sleazeoverstyle | (no subject)

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"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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"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.

"No," she shakes her head softly again. "I think I just want to sit here and watch for a while."

Her breathing doesn't stop the way it did when they were over the crater. She's rapt in a different sort of way this time. Calm and relaxed and wrapped up in the moment.

She hasn't really taken time to... stop, to simply be, since before she died. It's not something she's used to doing, but she's doing it now. And it feels wonderful.

For once, he doesn't open his mouth to say something smart. Instead, he just watches Charlie watch the water and appreciates the moment, another something he never does. Leaning back in his chair, he pulls his sunglasses down over his eyes and smiles to himself, arms folded behind his head.

When was the last time he actually relaxed? Shit, he's been high-maintenance and high activity his whole friggin' life, ever since he can remember. He didn't relax last time he was here; he had to keep one eye on Lara the whole time and that wasn't exactly a recipe for takin' it easy and kicking back.

Fuck it. If Charlie can relax and enjoy it, then so can he. He ain't met a lady yet who could do something he can't -- physical impossibilities aside -- and he ain't gonna let the little Pie Lady from Texas, Earth be the one to break his record.

After a few minutes Charlie leans back in her chair, her eyelids droop a bit, but don't slide closed. She half watches the beach as her breathing slows even more.

She's not asleep, but she doesn't look far from it. A lazy sort of smile flits across her face every so often as various people on the beach do something amusing, which indicates she's still paying attention.

She looks content. As if all is right with the world and maybe, just maybe, she can sit and do nothing for a while.

It sounds rather nice, really.

Okay, so he can relax and enjoy it for a while, but not forever. Eventually he gets bored -- this is how come beach vacations ain't his style -- and sits up, fumbles through his jacket pockets, checks his cell for messages. Rude called. Figures. The boss called. Figures. This girl he met in a bar a few weeks ago texted him. Six times. Figures. (Delete - delete - delete - delete - delete - delete.) Nope, nothin' he needs to set aside the sand and sea and sun for.

'Bout the only time he ever hangs out in one place like this, though, is when he's asleep in bed and when he's actually aware of that, he gets up and does somethin' else anyhow, so he knows he's got like maybe ten more minutes of this in him before it drives him straight up a friggin' wall, which... he could do, but better if they haul ass outta Costa del Sol before that happens.

"So. Charlie. I'm thinkin', 'cause of the time of day and 'cause we have a decent trip ahead of us, we ought to probably get goin'." He doesn't make the offer that they stay here overnight; that wasn't part of the plan and it'd be a friggin' headache if he doesn't get Shin-Ra Three back on time, just as far as paperwork goes, but he can't say he hasn't had the thought a couple times as he's glanced over and watched her, all pretty and content.

One of these days, he keeps tellin' himself like it actually might happen. He's never been a patient person.

"So what do you say? Anything else you wanted to do here before we head on back?"

Charlie sits up straight and looks over. "No," she smiles, "I think I've done everything I need to." She pushes herself up out of her chair and reaches her hand out to him.

"Come on, Reno-not-the-city," she laughs. "We wouldn't want to keep you out past your bedtime."

If he had money for every time he's thought she's cute he'd be rollin' in the stuff. But this ain't no game where money grows on trees, so... yeah. He does take her hand, though, and leads her back down and around to the helipad where everything's ready for them and just like before, he makes sure she's all buckled in and everything, headphones on, and this time they take off right over the water.

And 'cause he can, he swoops back down and over one of the fields not too far away where he sees a nice little party of Beachplugs. "Hey. I didn't tell you about the local monsters, did I?" This time they just buzz 'em from the air so she could take a look, but not close enough so there's any risk at all. "Good thing we're up here and not down there." The helicopter hovers there for a minute so she could get a good look. No trip to this planet would be complete without at least one close encounter, right?

"Monsters?" Charlie asks, leaning up against the glass again. "What are those things?" She doesn't sound shocked or worried. Reno wouldn't let her get hurt, after all.

"Monsters," he answers serenely. "Those are called Beachplugs. There's other kinds everywhere. Don't tell me I forgot to mention that." He knows he didn't, 'cause why scare her? "In the crater? Dragons and Gargoyles and shit like that. It's one reason we didn't put down in there anyplace."

Now he glances over at her and grins. He wants to see this reaction.

"Are they dangerous?" Her voice is curious and still oddly calm. Mostly because Charlie still doesn't think Reno'd do anything to endanger her.

"Some of 'em, sure." Local wildlife to him, more or less. "Some of 'em have special attacks and shit. Some just steal stuff from you. You know that bracelet you got? That's armor, Chuck. Keep you protected, especially if you equip it. It's got a slot in there for materia. Depending what kind you use, you get a different kind of protection. Materia's the pretty glowing stuff in the little orbs you saw back in the item shop in Midgar."

He steers the helicopter up and away, back over open ocean. It's still turquoise beneath them, but gets darker quickly.

"But don't worry. I wouldn't let nothin' hurt you. Not on my watch." This chopper's equipped with all sorts of stuff he ain't told her about, 'cause why bother? They haven't needed it. "And we're safe in the cities." Safe being a relative term and all. Like... oh, say Sephiroth respawned or whatever and summoned Meteor again? Then the cities ain't so safe. But how likely is that?

Not likely at all.

Charlie looks over at him. "You mean there were dangerous monsters out there and you didn't warn me!" She smacks him on the shoulder playfully in case her voice doesn't make it clear that she's teasing him.

"You're a big meanie, Reno!"

"Yeah, that's me. And you already met the most dangerous monster of all. That's my sister."

He can take bein' smacked. It sure as fuck ain't the first time it's happened, and he expects it's gonna happen again right about now for what he just said.

He's right because she totally smacks him again. "Hey! I like your sister!" The attempt to sound outraged didn't work as well as it might have if she weren't laughing in obvious amusement.

"HEY." He rubs his arm but it's all fake melodrama, fake agony. "I like my sister too. Just don't tell anyone I said so. I got a reputation to protect."

Now he's all kinds of amused, and reaches into his jacket pocket, holds out a little bag for her. "Here, Chuck. I got you something at the beach when you weren't lookin'." Nah, she was too busy oohing and aahing over the bangles, but he found this little tiny sliver of a necklace at a stand outside. Silver chain, real petite, and a little carving made of some beach coral or some shit like that. It ain't supposed to mean nothin', but he liked it.

The fuck, right? He must've been a lot more relaxed than he thought.

"You did, did you?" she laughs as she takes the bag and reaches inside. She stops laughing when her hand comes back out. "Oh my gosh," she breathes, "it's..." she isn't sure how to describe it.

"Reno, you didn't have to..."

"Shit, I didn't? Well. Give it to me, then. I'll turn around and take it back." He makes a grab for it, but it's half-hearted as anything; the helicopter swoops down toward the water for a minute but that was purely intentional. He ain't gonna crash 'em.

"Just kidding. It's no big deal, Charlie. Just thought you'd like it. Since you were busy lookin' for souvenirs and all." The chopper levels off again; he gives her a baby smile.

He'll take payment in pie.

Charlie starts to move to hand it back to him before she realizes he's joking. That takes her a second because it's a beautiful piece and she can't imagine him meaning to get it for her.

When she does she just shakes her head and smiles. "You're a real brat sometimes. You know that don't you?"

"Yeah. I might've heard it once or twice."

(That friggin' grin stays on his face halfway across the ocean.)

It's one more perfect landing in a whole series of perfect landings and he can add that to his resume if he ever decides to quit his job at Shin-Ra, which he won't, 'cause there ain't no other jobs to be had on the whole friggin' planet that give him the kind of freedom this one does. He can go wherever the fuck he wants, do whatever the fuck he wants, and people nod and call him sir whether they like it or not, and the shit he did in the past stays in the past and now, while he ain't exactly a model citizen or nothin', at least they're doing a couple good things for the good of the Planet, and maybe somewhere some day that'll make a difference of the good variety instead of the bad. People like Tifa ain't ever gonna forgive him for the shit he did, and why should she? Why should they? He killed all those people.

A little bit at a time, he could make up for it and now, as he opens the door for Charlie and helps her down out of the helicopter and reaches for her pack, he shrugs and walks them away from the landing pad. "So. Day's almost done. You got a burning desire to go back to Sector Five? Or you ready to go home?"

Either way's good. He still has the bar's knife in his pocket and it'll still open a door for them no matter where they are, he's pretty sure. All depends on if Charlie's had enough yet.