escordvi | [open] i could swim a thousand oceans, sail the seven seas

Who: Reno and whoever!
Status: Open.
Where: Wherever the quests take place...
What: December Manta Board and Catch-all. Current prompts for Bite-Sized Blessings, Magitech Madness, and Fountain of Blades. Open to A Very Beary Night and any Corsair jobs that would like to include a less moral paladin helping out. Hit me up with a prompt of your own for those if you like! (Or anything else really.)
Warnings: TBD (or nothing for now, just Reno's usual gremlin self and some strong language).

but i'll always feel that fire, following me

i. bite-sized blessings

"This can't be any harder than capturing one of those cat-grimalkins, yo," Reno said without fear of evoking 'famous last words' rites. He was tempting Fate and wasn't looking back. Typical cocky ace attitude for ya.

He was searching for the baby dragon that had been sighted around the island. He had his baton out and tapping lightly on his shoulder but whether he planned to use it to help him catch the creature was debatable. He might have just been using it to fidget at the moment.

"I got a plan. Best laid traps, yo. You up for some running?"

ii. magitech madness

The redheaded Turk hefted a magitech rifle in his hands, weighing its balance. He held it up to his shoulder for a moment, sighted down the barrel, and lowered it back down. "Sure, I'll test this puppy out for ya. Got anything else to play with?"

He was grinning enthusiastically in anticipation of some action and destruction. Someone level-headed might want to chaperon this wild child. On the other hand, someone looking for a good time could easily up the chaos if they accompanied him while testing these gadgets out.

iii. fountain of blades

What Reno heard when the quest for the Sword of Lasting Light was announced: a cool sounding weapon up for grabs! Yeah, sure, it was for the Paladins as a whole, glory to the system and all that, but the idea of winning that prize from an adventurous quest sounded pretty awesome. Plus gathering Intel and Items of Interest tended to be right up his alley as a Turk. They performed all kinds of deeds that bettered their patron.

What Reno saw when they got to the island: some caverns and sinkholes that needed exploring to reach their goal. This felt like a real quest and he was still excited.

What Reno actually got once he started exploring: disappointment and regret.

"Why the hell are there so many bugs down here? God, it's so fucking wet everywhere. This is annoying. What the fuck is nibbling on my toes!? Oh, it's just fish. Holy Gaia why-" And the grousing never ended. Except when he got a little too deep into one of the cenotes and got stuck in a memory. Then he stopped and there was clearly something wrong with the expression on his face.

iv. wildcard!

[[Anything else you would like to do with Reno! You can simply tag in with a prompt of your own or request a personalized toplevel for your character if you want me to start. If you wanna chat you can hit me with a PM to this journal or find me on plurk at aisuyoukai.]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I told you to keep your shoes on," Aerith says, softly but not without an air of flippancy.

The cave system they've descended into sprawls before them in a winding system, stalactites hanging overhead as if promising to fall onto them with he wrong step. The hem of Aerith's pink dress tickles the surface of the water, barely touching below it. In one hand she holds a torch, but an ethereal kind of glow emanates from the rocks around them, not a lifestream green kind of burn something wholly different and distant all the same.

But her boot-clad feet are just as heavy as Reno's as she amusedly quips, "What do they call them?" She hums thoughtfully before continuing. "Pedicures?" She never held the luxury of getting to have one, after all, and it's not like Elmyra was the kind of woman to go out and do her nails, worrying about things that held no use in the kind of lifestyle they adopted together. "It's just a free pedicure, right?"

When there is no answer, and Reno's plodding footsteps stop, Aerith swivels around the hip— the silence is eerie and echoing, settling into her chest a panic she hasn't known since making her way to land on the back of someone else. "Reno?"

She pushes her way back, having left him behind a few paces, water loudly sloshing as she rushes. The torch flickers with the movement, the heat sticking to the nape of her neck with the exertion. Her cheeks are flushed, but her eyes wear concern opening. "Hey, c'mon. Stay with me."

Not again. Why is it always like this?

Where Reno should have been further grousing or maybe even laughing at Aerith's quips, the ensuing silence was eerie and echoing indeed. Reno's expression was caught somewhere between lingering horror and determined resignation. What played in front of him was a memory best forgotten but never forgiven.

He remembered how easy it all played out. He hadn't had a care in the world back then. And a job was simply that: a job to be done. He had played his part and finished it without concern. His taunts hit their marks. His hand slammed down on the button.

And over a thousand people died with that one swift motion.

The way it happened was much more slow. The ringing explosions, the screaming of metal as it broke apart, the chopping sounds of the helicopter as it sped to safety. The people below were not so lucky as the Sector Seven Plate fell upon them.

Reno would be lying if he said he didn't regret some things he'd done over the years. But it had been the job, and that was that. He was a Turk. That meant something to him. He took pride in his work. But not every job he did felt the same.

As Aerith approached, he watched the fire and metal rain down.

The memory may not be entirely fresh in Aerith's mind, but it is clear enough to pull her down, into the depths of his recollection. The ghost of that night follows her, too, the night the plate fell: So many lives lost, so much pain and agony, the beginning of a long and awful fall for them all. She wishes they had succeeded. In her mind, she remembers Tifa believing in her. That they could do it, could really save all those people.

And before her, naturally, as it always tends to happen, is one of the people who made sure the plate fell.

It's funny how life works.

Metal screams over head, the acrid smell of burning sticking to her body. It isn't real, she knows, she tells herself this, but even Reno is starting to look a little blurry now...

"No!" She can't. Not now, not ever. Sector Seven is dying all over, but she knows it can't be right. Once the plate falls— it's all over. It's just a memory, just a moment lost in the Lifestream. Reaching out, she anchors herself by touching Reno— any part she can grab. A hand, his shoulder, an albow; the touch of someone else to pull her back into the bedrock lined with dirty, stagnant water.

"Reno, listen to me. Just breathe, okay? Nothing's going to happen. We're gonna take another step."

[open] i could swim a thousand oceans, sail the seven seas

fountain of blades⚔

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