sleazeoverstyle | Gold Saucer

Gold Saucer

Gold Saucer ain't nothin' like Costa del Sol. It ain't like many other places, at least not on this friggin' planet. It's loud and bright and colorful and full of people and surprises and amusement. Here, a guy could race Chocobos if that's what floats his boat, or tough it out at the Battle Arena. Go for a gondola ride, ride the coaster, go gaming in the arcade, check out the theater, stay at the ghost-themed hotel. All sorts of shit to do, and it's like a city in the middle of the friggin' desert. People come here from all over to hang out, to play.

He happens to think Lara might feel a little bit at home here.

Corel ain't much to write home about, but it is the gateway to Gold Saucer. As they start moving to the ropeway -- pain in the ass that it's the only way in -- he pushes up his sunglasses and points one thing out real quiet. No time like the present, and better now before it's too late: he likes Lara a lot, but he's got some suspicions when it comes to her... uh... motives about things. "There's a prison below here, did I tell you?" (He knows he didn't.) "They catch anyone doin' illegal shit at the park, they ship 'em right down there." He wouldn't want to go, not that he's ever been actually caught doing anything criminal here. Between the desert and the sand storms, it's just about impossible to escape from it. He knows people who've tried and ended up right back there again. He also knows of people who tried and didn't make it. He sure as fuck doesn't want his bones picked clean out there in the desert.

The whole bit about bartering for your release by having a Chocobo race for you kinda slips his mind.

Entirely.

At the entrance he buys her a one-time ticket; he's got his lifetime pass. Once they're inside, he lets her read the information about the different places there. The place already has a party atmosphere going for it, and they ain't even started yet. Still, this place has potential.

"Any of it look good to you?" As usual, he's well aware of the looks he's gettin' but like he gives a fuck. He'll just pretend everyone's all impressed by the lady at his side and leave it at that: he ain't here to work.

Nope, he's definitely here to play.

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***

After his third vodka tonic ("No, sir, those are on the house, please") he shrugs, gets up and stretches, takes a little stroll around the place. He still has an hour to kill before he meets up with Lara again and he's already checked in with Rude, so fuck if he knows what he's gonna do to kill the time.

He's a friggin' Turk, though, and even though their numbers are smaller today than they used to be, people still look at him twice when they see the outfit. This ain't a couple years ago, he wants to tell them without telling them he's the guy who dropped the plate on Sector 7. That gave him enough pause for thought over the years and thinkin' about it now almost drives him back to that bar for another drink. But nah. He doesn't want to stay at the bar for three hours alone and one of the reasons he ain't there is 'cause after those three vodka tonics, some of the other ladies there started lookin' pretty nice.

What the hell's wrong with you, he asked himself, but he didn't bother answering. Ain't a thing wrong with him: he just ain't ready to settle down and get all domestic like some of his brothers. Riley wouldn't have done it and he ain't gonna do it either.

He'll have fun sleepin' with Lara, though. But before he can do that again, he has to kill an hour: he heads down to the Chocobo races, sits back, and watches for a while. Sometimes, he wishes he smoked. That'd help pass the time.

* * *

The mood of the place is subtly different when she's not with Reno, she notices as she strolls through the arcade. The slight edge of uneasy respect, the way people walk wide around, is gone. That's fine -- it makes it easier to slip by people unnoticed, even dressed to catch the eye as she is.

Information is changing hands, here as anywhere; the crowds aren't quite so singly fixated on enjoying themselves as they seem. The noise level makes it hard to overhear anything without moving in close, which means she tends to only be able to make a few fragments here and there: something about a delayed shipment of supplies to Corel (wherever that might be), something about a disease called Geostigma, something about a hypothetical theft -- her ears prick up at that and she trails behind the two men for a while longer, but loses interest when it becomes apparent that they (a) really are only talking hypothetically, and (b) couldn't plan a theft if their lives depended on it. Amateurs.

She plays a few of the target-shooting games, keeping her hand in, and watches the time. Coming up on the two-and-a-half hour mark; time to see if she can't find and tail Reno on his way back to the rendezvous point.

***

Like he's ever been interested in Chocobo races a day in his life: his wanderings take him to Battle Square and the arena instead. Some poor shit's gettin' the crap beat out of him but so it goes. He gets to fight enough at his day gig and doesn't need to do it here. Gold Saucer, he realizes, is pretty friggin' boring and he wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for Lara; he really hopes she's the one who lifted the helicopter key. He hasn't been that close to anyone else or that distracted by anyone else, although that third vodka tonic put a nice layer of haze over everything.

She's a strange one. She followed him when they first split up and he wonders idly if she was planning on trying to fly that chopper herself. Could be. She could've tried, but she wouldn't have gotten real far. It's rigged to be a little bit theft-proof -- if anyone's got the balls to try to steal Shin-Ra property to start with -- with a fuel line cutoff. All the Turks-operated vehicles have shit like that. As they say, it ain't rocket science.

But the buzz from the drinking distracts and mellows him, and he ends up just kind of wandering around the place. The phone in his pocket buzzes and he looks: it's Tseng who he guesses pretty much is the boss, so he takes the call. Hears about some shit going on over near the Forgotten City and he tucks that information away for later, for when he ain't actually on vacation and anyhow, that's nowhere near here and he has other shit to do besides hike through the friggin' Sleeping Forest to get there and investigate.

On his day off. Screw that.

With about ten minutes to go he starts back to where he's supposed to meet Lara. A couple people get out of his way but hey, what the fuck. By the time the three hours are up, he's hangin' around cool and casual, arms folded over his chest like he does this every day. Odds are about 50/50 that she'll actually show up again.

She comes sauntering out of the crowd about five minutes past the hour. When she catches sight of him, her walk curves in his direction but doesn't speed up.

She does smile, though, the expression as lazy and confident as her walk.

Just before the top of the hour, he takes out his phone again to check messages. Friggin' thing's been off 'cause he's on vacation, but that ain't stopped people calling. Rude again. Tseng. The boss. His sister: he can delete that one. Elena. The home office. Yeah, his life's all kinds of exciting.

He doesn't check so he looks busy or cool or any of that shit, but there is something a little calculated in not wanting to look like he's hangin' around waiting for some lady to show up. He's just listening to the last of his messages, the one from HQ confirming that the helicopter's being returned tomorrow. Friggin' paperwork: yeah, he'll get it back.

By the time he's done checking calls, he looks up to see Lara strutting over looking all smug and pretty and that's cool. The phone clicks closed; he sets it away in his pocket.

"Hey. You have fun?"

"Some," she smiles, sliding up beside him; not quite touching, but within arm's reach. "You?"

"It was a time." He does noncommittal as good as she does. "Where'd you go? Win anything?"

He won himself three free vodka tonics, or at least his uniform did. That was unexpected. And he is a little curious about what she did and where she went. Three hours is a long time to stay out of trouble at a place like this. He was almost expecting a phone call from the prison.

Yeah, they have his number.

"Well, let's see. I went to the arena and watched the fights. Very educational. And I spent some time at the arcade, and won a few games."

She traded the points back for gil. She might even give some of them back to Reno if he asks; after all, he's the one who gave her the coin to play in the first place.

"Hey, that's cool. I always liked the Super Dunk and the Snow Game. Torpedo Attack's not bad either." She couldn't have done the Snow Game, but he bets she could've kicked ass at anything else. It's an educated guess and he's pretty satisfied making it. She's good, Lara.

"By the way, I'll take the key back now." Speaking of educated guesses. "And then we can go get dinner. If you're hungry for food, that is."

A half-second's pause, and then her head tosses back in a peal of delighted laughter, the sound looping up and outward like a fountain.

Her hand goes to the vee of her neckline and the concealed pocket there. He's watching, so she makes just a little stage business of drawing out the key slowly before tossing it to him.

"I wondered when you'd notice." Teasing; not quite challenging. Nothing even close to apologetic.

Oh, he noticed. He noticed early on, but what the fuck was he supposed to do about it? Go running around the whole friggin' place looking for her? Nah, that ain't his style.

"Thanks." Now he pockets the key again, same place it was before: he ain't worried she's gonna pick it out of there again. Not now that she knows he knows. She's good and this is far from the first time he's had that thought. Not on this trip, and not before. He knew it the first night he met her, and that other guy he was talkin' to that night still owes him drinks over this.

Yeah, right: like he's ever gonna see him again.

Once he's got that key, he offers Lara his arm. "Want dinner?" He sure as fuck does. He didn't kill three hours waitin' for nothing.

She slides her hand into the crook of his arm, rests it there lightly, and smiles up at him. "Dinner sounds marvelous. Drinks first, or after?"

"Before, during, after. I ain't picky."

Arm in arm, he leads her toward the preferred dinner spot. Fuck yeah, there's gonna be drinkin'.

And food.

And more drinkin'.

And everything that comes after a great friggin' date. In fact, the shit that comes after is the best part of the whole thing and they both know it.

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Gold Saucer

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