world. A thousand ships, and a billion people in cryosleep, waiting to walk the surface of their new home. But there was an accident.

[ It's not any more believable the second time he says it, and he's stopped flipping through pages, pausing on one with another picture. ]

She put us into the escape pod, but she stayed behind. Millions of lives were saved because of her. Almost a hundred ships, saved.

[ The page that picture of Knives is attached to has a report of a mass murder at a plant facility. All the plant engineers, and a dozen civilians outside, cut to pieces by a tremenous, unidentified force. Vash quietly takes that picture too, and sets it next to the family shot. ]

She taught me that every life has value. That everyone's future is unwritten.

[general_affairs]

[ A huff of a laugh at the response as he stopped his beer. There was nothing meant or insinuated by the compliment and tease all wrapped up into one word, so he moved on as Vash did, picking up on the nuance of the answer. The context more or less confirmed his thoughts, though he continued to listen in respectful silence.

He didn't fault Vash for wanting more keepsakes, not with how upset he'd been over losing Rude's sunglasses.

He had become quite skilled at minding the stories his body language could tell when he was conscientious of it. At present he let himself be thoughtful, openly mulling over the given story. ]

For what it's worth, someone said that the dead only really die when their name's spoken for the last time.

[ He sucked in a deep breath through his nose, and went back to watching with his cheek in his palm. What Vash wanted to do with that was up to him. He glanced off to she side for a moment, then came back to the conversation, offering an easy scapegoat if Vash wanted to change the focus for a little bit. ]

She did a good job with you though. Raising kids alone ain't easy. It took over a dozen of us to look after a kid.

[love_and_peace]

[ and with that reminder of the conversation he had with Varker just a few days ago, Vash carefully closes the packet. There's plenty more to read in there (and more pictures too, if the clips he can see at the edges are any indication) but he'll do that in private.

He was willing to confess his crimes to Reno -- the destruction of July, Legato's murder, his failure to save Wolfwood or Knives -- but he can't talk about both Rem and Legato in one sitting. He can't.

So he'll take that offer of a change of topic and turn, resting his arm on the closed folder and picking up his beer with an attempt at a grin. ]

Just one kid? And here I thought you were some kind of brilliant leader!

[general_affairs]

Oooh yeah, and you've met her.

[ He said nothing on it, and continued not to fuss over the way his smiles were forced. ]

Aerith's a brat.

Me, leader? Nah, I hate admin work.
But we're basically intelligence soldiers. We're called Turks, and handle anything and everything for ShinRa, yo. Things I'm proud of, and things I'm not.

[love_and_peace]

Aerith?

[ Reno helped raise her? Huh! He wouldn't have guessed from either of their ages... although it's possible that Aerith came here from a later date, given how loosely the Barge seems to work with space and time both.

And look, a forced smile is better than not attempting one at all, right? Vash is a big fan of the fake-it-til-you-make-it school of being okay. For him, this is doing great! This is great.

Everything's great. ]

I suppose being a soldier means you have to do a lot of things you don't want to.

[ He's keeping things light, but the sympathy in his expression is real. He's met enough soldiers -- usually from the other end of their guns -- to know what a soldier's life can be like. ]

But that's the good thing about being alive! Every day is a new opportunity to make up for yesterday's mistakes.

[general_affairs]

Yep. Chief was lookin' after her when me and Rude joined up, and we all pitched in. The rest of it's her story to tell if she wants to, though.

[ Undoubtedly, Vash will eventually learn where Reno draws lines, so enjoy the peace while it lasts. He'd chuckle into his glass as he lifted it to take another sip. ]

It does. We got the icky jobs alright, but that meant your guys like Zack and Cloud got to be the heroes they needed to be. I'll take that trade-off, buuuut I don't beat myself up so much over it any more. I could, but I had to forgive myself eventually.

[love_and_peace]

[ Vash makes a bit of a face when Cloud's name is mentioned. He doesn't really have anything against the guy, but he definitely came off as exactly what he accused Vash of being -- a hero who rushed to action without considering all the consequences first.

Knowing that back where Reno's from. Cloud got to keep his hands clean while Reno had to do whatever it is that he's hinting at just makes that dislike stronger. He's not a fan. ]

Yeah? [ Vash pats the closed folder beneath his arm, then scoopos up the pictures on the bar top to slip them into his pocket. Those are going straight to his cabin wall, as soon as he can find something to serve as a pushpin. ] You'll have to teach me that trick sometime.

[general_affairs]

[ He raised a brow, then snorted with a laugh at the face made about Cloud. ]

Oh it's easy, just forgive yourself, d'uh.

[ He rolled his eyes with a smirk at his own facetious joke, then shook his head after and knocked back another swallow of beer. ]

Not a party trick I'd recommend, it's a pain in the ass. But we can see about getting some frames for those if you want. I can show you what I'm talkin' about after if you want, but it's not gonna be easy to watch, and it's already been a rough day for you.

[love_and_peace]

[ Oh, sure, why didn't he just think of that! Just forgive himself, no problem!

That's all right. He doesn't actually deserve forgiveness for any of the things he's done in this folder, aside from the occasional theft out of desperation, and maybe a couple bar fights where nobody ended up seriously injured. The rest? He's going to carry the rest in his heart for as long as he lives, and that's how it should be.

He's the only person who remembers most of those folks now anyway.

The comment about frames gets a half a shrug -- sure, maybe! That's a nice idea, actually -- but then Reno's offer to show him what he's been talking about gets a confused, wary kind of look. ]

What do you mean, show me?

[ Show him pictures of the armies he fought against? Entries in newspapers, maybe, talking about assassinations? He's got copies of those?

Wait. Was he an inmate before? Is he talking about having a copy of his own ledger? ]

Show me what?

vash i s2g reno's gonna beat ur ass that's the opposite of forgiving urself bro

[general_affairs]

[ He did notice how Vash had plucked out photos to tuck away, and it was always nice having keepsakes well taken care of and protected.

His brows raised as he perked idly to attention with the question. ]

Oh, either in the enclosure, or I can tell you. Kinda hard for most people to get an idea of what Midgar looks like, though.

[love_and_peace]

[ Huh.

Mind made up, Vash finishes off the rest of his beer. Two beers is a long way from their plan of ending up under the table, but maybe they'll come back her after Reno shows him whatever he wants to show him. ]

You want to show me now?

[ Sure, they're here in part to go over Vash's case history, but Vash doesn't really want to read any more of his own right now and Reno's offering. ]

If we're going to be working together we should clear the air up front, right?

[general_affairs]

[ Maybe!

He paused and raised his brows with bemused concern. ]

Yeah, I can show you, but fair warning. After that crash you told me about, it's gonna be hard for you to watch.

[ Reno didn't intend on Vash opening his ledger and things going over such today, but he didn't mind the route things had taken. ]

[love_and_peace]

[ None of today is going the way he'd expected it to when he woke up this morning!

Vash pauses midway through picking up his ledger, then shoves the pages roughly back into the envelope. It's going to be bad, then, what Reno has to show him. As bad as the Fall, Reno thinks.

Reno's wrong, surely. He doesn't know what the fall was like... and even if he's not mistaken, Vash called the fall an accident. Maybe Reno wants him to know about a terrible accident too, an error that cost a lot of lives.

Okay. He can endure seeing that. ]

Not as hard as living through it though, right?

[ He holds up the envelope, still stuffing pages inside. ]

I'm gonna drop this off in my cabin then I'll meet you at the Enclosure?

[general_affairs]

No, but that's gonna make it hit all the harder for you. You're gonna know what those people went through.

[ A small sigh and bob of his head. ]

Nah, bring it with us. I'll be holding onto it, but we'll work somethin' out after you see platedrop.

[ He'd handle the matter of the four beers they split between them. He'd slide his hands idly into his pockets, posture lax as he spoke. As maverick as Reno could be, structure was still a requisite as they built rapport between them. Vash had been largely prompt thus far, so there was no knee-jerk reaction to micromanage the situation, but he would still be forthright as far as establishing boundaries and expectations went.

Alas, Reno was woefully ignorant of the subjugation of plants where Vash was from, so he was wildly blind to the situation Vash was being put in. ]

[love_and_peace]

[ All pages firmly stuffed into the envelope and the top folded shut, Vash looks up as blandly as he can manage, and offers Reno a polite smile. ]

No need to worry about it, thanks. I've got it.

[ He's got it snug up against his side, is what. He's got it in a grip that isn't letting go. ]

I'll show you the parts you need to see later, but I want to read through it first. Some of this is private.

[general_affairs]

[ He wasn't surprised by the pushback, nor did he seem bothered by it. His head just lolled a bit to the side. ]

Yeah, I know. The whole thing's confidential, yo. I don't plan on going through any of it without you in the room.

[ He chewed it over with a thoughtful pout on his lips. ]

But we don't exactly have any reason to trust eachother right now though. So. I can do that if you'll let me stay in the room while you go through it and pick out what you want to.

[love_and_peace]

[ It's going to be more like Vash will pick out what he wants to share, but want is want, right? ]

Deal.

[ He pats the packet with his free hand, keeping it close to his chest just in case... well, just in case. Best leave it at that.

They don't know each other well enough for trust yet, after all. Reno's right about that. ]

I won't open it until later, when we're together. You have my word.

[ Good enough? ]

[general_affairs]

[ Want is, indeed, want. Another moment of silence seemed to drag between them as he considered whether or not to take Vash's word for it that he wouldn't open it. It wasn't, not in Reno's world, but Vash had been prompt enough otherwise to warrant the leeway. ]

Yeah. We'll work out the rest when we go through it.

[ He sucked in a sharp breath through his nose and turned. ]

[love_and_peace]

[ The moment ticks on, and Vash weights his options. If he has to, he decides, he'll offer up one of the pictures in his pocket as collateral, a promise that the file will be intact the next time he meets with Reno. If he has to.

And if Reno won't accept that, then his other option is the Speakeasy. It'll be a good sprint, and Reno's every bit as quick and limber as he is, but he's not handing the file over, to anyone. He'll destroy it before that happens.

But then it's a moot point, and Vash does his best not to sigh with relief. ]

Ten minutes. See you there.

[general_affairs]

[ There were other general ideas he had to have some structure, but he figured it better not to worry about that now. He had an idea already of how poorly this would go, so there was little point in pushing it now. ]

You got it.

[ They would both meet up outside of the Enclosure with Reno greeting him with a flick of a two-fingered wave, then motioned with a bob of his head to follow him on inside. There was another brief warning to brace himself, but past that, and a brief explanation of Midgar being in two tiers--the city on top of the plates, and the slums underneath--Reno wasn't keen on talking much.

He would let the scene play itself out: clones of the people involved behaving as he remembered while they watched from a small distance, omniscient and unable to intervene.

He would throw the unfiltered ugliness in Vash's face and lay it out bare first, and then, if he was willing enough to ask, Reno would explain. But he wouldn't ask for understanding; he'd accepted and forgiven himself for what had happened, but he also accepted that their anger was still his burden to bear. ]

[love_and_peace]

[ It's a much bigger city than any Vash has seen before, and a little more technological, but he sees the winding undercity streets for what they are, and is quickly caught up in the action. He wonders, briefly, why Reno has this recording -- did he create this wholecloth in the Enclosure one command at a time? Is this a file that he brought with him? -- but those aren't as important as the events playing out all around them.

He's confused when Reno (and another man, who Vash doesn't recognize but he does recognize those sunglasses) start firing at Cloud, and shoots Reno a questioning look. Weren't they on the same side? Didn't Reno just say as much? But he holds his questions for the end, sure he'll have more.

And he'll definitely have more. He's still not entirely sure what he's seeing in terms of end game goals, but Reno and the other man are trying to do something that Cloud -- and Aerith!? -- and some others he doesn't know are all eager to stop. Then he hears the worlds drop the plate.

It's got to be a bluff. It's a tactic, it's a threat, it's a turn of phrase that he simply doesn't understand because he's not from this world. The crime Reno wants to show him is how he betrayed his team here, right?

Right?

The last few minutes Vash can barely stand still, pacing a tight path back and forth as he resists the urge to run into the action and help. It's a recording, it's history, there's nothing he can do, but he's not made to stand back and placidly observe horrors like this. He visibly holds himself back when Reno's challenged by Cloud and the other two, holds his breath as the helicopter attacks, then crashes, and surely this is Reno's crime, surely. He got his friend killed.

But no. The big man's alive, but there's no time for relief. They fight... the big man pushes the button...

Until the plate actually hits the lower level, Vash is certain that it'll be stopped, somehow. But it's not. It falls.

Reno -- and his friend -- murdered a whole city. That's what he watned Vash to see.

Vash will have questions -- Vash will have so many things to say -- once he can stop crying. ]

[general_affairs]

[ Anger was an easier cross to bear. It was easier to watch anger and outrage because it felt less personal, and more like the responsibility he should be carrying for what happened. Grief, however, was different. It was so much more intimate than anger.

He breathed out a soft sigh through his nose, pursing his lips into a thin line. His brows knitted softly, as one does with a powerless sort of empathy. He glanced over to Vash, but otherwise looked ahead at the wreckage. The least he could do was look at it without turning away until the room turned to white again, as if none of it had ever happened.

The Turks understood this burden and bore it in their own ways as a unit, but it didn't stop him from wanting to reach out and offer support to see Vash so upset. The worst part was knowing well enough to see that grief was so sincere for each and every one of the people that died. But he didn't. It wasn't his place as the guilty party. So he stayed put with his hands in his pockets, his weight on one leg, and shoulders lax and uneven, giving Vash the space to grieve. ]