sleazeoverstyle | (no subject)

(no subject)

"Strap in, Chuck." He does the final check and all systems are a go. Of friggin' course they are; he does the maintenance on this helicopter himself whenever he can. Shin-Ra 3, ready and waiting. Because he can, he reaches over and adjusts the noise-reduction phones on Charlie's head, shows her how to use the mic so she can talk to him over the noise of the rotors, makes sure her seat belt's all fastened up the right way, and hands her a map of the known world, or the planet Gaia, whichever she wants to call it. There's a big red X next to Midgar.

"We're here. We got enough fuel in this thing to make it just about anywhere, and I can always put down for more if we need it. Any of those place names strike your fancy, Pie Lady?" There are some places he'd talk her out of goin' on general principle. Like... he just went to Costa del Sol and Gold Saucer with Lara and he ain't sure how much more fun in the sun he can stand. But there's all sorts of shit to do, from the port at Junon to a flyby of the Northern Crater, to the pretty little town of Nibelheim. The only place he ain't gonna go is Wutai, 'cause there's people there who don't like him real well.

Wait, what the hell's he sayin'? There's people everywhere who don't like him real well. But still, he ain't goin' to Wutai.

"Except here." He points the skinny little sliver of world out to her. "Or if nothin' calls to you by name, we can just fly around for a while and stop where we feel like stoppin'." He has to file some sort of flight plan, but he'll figure that out.

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It's a real quick and simple matter to order up a refueling on Shin-Ra's tab and once that's taken care of, he grins off-handedly at Charlie. She's blushing again.

That means they're even: payback for that unexpected hug. Everything's back to normal; he sticks his right hand in his pocket and nods her in the direction of town. "Good weather for somethin' nice and cool to drink, don't you think?" And they could do whatever people call it -- freshen up -- and get somethin' to eat.

And he'll get her that piece of jewelry too. Shit, why not. They know him here.

"Oh, it is!" Charlie agrees with a grin and a laugh, flush moving from embarrassment to excitement. "Like a real beach vacation!"

A real beach vacation's gonna have to wait for some other time; he doesn't have the time to spend on it just now. But at least he knows what she wants, so maybe next time, if there is a next time, and if he learned his friggin' lesson from bein' around Lara he'll make it a quick beach vacation. He does wonder how Lara's doin', though. She was brave here. They had that thing with the Beachplugs and everything, and she fought 'em. Then again, that's what she does.

He ain't seen her since, and he won't see her here now. Different day, different story.

"Come on, pretty lady. This way." They take the short distance to town in stride and he gets a couple hello sirs on the way, and it's 'cause of what he's wearin' and he knows it. This town likes him and the rest of the Turks for whatever reason.

At the very end of the road's the inn, and that's where he leads her. He ain't sure what she needs, but he knows he could use a pit stop. He's the one who drank a bunch of coffee on that long flight.

Charlie's blush at the appellation is reflexive rather than really self-conscious and she smiles and nods politely to everyone they pass. "Wow," she says at one of the points they have the road to themselves, "they're really polite here."

As for a stop, she's totally in favor of that. It's a chance to see more people, to talk and listen and get something cool to drink. Maybe they have some sort of exotic fruit juice!

Once they're set at the bar, he orders himself an ice-cold Wutai Pale. "And whatever the lady wants." It's kind of a standard line, but it works and just like last time, the bartender won't take his money. That's all right by him. They must get it worked out with Corporate somewhere along the line, 'cause he ain't done no personal favors here in a long time. Whatever, it still works.

"What's it gonna be, Chuck?" Shit, she lives at a friggin' bar. He ought to know what she drinks by now.

But he doesn't ever pay that kind of attention to things. Why should he?

Charlie leans over to whisper in his ear, "Is there some sort of exotic fruity drink that's a specialty here?" She wants to play tourist, but she doesn't want to be obvious about it.

Yeah. Good luck with that, Charlie.

"Yeah." He whispers it back at her. "I'll get you one." She really is so friggin' cute, he hardly knows what to make of her. She doesn't have his head spinnin' or anything like that. His eyes haven't turned into red beating hearts sproinging out of their sockets. But fuck it, he likes her and she's fun. He's havin' a good time with her, and for him, havin' a good time where he ain't either piloting or kicking ass or drinkin' to distraction is a pretty rare thing.

"The lady will have a Gaia Breeze." Now he leans forward, motions the bartender closer. "And easy on the Icicle Village Hard. She's a lightweight."

He happens to love that shit and has it in his own liquor cabinet at home, or at least he did before his brothers and sister came and helped themselves to everything yesterday. Turning back to Charlie, he explains. "It's kind of strong, that stuff, but the rest of the drink is all like... tropical fruit juices blended with ice and syrups and stuff. Comes out bright pink, so don't be surprised."

For his gil, he could never stand more than a couple of 'em. Too sweet. But he bets it'll be just the right drink for Charlie.

"And also, give us a bar menu. Can't fly on an empty stomach." Yeah, it's mostly just an excuse to kick back and take it easy for a while. Refueling's pretty friggin' fast.

Charlie laughs. "Pink sounds just fine!" And she's not kidding. Still, when she glass is set in front of her she's cautious on her first sip. Reno had warned her, after all.

Her eyes widen and she turns to Reno. "Wow! It's good!" And... it does weird things to her tongue. It sort of tickles.

She giggles.

He almost tells her try drinkin' it straight but he'll keep that in his back pocket for a need-to-know situation. Could come in handy one day.

So could food; he orders them some stuff from the bar. Easy little things: shit they can pick up with their hands and eat. Fried stuff, greasy and good: seafood fritters and onion rings, things like that. Beach food. It's practically the law here.

"After this, you gonna let me take you to the shop, get you a souvenir?" The fuck, right? They're only gonna be here one time, probably. Might as well make the most of it. He got Lara the platinum bangle, but maybe they'll have a couple different kinds here. He likes the carbon ones himself, and titanium's always good.

Or maybe there's somethin' else that ain't armor. somethin' that's just pretty. His friggin' sister always knows where to find that shit. Thankfully, she ain't here yellin' in his ear about treatin' Charlie good. He could do that all on his own, thanks for nothin'.

Simple fried food also has the advantage of arriving quickly and Charlie digs in with gusto. She hadn't really realized how hungry she was.

She's not really very lady-like about it, but her enjoyment's pretty obvious. She nurses the one drink through the entire thing, and even with all the starch and grease that made up their excuse of a meal she was visibly more flushed than normal. Reno's comment about her being a lightweight had been a huge understatement.

"Souvenir shopping!" she exclaims. "That sounds like fun!"

Again, the 'tender won't let him pay, so he leaves a big tip instead. "Come on, Chuck. You could go... ogle the guys at the surf shop or whatever." Standing, he offers her his arm as if he's some polite gentleman.

But part of him says why the fuck not. He's here, far from home, with a pretty lady on his arm. Why not pretend? Everyone else does it when they're on vacation. Maybe, just for an hour or two, he could drop bein' such an asshole and be a nice guy. See what it's like.

Wait. Who the hell's he kiddin'? Himself?

Maybe.

'Cause maybe he's just the same stubborn asshat who demolished Sector 7 and didn't think twice about it. Or maybe he's a guy who grew up a little and deserves a break.

...nah.

"Race you over there. Just kidding."

His just kidding is lost in her laugh as she takes him at his word and rushes off.

Which would be far more effective if she had any idea where she was going. But it was pretty obvious that she didn't and was just sort of running around aimlessly.

"Hey. Chuck. This way." There's the little stand that sells softs, but he ain't interested in that. No, once he catches up with her he takes her by the hand and steers her toward the weapon shop. He could go ahead and explain that the bangles are armor, but if she wants to see 'em just like pretty jewelry, that's okay by him.

"Pick somethin' you like."

Sky's the limit. Shit, she could get the friggin' bazooka if she wants. He don't care.

"As long as we can fit it on the helicopter to get it back home."

Charlie giggles and lets him lead her into the shop. She looks around, eyes moving past the huge swords and the gloves (and was that a giant prosthetic boxing glove?) to the various pieces she thought of as jewelry. "Wow, some of these are really pretty," she told Reno.

As if he couldn't tell for himself.

"See anything you like?" If not, they could try someplace else. He ain't in a huge hurry, and sure, an afternoon hanging out on the beach might have its merits but for a couple redheads like them, it's a recipe for bein' cranky as hell later on.

No matter what, he's gonna take her to this sweet little jewelry store in Edge when they get back and turn in the chopper. It ain't too far away. For whatever reason, it matters to him that she has a great friggin' time here.

She holds one up. It's gold, and a bit ornate. It's only got one socket, not that Charlie has any idea what that means or even what the indentation is, but she waves it vaguely at Reno. "What do you think?"

He looks at it, raises an eyebrow, holds it up to her.

"I think if you like it, we should get it." It ain't like she's gonna need to equip it. He won't be takin' Charlie anywhere they could get attacked, at least not on purpose.

"What do you say? Want that one? It'd look real nice on you."

And if they see another one they like better later? She can have that one too. No such thing as too many bangles or too much armor.

Charlie ponders the bangle seriously for long seconds, but when she finally nods it's an abrupt and impulsive sort of motion. "Yes," she decides. "I think I do."

She grins. "It's pretty!" She's not entirely sure what she'll do with it. Maybe she'll wear it, even, but it's pretty, and besides: souvenirs are important!

"Then get it." He nods to the shopkeeper, shells out his 1800 gil, and puts the bracelet on Charlie's wrist. "There. A souvenir from Costa del Sol." Does she need to know it'll increase HP and MP? Nah. She likes it: that's all that matters. He doubts anything would have the gall to hurt someone as cheerful as Charlie anyhow.

Lightly, he rests his arm around her shoulder and steers her out of the weapons shop.

"We have a little bit of time. You want to walk down by the beach and see the water, or just call it a day and see somethin' else on the other side of the ocean?" He could go either way.

"The beach!" she answers instantly, beaming over at him. "I wanna see the beach!"

She's in full-on tourist mode now.

"The beach? You got it." Screw Junon. Next time, right? If a guy can't go with the flow and deal with a last-minute change of plans, he ain't equipped to be wearin' the blue suit.

Easy as anything, he leads her back down the street to the pathway to the beach. Ain't neither of 'em dressed for swimming and that's as okay with him as not snowboarding was at Icicle Inn, but she could see it for as long as she wants.

It's pretty here, and the smile on her face already suits her. In all his travels and all the places he's been on this planet, which is pretty much everywhere, he never heard of anyone gettin' spoiled by too much smiling.

"You want the chairs by an umbrella? Or you want to walk along the water's edge?" They can get back to the heliport either way eventually.

Charlie skips along across the sand making no attempt to hide her sense of delight. "Let's just sit for a bit," she decides. "I want to watch some."

"Sure." He has to shake his head in amusement: sometimes, Chuck's like a little kid, all excited over the simple shit. It's been a long friggin' time since he felt like that about anything. It's almost like when she's around and so wide-eyed and innocent, he gets to look at the same old shit through a new set of eyes.

But not for long; he leads her over to a pair of lounge chairs near an umbrella, gets her stretched out, makes sure the umbrella's covering 'em both, takes off his jacket. He's never been one of those straight-laced dressed-right types and not wearin' a tie is such a little way to rebel against shit, but it's worked for him for years and it's gonna keep workin'.

It's easy, bein' here, hangin' out in the sun. "You want something else to drink while we keep an eye on the beach?" Shit, they could keep the whole place protected, and there's people out there swimming and floating and shit, and the breeze is blowing nice and warm, and he should've made sure to prepare for this but they didn't, and they ain't stayin' here tonight so... fuck it. They get to hang out and watch.

"No," Charlie shakes her head, voice rapt. Her entire body is leaning forward and her eyes slowly sweep across the beach. The smile that's settled upon her lips isn't her usual unrestrained grin. It's more private than that, more restrained.

"It's so peaceful here. Calm."

"Sure is." He ain't gonna talk about if you keep following the beach how there's monsters. Nah, why kill the friggin' mood? There's no way he's bringing her back that way anyhow, so no need to mention it.

This is cool, though. the whole time he was here with Lara, he kept thinkin' she was looking for just the right opportunity to make a getaway. It wasn't that she didn't want to be here with him, he thinks, as much as she just didn't want to be with anyone. Like she was lookin' for some new world to escape to, somewhere she could blend in and cause a little trouble and more than anyone, he's got a real fine appreciation for causing trouble. But Charlie... shit. She's just happy to be here.

That's cool.

"If I'd known we were gonna stop here, I would have told you to bring swim gear." For Charlie, he might even have gone in the friggin' water, so long as no storms were approaching. Something about water and electricity not mixing real well, and he'd rather not get fried -- or fry anyone else -- in front of her. In fact, he'd just as soon leave all the magic crap out of it 'cause face it, crap is what it is.