sleazeoverstyle | (no subject)

(no subject)

Shit.

Shit. It's pretty much all he can do to follow through this dark nothingness at Axel's heels, and he ain't so fond of the way this feels. He's been in worse situations before, of course, and he's about 99% sure he will be again, but this place can kiss his ass. It's like drowning in a nightmare and his Electro-Mag rod's buzzing and giving off the occasional nearly-invisible spark in his left hand and yeah, he's moving as fast as he can, even though he doesn't know where the hell he's going.

Every friggin' sense is on high alert, and because sight is low on the availability scale he does what he's trained to do: ignores the pounding of his own heart, lets himself adjust to the surroundings however he can, and shuts the hell up. If this is that Void he heard about, it ain't a place he wants to stay.

In the darkness he nods to Axel in a get us the fuck out of here now kind of way.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I can actually get us right back to Milliways from here," Axel says. "But right now, my door's set to Traverse Town, which is nowhere near here."

He shrugs a little, and starts heading up the ridge that leads over to the beach. The power of the volcano thrums under his feet; the heart of the island is made of fire, and it echoes in his own.

My door this, my door that, like the guy owns all the real estate in town or something? His door's set to Midgar or wherever the hell he actually walked in from and he'd like to keep it that way, thank you very friggin' much.

But he's the guest here and ain't that a strange development; when was the last time that happened? His twin here makes a shit host but he ain't gonna complain: he just follows.

"So you do that to the side of the volcano?" Hey, he's just getting his bearings. Until a little bit ago, he never even heard the word Hawaii. He'll probably never hear it again, and anyhow, he's trying real hard not to think about the fact that he's in some whole other world. For all he knows, it's just a part of his own planet he ain't been to yet. There's plenty of places like that.

"Nah, the volcano did that to itself. Granted, it was right around the same time I was here... But my work's just over here," he continues. "Take a look," he says, gesturing down at the glassy beach.

Granted, it's not the prettiest glass, but it's solid, shiny and smooth, all the way to the water's edge, as far as can be seen.

Hey.

HEY. Check that out: it looks as smooth as... well, glass. No shit, asshat, he tells himself, that's what Axel said it was. "So that was all sand." He nods his appreciation: he's not much of a chemist but he knows you can fuse sand into glass and that's pretty. "You know, for a guy who ain't quite as good-looking as me, you do decent work. We could use you at Shin-Ra."

And helping rebuild Shin-Ra is pretty friggin' high on his list of priorities.

Shit, they could go surfing on that solid wall of glass. That'd be something else.

"So where the fuck are we, exactly?" He ain't particularly used to cavorting off to other worlds, and despite knowing the bar's at the end of the universe and all that shit, it's still a lot for a guy who never left his planet for twenty-eight years to have to think about.

"Who's not-quite-as-good-looking? Well, I guess without fire you must feel you need something to compensate. Of course, I'd hope any near-twin of mine has more going on for him than a pretty face."

The words come without any real effort, and he's grinning, although whether it's for the banter, or his handiwork, well, even he couldn't really answer that.

"As for where we are... This is a chain of volcanic islands in the middle of the fucking ocean. Past that... I've never been." He shrugs. "And what the hell is Shin-Ra?"

From anybody else in the whole friggin' universe, those'd be fighting words. But he can't fault the guy who looks like him for talking about how good-looking they are.

"Shin-Ra's the company I work for." That's simple. "And I've been to the islands in our ocean, but this is... like a whole different planet, right? We're not on Gaia."

He ain't stupid, but the whole other realities thing isn't exactly what he'd call normal either, although every friggin' time he opens a door and it leads to Milliways, it gets more and more normal. It's just that he hasn't told a soul back home about it yet because... why bother? Word'll get out sooner or later, especially with Lockhart and Valentine at the place, but they're kinda... stuck, as far as he can figure it, and he ain't.

And that's lucky.

"Whoooole different planet," Axel confirms. "I'm pretty sure there's more to it, but I know at least one other that's just islands and ocean. ...Not really mind kind of place though, you know? What does your company do?" he asks, on the end of his explanation.

Yeah, whole different planet: that's pretty friggin' wild, and to top off a day that's been pretty friggin' strange by virtue of the fact he ended up at the end of the friggin' universe without intending to, it's just one more thing. One more notch on the belt, if someone wants to keep track.

"What doesn't Shin-Ra do." It's a long, ugly, complicated story. "They used to pretty much run the world. Then kinda sorta fucked it all up. Now we're tryin' to rebuild it. But me, I just do whatever they need me to do. For the boss, right? The guy in charge of the whole thing. It's my group's responsibility to take care of him. I've been with the Turks a long time." It's kind of a half-assed explanation and he knows it, but too bad: if Axel's interested, he can ask more questions. "The company's full name is the Shin-Ra Electric Power Company. We provide... power. Light up the world, and do a few other things on the side, or at least used to."

His near-twin's work on that whole beach of glass is still admirable-looking. He must've been on friggin' fire. Maybe they could harness his energy instead of Mako and light up their world that way.

Probably not.

No, definitely not. Scratch that; he's never been the idea guy.

It all sounds warpedly familiar; like his own former job, through a mirror darkly. Or brightly, as the case may be.

"Whatever the boss says, goes, yeah?" Axel asks, a faint, wry smile on his face. "I know how that works. Hope yours deserves it more than mine did."

They call the boss sir for a reason, and it ain't just out of some misguided sense of loyalty or duty. He kinda likes the guy even though half the world wouldn't mind seeing Rufus Shinra dead.

Well, that ain't gonna happen. Not with him around.

"Shit, he's all right." At least the boss's tryin' to do the right thing now, even if he didn't in the past. He's sick now too, but only four of 'em know that and like he's gonna tell.

"Yeah? That's good then," Axel replies. he has to admit, if only to himself, that he's a little envious; on the other hand, if his boss hadn't turned out to be such a complete asshole...

He probably wouldn't be here now. He wouldn't have his heart, or his friends, or... Hell, any of it.

"You wanna take a look around?" he asks.

"Fuck yeah. I didn't travel through some tunnel of doom and gloom to walk over here, say nice glassblowing, and turn tail and head for home."

It's nice here. It's pretty, and he's a little bit of a sucker for pretty things and places and people and this place makes him smile. "Seeing as how I ain't never even heard of Hawaii and have no friggin' idea what planet we're on or where to go, you might maybe want to lead the way."

Just a suggestion. Otherwise, he's goin' skateboarding on a beach of glass.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. You want to hit town, or the volcano first then?" Axel asks, grinning broadly. He would have been rather disappointed, otherwise.

"They got a town here?"

Hell yeah: the day's lookin' better already. And if he plays his cards right, he bets he can even get a drink somehow. Different world probably means different money, but he never let a lack of funds stop him from quenching his thirst.

And he's pretty friggin' thirsty after that little jaunt through the darkness getting here.

"Yeah. Well, it's more of a village, and a little touristy, but the locals in this world are actually really friendly," Axel explains, as he starts back down the ridge. There's a well-worn footpath there, that leads around to the beach, and back to the village.

"We gonna pull the twin brothers routine on the locals?" Personally, he still thinks he's the better-looking of the two, even if they are the same height with the same hair color and the tattoos and voice. The difference is in the eyes and the attitude, although Axel's attitude sure ain't so very different from his own. Plus, the guy's missing the all-important pair of goggles.

"Friendly and pretty, I hope?" He maneuvers the path easily. Shit, he can climb friggin' buildings when he has to, so the side of a hill ain't nothing. "Here's hoping you ain't burned all your bridges in this place along with their beachfront property."

"Nah. The only time I ever actually met the locals, they invited me to their luau." His grin turns smug for a moment. "They're pretty laid-back here, from what I've seen. Love a good party, know how to dance, and yeah, pretty too."

In other words, Axel's kind of people, if you're talking people in a general sense.

He wonders what the fuck a luau is, but he guesses if he gets invited to one he'll find out. Just like at Costa del Sol, he's overdressed for the weather but hey, he's a Turk and this is what he wears. He can't imagine Axel's a lot cooler in that long... thing he wears, but if the locals accept his ugly ass, then they ought to both have it made.

"You been here a bunch of times, then? Like home away from home away from home?" They're making good time, almost to the bottom of the hillside now, and he can see what passes for a village spread out in front of them.

It's pretty. He can't remember the last time he had a real vacation, not that this is gonna count for one. Smells way too friggin' much like recon.

"Only to the volcano," Axel replies. There's some relatively fresh volcanic debris in the path; not lot, because the wind and the slope of the mountain are wrong for it, but there was a recent eruption, and if you know what to look for, it shows.

From lower on the path, there's a pair of high-pitched giggles, and a couple of children come barreling past them, headed straight for the beach.

"...Like I said," he continues, when they've passed. "I've only ever met the locals once."

"And they didn't mind seein' your ugly mug gracing the place. That's cool. HEY." The words watch it die on his lips as he steps aside to make room for the kids: this ain't his town -- ain't nothing like Midgar -- and he ain't their brother, so he won't tell 'em how to behave.

Like they'd listen anyhow.

"You said you can get back to the bar from here. How's that work?" In his experience, doors to the bar just show up whenever the fuck they want and they don't ever ask his permission first.

"Well, I'd say 'sheer stubbornness,' and that'd be mostly true. But from this world, it might take a little more, than from the ones that have been 'connected.' So... I cheat," he says, reaching into a pocket, and pulling out a spoon. It glints brightly in the sun, almost as brightly as Axel's grin.

"Straight from Milliways, to my pocket. Between that, and my natural talent for travelling between worlds, it's a piece of cake. Got it memorised?"

Smart, Reno, smart. Always go for the obvious: he opens his mouth to talk but there ain't nothing worthwhile to say, so he doesn't say anything. At least about how friggin' obvious that should have been.

"Come on, sanctimonious show-off." Grinning, he rolls his eyes a little and nods toward civilization. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got it memorized. When we go back, you've got my permission to kick my sorry ass if you don't see me pocket the first piece of silverware I can. You got that memorized?"

In response to that, Axel just laughs.

The number of locals increases as they get closer to the village; people out for walks, or maybe just going from point A to point B. Regardless, they're greeted by friendly waves, and 'hello's. Axel hadn't been kidding about the friendliness of the locals.

What the fuck's aloha mean, he wants to know, but doesn't ask; he can do that later. For now he just makes nice: nods, waves, and can't believe how friggin' lucky it is that these locals from another planet mostly speak the same language as him.

Come to think of it, everyone he's met at the end of the universe speaks the same language as him: ain't that handy. Right now it sure ain't something he's gonna question none too hard.

"You were right. They're friendly." Least he can do is be a little friendly back, he figures.

"Nice place you got here."

That oughtta do.

"Nice, it is, yeah?" one of the locals agrees, giving a wave as they pass by.

The trail they're following leads down onto the main road (black-top paved, single lane) that goes through the village. It is, as Axel said, rather touristy; two souvenir shops in a town this size is a bit overkill.

The one bar in town isn't open yet, but the restaurant next door is, and the waitress is chatting with the only current customers, a pair of middle-aged tourists.

It's the little things that Axel files away though, like the apparent lack of a synthesis shop, or even a moogle anywhere about. Or even a general item shop; there's a small grocery, but it's not the same thing.