Salle, Wednesday Midday

[withoutverona]

Romeo wasn't sure why Reno even wanted to speak to him, or if he felt like speaking to Reno in turn. His best friend's words from Sunday tangled with his own and sat like a knot in his stomach, and if Reno were to try to kill him with the rod, he would not blame him.

But they'd made a plan, and so Romeo was there in the Salle. Waiting and, somehow, almost hopeful.

Comments

[not_in_the_book]

Of course, Reno happened to say that JUST as Ronan was taking a gulp from his water bottle. Cue choking, and a bit of sputtering.

After he managed to get his breathing back under control, Ronan laughed. "Ronan, please," he said. "I don't think I could take you seriously if you called me Ron."

He noticed Reno's interest in the sword. "Want to see it?" he asked, gesturing to where it was sheathed.

[raspberryturk]

"Whatever you say, Ron," Reno quipped, shooting off a sloppy salute and a grin. "And nah, swords an' me never did get along too well. I'm always on the other end of 'em. My weapon's this puppy right here." He lifted his EMR slightly so that Ronan could see. "Might as well be part of my arm, yo."

[not_in_the_book]

"Oh, yeah?" Ronan asked, eying it. "It definitely looks... Huh. You could probably do some damage with that thing."

Two little stones, in different shades of green, caught Ronan's eyes. "What're those?" he asked. "The stones, I mean. Just decoration? They seem a bit out of place for that."

[raspberryturk]

Reno blinked at his EMR, and then raised an eyebrow and smirked faintly.

"What, you think I'm the kinda guy who likes to doll up his toys with sparkly shit? Nah. That's part of the weapon, too." He tapped at one of them with his free hand. "I'm startin' to think my world's the only one with Materia, yo. This one's for Thundaga, an' that one's for Pyramid."

Pyramid was kind of stupid. But Reno was a fan of it, so everyone could just piss off anyhow.

[not_in_the_book]

"Materia?" Ronan asked. "What's it do?"

[raspberryturk]

"Calls upon the powers of a bunch'a dead Ancients to cast certain spells, zoto."

Blink.

"I zap shit with it."

[not_in_the_book]

Ronan had to blink for a moment. "... It's certainly a different way of using magic than I have," he admitted. "But zapping shit is fun."

[raspberryturk]

"Damn straight it is," Reno agreed, stretching and then letting his hands swing by his sides. "Ain't nothin' quite like the smell of Thundaga-fried monster to wake you up in the mornin', yo."

Or robot. Or person. Or whatever. It all depended on the day, really.

[not_in_the_book]

"Do you deal with a lot of monsters where you come from, then?" Ronan asked. "I've got access to a lot of battle wizardry, but there's not a lot of opportunity to use it."

[raspberryturk]

"You kiddin'? You can't hardly take a walk outside city limits on my world without bein' accosted by anything from a mutant ostrich with hands to a killer chipmunk, zoto."

It was sad because it was true.

"Hell, when the old city was still standin', there were Boundfats and Goblins and freakin' Hell Houses down in the slums. Monsters are kinda the way of life, like it or lump it there, yo."

[not_in_the_book]

"Your world definitely sounds more... interesting... than mine," Ronan said. "I don't know that I'd particularly like to live there, although it does at least sound like it offers more opportunities for therapeutic smackdowns."

[raspberryturk]

"I guess that's one way of puttin' it," Reno mused. "Home sweet friggin' home." He idly rubbed at his arm, frowning. Stupid sunburns. Stupid Reno for getting a stupid sunburn in the first place. "Ain't usually so bad, if you know how to deal with that kinda thing. Just, most people don't never bother to learn."

Fewer, now, seeing as Materia was very useful for such things, and everyone was terrified of using it.

[not_in_the_book]

Ronan caught the idle rubbing at Reno's arm. "Are you in some discomfort?" he asked. "That does look like a pretty bad sunburn."

[raspberryturk]

"Hm? Yeah. Whatever, yo. S'nothin." Reno shrugged and shoved his hand into his pocket. "Cruise got the better of me, is all."

He grinned a kind of lopsided grin at that. "Apparently, the sun burns. Who knew?"

[not_in_the_book]

Ronan nodded. "Want me to fix it for you?" he asked. "Along with the awesome battle spells, I get to heal, too."

[raspberryturk]

Reno quirked an eyebrow at that.

"Cure, huh?" He was drawing parallels, here, to things he already knew. They weren't necessarily the most accurate ones, but so long as it made sense, right? "Saves me from havin' to bust out a potion. Didja know this sunburn crap gets itchy after a while? Ain't bad enough it stings, it's gotta itch, too."

Reno could handle pain. He was awesome with pain. But itching was freaking evil.

[not_in_the_book]

"Oh, yeah, the itching is the worst," Ronan agreed, as he lined the spell up in his head. "Here, this'll just take a moment," he said, and then began to speak in the fluid syllables of the Speech.

Reno would likely feel a brief, momentary, intense itch/burn/OW before it faded, along with the sunburn.

[raspberryturk]

Okay, the intensity of the burning itch was a bit unexpected, and he let a few choice fluid syllables of his own slip out when it hit, but when it faded away again, he kind of stood there, blinking.

Huh. Okay, so not quite like cure.

"An' that's that? Really?" Damn. Maybe he was gonna have to pick up some cure Materia for himself sometime, after all. It'd save him a shitload on potions. "Thanks, man."

[not_in_the_book]

Ronan shook his head to clear it; he'd had to share that pain to heal it, after all, and combined with the energy loss from the healing it left him momentarily foggy. "Yeah," he said, "that's it. No worries; it's what I do. I mean, I work at the clinic and everything," he added, grinning.

[raspberryturk]

"Jeez, healin' somethin' more serious'n that's gotta be a bitch, zoto," Reno mused, bringing his baton back up to rest on his shoulder. "We got potions where I'm from, all the healin', none of the pain. Costs good Gil to buy 'em, though. Tastes like shit, too."

Not that Reno, of all people, particularly cared what the things he was putting into his mouth tasted like. He drank straight Everclear when the opportunity came up, after all.

... He probably didn't have many tastebuds left, actually.

[not_in_the_book]

"It can be," Ronan agreed, "but not necessarily. Something like knitting flesh back together is different than healing the kind of damage I had to heal with the sunburn, so you don't get the same kind of reaction to it."

[raspberryturk]

Reno made a face at that, lifting a hand to scratch at his head.

"Sounds complicated," he decided after taking a moment to deliberate on that. "I think maybe I'll just stick with shellin' out Gil for potions anyhow. Even if they are a little overkill for a sunburn, yoto."

Potions were like Buckley's, really. They tasted awful, but at least they worked.

[not_in_the_book]

"It can be," Ronan said, nodding. "I mean, it's not like I become a wizard and can than just... wave my hands and magic, woo woo."

He had to wave his hands there, and anyone who knew Bridge might expect Ronan to say, "Buttery!" with the way his fingers were moving.

[raspberryturk]

"Magic, woo woo," Reno replied flatly, eyebrow raised, his empty hand lifting to mimic the fingerwiggle. "I think the world ought'a be thankful that it don't quite work that way, yeah," he agreed.

He'd probably die laughing if anyone ever tried to cast against him while wiggling their fingers and saying 'woo woo.'